Harley Potter and her world famous twin

The final task 2

Harley lost her mind when Harry's name suddenly disappeared from the marauders map. One moment he's there, approaching the center of the maze as Krum came from the opposite side and then in the blink of an eye, neither of them were there .
It was as if they vaporised. Or died.

No. Nononononono. She's not going to see another loved one dead. Harry has to be alive. He's alive. He just has to be. She's his twin, she would know if he died.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Remus and Sirius were waiting for the task to be over and for the participants to come out. While Remus agreed that Harry could still be in danger, there wasn't much he could do besides tell Dumbledore and wait. It was impossible to interfere in the competition no matter how much he wanted to.

Besides him, Sirius was anxiously bitting on his lower lip. It was a new habit, unfamiliar to Remus. Then again nervous and Sirius were two words that Remus thought would never be placed in the same sentence. Perhaps parenthood changes everyone.

Yes, parenthood. Because Remus could occasionally see Sirius's parental instincts for Harley. It was kind of ironic how the most irresponsible and immature of the marauders was the one to rise a child.

After the incidents last year, Remus often wondered what would have happened if he had looked for Sirius, if he had not given up on him so easily.
It wouldn't have been that hard to find Sirius back then, if Remus wished. Sirius wouldn't have had defenses up against him after he knew Peter was the traitor.

If Remus had given him the advantage of a doubt, Sirius would have explained everything to him and he wouldn't have spent years hating on him. They could have brought up Harley and moved from apartment to apartment together. Perhaps they could have even brought Harry with them.

And then perhaps they would have become closer, without anyone interfering them, perhaps if they only had each other, Remus wouldn't have to spend so much time second guessing himself, perhaps he would have gotten a moment to open his heart. And then they would have become something more than friends, something Remus ached for, for years.

Remus had loved Sirius even before he knew what love was. He had loved him, yet he had watched him kiss girls and then boys. Remus stood by and watched and then congratulated him, even as his heart beat it's broken wings against his rib cage aching to be freed, to be loved.

Remus had never not loved Sirius. He had loved Sirius even when he was named a traitor, though he wished he hadn't.

It was that love, as sore and torn and broken as it was , that prevented him from joining the hunt for Sirius. It was perhaps that love that made him lie to the aurors when asked about Sirius's whereabouts, despite the rage boiling within him.
He had hated himself for years for that lie, because he had felt like he betrayed two of his real friends, for a traitor who will never return his love.

But now , looking at Sirius, Remus was glad .He had made many mistakes but at least he had done this thing right.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

When Harley ran to Sirius, clutching the marauders map, she was just a breath or two away from having a panic attack. It was only the fact that he was here that held her together. Later Harley would think that she was being so childish, thinking that Sirius could make everything fine.

But in that moment she didn't think of anything besides the fact that her brother was in danger and she had to do something.

Yet, she paused for a fraction of a second when she saw Sirius with Remus, when she saw the look in Remus's eyes as he looked at him. She would have left them alone if she had a choice. But she didn't.

Harley didn't have to worry about interrupting them because Sirius took one glance at her and knew something was wrong. His eyes were narrowed as he scanned the crowd .

"What's wrong, Harley? " He asked, his eyes still combing through the crowd purposefully.
"Harry's gone. He's not in Hogwarts anymore. Neither is Krum. It's as if he apparated but.. "

"But it's not possible" Sirius completed her sentence "Remus, you watch over things here, I'm going to take a look"

Before either of them had a chance to reply Sirius ran, not into the maze as Harley thought, but to Dumbledore. Now Harley understood what Sirius was looking for.
Perhaps Dumbledore could find Harry and then everything would be alright or as right as things used to be but... What if he couldn't? What if Harley was no longer a twin? What if—

Arms wrapped around her, enveloping her in warmth. Only then did she realise how cold she was.

"Everything is going to be fine" Remus said rubbing soothing circles over her back "You are going to be fine and your brother is going to be fine as well. In the meantime let's have some chocolate? "

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Harley sat alone, nibbling on a bar of chocolate. Mr Black and 'ex-professor' Lupin ,who were accompanying her, had both left to talk to some of the professors . But Draco could see Lupin glancing at Harley once in a while.

Vincent and Gregory were staring intently at the entrance /exit of the maze .Pansy, Gideon and Millicent were standing in a circle possibly gossiping;  while Blaise was asking Theodore -a single- for dating tips possibly because of his last disastrous date. None of them were paying attention to him or Harley.

Perhaps that's why Blaise's date sucked. Because he didn't pay enough attention to his girlfriend. If Draco was Harley's boyfriend he would have been with Harley, now that her father has moved away from her side. In fact he would have introduced himself to Mr Black instead of hanging out with the boys and seeking advice from idiots.

It seemed to Draco that despite accepting only the best in academics and sports, Harley Black had no scruples accepting worse than average when it came to relationships

As best friend she had Moon who only thought about himself and was a brat who didn't appreciate all that Harley did for him; As another friend she had chosen Pansy who had once called her a mudblood

Her Yule ball date was Potter, who didn't even care about her and had nothing more to him than being Dumbledore's favorite and being famous.  Then there's the boyfriend , Zabini, who didn't know the first thing about girls

Harley certainly had very low standards. Or perhaps she was only a perfectionist when it came to herself.

If she wanted, she had much better options ,but it seemed like she didn't care or was blind to her choices. Too bad. For Harley that is.

Draco didn't care. It was no problem of his. He didn't care about other people's girls. He was just people watching.
No Draco didn't care at all.