August 14th, 1992

"So, what do you have to show me today, Harry?"

Instead of rushing to show Dumbledore his latest completed project, Harry, instead, plopped himself into what was now his favorite arm chair. He was pretty sure that the bottom cushion had morphed to the contours of his butt at this point to make sure he sat comfortably every time.

Dumbledore didn't seem bothered by Harry's lack of response. Instead, he conjured a somewhat matching brown armchair to Harry's own. Harry gazed simply at the man and his guardian simply stared back patiently. After a few minutes like that, Harry finally made up his mind and decided to open the conversation with the thing that had been bothering him.

"I think I have begun puberty." Harry finally said to the man. Dumbledore didn't react much but he did raise an eyebrow and Harry was sure he noticed a slight upward twitch of his mouth causing a small frown to appear on his own face, though, he didn't point it out.

"Ah… And what has happened that makes you believe that to be the case?"

"Do you remember my birthday?"

"I do. It was quite the enjoyable affair as I recall."

"Do you remember what happened after?"

"I assume you are speaking of the meeting within your mindscape?"

"Yes. It went quite well as I already told you… I, however, did not mention that at the end of the encounter, Ciri kissed me. As a birthday gift." Harry finally admitted. It was the first time he had brought it up since it had happened. Even with Ciri, they had both been avoiding the topic and Harry hadn't planned to break that.

"I see. And I assume you enjoyed it?"

"Well… At the time, I wasn't really sure. It happened so fast that I didn't really have time to process it when it happened but… I keep thinking about it and it makes me feel… I don't even know, warm maybe? At this point, I have read about puberty so many times in medical texts, recognizing the symptoms was easy…"

"Ah, I suppose it would be for you… Well, how do you feel about that? I'm sure at this point I don't really need to give you another talk and you know what you feel is normal. Is there a question you have?" Dumbledore asked gently. Harry gave that question serious thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head no.

"No. It's not questions I have. I suppose I'm just worried. Ever since the kiss, well… I think I have been starting to notice Ciri as…"

"As a young woman instead of just your friend?" Albus finished for him. Harry nodded in confirmation.

"And… This bothers you?"

"… Yes? I think. I don't even know. I guess I'm just worried that some things might change between us because of this. I see Ciri every day and there's no way to really get around that. I suppose it was foolish to never really consider this possibility…"

"Not at all. You are insanely intelligent for your age but even you are not perfect. You can't plan for everything Harry. Besides, I have a feeling that if Ciri had a problem with you seeing her in such a way she would likely not have kissed you in the first place. According to you, Ciri entered puberty quite some time ago which means such a gesture probably meant even more to her then it did you to. A first kiss is quite memorable after all." Albus told him evenly.

"Do you remember your first kiss?" Harry challenged.

"I do. It was… clumsy. But I still look back on the experience fondly." Albus said with a small smile. Harry blinked in surprise at that but said nothing at that.

Was that what Ciri had wanted this whole time, for him to finally see her as a woman? In truth, he had probably started puberty earlier and was simply so busy with his other parts of life that he hadn't really noticed. Because of that, it really felt like Ciri had literally kissed him into puberty. But Albus was right, she had entered puberty some time ago. He remembered as he had been the one to give her a speech on it to the best of his ability.

"I just am not sure where to go from here. It has been sort of awkward since that moment. I'm not really sure if I should bring it up or not. My natural instinct is to do that so we can hopefully have one awkward moment and then back to normal rather than just wait for it to fade back to normal."

"It's a hard choice. Your relationship with Ciri is a unique but extremely strong one. Whatever you choose, it is likely that you will see this in the future as nothing more than a speed bump or even a funny moment."

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Thank you for talking to me about this. It had been plaguing me for a while and I just felt like I needed to get it off my chest." Harry said gratefully to his mentor/guardian.

"You're quite welcome… Is there anything else you wish to speak about?" Albus asked him politely. Harry shook his head.

"No, that was all… Anyway, I suppose you wished to see my latest projects progress?"

"I would very much like to if you would let me." Albus said. Harry nodded as he stood up and moved to the side room to the library that Harry had full converted from a potions room to his Ritual room. He was proficient enough in potions but they held no interest to him by themselves. Some were used in some Rituals though and he had made sure to mark the ones that were for possible later us to play with. Honestly though, he was confident he could replicate most of their effects with runes. Until he was sure though, he would keep those potions in mind.

