"He's being an idiot," Ginny said the next day.
"Don't remind me," Rory said. She'd helped talk Harry out of his initial funk, but he was still in a mood about possibly being possessed by Voldemort. Rory didn't have the energy to get into another argument about it with him or to listen to him beat himself up about it. She had her own anxieties to worry about.
There were two days until Levi Goldfinch's inquiry, at which she and her father would be present. That same evening she'd be having dinner with him. The last thing she wanted to worry about was her boyfriend stressing over some problem that wasn't even actually a problem.
"You should yell at him," Rory said to Ginny. "Trying to talk to him sensibly hasn't worked. He just assumes that all of my reassurance is based on me thinking I know everything because I'm a seer."
"No offense, but Harry sounds as if he's being a bit of an asshole lately," Ginny said.
"Don't remind me," Rory said again.
The girls' bedroom door opened and Hermione walked in.
"Well, this is a surprise," Rory said. "I thought you were going to France with your parents?"
"I was, but I felt bad and I told them I wanted to see Mr. Weasley," Hermione said. "How is he doing?"
"He's in pretty bad shape, but they say he's going to be alright," Ginny said. "Thanks for coming. He'll appreciate it."
"Of course," Hermione said. "And how are you, Rory?"
"Me?" Rory asked.
"Your uncle's inquiry is in a few days," Hermione said. "I figured that's all you'd be able to think about right now."
"Maybe in an ideal world where Harry Potter isn't being a butthead," Ginny said.
"Gin, it's fine," Rory said.
"What's he done now?" Hermione asked.
Ginny relayed everything that happened at the hospital the day before, and Rory filled in the details of their subsequent argument.
Hermione sighed. "Honestly. What are we going to do with that boy? Doesn't he even remember that you were actually possessed by Voldemort?"
Rory knew that Harry was wallowing far too deeply in his own self-pity to even consider that.
"Doesn't seem as though it's crossed his mind," Ginny said.
"Well, your mum says lunch is almost ready. I'll go and talk some sense into him," Hermione said. "Where's he?"
"Dunno. Ask Ron or Sirius. I haven't been keeping track of him today," Rory said.
Hermione frowned and then walked out of the room.
"She's going to hex his pants off if he doesn't get it together," Ginny said.
"Lucky I haven't yet," Rory said. She sighed. "Everything was finally fine until all this. And it'd be easy to blame Voldemort for his bad mood, but just because Harry's feelings are justified doesn't mean his reaction is."
"Do you need a hug?" Ginny asked.
"No. I'm just going to finish reading this chapter before lunch," Rory said.
"Can I just say that it's so refreshing to see you reading something that isn't a textbook? It drives me nuts that when Hermione reads for fun it's not actually fun reading," Ginny said.
Rory chuckled. "Happy to break up the monotony for you."
"I'm gonna help her yell at your boyfriend," Ginny said.
"Thanks," Rory replied.
A little while later Harry walked into her room. He sat down beside her on the bed.
"Decided to come out of hiding then?" she asked, looking up from her book.
"I guess I have been being an idiot," Harry said. "It only took three of you scolding me for me to kind of get it… I thought Ginny was going to hit me. I probably deserve it. Since she was possessed by Voldemort for a whole year and literally didn't complain."
Rory nodded. Harry sat his head on her shoulder. "Are you upset with me?"
"Annoyed maybe," Rory said. "Frustrated."
Harry let out a sigh and laid back on the bed beside her. "I feel like I was doing a really good job at not annoying or frustrating you until now."
"You were," Rory said.
"I can trust you. I can listen to you. You're only trying to help me," Harry said. "You love me." He reached out and grabbed her hand that was sitting on her lap. Rory looked down at him. "I feel like I'm going crazy sometimes. I'm sure I make you crazy right now. And not necessarily in a good way."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Rory asked.
"Exactly what I told you to do last year," he said. He sat and kissed her. "I think I need to ask for help."
"A novel idea," she said.
"Hello."
The pair looked over to the door and Remus stood there.
