"That's a first year!" Harry shrieked. "No offense. I'm sure you'll grow up to be a very beautiful lady, but as of now, I will be called a pedophile if I date you."
Dean just awkwardly shifted while holding the Hufflepuff's hand and released the poor girl. "It was worth a shot," he shrugged as the first year ran away.
The only girl in Hogwarts that remotely looked like Thalia Forthing was a first year, and she didn't even look that much like Thalia. She had the same color eyes and same hair color as Thalia but that was pretty much it.
"You're asking for someone impossible, Harry," Dean sighed. "Sorry, but there's no one else in Hogwarts like Thalia. Not to mention, she's an only child so there's no hot sister or something."
Harry let out an aggravated sigh and he walked off, raking his hand through his messy hair. He wanted to cool off somehow, so he went back to the Astronomy tower. It was colder in the Astronomy tower and he always thought best when the air was thinner.
What he didn't expect to see in the Astronomy tower was the sight of two girls snogging. It wasn't that they were girls, it was that they were snogging and Harry did not come here to see snogging. "OH GOD NO!" Harry shrieked. The two girls pulled away and Harry's eyes widened to the size of golf balls. "Thalia?"
Daphne pried herself off of Thalia and walked away, knowing that this was probably a conversation she didn't want to get in the middle of. "You're a lesbian?" Harry asked.
"No, I'm bi," Thalia corrected quietly. She stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and Harry's expression didn't change. "Bisexual? Merlin, Harry. I like boys and girls."
"Oh."
"You're not homophobic or anything, right?" Thalia asked, walking closer to him. Her black high heels clacked along the stone floor and Harry shook his head no. "Good. So, um, how have you been?"
"I mean," Harry laughed coldly, "I've been awful. I've been flunking, I've worn the same bloody clothes for a week, I've been eating crap, and I've had 0 hours of sleep. I expected you to be somewhat sad or pining after me or something but you just moved right on and found a new snogging partner."
"We all deal with situations in different ways," Thalia shrugged. "You chose to pine after me and I chose to not acknowledge it at all."
"You probably haven't even thought about me," Harry remarked bitterly.
"Don't do that, Harry," Thalia sighed.
"Do what?" the Gryffindor scoffed. "I'm just being honest, Forthing. You probably haven't given another shit about me until now and you probably threw out your birthday gift."
"I- Harry," the girl sighed again.
"Do you ever think about me? Honestly, love. Do you ever think about me?" Harry asked.
"Yes," she answered surely. "I think about you all the time."
"So why were you with that girl when you could be with me?" he questioned desperately. "What makes her so much better than me? I'll always be here. Waiting for you. And you choose to go to someone else. Just come back to me. Be with me, love."
"It's not that easy."
"Isn't it, though?"
"No, Harry, it's not. I have to think about my reputation," Thalia insisted. "My friends will never approve of you and my family will never approve of you. It's so complicated."
"I don't think it is," Harry objected. "We could have a secret relationship. I'd be okay with that, we could date instead of just snogging."
"I'm tired," the brunette stated. "So, I am going to go-"
"No," Harry refused, putting his arm out so she couldn't escape. "I want to talk this out, love."
"Well, I don't," Thalia decided.
"Yes, you do," Harry nodded.
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, y-"
Harry was silenced by Thalia's soft lips on his and his chocolate brown eyes fluttered shut unwillingly. Thalia's cold hands cupped his face and Harry shivered under her touch, happily giving in.
Thalia inhaled the smell of broomstick polish once again, although it was faded because Harry hadn't washed his clothes in days. Surprisingly, he didn't reek.
Thalia's lips parted and she backed away a bit so she could study Harry close up. "Did you open the gift?" Harry asked.
"Y-yeah," Thalia lied. It was still wrapped, kicked under her bed and ignored but not forgotten.
"Did you like it?" If she'd opened the gift, then Harry realized that they could be more than snogging partners. They could be so much more and if he was lucky, maybe they would even be married with kids one day.
"Yeah, it's wonderful. Thanks," she mumbled sheepishly.
"And you read it?"
Thalia had no idea what he was talking about but he looked so hopeful so she just nodded. "Yeah," the brunette repeated for the third time. "Read it."
"And what did you think of it?" Harry asked. Thalia bit her bottom lip and raked her mind for a proper response.
