Chapter VII
En Passant
IT HAD ALL started with a simple question: what to do about Malfoy? Grandfather's letters had made it clear that there was little he could do, and I was not foolish enough to go directly against father, so I had to take matters into my own hands. But I had twisted and turned the problem for three months with no result.
I will admit, maybe it is not customarily the best idea to bring up the man you were supposed to be courting the day after you have slept with another. But then again, I felt like he had revealed secrets far worse than an inconvenient piece of paper my father had signed with one Lord Malfoy.
The solution had been quite brilliant, really, once we actually sat down and started thinking further than premeditated murder and contractual loopholes. Clean sweep: remove Malfoy's gold, and he becomes uninteresting to both father and Riddle. Their house had real political power back in France two centuries ago. Nowadays, they only had their gold. All we needed to do was to find enough damning evidence, then drop some hints at the Ministry about something like a basement full of illegal items, and swing the Wizengamot chambers enough to get Malfoy fined to France and back or locked out of his vaults.
As I said, easy as breathing.
But there always had to be at least one backup plan, and there was exactly one person that could give us enough dark artefacts to bolster Malfoy's trinket collection well past the legally acceptable. Nobody would care how they got to Malfoy Manor when push came to shove.
It was time to pay grandfather a visit.
He taught me that there were Lords and then there were Lords. Some—like Malfoy—were called Lords as a mere honorific: a family of wealth or influence. Others—like the Potters—were called Lords because they held a hereditary seat in the Wizengamot. And then there were the old houses; those which traced their history straight to the Duchies of Britain, long before the Statute of Secrecy was a thing. Houses straight from the times of Merlin. The seven houses that controlled the seven kingdoms of the Heptarchy. These houses held the true power: controlled lands, had other houses depend on them for protection. When wizards like Arcturus Black spoke, people listened.
For our plan to work, we needed him to be on our side.
"I do not see the point of using this when you can just apparate us to England without anyone knowing," I waved the letter my grandfather wrote for the headmaster.
Harry grinned at me. "It's better that old Albus lets you leave the castle in case I'm not around. And anyway, it's all smoke and mirrors. If there's a way for you to leave the castle officially, there's no need for you to be sneaking about. Good for alibi."
"You are awfully sneaky for a Gryffindor."
"Isn't it just so Slytherin to not be sorted into the house of the sneaky?"
I laughed at his antics as we made our way through the castle. It was late enough that the halls were almost empty, and we had a valid reason for being together, but neither of us wanted to answer awkward questions. Thus, we made our way through a secret passage that connected the Astronomy Wing and the Central Annex in a way that was clearly not geometrically possible.
I really should not have been surprised after the moving staircases and hidden rooms.
"Toffee eclairs," said Harry as the Gargoyle stepped aside. Sweets? Really?
We made our way up the spinning stairs and knocked on the door. A brief pause and a 'come in' later, I found myself in a large circular room with more little spinny things than I could take in if I had a month. At least two dozen of them made noise.
"Ah, Harry, to what do I owe the pleasure? I hope there have been no issues with Miss Black?" The headmaster's tone was somewhat guarded. I felt faintly annoyed, as I had never done anything to warrant disciplinary action. Unlike Bella.
"No, Albus, I have nothing but praise for Miss Black's recent performance." I could hear the amusement in his voice as I tried to swallow down my blush.
"Excellent, excellent! It would not do to spoil such a pristine academic record; one of the finest I have seen during my tenure. Tell me, Miss Black, how is your project coming along? I will admit I am somewhat curious; it has been years since someone has done their project a year early."
At least now I could excuse the blush for praise. "Thank you, headmaster. The project is coming along well. I am sure I can make it work by the summer."
"Splendid! It will certainly make for some very enlightening reading—did you know Miss Black here is working on combining several spells? You must understand, Harry, this sort of thing isn't done very much outside veneered Charms Masters; very theoretical endeavour. Just the right sort of stimulating literature to read on an evening with some fuzzy socks and a warm fire, don't you agree, Harry?"
"Certainly, Albus." There were smiles flickering on their faces, soft and subtle like candle flames.
"But ah—you must excuse an old man, I had been most rude this evening—I fear that I have got no clue as to the nature of your visit. Has something happened… In the forest, so to speak?" he said as he looked at us over his half-moon glasses.
