Help me, Make the right decision, Know which way to turn lessons to learn, And just what my purpose is here-Nick Carter

"Harry? Hello? Earth to Harry?" Elizabeth said, breaking Harry out of his trance.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, realizing he sounded quite stupid. He'd been looking at her talking, and he didn't hear a single word.

"I said, 'Were you thinking of something other than combining curses when you were deliberating about what we need here?'" Elizabeth inquired suspiciously.

"No," She gave him a look. "Yes."

"Should I even ask why?" she questioned.

'She asked why, not what,' Harry considered. "No," he replied embarrassed. Even in the low light, Elizabeth could see he flushed. 'Bet that's nothing compared to what I'm doing,' she thought. She could literally feel her face burning up.

"You probably already know why. You seem to know everything about me," Harry commented slyly. He got control of his embarrassment just in time.

"Oh, yeah," she said sarcastically, "Seriously, I don't know everything about you. Like right now, I have no clue what's on your mind," Elizabeth lied. Harry couldn't tell she lied, though.

"How about I show you what's on my mind?" he asked. He got up and sat on the couch Elizabeth was sitting on.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say that she really did know what was on his mind, but the minute she tried to say it, she found his mouth fused to hers.

Harry pulled back, after a few minutes, looking into her eyes. He waited to see what they looked like when she opened them. 'They were still that same soft brown,' Harry mused.

Elizabeth opened her eyes to see Harry gazing intently at her. 'His eyes are stormy now,' she thought, 'and for once, I don't know what emotion's raging through them.'

"It's late," Elizabeth said as a pitiful excuse, "Ron and Hermione are probably wondering where you are." She made sure she emphasized the 'you' part. She knew Ron and Hermione didn't like her much, and wouldn't care if she showed up or not.

"I bet they're wondering where you are, too," Harry said back.

"They don't care about me…"

"What makes you think that?"

"They don't seem to like me much anymore, do they?" Elizabeth questioned. Harry saw the hurt in her eyes.

"Of course, they do!" he exclaimed, "They're just not used to you, yet. That's all. Hey, quidditch practice coming up soon."

"Great, but Ron's had a year to get used to me…"

"Ron isn't used to being with more than one girl at a time. It confuses him. And Hermione, I don't know what her problem is, but Ron's following her lead. I know you didn't do anything to upset them, and Hermione still can't be mad about on the train," Harry tried to reassure her.

"Right…" she said sarcastically.

"Look, I'm trying to help you. Don't be difficult about it," Harry interrupted.

"Trying to help me? I don't need any help, okay? I'm here, in this life, to help, not to be helped," Elizabeth stated in a business like manner.

"That's what you'd like to believe," Harry commented.

"That's what I know, alright? I'll always be alone. I have my ear to the ground, listening to everyone else's emotions, feelings, problems, whatever. And for what, might I ask? For nothing. That's right, nothing. I try to know and understand everyone. Nobody's tried that for me, yet. They probably never will. They see me as the moderator, or the objective psychiatrist or whoever can help them carry their burdens. Granted…I don't mind one person's problems, but nobody else is there for me. I'm there for everybody else, and no one's there for me," Elizabeth ranted. After walking off her frustration, she plopped down on the humungous red loveseat and sighed.

"I had no idea you felt that way, " Harry said soothingly.

"I didn't want to tell you because you have too many problems without one of your more stable friends going pissy," Elizabeth replied with a smile.

"Am I the only person whose burdens don't bother you?" Harry asked.

"Naturally. I know you needed someone who you could talk to, not just chat with. I saw the minute I met you and Ron that Ron could be a little on the fickle side. Nothing wrong with changing your mind, but sometimes that's the worst thing in the world for a friend who's counting on you," Elizabeth commented.

"What about Hermione?" Harry questioned, amazed.

"She…" Elizabeth paused, trying to think about Hermione with an unbiased opinion. "She's a little bossy. Like I said for Ron's fickleness, nothing wrong with wanting things to go your way. But when there's no sense in picking a fight over it, why bother, you know?" Elizabeth evaluated.

"Yeah," Harry replied, totally in awe over hearing his friends being picked apart like this.

Then something in the back of his head said, 'I thought you had loyalty…here you are, fawning over a girl who just sort of insulted your two best friends.'

"Elizabeth," Harry started, "Maybe you shouldn't insult my friends in front of me."

"Who said I was insulting them?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't want the conversation going this way. She spoke before thinking, on good days. She knew she might end this relationship if she did that today.

"It sounded like it," Harry commented.

"Well, I wasn't," she said curtly.

"Alright, then whatever remarks you have about my two best friends, please, keep them to yourself in the future," he requested.

"Yeah, all right. I'll just keep my mouth shut while they go on hating me for no reason…makes perfect sense to me," Elizabeth said sarcastically. 'D'oh!' she thought as she mentally slapped herself.

"They don't hate you. If they did, they would have a reason."

"Oh, yeah? What, pray tell, would be their reason for hating me?" She didn't pay any heed to the voice in the back of her head that was saying 'Quit while you're behind.'

"I…I meant that if they ever hated you, they wouldn't do it for no reason. They won't go on disliking someone with no evidence against them."

Elizabeth sighed and slouched backward on the loveseat she was sitting on. She'd almost gotten into a big fight with her bes—boyfriend (that was going to take some getting used to) because of her stupid mouth. She wasn't going to do it, again.

They sat in silence for about five minutes. Harry could tell now that Elizabeth was worried that he, Ron and Hermione would cast her out of the haven of their friendship.

"I'll talk to them. I'll try to see why they've taken a dislike to you. Then, once I know, we'll get it all sorted out, and we'll all be friends again," Harry said as he stood up. He smiled at Elizabeth, rumpled her hair, and said, "Let's get back to the common room."

Elizabeth tried futilely to fix her hair before leaving the room. On her way back, she kept thinking about how charged her nerves were whenever she and Harry had these kind of encounters.