Curiousity Killed the Cat

We sat around the table, none of us talking. Hermione and Mrs. Weasly were pretty close to hyperventilating as Sirius paced back and forth, not sure what else he could do. Fred and Geogre were off to the side, discussing something private. Ginny was playing with the sex fiend of a cat, Crookshanks, while I sat there, looking up at the wall.

Why, you might ask, were we all just sitting here? Earlier this morning, Harry and Mr. Weasly left for the Ministry to go for Harry’s trail for using magic in front of a Muggle. We were all waiting, wondering if he was going to be expelled or arrested. I knew Azkaban and Harry would not do good in Azkaban.

Why was I not exploding with anxiety, some might wonder. Because I already knew what happened, I already knew that Harry got off with all charges dropped. I didn’t tell anyone, mostly because they didn’t ask. I put my head in my arms, not wanting to bare the annoyance with sitting here when I already knew what happened.

The sound of the door opening, caused Sirius, Mrs. Weasly, and Hermione to all race to the door, nearly trampling Crookshanks and Ginny who were on the floor, and pelted Harry with questions. Fred and George looked up and glanced at me.

“How’d he do?”

“He got off, cleared of all charges.”

They nodded before going back to their discussion. “Good.”

“Oh that’s wonderful, Harry!” Mrs. Weasly said, sighing in relief. They all arrived in the kitchen, all of them looking more relaxed, except for Harry, who looked quite tense. Perhaps it was because all of the attention he was receiving or something was bothering him. I suspected that it was a mixture of the two and left the kitchen, not wanting to have to listen to all the chatter.

I closed the door behind me, grabbing my Hogwarts letter that was sitting on the counter, and ran up the stairs the my room. I sat on the bed, ripping open the letter. As I did last year, I received a letter from Professor McGonagall and a supply list, although this year, I got another letter.

Dear Miss Black,
I am glad to hear that you will be joining us this year, despite what has been happening. As if I don’t ask enough favors from you already, I have to ask. I would like you to watch Harry as you did last year. I also ask that you stay close to him, even though you are a Ravenclaw.
Keep him out of trouble. I apologize once more for asking so much from you.
Professor Dumbledore

Great. I will be Harry Potter’s stalker once again, and he knows it. As much as I hated it, I owed Professor Dumbledore for doing everything he has done to keep me hidden and safe from the Ministry. Besides if certain, er, encounters happen again, I’d actually have a reason to be near him.

“Oh my God!” Hermione said, running into the room. I fell off of my bed (how are those cat-like reflexes for you?) mostly because she scared the hell outta me.

“What!?” I asked, rubbing my back, which had just met the hard wood floor.

“I got a Prefect’s badge! I’m a Prefect!” she said, jumping up and down as she did.

I fought back a smile. “Congrats Hermione but could you stop screaming?”

“Did you get one?” she asked, taking a deep breath.

I shook my head. “No.”

Her face dropped ever so slightly. “Oh, I thought you would have! I mean, your best in your house…”

I laughed. “I’ve been in detentions more times than my IQ and then some. No one in their right mind would have made a troublemaker like me a Prefect.”

“Oh, I have to go and tell Ron and Harry!” she said, scurrying out of the room, leaving me sitting on the ground in pain. I rolled my eyes at her before getting up and brushing the dust off of my sweatpants, which was a great deal because I fell on the ground which hadn’t be swept in at least ten years.

“Hey Lys,” Fred said, arriving at the doorway, “did you make a Prefect?”

I grinned. “I hang out with you two, any hope of me getting a Prefect badge was killed many moons ago.”

“Oh, that hurt, Lys,” George said, coming up behind Fred. “Ronnie got a badge.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Who did he sleep with?”

They laughed. “Nice one. No clue how he got it, but he’s in a state of shock at the moment.”

“Well, I’m not bummed, I enjoy my troublesome ways,” I said, winking. They laughed before going off to talk about something clearly important because, once again, they went off to their own room, away from everyone else. I was really getting curious but I figured that it was for their joke shop. Oh yes, I figured it out without using my powers, it was just that obvious.

Mrs. Weasly had set up a celebration for ‘Ron and Hermione: Gryffindor Prefects’, as the banner said. Ron was talking about his new broom stick, a reward for becoming a Prefect, while Hermione was talking with Ginny and Tonks, who was supporting a shade of bubblegum pink. Harry looked somewhat… mad. I wondered if it was because of the whole Prefect thing but couldn’t understand why Harry would ever want to be a Prefect. Welcome to reality Harry, welcome to reality.

After our celebration party, or whatever you wanted to call it, everyone who wasn’t staying here left. The rest of us, sat down and did nothing all that exciting. I was leaning back on my chair, minding my own business, when I saw Harry staring at me. I caught his eye as he excused himself, claiming he was going to bed. After he left, I left as well, not that anyone noticed because Sirius and Mrs. Weasly were arguing over something to do with the Order.

Moving on. I hurried up the stairs, trying to find Harry. I looked around but didn’t see him. A wave of disappointment came upon me as I realized that he wasn’t here. Suddenly, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me into another room.

“Harry?” I whispered, unable to clearly see him, seeing as he had pulled me into what I assumed was a broom closet.

“Yeah?”

“Why are we in a broom closet?” I asked, looking around blindly in the dark.

Harry shrugged, allowing me to realize that we must have been very close together or that this broom closet is very small. “I wanted to talk to you.”

I raised an eyebrow, feeling stupid when I realized that he couldn’t see me. “About…?”

“Earlier today,” he answered, his hands moving towards me waist. My arms found his shoulders, one of my hands absentmindedly playing with his hair.

“What about it?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“We can’t be together,” he said in a somewhat strangled voice.

“Because…?” I asked, frowning slightly. If this was some ‘hero’ thing…

“It’s not safe,” he said, his breath tickling my neck. I wondered if the others wondered where we were then suddenly found myself not caring.

“So?” I said, taking a step closer to him, our bodies pressed against each other.

“Voldemort--” he started to say but I cut him off.

“Try not to kill it by mentioning him,” I said, rolling my eyes, even though he probably couldn’t see me.

“But--” he tried to say but I cut him off once again.

“Do you like me?” I blurted out and suddenly found myself wanting to slap myself. .

I could feel Harry step closer to me, his breath tickling my ear as he leaned in. “What if I did?”

I smiled. “Then I’d ask you to prove it.”

His lips found mine, despite the dark closet, as his grip on my waist tightened. We backed up against the door, ignoring the voices that could be heard from outside the door. At the moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was the facts: I liked Harry, he liked me, but we couldn’t be together.

I pulled back, grinning slightly. “You know, this technically isn’t us being together.”

Harry didn’t give any reply except for putting his lips back onto mine, silencing me.