"I guess I should give the full explanation. The project has to do with healing as I am sure you know. In this day and age, there are very few mundane injuries that magic can't heal. They're so few that I can't name any off the top of my head and I have been studying this for a few months now."

"I am aware."

"Good. I assume though you do know the number one mundane killer of magicals then?"

"Hmm, If I remember some of my conversations with Madame Pomfrey correctly, it's the number of wounds, correct?"

"Ten points to Gryffindor. Yes, the most common cause of death from mundane injuries is usually when they're numerous wounds on the body and a healer cannot treat enough of them in time to stabilize, they're patient. It's one of the advantages of my Ritual. One, the ingredient's necessary for it aren't too expensive. Two Grindylow hearts and the egg of an Ashwinder. Very cheap as far as Rituals go."

"I would say. Do your Runes truly allow such a reduction in cost?"

"Yes. Honestly, the parts that are usually necessary for certain Rituals are mainly because they imbue the Rituals with certain properties from those parts, similar to potions. As you know though, many magical attributes can be gained from runes or runic arrays. In truth, a perfect Runic Ritual is more runic array than Ritual and hopefully would not require ANY outlying parts. The better I get with runes, the more likely I won't need them."

'You're already quite good with runes. Most of the arrays I have seen you do are custom ones you have built from the ground up."

"True, but I have actually had quite a bit of failures when it comes to runes too. Originally, I thought I could get rid of the Grindylow hearts needed with another runic array. Unfortunately, it didn't work as intended so I had to continue to use them."

"How do you decide which part to use?"

"I have done some experimentation on my own but many of the ones I have catalogued were actually from Perenelle. She has done years of extensive review herself. Outside of those however… Well, I do admit that I cheat a bit."

"What do you mean?"

"As you know, my sensitivity is extremely high compared to other magicals. I can still feel the inherent magic most of my ingredients have. It allows me to compare the similarities and differences in magic to other things I have seen which then gives me an idea on what properties I might expect to be able to receive from said ingredient. Of course, there is some guess work because I have to plan how they are going to mix with other magical factors within the Runic Ritual either from other parts or the runes."

"I see. I suppose then it is somewhat luck that you have been blessed to have the tools needed to aid in your success."

"Without a doubt. Anyway, we have drifted from the original topic. As I said, the Ritual is cheap to make parts wise though a little timely to prepare. That being said, it works extremely quickly. What do you think of my work?"

"I don't recognize these larger runes on the floor within the panels." Albus gestured. Harry's Ritual for this looked like an ornate lowercase 't' which formed four quadrants at each spacing made by the 't'. Within each of these was a character that did not seem to be a rune.

"Those are Symbols as they are called in Rituals. In truth, they are basically just slightly more intricate rune. Think of a rune as a word and runic array as a sentence made from those words. A symbol is like an entire sentence on its own, or in some cases, an entire paragraph. Each one is very specific in its use and you normally don't see a symbol in more than few different Rituals and those Rituals are usually related or even made by the same person or group."

"I have not encountered that before besides seeing them as simple imagery."

"Some are but these are not."

"I also noticed that you have four of them and each one is surrounded by its own runic array that is unique to each Symbol."

"Yes. This is quite the rarity. This was honestly the most fun and difficult part of this Ritual. Its my first-time factoring in Symbols and using them. I had to do some research to even find out about these. Many are guarded religiously by their creators. I may have to create some myself though in the future, or at least try."

"Hmm, fascinating."

"The Grindylow hearts are on either end of the horizontal line of the 't'. The Ashwinder egg is in the middle. At the beginning of the Ritual, you need to say the activation words for the Ritual to start and then crush the egg. After that, the Ritual takes place."

"I see. And do you have something arranged to showcase it?"

"Yes, though you may not like it."

"Oh?"

"One of us will have to injure themselves. It doesn't necessarily have to be major just enough to show case it."

"Hmm. Very well. I suppose I can make a small sacrifice to see it. When you're ready Harry." Dumbledore said as he walked into the middle and drew his wand.

"Are you sure you want to hop right in?"

"You already tested it correct?"

"I tested to see if the Ritual would activate. I did not have a tester, though, so, although I am confident in my work at this point and it seemed to be working as intended from what I could see, it may simply seem that way." Harry cautioned to his guardian. Albus shrugged and seemed unconcerned by his words.

