(2) Patrimony (H. Potter)

Chapter Eighteen

Ron pulls a face as he, Hermione and Harry follow Hannah into the Hufflepuff common room. They've never been down here before. Until Rhiannon last year, they never knew that permission could be granted to common room hop. Harry rather likes it down here already. There is calm and peace to it that the Gryffindor tower lacks. A quiet softness. Warmth.

"It's kind of weird down here" Ron mumbles as he looks around. "Smells funny"

"That's the tea" Hannah offers and then motions to where Rhiannon is reading in an armchair, all bundled up in layers. Harry softens a little seeing her. She looks so relaxed. Something he never realised was missing from her. She looks at home here. Like she belongs here.

"Rhian" Harry states, she looks up from her book and smiles at them.

"Hey, what are you doing down here?" She asks them softly.

"We heard what happened" Ron tells Rhiannon who gives him a confused look. "With Umbridge" He explains.

"Oh," She whispers and then shrugs. "It's not a big deal" She counters.

"It was amazing" Hannah counters giving Rhiannon a look. "Except for the detention part"

"You got detention on your first day?" Ron teases, Rhiannon rolls her eyes a little but smirks.

"Come on, trouble was the only way forward for me" She counters. Hannah glances at Harry before turning to Ron and Hermione.

"Would you guys like some tea and biscuits?" Hannah asks them.

"That sounds great" Hermione answers and gives Ron a look, the three of them shifting away from Harry and Rhiannon. Harry sits in the chair next to Rhiannon who turns slightly to give him her full attention.

"Are you okay?" Harry asks her, she hums and nods.

"Of course I am..." She assures him. "I've known women like her my entire life, Harry, the mistresses at the orphanage were horrible muggles, told you what to do, made us clean and cook and work until our fingers bled, our opinions never mattered because we were simple children...." He looks at her sadly. "If we talked back, they would take these....canes....and make us place our hands" She holds out her hands. "Flat on a desk...they'd bring the cane down so hard our knuckles would bleed...." She looks at Harry. "Then, depending on how bad we'd been....it was either salt...or lemon juice...or vinegar"

"Rhian" He whispers sadly.

"Those women, never broke me, I would get up the next morning, and be the same insolent little brat" He snorts a little as she smirks. "If Umbridge thinks she can bully subjugation into me, she is wrong, because I have known worse...." She closes her book and leans closer to him. "I'm not going to change my mind, I believe you, nothing she can do to me will change that and I don't care if other people think I'm wrong, if they whisper behind my back...I know my own mind....and I know you" Harry gives her a soft smile and nods. She touches the back of her hand and shrugs. "I know these scars...they'll never heal, but I know that I am in a far better place, that I am a better person than them....these scars remind me that Umbridge is just another bully that beats on those smaller for pleasure...." Harry's eyes are staring at her hands. He never noticed how badly scarred the back of her hands are. The mess of lines that overlap from her knuckles to her wrist. "It's Mist" She whispers, he looks at her, she gives him a smile and looks back down at her hands, his eyes follow to find that they look completely normal. No signs of any scars at all. "They're hideous"

"No" He argues and shakes his head, he brushes his fingers over the back of her hand, he can feel them though, now he knows that they are there he can feel them. "They are like my scar" He looks at her. "They are signs that we survived"

"It is not the same" She stops him. "You survived an unforgivable curse, I survived mean old women with sticks"

"Your struggles are your own, Rhian, but they're just as important and you are...." He smiles softly. "Kind of brave and brilliant. And you survived an unforgivable curse too, the imperius curse" He reminds her. She did, she supposes. "No lasting effects?" He asks, she hums and shrugs.

"I had some issues over the summer, blank moments, but Sirius helped...I haven't had a blackout for weeks..." Harry squeezes her hand. "How was your day, dear?" She teases, he chuckles and smiles at her.

"Other than detention..."

"Umbridge?" She asks, and he nods.

"It was fine...no worse than I expected....whispers, looks....." He shrugs a little. "Just feel on edge all the time" He admits.

"You are bound to be, Harry," She tells him softly. "He's out there somewhere....and you are stuck in school. Not being taught practical magic. And those you care about, those that care about you are risking their lives to protect our reality....if you weren't on edge....I would be worried" He leans forward and kisses her, drawing his hand around her jaw as he does. She chuckles into it, surprised that he was more than happy to basically lunge at her in front of an entire common room of Hufflepuffs. She reaches up and curls her fingers into his jumper as she sinks into the kiss.