Easter break had finally arrived. Rory found herself stepping onto the train feeling relieved until Harry stepped into her cabin on the Hogwarts Express.
Rory groaned.
"Didn't I tell you that I don't want to talk?" she asked.
"I want to apologize," Harry said. "I didn't tell her to talk to you. In fact, I told her not to talk to you because I knew you'd react like this."
"React like what?" Rory asked. "Upset because I don't want your girlfriend shoving your relationship in my face? How irrational of me to feel that way."
"That came out wrong," Harry said. "I just meant that... I know you could be irrationally jealous, but at least you were never confrontational for absolutely no reason."
Rory scoffed. "Well, it has been a delight to get another one of your wonderfully shitty apologies. Thank you for getting the holiday off to a time-wasting start."
"This is not going at all how I wanted it," Harry said. "I'm sorry. Cho shouldn't have talked to you. She was out of line. You wanted her to leave you alone and she-."
"Is a habitual line stepper?" Rory asked.
"Yes. Which is shitty. And I'm sorry," he said. "I broke up with her."
Rory did her best not to react. She didn't know how he would react if she was capable.
"I know it doesn't matter to you, but I... I'm sorry that I made her think it was okay to treat you that way," Harry said.
Rory nodded. "You broke up with her?"
"Yes," Harry said with a nod. "I just... I mean I didn't think it was possible for someone to actually be worse than you, but-"
Whatever forgiveness Rory had been starting to feel was immediately revoked.
"You didn't think it was possible for someone to be worse than me?" Rory said.
"I didn't mean that you're terrible. I just meant that she was worse about being jealous," Harry said.
"Well I hope your next girlfriend isn't even worse," she said.
"Rory," Harry started. He let out a deep breath. "I suck at this."
"No shit," she replied sitting down.
"Found you!"
Rory saw Stephen standing in the doorway of the cabin. She smiled. She was relieved to have something to end this conversation. She had to spend three weeks with Harry and she didn't want to make herself any angrier with him than she already was. Things were going to be unbearable enough as it was.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"Not at all," Harry said as he dropped down into the seat across from her.
"Thanks," Stephen said. "Glad you didn't get expelled, by the way."
"Still debating if I'd be better off, honestly," Harry replied.
"I understand how that might be a thing you specifically have to debate with yourself about," Stephen said. Harry gave him an appreciative nod as he sat down beside Rory.
"Have a good morning so far?" Stephen asked, turning to Rory.
"For the most part," Rory said. Her brief conversation had certainly been a downer, but otherwise, she was beyond happy to get to see her dad, even if the forced proximity to Harry was a trade-off she'd have to make.
"My mum said she wanted us to go somewhere exciting for the holiday. I thought she meant someplace warm or at least quiet. Pretty sure Manchester does not meet either of those criteria," Stephen said.
Rory laughed. "Definitely not."
"Luna says Ottery St. Catchpole is nice though. Be nice to get out of London," Stephen said. "I've never been to London except to get to Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Can you believe that?"
"It's crowded and busy and it smells sometimes," Rory said. "But there's lots to do there. Can't deny that. You and your mum should make a detour there."
"I'll mention it to her," Stephen said. "Might have a better chance of it during the summer though. And then maybe you'd be able to show me around."
Rory didn't get the chance to respond to the ridiculously loaded statement because Matilda and Neville joined them.
"Did Ron and Hermione tell you they're the only prefects on the train aside from Padma this time around?" Matilda asked. "Tough break."
"I doubt they'll even be around for lunch," Harry said.
"You know Stephen, I always pegged you as prefect over Anthony," Matilda said.
"Professor Flitwick says I'm too willing to let things slide," Stephen said.
"Sort of proved him right by joining an illegal defense against the dark arts club and not telling anyone in authority," Neville said. "But I guess we did have Ron and Hermione."
"But you're Gryffindors. Bending and breaking rules is basically a personality trait for you" Stephen said.
"That's fair," Harry said.
"Speaking of rule-breaking, word around the Gryffindor rumor mill, and by that I mean Ara Ashe told me, that you're going to put on quite a show for the Minister after the holidays," Matilda said.
"We're just going to sing a few songs that weren't on the approved song list she provided us," Stephen said.
"And what kind of songs would those be?" Matilda asked.
"That's confidential," he said. "But if Umbridge asks, Aurora Lupin would never risk her participation in choir, her spot in this school, or her father's ire to do something that would get her into any more trouble than she's already gotten into this year."
