I don't own any of the people or places J.K Rowling so kindly created
Chapter 10
October gave way to November, and the Scottish weather grew colder. Scarves crept out of trunks and classrooms had heating charms placed on them to ward off the chill. The passage of time also meant that Tracey and Harry had less time to spend together working on both the project and their fledging friendship. Since their new start things had been going well for the pair. Their project was on target and Professor McGonagall seemed happy with the progress, meaning that she left them alone to chase up other groups that weren't doing so well.
This is what led to the pair sitting at one of the tables at the back of the common room, their books strewn in across the table, many open, yet no work was actually being done. That objective had been discarded some time ago. Tracey was gradually chipping away at some of Harry's walls. Some days she made progress, he would smile and laugh and look like every other normal teenage boy. Other days- not so much. If she was to touch on the wrong subject then the walls would be back and thicker than ever. After she did this conversation tended to be stunted and awkward, and Tracey didn't want this to happen. She could feel herself gradually coming to look forward to their conversations as well as depend on the break he provided her from her sometimes claustrophobic life.
He was now known as Harry in her head, and although they still called each other by their surnames it was teasing and light - formality long gone. Another thought that was worrying Tracey was that she found herself staring at him when he was busy doing work for Transfiguration. He sometimes caught her staring - probably looking like a dazed idiot - and then she wouldn't be able to speak to him for another hour at least.
She thought about Harry a lot in her room just wondering what he was up to, sounding like some crazy stalker in her head and she had admitted to herself that Harry Potter was attractive, very attractive- you'd have to be blind not to see it, but she didn't want to become some strange crazy fan girl like others within the school were if rumours were to be believed. Apparently there was a Harry Potter fan club but she internally vomited at the thought of that as that just made the members sound desperate. Tracey was hesitant to even think of him because of his track record. That was the problem, he had no track record at all. As far as the populace of Hogwarts knew Harry Potter had never had a girlfriend despite many attempts by girls. Why would Tracey get her hopes up for them only to have them dashed later. No, she was content to be his friend.
Harry had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and on closer inspection she could see that there were a few faint pink lines on one of his arms as if they were healing cuts. Frowning Tracey couldn't help but remember the incident in the library a few weeks ago when she could've sworn to have seen a bandage under his tshirt.
"You don't half go through the woods sometimes do you Potter?" she said teasingly, trying to keep the tone light as this was one of the topics that could be received in a hostile manner
"Hmmm?" replied Harry looking up from his work, not quite processing what she had said. Smiling Tracey nodded her head towards his arm. Comprehension flashed across his face
" Ran into a positively rabid cat at the owlery when I was trying to send a letter. Thought my arm was a mouse or something" he replied with a half smile yet the smile didn't reach is eyes, they were still guarded
"You'll have to point this animal out to me when you next see it then, I don't fancy getting my arm shredded either" Tracey replied after a pause deciding to let the matter go for the mean time. She didn't want to deal what would happen if she didn't right now.
Not wanting to go back to the work yet, she decided to try and keep the conversation going as Harry seemed to be in the mood to talk tonight
"Soooo…. Any plans for the Christmas holidays?" she asked him shyly. Harry leant back in his chair considering the question
"Probably the same as every year, spend the holidays with Sirius and Remus, come back here after the New Year and avoid the balls that you seem to be so fond of" his tone was teasing towards the end of the sentence.
"Lovely " Tracey replied cooly, still slightly annoyed at his continued mocking of her family's traditions. Seeing he had upset her Harry tried to smooth over the problem
"Listen, you know I don't mean anything by that don't you? I'm only teasing you because it annoys you every time and what can I say? That's how I get my kicks". Harry wiggled his eyebrows and Tracey couldn't stop the smile that crept on to her face and was secretly pleased at how he seemed to be less reserved with the teasing.
