Essays. Projects. Death Eaters. Books. Sirius. Teachers. Death Eaters. Voldemort. Family. Sirius. Death Eaters. Voldemort. Death Eaters. Sirius.
These were the only thoughts that occupied Harmony's mind the two weeks after the attack. She felt like she didn't have any shred of control over what went through her mind, and it was absolutely torturing her. Harmony was going under, and it drove her insane that there was nothing she could do to stop it…except be with Sirius.
Snape and his remaining croonies were dragged in for questioning by the Ministry the night of the attack. The whole lot of guilty boys got off with a slap on the hand and a "watch what you say next time, boys". Apparently there wasn't enough proof that it was them specifically who attacked her family, despite the eye witnesses and testimonies: the auror that was on duty that night, the conversation Harmony overheard, and the two muggle neighbours that had watched in horror from their living room window.
Harmony's heart went out to the muggle couple. First, they witnessed a Death Eater attack from across the street, then some guys in robes showed up and started using sticks to send spells at the cloaked guys, and then they were also dragged in for questioning still without knowing what was going on. To top it all off, they got obliviated and placed safely back in their unknowingly enchantment-protected home the next day.
And now Harmony sat struggling with her dark thoughts at an empty table in the library, desperately attempting to complete an essay long overdue and completely forgotten until an hour ago.
Eventually, Harmony officially decided to leave the essay. Just give up for the time being because the stress was hitting a peak and she needed out. Harmony felt the eyes of her peers on her as she left, which she was beginning to get used to, unfortunately. She had dealt with enough attention for an entire lifetime. While being a constellation with Sirius did have its major perks, it also did have its downs. Like the girl who hissed at her little group of friends as Harmony passed by their table, "Look at her trainers! She's such a little freak!"
Harmony grinned a little, resisting the urge to look down at her school skirt, knee high socks and muggle-comic decorated shoes. They were a brand called Converse, Mum had told her when she got them, and Harmony instantly fell in love. Now, if Harmony wasn't in class, she was sure as hell wearing those 'interestingly-decorated trainers' - uniform or not.
"I try my hardest," Harmony called to the girls, doing a little happy dance that mainly consisted of the wiggling of her hips.
Harmony left the library and kept smiling for about seven seconds before all her troubles came flooding back in her thoughts like a massive, black title wave, knocking all the happiness and energy clean out of her. She slumped a bit more and continued trekking through the castle.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked as an exhausted Harmony arrived at the portrait hole.
"Uh...shit..." Harmony racked her brain while pushing her school bag up on her shoulder more. "Was it...flobberworms! That's it. Flobberworms."
"Correct." The Fat Lady said, disappointed that she didn't get to give her usual lecture on everything and anything to Harmony for forgetting the password.
"Thanks." Harmony said, and the portrait hole swung forward to admit her in. The fire was cackling and the large room was only about half full of students studying, laughing, playing chess or just talking.
Harmony spied her mates lounging in various positions by the fireplace beside her. Making her way over, Sirius spotted her and jumped up with a cry of, "Harmful!"
"Hey, Sirius." Harmony smiled in his shoulder as he half-hugged her with his unoccupied arm. In his other was a steaming mug of coffee.
"Fuck, you're wonderful." Harmony gushed, dropping her bag and snatching the air for her beloved caffeine.
"I know." Sirius replied, cocking an eyebrow smartly.
"I was talking to the coffee."
"What? No you weren't!"
"Knowing Harmony, she probably was, Sirius." Lily said, her eyes not leaving the parchment laid out before her.
"Okay, you're wonderful too, alright?" Harmony said tiredly, smiling a little. She wasn't talking to the coffee before, but flirting with Sirius was a guarantee mood-lifter.
"Are you feeling okay?" Sirius handed her the cup of hot liquid and examined the dark circles under her eyes, the way her cheekbones stood out more than usual, her pale skin.
"Guys, I'm really fine!" Harmony sighed, plopping down on the couch where Sirius was sitting before.
Becca cut in, "Well you don't seem fine, Harms, just the last few weeks, after the attack...everyone's noticed. You look different. You're stressed. You're not sleeping. I'm in your dorm, I wake up too when you do because of the nightm-"
"Becca! It's really nothing, okay? It's nothing. I'm fine. Schools just getting to me a bit." Harmony said quickly, taking a large gulp of her coffee and feeling the scorching liquid burn her throat.