"I believe in your work. I trust you have done everything to keep me safe." Albus said simply. Harry eyed him for a moment before looking down at the Ritual. He suddenly felt a small pit open in his stomach. He saw the Ritual activate already and could feel the magic that flowed into it and emanated from it and it all felt correct to him but… Everything could change a Ritual if you were not careful and adding a living element had sometimes been the key to disastrous results. He was confident his work was much safer than others who used Rituals but still…

"I hope you don't regret this."

"Have some confidence, my boy. You've tested it as much as you can and you're confident. If it were anyone but you who made this, I promise I would not be standing in it." Albus chuckled. Harry couldn't bring himself to match it. Instead, he simply stepped back and nodded at the man in as much assurance as he could manage.

"Are you ready then?" Harry asked.

"One moment." Albus called as he lifted his wand and held it up to his hand. He silently cast a spell and a dull green spell came out and hit his hand. Immediately, a cut opened up on his palm. Harry winced but Albus didn't even flinch.

"Alright, now I am ready."

"Very well. No backing out after this. I will say the words and then I will look down at you. Once I do, crush the egg."

"Understood." Albus answered easily. Harry sighed before taking a deep breath as he lifted his arms above his head and looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes then and reached out his senses to feel the magic around him.

"Gal'ak Thas An Bleem."

Harry called out the words and immediately felt the shift around him to tell him the magic was responding to his words. He looked down and met eyes with Albus. Immediately, the man stepped on the egg. The runes and symbols on the floor immediately glowed a shifting orange, almost like fire in response to the action. Harry took a step back and watched the show. A glowing column then rose up out of the Ritual floor and surrounded Albus.

Harry watched the man who was staring with interest at the magic that was happening around him. The man wasn't even bothering to look at his hand as he was too entranced by the display. Harry, however, was watching and did indeed notice when the wound on the man's hand completely closed and then appeared to disappear completely.

Within another moment, the light show disappeared completely and abruptly seeming to surprise Albus who looked around for a moment in confusion before finally remembering what was happening and looked down at his hand and smiled.

"Well, that seemed to be a success."

"Indeed… How do you feel?"

"I feel… I feel very good actually. My entire body feels very light. I don't think I have felt this light in years actually." Albus said as he looked down and seemed to be examining himself. Harry nodded.

"It doesn't de-age you back to your prime or anything but because of the way its all-encompassing, it heals a lot of the rust, as it were, on the body and gives it something like a tune-up. It pretty much puts your body in as good of condition as it can possibly be."

"At my age, I'd say that is almost worth more than the healing. I feel like I could run a mile right now." Albus said as he walked over looking a little peppy as he did so. Strange considering how calm he normally did.

"I'd bet. I did call it healing earlier but in truth, it is closer to regeneration. The Ritual can identify even missing body parts and restore them. As long as the target isn't brain dead, they can likely be brought back to full health… Well, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"I think If you tell our resident healer, you made this, she will hound you for the rest of your life." Albus answered. Harry smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Hmph. I have an extra stock of the hearts and eggs and I plan to have a separate healing room made where I will have this Ritual on standby if needed. Might even make an emergency portkey too it. What do you think?"

"It sounds like an intelligent idea. I did not know you could make portkeys though."

"Let me rephrase, have you make me an emergency portkey." Harry said with a roll of his eyes. Albus chuckled at that.

"Well, I suppose we can write this down as a success. Congratulations on another experience well done Harry."

"Thank you. I'm honestly happy to be done with it. It's been too long since I had told myself I would learn some form of healing and not had anything. Now, I can move onto my other projects."

"Speaking of, I have some volunteers for your artificial core experiment. Are you still interested in that?" Dumbledore asked him. Harry hadn't expected that question but nodded nonetheless.

"I am still interested yes. Who did you have in mind?"

"Have you met our school's caregiver?"

"I don't believe I have officially but I believe I have seen him before." Harry answered back.

"I spoke with him and he volunteered. I have spoken of the risk and he has accepted them already. He also knows he will have to sign a confidentiality contract as well."

"Good. In that case, we can do it whenever though I suppose we could just wait until the next school year at this point. The summer is almost over at this point."

"True enough. I have drawn up a contract already. I shall leave it in your library too look over and approve of. By the way, I took Mr. Weasley to another appointment yesterday with Gringotts."

"Already? that was fast. They couldn't have used all of them already."

"No, I believe they wanted some for their German branch."

"How much did they buy?"