My dearest darling Tracey,
Your mother and I are just writing to check that all is well at the moment. We would've thought you had dropped off the planet if we hadn't heard about you through Daphne's letters to her mother that she just so loves to share your mother.
I hope that school is treating you well and that your friend Hermione isn't being too hard on you to get all your work done, we all know what she can be like when it concerns school work. You will have to send word on how your project is progressing and that that Potter boy is doing his fair share.
If we don't hear from before the holidays, have fun and we shall see you on the platform
Love, Father, and your mother sends her love
Ps. We received an owl from your Uncle Henry and he has informed us that he will be visiting for a week during the Christmas holidays
Tracey found herself huddled on a bench wrapped in a hat, scarf and gloves round a jar of blue flames while the three girls had a catch up. The weather was cold but not yet snowing, so they wanted to make the most of the light hours before it got dark at four in the afternoon.
Hermione was telling a story about exploding birds in the Gryffindor common room that neither of the two Slytherin's could quite follow even though Hermione said how funny it was. They could only humour her for so long, when Daphne cut straight to the point with her rather blunt question.
"So Herms, like anyone at the moment?". Hermione's face looked rather comical with her mouth hung open after she had been interrupted during her sentence and she looked rather baffled
"How is that question relevant to anything that I have told you?" for once Hermione didn't not have the answer to all the questions it seemed
"Who says that a question has to be relevant to the sentence before it. If that was the case everyone would be stuck discussing to the same topic until there was a link between one topic and other" Tracey couldn't help but agree with Daphne's logic. "And back to the before mentioned question - do you?"
Hermione still looked out of the loop - "What? - no, no I don't". Hermione still couldn't figure out her two best friends thought patters even after six years of knowing them.
"And don't call me 'Herms' " she added as if the name left a bad taste in her mouth. "It's Hermione or nothing else if you want me continue to talk to you" she carried on, with a trace of her Gryffindor fire
"No one at all? Not one?" Daphne still continued to interrogate her, not letting it go
"No", Hermione replied rather hotly, looking down -was she blushing?!
Daphne catching sight of the pink cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold, continued to push Hermione for answer
"Really?" the tone was one that didn't believe her friends previous answer. Hermione started to squirm in her seat and shot Tracey a pledging look, silently begging her to help her get out of this situation. It certainly wasn't the first time either. It seemed to Tracey that Hermione could handle anyone's quick fire questions, no matter how hard. Every one but Daphne - a fact that both continued to annoy and amuse said parties
"Come on Daph, leave Hermione alone for today, if she wants to tell us the mysterious identity of her Romeo, then she'll tell us when she's ready" Tracey warned Daphne in a calm voice. Sometimes she felt ever the mediator when it came to her two best friends.
Seeing the battle was lost with Hermione, Daphne rounded on her next victim
"What about you then Trace, anyone got your heart a flutter?" Daphne asked dramatically clutching both hands to her chest and fluttering her eye lashes in a similar dramatic fashion
Tracey thoughts immediately turned to emerald eyes and dark hair yet gave Tracey gave Daphne no answer. Unlike Hermione, Tracey was better versed in playing this kind of game. After all it was a Slytherin trait, she saw it played at least once a day by various members of her house. Tracey merely raised one of her blond eyebrows and silently dared Daphne to call her out.
"Well you and Potter were looking awfully close the other night in the common room the other night, and the night before that, oh and let's not forget the night before that", Daphne still pushed
Tracey's gloved hands curled in her lap, will she forced down a blush. She wouldn't not show weakness, she would not show weakness
"We are just partners for this project as you are well know. What has that got to do with anything?" Tracey silently challenged her fellow house mat
Seeing that she wasn't going to get anything out of her, Daphne let the matter drop, silently promising to continue it at a further date. When the topic was finally dropped and they had moved onto other areas, Hermione leant over to Tracey and muttered her thanks for earlier, but not before squeezing Tracey's had and giving her a small smile as if she knew exactly what Tracey was feeling