"Thank you," Rory said. The train started to pull away from the station and an out-breath Ginny appeared in the doorway.
"Room for one more?" she asked.
"Always," Rory said. Ginny sat down beside Harry and let out a deep breath.
"Can you believe the audacity of Umbridge to tell me that I need to get my brothers and their fireworks under control as if I don't fully condone the mayhem they've wrought upon the school?" Ginny asked.
Matilda laughed. "Oh, my god. She thinks you're the 'good one' when everyone knows that Ron is the good one and the bar for Weasleys is exceptionally low now that Percy's gone."
"I said that I'd sooner get Peeves to behave properly," Ginny said.
It's not that Harry had been expecting Rory to say "thank goodness, I've hated this. I love you. Let's fix things!" when he told her he'd broken up with Cho. And maybe he'd brought her negative reaction upon himself. but Stephen joining them on their train ride had been not what Harry wanted at all.
To Harry, Stephen was most forgettable. He was conventionally attractive, Ravenclaw, blond, and nice, But he knew Rory pretty well from their time in choir, And he was watching them chat about choir right now.
Rory was glowing. They were marking notes on music sheets, laughing. Occasionally humming or vocalizing something in harmony with each other. Harry couldn't help but be impressed,
But he was also, admittedly, super jealous. There was no other word for it. Stephen was smarter, had more in common with Rory, had exactly zero dark wizards out to kill him, and to Harry's knowledge, Rory had never predicted that he might stumble into a life-threatening situation.
And even though Harry felt this stinging jealousy, he wasn't sure he wanted to fix things with Rory. She had been jealous. Insanely so, it felt like. She still didn't like Cho at all. She didn't trust him.
But she loved him, or so she said. And he couldn't get over the way her gray eyes twinkled, or the musical way she laughed. She was fierce and sure of herself. And she was beautiful. And kind. Sometimes scary. He had no idea how her brain worked, but he loved it. He still loved her. Even if he didn't know if that was enough to try to fix things. He knew now, sometimes love wasn't enough. Rory had said as much to him.
"So, boys are pieces of shit," Matilda said suddenly.
"I heard that things with Seamus are not going well," Neville said looking up from his conversation with Ginny.
Matilda rolled her eyes. "Things with Seamus Finnigan aren't going anywhere, at all, ever again. Maybe with no boy ever again for that matter. They're all trash."
"Not all of them," Ginny said encouragingly.
"Well, at the very least Seamus is trash," Matilda said.
"He made it seem like things were going well," Harry said.
"I'm surprised you approve since he was such a jerk to you all year," Matilda said.
"Oh, I didn't approve, but I know better than to try and tell you what to do," Harry said.
"A wise decision that people like Seamus aren't smart enough to also comprehend," Matilda said. "Plus he was a terrible kisser. And terrible at other things if you catch my meaning."
"I'm going to pretend I don't," Rory said.
"I quite liked Seamus before all this," Harry said. "I mean, he's come around a lot recently."
"Then you should date him," Matilda said. "He was quite charming in the beginning, but I've lost interest. And apparently, if you tell a boy you've lost interest they take it as an excuse to tell you all the things they think are wrong with you."
"There's nothing wrong with you," Neville said.
"Thank you, Nev. What would my ego do without you?" Matilda said.
"I mean, I like Seamus, doesn't mean he's not an idiot," Harry said.
"Seamus has always been an idiot," Rory said.
"I can see why you'd think that," Harry said with a nod.
Rory seemed to bristle at this. "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh! I just meant that he's kind of disrespectful of boundaries and all that. I had to tell him off a few times when we were together. More than a few times actually," Harry explained. He was probably overexplaining, but he couldn't stop himself from talking. "He actually asked me after we broke up if it was because you wouldn't put out."
Rory looked almost scandalized, but Matilda saved him.
"He's worried about whether or not Rory puts out when his dick game is weak? The audacity," she said.
Stephen and Neville seemed shocked by the words as the rest of them fell into a fit of laughter.
"I don't think he hears the words that come out of his mouth sometimes," Neville said. "Or he doesn't register that he's saying things that are not great."
"I think he finally got a grasp on social interaction, honestly," Matilda said. "It was the physical aspect where he struggled. That and he's an idiot." She let out a long-suffering sigh. "My luck with love is shit. The rest of you have done loads better than me."
