Harmony Sea of Gryffindor bolted in the direction of the Great Hall from the Transfiguration classroom, barely grabbing her bag. One of her best mates, Sirius Black, was struggling to keep up with her as she ran through the crowded halls, turning this corner and then that one sharply. He kept his eyes on her back with difficulty.
"What's the rush, Sea?" he whined while tripping over a first year. The poor little bloke went flying into a suit of armour, knocking it over. Laughter rung out around the corridor.
"Caffeine." she mumbled in reply, hardly giving Sirius a glance.
"We had a spare first thing! Did you not sleep in?" Sirius asked in disbelief as the pair entered the Great Hall at last.
"Hardly. Not with Lily around, anyway." Harmony stopped and searched for an empty seat at the Gryffindor table. "'Wake up! Spares are for studying, not sleeping!'" Harmony said in a poor attempt at Lily's voice.
Sirius just laughed. "It's funny because it's true." he said quickly at Harmony's glare. "Right. Why don't we get you some coffee, yeah?" he placed a hand on Harmony's back and guided her to an empty spot.
The Great Hall was filled with laughter and loud, mindless chatter. Harmony suddenly felt an odd surge of affection towards Hogwarts. Where would she be without this place? She had made some of the best memories while attending the school. Best friends. Best grades. Best years of her life.
Still, it's hard to love Hogwarts sometimes when a whole crap load of teenagers have been locked up inside a castle for months together. The gossip gets ridiculous.
Harmony, James and Sirius made up a game that on every Friday, they meet up and share only the most far-fetched and hilarious pieces of gossip they heard throughout the week to each other. The great part about it was they never really ran out of gossip, because it was Hogwarts.
Harmony's leading one this week was provided by some fifth year at lunch: Tianna Longe, (an annoying fourth year with a huge crush on Sirius Black and a hate for Harmony Sea) snuck out of the castle and smuggled firewhiskey in last Saturday night and after she was pretty drunk, snogged a seventh year in a broom cupboard. Now here's the crazy part: the seventh year's girlfriend (both people unknown) had walked in on the scene and Tianna had beat her up and hexed her on the spot, no hesitations. Attention whore much? Try to guess who really wanted to seem like a tough girl this week.
There were three things that had Harmony concealing a laugh about this story. One: the only working passageway out of the castle was in use that night by none other than Harmony herself. Two: Harmony and the marauders might have been at the Three Broomsticks that night (one of the only places to buy alcohol) and didn't see any sign of Tianna. And finally three: Tianna beating someone up? While drunk? That's a joke. She couldn't even do it sober. The snogging-a-seventh-year part wasn't that much of a shocker because he was probably half blind and only looking for someone who wears their shirt down to their belly button, showing off an impressive amount of chest-acne.
As Harmony finally poured herself a cup of that beautiful coffee and added a bit of cream and sugar, she moaned in pure delight as the caffeine started to kick in a couple of moments later.
Sirius grinned while giving her a questionable look.
Harmony muttered, "Mind out of the gutter, dog."
She heard a snort behind her and turned slightly to see Remus sit down on her other side.
"Alright Harmful, Padfoot?" He asked while piling food onto his own plate.
"Swell." Harmony replied before taking a deep gulp out of her coffee mug and then grabbing a roll from the basket in front of her.
"That sounds like it came from the heart." Remus commented.
Harmony ignored this and tried her hardest to also ignore the disgusting sounds of Sirius stuffing his face full of food. Let's just say it was easier said than done.
"Where's James?" she asked Remus in an attempt to block out Sirius. The little shit was doing it just to irk her and it was working, she regretfully admitted.
"Just coming in now." he replied pointing towards the grand oak double doors of the hall.
"He looks..." she trailed off and snuck a glance at the Ravenclaw table, where Lily Evans was leaning on her boyfriend Korey List. His arm was tightly around her waist in a protective gesture. Korey turned, saw James' stare with a smirk, flipped the bird to the single marauder and turned back to his lunch.