"You're having nightmares?" Sirius asked, then sat down next to Harmony, completely squishing James into Lily on the couch and causing Lily to squeak a little, jump up and blush. Harmony saw Liven give Lily a smirk before Harmony turned back to Sirius.
"It's nothing. Just my stupid brain and overactive imagination, Sirius. They're not even nightmares, technically."
"Harmony..." Sirius started, eyebrows furrowing as he scanned her with worried eyes.
Becca continued as if she hadn't heard anything from Harmony or Sirius. "...and you get up and leave for hours at a time at night, Harms. Where do you go? You have no idea how scared I am that you've gone and got taken away by Death Eaters or worse-"
"Rebecca!" Harmony shouted, shutting Becca up quickly.
"You've been...going places at...night?" Sirius asked in a weird tone, looking into the fire, a frown line forming between his dark eyebrows.
Harmony opened her mouth to speak but saw the expression on his face and realized what he thought she was up to. "You think-" she burst out laughing, despite her body's protests. "That's rich." Harmony kept laughing, causing the rest of her mates to look over confusedly.
"Well, you're going places at night..."
"Not to cheat on you! Sirius, you are something else." Harmony chuckled and kissed his cheek lightly, causing him to smile again. "Remember what I told you at the very beginning of the year? I used to sneak out of my house to go-"
"-look at the stars..." Sirius grinned a little. "And here I thought you were...oh never mind."
Sirius laced his fingers through Harmony's in a way that made her believe everything was right in the world.
"PDA! PDA!" James gagged dramatically. "Bad enough that we've already seen you snog rather passionately on several occasions, but now you're going to turn into a typical sixteen-year-old couple, acting all mushy and-"
"James Potter." Sirius said sternly, sounding a little disturbed. "You're telling me that if you were not in my shoes with Lily instead of Harmony, you wouldn't show some PDA?"
Lily and James both looked shocked and blushed again, much to Liven's great amusement. Harmony smiled weakly again. She felt so tired...so worn out. "Sirius, I think I'm going to go to bed."
"Okay, I'll walk you up." Sirius got up and offered a hand to Harmony.
"Look at this gentleman." she commented, talking the offered hand and pulling herself up. "Goodnight, guys! I'm going to hit the sack. See you tomorrow." Harmony called to her mates. They all replied with various versions of goodnights back as James and Liven launched into a debate about which candies were the most magically complex at Honeydukes.
At the bottom of the staircase, Harmony turned around and hugged Sirius gently, slipping her school bag off his broad shoulder in the process. "You'll wake me, if you have a nightmare?" Sirius asked.
"Sure." Harmony smiled up at him from under her eyelashes, not quite believing that this was Sirius holding her, feeling concerned for her. Caring about her. Sirius Black...who would have thought? "I'm really okay, Sirius. Don't worry about me. Playing with fire all my life toughens me up a bit, I reckon."
"Of course." Sirius rolled his eyes.
Harmony had just started up a few steps before Sirius was turning her back around to him.
"Yes?" she asked, loving the feel of his arms around her despite her back positively aching for her warm bed and her eyelids drooping with every passing second.
In answer, Sirius leaned in and touched his soft lips to hers, igniting instant sparks. Harmony pulled away after a moment, eyes closed and still smiling a little bit.
"This constellation feels much more than a week old, to be honest." Harmony commented.
"I think it's been a long time coming." Sirius whispered.
"I agree." she laughed, but stopped quickly because a shuffle was heard from just behind the corner on the spiralling staircase.
"Did you-?" Harmony asked Sirius as she pulled away from him.
"Yeah..." Sirius said, looking past Harmony to up the stairs behind her. "Hello?"
No answer.
"I think someone's listening to us." Harmony hissed. Just then there was a shuffle followed by a door slam. "Oh that's a bit weird. And awkward." Harmony blushed and took her hands away from Sirius' neck.
Sirius just laughed and poked Harmony's blushing cheeks playfully. "Goodnight, Harmful. We still haven't given Hogwarts our 'bang' yet, remember."
"How could I forget?" Harmony grinned, bumping Sirius with her hip. "Goodnight."
