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Phantom fingers of euphoric obscurity persuade golden hues that shone through half closed drapes, contouring his body with shadows of first light, sprawling it's warmth over his features to rouse him, the aromatic smell of cherry blossoms, vanilla and freshly washed laundry engulfing his senses.
Slowly opening his bleary eyes, arms straight out as he stretched, his blurred vision cleared only long enough for a shriek to escape his throat, limbs moving quicker than his mind when he fell to the hardwood floor, groaning in pain as his head smacked against the edge of the end table beside his bed, the picture of his parents falling onto his forehead.
"Bloody hell." Harry grimaced, grabbing the picture with one hand, the other rubbing his forehead.
"That was one hell of a wakeup." Lavinia crouched down beside him, gently moving his hand from his forehead. "I'm sorry, Harry. I hadn't thought I'd give you a start."
Harry opened his eyes, making out the blurred silhouette of his favourite person. "It's fine, Vin. Just didn't have my glasses on is all."
Lavinia grabbed his glasses off the end table and placed them on his face, pushing back the hair covering his eyes. "Well, I originally came here to surprise you so I'll say this like you didn't just fall out of bed. Goedemorgen, mooie jongen. You alright?"
"Brilliant." Harry said with a small smile, finding comfort in the soothing warmth that spread throughout his body as she helped him up, forcing him to turn around once he was standing.
"Let me take a look." Lavinia told him, noticing the anxious glint that flashed in his eyes. Standing on her tip-toes she pushed his hair aside, checking for damage. "Okay, you're all set. Again, sorry about that."
Harry turned to face her with a sheepish grin, shrugging his shoulders. "It's fine, stop apologizing. Not be to rude but, uh, what are you doing here and how did you get in?"
"I can't come visit my best friend?" Lavinia teased, pausing at her slip up. "Wait sorry that was a little much. I know you've already got best friends so let's just ignore —"
"Vin," Harry interrupted her rambling, reaching out to grab her hand. "I don't care what anyone says, you are my best friend. End of story."
Lavinia flushed, glancing down at their hands before looking up with a self-conscious smile. "Promise?"
Harry dropped her hand to hold his pinky out, tone laced with revere. "I pinky promise."
Bashful crimson paints her neck and cheeks, the slight heat clawing at her skin. She can feel the butterflies that dance in her stomach but ignores it ( no one will ever love her. she knows that ), opting to push the fleeting thoughts away as she loops her pinky around his, leaning forward to place a feather-light kiss on the knuckle of her thumb to seal the promise in. She flashes him a toothy grin when he mimics her actions, further blushing as his breath fans across the lower half of her face.
"If you break the promise I'm allowed to cut your pinky off. That's how it was done in former times." Lavinia teased, waving a finger from her free hand at him.
Harry rolled his eyes, catching her free hand with his own and lacing their fingers. "If that's the case I'm free to cut yours too. It's only fair, you know."
"I don't break my promises, Mr Potter." She states in a mock serious tone, pursing her lips with a slight nod. "I hold only myself accountable for my actions."
"Well that's good to know." Harry laughs. "That doesn't exactly answer how you got into my home though."
Lavinia drops his hands to dismissively wave, picking the picture of his parents up off the floor and placing it on the end table. "It's not exactly a hard task to accomplish. I just picked the lock on the patio door and snuck my way up here."
"That's good to know for the future." Harry murmured, flushing once he realizes that was in fact not his inside voice.
"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that." She turns around to face him, quirking a brow at his blush.
"Oh, erm, just wondering what the plan for today was." He replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh yes — shoot sorry, did not mean to clap that loud. We should probably leave before your whale of an uncle gets up to see what the racket is, but I was thinking we could do some baking today? I have a few recipes I need to test out and you, mooie jongen, are my guinea pig." She explains, moving towards his wardrobe.
She pulls the door open and pushes aside various hangers, examining each article of clothing. After a few minutes she settles on a plain blue shirt and trousers, nose scrunched in distaste. It's as if he has no sense of clothing taste and makes a vow to take him shopping. No friend of hers is allowed to walk around in such horrendous clothing, it's a crime in her eyes. Turning around she holds the clothes towards him, softly closing the wardrobe door once he takes them.
"We need to get going unless you want to get caught so just change at my house. I've got a pair of soft trousers I stole from my brother you can borrow, these ones won't be very comfortable for baking." Lavinia said, opening his bedroom door.
He grabs her hand as he follows her throughout the house, nudging her foot whenever she's about to step on a spot he knows will creak, skipping the stairs two at a time. Quiet giggles are shared between the doorframe of the patio, branded into the crevices of scratches to serve as a reminder of their stealth in the future, an untold secret they'll call their own. When they enter her house the laughter becomes louder, ricocheting off the walls like bullets, further piercing their hearts. Neither can remember a time they've felt so happy, knowing wholeheartedly they'd trade the world to feel this way forever.
"Here are the trousers. I'll be in the kitchen, come find me when you've changed." Lavinia tells him once they've made it to her room and she's found the pair of trousers, memories burning at the front of her skull.
Without waiting for a response she hastily leaves the room, biting her quivering lip and blinking back the tears that start to sting in her eyes. In the empty hallway she can hear the faint sound of her mothers voice reprimanding her for her tears, thickly swallowing as she harshly rubs at her eyes. Tears are a weakness, she reminds herself, feeling the overwhelming need to look over her shoulder starting to build. No matter where her mother is in the world, Alida has found a way to perpetually torment her, a personally crafted token of her hatred.
