-Cool About It-
-feeling like an absolute fool about it-
-wishing you were kind enough to be cruel about it-
The rays of light shine on Bria's face, reminding her that this is the last morning of summer, and tomorrow she will wake up in her dormitory to begin her sixth year. She carefully pries herself from Harry's arms, sitting up in bed and picking her leg up off of the floor.
She's just about to click it in place when the bed rustles from beside her, and she turns around to see Harry blinking the sleep away.
"Hey," he says, his voice hoarse from the sleep.
"Hi. I was just about to head to Ginny's."
He rubs his hands over his face, exhaling loudly. "No need. I can smell pancakes. I'm awake now, let's go eat."
She observes him as he slowly wakes himself up. Bria has never really seen this side of him, usually leaving while he's still asleep, or being startled awake like when Ron woke them up those few times last summer.
He looks peaceful this way. The early sun shines warmly on his face, his hair rustled from sleep and his glasses still on the nightstand.
He sits up from bed while Bria clicks her leg into place, standing up as he slowly gets out of bed.
"Come on," he urges quietly, but politely, leading Bria downstairs.
Bria had expected the morning to be quiet and peaceful, the house only being filled with the voices of Mrs. Weasley, Harry, and herself. But all of that gets thrown out the window when they see Moody sitting at the table, his flask on the table with a plate of pancakes sitting in front of him.
He lifts his flask in greeting. "You two. Come sit."
Bria and Harry exchange a look, before following Moody's orders and sit across from him at the table.
"Molly, would you be a dear an excuse us for a moment?"
Mrs. Weasley looks between Moody, Harry, and Bria, before smiling sweetly at them. "Of course, Alastor. I'll go check on the laundry."
She heads outside to check the clothesline, and Moody leans forward to speak quietly.
"I am going to tell you this once, and only once. You two need to go back to school with pretty smiles and nice hand holding, or there will be hell to pay."
"We already knew that," Bria says in a hushed voice.
"I know that what happened last year hindered your friendship this summer," Moody says, shaking his head at the two of them. "But if you don't find a way to make it work this time, then there will be consequences."
Harry scoffs. "Consequences like what, exactly? We were bad at being a couple fourth year too, no one did anything then."
"Dumbledore's orders, boy. He thinks that a sweet relationship between two teenagers would help boost morale with the possibility of a war. People are scared, afraid. They need people, people like you, to show them that everything is okay."
"Why would people need to rely on two teenagers to let them know everything is okay?" Bria asks, rolling her eyes at how serious Moody is making it seem.
Moody slaps his hand on the table, making Bria and Harry jump. "He," Moody says, pointing at Harry, "cannot seem vulnerable. If you guys look like you're on the rocks, or you are not together anymore, then Potter looks weak. How can he defeat Voldemort if he can't even keep a girlfriend?"
Bria and Harry don't say anything.
Moody's bad eye flickers between the two of them. "If you two do not perform like your supposed to, there will be consequences. The war depends on it."
Moody takes another swig of his flask, then limps from the table to walk to the door that connects outside. "You can come in now, Molly."
She bustles in the room, holding a basket of laundry that she had just pulled from the clothesline. "Hand these off to Ron, would you?" She says, giving Harry the laundry basket.
Harry and Bria walk out of the kitchen and begin to head up the stairs when they hear Mrs. Weasley yell out, "And let everyone know we leave in thirty minutes exact!"
Harry heads over to Ron's room while Bria goes over to Ginny's. She wakes up Hermione and Ginny, and begins getting ready to leave the station.
The morning flies by, and by the time they have to leave Lupin, Kingsley, and Tonks are outside the Burrow to escort them as well.
She hasn't seen Lupin since he had picked her up from St. Mungos, and Bria didn't think it was possibly for him to look more worn down than previously, but Lupin looks more sullen than ever. The bags underneath his eyes are purple, his hair doesn't look as fluffly, and his clohtes hang more loosely than before.
He's standing a far distance away from Tonks, which Bria finds odd because she thought that Lupin and Tonks had got along quite well.
But Lupin smiles at them like nothing is wrong. "Harry," Lupin says, pulling him into a hug.
This year, they're being escorted by a magical automobile, which Hermione describes to her as a car. It's a strange contraption, and Bria doesn't know how it could possibly fit five teenagers, four escorts, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Kingsley helps put the trunks in the car while Lupin whispers something in Harry's ear. She doesn't know what they're saying, but Bria knows its about Sirius. She gives them their privacy, and follows Ron, Ginny, and Hermione in the car.
They only wait a few minutes before it seems like Lupin and Harry had spoken as much as they could for the moment, and Harry gets seated in the car as well.
She can see that the car is much bigger on the inside than it appears to be. It seems to expand based on how many occupants in the car, and when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley enter, it only expands further.