"No I haven't," Neville interjected.
"Um, Ginny went with you to the Yule Ball," Matilda said matter-of-factly.
"As friends," Neville said. "That's where you met, Michael?"
Ginny shrugged. "Yeah, I did. But, you know, we're not together anymore."
"Right, I was just saying, most people that went to the ball together aren't dating anymore," Neville said.
"I definitely got a vase thrown at me," Stephen said with a nod.
Harry instinctively looked over to Rory and she was looking at him. She looked away quickly.
"It doesn't matter," Rory said. "How long ago was that? I think everyone's moved on, yeah?"
"Yeah," Ginny agreed after a beat.
"Okay, but we're not talking about Fred. We're not talking about the ball. We're talking about how terrible my taste is, specifically," Matilda said.
"You dated my brother," Ginny warned.
"Oh, I did a lot more than just date your brother," Matilda said with a wink.
"Can you not?" Rory and Neville said in unison.
"And I'm not saying Fred is a bad person," Matilda said. "He just wasn't a good fit for me. And Seamus was not a winner either. Not at all. My taste is clearly abysmal."
"You're talking to a cabin of a bunch of single people, Mattie. I don't think any of us is excelling romantically at the moment," Rory said.
"Well, Harry's got Cho, yeah?" Stephen asked.
Right. That wasn't common knowledge yet.
"Oh, I'm not dating Cho anymore," he said.
"Since when?" Matilda asked,
"About three hours ago," Harry said.
"What happened?" Stephen asked.
Harry shrugged. "There were a lot of things. Just wasn't right at the end of the day I guess."
"She slapped him," Ginny said.
"She slapped you?" Rory asked, almost amused.
"I didn't... I didn't word the break up well," Harry said.
"I think you worded that part just fine," Ginny said. "It was after that you really fucked up."
"Ah, like I said. After you're broke up you decide it's open season to attack their character," Matilda said.
"It wasn't like that," Harry said. "She'd gone to talk to Rory yesterday."
"Yeah, that was weird," Stephen said.
"And, no offense, Rory, but you can be kind of rude and mean when people are... Not communicating with you in a proper manner," Harry said.
Rory nodded at this. "I agree with that."
"So I said to Cho, that if you only told her to go away that you were being as nice as you could," Harry said.
Ginny shook her head. Of course she was going to relay the whole conversation. "He actually said that if you told Cho to 'fuck off' that you were actually being polite."
"Harry Potter you are not wrong about that one," Matilda said.
"Agreed," Stephen said. "If you want anyone to give you a scathingly painfully true overview of your personality, it's Rory."
"So she slapped you?" Rory asked.
"She got upset first. Said she couldn't believe I'd say something like that," Harry said. "I thought she was going to cry."
"Of course, he didn't think those words. He actually said to her 'you're not going to start crying again are you?' Then she slapped him."
There was a beat of silence before everyone chimed in about how inappropriate and rude that was for him to say. Everyone, except Rory. She remained silent. She seemed... Unsurprised. Like this kind of news was something she completely expected.
Eventually, Matilda went back to talking about Seamus, while Rory and Stephen chatted quietly with each other.
"You okay?" Ginny asked Harry quietly.
It startled him from his thoughts and he nodded.
"Fine. Just been a hell of a day already," he said. "Looking forward to going back but also..."
"The idea of seeing Rory's dad is petrifying?" Ginny asked. He nodded. "Maybe he'll take pity on you. You just got dumped. Again."
"I don't know that he'll take it well considering I, broke up with the girl I told his daughter not to worry about," Harry said.
"Are you alright? After ending things with Cho, I mean," she asked again.
Harry sighed. "Kind of relieved, to be honest. Which is weird because," he paused again and glanced over at Rory who was now nodding along, scribbling something down in a notebook as Stephen talked.
"Because last time it sucked," Ginny said.
"Something like that," he replied.
"Well, it's not as if anyone here is awash with prospects," Ginny replied.
He remembered that she and Michael had broken up several weeks ago.
"I'm sure you could have anyone you wanted, Ginny," Harry replied.
"How nice of you," Ginny replied. "Trouble is, most people kind of suck."
"I think I fall firmly into that category," he replied.
"Nonsense," Ginny said.
"You saw me get slapped earlier today," Harry said. "And said I deserved it."
"You did. But you're not always like that. You're just going through a rough time. More than any of us really," Ginny said.