Oooh. Harmony was so going to have a talk with a certain red-haired Lily Evans and her slimy little git of a boyfriend.
"That little-" Harmony started and stood up but before she could leave the table, she was yanked back down by both Sirius and Remus who were evidently watching the scene too.
James sat down glumly across from them and glared down at his plate, as if it was the reason Lily Evans didn't feel the same love for James Potter as he did for her.
Harmony reached across to swipe up James' mug and pour a cup full of coffee in it, expertly adding cream and sugar. She did this manoeuvre so smoothly, almost as if it had been performed many times before. Every day about three to seven times a day, actually.
James lifted his sad, hazel eyes to meet hers and muttered, "Thanks."
Before he could look back down, Harmony grabbed his hand and squeezed it a little. "She'll come around, James."
He just nodded. Awkward silence commenced.
Harmony waited for Sirius to take a bite out of his pork-chop before aiming a kick at his shin.
Good thinking, because the food muffled his shriek.
"What the hell?" Sirius mouthed at her, after he had swallowed his food. She nodded her head in James' direction and took another bite from her roll. "Er," Sirius started, eyes sliding over to Harmony uncertainly. "When's the Quidditch match again, Prongs?"
James' eyes lit up excitedly. "The Saturday after Christmas break!" The two launched into Quidditch conversation enthusiastically.
Harmony smiled slightly as scanned the hall for something interesting. Twice, her gaze swept over the Slytherin table before she realized someone was gazing back.
Someones, actually.
There, a mob of the seventh and sixth-year Slytherin rumoured Death Eaters huddled around their obvious ringleader, Avery. Altogether there were five blokes huddled around him; Mulcier, Nott, Travers, Snape, and Rosier. Harmony's stomach churned just thinking about them, and what they could do - and have done.
But no way was she going to back down from those murderers. With this thought, she could almost here Becca saying "Oh God, here we go."
Her eyes narrowed and took on a challenging look as she scanned each of their faces, finally resting on Severus Snape's. His eyes bored into hers and she was reminded forcefully of when he had hurt Lily beyond repair and tried to brush it off.
Well, he tried to brush it off until he couldn't take it anymore and camped outside of the Gryffindor portrait hole for a couple nights. Harmony, Becca, Liven and Alice forcefully threw Lily out and forced her to tell him to leave. He did, in the end.
Harmony's eyes purposely slid toward Lily's back. Snape followed her gaze and stiffened when he saw the beautiful red-head. He dropped his gaze.
"Harms," Sirius whispered in her ear, causing her eyes to drop from the group of Slytherins down to her lap. "Why are they looking at you?"
"I don't know." she replied truthfully, still eyeing them.
"I can stop them, you know." Sirius said, sizing them up.
"How about: that's not a good idea." Harmony replied.
"Fine." he looked grudgingly down to his empty plate.
"I don't want you starting something over nothing, Sirius." She patted his shoulder. "But thanks."
He nodded and went back to refilling his plate. The Slytherins kept on whispering and staring at Harmony. Harmony stared back.
Finally Sirius said, "Ready for Potions, Harmful?"
She nodded and gathered her stuff, breaking eye contact again with the Slytherins.
The pair of sixth-year Gryffindors made their way to the double doors to exit the Great Hall. The Slytherin group was still hissing furiously to each other and watching Harmony like their life depended on it. Avery was smirking evilly and nodding.
So, Harmony couldn't resist shouting, after a quick look to the staff table, "DON'T LOOK SUSPICIOUS GUYS! PEOPLE MIGHT THINK YOU'RE UP TO SOMETHING!" she then proceeded to shoot the group of shocked Slytherins the middle finger and grin wickedly, running out of the hall before someone beat the shit out of her. Adrenaline was fun.
Sirius pulled her out of the Entrance Hall roughly and yanked her into the nearest broom cupboard by the arm. It smelled of sweat and dust, which was disgusting.
