Don't own it.

I Love You

Chapter-17-An Understanding

AS the year progressed Faith felt more and more at home. Halloween was tomorrow and she could not wait. She had become closer with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny but she knew she could never be as close to them as they already were.

"Guess what," Ron said that night at dinner, "mum invited you and Harry over for the holidays Herm."

"Only because she loves us more than you Ron," Hermione joked.

Ron only half smiled. He then looked at Faith and said, "I told her about you to Faith. Did you want to come. Or are you going back home for the holidays."

"I would love to come Ron," she smiled.

"Alright then, I'll let her know."

Faith went back to her Halloween dinner. She had heard a lot about the Weasley's and couldn't wait to meet them. Jus then, Harry and Dean came running up to the group.

"We got'em," Harry panted sitting next to Ginny and Neville.

"Got what?" Hermione asked.

Harry hesitated before answering. It was Halloween on a Friday night and the teachers had given the students permission to stay up late and do as they please. No doubt about it that most of the students had pranks in mine. The ghost would still patrol but they wouldn't do anything if they caught a student walking around.

"Everyone's password," Harry told Hermione.

Hermione smiled. "How?"

"Dobby and Winky."

"I didn't think he'd actually give them to you," said Ginny.

"Neither did I."

"What do you have planned?" Faith asked Harry.

He looked at her and smiled. Faith felt herself feeling for her knees to see if she still had them. That smile. That smile that made him look like such a little boy again. His eyes went bright and he seemed to be filled with so much love. Faith loved it.

"Wait till tonight," he told her, in a slightly deeper voice than his normal one. That voice got Faith thinking of her and Harry in a certain way that she was sure would get her in trouble if Professor Trelwany were here. (sp?)

Later that night in the common room Ron said, "Okay, Ginny, you and Luna and Dean have Slytherin."

"Yes!" the three said and Ginny and Luna high fived each other.

"Me, Hermione and Dean get Huffelpuff."

Dean groaned. "They're too easy," he complained.

"But pathetic," Ron reminded him. "Harry, Faith, you two have got Ravenclaw."

"Okay."

"Do you think Cho was the one who jinxed the bludger?' Faith asked suddenly.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Luna told her. "Is till have a bruise."

Ginny sighed. "Cho was such a good girl."

"You'd think so," said Harry. "I think the whole Ravenclaw team was in on it. Cho would never work alone with something like that."

"We used to all be friends," Dean out in. "Even with Twit."

"What happened?" Faith asked.

Ron was about to open his mouth to answer her but Harry said quickly, "Hermione, didn't you have something you wanted to add?"

"I'm surprised you remembered," she said going over to her bag. She came back to them and held up two bottles. "These," she began, "are invisibility powders. We'll sprinkle this over ourselves and be invisible for one hour, eleven minutes and three seconds. Now, I am guessing, everyone is doing his or her pranks right now, so we'll go out later. Harry, I figured you and Faith can use your cloak."

"That's fine."

"When will we go out?"

"I was thinking around two."

"Okay."

Until then the group was busy eating candy that Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George had sent them and telling scary stories. There was even some candy from the professors.

Dean was telling them a scary story from Ireland that his father had told him. Everyone was leaning in so they could hear him. "And now," he was finishing, "if you ever go to the towns graveyard in Ireland they say that you can still hear. . ." he paused.

"Hear what?" Ginny whispered.

Dean turned to her. "Hear. . . BOO!"

Everyone screamed and Ginny fell to the floor. Ron helped her up. "You okay Gin?"

Ginny breathed in and out hard. "Yeah. . .fine." She hit Dean in his arm, "You dumb jerk with your dumb stories!"

"Dumb true stories," he said to her.

A few hours later and the clock struck finally struck two. Everyone sat up and walked outside. They sprinkled the powder on themselves and Harry put his cloak over him and Faith.

The next morning as Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Faith got ready Ginny suddenly let out a cry. "What?" Hermione asked rushing over to her.

"The shoes," she said. "They're so cold, like ice!"

Hermione looked at Luna who said, "Mine to."

"They all are," Faith said who had just felt her own shoes.

Hermione thought. "Like ice, huh? Come on, bring your shoes down stairs. We'll warm them up." They did as they were told. "Stick them in the sunlight on the ledge." Hermione waved her wand in the air. "In ten minutes they should be warmed up."

A moment later the boys came down and Hermione and Ron starred at each other. "You to?" asked Ron and Hermione nodded. "Come on guys."

"You know who ever did this curse wasn't very smart," said Neville.

They all took a seat. "But it was good," said Dean. "Who ever did this got by us."

Ginny laughed. "Malfoy is going to be so pissed."

"What did you do?" Faith asked.

"Wait till lunch," she told her. "What about you and Harry?"

The two smiled at each other. "Ours won't work till lunch either."

"We did make sure there were no counter curses, right?" Ron asked everyone.

"Of course," they all answered together.

"So what did everyone do last night?" Faith asked them.

They laughed and Ginny answered, "Our won't work till lunch."

"Ours either," said Dean. "We wanted them to think that nothing hit'em."

Ten minutes later they all grabbed their shoes. "Who ever did this wasn't too bright," said Dean.

"Ron," said Hermione, "I need to run to the library."

Ron nodded. "I'll be by later."

"We need to finish up this Yule ball."

"I know."

"Ginny," began Luna, "Do you and Dean want to come with me and Neville to the Quiditch pitch?"

Ginny looked at Dean who nodded. She looked back to Luna and answered, "Sure, coming Faith?"

"In a moment."

"Harry," Ron called, "come help me with something." Harry followed Ron upstairs and the others left.

Faith was going for her sweater when she felt a cold wind brush against her. She went to the window to close it but changed her mind then and smiled. It was snowing! Finally! Why already had to be almost three inches deep! Forget Quiditch, Faith wanted to go out and play in the snow.