"I'll walk you-"
"-up the stairs so they'll turn into a slide? No thanks." Harmony waved and climbed up to the curve of the staircase where she would no longer be in Sirius' line of sight. Harmony only looked back once and when she did, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Sirius Black smiling back up at her, leaning against the wall, dark curly hair falling into his deep mysterious eyes.
"Ah, good morning Miss Sea." Professor Slughorn stopped lecturing the silent Potions class momentarily, for Harmony had just stumbled through the door, a couple buttons undone on her shirt, a half-eaten toast slice in her mouth, hair flying everywhere, dark circles under her eyes and half her school books in her arms.
"'Morning, Professor." she muttered, scanning the room through tired eyes for an empty seat and willing her mind to forget about the terrifying mental images that were still fresh memories from her most recent nightmare.
Lately, her only options were no sleep or nightmares.
"May I ask why you're late?"
Harmony mumbled something that resembled 'no caffeine'.
"I'm sorry, what?" Professor Slughorn leaned forward to hear her better, the buttons on his waistcoat threatening to pop off.
Harmony was glaring daggers at the professor. Before she could say anything else, Sirius jumped up. "Harmony! So glad to see that smile back on your face. We saved you a seat." he ran over to Harmony and practically dragged her to the spot beside Liven.
"Si-" she started, but Liven had already hopped up to assist Sirius.
They laid her potions stuff on her desk with amazing speed; speed for people who have had to do this many times before.
Sirius moved back to his spot behind the pair of girls when Liven muttered, "I got it."
"Got what? I'm not a child! You don't have to-" Harmony snapped.
"Shut up." Liven said sternly, and she started to fix the mismatched buttons on Harmony's shirt.
"Thank you Pameo, Black." Professor Slughorn turned and sighed at the dreadful sight of Harmony Sea that morning. "They should just not give you morning classes at all."
Harmony nodded, chewing her toast without enthusiasm as Liven yanked on her hair in an attempt at braiding it back. "That'd be nice. That way I'd actually learn things instead of trying to keep my eyes open."
"Well, we all have our desires." Professor Slughorn turned back to the whole class. "Miss Sea, I'll let you off this time."
"Thanks."
Good thing Harmony was pretty good in Potions, or the sixteen other times she was late would have resulted in detentions and not the overused phrase, "I'll let you off this time".
The lecture started all over again. Finally, after about thirty minutes, Slughorn assigned them a potion to work on for the rest of class.
"Harms. Did you sleep at all last night?" Liven asked in a worried tone as they flipped to the correct page of their textbook to read the instructions.
"Well, I just kept waking up. Last night was just a particularly bad night." she admitted truthfully.
"Nightmares?"
Harmony nodded.
"Want to talk?" Liven asked.
"Not really." Harmony said again. "The less I think about them, the better."
"You should go back to bed, Harms." Liven whispered. "And did you tell Sirius about these nightmares?"
"No, they're not that big of a deal." Harmony shrugged.
Liven sighed. "Okay, well at least ask to go back to bed for a little. You're looking unhealthy."
"No. I don't want the teachers to know about the nightmares. The matron will lock me in the hospital wing or something, drugging me up on potions until the war is over."
"Well, make up an excuse then."
"Uh..." Harmony started. " I don't know! PMSing?"
Liven burst out laughing. "Oh man, could you imagine Slughorn's face? I'll give you five galleons to tell him that."
"Deal." Harmony grinned, and stood up slowly.
"What's she-?" Sirius asked on behalf of him and James.
"Listen. Just listen." Liven's face was turning purple from holding in laughter.
Harmony approached the Slughorn's desk. He looked up at her with slightly annoyed eyes. "What is it, Miss Sea?"
"I think I need to leave class, Professor."
"And why might that be? Being late for my class wasn't enough?" Slughorn smiled horribly, thinking he had won with his oh-so-clever retort.
Harmony slammed her hands down on the desk, giving her best I'm not someone to piss off now look. "Listen. I'm PMSing like the Niagara Falls, and I suggest that you don't get on my bad side, for I am not the sixteen-year old girl to mess with right now, Professor."
"I think that's enough!" Slughorn looked disturbed and embarrassed. "You-you may leave, Miss Sea." he muttered.