"Do you want to die?" he whisper-yelled at her in the darkness.
Adrenaline was not fun.
Harmony leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "They were planning something."
"So you do that? You just gave a bunch of Death Eaters the finger, Harmony! You provided them with a red button bearing the word 'GO' on it!" Sirius said, his eyes serious.
"I'll be fine! I'm at Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's eye. Besides, they don't need me for anything anyway!" Harmony shouted back.
"You should have let me and James deal with it!" Sirius placed his hands on her shoulders.
"What, you don't think I'm capable of sticking up for myself?" Harmony stepped away from his hands. She was getting mad now.
He crossed his arms over his uniform-chest and furrowed his eyebrows. "That's not what I meant."
"Oh, that's a relief. Because it sure sounded like it. Honestly Sirius it was a joke. They don't even know my name. They were probably talking shit about my hair or something." she replied angrily.
"Harmony-" Sirius tried to start.
Harmony cut him off. "You of all people I thought would laugh. Not drag me in a broom cupboard and yell at me."
"I would have laughed my head off if it wasn't aimed at a bunch of Death Eaters who have committed murder and are three times your size!" Sirius threw his arms in the air, frustrated.
"They won't do anything to me under Dumbledore's eye." Harmony said, eyes narrowed.
"How do you know, Harmony? Let's be realistic." he leaned closer to her. "They don't even need Hogwarts anymore. If they get expelled they'll just run off and serve Voldemort earlier than planned! Punishments aren't stopping them!" he finished shrilly.
"Sirius! It's not just the punishments, it's Dumbledore! They wouldn't do anything with him around. If Voldemort's scared of him, then they sure as hell are too! You're overreacting so much." Harmony yelled, leaning closer to Sirius too.
"You're the one who just told me not to start something out of nothing! Now you've gone and pissed them off just because they were looking at you!" Sirius groaned.
"I can handle myself, Sirius." she hissed.
"Forgive me for being concerned about you!" Sirius yelled sarcastically, whipping his head back. Gryffindor versus Gryffindor fights are always a sight to see.
Harmony banged open the door to the closet and strode out. "Harmony-" Sirius tried to grab her arm but she shook it off.
"Leave me alone, Black." she whipped around to say dangerously.
"I'm trying to help you and you're just being a bitch!" Sirius yelled.
His words hit her like a slap in the face. "Wow. Thanks, Sirius. What a friend you are." she was so inexplicably mad at him and being mad was not a good idea for someone with a personality like Harmony's.
"Harmony-" he started again, his voice losing anger as he tried to call out to her.
She was already gone, shoving her way roughly through the little crowd of people who had stopped to listen in.
Harmony furiously held back tears of anger as she dropped her bag behind a tapestry. She sprinted deep into the heart of the castle, turning random corners and slipping through passageways, no particular destination in mind. She tried not to think about her friends or the marauders or a certain Sirius Black that was sitting glumly in the back of a smelly Potions classroom.
Harmony got back to her dorm later that night, after skipping all three afternoon school periods (not a good idea, but luckily she knew she could catch up) and dinner. She was kind of hungry and had no where to go after setting the Room of Requirement on fire no less than twenty-three times before the it formed a wall and it pushed her out the door. She was so shocked that she temporarily forgot about the burning match in her hand at the time. Ouch.
Harmony trudged up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower with blistering burns, a rumbling stomach, an angry mind and a heart a bit hurt, to be honest. It was mostly anger, though.
How would you feel if your good friend called you a bitch in front of a crowd of people? Or just called you a bitch at all? Yeah, not like a million galleons.
She walked past the last group of people in the common room without a even a glance in their direction and continued up the stairs to her dorm.
Harmony burst through the door and found her four dorm mates all sitting cross-legged on Lily's bed and in a deep, hushed conversation. They were now looking at her wide-eyed.
Before any of them could say anything to her she snapped, "You better be discussing how much of a prick he is."