Did Dumbledore know what happened to Harry? That would certainly explain how he got the teaching position so young with no-one to vouch for him, even if he was arguably overqualified.
"Nothing of the sort, Albus. Miss Black simply has some family matters to attend to with Lord Black, and Dorea asked for me to come along. We didn't want to bother Horace so late—you know how particular he can be. And since we'd have to come up here anyway…"
I handed the headmaster the letter from my grandfather as Harry was talking. He skimmed it quickly before nodding.
"Certainly not the most common of requests, but I find myself with no reason to disallow this. It is a lot of freedom, Miss Black. See that you do not abuse it. I will expect you to inform myself or your Head of House before any departure."
"Of course, Headmaster Dumbledore, and thank you."
"But of course, dear. Should I be expecting you two back tonight?"
"Maybe, we'll see how long things take. I'll side-along Miss Black to the front gates if needed."
"Splendid! Best you be on your way, then," he said as he gestured to the fireplace. I reached for some floo powder in the basin next to his desk—
"Oh, no, no, Miss Black! You'll find the powder next to the fireplace."
Harry laughed. "Is this the first time someone mistook your chicken for floo powder, Albus?"
I frowned in confusion before I blushed red to the roots as I realised just what bird the 'chicken' referred to. The headmaster chuckled merrily, smiling the beatific smile he always had at speeches. "Worry not, Miss Black, Minerva also mistook poor Fawkes for floo powder once."
I nodded mutely before I turned and practically fled the room before my composure broke entirely. The green flames burst around me and I stepped into the entrance at Raven Hall. The flames flared again and Harry half-stumbled out of the fireplace, still laughing.
"Not funny."
"Totally was, though. I don't think I've ever seen old Albus so surprised."
"He should get his stupid phoenix a different perch," I grumbled as I vanished the soot from my robes with a flick. "But anyway, I wanted to ask: does Dumbledore know?"
"You mean why he's asked about the forest? He knows some of it, it'd be quite hard to hide when you cause enough magical backlash in the forest to vibrate the Hogwarts wards to resonance. And Albus is clever enough to fill in the blanks on his own, mainly when his own Elder Wand happened to lose all magic within the same hour. But I didn't tell him everything."
"Why not? I mean, not that I think you should, but he is supposedly the most powerful wizard alive."
He shrugged as he straightened his coat. "Last time, it fell on his shoulders to lead the fight. He formed a resistance group when the Ministry didn't do anything; called it the Order of the Phoenix. But Albus is not a fighter. He loves teaching children about magic, not leading a war effort. His plans were too convoluted and whimsical for a war effort, and deaths of many of those close to him haunted him until his own death as a result. I'd like to save him some of the suffering, if I can." He paused as he looked around the hall, lost in thought. "He means well."
I felt my heart swell with pride as I gave him a kiss. Harry was a better man than he would have people believe. I took his hand and led him up the grand staircase and through the opulent hallways, even if I was quite certain he could make his own way here. It helped slow down my heartbeat, a little.
I did not often feel nervous. And I could not recall a single time when I had felt this jittery with my grandfather. But… Well, it was not like what we had done was exactly following tradition and decorum, and that would certainly not win Harry any points. And I cared about what grandfather and grandmother thought more than anyone. More than mother and father and Cara.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
He would understand, I told myself as I waved to one of the portraits that lined the hall. I hoped. Harry squeezed my hand as we came to the study, and I gave him a smile that was as brittle as untempered steel.
"Good evening, Lord Black."
"Good evening, Heir Potter."
The two men shook hands, then grandfather bowed and kissed my knuckles. The formality helped. It was a familiar script to play out; one where I did not have to say anything important.
"You look as resplendent as always, little Narcissa."
"Thank you, grandfather. You are looking as hale and healthy as when I last saw you." And it was true. Despite his age, his eyes and mind were razor sharp, his face unwrinkled and not spotted with old age. Only the grey hair and slower movements truly spoke of his age.
"Please, sit," grandfather said as he indicated two chairs. He had taught me early on in life that you could read a meeting by the chairs used. A good chair could make you squirm in your seat before you even properly sat down. These chairs were plush and high-backed; height level with his own. A sign of respect. For Harry or me? I was grateful all the same.
"What can I do for you today? Your letter was most vague," grandfather broke the silence as he steepled his fingers on the desk, his ring gleaming bright silver, full on display in the flickering firelight.
