𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 168

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND SIXTY EIGHT
✧
-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH HARRY IS 
COMFORTED

. . .

To find a quiet place in Hogwarts was a difficult task indeed. But with the sun shining brightly outside, it appeared a little easier, the nice weather driving the students out onto the lawn for their free time or studying, instead of loitering in corners of common rooms and corridors for once.

But, eventually, Harry - who thoroughly knew every hiding place in the castle - managed to dip behind one of the old, mottling mirrors on the fourth floor, and dragged Aviana behind it with him. Compared to the slowly growing warmth of the castle and its surroundings, it was cool and shadowed, the remnants of an old passageway out of the castle now collapsed in on itself.

They sat before the rubble, backs against the gravelly stone walls.

Aviana didn't know what to say to him. She was certainly not used to situations like this. Fallings out with Draco or Pansy, were resolved with half-hearted, somehow grovelling apologies or her deciding to give in on her silent treatment with the enforced promise that they weren't going to do whatever they did to annoy her again. There was a lot of swearing, a lot of invoking of Aviana's cordial friendships with their parents and a handful of reminders that whatever they did, she believed herself wholly above it and lacked care to what they were saying or what they thought of what she did.

This was a lot different. As much as it was clear that Hermione did not like her, for reasons she had just explained, the friendship between herself, Ron and Harry was a lot more... authentic than hers was with the group of Slytherins.

"Apparently I can't think for myself." Harry grinned, shook his head, his elbow resting on her knee.

"Yeah, that's what you get when you've got Voldemort running round your head." Aviana replied, with some ill-fated, weak attempt at humour. Thankfully, he laughed.

"I..." Harry trailed off and frowned. He didn't really know how to compute his own thoughts, they always came out jumbled and awkward and more often than not these days, angry. "I... I would usually say that she didn't mean it, because she doesn't but... this time, I don't know."

Aviana shifted uncomfortably, a thumb playing with the Sirius's signet ring. Her gaze remained steadily across the remnants of the passageway. "It's been bubbling for a while, if I could take a guess." She said. It felt unpleasant in her mouth. "I've - I've been trying, on occasion, to get along with her, I swear, but-"

"I know." Harry nodded absentmindedly. "I know you have."

It was more than clear to him that she had. From what he had heard, from both Aviana and Hermione herself, any moment when Hermione had needed help she had been given it regardless. Then, when it came to being asked about such spells, Aviana had taken on the guilt, landing her in more trouble. He was sure that she had been given enough detentions to last her until they left Hogwarts, and, really, it had all been because of him.

Right at the beginning, at the very start of the year, the first lesson with Umbridge, he had been the one to speak up against her demands and Aviana had only supported him. Sure, she had her own means to dislike Umbridge and those reasons only intensified as the years progressed, but she had sat through those awful detentions with him, carving lines into her skin, and, now that he thought about it properly, forced to look back on how continuously shit the year had been, she had only stopped going to detentions when he had.

His hand found hers, and his thumb grazed over the scar that sat there, no longer hidden by gloves and free for anyone to see.

"She just doesn't like me, Harry." Aviana told him, her gaze dropping down to where he held her hand. "People just don't, oftentimes, and that is no problem."

"But it's Hermione." Harry shook his head. Aviana's eyebrows rose; that certainly didn't' seem to mean as much to her as it did to him. "She's supposed to be my friend, one of my closest friends, and despite everything that has happened, everything you've done, everything I've said-"

"You've been speaking about me?" Aviana teased, leaning forward to catch his gaze, smirking.

"Shut up." Harry rolled his eyes, but his false annoyance melded away into a smile as her head tilted to the side and nestled into his shoulder, deep red hair fanning out below her. She still smelt like cherries. "She's supposed to be my best friend, but she's too..."

"Tightly wound, highly strung... stuck in her ways... I have several more, but I fear this may be why she doesn't like me." Aviana hummed. Her breath was warm against his neck. Harry made a small noise of protest. "Harry, really, I've not exactly helped in the matter."

"But it wasn't about that, was it?" Harry shrugged, because it was true and it had been long since Hermione's protests had ever centred around the aggression often found in Aviana's tone. The remarks and swearing and hardly masked insults in response to stupid questions were left without question. This, Hermione's upset, was all because she believed Aviana to be doing nothing but influencing Harry into making decisions that she may or may not deem stupid, or, alternatively, might land him in some trouble. 

Aviana shook her head. It was the slightest of movements, but he felt it. "No." She murmured. "No, it wasn't, not really." 

His thumb ran over her knuckles, the imprint of the Black family insignia pressing into his skin. "She thinks she knows what's best for me - like she knows everything and she doesn't and it's frustrating because it seems like sometimes what she says just has to go." Harry could feel the anger building again and he paused, a deep intake of breath following. "And neither Ron nor I have a choice in the matter - which we should do - because... because..."

"Because she thinks that due to the fact that she's read plenty of books she's smarter than everyone else?" Aviana offered, eyebrows raised. Perhaps it was a little on the nose, too harsh compared to the usual comments, but there was no remaining friendly sentiment towards Hermione at that moment. "Which just isn't how it works." 

"No, it's not." Harry shook his head, and Aviana leant upwards to press a kiss to his jaw.

Silence fell between them, but it didn't quite seem to matter anymore.

✧

a/n
this chapter's a little shorter 
than usual, but alevels are kicking 
my arse at the minute and i need 
to revise