Liven looked to her friends before she said cautiously, "Harms, it wasn't the smartest thing to say to those Slyth-"
"Save it." she hissed. "And you lecturing me, of all people." Satan-Harmony decided to make an appearance?
"There was no need for that, Harmony. Just because you and Sirius had a little fight-" Becca started cooly.
"He had no right getting his back all bent out of shape over what I did. It was a joke. The whole thing isn't even an issue! It's nothing! I gave them the finger, so what? It's not a big deal!" Harmony banged her head on Alice's bed post, willing herself not to kill anyone. She took a deep breath and let her heart ache just a little at the word bitch. But only a little, because being called a bitch is not something to mull over like a twelve-year-old. " I would just like to know why the fuck everyone so offended?"
"Harmony." Liven came over and hugged Harmony, choosing the soft-approach.
"I'm sorry." Harmony mumbled in a quiet voice.
"It's fine, okay? We brought you coffee." Liven pulled out of the embrace and grabbed a mug off the dresser.
It was surprisingly still warm in Harmony's fingers.
"Becca put a warming charm on it." Liven explained.
"Thank you, guys." Harmony said sincerely, suddenly exhausted.
She took a sip of her coffee and looked into the faces of her mates. "Okay, so you need to sit down on my bed and we're going to do your make-up." Becca declared suddenly, talking to Harmony.
"You're-what? Sorry?" Harmony asked, confused.
"You look like hell. We're going to do your make-up and be giggley and silly and stereotypical girls, okay?" Liven replied for Becca.
"Dibs on eyes!" Lily screeched as she ran to the bathroom to get the huge bag of cosmetics from under the sink. Harmony laughed, succumbing to whatever they were going to do to her face. She wiggled out of her school shirt and skirt, putting on her favourite sweatpants and t-shirt.
"I know I skipped today, but have you every noticed how fucking freezing the Potions classroom is? Even if it's June it's always so cold down there. I just want to hex someone's brains out whenever I go there in a kilt." Harmony complained to Alice, crashing onto her friend's bed.
Alice just giggled and hugged Harmony. "No Slytherins, okay?"
Harmony grinned with her eyes closed. "Ah, no promises, Alice dear."
Alice just rolled her eyes.
"So. Frank Longbottom." Harmony sat up and smiled, ear to ear, as Alice blushed Gryffindor red.
"Oh Harmony." she jumped slightly in excitement. "He asked me to Hogsmeade after class today!"
"What?! Alice!" Harmony squealed. "You're going to get married and kiss and do inappropriate things and have little Alice-Frank babies and they'll be so cute and I'll babysit!"
"Harmony!" Alice blushed deeper but added, "You really think so? I was so nervous oh my goodness."
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh please let me be a bridesmaid!" Harmony grabbed Alice's hands and sang, "Alice and Frank, together at last, forever after…wait, it'll come to me…even when passed!"
The pair burst into loud laughter, earning odd looks from Lily, Becca and Liven who resided in the bathroom, planning out Harmony's new (temporary) face.
After many 'ouch!'s, 'shut up!'s and 'don't move, Harmony!'s, the unexpected makeover was complete.
"You look amazing!" Alice squealed.
"Give me a mirror. Let's see what you did to me." Harmony sighed, letting a grin grace her lips nevertheless.
Lily beamed and handed her the little hand mirror.
Harmony studied her reflection: dark, mysterious-looking eyes, the illusion of killer-amazing cheekbones, and lips that were just left alone.
"What do you think?" Becca asked excitedly.
"I think you did a great job." Harmony cracked a smile. She really didn't like getting make-up caked on her face very much, but it was fun every once and a while.
Lily laughed. "I know. Can we do it like this for graduation?" she asked eagerly, her large, emerald green eyes wide.
"In two years? Sure, Lils." Harmony smiled.
"Let me take a picture!" Liven cried as she pounced over to her trunk and pulled a big camera out of it. She leaned in and together the girls laughed and made faces, holding the brushes up and doing insane dances for the camera lens.