"Another three hundred at the same price as last time. They cleared out his entire stock once more." Albus answered with a chuckle. Harry felt his brow raise at that but nodded.

"Good for him. He deserves it."

"Indeed. He gave a third of the money he received to his family again. Molly was quite upset with that. Didn't believe her son should be giving them money like that. Young Ronald argued otherwise and eventually his father had to step in to calm them down." Albus reported.

"Hmm. I hope they worked it out peacefully."

"As do I… Well, shall we continue to lunch then?"

"Yes I think that…" Harry cut himself off as he froze. A presence had just begun to settle upon the shields of his mind.

"Catch me." Was all he managed to get out before he dropped the shields and allowed the presence to enter once more. It only took a moment before he felt his vision begin to fade quickly to black as he dropped to the floor. His last sight was his guardian bolting towards his falling form.

A Day Later

Harry blinked his eyes open as he registered a strange absence of both self and place before his mind seemed to boot up properly and he suddenly remembered what happened. He sat up and looked around to see his was in his bedroom still at his home.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he took stock of his situation. Since he was sure Dumbledore or Minerva was likely here and had been notified that he had awoken, he used his time till they arrive to observe some changes.

First off, it seems he had been right about the fact that the last time, the only reason he had been injured was because the presence had to force its way into his and Ciri's shared mind. It would seem if he could get his shields down in time he would be fine. That being said, he would need to check how Ciri was doing as well. Given the presence seemed to be more concerned with her, it could be that she still got injured from it.

With that, he moved on to the second item in that he wasn't sure how long he had been passed out. From the suns position outside of his window, he could have been out from anywhere to a few hours to several weeks. He was hoping that since his mind would not have been injured that the recovery time from such an episode would be less. He would need to ask when someone arrived.

The third thing he needed to figure out is what to do about this presence. Whatever it was, it was definitely powerful, even more so than someone like Dumbledore who was technically a master at Legilimency. He had never felt the full force of Albus but he had felt strong enough to get an estimate on how powerful the man could truly be. So, if this was more powerful then Albus, how else could he find a way to possibly protect himself and Ciri from it? It sounded like he would have to figure out a new project. It didn't happen too often and it didn't seem to necessarily be harmful so it wouldn't be a top priority like figuring out how to cross worlds but he would maintain some study into it.

A soft knock went off by the door interrupting him from his thoughts.

"Come in." He called.

In stepped Albus somewhat surprising Harry. He knew it was a possibility but he honestly assumed the man would be to busy to stay. During the summer was when he was the busiest usually since he didn't have to be as much of a headmaster. The ministry tended to call him in more often because of that.

"I didn't think you would still be here. How long have I been out?"

"Only a day this time. And I decided to bring some of my work here. I also stayed in one of the guestrooms while you were asleep. I hope that was alright."

'Of course… Only a day huh? That's good, all things considered. I'm not in pain, which is also something to be thankful of. My mind isn't a complete mess either so it seems I was right last time about the lowering of my shields being a way to prevent damage. Now, all I need to do is check on Ciri. I assume she must've woken up today as well… Give me a quick moment." Harry finished as he concentrated.

'Ciri?' He called out into the abyss that was his mind. He waited a moment as he usually did when he needed her to respond while not in the mindscape.

'I'm fine. We'll talk tonight.'

'Okay.' Harry finished satisfied that she was alright.

"She responded so she is up and about too. She said we would talk about the incident more tonight. I guess that's the best I can hope for at the moment… Thank you for staying and watching over me. I appreciate the gesture." Harry said to the man. Albus gave him his patented grandfatherly smile.

"You're quite welcome… Since you're up and appear to be fine, I shall be leaving tonight but Minerva expressed a wish to stop by tomorrow to check on you. Perhaps you can show her the fruits of your new project?"

"If she wishes to then I don't see why not."

"Excellent. Well, give me one moment and I shall prepare a meal for you before you leave. I doubt it'll be to the standard you make but I hope it is good enough to give you some energy." Albus said as he turned and headed for the door.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine." Harry called absentmindedly to him as he continued to give thought to recent events. With that, Albus left and he was alone once more.

Several Hours Later

Harry entered his mindscape with some eagerness as he wished to see the condition that Ciri was in. As his library came into view he immediately felt his eyes rove over the furniture in search until they met a pair of greens that were sitting on the couch waiting for him. He immediately power walked over and sat next to Ciri.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. I woke up a lot faster than you, I think. I had been up for several hours before you reached out to me." Ciri informed.

