Aquarelle [h.s]

twenty-nine

I hid behind the notepad at the absurdity of the situation, letting out a little laugh, that was followed by a chuckle on his side. "Why did you have to make me laugh, that was actually a good picture" I told him without thinking, and he turned his head to look at me, the boyish smile from before still on his face, making his eyes crinkle up.

"Sorry" he just said, but it was easy to tell that he didn't really mean it.

I just shook my head, smiling so wide that my cheeks were starting to hurt. It was beautiful to see Harry smile, and I knew I was definitely enjoying it more than I should've. It just made me happy to see him happy. Happiness looked beautiful on him, it made his eyes light up and his whole being shine from within. I'd never thought someone could make joy look so magnificent. When it came to him, delight was much more than just an emotion. It was a way of being, so bright and joyful that one would've thought he'd never seen a sad day before.

"Alright, you win" I told him, closing the notepad and putting it into the pocket of my coat, making sure that he could see I was putting it away. I glanced at him again when I was done and furrowed my eyebrows when I noticed that he'd changed position and seemed to be a bit tenser than before. "Are you cold?" I asked him, taking into consideration the fact that he was only wearing a cream coloured shirt, that definitely seemed to be way too thin to be the only piece of garment to protect him from the slightly warmer, but still cold, air that was surrounding us.

He gave me a shrug. "A little, but my coat is too warm" he said, glancing at the black coat between us for a second.

"Maybe we should go back now" I suggested, not wanting Harry to freeze just for us to stay out there a while longer - it didn't matter how beautiful that place was. "We would've had to, anyway. Besides, lunchtime has already passed and we haven't eaten anything" I added, trying to convince him.

He went silent for some seconds, seeming to evaluate the suggestion before giving me a slight nod. "We can do that" he replied, and I smiled to myself.

"Thank you for taking me here by the way" I told him, "it was really thoughtful of you. Kind of crazy, too, for deciding to go on a two hour and half drive out of nowhere." I glanced away from him. "I'd missed it, honestly."

"The place?" He asked softly, and I smiled a bit at his suggestion. Of course he'd misunderstand it and think I was thinking about something as trivial as the place we were in in that moment.

I shook my head. "The way being in your company makes me feel" I replied, being a bit more honest than I should've probably been, but not exactly regretting it right away. I'd chosen to tell him that, anyway.

"How does it make you feel?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows, as if he just couldn't understand what I was talking about.

"Just... happy" I said, giving him a shrug, "hopeful, carefree." I looked away from him, knowing that I wouldn't have been able to be as truthful as I wanted to be if I'd kept looking at him. "It's nice."

"You make me feel in that way too" Harry told me, and my head snapped in his direction at his words. Of all the things he could've said, I definitely hadn't expected him to say that one.

I just stared at him, not knowing what to say nor what I was supposed to say, and so opting for saying nothing. If there was one thing that Harry had taught me, it was that silence always was an acceptable answer.

We stayed in that position for some seconds, and then he just cleared his throat, slightly turning his head towards me. "We should go" he only said, before standing up and taking his coat from the ground.

I nodded, eager to escape the embarrassing situation we'd just fallen in, and I stood up as well. "Sure."

I waited next to him while he seemed to be concentrated on assessing the state of his coat - or avoid the situation - and was only able to breathe again when we started walking back towards the car.