"Everything alright?" he asked.
"We're fine," Rory said. "Is lunch ready?"
"Not quite. Just passing through," he said.
"Okay, Dad," Rory said. He looked quickly at Harry and continued on his way down the hall back towards the dining room.
"Your dad is definitely not my biggest fan," Harry said. "It's to be expected after the way I've acted I guess."
"Unfortunately," Rory said. "He'll come back around eventually. Don't worry about it for now. You and I are probably the least of his worries right now."
"Of course. Your uncle. Your Dad is supposed to be questioned during his inquiry," Harry said. Rory nodded. "I really am the worst. I'm over here worried about nothing and you've got… Well all of this going on. I should really just… I said I would do better, but I haven't. Not really."
"Not too late," Rory said. Harry kissed her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he did.
"I love you. And I really am going to do better," he said. He kissed her again and again and again. Rory chuckled and pulled back from him a bit.
"Playing quite a dangerous game knowing my dad just checked in on us," she said.
"Which means he won't be checking on us again in the next few minutes," Harry pointed out.
The logic wasn't foolproof, but her dads were under the impression that she and Harry weren't quite getting along at the moment. Perhaps there was no harm in letting this go on just a bit longer.
But then, as things usually did with them these days, they got a bit carried away. It started with just kissing. But then she'd knotted her fingers in his hair and Harry's hands had started to roam her body the way they always did.
She knew that they should stop right now because the door was open, anyone could come by and check on them, and they were going to be called to lunch at any moment. Still, Rory leaned into his touch. She let her lips roam down his neck. One of Harry's hands slid into her leggings, between her thighs.
Rory buried her face in his chest to stifle the sound of her heavy and labored breathing. His fingers gently circled her clit. The slightest moan jumped from her throat and Harry shushed her, his free hand trailing up and down her back.
Her climax overtook her suddenly. Rory's fingers clenched around his shirt and it was taking everything in her to not make a noise. Harry pulled his hand away and Rory let herself catch her breath, her face still buried in his chest.
When her breathing was semi-normal, she lifted her head and kissed him. Her hand slid down his chest to his jeans. And just as her hand slid over the bulge in his trousers there was a shout from down the hall.
"Lunch is ready!" Mrs. Weasley called out.
Harry pulled away from her quickly and pushed her hand away as if he suddenly remembered they were very much not alone.
"Sorry," Rory said quietly.
"It's fine. I'm fine," Harry said. Rory kissed him. "I'm going to go to the loo."
"Sorry," she chuckled and kissed him again.
"Stop apologizing," he said. "Your face is very red." She kissed him again, and Harry rose from the bed. As quickly as he was able, he left her room.
Rory put her hands to her face as if she wasn't well aware of how hot her skin was. She walked over to the window and pulled it open. She had a nice view of the wall of the neighboring house, but mostly she wanted the cold air on her face.
"Why've you got the window open?" Sirius asked from behind her suddenly.
"Needed a break from all this stale air," Rory said. "Feel like I'm mostly breathing in dust."
"Don't blame you for that," Sirius said. "Lunch is ready."
"I'm coming," Rory said. She closed the window and hoped the cold air had cooled her down enough that it was apparent what she'd been doing minutes before.
"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked.
"Think he's hiding under my bed or something?" Rory teased with the confidence of a girl who hadn't just been fooling around with her boyfriend. Sirius rolled his eyes. "I think he went to the restroom or something."
"You know, I can't keep up with you two," Sirius said as they started toward the dining room.
"What do you mean?" Rory asked.
"You were both alright when you got here, and then yesterday you looked like you wanted to bite each other's heads off. Now I don't think I've seen you speak to each other all day-."
"Have you spoken to Harry at all today since breakfast?" Rory asked.
Sirius frowned. "Touché. But still. You're sure things are fine?"
"Yes," Rory replied. "He's just a bit moody sometimes is all. Everyone thinks girls are moody as if boys aren't just as bad."
Harry didn't think much of his brief afternoon tryst with Rory and wrote it off as a one-time occurrence. After all, they'd have to be mad to fool around like that again.