She rolls her shoulders to distract herself from her thoughts, moving towards the shelves of vinyls, trailing her fingers over the covers until she taps on a Def Leppard album, nodding in approval as she removes it from the shelf. They haven't listened to Hysteria yet, and she'll be damned if Harry goes another day without hearing it. If there's one thing she misses about her father it's his love for music; the intense need he had to collect a wide variety of genres to assure his children had an exceptional music taste ( on a good day she'll begrudgingly admit that this is something her father has passed down to her), filling their home with colourful tunes and poorly performed concerts.
After setting up the record she makes her way to the kitchen, pulling out the various items she needs to make the recipes, humming along with the song. Harry walks in a few minutes later and she giggles as he struggles to tie the string tighter, muttering under his breath because the trousers are too big.
"These trousers are about to become my mortal enemy." Harry says after successfully tying the string, glaring at them.
Lavinia rolls her eyes and crouches down to retrieve a pot from the lower cupboard, placing it on the stove. "Shall we subject them to a ghastly death? Perhaps the guillotine in my garden?"
"I think so. Slice the strings, I say." Harry nods with a lopsided grin, coming to stand beside her.
Lavinia cups her hands around her mouth, laughing. "As the Queen of Hearts said, off with their heads!"
"Off with their heads!" Harry choruses, fists thrown in the air as he says it, causing the both of them to snicker before confusion settles on his face. "Who's the Queen of Hearts?"
"Are you serious?" Lavinia asked, brows raised and hands on her hips.
Harry smirks. "No, that's my godfather." He said, pointing a finger towards himself. "I'm Harry."
"That's my godfather, he says." Lavinia mocks with a small grin. "Pardon me your highness. Shall I, a mere peasant, bow at your feet to solidify that I now know your name?"
Harry ponders for a few moments, folding his arms over his chest and then tapping his chin, nodding approvingly. "I suppose that's acceptable."
Lavinia straightens one arm, the other pulling the edge of her cotton shorts out like a dress, bowing as she crosses one leg in front of the other. "Forgive me, kind sir, for my mistake. Long live Harry Potter!" She says with a laugh.
Harry snorts with a slight flush, running a hand through his hair. "You're forgiven. Now back to the important question, the Queen of Hearts?"
"Alright, alright." She stands up straight, leaning her hip against the granite counter, tapping her fingers to the beat of the song. "She's from Alice in Wonderland. Have you not seen it?"
"No, I haven't." Harry frowns, mimicking her stance against the kitchen island. "Movie or show?"
"Movie. Can we watch it together?"
"Sure, I don't see why not. When?" Harry replied.
"Brilliant. Let's watch it tomorrow." She pushed herself away from the counter, beckoning him towards the stove. "I want to start baking though,
so we'll start with a childhood favourite of mine: butterscotch pie. It's a simple recipe but it's truly delicious."
"Where do we start?" Harry asked, standing beside her at the stove.
Lavinia grins, "We start with about two cups of milk in the pot on low heat, adding brown sugar and whisking it together until it boils — don't ask for measurements because the milk is just about the only one you'll get, everything else is done by heart, you'll know when it's enough — that's when we add the flour and egg yolks" She explains.
Harry skeptically raises a brow as he pours the milk into the pot and follows along to her instructions, snickering every time she says no that's too much or that's too little as if he should have the recipe memorized by heart. He's besotted with the way she stops telling him what to do in order to sing along with whatever song is playing, continuing as if she never stopped. Sun rays shine bright through the kitchen window throughout the next half hour, accentuating where L+H was drawn in dusted flour resting on the counter as they baked the pie crust and finished the pudding, letting it sit for a few minutes before moving onto the last step.
"Butterscotch pie tastes best the next day so we'll place it in the crust and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight." Lavinia hands him the pot and a spatula. "Leave a small amount of the pudding for us to eat right now though. The pudding itself is best still hot."
Harry scrapes majority of the pudding into the crust, tilting the pot so she can see how much is left. "Is that enough?"
"That's perfect. Then you lightly tap the pie against the counter to even everything and it will be ready to cool." Lavinia watches as he drops the pie a few times, grinning when he puts it in the fridge.
"Pass me some bowls and I'll scoop out the rest." Harry said.
She pulls two bowls from the cupboard and places them on the counter. "You're a quick learner. I'm quite impressed."
Harry blushes while he empties the pot and slides a bowl towards her. "Thank you. You're a brilliant teacher."
"Well, have a bite." Lavinia encourages, anything to distract herself from the heat creeping up her neck.
He spoons a small bite, throwing his head back, eyes shut as he hums in approval. "Seriously Vin, is there anything you can't do?"
"You like it?"
"Like it? I love it. This is bloody brilliant: the flavours, the texture, my God you're bloody brilliant."
"You're flirtations might just get you somewhere, Potter." She teases, cheeks cherry red.
Harry gives her a lopsided grin, because he knows with her cherry red cheeks and vanilla extract stained fingertips, he would follow her to the end of the universe.
hi luvs! what're your thoughts on the story so far? don't forget to comment and vote!
until next time, besties <3