"Hmm. I'm not sure if that means anything… Very well, did you notice anything that might have triggered the presence coming?"

"I'm not really sure. The sorceress arrived by the way. Her name is Triss Merigold. She saved me when I fell off the Trail and even healed me up with some magic." Ciri revealed. Harry frowned at her apparently injuring herself during training but since she didn't seem to make a big deal about it, he wouldn't either.

"She seems nice then?" Harry questioned.

"I suppose she does. She seems very sweet. She fixed up some of my clothes and we talked about what I do at Kaer Morhen. I told her that I enjoyed myself but was somewhat scared by some of the exercises. The Trail is certainly not an easy one after all… She also found some stains in some of my clothes and I had to admit to her that I started my menstruation. That was some what awkward and she seemed to be surprised about how much I knew. I think she's going to tell Geralt about it."

"You STILL haven't told him about that?" Harry asked incredulously.

"It's embarrassing!" Ciri snapped back. Harry shook his head at that.

"Alright, anything else?"

"They still haven't told me about what happens when I knock out. They just change the topic any time I question them if anything happens while I am out."

"Which means something is happening but they just don't wish you to know. That being said, it doesn't necessarily mean its something bad. They possibly just don't want you to panic… Either way, it's not helpful to us." Harry muttered as he drifted off into thought. It seemed Ciri had been fine like him but it still didn't fix anything.

"So… What should we do then?" Ciri asked him.

"Most of the ground work will have to be done on your end while defenses will have to likely be done by myself. Here's what I would like. Try and see if you can spy on the any conversation that the Witcher's and this new sorceress have. See if they reveal anything. You must NOT get caught though. If you get caught even once, it is likely they will clam up or the sorceress will put in magical protections to prevent you from doing so again." Harry ordered. Ciri looked down as she seemed to think about that.

"Spying on them… Not exactly easy when almost everyone in the castle has enhanced senses."

"I never said it would be easy." Harry pointed out.

"Right, which is why I felt the need to point it out… Alright, I suppose I can try my best and see if they reveal anything. Is there anything in particular you're hoping they reveal?"

"Anything really about the presence but specifically what it is, how to get rid of it, and why it seems to be targeting you. Anything can be useful though so don't skimp out on any details." Harry told her.

"I'll do my best though it may take a while…"

"That's fine. Since it doesn't necessarily seem harmful it doesn't need to be solved admittedly."

"Only as long as it stays that way." Ciri pointed out begrudgingly.

"This is also true. As I said, while you're doing this, I'm going to see if I can figure out some sort of defense against it. I know already how to access the mind so now I just need to see if can do anything else concerning the mind."

"Are you sure it's only targeting the mind?"

"At least in some way, yes. From my readings, the mind is something like the bridge between one's physical body and their soul. It technically falls under both. It makes sense since you can alter or access both through it. If the presence was affecting our souls, we should be able to tell. It may affect our bodies but considering how many times its happened, either the change is so small it hardly matters or its not doing anything. Keep an eye on yourself still but we should be fine on those fronts."

"Okay… I guess the only thing left then is what to do about Triss. I'm not sure if she can access my mind or not but if she can, and she notices the shields…"

"I suppose then, it'll be up to you on what to say. You can either feign ignorance or decide to reveal our… Situation. It's your life technically and I can't exactly stop or choose for you."

"Do you have a preference?"

"I'm nervous about revealing anything to people I've never met but that's just because it is unknown. It would be rather hypocritical to stop you considering all the people I have revealed it to. Whatever you choose, I will trust your judgment. There may even be a possibility that people in your world will have heard of our type of condition and we can gain more information about it." Harry laid out.

"Well, that's not really helpful…" Ciri grumbled. Harry smiled before patting her shoulder comfortingly though given his knew feelings, it felt a little more awkward than usual.

"I can't make the decision for you, but like I said, I trust you." Harry told her.

"Thanks… I guess."

"You're welcome."

With that, they descended into silence as they reached the natural end of their conversation. Harry became aware that he was just staring at Ciri's eyes in silence and she was doing the same. Once he realized that, he turned away and felt his cheeks heat up a little. He would later remark on the fact that since this was his mind, he could've probably prevented himself from blushing. Sadly, he did not think about it at the time.

