After a particularly easy potions class, Hari and Malfoy were held back by Snape.
"Miss Potter," Snape began, "I was wondering if your offer was still on the table?"
"My…?" Hari looked between her professor and Malfoy for a moment before Snape finally gestured to his left arm and it hit her. "Oh. Yes, sir. As long they really mean it."
"What is going on?" Malfoy asked.
"Quite, Draco," Snape snapped. "Follow me."
The pair were led into Snapes quarters and were greeted by Draco's parents.
"Mother? Father? What are you doing here?"
"What do you want in return?" Lord Malfoy asked Hari, ignoring his son's questions.
"Treat your house elves with the respect they deserve," she replied cooly, and he scoffed.
"Is that all?" he mocked.
"Yes," Hari said. "I'm not going to ask you to fight against him. And I don't really care what you do when you leave here today. Just treat the elves right, and there won't be any reason for us to interact again."
Silence followed her little speech, and Draco was obviously fuming over not knowing what was going on, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Who wants to go first?" Hari asked with a smile.
There was a moment of awkward silence before the Malfoy matriarch stepped forward and exposed her dark mark to Hari.
"~It's time for you to go~," Hari told it and just like Snape's, the snake didn't put up much of a fight before leaving her arm. Lord Malfoy's was different, it put up quite a fight. Hari had to put a lot more energy into her words to get it to leave, and she almost collapsed afterwards. "Yours was stubborn," she said as Snape handed her a potion.
Draco had gone silent, and was almost hiding behind his mother.
"Well, if there's nothing else, I've got training," Hari said, and left the room with little fanfare.
In the months following, Snape began holding her after class almost weekly. The Crabbes and Goyles were the first to defect after the Malfoys. The Parkinson's followed, then the Browns and Rosiers. Hari began to feel quite smug about the whole affair, especially when the elves reported that the Malfoys had ceased physical punishments, and had given them proper uniforms.
"Potter!" Malfoy called out, and the entirety of the hall turned to watch them. Draco walked up to where Hari and Ginny were standing looking a little anxious. Since removing his parents' dark marks, Hari had been completely ignored by the boy.
"What's up, Malfoy?" she asked, ignoring their audience.
Cedric watched the display behind a group of fellow Hufflepuffs. He hadn't been able to see Hari recently, at least not alone, and he really didn't like whatever was happening over there.
"Can we talk? Somewhere private?" He'd lowered his voice and his eyes kept darting to the onlookers.
"Come on," Hari said. She led the two of them down the next hall and into an empty classroom.
Cedric watched them go and followed soon after on silent feet. He knew he wouldn't be able to eavesdrop, Hari was too good at wards. But he wanted to be close.
"What's on your mind?" Hari asked, once she was sure they wouldn't be overheard.
"I… well, I, erm…"
"Did you not have a speech prepared?" Hari teased him.
"I didn't think I'd get this far!" he snapped and instantly regretted it. "Sorry. Look, Potter-,"
"Hari," she corrected.
Draco's head shot up in surprise and he took a deep breath before finding his voice. "Hari," he smiled softly, "I don't know why you did it. Merlin's knows we didn't deserve it. I know that, and my parents know it too. So, thank you." He looked around nervously again and pulled out an envelope from his robes inside pockets. "I've also been instructed to give you this. It's a letter of intent, from Father. He's furious," Draco took a step back and let out the first genuine laugh she'd ever heard from him, "He knows you won't collect, but Malfoys pay their debts. Show it to Sirius, he'll understand."
Hari took the letter and secured it in her robes, then turned back to Draco. "Did you ever really hate me?" she asked.
"No," he admitted. "I think I was jealous."
"Let's start over then," she said and held out her hand, "Hi. I'm Hari Potter."
Draco narrowed his eyes at her before clasping her hand with a laugh. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
"I think we can learn a lot from each other," Hari smirked as she dropped his hand.
"You shoulda been a Puff," Draco said, rolling his eyes.
"I'll have you know that I consider that to be a great compliment," Hari defended.
As soon as they were out of the classroom, Hari ran into Cedric and Draco scampered off.
"You alright?" he asked, not bothering to hide the worry on his face.
"Oh, yeah," she replied with a grin. "I made a new friend."
Cedric raised his eyebrows and looked between Hari and the direction that Draco had run off in, "Did you really?"
"Yeah," Hari nodded, looking a bit surprised at the whole thing herself. "Where were you headed?"
"Oh, I was just, I thought I'd make sure you were alright," Cedric went from total confidence to a pile of nerves so quickly, it made Hari smile. "It's been so long since we've gotten to chat," he said.
"Yeah," Hari said looking away, "I'm sorry about that. I just haven't been sleeping, you know? So I go to the kitchens to hang out with the elves and they've been teaching me all this wicked cool stuff, so once I'm there I just get excited about the magic and forget to go back to sleep. Plus Remus sent me a bunch of pureblood etiquette books since they figured out I don't know any of that; it's all a bit overwhelming. And Asha's been calling on me more frequently to check on my progress, and my magic lately just feels so… suffocating! Pomfrey says it's building up because it isn't having to constantly heal me anymore and-," Hari found that once she started she couldn't stop. The words came out muffled and hazy and before she knew it, Cedric was taking her back into the abandoned classroom.
He put up his own privacy wards and transfigured some of the desks into a couch. "Take a breath, Hari," he said softly, leading her to the couch. He put one hand on her back and his other over her hands. They sat together for a moment and took some deep breaths.
