circles; h.potter

27- SPEW

She dipped her quill in the ink, drowning out the sound of Ron and Hermione arguing as she chewed the end of her quill thoughtfully, wondering how to start such a letter as she was about to write.

Dear Sirius,
Don't get excited it's not Harry writing. Sorry to disappoint, but it's actually Liana. This may seem a little out of the blue and it kind of is for me too but I've just learnt to roll with it by now so here goes. Pettigrew mentioned at the end of last year about my mother- Aubrey Holly. I spent the summer tracing her back and building timelines through maps, birth certificates and last sightings of her with my best friend, but I've found practically nothing especially about any clues of her childhood and teenage years, and I can't accept that she's just gone. People don't just vanish. So I need you to tell me everything you can about my mum.

And if you could drop in a nice thing about me in any letters to Harry it would be much appreciated as he's currently ignoring me for wandering off in the summer.

From Liana.

Liana put down her quill and slipped the letter into a heavy envelope at once before she could have any doubts. She glanced at the clock and despite it being barely five minutes till curfew she simply grabbed her school cloak from the sofa and threw it over herself, trying to hide her shock of red hair beneath it.

"I'm going to the Owlery," Liana stated firmly, holding the envelope tightly in her hand.

"What are you thinking Liana- it's nearly bedtime! You're going to get caught," Hermione scolded at once leaping up from the sofa, horrified at the thought.

"I know," shrugged Liana calmly, "I just thought you could find Harry and explain to him all about spew if I left. I'll hide in the library for a bit so you have time to tell him," she lied quickly.

"It's S-P-E-W, but thanks Liana. If you see Harry do you think you could send him to us?"Hermione grinned as she rattled her badge box casually as some fifth years passed.

"I'll try," huffed Liana, thinking of how awkward that conversation would be with Harry as she crept through the portrait hole and began to jog down the stairs, hoping to reach the Owlery before curfew when the prefects would prowl the corridors.

Liana reached the stairs and hurriedly rushed down them, before passing the great hall and sprinting through the courtyard. Around her, light gusts of rain were being blown in from the darkening sky. Liana was so caught up in getting to the Owlery as fast as possible she didn't even realise she had nearly run headlong into just the person she had been hoping to avoid.

"Oh Merlin," she muttered under her breath as she came skidding to a halt, barely centimetres from Harry. Almost as if acting on his old instincts, Harry's fingers locked around her arm immediately to hold her steady.

"Thanks-" heaved Liana breathlessly, "Hermione wants to talk to you by the way," she garbled out quickly, her eyes never leaving his emerald ones.

"Right," was all Harry could muster. He realised his hand was still on Liana's arm and jerked back almost painfully quickly, he fumbled awkwardly with his sleeves, something was telling him not to leave yet.

"Where were you? Ron said you were at dinner," asked Liana curiously, looking around Harry but she could see no other people.

"Owlery, getting letters from Sirius and I was talking to Cho," Harry told her shortly, not even sure what to say.

His entire body wanted to throw himself at Liana and wrap her up in his arms tightly till she promised to never let go. However his more logical side reigned for once and Harry stood rooted to the spot, his mouth open slightly.