Faith .|. H. J. POTTER ✔

Chapter one-hundred-twenty

August flew past but for both Harry and Faith it seemed like an eternity. Every day their headaches took all of their energy and they had the first of September to look forward to, when they'd finally see each other again. But even that wasn't certain.

Harry didn't sleep the night of Faith's seventeenth birthday. He just sat at the bottom of the stairs, facing the door, waiting for Faith to walk through. She promised she'd go after him once she was able to and she told him she had a way of finding him so it shouldn't take long for her to get there, Harry thought. 

But she didn't come all night. 

Around five o'clock in the morning, Ron joined Harry at the bottom of the staircase with a yawn. They sat in silence for a while, Harry just staring at the door, and Ron looking around the space, sometimes shooting Harry a worried look. 

"Hermione sent me to get you," Ron finally spoke up. 

"Figured," Harry grumbled. 

"Said it'd be better if you just slept through it," Ron continued. "Maybe she'll be there when you wake up, mate,"

Harry didn't move or respond, he just kept his eyes fixated on the doorknob, waiting for it to turn and the door to open. 

"Faith would want you to get some sleep," Ron tried.

"Well, Faith isn't here, is she?" Harry said rather harshly, suddenly fighting the tears in his eyes. 

"Come on, just go to sleep for a while," Ron sighed, patting Harry on his back. "Her necklace'll become all warm and stuff so that'll wake you up if she's close,"

Harry sighed but nodded and let Ron guide him back to the upstairs room where they all slept. Hermione was on the couch and Harry and Ron had found a place on the carpeted floor in sleeping-bags. Hermione opened one eye and smiled when she saw Harry, though it was a smile of pity and sadness. 

"She'll be here soon, Harry," She whispered with a croaked morning voice. 

Harry just nodded and laid down on top of his sleeping-bag. He stared at the ceiling as he played with the necklace Faith gifted him for his birthday. He tried to ignore the still throbbing headache that only served as a reminder than Faith wasn't anywhere close. She could be anywhere in the country, she could even already been captured by Death Eaters. Maybe the second she started to look for Harry, she was caught, and Harry could be getting a vision of Faith getting tortured any second. 

That thought made Harry want to get up immediately again, to sit at the bottom of the stairs and wait for her to come but he refrained himself from doing so. Maybe Ron and Hermione were right, maybe Faith would be in his arms when he woke up or she'd wake him up with a kiss like she'd done every morning when they were at the Dursleys'.

Soon, Harry fell into a deep slumber, the last thought on his mind was that million-Galleons smile she gave him when she stood on his doorstep after those three days of separation. 

#

The trio didn't wake up to Faith's smile the next morning, nor did Harry feel she had gotten any closer to them over the five hours he slept. The pain in his head only seemed to have gotten worse when he realised that she was now there even though he put so much hope in the thought that she would. 

Harry refused to leave Grimmauld place that day even though it was his turn at patrolling the entrance to the Ministry to eavesdrop on any conversation Ministry workers might have. He wanted to be home when Faith finally found them. 

They spent the day very quietly, all had their minds somewhere else. They were still planning on how to get the real Horcrux from Umbridge since they discovered that Mundungus gave it to her. Hermione and Ron were going over every detail of their plan whilst Harry was pacing through the house, trying anything to get his mind off Faith. He already took two showers and had three work-out sessions in the kitchen but that only distracted him for a little while.