"I have never felt more girly in my entire life." Harmony concluded, out of breath.
"It's fun to be immature again! I feel twelve and I love it!" Lily exclaimed, throwing her head back and laughing. Her hair was so beautiful and long when she did that, Harmony noticed.
"Too bad it's a school night. And as much fun as I've had with you beautiful ladies, I need my sleep. And let's all agree that it will be hard enough getting Miss Sea out of bed without staying up even later." Becca yawned.
"True true." Lily sighed and crashed on her four-poster bed.
"I'm going to wash my face and brush teeth. Thanks for tonight, guys." Harmony walked to the bathroom and closed the door. She washed her face off and was sort of sad to see the make-up go - the nostalgia already setting in.
After Harmony brushed her teeth, she climbed into bed and listened to the soft snores of her best friends as they drifted off to sleep, looking out the window and gazing at the stars.
One in particular, actually. One named Sirius.
What she did with the girls was fun, and she loved them for it. They were masters of distraction. But Sirius. Sirius. She had almost forgotten for a moment. She was hurt, but not talking to him was not an enjoyable experience.
After a while, Harmony concluded that she really, really could not sleep. So, as quiet as a mouse, she crept out of her dorm with a novel and tiptoed down the stairs.
The common room was deserted, not a soul sitting on the couches or lounging by the fire. Harmony made her way over to a squishy chair directly in front of the fire and curled up with her book.
After about a half hour, she heard the light paddle of feet on stairs. Her heart jumped into her throat at the sudden noise, automatically assuming it was someone bearing an axe and an intent to kill her.
A figure appeared at the bottom of the boy's staircase. He scanned the room before his gaze stopped on Harmony curled in the armchair. Sirius, of course.
Harmony watched as he approached. She was too tired to be as mad as she was before, and she really didn't want another fight at the moment. His eyebrows were furrowed and he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Her eyes flicked to his stormy grey ones for a second and back down to the page of her book, reading the same sentence over and over, not paying attention to one single word.
Sirius studied her for a moment. The flames were flickering in her eyes and shadows were slipping across her face; jaw here, cheekbone there. Her eyelashes were casting long shadows on her cheek, and her lips were pressed together.
"Harmony." Sirius whispered while moving closer to her. She froze. Her eyes were loosely focused on one word, and she still wasn't processing it. Exonerate. Exonerate. Exonerate. Exonerate.
"Yes, Sirius?" she finally replied, moving her head to look into the fire. Flames danced in the reflection of her eyes.
"I'm sorry." he whispered, placing a hand on her arm gently.
She nodded. "I'm sorry too." she turned her eyes towards up at him, not sure how her facial expression looked.
"Look I-" he started, eyebrows knit together.
"It hurt, Sirius. I want you to know that." she said, in a surprisingly strong voice.
"Believe me, I know. I didn't mean it. You of all people know I could never think of you like that. You're as far from a bitch as one can be, Harmony. Seriously." Sirius' hand slid down to her forearm.
She laughed lightly. "Today...it made me realize what is really going on. I pissed of Death Eaters, Sirius. I'm a muggleborn. My family...what if they target my family? This war isn't shits and giggles anymore. People are dying." Harmony whispered the last part.
"I know, Harmony, I know. We'll go to Dumbledore tomorrow and see if the Ministry can put extra enchantments around your house, okay? It'll be over soon, I hope." Sirius sat down and patted the spot beside him.
Harmony got up, leaving her book on the chair and went to sit beside Sirius. She curled up next to him, but not quite on him, and eventually her eyes got heavier and heavier before she fell asleep, the silhouette of the dancing flames burning behind her eyelids.
She was awoken a while later by Sirius. "It's like three am, Harms. We both fell asleep." He poked her nose with his finger.