"It relates to Riddle… Mostly," Harry started. Grandfather raised an eyebrow, the rest of his face an impassive mask. "We have a plan on how to take out a large portion of his funding and help Narcissa out of the mess her father signed himself into."
"Go on."
"We want to sneak into Malfoy Manor, and either find or place a large quantity of dark objects or other damning evidence. I can then send an anonymous missive to my contacts at the Ministry, they raid the place, and hopefully put Malfoy on trial. We hope that the political and financial backlash will cripple Riddle and his Knights."
And discourage father from negotiating with Lord Malfoy, I added to myself. I could see grandfather made the same connection as he leaned back into his chair, his eyes piercing through Harry.
"You said we, what does Narcissa have to do with this plan?"
"She—"
"I'm with Harry," I cut off whatever he was about to say. And yes, I meant that in every way, and he knew it. I was making a gambit, and I hoped that I knew grandfather's game well enough. "I… Convinced him that it would be beneficial not to go alone on whatever mission we plan together. It is not only his fight, grandfather."
I could feel him drilling holes into me, as if he was trying to see what the plan was six steps ahead. The black diamond glared at me from his fingers with all the might of the Black family.
"With Harry, Narcissa?"
His scowl would have probably scared off most people. It was the sort of scowl that promised heavy rain and shipwreck storms. It even put Harry on edge. Not me, though. I would not show weakness.
"Yes, grandfather. It is my choice, and frankly, I could not care less what father wants to do with me, and I know your opinion of Malfoy. I am more than capable of making my own decisions and holding my own in a fight."
I stared straight back at him. My move had been played. I could only hope we were playing with the same coloured pieces. Best not to think of the other alternatives, I thought as I forced my hands not to fidget.
Breathe through the nose. Chin up. Shoulders back. Do not let them see weakness, little Narcissa, or they will tear you apart.
The wax slowly ran down the candelabras. Time crept forward in small, hesitant steps, making its way through dark corridors full of endless gaping chasms. I could feel Harry looking between me and grandfather as his watch emitted that methodical whir. I suddenly wished for all the shiny trinkets from the headmaster's office to fill the gaping silence that permeated every corner of the study.
I could see the moment he made his decision. I could see the pride in the small smile that slowly snuck onto his face despite himself.
"Very well. I see where you got your information now."
Grandfather stood up and walked to the window. I exhaled slowly, feeling slightly dizzy from where I had held my breath. The moon had come out from the clouds while we were talking, and it painted the room in soft blues; deepening the blacks and polishing the silvers into an eerie sheen.
"Go and wait in the library, Narcissa. Melania wants to see you before you go back to the castle." He paused, turning around to look at the two of us. "You have my permission to go on with this plan. Whether you have my blessing depends on how the conversation with Heir Potter goes."
"Of course, grandfather. Thank you." I gave Harry a reassuring smile as I left the room. He nodded stiffly.
All the possible conversations that grandfather may have led with Harry after I left the study fled from my mind the moment I saw grandmother reading a book in her favourite chaise.
"Oh! Narcissa, sweetheart, I am so happy to see you!" she beamed, closing the book and holding out her arms. I grinned as I bent down over the armchair and embraced her. Her hair smelled like earth and fresh bread, and I breathed it in, never wanting to leave.
"I missed you," I said into her hair.
"And I you, darling," she said, patting my back with a hand. "Come, sit with me." She looked at me with a warm smile, eyes full of mischief, as I settled down to a settee opposite. "Now, who is this young man that Arcturus told me about?"
"Oh, it's Harry Potter, the new Defence professor at Hogwarts," I said, and then proceeded to blush as I realised that there were probably half a hundred better ways to describe who he was that did not give such a bad impression of whatever relationship we had.
She chuckled. "Yes, yes, I know all about him teaching, that was not what I was asking. I am far more interested in where the teaching stopped and the rest began," she said with a conspiratorial wink as my blush went even redder.
"I, um." Truth be told, I did not know what to say. It all sounded so… crude. "I guess we just happened to stumble across each other," I said in the end. "I asked for some help with spells, then he found me practising duelling and offered to help. And then," I trailed off with a helpless shrug.
"And then there was more than just teaching."
"Yeah, you could say that."
