I would like to thank the people who gave me the 34 reviews I have. I would also like to thank the 4 of you who put this story on your favorites. I wish you guys would tell me who you are, so I can thank you more profusely. All of you are my motivation to continue. The rest of you, I'm starting to believe that I should go back to only writing Tamora Pierce stories. TP readers are much better reviewers, at least from what I can see…hint, hint….REVIEW! PLEASE!
Harry folded up the letter he had received from Ron a day ago. He was looking forward to his next week at the Burrow, which would be in about a week and a half. "If things work out well, I may not have to stay with the Dursleys for the rest of the summer," he thought. He was getting used to Bella, and liked her a lot. He thought it would be a treat to see Sirius, Remus, and Bella together again, after hearing about all the mischief they had gotten up to in their time at Hogwarts. In fact, life would be good if it weren't for one thing. Parvati. Harry had avoided her quite punctiliously so far, but it was getting harder. Bella seemed to have noticed the tension. In fact, just before Harry had come up to his room, Bella had asked him about it.
"Are you and Parvati fighting?" Bella inquired, concern etched into her face.
Harry didn't know what to say. "Er…that is, well, not really," he finished weakly.
"What does that mean?" Bella asked.
"Well, I'm just trying to avoid her, I did something I didn't mean to," Harry spilled out before he could stop himself.
Suddenly, Bella smiled, quite evilly in Harry's opinion. "Ah, I see," she said, chuckling, and Harry's stomach sank.
That had been an unqualified disaster. So now he was hiding out in his room, re-reading Ron's letter.
The door flew open, and Harry jumped. He spun around to see who was at the door, and he moaned in despair to see Parvati standing there. He noticed vaguely that for once her hair was out of the constricting plait that she always had it in.
Parvati stepped into the room and closed the door carefully behind her. She started walking towards Harry, who was looking quite stricken with fear. She inwardly smiled.
She crossed her arms. "Harry Potter, when are you going to stop avoiding me!" she demanded.
Harry gaped at her. "Poor boy," she thought, "he has no experience with girls at all."
Finally, Harry seemed to find his voice. "What are you doing in my room?" he asked, his voice breaking a little on the word room.
"Honestly, Harry."
"What?" he asked, innocently.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
She noticed that he was slowly turning red. "Avoiding you? What do you mean?" His voice was squeaky now. Parvati fought an urge to laugh.
"I'm talking about how you walk out of the room when I walk into it, or how you talk to Bella only, and haven't even glanced at me since…" She trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say.
"Oh. That." Harry said, talking to the floor. "Sorry."
"Will you at least look at me now?" Parvati asked impatiently.
Harry reluctantly brought his head up. She noticed that his face was a bright crimson now. She started to smile.
"What?" he asked, slightly annoyed. His voice sounded as high as Lavender's little sister. Parvati couldn't take it anymore. She started cracking up.
Harry stared at Parvati. What in the world was she doing? "Uh, Parvati, are you okay?"
"Your….voice….," Parvati managed to choke out amidst her giggles.
Harry was getting more and more annoyed. He had realized his voice was doing odd things, but was that really something to laugh at? "I'm sorry? Are you laughing at my voice?"
Parvati nodded, still wiping the tears out of her eyes.
Harry felt a small smile creeping around the corners of his mouth. Parvati's glee was catching. "How shallow of you."
Parvati almost immediately stopped. She looked at him, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. This time it was Harry's turn to laugh.
"Look at your face!" he said before he dissolved into snickers. It wasn't long before Parvati joined in.
Bella stood outside Harry's door, listening. She smiled to herself, and then knocked at the door. The laughter stopped, and she heard footsteps walking towards the door.
Harry opened the door, and Bella looked in. Harry's cheeks were read, and he was breathing quite quickly. Parvati's hair was tousled, and she was also panting. Knowing full well that the two teenagers were just laughing, she said primly, "It's nice to see that you two have worked your differences out," winking slightly at the end.
She wondered if it was possible for a boy to turn that red without the aid of rouge. "W-we were-"
She cut Harry off. "I'd just like to let you two know that Remus Lupin will be visiting in two days. Oh, and he seems to have acquired a new pet. His name is Snuffles."
I would like to apologize once more to the H/G fans I have betrayed. But what's wrong with a little variety?