Heart of Yours | Harry Potter

XVII.

The next morning, everyone was putting up Christmas decorations. Lalia was happy to find that whatever was upsetting Harry was still affecting him as he isolated himself to the drawing room, which mean she had free reign of the house. 

That was until Hermione arrived and not only managed to get Harry out of the room, but managed to get Lalia on Ron's bed sitting between Ron and Ginny waiting for the spectacled boy. 

"I came on the Knight Bus," said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time to speak as they both entered the room. "Lalia and I heard what happened at school, but we had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge was already livid that you lot disappeared over night, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's, and he'd given you all permission to visit. So..." 

She sat down next to Ginny, and they all looked up at Harry. 

"How're you feeling?" asked Hermione. 

"Fine," said Harry stiffly. 

Lalia couldn't help the scoff that she released. 

"Oh, don't lie, Harry," Hermione said impatiently. "Everyone says you've been hiding from them since you got back from St. Mungo's."

"They do, do they?" said Harry, glaring at the other three. Ron looked down at his feet, Ginny seemed quite unabashed, and Lalia glared right back at him. Her glare shocked him, but he decided to ignore it. 

"Well, you have!" Ginny said. "And you won't look at any of us!"

"It's you lot who won't look at me!" said Harry angrily. 

"I haven't even been in the same room as you," Lalia said blandly.

"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other," suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching at the thought as well as Lalia's clear jealousy. 

"Very funny," snapped Harry, turning away. 

"Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood," said Hermione sharply. "Look, the others have told me and Lalia what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears -" 

"Yeah?" growled Harry, his hands deep in pockets. "All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it... ." 

"We wanted to talk to you, Harry," said Ginny, "but as you've been hiding ever since we got back -"

"I didn't want anyone to talk to me," said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled. "Thought that was clear when I didn't even go say hi to Lalia." 

"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as I've been possessed by You-Know-Who and Lalia has talked to him in her head. We can tell you how it feels."

Lalia suddenly realized why Hermione and the two Weasleys had forced her into this room to be apart of this conversation. Ginny did have a very good point. 

Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. He turnd to look at the two girls. 

"I forgot," he said. 

"Lucky you," said Ginny cooly. 

Lalia merely shrugged. 

"I'm sorry," Harry said, and he meant it. "So... so do you think I'm being possessed, then?"

"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny asked. "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?" 

Harry racked his brains. 

"No," he said. 

"Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you," said Ginny simply. "When he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there."