WITH THE ARRIVAL OF spring, the days seemed to all blend together. the snow and the cold were long gone, yet the memories that occupied winter still stayed. flowers bloomed around hogwarts and their aroma filled the dark halls which seemed to be just a little bit brighter this time of year.
harlow was doing better, as far as anyone knew. she still hadn't told anyone what had happened at her first appointment with professor snape. perhaps it was the shame or the embarrassment that kept her mouth shut, but nevertheless she stayed quiet.
cedric, zach, and anthony followed each other into their dorm. all dripping in sweat that seeped through their shirts. cedric took his shirt off and flung it across the room. zach and anthony did the same, zach walking over to the closet and putting on a new t-shirt. cedric laid down on his bed, trying to let the cool air take over the heat of his body.
anthony took out a blunt from the drawer of his bedside table, taking out a silver lighter from the pocket of his sweatpants. he lit it and took a drag from it huffing it out in zach's face. zach scoffed and grabbed the blunt from anthony taking a hit.
the three of them heard the door creek open and turned their head to see who it was. harlow walked into the door, a bag of brownies in hand. anthony groaned and rolled his eyes at the sight of her.
"oh, shut up," she remarked, "i come bearing gifts." motioning to the brownies.
cedric sat up and stared at her dumbfounded, she looked good. he realized she changed her hair, a blowout, he recalled learning what it was from a fifth year he got the pleasure of knowing. she wore a white sundress with spaghetti straps and what seemed like a million small followers, it hugged her body in all the right ways. the three boys were fixated on her. she bent over to place the brownies on cedric's side table, as she did so her skirt hitched up in the back, giving the boys a view of her white underwear. anthony's breathing hitched as he looked over to cedric and smirked.
cedric's eyes moved down to her legs, then to her feet. she was bare-footed and her pink pedicure was on display. his eyes trailed back up to her face, the bags that she had developed during winter were gone, unknown to his knowledge they were just hidden under a light layer of concealer. her cheeks were flushed light red, unknown to his knowledge it was just blush.
she smiled with her glossed lips and looked between the shirtless boys, "am i interrupting something?"
"what's that outfit, harls, flower girl skank?" anthony smirked.
"i prefer spring slut." she smiled.
cedric laughed, "what do you want?"
"what do you mean?" she asked.
"the brownies, what do you want?" he repeated.
"i cant bring my best friend brownies?" she furrowed her eyebrow.
"no." replied cedric.
"ok, fine. i need you to do my defense against the dark arts essay." she said, sitting down on the bed next to cedric.
"lo, i'm not writing another ten page essay on professor lockhart's personal life-" he began.
"please." she begged, "i got you the brownies you always get from fred and george, i paid for them and everything."
cedric thought about it for a minute, "fine."
harlow smiled, "thank you." she went to hug him then stopped, making a disgusted face at the sweat that covered him. "why are you guys so sweaty, please tell me you weren't doing what i think you were doing."
zach spit out the water that he was drinking, "what? no."
"it's quidditch season, we ran ten miles." cedric told her.
harlow pinched her nose, "you guys need a candle or something in here, smells like sweat and testosterone."
"not surprising after the night i had with katie bell." smirked anthony.
"dude." harlow turned to him, "gross."
"nothing you haven't dreamt about before." remarked anthony.
"maybe in my nightmares." she replied.
anthony ignored her and grabbed a shirt, putting it on he said, "i'm gonna go take a shower, don't miss me too much while i'm gone."
"i think we'll survive." harlow smiled, watching anthony walk out of the room, zach following behind him.
cedric laughed, "anyways, we got a game tomorrow against ravenclaw, can you make it?"
"um, maybe." she thought to herself for a minute, "i have an appointment with snape, i think it might be the last one."
cedric grinned at her, sitting closer to her, "you're really doing better, aren't you?"
harlow nodded, for the most part she was better. her insomnia was gone, she could finally sleep through the night. she hadn't broken anything, or had what pansy called one of her "episodes" in a while. everything finally seemed better.
"yeah, i think so." she smiled.
"well you look better than usual." he attempted to compliment.
"ouch." she furrowed her eyebrows, "dickhead."
cedric looked at her confused, "no, no i mean not that you usually look bad you just look better, i-"
harlow frowned and patted him on his shoulder, "there's no coming back from that one."
"no, i guess not."
her face got serious and she hugged him, "thank you though, i really couldn't have survived all this without you."
he hugged her back then pulled away making eye contact with her, "yeah, of course."
cedric's eyes darted to her lips, then to her neck, then they trailed down her body. his breathing became unsteady, he wanted to believe he was better than anthony and zach, but he wasn't. he was completely and utterly captivated by her.
harlow laughed, "why are you looking at me like that?"
cedric jumped back a little, startled by his sudden return to reality, "like what?"