When she was younger Faith would climb trees and then jump in snow almost four feet deep. It was a good excuse like the leaves, to get away from her father.

Faith walked down an open hallway. She looked at the slowly falling snow before running out laughing. She threw the snow in the air, she kicked at it, jumped and twirled and stuck out her tong. She then reached for her hair and pulled it out of the tight ponytail it was in and allowed the wind to whip it out.

Twenty minutes later she collapsed onto the ground breathing hard and starring at the sky. She suddenly felt someone watching her and turned her head. She saw Harry starring at her with an amused look on his face. She waved him over as she stood up.

"You're like a little girl," he said as he walked up to her. "You've even got the giggles and the pink nose."

Faith giggled then put her hand over her mouth from embarrassment but still laughed. "Winter's my favorite season," she said after removing her hands.

"I thought it was fall."

"Fall to. And I guess spring."

"You're happy all year round aren't you?"

Faith shrugged. She wasn't that happy during summer. Summers meant no school and no school meant that she had to find something to do to get out of the house.

She dismissed the thought and bent down to gather snow in her hands. "What are you doing?" Harry asked her.

She straightened her back and quickly threw a pack of snow at him. She laughed. Harry threw one back at her just as quick. Before they knew it, both teens were throwing snow at each other and in the air, jumping kicking and dancing. Patches of grass began to show in some areas.

Wile Harry's back was turned to her Faith jumped on him and tackled him to the ground. "I can do the same to you," Harry laughed.

"Do your worse," Faith challenged.

Harry rolled over so Faith was on her back and began tickling her. "H-Harry!" Faith laughed. "N-No! NO! HA-HA!" She rolled over form side to side but couldn't seem to get away from his hands.

"Surrender!" he said to her.

"Never!"

Harry stopped for a second to say, "The strong type," and then began tickling her again.

A few more moments and he stopped. Harry's hands dropped over her shoulders. The two starred at each other as their breathing slowly returned to normal. Faith noticed that desirable look in Harry's eyes again. They had that darker green tint again.

Harry rested a bit more of his weight on her, until he completely covered her with just his legs on the ground. Neither of them said anything. Faith had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that seemed to be rising and wouldn't stop getting stronger.

A slightly stronger wind came and Faith suddenly pulled Harry closer to her and buried her face in his chest to keep warm. Harry slid his arms underneath her neck and buried his own face in it.

Even after the wind passed they still remained like that. Harry could feel Faith playing with his cloak. His nose brushed against her cheek as he lifted his head. A tingling feeling went trough Faith's spine that she gasped and pulled Harry back closer to her. She couldn't help it. No one had ever been this close to her. . . .Well. . .. Jose was. But him being close to her didn't feel this good.

She lifted her head to look at him. He had a pleasing smile on his face and their noses were inches apart. Harry brought his hand to Faith's cheek and rubbed it. She opened her mouth to gasp but no sound came out. He then touched both her cheeks and traced right under lip, her chin and the rest of her jaw line.

Both of his hands touched her neck. He frowned and his face now had a displeasing look on it. He then grabbed one of her hands in his own and brought the up to his lips. Faith's breathing quickened. But he didn't what she thought he would. Instead, he breathed on it, warming it up and slowly rubbed it.

"You're cold," he whispered.

Then, suddenly, he was off her and pulling Faith up with him and dragging her back into the deserted hallway. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked with. . . was that concern in his voice? For Faith? He cupped both her hands in his and rubbed both of them this time and breathed on them. "You should have told me you were cold. We would've come back in."

"I wasn't," Faith whispered. But he didn't hear her, and a part of Faith was glad he didn't.

"You can't be getting sick," he went on. "You need your strength for the finals, the ball and Mrs. Weasley. Believe me, you do not want her fussing all over you."

Faith smiled. No one ever wanted to care for her like this. "Harry," she said so he could hear. Harry looked up at her and saw her smile and now glazed over eyes. Faith dropped her hands from his and instead, wrapped her arms around his waist. Harry did the same to her almost immediately.

Silent tears came from both of them, but more from Harry. He finally understood everything. The dreams he had before he met Faith, about Faith. Her alcoholic father, and, sadly, the scars that she once had.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I had no idea."

"Don' be," Faith told him. She pulled away and said, "Harry, I have to tell you something. If I don't I might just explode." Harry nodded for her to continue. More tears came from Faith before she said, "I have never been to a magic school. This is my first time."

And she told him everything. Everything she knew about her father and Stan. The night she ran away, about the black book she found, seeing Draco for the first time. The men and how she got onto the platform. Everything Dumbledore had told her earlier and the few things she knew about her mother and father.

When she was done she was a step back from Harry. "I'll understand if you"-

"No, no," Harry said quickly taking her hands in his again. "We're still okay. None of this is really that big of a surprise. I mean"-

"I know what you mean," Faith said to him. "So we're still cool?"

"Of course we are. I'm actually glad I know. Maybe I can help you with your black book. And maybe even tutor you."

Faith wiped her tears away. "Okay. I could use some help."

Harry smiled. He put his arm across her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go get some lunch. We wouldn't want to miss Huffelpuff's new skin do."

Faith laughed. "I guess not. What did Ginny and everyone else do?"

"Well, Ginny and her group charmed the Slytherin's guys voices to make them sound like they just sucked in helium." Faith laughed. "And Ron and his group charmed Marigold and her friends clothes to make them bigger so that they would all their boobs shrunk."

Faith laughed again. "That was probably Hermione's idea. She's always saying how she wishes she could do that and not get in trouble for it."

"When does Hermione say that?"

"You're not the only person I always talk to, Harry."