"Well, as long as he is not taking advantage of you, and both of you are being responsible," she said with emphasis and I nodded way too quickly because I did not want to get the wands and cauldrons talk from grandmother—or anyone else—ever. "Then as long as he makes you happy, I will be happy for you. From what I have seen, he is certainly a long step above that Malfoy boy Cygnus signed you off with."
"Yes, we are, and he does, and—" I took a deep breath. "Thank you, grandmother," I said as all the tension left me.
"Of course, child. However, I shall be very wroth with you if you do not write more often. I cannot rely on young men to carry you here to give your poor grandmother news about your life forever."
I nodded, grateful for her words. Grateful that she did not make a big deal of it all; the fact that he was a professor, the fact that we were going against my father's wishes and the courting agreement. Grateful that I felt safe here. Grandfather always had a severe way of speaking, and I was quite sure he put on a bit of a show to scare Harry. Yet regardless, they were my family, and I loved them from the bottom of my heart.
···
In the dim light, I could just make out a large manor behind the sprawling gardens. The hedges and lawns were still trimmed, even in December. My breath came out in little puffs of mist that tingled my face as a breeze blew them back at me. It was a deceptively tranquil scene, like a landscape painting with a little pile of corpses hidden between the brush strokes.
Do you know what the inside of the manor looks like?
Only the Dungeons. Had a nice, all-expenses-paid stay full of torture and starvation there in ninety-seven. I'd rather avoid a repeat.
So, we were going in blind. Harry did not seem to mind. I could hear him mutter below his breath as we crept closer and closer; saw him twitch a little every now and then from the corner of my eye. He had been acting a little off the whole evening, but maybe that was just the nerves.
I myself could barely believe what we were about to do. I ran my hand over my belt to check that all was in place. The holster of potion vials, just in case; check. The pouch of objects that positively reeked evil; check. The emergency portkey; check.
"Knock knock, here come the wards," I heard Harry sing-song.
I gripped my wand a little tighter. My turn.
I do the stupid charging ahead stuff, you do the clever bits with the wards. Simple!
Of course, Harry knew his way around wards. But he only had his experience, whereas I had years of formal education and self-study on the subjects. He knew how to feel them, how to break them with brute force, and he knew his Cloak allowed him to bypass most of them, and that was good enough for a Gryffindor.
I whistled as I gently poked and prodded at layer upon layer of protections, careful not to trigger any alarms. "Good thing we can slip past these, I would not want to be stuck here untangling these for a few hours."
"Good, the better the wards, the more lax they'll be inside." He rubbed his hands as he shivered. "Let's go?"
"Patience, Harry. I am not finished yet."
He shrugged as he twirled his wand in his hand, looking around us curiously. "Last time, there were swans in the gardens. I wonder if they cooked them all."
"Some of these are quite new, Harry. And very powerful."
"Riddle, probably. I don't think he'll be here tonight, though."
"Oh? Why so sure about it?"
"I may have fiddled with the protections around Avery's house earlier tonight." His grin was wild and free. "Should keep 'em distracted for a good while."
"Of course you did. Anyway, there are at least five layers of protective matrices feeding off of each other, a few detection wards, and a floo filter. All standard stuff. But then there is this… shimmering something I cannot quite decipher."
"Probably some variant of Parselmagic, like the Dark Mark. It won't be anything dangerous. Riddle is too arrogant to place anything lethal, even if Malfoy is important to him. He would want to be alerted and deal with the threat personally."
"I do not like going off of suppositions and feelings, Harry."
He gave a shrug as he wrapped the Cloak around us.
"Not much I can do. Knowing my luck, I'd probably press the big red alarm button and alert him if I tried prodding at the wards."
"The big red what?"
"Oh, it's a muggle thing," he said as he took my hand and we walked towards the manor.
I could feel the cold whispers of the Cloak wrap around me, cutting off all sensations from the outside world. I could not feel the wards anymore, or even the chilly air outside; only Harry's warm hand and the heartbeat in my ears. It was almost like we were floating in some static limbo. Like jumping into water, cut off from the world.
I cast a quick muffling charm at our feet as we came to the gravel path, and got a kiss as a reward. We crept towards one of the rooms around the back of the building that had light spilling onto the lawn. Two house elves popped this way and that as they moved about the kitchens, stirring and chopping a dozen things at once. The next one was an empty drawing room.