Harmony glanced back behind her at her mates listening in on the conversation, barely concealing laughter. "Oh, and that reminds me. I was wondering if you have a potion for me? You see, the pain can get really bad around this time of month and I-"
"No! I am sorry, that is the matron's department! Go! You may leave!" the poor professor looked terrified and extremely uncomfortable.
Harmony smirked and shuffled back to her seat, holding out a hand in front of Liven who dug in her bag for the promised five galleons.
She turned and burst out laughing at the sight of Sirius and James' faces. They were staring at her wide-eyed, mouths hanging open.
"Close your mouths. You'll catch flies." Harmony grinned, pocketing the gold and grabbing her heavy school bag, sighing in relief at the prospect of falling asleep, nightmares or not.
Mad laughter rang through the crisp, tense air that sent chills down Harmony's spine.
"Looking for this?" A high pitched voice hissed suddenly in Harmony's ear.
Harmony whipped around and barely registered the horrible sight of Bellatrix Lestrange in the dark, circular room before an even worse sight was before her eyes.
Bounded by magic rope, gagged and tortured, lied Harmony's six-year old sister. Her hair wasn't shining anymore and her face resembled one of a skeleton with battered skin stretched across it.
"Charlotte!" Harmony screamed in horror, attempting to rush to her sister's side.
Harmony only got to glance in Charlotte's petrified, tear-filled blue eyes before Bellatrix had grabbed Harmony and pulled her away from her only sister.
"No! Get the hell away from her! From me!" Harmony screamed again, thrashing out against Bellatrix's strong hold.
Bellatrix cackled. "You think I'll let you go that easy? Nice try, girly."
Ropes like Charlotte's wrapped around Harmony, slinking up her arms, wrapping around her legs and torso while Harmony screamed along with Charlotte. Bellatrix laughed while Harmony continued to struggle and call out to her younger sister. "Take me! Take me and leave Charlotte! Please! I'll do anything! Please!" Harmony kept screaming at the top of her voice.
"I don't think that's how it works, now, is it?" Bellatrix cackled wickedly again, pulling out her long, dark, curved wand and pointing it directly at Charlotte, although her eyes stayed on Harmony. "Let's play a little game, shall we?"
"NO! NO PLEASE! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU PLEASE!" Harmony screamed and sobbed, her whole body hurting because she was crying so hard.
Charlotte was bawling too, her choked words piercing Harmony like a million shards of broken glass at once. "Harmony! She was hurting me! Harmony!"
Bellatrix pointed her wand at Charlotte and mocked her. "What's happening? Save me, oh big sister! Save me even though you're tied up like me!" Bellatrix laughed, showing off her incomplete set of yellow teeth. "Crucio!"
Charlotte screamed. She screamed so loud that the sound started to reverberate inside Harmony's head. It wasn't the screams that were the worst part. It was the words. They were worse than the desperately confused questions."Harmony!" she yelled, tears flowing freely down her young and innocent face. She could barely get the words out because she was wailing and screaming so incredibly loudly in terror and agony. "HELP ME HARMONY IT HURTS! IT HURTS, HARMONY!"
Harmony screamed desperately while she scratched at her neck, her arms, her legs, trying to rip the tight rope off to save her only sister who was thrashing in pain. "PLEASE STOP I'LL DO ANYTHING! STOP! STOP IT! STOP YOU'RE HURTING HER STOP PLEASE! KILL ME!"
"Harmony."
"STOP! STOP IT-"
"Harmony!"
Scream. "KILL ME! TAKE ME!"
"Harmony!"
"DON'T HURT HER! CHARLOTTE DON'T-"
"HARMONY!"
Harmony screamed and shot up in bed. Her hair was sticking to her face which was soaked with tears. The covers were twisted and wrapped around her almost suffocatingly, and little drops of blood stained the white sheets.
"What? Charlotte! What's-" Harmony started to shout but stopped dead at the sight waiting for her at the foot of her bed.
There stood the marauders and Harmony's friends, all looking horrified and thoroughly shaken up. Becca had silent tears running down her face while Alice was rubbing her shoulder in a comforting way.
