Words from the Heart:
1) Love in Pain
For Harry this was the lowest point in his life. Things were going wrong everywhere he turned and he didn't know why. It had all started last week in Potions class; he was talking to Cho Chang, his girlfriend of six months. They were talking about Quidditch…again. "Harry, is this all you can talk about? I mean you haven't even asked me what I want to talk about. I'm sick of it…What about me? That is if you even remember my name," whispered Cho angrily.
"Cho, I'm sorry, I love you. I do, I hope you know that," said Harry pleading.
"Oh, Harry come on; you say that every time. I can't talk right now. Just leave me alone," said Cho finishing the conversation. Later on that day things got worse when Harry found out from Hermione that Hedwig got lost retrieving Harry's mail. To Harry things couldn't get any worse…but of course they did.
"Harry, I'm glad I found you. I've been looking all over;" wheezed Professor Slughorn, "Harry…um how can I say this? Okay, well, we found Hedwig but…"
"But what?" he said, interrupting
"Well we found her, but she's dead. The rest of the staff and I chipped in to get you another owl. I'm sorry," said Slughorn.
Choking back tears Harry ran to the common room. He was thinking, 'How could this happen? Why?' He was still thinking when Hermione walked in. "WHY? WHY?" said Harry not realizing he said it out loud.
"Why what?" asked Hermione. She seemed to want to know everything; she was a very curious person. She knew everything already and with only three weeks away from graduation what more did Hermione need to know?
"Hedwig…she died," Harry cried he just couldn't keep the tears in any longer. As he continued, his voice grew weaker. "Hermione, my life is falling apart, and I can't stop it from happening. What do I do?"
"Well, Harry, that's for you to figure out, but I can tell you to follow your heart and anything can happen," Hermione said, giving him a hug and a small kiss on the cheek as they stepped back into the hall. But what Harry and Hermione didn't know was that Cho had just walked up behind them.
"Oh! So this is what you're doing when you run off. Just wait until Ron, hears about this Hermione. Just wait," yelled Cho.
"No! You've got it all wrong. I was comforting Harry, you see Hedwig died and Harry was feeling upset," said Hermione trying to explain.
"Sure…if you say so. But don't try to explain for Harry, because I want him to know that it is over between us. I hope he's happy," said Cho walking away with tears streaming down from her eyes. So like I said before Harry, was at an all time low. Everything was going wrong, his graduation was coming closer with everyday, and nothing anyone said or did made Harry feel better.
For a little while, life went by as usual. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still the best of friends. (Except for the fact that Ron and Hermione were a couple.)They had been for almost a year now. Harry had always knew that something had been going on between them and sooner of later it would become public. In fact, Harry had overhead a conversation between Ron and Mrs. Weasley about marriage. Harry didn't know when it would happen but he knew it would. Ron and Hermione were meant to be. It was just something everybody knew.
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A week later, something big happened and Harry wasn't sure if it helped him or not. Ron and Hermione were sitting at the Great Hall; when Ron did something Harry thought he would never do. I mean it took Ron seven years to ask Hermione out and he did this thing in less than a year. It was one large step for Ron and one huge step for red heads. Okay, it was just a huge step for Ron.
Ron got down on one knee in front of Hermione, and if I remember right Harry, told me he was shaking. Then beginning to speak he stuttered, "Hermione. Whoa! I didn't think it would be this hard. Hermione, I love you and want to be with you so marry me."
At first Harry thought, Hermione would never answer but then in a weak voice and teary eyes she managed to say, "Yes Ron, I will marry you." So, that was how we (Harry and I) ended up together. The trio graduated from Hogwarts and let's just say I think Ron and Hermione graduated a little happier than Harry did. The date was set and I received an invitation a week before the wedding. I guess Muggle mail takes longer or something I don't know. So, I sent a letter back to Hermione telling her I would be able to attend her wedding but I didn't know how I would get there.
I arrived at Hogsmeade a day late since it's harder to get into the wizard world than it is to get out. I met Hermione at Honeydukes (whatever that was) at 12:30 PM on Tuesday, three days before her wedding. "Hello Hermione, nice to see you again. So you really are going to marry this wizard?" I said to her laughing.