"you totally went all vampire diaries on me." she joked.
"vampire diaries?" cedric questioned.
"you know the books with all the," she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, "blah blah blah."
"literally what are you talking about?" cedric said confused.
"would it kill you to read a book?" scoffed harlow. cedric stared at her, still confused, "you know what, nevermind. i'll be there tomorrow."
"good, see you there." he watched her walk out, his eyes not parting from her till she was out of sight. he smiled and laid back on his bed, groaning as he put his hand on his forehead. "god, lo, what are you doing to me."
ϟ
"well miss potter, it seems you have made a significant improvement." professor snape said, filing through papers.
harlow sat across from him, her hands in her lap, "thank you."
"you're grades have done a complete 180 from the winter," he told her. she nodded and gave him a forced smile, "i think these sessions of ours are over."
she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "so does that mean i can go?"
"yes, miss potter, you can go." he said.
harlow smiled again and got up, as she walked out of his office she felt his eyes on her. his gaze felt as sharp as daggers as she scrambled to get out of his point of view. she walked out into the hallway closing his door behind her.
she walked along the dimly lit halls, she heard a creaking noise behind her. she spun around and saw a black figure flicker across the hallway, her heart began to pound in her chest.
"it's nothing, it's nothing." she repeated to herself.
she heard another creak and looked behind her again, still nothing. she began to speed up, eventually she was sprinting in the halls. she slammed into someone and fell to the ground. she looked up at the person she bumped into and was greeted with the familiar face of her brother.
"harlow?" harry said, "are you okay?"
"i-i think they're someone there." harlow stuttered.
harry could tell she was flustered, her face was a shade of bright red, her hands were shaky as she pointed to where she saw the alleged dark figure.
"i'll go check it out, you stay here." harry walked further into the hall.
harlow stood there for a few moments before harry came back, he shook his head after searching the hall thoroughly and finding nothing. he looked at her glossed eyes and hugged his little sister. she buried her head into his shoulder.
she pulled away, "i'm sorry." she laughed, "must've been a trick of the light, i'm fine really."
"harlow you don't seem fine-" he began.
"why do you care anyway you've been icing me out for the whole year." she snapped, then bit her lip, "sorry i didn't mean that."
"yes you did, i'm the one who should be sorry." he stated shyly.
"what are you doing down here anyways?" she asked.
"looking for you." he started, "i wanted to apologize, i shouldn't have been mad at you i've been-"
"a self-absorbed asswipe." she finished for him.
"i suppose."
"it's fine, can we do the sibling bonding thing another time, i have a quidditch game to get to." she told him.
"oh sure-" he was cut off.
"bye harry!"
ϟ
harlow walked into the hufflepuff quidditch locker room. among the changing guys and girls, she found cedric shirtless. he threw on his shirt and then his jersey over it. he looked harlow up and down, she was more dressed down since the last time he'd seen her. she wore a flannel over a black crop top and mom jeans.
"hey, potter." he greeted.
"guess whose official shrink free." she grinned.
"no way." he smiled.
harlow put her hand under her chin, "i know, i'm amazing."
cedric hugged her, picking her up and spinning her around before setting her down back on the ground. they looked around at his teammates staring at them.
she bit her lip in embarrassment, "anyways, i'll leave you to get ready just thought you would wanna know. good luck on your game."
cedric nodded, "thanks, bye."
harlow walked out of the locker room, to the quidditch pitch. the stands were filled with students from all of the different houses. she made her way up to the slytherin section and sat down in an empty area.
the game started off slow, hufflepuff in the lead, ravenclaw was behind five points. harlow's eyes followed cedric as he struggled to catch the snitch.
she saw cedric's broom jerk down, harlow furrowed her eyebrows. it jerked down again, cedric looked surprised. his broom began to plummet downwards sending cedric on a downwards spiral towards the ground. gasps began to emerge from the crowd. cedric tried to control it, but it was to no use. cedric fell off his broom and hit the ground with a groan. harlow rushed out of the stands down to cedric. he was sat up, holding his leg in pain.
"shit." he cried out.
"hey, what the hell was that?" questioned harlow.
"i don't know, i lost control of my broom." he said, throwing his head back in pain.
"are you ok?" she asked.
"i think i sprained my ankle." he breathed out heavily. cedric pulled something out of his pocket.
"what's that?" harlow asked.
"a hex bag." said professor snape from behind her.
"why would cedric have that on him?" she questioned.
"he didn't. someone probably stuck it in there." professor snape answered.
"why? who'd want me to get hurt?" queried cedric.
"i don't know, but i suppose that's something we have to figure out."