I'll Follow You Anywhere

"Alexander Zabini," Dumbledore called out, letting the last person graduate. After he was seated and Dumbledore gave another short speech, he congratulated us and made it official that we were no longer students at Hogwarts. All of the students cheered and parents rose to their feet in a mixture of clapping and crying. I reached over to Lora and gave her a big hug. She replied with one and I felt her tears trickle down my neck. I looked over her shoulder to James and he gave me a wink.

With all of the parents and students in the Great Hall and no longer in their seats, they place was chaotic. It was nearly impossible to find anyone you were looking for. So I grabbed Lora's hand and began pulling her towards the grand, wooden doors that would let us exit the chaotic room. She held close to me and soon enough, we emerged into fresh air. I didn't let go of her hand as we strolled in silence over to the still lake.

The world around us was growing darker, transforming into night. A glimmer of light was still out there and the lightning bugs were roaming around the grounds, making it simply gorgeous outside. Perfect for what I was about to do.

"Lora," I said quietly as my heart began to beat fast. She looked up at me, listening for what I had to say.

"I…I love you Lora Clense."

-30-

The sky around me had darkened and the sounds of my fellow graduates and their celebrating families were growing louder by the second. I could see the warm lights spilling out of various Hogwarts windows, though most of it emanated from the Great Hall's cracked doors. I watched as parents walked their children out of the large dining hall and out into the corridors, anxiously ready to take them home to celebrate further. The ex-students were still spending the night at Hogwarts though, and in the morning we would all ride that one final ride on the Hogwarts Express. I sighed as I sat down on the warm grass and stared at the water.

Lora had already left and made her way back to the castle to rejoin her family and friends. I felt a blush creeping up onto my cheeks again at even the thought of how I had told Lora how I loved her. My heart sank somewhat like a rowing boat, destroyed in the middle of the ocean, waiting to fall to the depths of the cold water, at her reaction…

"I…I love you Lora Clense," I whispered to her, my heart beating quickly as I anticipated and cowered from her reply.

To calm myself down, I glanced at the lakes center. The stars were swimming among the fishes, occasionally bumping into one another. The water rippled in the slight breeze that glided by and I saw a glimpse of the moon that hung overhead, shining down upon the Hogwarts grounds. It was the only thing keeping the overwhelming dark and diamond spotted sky from overtaking us. Small lightning bugs flickered around us and under some of the weeping willow trees that hung a few yards away. They swayed slightly in the cool night air, though I could feel myself burning up.

So I raised my eyes to the sky instead. The stars were clustered together above me, hanging there as if they were strung by a string through a dark piece of paper. I tried to transfer all of my focus on them so that this stinging in my heart would dull some. It didn't. My eyes became blurry from focusing so hard, or maybe just from the nervousness that you get when you tell your best mate that you're in love with her, and I watched as the stars began to collide together. Their ends would expand and began to touch one another, mocking fingers that left their comfort and pressed itself against another finger, absorbing the warmth that it shared and feeling the pulse underneath the skin.

The stars began to form a spider web in the sky, connecting to one another as if they knew what they were doing. I felt my light heart rise up and become entangled in their web. My feelings protruded out and spilled across the sky. I almost expected to feel all of my emotions of the past year to come dripping down on me, love, anger, and all. Twisting and churning its way out of the web, my nervousness washed over me again. I was lost in my fictional sky for a moment before Lora snapped me out of it.

"You what?" she asked simply, her bright blue eyes that I had so often dreamed about staring right into my soul. While her response to my confession was simple, I felt like it was a massive rock, hurtling down from sky and crushing my heart. Just seeing the look in her eyes, I already had a good feeling that tonight was not going to be the night that I had anticipated. This was not going to be the night that James had promised would happen. And this would not be the night that I would finally be dating the girl of my dreams.

"I love you Lora," I repeated, my voice not trembling this time. My emotions had died in that twinkling web when they saw Lora. I knew my friend well enough to know that I was right all along; the only feelings she had for me were friendly feelings, though I doubt that we will even have that now. The lights in the sky seemed to have dulled down a bit and the only thing I heard was the slowing beat of my heart. I had tuned the buzzing of the bees and the cheering from the families inside Hogwarts warm walls. All I felt now was nothing. My heart had slowed down to a steady beat and part of me just wished it would stop so that I wouldn't have to take any more of this. It was a mistake even telling Lora and I wished in that moment that I could just go back in time and prevent a younger me from even meeting her.

Then I took it back.

I'd always love Lor. Even if she despised me with every fiber of her soul and being, I would always be in love with her. I would always know that she was amazing and sweet and that she genuinely cared about other people. She would always be the closest thing to perfect in my eyes. I could never erase the feelings that dwelled inside of me. And to be honest, I would never want to erase those feelings. I love the way Lora makes me feel and I never wanted to forget that I loved her. I never want to stop loving her.

"Sirius…I don't-"

"I'm sorry," I interrupted, feeling myself blush. "I guess you don't love me and I'm sorry that I made this weird for you. That's not what I wanted. I just wanted to tell you how I feel and I mean, it's okay that you don't feel that way about me. I just wanted to let you know. How I feel, I mean. We can still be friends though Lora, you don't have to stop being my friend because of this. I mean, you're one of my best friends and I never want to lose you. As a friend, I mean. And as a person. I mean, I love you. Obviously, I've already told you that. But, um, I mean…everything would just suck without you." Internally chastising myself for rambling on like an idiot, I shut my mouth and looked to Lora. I could see her blushing profusely, even through the dark night sky. As my eyes became adjusted to her, I could see her biting her lip, though she only did that when she was nervous. What did Lora have to be nervous about? I'm the one spilling my heart out and getting rejected here.

"Don't interrupt me again," she replied sharply, dropping her nervousness as she snapped at me. My blush lit up and I nodded shortly. "I never said I didn’t like you, Sirius," she said to me, cutting her eyes a little bit. I knew she hated it when people told her how she felt. I looked at her, joy overtaking my heart now.

She saw this and quickly added, "I never said that I like you though." Confusion swelled up inside of me and immediately I just had the insane urge to laugh. I was probably just going crazy though. I heard that love can make you do that.

"I don't know how I feel about you Sirius. So don't be an idiot and just assume that I don't like you. I have my own feelings you know," she mentioned, perking up a hint of an attitude at that last part. "I don't know exactly how I feel about you. I just…need time to think about it. That's all." She nodded to herself at this and looked down to her shuffling feet. Hope filtered inside of me and I responded with an open 'okay'. She made a quick excuse to go find her family and flocked off toward the castle. I turned my back to Hogwarts though and looked straight on at the lake and all of its glowing lightning bugs. They glow swarmed onto my like how the hope filled up in my chest and I felt better about the whole situation.

She might like me. Hearing that made me definitely feel better and I nodded at this, letting a smile take over.

While I sat on the grass thinking about all of this, I felt a pair of hands rest on my shoulders and as I turned to look back, a pair of warm lips gently fell upon mine. I could feel the warmth flooding to my face as I blinked open my eyes and saw Lora standing there flashing her bright smile at me. I could stop a smile from spreading across my face as she let her hands rest still upon my shoulders.

"You coming?" she asked me. I nodded as I got up and followed her towards the castle.

Maybe I would be able to date the girl of my dreams after all.