𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖗𝖎𝖒 [h. potter]

VI

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VI: THE WILLOW TREE

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The next week was quite a whirlwind for Pippa. The tension between Micheal and Padma became so great that Pippa had decided to distance herself from both. She did so with Micheal for obvious reasons, as he refused to acknowledge the return of You-Know-Who, passive aggressively making snide remarks when others mentioned Dumbledore or, at times, Harry Potter. As for Padma, while she had apologized for her behavior during her and Michael's fight, the girl was so busy with her prefect duties that there was hardly a time when Pippa and her could hang out. She worked on her homework through meals, and spent her free time patrolling the hallways. And thus, Pippa found herself spending more and more time with Terry and Luna.

Pippa found herself enjoying Luna's presence much more than she had anticipated. Luna was different than she had thought for all those years. Yeah, she was as loony as everyone said she was, but Pippa rather enjoyed her unique perspective on things. And the girl had a rather sly sense of humor that Pippa would have never expected: she shot Pippa knowing glances and winks when she studied with her and Terry in the library, and she made seemingly innocent remarks about the two that nearly sent pumpkin juice flying out of Pippa's nose.

Terry, meanwhile, remained seemingly oblivious to Pippa's crush, and Luna's remarks. He simply continued being Terry. Sweet, understanding, affectionate, Terry. It was both a relief and a stressor for Pippa. On one hand, he hadn't picked up on her feelings for him, shielding her from a harsh rejection and the subsequent ending of their friendship that she treasured so dearly. But on the other, his obliviousness only left Pippa's feelings to grow as the days went on, and left Pippa with the uncertainty of what his response would be if she ever asked for more than friendship.

But Pippa had no time to mourn her (possibly) unreciprocated crush as she sat at her bench at Defense Against the Dark Arts, awaiting Terry's sweaty and barely-on-time arrival to the seat next to her.

Padma strode past her to her seat in the front of the room, prefect badge pinned proudly on her chest, and the pair exchanged brief smiles. Pippa watched as she exchanged a sour look with Micheal, who was seated a few rows in front of Pippa, and sighed to herself.

Before she could reflect on how her friend group had fallen apart so fast — it had only been a week into the latest term, after all — Terry burst through the doors, sweaty and grinning as ever, and Pippa smiled giddily, all thoughts of Padma or Micheal erased from her mind as she locked eyes with Terry. Out of breath, Terry slid into the seat next to Pippa.

"Blimey Ter, I wasn't sure if you were gonna make it today," Pippa chuckled.

"C'mon Pips, you know I'd never let you down," Terry's tone seemed joking, as it usually did, but Pippa noticed a glint of seriousness in his eyes. Pippa refrained from reading his mind, simultaneously wanting to know if her feelings were reciprocated all while not wanting to violate his trust. But she didn't even need to do so to know that he really did mean what he said.