He saw Ciri look in a different direction from the corner of his eye and she took looked a little redder in the face. His early thoughts as well as his conversation with Albus popped up into his mind before this had all happened. Should he bring it up now? He did want to move past this and get back to their regular business. It's not like there was anything wrong with what was happening and Ciri had already had to come to him about it, it should be fine if he came to her. If there was anyone, he trusted to not judge him about his… feelings, it was Ciri.

"So… I think we should talk." Harry started looking back at Ciri trying to be as serious as possible despite his natural instincts screaming at him to keep his thoughts to himself and hide them away forever.

"Oh, did something happen?"

"No, well, yes. Kind of, I guess. I just… Look, I'm going to say right off that this is going to be hard and awkward. But… This is difficult… You know, we don't keep secrets from each other. We always tell each other everything and I'd like to think that's more of a testament to our relationship's closeness rather than our unavoidable situation…"

"Are you going to keep dancing around this? You can tell me anything Harry, you know that, so just say what you need to say already."

"Right… Do you remember when you kissed me on my birthday?" Harry finally just said. Ciri's entire face went completely went red at that but nodded silently in confirmation.

"So… I'm not really sure what you wanted that to mean if anything but… I-… I enjoyed it and it made me notice some things… about you." Harry finally came out with it.

"Okay…"

"Well… I guess it's pretty clear to say at this point that I have begun puberty and because of that. Because of that, I may start to act a little different and… Since you're someone near my age who's a girl and that I see literally every day…"

"Are you trying to say that you now find me attractive?"

"No! I mean, yes. I do think you're attractive but that's not necessarily what I am trying to say. I'm saying I may be more cognizant of the fact that you're a woman and I am a man and I know it may be hard because of that, but I really don't want our relationship to suffer. I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me about certain things and vice versa. You're my closet confidant and I don't want to lose that and…"

"Harry, stop. I think I get it." Ciri interrupted. Harry immediately snapped his mouth closed trying to fight through the awkward feelings flooding through him right now. If he hadn't already done it, he would have bailed from this plan and just waited until the awkwardness. It couldn't possibly be as bad as how he felt right now, right?

"You're an idiot." Ciri finally said. Harry frowned at that but felt a lot of the stress he had been feeling disappear at her words.

"Yes, but why this time?" Harry asked, used to such a response.

"Harry… Our bond is so strong it literally transcends worlds."

"That was lame."

"Shut it. I'm trying to reassure you hear."

"Oh, then please continue."

"As I was saying… Our bond is stronger than anything, and there's no way something as silly as us growing up is going to tear us apart, even a little bit. Besides, I don't mind if you look at me. It's not like you'd ever take advantage of me or something. I look at you."

"… You do?"

"Well, you're the only boy anywhere near my age I've seen in more than a year. And, I've been going through my own stuff for months now."

"Right, I guess that makes sense."

"And does that bother you?"

"That you look at me… I guess not. I mean we've seen each other completely naked before." Harry muttered. All times had been on accident when looking through each other's memories with given permission but still.

"Exactly. Even if we're aware of each other, we can still be comfortable. I trust you and you trust me." Ciri told him with a smile. To drive her words home she jumped at him surprising him. He flailed his arms forward as she approached and instinctively wrapped his arms around her. In turn, Ciri wrapped her own around him and they were suddenly hugging.

Harry's mouth dried at the sensation since it was the first time, he had done this with her since he had begun to start and notice her as a budding woman. He froze for a moment as he took in the new sensation but as she hugged him tight to her, he realized that it wasn't as bad as he thought. He still felt her warmth seep into him and the normal telltale feeling of comfort that he always got when in her presence enhanced to an overwhelming but welcome level. It was the same way he felt any other time he had done this with her.

He gripped her tighter as he tilted his head so it was resting against her own. He breathed in and literally felt the stress and anxiety he had been feeling during this conversation, slip away. It was a common effect Ciri's presence had on him.

"See, it's still the same right?"

"Yes, it is. I guess I shouldn't have been so worried."

"I told you so."

"Mmm… Can we stay like this for a while?" Harry asked.

"Why, are you comfortable?"

"Yes."

"Hmph. You could've acted a little embarrassed about it."

"You just told me I shouldn't be." Harry pointed out.

"True but I thought it would take you a little longer to get over it. I was looking forward to teasing you more." Ciri shot back.

"… So?"

"Yes, fine, we can. It's not like we have anywhere else to be. You sure you don't have any projects to do?"

"They can wait."

"How sweet. I'm honored." Ciri said with a smile evident in her voice.