Harry remembered a conversation he had with Rory, back toward the beginning of the school year. It was after their fight in Hogsmeade and she'd said that Harry acted as if he was the only person in the world who'd ever had anything bad happen to him.
And he remembered the words scarred on the back of her hand, the way that they carried much more weight than his own. He could shrug off what Umbridge made him write. But Rory had a reminder on her skin that Umbridge only hated Rory because it would upset her dad.
"Maybe not," Harry said. "I think I'm just the one everyone is paying attention to."
When lunch came around Rory somehow found herself sitting alone with Harry. Ginny had gone off to look for the twins, Stephen had promised to help Susan with some notes from herbology and Neville went along with him, followed by Matilda who never passed up an opportunity to absorb extra herbology knowledge from Neville.
So Rory sat alone with Harry, eating a sandwich the Trolley Witch had brought by, in uncomfortable silence while she did her best to read and pretend he wasn't there.
"Can I ask you something?" Harry said, popping her perfect, Harry-less bubble.
She looked up at him and nodded.
"You didn't seem all that surprised when Ginny said that Cho slapped me," he said,
Rory nodded. "Because I wasn't."
He balked at this. "Why?"
"Because it sounds like the kind of thing you would say," Rory said. Again, this surprised him. "You really can't be shocked that I'm saying that."
"I kind of am," he said.
"Harry, I saw you kiss Cho and you told me to calm down and that I was being hysterical," Rory said. "It's not really a reach that you'd-."
"I get it thanks," he said grumpily.
"It's not my fault you-."
"I said I get it, Rory," he repeated, terser this time.
Rory took that as her sign to end the conversation, which she was more than happy to do. She returned to her sandwich and book but then Stephen returned.
"What happened to your herbology party?" Rory asked.
"After about five minutes, Neville made it pretty clear that I wasn't needed," Stephen said. "He's pretty impressive."
"Try telling him that. Mattie and I have been at it for years," Rory replied.
"Matilda was in there 'hyping him up' as you say," Stephen said.
"She's good at that," Rory replied.
"Has she talked to you about what she's going to talk about when we get sat down for career advice?" Stephen asked.
"Career advice?" Harry chimed in.
"After the Easter holidays, our heads of houses are going to pull us aside to have one on one discussions with us about what our future career plans are. That way they can help us know which OWLs we need to really focus on," Stephen explained. "What are you shooting for when you're done?"
"Oh! I was thinking of being an Auror," Harry said.
Stephen chuckled. "Don't even know why I asked. You'd be a shoo-in for that."
"Thanks," Harry said.
"You'd be pretty good as an Auror as well," Stephen said to her.
Rory chuckled. "Yes. An Auror named 'Aurora' is sure to go over well."
"Got it," Stephen said. "Do you have any plans? Music perhaps?"
Rory shook her head. "I know I am an exceptional songstress, but I think I'd like to do something at the ministry as lame as that sounds. Like research and development of potions or spells or something. Maybe something with legislation and overturning all of the stupid laws."
"Be good at that," Stephen said. "You're a difficult person to argue with."
"My father taught me well. Too well he would say," Rory said.
Stephen laughed. "How is your dad?"
"Better when I'm not exhausting him with nearly getting expelled. The last letter he sent me literally said 'You exhaust me.' Hence the not wanting to get expelled thing," Rory said. "I mean, I also care about my education. But my dad not dropping dead of a heart attack is also important."
"I'm glad he's well despite your best efforts," Stephen said. "Is he picking you up from the train station?"
Rory nodded. "Would never miss it."
"Well I hope I get to see him," Stephen said.
"I'm sure he'd like that," Rory said. She was pretty sure that he would actually like that. Rory thought she might actually like that. She liked Stephen. She didn't know if she liked him in the same way she'd liked Harry. But she was open to the idea of it.
But then she'd look over to Harry and she'd feel an ache in her chest.
"Think you'll talk to your mum about visiting London in the next few weeks?" Rory asked.
"I will, but I think it'd be more fun to see it in the summer. With you," Stephen said,
Rory felt heat flood her cheeks. "I'll have to see what happens."
This past summer, she'd planned on seeing a film and going somewhere fun with Harry. Sitting alone in the back of a dark theater kissing him for so long they never learned the plot of the movie. Would she get that with Stephen? Did she want that with him? She supposed she really would have to see what happened.