"You know, it's lucky you're a pureblood. At least if we get caught, nobody will carve 'mudblood' into your forearm." Harry said absently. His voice was startling and way too loud, but he did not seem to notice. I swallowed a shudder as my stomach twisted onto itself.
I tugged at his arm, hard, as I stopped in place. He turned to face me, his eyes focusing again as he flinched. A stranger's face stared at me with blue eyes and sandy hair. "Harry, I know this place has bad memories for you, but we need to focus now," I whispered as I cupped his cheek. The glamours tingled against my hand and did nothing to hide the pain in his eyes. I did not even want to think about what was running through his mind.
He mumbled an apology and then his eyes slipped off from me and he looked away. I patted his cheek, sharp enough to turn his head back. My other hand squeezed his. "Hey, focus. We do this carefully, nothing bad happens. And we have each other to get out of here if it goes sideways. We got this, okay?"
He nodded, more certainly this time. And then he snapped back, and he was grinning once again. "Yeah. Okay. Let's find a way inside."
We found an open balcony around the corner and levitated each other to the top. It was risky, since it meant one of us had to go without the Cloak, but I was sure my disillusionment was good enough for the moonlit night. The railing was freezing beneath my fingers as I leant against it while Harry scouted the room.
"Looks like a guest bedchamber. There's clothes on the chair, so we better move quick."
We ducked across the room and through the door, then across the hallway deeper into the house. So far, so good.
Suddenly, I stifled a scream as Harry pulled me to the side and into a window alcove. A door banged open where I had been a moment before. We stood there, holding our breaths as we listened.
A familiar giggle drifted from the room. Bella's voice echoed off the walls. "Come, Rody, that's enough. You can play with Bella later, but it's time to go now."
Of all the fucking things—
What even—
Morgana's tits, what was Bella doing here?
I watched in shock as my sister almost skipped out of the room, hips swaying, followed by a dishevelled Rodolphus Lestrange. "Come, Rody, we wouldn't want to be late to the raid," she said as she looked over her shoulder and bit her lip. "They'd be so helpless without your skilled wand." She licked her lips, eyes wide and full of emotion.
I felt Harry squeeze my hand, painfully tight. Keeping me in place. I realised I was gripping his hand so hard my forearm cramped. My heart was beating a mile a minute as they passed by.
Her dress was sleeveless and backless, showing off a ridiculous amount of skin. Her left forearm had the black snake skull tattoo I knew far too well now. Oh, Bella. What have you gotten yourself into? I was certain that the hungry look in her eyes had nothing to do with Rodolphus Lestrange.
It was the same dangerous violet-grey as when we last duelled. Violent. I swallowed and the skin of my throat felt tight as it tugged on my ear.
"We should move," Harry murmured. "Keep to the plan, get out. We'll deal with the rest later."
I forced myself to focus with a nod. "Study first?"
"Study, then bedroom, then the secret room in the kitchen." I did not question how he knew about that room—I firmly believed there were things even I did not want to know.
The dying embers gave the room an orange tinge. I shot a quick confundus hex at the two portraits that hung behind the large desk as Harry locked the door. I took one of the vials from my belt, and started imbuing the paperweight with the venom. Maybe Lord Malfoy would have some trouble signing documents in the future, I thought with a smirk. Then I tripped the lock in the desk drawers and left some very nasty trinkets in there. And a few books—I had selected the ugliest knives I could find.
"Harry, come look at this," I said in excitement as I skimmed the folders from the second drawer. This made the whole plan oh-so much more propitious. "There is a whole folder of transaction ledgers to Ministry officials."
Harry whistled low as he skimmed the top parchment. "I'm taking a copy of this, in case they don't find it."
I carefully twirled my wand as I reset the locks on the drawers, trying to remove any trace of our involvement.
"Let's move, we got—" Harry glanced at his watch, "—about an hour before aurors raid this place, if nothing goes tits up at the Ministry." I had my doubts, but Harry had assured me that Senior Auror Moody and his team could act discreetly.
In and out in less than five minutes. The bedroom took closer to seven. It was as we made our way towards the kitchens that I heard Malfoy's voice.
"Maybe I'll find a pretty one with blonde hair tonight, until Black stops giving me the cold shoulder," he said with a sneer. Avery laughed; a high, grating, ugly sound that made you flinch like nails on a chalkboard. I struggled to swallow down bile.