When Hari calmed down she interlaced their fingers and leaned into his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I've just been stretched so thin."
"You have nothing to apologize for, I've been busy too." He rested his head on hers and subtly smelled her hair. Earth and smoke and flowers, just like usual. "I know you can't tell me all your dark secrets, but… who's Asha?"
"Oh, the Hungarian Horntail," Hari said sleepily, already feeling drained from the threat of an anxiety attack.
"The… dragon? The one you spoke to during the first task?"
"Yeah, she's… well, it's a little complicated. But, yes. You know the mini's we drew? I went to see the dragons after the task, and they linked their consciousnesses to the minis, so we could still talk. I don't know how it works, so don't ask," she added with a laugh. "The one you fought, the Short-Snout, she's called Frigi. I set up an enclosure for them in one of the compartments of my trunk."
"Wow, okay," Cedric said. "Well, what do you talk about?" He was still rubbing her back and kept tightening and loosening his grip; like he was scared she'd disappear on him.
"That's… also sort of complicated."
"You don't have to tell me," he said, and she could hear the slight sadness in his voice.
"I want to," she insisted. "It's just that they said I should tell as few people as possible, so I won't tell you everything. Is that… okay?"
"Of course," he replied.
"Okay," she signed with relief, "So during the first task, I swore on my life and magic that I wouldn't harm the eggs, Asha, or dragon kind. I don't know why I added the last part, it just came out. But then Asha asked – well, demanded – that I come see them before they left. When I did, Asha and I shared this… mind connection thing. Kind of like Legilimency but more aggressive. And after that she said that I was worthy and granted me a gift." Hari paused, remembering the feel of Asha's magic washing over her. "It's really cool, but it requires a lot of meditating and long talks with the dragons. They're telling me about their history, too."
"I wish I could talk to dragons," Cedric said.
"You can through me," she offered. "Though I'm not sure they'd like you."
"That's understandable," Cedric laughed, "I did fight one of them. What about the elves? What have they been teaching you?"
"Oh, all sorts of stuff," Hari gushed. "We really don't give them enough credit. They're control over magic is so much smoother than ours. You know they're kind of a swarm species? They all have individual personalities of course, but they can all talk to each other and they can sense each other, too. I haven't been able to tune into the network yet, but the twins have been on it for years."
Hari couldn't see it, but Cedric was beaming. He loved to hear her be so passionate about something, especially since she'd been looking so down lately.
"What about you?" Hari asked, "What have you been up to?"
"Other than school work I've been studying more advanced defense spells. I've been trying to learn more offensive spells too, but defense has never been my best subject."
"You're great at charms though, you could incorporate that into defense. We should practice together. I don't mean to brag, but I excel at Defense."
"Don't worry, I know," he laughed. "I'm sure you'd flatten me in a duel."
The dust swirled around and glimmered in the sunlight coming through the windows as the pair sat together. Neither felt like saying anything else but neither wanted to leave, so they didn't. After a long while, Hari spoke up. "I don't know how you make me feel so calm," she whispered. "I don't understand why I feel like I can tell you things I've never told anyone before."
"You do the same to me," he whispered back. "It's feels so natural. I can always pick you out of a crowd."
"I can too."
"So you knew I was watching back there?"
"Course," she laughed. "Didn't think you'd stalk me, though."
Cedric laughed and Hari could feel the vibration of it in her chest. "Well, how else was I supposed to get you alone?"
"That's what they all say," she joked. The atmosphere of the room took a drastic turn as Hari sat upright with worry on her face and looked deeply into Cedric's eyes. "Are you sure you want this?"
"What?" he asked, "Of course I am. Why would you think otherwise?"
"It's dangerous," she whispered. "Tom's getting stronger."
"Don't worry about me," he whispered as he cupped her cheek. "I'll just stand next to you and I'll be fine." He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and Hari relished in it.
"Standing next to me might get you killed," she countered sadly.
"It's still the best place to be," he replied.
Hari's heart leapt in her chest. She looked into his brilliant grey eyes and could read all of the emotions flickering on his face. He really meant it. No one had ever cared about Hari this way. Hermione's love was constant and fierce. Ron's was shaky, but could always be counted on it a bind. But Cedric's was so gentle. So kind.
So she gave in. She could feel the shift as it happened, like turning on a light or pressing a button. She'd let him care for her, she'd let him in. Before she could think too long about it she was leaning forward. Cedric was leaning forward too and their lips met in the middle.
It wasn't like she'd expected. It wasn't awkward of fumbled, it was perfect. As soon as they touched her magic burst out of her to meet his; they clashed and melded and swirled together as Cedric's hand moved up her back to rest on her neck, pulling her closer than she thought was possible. One of Hari's hands was exploring his hair while the other wrapped around his waist. Cedric's other hand had found its way to her waist under her outer robe and his fingertips brushed the skin between her jumper and her jeans, sending shivers up her spine.
When they finally separated they were flushed and out of breath and completely surprised to find themselves surrounded by a golden glow. They pulled apart to inspect their hands and Cedric started laughing.
"What is this?" Hari asked, finding herself unable to tear her eyes away from the glow.
"Hari," Cedric said, cupping her face in both of his hands and forcing her to look at him. He wore the giddiest grin she'd ever seen and looked to be on the verge of tears as he whispered, "we're soulmates."