"What's-" Harmony choked out but stopped herself, for when she looked down she saw that her entire body was covered in claw-marks where she could have sworn she was bond by Bellatrix's ropes in those exact places just moments before. Most of them were just red scratches but a few had broken the skin, hence the blood. "Oh my god-"
"We couldn't wake you." Lily said shakily. James reached out and squeezed her hand.
"How-how much did you h-hear?" Harmony asked, untangling herself from the covers, her hands still shaking in shock and horror.
"Just about everything." a voice beside her said, and she looked sideways to see Sirius standing over her. His facial expression was unreadable.
"Oh guys, I'm so, so sorry-" Harmony started to tear up again. Of course they had to find her like this when she had the worst nightmare she'd ever experienced. Just her luck, just her luck.
"You've had nightmares like this before? Harmony, why didn't you tell someone?" Liven asked sternly but gently.
"I-they're not that bad, okay? They're never like that."
"You were screaming and thrashing around and crying...you were digging and scratching your own flesh off for fuck's sake. Harmony…" Sirius said, sitting on the side of Harmony's bed.
Harmony sat and thought for a moment. She thought about what she must have looked like. No doubt she woke up all of her dorm mates. They couldn't wake her up so they went to get the marauders probably...
An image of Bellatrix standing over Charlotte's unmoving and bloody body swam through her sea of thoughts again.
Harmony stumbled up and tripped over to the bathroom with lightening speed. When she got over the toilet, she proceeded to retch her entire stomach out, which wasn't that much anyway.
Someone was behind her, familiar, rough hands holding her mass of dark brown curly hair away from her face. "I'm-" she coughed. "-sorry."
Finally Harmony sunk to the floor, buried her face in her hands, and just cried. "I hate them! Bad enough they ruin my days, and now they ruin my nights, too! I bloody hate the lot!"
Sirius crouched down in front of her and moved a lock of hair away from her blotchy face. "Harmony." his voice cracked a little, but that one word comforted her beyond belief.
"Sirius..." she whispered back, finally opening her teary eyes and looking into Sirius' stormy grey ones. "I swear to you, they've never gotten that bad before. I don't want you guys thinking of me as an object of pity. Honestly, all this stuff has just built up and I'm so s-"
"Stop. Stop apologizing, okay? This is in no way your fault." Sirius stood up and grabbed a cloth from the sink, wet it with the tap, and brought it back over to her.
"It was terrible. They're always terrible. I didn't want anyone to find out because it's pathetic that I can't even handle myself awake or unconscious after bad news. I hate them and I don't want to sleep." Harmony said, a little childishly. Sirius sat down cross-legged across from Harmony and held her arm while he dabbed the scratches there. "This is humiliating." Harmony choked out, looking at all the blood she had on her. It wasn't like her entire body was covered in deep scratches, but the ones that she did have were bleeding out pretty badly for how small they were.
"Shh. It's okay. I know some mending spells to fix you up." Sirius soothed, looking over at Harmony from under his long, thick lashes.
Harmony forgot everything for a moment and studied Sirius transfixed. "You're so beautiful, Sirius. You know that? Inside and out. I never imagined we'd be like this." Harmony whispered, tearing up a little for what felt like the millionth time that night.
In response, Sirius just reached out and traced a finger down Harmony's cheek. "So are you. Even if you look like you just got put in a cheese shredder."
Harmony laughed so weakly it was hardly a laugh at all. "Thanks."
Sirius finished with one arm and grabbed the other gently. "What time is it?" Harmony asked.
"'Bout two, I reckon." Sirius replied.
"Wait let me just…" Harmony closed her eyes and thought for a moment, trying to remember her day. "I fell asleep after potions, then I woke up and ate lunch with you guys and went to afternoon classes…and then I fell back asleep right after dinner, right?"
"You looked like you needed it before...now...I'm not so sure it was a good idea." Sirius said, and they stayed quiet for a couple long moments, the only movement being Sirius' gentle dabbing and wiping off blood from Harmony's scratches.
"Will we have matching scars, do you think?" Harmony smiled, tracing part of Sirius' long scars down his chest that were from (who else?) Bellatrix's nails.
"I think we just might." Sirius smiled a little, standing up and rinsing out the bloody cloth. He looked out the door for a second and called to their mates who were no doubt still out in the dorm room, "Yeah, she's okay. I'm just cleaning the cuts."