"It was lovely." Lovely could describe almost anything. If Harry was referring to a letter, it would be lovely. If Harry was referring to a book, it would be lovely. If Harry was referring to a magazine, it would be lovely.
Harry grinned widely and pecked Thalia's lips ever so delicately. "Great," he exclaimed. "I knew you'd like it." He felt much happier than he had in months and he realized that he didn't need another girl to mend his heart when Thalia was right here. "Well, I will see you in class or earlier if you'd like."
"Um, I'll see you when I see you," Thalia said vaguely. Harry just nodded and pecked her lips again.
"Bye, love." Harry walked off and Thalia paced around the tower for a few minutes before sprinting down. She raced to the Slytherin common room and ran up the stairs and opened the door to the girls dorm.
Thalia slid onto the floor and picked up her blanket, which was half-draped on the floor. She looked under the bed to open Harry's gift and see what text he was talking about but there was no wrapped gift.
"Fuck," she mumbled. Thalia searched her nightstand and the bathroom and she checked under her pillows. The gift was nowhere to be found and Harry was left thinking that she actually read what he was walking about.
-----
"It's a great day!" Harry exclaimed the next morning. He was freshly showered and he'd gone to bed extra early so his eye bags were less prominent. He'd applied multiple layers of chapstick over the past hours and he felt better than ever and he looked as good as new. "A great day to be alive!"
"Shut it," Seamus groaned from his bed. They weren't sure what got Harry so jumpy and ecstatic but they were starting to think that moping Harry was better than energetic Harry.
"Everything is turning up rainbows!" Harry screeched giddily. "I feel like I could fly without a broom! I feel like my vision's been fixed!" He yanked his glasses off and quickly put them back on. "Nope, my vision has not been fixed!"
"Shut it!" Seamus repeated louder, more angry with Harry's screaming at the break of dawn like an alarm clock that couldn't be shut off.
"I feel like I can run a mara-"
Harry's voice was cut off as four pillows from all different sides of the room came at him and he fell to the ground from the multiple harsh impacts. "Can't run a marathon," he said weakly. "I am going to go out now and find Thalia."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"I'm going to snog her." And just like that, the Gryffindors were all sitting upright in surprise. Harry didn't give them the satisfaction of knowing what was happening as he sprinted down the staircase and left the common room in search of Thalia.
As if it were pure luck, Thalia was walking down the same corridor by herself, since her friends were sleeping in. Harry grabbed her arm and tugged her into an empty classroom, then closed the door behind him.
The raven-haired teen leaned down and kissed her roughly while his arms wrapped around her waist tightly, forcing Thalia to be pressed up against him. Thalia kissed back and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck.
"You ended things with Greengrass, right?"
"Yeah," Thalia nodded. Last night, Daphne took it pretty well and she only shrugged, seeing as she never really fancied Thalia anyways, only using her as a substitute as well.
Harry finally had Thalia back and he would do everything she ever wanted him to do. He would follow her to the ends of the Earth, as long as he was with her. He loved her and he would never let her slip out of his grip again.
"Thalia, you have no idea how much I missed you," Harry mumbled. His head dipped into the right side of her neck and his hair brushed against Thalia's ear as Harry planted sloppy but meaningful kisses onto her silky skin.
"Harry, I've been meaning to ask," Thalia said. She still didn't know what his gift had and what he was talking about but she assumed that some of his splurge came from whatever was in that gift. "What are we?"
"I wouldn't put a tag on it but I'd say we're half-way in between snogging partners and dating," Harry answered, his breath tickling her skin. "Why do you ask?"
"Nothing," Thalia replied quickly. "And are we public?"
"I would like to be," the bespectacled boy said honestly, "but if you're not comfortable with it, we don't have to. Of course, either way, my close friends would know."
"I'd prefer if we stayed private then," she responded.
"That makes things a bit harder, doesn't it, love?" Thalia's heart fluttered at the nickname and she didn't even try to convince herself that she didn't have a crush on Harry.
She was head over heels for him and the only time she would try to not fancy him as much is if her father threatened her. She felt invincible around Harry, she felt loved. And she never wanted that feeling to stop.
"Well, yeah," Thalia said nervously, "but, um, more complicated things are more fun?"
Harry let out a hearty chuckle and he pulled away from Thalia's neck. "I'm only teasing, love," he smirked. The doe-eyed boy leaned down once again and captured Thalia's lips, letting his kiss last as long as it could before turning it into a snog.