I would not be coming anywhere close to you, Malfoy. And by the way Harry had stiffened next to me, Lucy-boy would have to get through him first. I felt tainted for having touched him; smeared with his ugly smile that would not have been charming next to an inferius. I wanted to throw up; wanted to scream and curse him. Wanted to torch this whole place to the ground and dance in the fire as these sick people burned around me. Laughter followed us to the kitchens.
But no, we couldn't.
Sadly, we can't just kill Malfoy. Trust me, I really, really want to. But Riddle will give him something important, and I haven't a clue where I'd look for it if Malfoy's dead.
What the fuck was Bella doing with these people? Sweet Bella who always made time for me. I wished she would be safe wherever she was going.
Did that make me a bad person? I certainly felt like one.
"There's still an elf in there," I heard Harry say as he peered through the half-open door; forcing me back to the now.
"Means the other one could be back any time," I murmured.
Well, great. What now? I tried to figure—
"Imperio."
My head jerked to Harry. I did not know what surprised me more, the fact that he used an Unforgivable or the soft, familiar way he cast it. A quick mental analysis told me that I did not really care, and yes, I was aware of how fucked up that was. I tucked the thought away into the do-not-consider box for now. It could play with Bella and Malfoy until we were out of this fucking shithole.
The elf popped away from the kitchen.
"Nobody's gonna disturb us now," Harry said with certainty as he shut the door behind us and whipped off the Cloak. "Can you sweep the room?"
I nodded as I started casting. And casting.
"Nothing," I said after a while.
"As expected," Harry said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Makes it harder to detect. Let's start looking, then."
It ended up taking us almost half an hour until we found the false back to one of the cabinets. We were starting to run short on time.
"Look for a slim black book titled T. M. Riddle," Harry said as we entered the small room. I started scanning the shelves of objects as Harry levitated trinket after trinket out of his pouch.
T. M. Riddle, T. M. Riddle, I repeated in my mind as I inspected book after book, slowly turning around the middle of the room.
Oh my, that was a really pretty ring. It had a small stone inset in the middle, and the shade would go wonderfully with my greens. I was sure Harry would love it. I bent down to take a closer look at it and—
"Hey, watch it!" I said as Harry knocked me to the ground.
"Oh, my bad, thought you were looking at the books," he said in confusion.
I felt the blood drain from my face. That was a…
…really pretty ring…
Fuck. Ice ran through me as I realised just how close I had come to a Class Four Royal Fuckup. Fucking manor and fucking compulsions. I brushed off my pants as I stood and went back to the other side of the cellar to the books. "There's a ring with some nasty compulsions, be careful."
"Noted." Harry whistled away as he placed a second ring next to it. "Time's up, you found it?" The earth trembled as a deep gong echoed throughout the house.
"Nope."
"Didn't think we would, but it was worth a shot. Anyway, m'lady?" He gave me a wide smile as he bowed and offered me his arm and put his Cloak around us.
We whirled through the world just as the echo of 'Wands down!' drifted into the basement.
···
"You should get me chocolates," Cara said as we made our way back from the quidditch stadium. She still smiled from when she got a kiss for being 'the prettiest chaser', after escorting Marlene to practise, but her tone was guarded.
"Indeed?"
"Yup. One of those big boxes that your parents would never allow you to have."
"Is Marlene not being sweet enough?"
"No, she doesn't need to be, because I don't have to cover her ass every time she sneaks off during the night." The smile stretched and stretched and it was about to snap.
"I—"
"Two nights this week, Cissy. In a row!" she said as she stopped and pointed a finger at me. "I expect to be thoroughly informed about everything you were up to and next time, and I want advance warning. And you should get Rosie on it too, it'll be easier to convince Adelaine and Lydia that way."
I groaned. I had gotten so caught up with everything that I had not even realised that my absence would be noted. But of course it had been. Cara was still my best friend. We did not do secrets. And I could see it was bothering her that she did not know. But I could not tell her about Malfoy, not yet at least.
Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
I would have to ask Harry about what I could tell her. I did not want to keep secrets from her, but I would not break Harry's confidence. But there were things that I could tell her.
"You were right," I said as I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat. I was already preparing myself for a long, long discussion.
"Hm?" She blinked at me in confusion. "About what?"
"Harry."
"Duh, of course. What part?"
"He really is sexier without clothes." I wished I could have taken a picture of her face right then. And maybe I blushed a little. So what?
