ghost stories - h. potter

Ten

Fortunately for Belle, she didn't have time to worry about whether or not Ginny hated her for no good reason as her homework load had increased massively over the next two weeks. It had left her exhausted and busy until the late hours of the night, where she finally fell asleep curled up on the floor next to stacks of parchment, muttering the properties of potions ingredients as she dreamt.

The end of October approached quickly and, on the night of Hallowe'en, Belle decided to skip the feast as it Brough back too many painful memories for her.

Hallowe'en had been Emilia's favourite holiday. She, for some reason, had hated Christmas, even though Belle loved it more than anything, and the pair would always spend their Hallowe'en night in Rhylee, Jordan and Ella's dorm room, stuffing their faces with candy and telling muggle horror stories around a bunch of dimly-lit Jack-O-Lanterns.

Now, Belle sat at the top of the Astronomy Tower where she had met up with Harry a few times over the past two months, watching as the sun sank below the skyline, the pink and gold hues fading into a deep blue. Her warm, brown eyes witnessed the glowing collision of sky to fire and she bit down on her lip as sparks lit the sky. 

She blinked away the tears that filled her eyes and sighed heavily, her knuckles tightening around the top of the barrier that stopped her from falling over the edge and onto the grass below.

"I thought I might find you here." Belle jumped at the sudden voice of Harry behind her. She wiped away the very few tears that spilled over her eyelids and smiled weakly at Harry.

"Sorry, I forget how jumpy you are," Harry apologised.

"It's alright," she replied quietly.

Harry's light footsteps grew closer and closer until they came to a complete stop next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly and she flashed him a tiny smile.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm - I'm okay. It's just, uh, Hallowe'en was Emilia's favourite holiday and it's just difficult remembering the happy memories with her after what happened." Harry said nothing in reply and allowed Belle to sit in silence for a moment.

"I never got around to apologising for what happened in front of the Great Hall two weeks ago," Harry spoke up after a few minutes and Belle looked over at him.

"Why are you apologising? It's not your fault, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"No, I was rude to you afterwards and I'm sorry about that. I just..." Harry trailed off and Belle bobbed her head.

"it's okay, I get it. You needed to cool off." 

"Are you sure you okay?" Harry asked once more and Belle sighed, leaning onto the barrier and running her hands through her curly hair.

"I'm okay. Just tired is all. What about you? Are you and Ron okay?" She asked and Harry shrugged, before taking a seat. Belle followed him, their knees brushing gently as they dangled down off the tower and into the cooling air below them.

"He was pretty mad at me for a while." Harry started.

"I wasn't lying when I said Ginny was like a sister, you know? I mean sure, at one point I thought I loved her but after everything that's happened, I just don't love her in the way she does with me. It's been like that for a while." The raven-haired boy looked down at his wand in his hands and turned it over, guilt written all over his face.

"Hey, don't go feeling sorry for yourself," Belle started, "feelings are impossible to control. It's your brain that chooses the way you feel towards someone, not you. I believe you when you say that you might have loved Ginny at some point because you could have, that's possible. But it's also possible to realise that maybe they just aren't the person you're looking for." Harry gave her a small smile, nudging her foot with his shoe.