Chapter Eight: Only You Can Dry These Tears

Harry and Jasna walked hand in hand to the common room.  Jasna was in high spirits.  Nothing could bring her down now.  Harry knew, though, that something was about to.

As they entered the common room, Harry told Jasna to sit down in a chair.

"Harry, this must be very serious," she said, "You've been preoccupied ever since you got back from the Forbidden Forest." Harry nodded.

"It's more than serious," he told her, "What was your mum's name?"
"Mia.  Mia Larden."

"I was afraid of that," Harry muttered.

"What is it, Harry?" Jasna asked, worried, "Is it about my mom?"
"Yes, actually," Harry told her, "Sadly, it is about your mom."
"Oh God… What's happened to her?" Jasna asked.

"Jasna… She's dead." Jasna shook her head.  She hadn't heard correctly.  Her mom wasn't dead!  How could her mom be dead?  Her mom was alive and well and fine and her mom was doing just fine.

"No," Jasna said aloud, "No, she's not dead." Jasna was resolute.  Harry sadly shook his head.  Jasna's eyes began fill with tears again.
"No!" she cried, standing up, "NO!  I WON'T BELIEVE IT! NO!"

"Jasna…"
"How do you know?" Jasna demanded of Harry, "How do you know she's dead?"
"I know, Jasna, believe me."
"How come you know and I don't?"
"Jasna, that's not an easy question to answer…"
"How did she die?" Jasna begged Harry to tell her, "How?"
"The killing curse," Harry muttered.  Jasna buried her face in her hands.  She was crying so hard.  Harry walked over to her and she collapsed in his arms.  She cried on his shoulder as he held her in his arms.

"So there I was, minding my own business, when Snape comes up to me and…" Ron trailed off as he and Hermione saw Harry and Jasna in the middle of the common room.

"Right!" Hermione cried, "I'm going to go in my room and finish my book!"

"And I'm tired.  I haven't slept all night!  G'night, Harry," Ron said and they both hurried off towards their dormitories.

Harry watched them go, Jasna breaking down in his arms.  She took his damp robes in her hands and clenched them into fists.

"Why?" she sobbed, "Why?  Why my mother?" Harry was only glad she didn't ask who.  It would have torn her apart if she'd known Voldemort had killed her mother.  Her own father had killed her mother.  It was then that he truly understood what it was like to be Jasna Larden.  It was then that he realized the pain and suffering she had endured in her short lifetime.  It was then that he realized exactly how much he admired her.

"I can never beat your bravery, Jasna," he whispered into her hair, "You are the bravest person I know.  Find some of that bravery now.  Be brave, Jasna.  I'm here, I will always be here for you." He kept whispering that to her, over and over, stroking her hair, calming her, soothing her.  Jasna fell to the floor and Harry went with her.

After what seemed like hours of crying and consoling, Jasna's head rested on Harry's lap, staring at the flames.  He was stroking her hair, kindly and compassionately.  Her face was tearstained but most of them had dried up.

Hermione, hearing no crying from the common room, cautiously climbed down the stairs and saw the couple, sitting in silence in front of the fire.  She smiled, weakly.  She didn't know what Jasna had been crying about, but whatever it was, Harry had calmed her down.  She silently went back upstairs, not wanting to disturb them.

"How did you know, Harry?" Hermione stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Jasna ask Harry a question.  She couldn't help her curiosity.

"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"

"If I tell you that, I'd have to tell you something else and you won't like it."
"It's OK, I'll be fine."
"No."

"Harry, stop trying to protect me," Jasna's voice was calm and didn't shake as it had a few minutes ago, "Tell me.  How did you know my mother was dead?  You didn't see it, did you?" Hermione gasped, but was lucky because neither Harry nor Jasna heard her.

"I heard someone mutter about an American witch being found dead in a flat in the center of London."

"Heard someone?" Jasna rose her head off of his lap to look at him, "You were in the middle of the forest!"
"Exactly."

"Harry!" Jasna cried, "Tell me the truth!"
"Jasna, don't worry about it.  Calm down."
"If you won't answer that question, I have another," Jasna said, putting her head back down on Harry's lap.
"And what's that?"
"You said my mother was killed by the Avada Kedavera killing curse."
"Did I?"
"Yes.  I won't even ask how you knew that if you heard someone talking about it, but what I will ask is this.  Do you know who did it?"
"No," Harry lied.  She looked up at him.

"Really?"
"I heard that an American witch called Mia was found dead.  Something about the killing curse.  I don't think even they knew who did it."
"Who did you hear it from?"
"I don't know.  One of the teachers I think." There was silence again.  Hermione sat down on the spiral staircase, dumbstruck.  So, Jasna's mother was dead and Harry had found out.  Hermione shook her head sadly.  The poor girl.  Finally, Jasna stood up.  Harry looked up at her from his seat on the ground.  She extended her hand to help him up and pulled him into a hug.  They stood there for a minute, gazing at each other with a smile.
"My mother may not be here anymore," Jasna whispered, "But at least I have you."
"You will always have me."
"And you will always have me." Unknown to them, Hermione silently witnessed their first kiss.

"That must have been what Jasna wanted to tell Harry," Hermione muttered.  As the couple shared a warm embrace by the fire, they were interrupted as two more people climbed through the portrait hole.  They broke apart immediately.

"Oi!" Fred called, munching on a cake of some sort, "What are you two up to, then?" Harry glowered at them.
"Great timing, you two, perfect!" he cried.  Fred and George grinned.

"Why, I do think our little Harry and Jasna are in love, don't you Fred?" George said, mockingly.

"You know, I think you're right!" Fred replied.  Hermione chose this moment to climb down the stairs and save them.

"You might want to get some sleep you two, after being out all night."
"Out all night, were they?" Fred asked Hermione.  Hermione bit her lip as Harry and Jasna gratefully accepted the excuse to leave.

"What were they doing, out alone all night?" George frowned.

"It's none of your business!" Hermione cried.

"None of our business indeed!" Fred laughed, "We're supposed to watch out for the youngsters, aren't we, George?"

"We can't have them missing in the middle of the night!" George nodded.
"Who knows what they might do?" Fred added.  Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Right, what do you want?" she asked.

"It's our common room too.  We can come in, can't we?"
"Be my guest, but don't ask me any more questions because I'm not answering!" Hermione said as she walked back up to her own dormitory.
"What do you think has gotten into them?  We were only having a bit of fun!" George turned to his twin.

"They're just being stupid prats, that's all." Fred sat down in a chair by the fire and finished his cake.