So Harry was a little caught off guard when he was heading back to his room after getting a glass of water and was yanked into a dark bathroom. The light was switched on and he was not surprised to see Rory there.
"Are you mad?" Harry whispered. Rory chuckled. "What are you doing?"
"I saw you going to the kitchen and decided to wait for you," she replied simply. She pulled him down into a kiss and at first, Harry didn't fight her on it. He was always easily distracted when he was kissing Rory. Luckily he was able to gain some sense.
"If your dad catches us in here, he's going to murder me," Harry said.
"It's alright," she insisted. "No one's going to catch us in the bathroom. I checked."
"You checked?" Harry asked. She nodded. "You've been going out of your way to not predict things, but now you're making an exception?"
"Priorities," she said. She kissed him again.
"This is high priority?" Harry asked. He let his hands come to rest on her hips and she nodded before she kissed him again and again and again. He pressed her back gently against the sink. Her fingers curled around the front of his shirt and she pulled him close.
Harry didn't protest as her hands slid down his body, or when her hand slid into his trousers and she grabbed hold of him. He kissed her harder as she stroked him. It was taking most of his brain power to keep from making a sound, to keep his breathing from being too loud. All the while he could feel her satisfied smile pressed against his lips.
And then her mouth pulled away and her lips moved across his jaw, down his neck. And then she pulled away entirely. Her hand stopped moving, though he remained within her grasp. Harry desperately did not want to stop, but also worried for a moment if she'd heard something; he certainly hadn't been paying attention.
He looked down into her gray eyes. She had a wicked little grin on her face and he was quite certain he'd never seen it before. A sense of trepidation and anticipation started to build in him.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said her voice just above a whisper. "I thought I'd try something different if you trust me."
"Always trust you," he said. He kissed and she pulled away quickly, that grin still on her lips. And then she slowly knelt in front of him. Harry started to speak, but he could think of nothing to say. "Stop" and "don't" seemed like the very opposite of what he wanted.
He didn't have anything second to think about it because he felt the brush of her tongue against the head of his cock. His legs turned to jelly beneath him and he had to brace himself against the door so he didn't fall over. She traced the length of him with her tongue and he shuddered.
He moaned her name and quickly clasped a hand over his mouth because this was the absolute last thing he wanted anyone to walk in or overhear.
Rory slid the tip of him into her mouth and she sucked gently.
Yep. This had absolutely been a terrible idea. No matter how good this felt, he was almost certain he was not going to be able to control the volume of his voice.
But as she took more and more of him into her mouth, he knew there was no turning back unless she stopped, because Harry was well beyond having any sort of common sense or self-preservation skills as long as her lips were around him.
Harry's hand drifted down to Rory's head and he knotted his fingers in her hair. He let his eyes close and gave into her. He was so close to his release that he couldn't think straight. He couldn't think of anything else but of how good it felt.
Rory moved faster and faster. She hadn't even fallen into any kind of rhythm before he was cumming. He moaned her name and his breath came in sharp, heavy gasps. Her movement's slowed, and she only stopped when Harry was completely spent. Merlin, it had never felt so good before. He was shocked that he was still on his feet because he was certain his legs were going to give out.
He opened his and disentangled his fingers from Rory's hair. He glanced down and saw her wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked up at him and he couldn't believe the grin that spread over her face, as if their roles had been reversed.
"Was that alright?" she asked.
Harry almost laughed. She had to be joking.
"Don't mind me saying, but I don't think you've ever been bad at anything you've ever tried in your life," he said as he returned his now flaccid member back to his trousers.
Rory chuckled as she got to her feet. Harry immediately pulled her into a kiss.
"I love you," he said against her lips.
She chuckled. "I bet you say that to every girl who goes down on you."
Harry grabbed Rory by her hips and lifted her to sit on the sink. He kissed her hard, gently nudging her legs apart to stand between them so he could be closer to her.
"You're right, but it's a very short list," he said.