"Yes Emily, I am going to marry this wizard who's name is Ron. He is a great guy and I love him. He is funny and smart and we love each other to death," replied Hermione.
"Okay go and do with you want. So who is this Harry guy you keep telling me about? Is he nice?" I asked.
"My God, Emily you should now who he is. He is "the boy who lived" and yes, he is nice but right now is isn't feeling himself. You see his girlfriend dumped him and his owl died. He just can't seem to get over it. Hey! Maybe you should talk to him," Hermione told me as she continued, "Okay maybe you shouldn't meet him. Let him come to you. Yes that will be better," Hermione said. Geese, could anyone control someone's life better than Hermione can…I think not.
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It was finally Hermione's wedding day and she couldn't have looked more beautiful. The
Dress was amazing…I wish I was in her place. White with pearls and the veil, oh the veil I can't even describe it, how pretty it was. I had first seen the dress when she showed it to me in Hogsmeade but now the dress shined in a way that looked like the Northern Lights gleaming in the darkness. As she walked down the aisle with her father's hand in hers, I turned around to get a good look; and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I knew it was him. I think he saw me too. His glasses were shining in the sun light and all I could think was, 'Oh what a dork.' But then I felt bad for him, I could see the pain in his eyes but maybe the sun was just hurting his eyes. Who knows?
"Look Emily, he's coming over here," said Hermione.
"I know, hide me. He is such a dork," I whispered as he stepped in front of me.
"Emily, I would like to introduce you to Harry. Harry, Emily," she said. Thanks Hermione, that's just what I want.
"Hi, how nice to meet you," I said through my teeth as Hermione conveniently left to go "find" Ron. So, here I was stuck with a guy I barely knew with very messy hair. What was I supposed to do, and then he spoke and things changed.
"So, how are you related to Hermione?" he questioned. When he spoke, I could hear the pain in his voice like he had been suffering.
"Umm…she's my cousin," I stuttered back. Okay, so he's a nice guy, I'll stay for a while. He bought me a drink, butterbeer; weird but good and we sat and talked. After about talking for about 10 minutes, I knew everything about him. He opened up to me and then the part that took me by surprise was that he started crying.
"I just don't know what to do…my life it isn't in my hands anymore. I wish my parents were alive and I wish I still had Hedwig," he sobbed. This was just really weird, I know a guy for ten minutes, and he opens up and tells me his life story. So, I did the only sensible thing and gave him a hug. Luckily, Hermione and Ron came back, but from the minute, I saw them I knew they weren't going to stay very long.
"Hi Harry, having fun," Ron said laughing. But, Harry didn't respond he was asleep in my lap. Great, I barely know him and I'm sleeping with him.
"The poor guy, I guess he's so exhausted, I bet he hasn't slept in days. Ron we should let him stay the night with us, there is no way he can go home in this state. Emily, can you take him back to our hotel later…much later please?" said Hermione as she ran away clutching Ron. So, Harry was stuck with me for a few hours and he was asleep. I guess I'd have to wake him up; I'll have him show me Hogsmeade.
"Umm…Harry, Harry, wake up," I call to him.
"Wh…whhh…what...is that you Cho? I love you Cho," he sleepily sputtered. Great…he thinks I'm his ex-girlfriend.
"No Harry, its Emily…Hermione's cousin. I was wondering if you could show me the rest of Hogsmeade." I ask.
"Yeah sure, let's go, maybe I can even sneak us to Hogwarts," he said, unusually happy seeing how upset he was earlier. And then practically dragging me he took me to Hogwarts. Just as I thought it was locked but then he said, "Come on we're going to Honeydukes, I'm taking you to Hogwarts through the secret passage."
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As we made our way through the passage, I was developing a rather large bump on my head, Harry said, "I'm glad I can show you Hogwarts, I want you to know you are really making me feel a lot better." How sweet, I couldn't help but smile. Somehow, this guy was growing on me. I was really starting to like him.
"And here…we are," he said smiling. It was the first smile I had seen from him all night. "Okay, I have to show you the dormitories and then I'll take you to Hermione's favorite place…the library," and now the smile was really growing and I really started to like him. Something about him really caught my eye. Maybe it was the hair, or the glasses I don't know.
