Stars in Her Eyes {Wolfstar's Daughter}

Chapter 35: Tasks Ahead

Soaking in the last of the dying summer warmth, Harry and Nell sat lazing in a patch of sun by the black lake. Harry flicked through a quidditch magazine with his back against a tree whilst Nell lay on her back, admiring the drifting clouds on the periwinkle sky which was darkening with every passing day.

She revelled in the feeling of the golden warmth washing over her skin as the gentle breeze prickled across the hairs on her arms. Lying there, she wanted nothing than to melt away into this exact moment where the rumours, whispers and tasks ahead became irrelevant and simply didn't exist.

"This is nice." She said contently, still staring into the sky as Harry hummed in response beside her, still immersed in his magazine.

"Hmm" he replied, oblivious to what to she had even said.

"Warm." She added, tilting her head to the side to observe the boy who was clearly taking no notice of her.

"Hmm" he hummed absentmindedly again, still not averting his gaze from the magazine in his hands. Finding this amusing, Nell decided to test how much he was actually hearing, or if as she suspected, he wasn't processing her words at all.

"And I have exactly one hundred and twelve eyes." She said with a falsely serious tone, louder this time but still earning no actual response from the boy.

"Hmm"

In a final attempt to get his attention, she laid eyes on the snitch she had given him the previous Christmas, lying in front of him on the grass and reached out to grab it with her hand. It was something the boy was usually carrying around, ready to pull it out of his pocket and throw it around in the air if he was bored.

With a devilish glint in her eyes, she chucked the golden ball straight at the boys head, missing slightly and hitting him square in the shoulder.

"Ow!" His eyes shot up from the magazine to be met with the smirking face of the girl.

"Did you hear anything I just said" she said, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"I'm reading" he said simply before looking back down.

"You're boring" she replied before huffing back down onto her back to resume her observation of the sky.

"Whatever" he said, a smirk tugging at his lips as he reached out with one of his legs and shoved the girl playfully in the side, keeping his eyes locked on his magazine, which resulted in her smacking his foot away.

The boy found himself smiling down into his magazine, for some reason feeling particularly happy in this relatively unremarkable moment. He looked up to see Nell inadvertently chewing at her lip in focus as her eyes darted across the varying clouds, lighting up every now and again for reasons unbeknownst to him.

However the comfortable silence was soon interrupted by the sound of several footsteps approaching the pair, one in particular belonging to the last person the boy wanted to see.

Unlike Harry, Nell sat up with a big grin stretching over her face as she saw who had come to join them.

"Hey guys." She said cheerily to Hermione, Ginny and Ron who was glaring daggers at Harry who was staring equally as harshly back.

"Nell!" Hermione and Ginny smiled and pulled the girl into a hug as she got up to greet them.

"Hi Nell." Ron smiled at the girl before averting his gaze back to the boy who remained on the floor, "Harry." He said through gritted teeth.

"Ron." Harry seethed back.

It had almost been a week since Ron and Nell made up but despite her and Hermione's efforts, the two boys still refused to speak to each other. They were forced to sit together for the sake of the two girls, but other than the occasional stolen glare, the two of them had had no interaction for days.