She blushed and stood up to stretch. "I'm so tired." she muttered. Sirius put an arm around her and guided her over to the girls' dormitory staircase. Her mind automatically registered all the physical contact that was happening, and she wasn't quite sure how she felt when she realized that she liked it. A lot.
They approached the bottom of the staircase and he wrapped both arms around Harmony. "I'm still going to stick up for you, even if you're a kick-ass dueller and don't need my help. I, most likely along with James, would be completely unable to stand back and watch you fight alone. I'm the sort of person that needs to be in the action!"
Harmony snorted, making sure her body didn't move too much in fear of him removing his arms from around her. "I know, Pup. I assure you that you're my true knight in shining armour." she chuckled and rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around Sirius in return.
"Knight in shining, talking armour?" Sirius questioned, referring to her little anxiety attack from the marauders' Halloween prank back in October.
"Let's not talk about my little episode." she said, half-laughing, as if one of the empty suits of armour stationed around Hogwarts would hear her and come after her again.
Sirius laughed and loosened his hold on her waist to look at her face. He took one hand up and twirled a curl between his fingers, then leaving the hair to rest on Harmony's shoulder again. All joking was gone from their eyes as Sirius lightly placed a hand on her cheek.
His other hand rested on the small of Harmony's back as she leaned ever so slightly into Sirius. He leaned in too. Closer. Closer.
Their faces were so close. Their bodies were so close. Harmony could feel Sirius' soft, warm breath on her lips. Sirius tilted his head to the side slightly, still leaning in, his eyes now trained on her lips. Her face felt warm and flushed and her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that he must've felt it.
Shit. Shit.
Was he going to-
Were they-
His lips were right there-
She would just have to close the gap. Did she want to?
The answer surprised her; yes, she did.
Harmony Sea wanted to kiss Sirius Black right then. And little did she know that he wanted to kiss her, too.
And they probably would have if James bloody fucking Potter hadn't stumbled down the stairs at that very moment calling overly loud and shattering the silence, "SIRIUS? Sirius! Oh hey Harmony. I didn't know where Sirius wen-oh. I interrupted something. Shit."
The moment was completely gone. Stabbed and shot with a muggle gun, ran over by a train, eaten by a hippogriff and shit out multiple times. That's how gone the moment was.
Sirius slid his hands off her back and cheek as Harmony took hers off his shoulders. They were both blushing. Furiously.
"Uh-" Sirius started as Harmony said at the same time, "Erm-"
It was quiet, as James looked from Harmony to Sirius in shock.
"I'm pretty tired, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Harmony finally said flatly before sprinting up the stairs with energy that someone could not have if they were 'tired'.
Sirius just stared after her. "That was Harmony." he said in disbelief.
"You guys almost kissed! Scratch that - it looked like you were going to eat her face!" James said excitedly. "We all knew it was coming. It was obvious. Damn. Liven almost won the bet there."
"I'm sorry, what?" Sirius asked, caught off guard.
"Oh, er, we made a bet on how long it would take for you guys to snog." James said sheepishly, scratching his neck awkwardly.
"How come I didn't know of this?" it was quickly forgotten, however, as Sirius looked into the fire. "Did I actually almost kiss Harmony Sea?" he mumbled the last part to himself.
"What?" James said. "Couldn't hear you."
"Nothing. Let's go to bed, yeah?" Sirius said. So the boys walked up the staircase, Sirius still wondering what the hell just happened.
Harmony was having similar thoughts. She lay awake in her bed, still smelling faint traces of Sirius' cologne on her and gazing up at the stars out the window.
She had almost kissed Sirius. It had all happened so bloody fast.
Her best mate.
Her - what? Her what? That's all they were right now - best mates. Did he want to take it further? Did she want to take it further?
She was confused, flushed, and pretty exhausted, eventually falling asleep with the image of Sirius' face leaning closer and closer to hers.
Harmony woke up to sunlight streaming through the window and a big, emerald eyes looking straight into hers. She then realized her face was slightly wet from the cup of cold water Lily had evidently poured on Harmony to wake her up.