So, this was the Gryffindor common room, all I could see was maroon and gold. The four-poster beds were bare, only having the mattress on them and the room was ice cold, but I didn't feel cold. Not with Harry there, oh my God, was I falling in love with him? "What do you think Emily? It's not much but it was my home for seven years and it still is. Hogwarts will always be my home, I feel safe when I am here," he said from the heart. And that's when it happened, our lips met and we kissed. Well, I never expected this to happen; I am falling in love with a wizard. I think I like it. Harry and I hit it off and when I took him back to the hotel that night he stayed in my room, not Ron and Hermione's.
It was weird…it was the first time I fell in love with someone I only knew for a few hours. But, there was just something about Harry that was different. Maybe it was the pain I saw in his heart, or his hair that messy hair was sexy. He gave me butterflies when he spoke because whenever words came out of his mouth I knew they came from the heart. Before I knew it, it was morning and I was being woken by an extremely loud knock on the door. "Harry, are you in there mate?" Ron yelled. Harry jumped out of bed and the sheets slipped from our bodies. Quickly he put on a robe and ran to the door to open it. When he did, I noticed Ron wasn't alone. Who other than Hermione was standing by his side? "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb anything, we'll just go. I can see you are busy," said Ron hiding a chuckle.
"Good morning Emily, care to join me for breakfast. I suppose we should talk about what just happened," he kindly said quickly kissing my cheek as he made his way to the shower. An hour later, we exited the room and made our way to some restaurant and just walking in to join us was Hermione and Ron. Great timing those do have, don't they.
"Hi guys, well I can see you were busy," said Ron, boy do I hate the fact that he makes a joke out of everything.
"Ronald, knock it off, I'm sure they were just getting dressed weren't you," said Hermione in that bossy tone. I hate the bossy tone. As we sat down at the table, I could see Harry give Ron a little smirk. "Are you guys dating or not," she said getting down to business.
"Yeah, I suppose we are," Harry said laughing. Yeah I guess we are aren't we? I mean you can't not date after you've kissed a guy. A waiter, if you could call it that brought us some orange juice. (It was just a tray levitating by itself towards the table.) I am really starting to love this magic thing, it's so fascinating. I wish I weren't just a muggle. I missed out on a lot. Hermione is so lucky.
After breakfast, Ron and Hermione went off by themselves to do some "shopping" and Harry and I headed off to the shrieking shack. It is the most haunted house in Britain, thank you Hermione for drilling that into my brain. "You know," said Harry, "this is where Ron and Hermione had there first date. Of course it was unofficial, if you know what I mean." Funny, Harry was funny and that's just another reason why I love him.
"Oh really Hermione, never mentioned anything about that, but she did tell me everything else about the shack, I say laughing. Pop! "Harry, what was that?" I say worried. But then I saw it, Ron and Hermione, she is really getting annoying now following us.
"Hi, guys, can't you leave Emily and I alone for a little bit. I know she is your cousin but come on; I'm an adult," Harry said sounding a little annoyed. Then I heard it again, the pop! Except this time, it was us, we were gone. "Emily, I want to welcome you to my apartment."
Wow! Harry and I were dating for only one day and he was brining me to his house. "Hey Harry, how'd we get here. I mean we just appeared out of thin air," I was just a bit scared…just a little bit.
"It's called apparation and it's how wizards travel. I think it's better than a car. Anyway, would you like to sit down? I can get you a drink or something," he said apprehensively. When he came back, and joined me on the couch, he was quiet…really quiet. He laid down on the couch next to me and I began to stroke his hair. (I love his hair, the dark color and the fact that it has a mind of its own) "Emily?"
"Yeah Harry,"
"Everything is going to be okay now. I just know it, it's because your here. Don't ever leave me okay," his voice was soft and childish. And he closed his eyes, and just laid there.
"I won't leave you Harry, you are too important to me to leave. I don't know why but it's just the way you talk. I know it comes from the heart. I know we barely know each other but I love you Harry Potter. Hermione was right about you, you are different. I love you."
"I love you too,"he said. He was right things were going to be okay, he was different from any other man I dated. He was Harry. And we just laid there in each other's warmth, I could ease his pain and he could take care of me. "I love you too."