She chuckled again and the sound rang in his ears like music. He really did love her. And maybe what he was feeling right now was purely situational, but he wanted to feel her too, to taste her, to see how well she could keep her voice down with his mouth between her legs.
Harry let his hands slide down between her thighs, and he felt her body shudder in response. But she placed a hand between them and gently pulled away.
"Unfortunately we're out of time," she whispered. She kissed him.
"Pity," he said.
Rory lowered herself from the sink and shut off the lights before peeking into the dimly lit corridor. She stepped out and motioned for Harry to follow.
In the low light of the gas lamps, Harry could just make out her features. He let his fingers graze her cheek and watched her smile light up the darkness.
"Goodnight," she whispered.
"Goodnight," he returned. He kissed her, and he would've left it at that and climbed up the stairs to slink back into his room before anyone noticed. But he kissed her again and again and before he knew it he'd pressed her back into the wall and her arms had draped over his shoulders. Their quick goodnight kiss had turned into a hungry frenzy. His hands had slid just beneath her shirt and he held the warm skin of her hips. Harry wanted to pull her back into the bathroom, consequences be damned.
That was until the consequences made themselves very apparent.
There was a painful tug on both of their ears and Harry and Rory separated quickly.
"Now, if I were Remus, I'd probably scold you both loud enough for the entire house to hear," Sirius said, still holding onto both of them very tightly. "However, since I have infinitely more patience than he does, here's what's going to happen. You're going to go to bed and there's going to be no more of this sneaking around-."
"We weren't sneaking-," Rory started to say, but Sirius shushed her and started to walk them down the corridor.
"And in the morning you can have a chat with your dad about all this," Sirius finished as they stopped in front of her bedroom door. He let go of her ear. "Goodnight, Aurora."
Rory rubbed her ear and walked into her bedroom.
"As for you," Sirius said, pulling Harry back toward the stairway. They started up the stairs and Sirius finally let his ear go and Harry winced as he felt the circulation at last return to it. Then he smacked Harry on the back of the head.
Yep. He definitely deserved that.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sirius scolded him.
What was Harry supposed to say to that? "Sorry, Sirius. I was just up getting a drink of water and your daughter pulled me into the bathroom to give me a blowjob or you never would've seen me with my hands up her shirt in the hallway."
Instead, Harry opted for a half-truth. "I was up getting water and we passed each other in the hallway."
Sirius looked less than convinced, but adding any more detail to the story would surely damn him more than he already was.
Finally, Sirius let out a sigh and shook his head. "Yesterday and today you two were barely speaking to each, and now I catch you canoodling in the middle of the night."
Harry didn't know what to say to that either. He knew that the rockiness of their relationship was not a secret, and Rory had spent the last day or so being frustrated with him. The tension was obvious to everyone. Maybe this was a bit of a surprise.
"We talked. Earlier," Harry said. "Everything's fine now."
"Everything's fine now?" Sirius repeated.
Harry sighed. "I know it seems like things aren't great with me and Rory, and I guess they aren't great all the time. I feel like sometimes, a lot of the time actually, I say the wrong thing, or that I don't understand what she's trying to tell me, or sometimes I'm not even in control of my body and some asshole just starts speaking for me, and I wonder why she puts up with me at all. I feel like every day she realizes a little bit more that I have no idea what I'm doing and that I absolutely don't deserve her and every time there's the slightest bit of friction between us that that's it, and that I've run out of chances, and she's going to chuck me aside for someone who's not an idiot."
Sirius nodded, a hint of concern on his face. "Are you alright?"
Harry played back his own words in his head and realized that he probably wasn't fine and that he had a lot more anxiety about his relationship with Rory than he initially suspected.
"I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"You said everything was fine now," Sirius said.
"Right. Everything is fine now. And will be fine," Harry said, mostly to reassure himself.
Sirius nodded. "To bed with you. Don't let me catch the two of you up again."
"Of course. Sorry. Goodnight," Harry said. He dashed off quickly and climbed into his bed. He really hoped everything would truly be fine.