"Wha-" she yelped in alarm, feeling water rolling down her neck.
"She lives!" Liven cried while yanking her skirt on from across the room.
Lily smiled, satisfied at her work. Harmony sat there confused for a moment, before the events of the night came rushing back. Sirius, apologies, sleeping, Sirius' face-
Woah. It wasn't just a dream. What the hell happened?
"...pass me the concealer, I want to cover up this excuse of a complexion." Becca called while Liven tossed it in her general direction from the make-up bag on the dresser from where they left it the night before.
The girls kept talking all around the room but Harmony wasn't paying them the slightest bit of attention.
"Oh my gosh." Harmony muttered.
"What's up, Harms? Didn't finish your homework?" Alice asked mildly while braiding her hair.
"No..." Harmony swallowed. "We almost kissed!" she said loudly, gripping her face.
That got everyone's attention.
"I'm sorry, what?" Liven froze.
"We were talking...he apologized...I fell asleep...he was walking me to the stairs...and he just sort of...his face was...and then James-" Harmony mumbled to herself.
"You almost kissed Sirius?" Lily asked in disbelief.
"Woah. What do you mean by almost?" Liven yelled. "I could have won the bloody bet!"
"You made a bet?" Harmony screeched.
"Weeeelllllllll-" Liven started.
"Never mind. Are you still friends?" Lily asked.
"Guess we'll find out, huh?" Harmony laughed weakly.
So the girls went about getting ready, make-up tossed around, screeching for answers on last-minute homework assignments, and this morning, awkward questions like, 'did he smell good?' or 'where were his hands?'.
Finally, the group of sixth-years girls were ready. Harmony was incredibly nervous. Was he going to talk to her? Look at her? They didn't even kiss! Harmony constantly had to remind herself of this fact. But it was still an odd sensation on her part. Did she fancy him? Did he fancy her?
Sure, he was gorgeous. And funny. And kind. And mischievous. And smart. And caring. And so bloody gorgeous! But they were best mates. Their friendship was usually pretty hands-on, Harmony noticed. The marauders always were the type to hug, and pat you on the back, and Sirius had occasionally put an arm around her. But it had never gotten that close before. He looked like he wanted to kiss her. Harmony wanted to kiss him. What was the big deal?
They were supposed to be friends! That was the big deal! Harmony had never in her life been in this type situation.
Liven kept saying it wasn't a big deal, Harmony countered. But that's probably because she'd snogged about every boy in Hogwarts.
Now that Harmony thought about it...Liven had never come back to the dorm with her hair and clothes askew singing, "Sirius Black, ladies!"
Harmony briefly wondered why they had never snogged. The womanizer and the snogging-queen had never gotten together?
This is weird. Harmony's weird. This situation is weird. Life is weird. Harmony chanted to herself as she exited the dorm. She summoned her Gryffindor courage and marched down the stairs, to where the marauders were waiting.
She spotted Sirius, who raised his eyebrows slightly. "Morning, kids." she forced out a grin, feeling Becca directly behind her. "Good morning."
"Oh, it's a splendid morning!" James was grinning too widely and looking between Sirius and Harmony. Harmony furiously fought off a blush.
"Right. Well I need my coffee. Coming, guys?" she raised her eyebrows and smiled at the group who was watching the exchange eagerly. Great. So all of them now knew. Obviously James would tell the other marauders. After all, she told her mates.
"Sure. Let's go." Sirius replied on behalf of the group.
Sirius followed Harmony out of the portrait hole where he tried really hard not to notice the way Harmony's hair shone in the sunlight or how her cheekbones prettily stood out when she smiled.
Well, nothing seems to be different. Harmony thought as she lead the group, oblivious to Sirius' dazed expression focused entirely on her.
Did Harmony want it to be different?
A/N There you go, my lovelies. I would just like to thank each and every one of my followers, favouriters and reviewers. You have no idea how much it brightens my day!