Harmony snatched Sirius' wand of the ground while he was at the sink and used a simple spell to vanish all the sick into thin air.
Then she started shivering because of the cold bathroom tiles freezing her through her thin pyjamas and exposed skin. When Harmony tried to stand, her knees were completely unstable due to how shaken up she was. So Sirius, being perfect and all, helped her up and guided her back to her four poster bed. Talk about a movie moment.
Harmony tried to avoid eye contact with all the people in the room as Sirius sat down next to her, gently lifted her bare leg, and started dabbing it with the cold, wet cloth. "Thanks." she whispered, trying not to break the pregnant silence.
"When did they start?" Liven asked hoarsely.
"Couple weeks ago." Harmony muttered.
Silence again.
"I'm fine now, guys. Go back to bed." Harmony told them.
"It's a Saturday tomorrow. We can catch up on sleep without missing class." Remus told her.
Silence.
"Why are you guys here?" Harmony asked.
"We're still trying to comprehend the terrifying image of Harmony Sea we woke up to." Becca replied.
Even more silence.
"Who's Charlotte?" James finally asked.
"My six-year-old sister." Harmony looked down again.
"Muggle?" James guessed.
"I don't think so." Harmony told him.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, switching to Harmony's other leg.
"It was..." Harmony bit her lip and looked out the window at the brightly twinkling stars. "They're always pretty much the same. Though sometimes it's with you guys and sometimes it's my family."
"And...?"
"Mainly Bellatrix Lestrange. Or some other Death Eater. Torture, pain, screaming, blood..." Harmony willed herself not to cry. She'd cried enough for a lifetime, thank you very much.
"I'm sorry." James muttered.
"It's not your fault." Harmony whispered.
Awkward silence.
"Guys, go to bed." Sirius finally said. "I'll stay with her. We'll see you in the morning, okay?" the last part was said to his mates more than Harmony's.
"Okay, fine." James said. Together they got up slowly and hopped on their broomsticks, flying back down the stairs a moment later.
Peter said just before he left, "Feel better, Harmony."
For some reason, Harmony was really touched by this. "Thanks, Pete. Goodnight."
He nodded and left, too.
The girls climbed into bed and Becca kissed Harmony's forehead whispering, "They're safe and sound, Harmony. Don't worry about them or us. We're all safe." Becca slid into her bed, too.
"Thanks, Becca." Harmony whispered, while she grabbed her own wand from the side table and cleaned the blood off her sheets.
Sirius watched her, and when she finished, he sat down on the edge of her bed and lifted her chin to dab away the blood from the claw marks on her neck. Sirius' eyes never left Harmony's and she tried to ignore the tingling along her skin where Sirius' fingers brushed her bare neck.
It felt like they'd been a constellation for more than just two weeks. It felt like two years.
Scratch that. More like two million years.
Sirius slid his hands down to her collarbones and shoulders, wiping away the little trickles of blood that dripped down from her neck. She shivered a little, finally looking down because the intensity of his gaze became too much. Sirius half-smiled and pulled his hands away, placing down the cloth and grabbing his wand instead. He started to mend the scratches one by one and wherever his wand touched Harmony's skin, warmth spread there like wildfire, closing up the wounds with amazing speed. Only faint, pale scars remained that even she could barely see.
Sirius finished and just started to stroke her cheek. Harmony felt so happy in that moment. Who wouldn't? With Sirius Black's gentle fingers stroking her cheeks, strikingly gorgeous grey eyes looking directly into hers, into her soul almost...Harmony was really putting her self control to the test. She didn't think her dorm mates would appreciate the sounds of passionate snogging as they try to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Harmony sighed and let the truth sink in slowly. All her loved ones were okay. They were safe.
"Come on," Harmony muttered, gesturing to the extra space in her bed and Sirius obliged immediately. He slipped inside the warm blankets and held his arms open for Harmony invitingly.
Harmony smiled, kissed his arm which was closest and curled up to Sirius whispering, "What in the world would I do without you, Sirius Black?"
"She needs it, okay? I don't ever want to see her in that state again." a female voice said sternly but quietly.
Harmony felt herself stirring, her senses becoming sharper.
"Well you can explain to her when she wakes up. You know what she'll do, right?" a deep, male voice said.
