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Athena lay back on her bunk, exhausted from the rigorous studying Hermione was putting her through. She was already able to do a few simple spells though, which made it all worthwhile. Finally Hermione decreed that it was time for supper. Athena followed her to the Great Hall where they sat at a table with all the other Gryffindors. Across from them sat Ron and Harry. As the two boys greeted them they each remembered their conversation from earlier.
~~~Flashback~~~
Ron stared at the back of the retreating girl. "Whoa..." He whispered.
Harry worked hard to conceal his laughter. "Dude, Ron, you don't even have a chance."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked, whirling on Harry, suddenly furious.
Ron's movements caught Harry by surprise. He wasn't used to seeing his friend get so worked up. "Relax. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Yes you did!" Ron said angrily. "You think I'm not good enough for her or something. You know, I bet you want her for yourself."
"What? No, she's like my sister Ron, we established that. Even if I did-"
"She's not your sister though, she's Sirius' daughter, you're his godson. No relation."
"I don't like her Ron."
"So now you're saying there's something wrong with her?" Ron questioned, his face red with anger instead of embarrassment.
"Ron!" Harry yelled. "SHUT UP!" Ron glared but stopped babbling. "Now look, I would never go after a girl you liked okay?"
"You're only saying that because she acted interested in me and not you." Ron said.
Now Harry really wanted to laugh but knew that that would make the situation worse. "I wouldn't do it anyway. Ron you are my friend. If you like her go after her, don't let me stand in your way. I won't even think about liking her okay? I'm backing off now."
"Right, because there's no way the illustrious Harry Potter could lose a girl to poor Ron Weasley without him backing off and handing the girl to his little sidekick." Harry stared at Ron for a few seconds and then walked upstairs. He'd wait for Ron to get over it, and when he did things would be okay.
~~~End Flashback~~~
Harry had grown only more angry sitting up in his room. What the hell had Ron been doing? He was only trying to be good friend and Ron just went off. So Harry had made a decision. He'd purposely flirt with this new girl just to prove to Ron he could in fact get the girl. Of course Ron didn't know that. Ron had apoligized and thought things would be left at that. Well he was wrong.
Ron smiled at Athena and demanded in his head that he speak. Come on Ron, you can do it... He told himself. "Erm....hi.." He whispered.
"Hey what's up?" Athena said as she sat.
Good, Ron congratulated himself. Now, more... "Erm...uh..." Nothing was coming out. "I..."
"I think he's trying to say not much." Harry answered for him, smiling at Athena. Ron wasn't the only one who'd filled out over the past summer. Harry had persuaded Madame Pomfrey to preform a spell which made him no longer need glasses. On top of that he had gotten a haircut and worked out a bit. He wasn't quite as nerdy. Athena looked at him appreciatively. He was really cute too, maybe even cuter than Ron...and he talked. Harry caught her eye and kept talking. "So did Hermione run you ragged?"
"Pretty much yeah." Athena answered. "God I must look like crap."
Now Ron! Tell her she's beautiful! Ron encouraged myself.
"Definitely not. In fact you may look even more beautiful than before."
Ron let out a silent cheer until he realized the words hadn't come from his mouth. They came from Harry's. Ron shot him a steely glare and then looked down on his plate, noticing Athena blushing profusely, immensely flattered.
"Thanks." Athena whispered, brushing a stray hair off her face. "That's real nice of you to say."
"Nice or not, it's the truth." Harry smiled again as the food appeared on the table.
"Wow..." Athena was shocked, but no one could tell if it was from the food's appearance or Harry's comment. Ron was fuming by now and took a roll out of the basket, aggressively tearing it into little pieces. Athena gaped at the amount of food on the table. "I have never seen so much food in my entire life."
"This is nothing." Hermione answered, noticing the angry look of Ron and the self satisfied one Harry wore. "Just wait until the real feasts."
Athena ate slowly, forcing herself not to over indulge. At the orphange they got oatmeal, every day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, all the time. She carefully took a bite of the chicken. "Oh yum."
"You look like I did the first time I came here." Harry noted. "I lived with my mom's sister's family. They weren't too nice and didn't give me all that much to eat so I was quite shocked to see and taste the foods here."
