Harry had broken multiple laws in his admittedly short but exciting life. It wasn't even the fact that he wanted to break the laws, they just happened. A side effect of being a hot-headed Gryffindor who had been repeatedly conditioned into being the 'saviour' and being rewarded for it. It also didn't help that he had to break the rules just to be able to eat at Durskaban. He wondered if that had also been deliberate or just a happy coincidence that Dumbledore had used. He did state that he had known it would be an unhappy childhood for him but had decided that the protection would be worth it.
Anyway back to the main point. Harry had broken many laws in his lifetime but they were all for a good reason. And the laws he was breaking now weren't even as serious as the ones he had broken before, but did the fact that he was breaking them for a slightly selfish reason make it worse? Ugh, Philosophy, it always made his head hurt. Shaking off his lingering thoughts he made sure his disillusionment charm was working properly on himself and on his broomstick before he began floating on his firebolt above the treeline. Low enough that he could see the houses but high enough that he wouldn't hit any pedestrians.
He had tried, he really really did. He made plans for The Date, he moped about thinking about Lia, he counted down the hours, he freaked out and remade the plans and the cycle continued and so on. Except, except, he had forgotten one important part of the whole date until the literal eleventh hour.
Transport.
He had gotten so used to apparating/flooing anywhere he needed that it hadn't even struck him that he couldn't just apparate to Lia's house. So that led him to trying to map out the way from his house to hers through proper roads so that he wouldn't have any problems or get lost when he went to pick her up tomorrow. And if he caught a glimpse of Lia while he was around her house? Well, that was just his fortune.
As he slowly meandered along watching all the people hurrying along, his eyebrows rose in inquisition. The closer he got to Lia's house, the more affluent the area became. The houses rose in size and the clothes turned from the gaudy brand names of the new money rich to the understated luxury of the old money rich. The driveways grew longer and the walls grew higher. Finally, he stopped in front of huge black iron wrought gates and a grey driveway in the middle of manicured hedge gardens. The driveway wound around a stone fountain ending in front of a huge red and white mansion. He could see ivy sneaking over the roof and a busy buzz of activity surrounding the huge cars stationed in front of the house.
No one ever said Harry could resist sneaking around and finding answers to anything interesting. He floated over to the throng of people he could see. A bevy of people dressed in similar uniforms of black and white were carrying boxes from the house into the cars. At first glance, it looked extremely uncoordinated but the longer he observed, Harry could discern a pattern to the madness, and standing in the middle of it all, seeming directing it was Lia. His heart pounded in his chest, excitement, nervousness, anxiety roiling in his stomach. He floated a little closer to her eager to see her in the daylight, before shaking himself off and floating back to his position.
No. Bad Harry. No matter how much he missed Lia he will not going to go near her when she is unaware of it. He will not spy on her or stalk her.
Nope.
Not. Gonna. Do. That.
His hands itched to tilt the broom downwards, his body vibrating with the need to flatten himself against the handle and move closer to her. But no. He was not going to do that. The maximum that he would allow himself was to float above the house and observe (moon over) her.
He sighed happily watching her. She wore beige pants with a white shirt tucked into them and a black jacket over it, very sensible yet irresistible. Her beautiful eyes were covered by huge sunglasses while her hands held a clipboard and a pencil. She seemed to be ticking stuff off of her list as she observed the people. He leaned on one palm, balancing his elbow on the broomstick. With the beautiful breeze in the air and the beautiful sight in front of him, the day could not get any more perfect.
Merlin, he could not wait for tomorrow. To finally see her, talk to her, convince her they were meant to be. Maybe he should wait for that for the third date? He didn't know proper dating etiquette. It wouldn't matter either way. They would go on a date, it would be perfect and fall in love and live happily ever after. His eyes never strayed from her, even as she moved from the porch to the cars to inspect them. Finally the pace of the workers stopped and Lia went back into the house.
Huh. It had been a couple hours, he hadn't even noticed. He felt his locked muscles moan in pain and felt beads of sweat roll down his back through the layers of sweater and coat. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he decided to head back home. Rising higher in the air, he searched for an inhabitable lane before scurrying into its shadows and apparating home.
As the dawn broke on Sunday, one lone wizard could be seen standing in an east-facing balcony, his black hair tousling gently in the wind while emerald eyes stared intensely into the rising star, his eyes beginning to squint in its bright light. Despite his seemingly relaxed posture, his hands gripped the railing just a little too hard, and his teeth gnawed his lips nervously.
Harry Potter was nervous. About-to-enter-a-death-match nervous, about-to-go-search-for-death-defying-objects nervous, pretending-to-be-dead-in-middle-of-a-death-circle nervous. He didn't even know why he was so nervous! It was a date! Just. A. Date!
He could go on a date!
It's a date with the most perfect woman in the world and the only one he could see in his future. Merlin, he was killing himself here! He needed to get it together. In a few hours he would be going to take Lia on their date and he needed it to go perfectly. Absolutely perfectly.
Harry sighed as he leaned his forehead on the cool railing. For the first time in forever his life felt normal as he worried over normal things. This is what he wanted. This is what he had always wanted and yet, and yet this was the most nerve wracking moment of his life. A hysterical laugh escaped his mouth along with a puff of mist. How ironic, that the idea of a date made him break out into a sweat and want to run away when the idea of the most terrifying dark wizard in history had never done that.
He leaned his cheek on the railing, his eyes going cross eyed and a blur of yellow, orange and pinks the only things he could make out. He tried to calm himself down and clear his mind in the cool brisk air for a few more minutes. When the sun had fully risen and its slight warmth cut through the sir to warm his arms he straightened himself, nodding to himself in faux self-confidence and turning around to enter his room again.
"I can do this. I can do this. I will do this." He muttered to himself, wrapping his gryffindor courage around himself, shrouding his nervousness, convincing himself it didn't exist. Uttering the mantra helped him alienate some of the nausea churning in his stomach as he went about getting ready for the day that would hopefully change the rest of his life for the best.