"It's worth a shot!"
"I'll play no part in this. I want to actually live to see life outside of Hogwarts, maybe even get a job, a flat perhaps too." Harmony recognized this voice as Sirius'.
"But Sirius-"
"No, Becca. Firstly, I know she won't take it. That's for sure. Secondly, it will make her stop opening up to us because our response will be some sort of potion all the time. And thirdly, Harmony needs to get over this on her own, not by the aid of potion."
"Do you want a repeat of last night or something? Because I for one do not." Becca said.
"Don't be daft, of course I don't. Just you need to let her figure this out on her own. Stop intervening." Sirius said.
"You know what? Excuse me for trying to help my best fri-"
"With what?" Harmony said quietly, stretching widely and moving hair out of her face.
"Uh-" Becca started nervously
"Harmony! How are you?" Sirius asked.
"Good." Harmony replied, inspecting her arms and legs.
"That's good," Sirius said.
"Time?
"Ten in the morning."
"Awesome. Where's everyone else?"
"Mostly in the common room." Sirius said.
"Did you just wake up?" Harmony asked him, spying his lack of proper clothing.
"I did." Sirius said, nodding.
Becca cut in. "Harms. Last night...it was a bit scary for all of us. That's why this morning I went to the hospital wing." Harmony started to get up, her whole body aching from all the sleep. "The matron gave me this potion for you to take every night to keep the dreams away. It's a dreamless sleep potion."
Harmony whipped to Becca and muttered. "Fat chance I'm taking that."
"Harmony, it will keep the dreams away-"
"I don't need some bloody potion."
"I know you like being independent and all, but I think this time it would be wise to use Madam Pomfrey's advice-"
"She's the mad lady who drugged me to sleep for two days straight! That's not happening again."
Sirius barely could contain his I told you so smile as he stepped closer to Harmony and placed a comforting hand on the small of her back.
"Why don't you want to take it?" Becca asked, shaking the bottle of blue liquid in Harmony's face.
"Because I don't trust that matron! She has a habit of going a tad overboard sometimes and besides, I need to figure this out on my own as Sirius said before. Reading helps. School helps." Harmony said an added silently in her mind Sirius helps. She stepped closer to Sirius. He got the message loud and clear.
"Distraction?" Becca asked.
"Yeah, that's why I go to the Astronomy Tower. The stars are always so beautiful."
"Well I still think that-" Becca started again.
"No. I appreciate you trying to help me, and I love you for it, but I really don't want it." Harmony said.
"Fiiiiiinnnneee." Becca sighed. "I'm going back down the common room then. See you in a bit."
"Okay." Harmony called.
"Didn't I prove to be a good distraction before? Remember in the corridor?" Sirius smirked and started to hug Harmony.
"I need to brush my teeth." Harmony blushed and made a beeline to the bathroom.
"So we can repeat the methods of distraction with nice breath?" Sirius asked hopefully, leaning against the doorframe. Harmony loved the fact that they could still engage in playful banter and not discuss and analyze everything. They'd probably do that later but for the moment she was so appreciative that they could avoid the subject all together.
"Depends. Do you have coffee?"
"Uh, no-"
"Then nice try."
"But-!" Sirius started.
"No. Now go get dressed, brush your teeth, hair, clean yourself...go on. Back to your dorm." Harmony said with her tooth brush hanging out of her mouth. She pushed Sirius out of the dormitory doorway, gave him a nice pat on the bum to get him going down the stairs, which turned into a slide, and called to the image of Sirius' puppy dog eyes sliding down the spiral slide, "Don't look so down, Pup!"
Harmony shut the door, smiled, and allowed just a little hope to enter her heart from all the concern and aid she'd gotten within the last couple hours. Maybe, just maybe, all this love would defeat old Voldy. Maybe, just maybe, Harmony and all her loved ones would make it out of this war, unhurt, alive and well.
Maybe, just maybe...
A/N: Thank you guys for the favourites, follows, and reviews! They make me so happy it's unbelievable.
I have a question. What do you think of Harmony? Harmony and Sirius together? Because I have some ideas for future chapters, but I need some feedback in order for me to decide if they will be a yay or nay, and also if I'm portraying the characters the way I want them to be.