When We Just Began - *Prequel to Shy*

Trying for the Useless Pawn

 After Harry's Care for Magical Creatures class he walked back to the castle with Ron. Leah had an Arithmancy class and Hermione seemed to be avoiding Ron after their dispute in Divination. Plus, she seemed to have mysteriously disappeared when the class had just finished.  

 "It's weird I'm telling you." Ron ranted. "One minutes she's next to you the next she's not. And she mysteriously pops up in the middle of class claiming that she had been there the whole time! I swear she'll be in St. Mungo's mental care once the year is over."  

 "Why do you keep talking about her when you're angry with her?" asked Harry who was now quite perturbed from his and Hermione's constant arguments. He needed a break and fast.  

 "I'm just saying." Ron muttered. "If she weren't so moody and whiny all the  time then I wouldn't be this angry. Plus that cat of her's needs to be kept under control. That beast is always after Scabbers even when he's done nothing wrong."  

 Harry felt something brush against his knees. He looked down to see Crookshanks weaving in and out between his ankles.  

 "Speak of the orange devil!" said Ron and the ginger haired cat glared up at the ginger haired boy. Crookshanks' squished-flat face contorted into a sort of cat scowl.  

 "Go on now! Get out of here!" Ron said attempting to shoo the cat away. It continued to stare at Ron before padding down the grassy hip towards the Forbidden Forest.  

 "Where do you think he's going?" Harry thought aloud.  

 "I don't know. Probably to go and eat some birds or something." Ron then walked off shaking his head and mumbling something about the cat.  

 He just continued to stare out into the horizon. Thankfully for Crookshanks' bright orange fur he was easy to spot. Hermione's cat seemed to be walking into the perimeter of the forest. However, there was another animal waiting for him. His eyes grew to saucer size as a large black dog emerged from one of the bushes Crookshanks had approached.  

 Harry disbelievingly rubbed his eyes thinking it was some sort of trick of the light or he was letting the Grim from Divination get to his head or something. When he opened his eyes again all he saw was the end of Crookshanks' bushy tail slipping into the dark green foliage.  

 "Hey. Ron. You won't believe what I just saw-" but Harry turned back to nobody's presence. He felt kind of sheepish for not realizing earlier that Ron had walked off without him. He huffed blowing air up to his fringe and walked onwards to the Great Hall for lunch.    

~*~  

 "Agh!" was the sound that slipped from his lips when he bumped into someone in one of the corridors. Harry really shouldn't keep his head down when walking through corridors.  

 "Sorry!" he apologized to the person and kneeled down to help them regather what they had dropped.    

 "I'm really sorry." said a familiar voice. He looked up to see a familiar face.  

 "Hermione!" he exclaimed. "Where have you been?" he asked his friend. When Harry got a good look at her her hair seemed to be more voluptuous  than usual.  

 "Oh. Just… busy" Hermione answered swiftly. "Listen I have to go! I've forgotten my Arithmancy chart in Ancient Runes-"  

 "Isn't Ancient Runes at the same time as Divination? And Arithmancy is during Care for Magical Creatures as well." Harry inquired.  

 "I really don't have time for this now, Harry. I'll see you in Defence Against the Dark Arts. All right? Bye!" Hermione's words came tumbling out of her mouth in a huge blurb leaving a slightly sceptical Harry behind in the corridor.  

 Time passed as Harry walked away from the Great Hall. He soon found himself bumping into a lot of people he knew and it was still the lunch period. However the next person sort of bumped into him and he was glad that she did.  

 "Merlin!" he mumbled as another body stumbled into him from around a corner. He held the person steady by their shoulders once they were in full control of their balance.  

 "Sorry." the girl practically whispered.  

 "Hi Leah." greeted Harry before quickly retracting his hands from her shoulders. She seemed to have a look of panic on her face.  

 "Something wrong?" asked Harry after noticing her expression. Leah inhaled, her breath slightly wavering, then forced a smile on her face.  

 "Nothing's wrong." she said trying to cover something up. It bothered Harry that he didn't know what it was.  

 "Are you sure? It looked like you were running from something." he almost took a peek around the corner Leah had just rounded before she quickly gripped his hand forcing him to turn towards her.    

 "That's really not important right now." she said her blue eyes looking straight into his green eyes. Just by the look she was giving him he knew that he shouldn't peek. So he nodded a simple response.    They were so caught up in the moment that they didn't seem to notice their hands holding onto each other. As soon as they realized they let go each of their faces turning pink like that day in September when they had first met.  

 Leah was about to turn away and he didn't want her to. There was so much he still needed to learn about her so he wasn't going to let her get away just yet.  

 "Do you want to talk?" he asked her scratching her head. Leah just paused where she was. The only movement was of her thumb rubbing circles into the palm of her opposite hand that he had been holding briefly. Then Harry remembered her shy tendencies and hoped that they wouldn't hold her back from saying yes. He still added "Only if you want to."  

 She thought for a moment before slowly and hesitantly nodding her head. Harry smiled and knowing that she wanted privacy he led her to a remote place on the other side of the castle.  

 "Why are you doing this?" Leah asked Harry as they journeyed on.  

 "Doing what?" he asked.  

 "Trying." his face fell as he realized what she meant. "Nobody ever tries for me. I'm just another face in a crowd. Another useless pawn in a chess game. I'm not that interesting. I'm not super smart, or funny, or special. I'm average. I wouldn't think a person like you who is so famous want to be friends with someone like me." Harry just laughed.  

 "Oh Leah." he said shaking his head. "The fact that you hide yourself from everyone else is what makes you different. I like the fact that there are normal people. I have friends that are average because I don't want to be famous. I never wanted to be famous. When you're normal people actually love you, for who you are. When you're famous people 'love' you for your title. And when you have friends you discover more about yourself because you are more open with yourself." they reached their desired spot and Harry turned to Leah. "Oh. Also. Never say you're useless. Pawns count in a chess game too you know."  

 "You're kind." Leah said smiling. He smiled warmly back at her.  

 And so a special bond was made between the two of them. Who knows how long their friendship would last. Harry however was hoping for a long time.