"Hey, maybe later we can get together and kinda talk." Athena suggested shyly.
Say no Harry! Ron's mind shouted.
"I'd love to. Talking with someone of your charm would be entertaining." Harry spouted off. He was pretty proud of himself. He was a real master of flattery!
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Lyria's plan was a simple one. She would throw herself into her work so that she wouldn't be tempted to stress over Sirius. Not that she would stress over Sirius, or her relationship with him, or their breakup... Oh who was she kidding? She would definitely stress over Sirius. From the moment she got back to Hogwarts she locked herself in her room and began to look over the book the students had already bought for DADA. She wasn't too fond of the author so she decided to only use it as a supplement, most of the class would be lecture, and hands-on demonstrations of course. She didn't realize that in locking herself up she was not only avoiding Sirius but also her daughter. In fact she'd been so wrapped up in her problems that neither Athena or Jason had crossed her mind since the initial shock of it all. She wasn't insensitive but when one's heart had been locked for so long it is hard to open the rusty lock.
Sirius sat in his room, which had been maliciously placed right next to Snape's. Was Dumbledore not thinking or was this truly the only room available? Dumbledore claimed that the teacher's wing was full because Proffessor Binns hadn't had a bedroom and that the only place for him to stay was in the dungeon, by Snape. Sirius had, of course, agreed but was now having second thoughts. He could smell a strange odor through the vent and couldn't tell if it was potion's brewing or just Snape's greasy hair. He shuddered. Maybe he should become a murderer, he could knock off one of the Proffessors and move upstairs. Getting rid of Snape wouldn't solve his problem because he'd still be stuck in the dungeon. He wondered if Proffessor Trelawney would be able to forsee a dark man coming to kill her. Heck, she'd probably been forseeing that for years, Sirius would be doing her a favor by making at least one of her predictions come true. No, that would be mean. He would need a new plan. There was one advantage to being down here though. He wouldn't accidently run into Lyria.
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Ron grabbed Hermione's arm as they left the dining hall. Harry and Athena had chatted the entire time, with Harry pouring on the compliments. Both seemed oblivious to the other two and Ron had had enough. "I want to bug Harry and I want you to show me how. Also, I need you to get information from Athena about how she feels about both Harry and I. This is war and Potter is going down."
"Ron, Harry is your friend." Hermione scolded lightly. She didn't even want to be involved in this. Thank God she had never had feelings for either of them. They were way too difficult.
"Not anymore. I clearly had first crack at her!" Ron stated. Hermione looked at him, abhorred and then turned and left. "Great, now what did I do?" Ron sighed and went up to his room. Trying to flat out spy on Harry would be too obvious unless...Yes that was it. He sprinted up to their room and rummaged around a little until he found Harry's invisibility cloak. "Perfect."
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Harry and Athena entered the Gryffindor common room and sat on one of the huge red velvet couches. "This place is so cool." Athena said again. Harry began to laugh and she looked at him questioningly. "What's so funny?"
"You're wearing sneakers under your robe." Harry pointed out, laughing.
"Yeah so? They look about twenty times better than those dopey shoes all the rest of you are wearing."
"It's just funny." Harry laughed some more and then reached out a hand to brush back the hair that fell into her face. Ron stood up. That was HIS hair. He wanted to brush back that hair. In his fury he hit a lamp and it crashed to the floor.
"What was that?" Athena asked, looking at the fallen light.
"It was probably Peeves, he's the school potergeist." Harry explained, but he saw a foot, disconnected from a body and knew what had happened. So Ron was watching, using HIS invisibility cloak. Harry put his arm around Athena, who looked alarmed. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Ron fumed and stormed upstairs, he'd seen enough. Athena looked at Harry curiously. "I'm sure he's harmless." Athena said. "Hermione told me all about him."
Okay Potter, time for a new approach. Harry coached himself. "Okay well I just wanted a reason to put my arm around you." There you go...honesty.
Athena blushed. "Oh...um...okay." She really didn't know how to react to that.
"Sirius never told me had a daughter...especially not one so beautiful." Harry whispered. Athena shivered and looked into Harry's eyes.
