Together (A Harry Potter love story) 3

8

I felt Harry's leg touch mine as he turned in his chair to face me. "You make me happy."

I felt my hands turn clammy as I squirmed under Harry's intense gaze.

"Potter! Donovan!" Professor McGonagall barked suddenly, and I quickly turned to face the front again. "You two are the only ones who have not clapped yet."

I looked at her expectantly. "Sorry?"

McGonagall waved a hand in our direction, and I glanced at Harry as he lifted his hands and gave one single clap. I laughed, but quickly shut my mouth when Professor McGonagall fixed me with a hard stare.

"Sorry," I said again, then mouthed silently, "Minnie."

Obviously after Professor McGonagall had been so stubborn on refusing to tell me the nickname my Dad and his friends had made her, I had owled him straight away.

Professor McGonagall's eyes widened as she realised what I had just said. But it wasn't due to anger, or annoyance; her usual fierce expression twisted into an almost pained one, mixed with sadness and happiness - almost as though she was reminiscing a fond memory.

When the transfiguration class had finished, Mione grabbed my hand instantly and pulled me from the classroom.

"Where are we going?" I asked amusingly, as she dragged me up the corridor and out-of-sight from others.

"We have Arithmancy," she told me, untucking her timeturner from under her top. "Two turns, okay?"

I groaned. "Mione, I'm starving. It's lunchtime!"

She giggled. "We can go to lunch after class. Hurry up, we'll do it at the same time!"

I sighed, but still clasped the timeturner in my hand.

"Ready?" Mione asked nervously.

"Ready," I said. I gripped her hand tightly. "Three...two...one."

I spun the hourglass twice with my finger.

The empty corridor dissolved. I had the sensation that I was flying, very fast, backwards. Blurred outlines of people flew past me, as though sped up-

And then I felt solid ground beneath my feet, and everything came into focus again-

I felt someone squeeze my hand and looked up to see Mione smiling happily.

"It worked!" she squealed, releasing my hand and jumping up and down excitedly. "It actually worked!"

I let out a short breath, beaming at my best friend. "Wicked!"

Mione glanced down at her watch and gasped. "We only have five minutes before nine o'clock, we need to go otherwise we'll be late."

"It's not possible to be late," I said, following her down the corridor and fingering the timeturner, "not with these."

~~~~~~~~~~~

After Arithmancy, I had Muggle Studies. Then, after a long, boring lecture about how Muggles coped without magic, Mione and I finally made our way into the Great Hall for lunch. My heart fluttered as I spotted Harry laughing at the Gryffindor table.

"Where have you two been?" he asked, as we sat down opposite him and Ron. "You left Transfiguration straight away."

"Toilet," I answered, pulling a bowl of stew towards myself. "What's wrong with you?" I added, noticing Ron's anxious expression.

"Harry," he said, in a low, serious voice, "you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah, I have," Harry said casually, watching in amusement as I devoured a cheese sandwich. "I saw one the night I left the Dursleys."

Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.

"Probably a stray," said Mione calmly.

Ron looked at her as though she had gone mad.

"Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's - that's bad," he said. "My Uncle Bilius saw one and - and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Coincidence," said Mione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron hissed angrily. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Mione, in a superior tone. "They see the grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better pop my clogs then!"

Ron mouthed wordlessly at Mione, who opened her bag, took out her Arithmancy book and propped it open against the juice jug.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.

"Well," I intervened, "you did think it was a sheep."

Ron sent me a glare and I held my hands up in surrender. Mione snorted, bringing his attention back to her. "You just don't like being rubbish at something for a change-"

He had touched a nerve. Mione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared to the Arithmancy class!"

She snatched up her bag and stalked away.

Ron frowned after her, then to me.

"What's she talking about?" he said slowly, watching me suspiciously. "You haven't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

I froze. "She was t-talking about - about the book," I stuttered. "She found the Arithmancy book more interesting than Divination...that's what she told me earlier anyway..."

Ron squinted his eyes, but my lie must have been convincing enough, because he soon started up a conversation with Neville. Harry, however, wasn't convinced. He was watching my every move with a shadow of a smirk on his face.

"Donovan," he breathed out with a lopsided grin as he leaned across the table to look right at me.

"Yes, Potter?" I leaned forward as well to bring my head level to his, our eyes locking.

"Another lie," he said, smirking as I bit my lip. His eyes dropped down to my mouth before hastily glancing back up to meet my hazel eyes. "What aren't you telling me, Mills?"

I sucked in a short breath, before answering, "It was true. We were in the toilet - lady problems."

Harry's smirk faltered as he blinked. "Lady problems?"

I laughed, moving away to sit back down - that should stop him questioning me.