beautiful - harry potter

chapter 10

"Lia, wait up!" Theo called. At the sound of his voice, Thalia slowed down and continued to get weird stared from people who were passing. Theo caught up to her and tried to shake the glitter off his head as they walked back to the Slytherin common room together.

"This is so fucked up," Thalia ranted, "I mean, I know I'm not that liked by the female population here but what the fuck! When I find out who did this, I swear I am going to kill them. Or at least hex them until they can't walk anymore."

"Thalia!" another voice called out. Thalia saw Harry and she convinced Theo to go ahead as Harry drew closer.

"You did this, didn't you?" Thalia spat, looking down at her glitter-covered robes. 

"Yes," Harry confirmed rather quickly, "and I knew that Nott would-"

"He would what, Harry? Theo is my friend and he's always been nothing but nice to me and he's a sweet guy and everything was fine until you came along! Merlin, why did you choose to torment me, of all people?" Thalia asked. 

She wasn't angry anymore. She felt like crumbling, like going into a hole and dying. She was so fucking tired of Harry chasing her around for years and bothering her. She just wanted to be left alone.

"Merlin, I tried so... so hard," Thalia said, her voice cracking, "to be nice to you. I thought, maybe, if I'm nice to you, you'll stop doing this. Maybe you'll stop hitting on me when you clearly only see me as a prize, something you win. Maybe you'll stop trying to win me over and maybe you'd look at me as a friend too!"

Harry remained silent, his confident facade vanishing as he saw Thalia looking so broken.

"But everyday, I am put through hell because of you. I get the girls who say I don't deserve you and you could do better things with your time when I don't even want you!" the brunette scoffed. "And then, I have to deal with you and your stupid flirting! It's so goddamn pathetic!"

"What?"

"And now, I am covered in glitter, embarrassed in front of everyone in the Great Hall!" she cried out. "Merlin, can you just give up? I don't fancy you, I will never fancy you, and you will never have a chance with someone like me! So just leave me alone!"

"I can't do that." 

Thalia looked at him with bewildered eyes in disbelief. "Please," she begged quietly. "Please, just leave me alone."

"I can't do that," Harry repeated. "I fancy you."

"You don't, Harry. Stop trying to convince yourself you do because you don't. If you did, you wouldn't have gotten me completely covered in pink glitter," Thalia said. "I just-"

"But I thought you would like it," the raven-haired boy said. "It's much better than all the other gifts you received, is it not?"

"No, it's not!" Thalia screamed, causing Harry to back away a bit. "I don't understand what I did to you! I get that sometimes, I call you names and I know it's mean but I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Is that what you needed to hear, Harry?"

"I don't need to hear any of that," Harry frowned. "I actually think it's pretty clever how you come up with those mean names for me."

"Then what do you need to hear, Harry?" the brunette asked desperately, moving towards him a bit. Her voice was strained and tired. Wet tears were spilling from her eyes and she just wanted everything to be over so she could go live a normal life without Harry's constant bothering. "What do you need to hear?"

"I just..." Harry trailed off and looked at his shoes for a few moments before meeting Thalia's sad emerald eyes. "I just wanted you to fancy me back."

"Fine. I fancy you. Now will you please leave me alone?" Thalia questioned. "Please?" She felt like she was a broken record stuck on replay and all she wanted was a nice Valentine's day with her love potion covered chocolates.

"I can't do that," Harry repeated for the third time.

"Why do you have to be like that, Harry? Why do you have to make it your goal to ruin everything for me?" Thalia asked. "What did I do?" She put her hands on Harry's shoulders and started to shake him, wanting an answer so badly. "What did I ever do to you? What did I do?"

Tears didn't stop spilling out of her eyes and they mixed with the glitter. She finally stopped shaking Harry, who remained unfazed and silent the entire time. Thalia's green eyes pierced Harry's soft ones once again, searching for some kind of answer.

"You've stolen my heart."

"What?"

"I don't know how I never made it clear," Harry said slowly. "I've told you a million times over that I fancied you. I've fancied you since first year and this year, you've truly stolen my heart."

"I don't understand," Thalia said, her thin eyebrows furrowed. She used to sleeve of her glitter-covered robe to wipe away her tears but it only covered her face with more glitter.

"I'd say it another million times if that'd help you understand," the bespectacled boy confessed. "I've been saying it since first year but if you'd like me to say it again to help you understand, I would do it. I'd tell you in the beginning of every class, even the ones we don't have together. I'd tell you when we pass each other in halls and I'd announce it in the Great Hall ever meal if that would help."

"Thalia Forthing, you've stolen my heart and you can try to give it back, but I don't want it," Harry said. "It belongs to you and only you."

"Stop it," Thalia huffed. "You're only saying words, they don't mean anything."

At that moment, Harry cupped Thalia's pretty face and pressed his lips onto hers, something he'd been wanting to do for years. Her lips were better than he'd ever imagined and he felt electricity running through his veins as his lips stayed on hers.

Thalia didn't respond at all and for a moment, she was completely frozen. Her eyes forced themselves shut and her hand traveled to the back of Harry's neck, bringing him closer. She pushed back and her shoulders tensed up as she pushed Harry onto the stone wall behind him.

Harry parted with her lips for less than a second as he gasped for breath, then dove back in. He turned his head the other direction and their noses brushed past each other as his lips made contact with Thalia's once again.

He felt her cold, slender fingers on his neck and the sleeve of her robe pressing against the side of his neck as he kissed her, longing for more. 

Thalia pulled away and saw that Harry's lips had a bit of pink glitter on them and were starting to become swollen from their snogging. Harry grinned widely and Thalia only looked at him in horror, realizing what she'd done.

"Oh Merlin," she gasped. The brunette backed away quickly and left for her dorm before Harry could even say anything.