Harry Potter had just come out of Professor Lupin's private lesson to face dementors, the terrifying creatures that had been tormenting him since the beginning of his third school year, much more than the menace of Sirius Black nearby.
For tomorrow night he would have to find a 'happy memory' to think about during the 'Expecto patronum' charm.
It was late but he didn't want to go back to the common room to hear yet another bickering between Ron and Hermione, so he decided to wander the corridors.
He would have risked losing points but at that moment he didn't care. Why did they all have to depend on him?! It wasn't just his fault that they'd lost their last quidditch match. Stupid Wood, stupid house competition, stupid dementors...
He saw a girl sitting on some steps, near an empty classroom.
She had bob hair as black as her eyes and a petite, slender physique that she wasn't afraid to hide. Harry recognized her immediately, she was Pansy Parkinson, one of the girls who was part of that bully Draco's gang. There was something different, her bright eyes that always peered at you derisively were red, she must have been crying for a while.
The girl turned and saw him, a hint of a devilish grin appearing on her face.
"Hey Potter, are you still running from Dementors?" She joked making fun of him, as usual.
He missed her too on top of all his problems.
"And you? Are you running away from your little Draco?" Harry asked resentfully.
"I don't run away from problems, I'm here precisely because I face them." She replied, sniffling.
He decided to ignore her and walk away from there but something happened that he never expected.
"Wait Potter!" she shouted, making him stop.
"I will not stand here and be insulted, Parkinson." He said annoyed.
"Why don't you sit here, next to me?"
Harry didn't want to believe her request and looked at her surprised.
"I need to talk to someone..." she confessed looking down.
He decided to indulge her, taking a risk and sat down on the same step next to her.
She looked up and gave him a hint of a smile, a smile that seemed a lot less mean than before.
"So, what's up?" she asked without malice.
Harry snorted.
"Aside from the dementors stalking me all through school, Wood wanting me dead because I dared to lose a match, house rivalry with pressure for that damn cup, a runaway assassin probably out to get me out of the way to avenge his master, the professor of divination who announces my death at every lesson and my two best friends who would rather fight each other for their stupid pets than listen to me? Yes, all right." He confessed sarcastically, finally revealing to someone part of the problems that afflicted him.
"You never get bored huh?" She commented ironically and he snorted again.
"Definitely better than last year with the giant snake prowling the school toilet." He added in a very inelegant manner, which earned him a hearty laugh from the girl.
"I didn't know you had such an ironic side, Potter." She commented and he smiled at her compliment.
"Call me Harry, no need to be so formal Parkinson."
She looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"And you just call me Pansy, Harry." She challenged him and he nodded silently.
Harry still couldn't believe it, he was having a real conversation with the least expected person in the world.
"You know, I don't think you should have all these problems." She commented after a while and he looked at her even more perplexed than before.
"Yeah, you shouldn't worry about dark threats, silly house rivalry and not being able to enjoy your favorite sport because you just have to win.
We are 13 years old, we should think of anything else! We should talk about how boring our professors are, about subjects we like, gossip about our crushes..."
She blushed as she listed this last example, looking away.
"We should enjoy our youth carefree and we shouldn't hear things like 'Pansy, although you're ugly and you don't understand anything about the dark arts maybe one day you could marry a pureblood noble wizard like me'."
"Is that why you were crying?" He asked worried.
"I wasn't crying. I told him to fuck himself, that he's just a jerk and then I sat here and…thinking." She lied, not wanting to admit that she cried a lot.
"Well Draco's an idiot and he's so wrong, you're not ugly."
He wasn't saying it just to comfort her, he really meant it. He often wondered how such a pretty girl could stand by that arrogant. Even now, though her eyes were still red, he found her simply adorable.
She smiled back at him and he only now realized how beautiful that smile of hers was, how sweet those lips of hers looked, how much he would like to get closer to them ...
He shook his head and looked away sheepishly.
"That's nice of you, thanks." She thanked him, happy with his compliment.
After a few seconds the girl hit the other with a light fist on his shoulder.
"And you? What were you doing here? Were you making out withGranger? I can see how you drool behind her." She accused him emphasizing Granger's name with a lot of acidity, she didn't like her very much.
"No and I envy your immense imagination." He replied offended and she gasped.
"Am I being fanciful? You should hear Tracey Davis tell me for nearly half an hour her theory that you were secretly dating Seamus Finnigan."
Harry smiled at her.
"Ours is an explosive relationship." He joked, earning another genuine laugh from her.
"Now enough joking, I'm listening."
She settled closer to hear him better.
Harry scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, he was afraid of having to reveal it to someone but she was the only one who was really listening to him.
"I went to Professor Lupin's study, he was teaching me a charm to be able to defeat the dementors so they could leave me alone. It didn't go too well and he told me for tomorrow that I have to find a happy memory or it will never work."
It felt good to lift a boulder off his chest.
"Don't you have a happy memory?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
"It's hard to have one when you've grown up with people who hate you and when you risk your life in the only place you consider home." He replied with his usual bitter irony.
Pansy looked thoughtful but after a while she turned to him.
"The solution is simple, just create a new happy memory!"
Harry looked at her as if she was crazy.
"Simple? And when should I create it?" He asked sarcastic.
"Now." She said and walked over to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him.
A burst of emotion washed over the young wizard, as if the world around him and all his cares had disappeared in a flash. He could feel the strawberry flavor on her delicate lips, her vanilla scent permeating his nostrils and the touch of her delicate hands on his face. They separated after what seemed like an eternity and both gasped. His heart was pounding in his chest.
"Is this enough as a happy memory?" she asked malicious and he could only answer with a quick nod of his head, still out of breath and shocked.
She laughed in amusement, the best laugh Harry had ever heard from her and kissed him on his lips again, a quick, instinctive kiss but not without love.
A short oneshot that I had fun writing. I love writing about the two of them and a world where they can live their love without unnecessary worries or threats on the horizon. Maybe that's the beauty of fanfictions? hope you enjoyed it!