HEATHENS - Harry Potter ✔

CHAPTER THREE

Kiera woke up the next day to see the sun high up in the sky and Hermione and Ginny long gone. She groaned as she turned over in her bed, her whole body was aching with the aftermath of the last three days.

The last three days ... today's the thirty-first!

She quickly crawled out of the comforting warmth of her bed and changed out of her pyjamas. When she ran down to the kitchen, she was pleased to find that it was occupied only by Harry. Hearing the loud thumping of her feet down the stairs, he turned his head, and seeing her, he smiled.

"Hey," he said, smiling sweetly at her and turning away from the sink where he had been filling up a glass of water.

"Hi," she said back breathlessly, though not much due to the running. "Happy birthday," the words left her mouth much quieter than she would have liked.

"Thanks."

Kiera walked closer to the boy, handing him a small package. "Here..."

"You didn't need to get me anything," he said sheepishly, taking the package and beginning to carefully unwrap it. Seeing the contents, his face froze. Kiera had given him a stack of over twenty wizarding photos, each from the span of the last year and a half. It seemed absurd that they had only known each other for such a short time.

"I know you've got the album Hagrid got you so I thought you could just add these in, also I couldn't really afford to buy a new one..." Harry shifted through the photos, the unreadable look on his face growing. The stack included a few photos from the Christmas break of their fifth year with Sirius still starring in them. The rest were collected during their time in school. None of them depicted anything especially significant, mostly just everyday life.

"Oh God..." she groaned when Harry remained silent. "I should have bought you an album, of course, I should have. What was I thinking? Who gives someone pictures when they're off age?" Kiera said more to herself than anybody else. "Obviously you don't like it, God I'm stupid. -"

Their eyes met, and her words disappeared in her throat. The boy and the girl gazed into each other's eyes.

Then they were kissing.

They were kissing like they had never kissed before, the longing they had both felt since their break up being expressed in every movement. Kiera entwined her hands behind his neck. One of Harry's hands tangled into her hair, the one holding the pictures went behind her back. They entered a blissful oblivion, they were the only thing in the world, nothing else mattered.

"You're finally up -"

They jumped apart, both their cheeks reddening in a blush, both of their eyes wide. The whole Weasley family plus Hermione was stood at the archway from the living room. "Good morning..." said George quietly.

For what seemed like centuries, they remained in an awkward uncomfortable silence, until Hermione cleared her throat. "Kiera, I need your help with something."

Grateful for the escape route, Kiera quickly followed Hermione and Ginny up the stairs.

Harry remained awkwardly standing in the kitchen, his glass of water forgotten on the surface, the stack of photos tight in hold. The crowd began to disperse, now only Harry, Ron, and the twins remained in the room.

Then Ron rounded on Harry. "You ditched her," he said fiercely. "So what are you doing? Messing with her like that?"

"I'm – I'm not messing -" said Harry, but Ron interrupted.

"Then what do you call it?" demanded Ron. "She was really heartbroken when you ended it -"

"So was I. You know why I stopped it, and it wasn't because I wanted to."