Mrs. Weasley turns back to look at them. "Lupin, Kingsley, Moody, and Tonks are going to be concealed while they follow us," she explains.
Ron whimpers in his seat. "Dad, is this going to be like the other car?"
Mr. Weasley laughs heartily. "Oh, don't worry, Ron. This one is much more advanced."
Mr. Weasley presses a button beside the wheel, and almost instantly everyone forced to remain in their seats as the car shoots out of the Burrow lawn, and begins to move at a worryingly fast speed. It reminds Bria of the Knight Bus, and that is the only thing that gives her comfort while she's in this death contraption.
The car pulls into King's Cross in no time, and when the car forcefully parks in front of the station, Bria can feel herself grow queasy.
Ron hastily opens the car door and everyone steps out as fast as they possibly could, and by the time Bria can feel her stomach calm down Kingsley had already appeared to take their trunks out of the car.
They walk through King's Cross like normal, or as normal as they can try to appear. It's hard to look normal with Harry and Ron's owls in their cages, and naturally, they attract a lot of attention.
But they get to the wall between platforms nine and ten like normal, and when they cross to reach platform nine and three quarters, Bria and Harry immediately begin to walk beside each other, each putting on a pleasant expression.
Ron and Hermione go to the front of the train to attend to their Prefect duties, and Ginny, thankfully, leaves her and Harry to go find Dean.
They walk up and down the train, and eventually find an empty compartment this time around. They sit idly as they wait for Hermione and Ron to get back, busying themselves with a game of exploding snaps. After a few rounds Harry begins to close his eyes while Bria sketches anything that comes to mind.
She's halfway through a messy sketch of Sirius when a knock on the compartment startles her out of her thoughts.
It's not Ron or Hermione, as expected. Instead, it's a small boy, probably a third year, who looks very timid while waiting on the other side of the door. She glances at Harry, who is still dozing lightly, and she gets out of her seat to see what was going on.
She slides the door open and the boy sticks out a parchment, his hand shaking as he does so.
"Thank you," she says, grabbing the parchment from his hand, the boy running off as soon as she's done so.
She frowns, unraveling the parchment.
Professor Horace Slughorn humbly invites Harry Potter to the front carriage for a light lunch.
She looks over at Harry, who's sleeping peacefully, his head leaning against the window and his arms crossed in front of him. She, regretfully, begins to shake Harry awake.
His eyes blink open slowly. "What's going on?"
She hands him the parchment, and allows his eyes to regain focus and read what it says. When he's done, he looks at her. "Did you get one?"
She shakes her head. Why would she? All anyone pays attention to is Harry.
He frowns, looking down at the parchment. "Dumbledore told me it would be important to get to know him."
"Then you have to go."
He sighs, giving her one last look before walking out of the compartment. She continues to sketch, waiting for Ron and Hermione, and after sometime, they finally return from their meeting.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asks as she sits down beside Bria while Ron sits across from them.
"Professor Slughorn is on the carriage, apparently. He invited Harry to eat lunch with him."
Ron and Hermione make easily confused faces. "Weird," Ron says, screwing his face into thought.
Hermione wastes no time in cracking open a book, while Ron and Bria engage in exploding snaps. It's not as fun as before, since Bria had already played a few rounds with Harry. The game becomes even worse when one of the snaps accidentally hits Crookshanks.
The cat hisses, and Hermione whips her face at her book to immediately scold Ron. "Honestly Ronald, don't you have something better to do?"
"Bria and I are doing something, it's not our fault that your cat was in the way!"
"He was just sleeping, he didn't even do anything!"
Bria notices that they are starting to pay less and less attention to Bria, forgetting that she's even there at all. They begin to engage one of their arguments that could go on for hours, and Bria honestly thinks it's better than everyone sitting in angry silence.
She quietly excuses herself out of the compartment, but they barely pay her any mind. Bria decides she's going to find her friends, trying to pass the time faster while she waits for Harry to get back.
She walks towards the back of the compartments where her friends usually are. This year, Michael does not have a girlfriend, so thankfully there's enough room for Bria to sit with them.
She finds them exactly where she had expected them to be, and they all greet her in loud cheers when she enters the compartment.
"Brioche!"
She smiles as Terry scoots over so she can sit between him and Michael, her usual spot in the compartment.
"We're surprised that you were able to escape your kittens," Anthony says, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Shut up," she says, although there's no bite behind it.
"So, what was it like staying with all of those redheads?" Terry says, taking a bite out of his chocolate frog.
"It was an eyesore."
"And how was the lovely Miss Weasley?" Padma says, cackling at Michael's dark look.
"Hates my guts, like always," Bria says, rolling her eyes.
"I heard she has a new boyfriend," Anthony says, slapping Michael on the knee.
"She does. Dean Thomas. Didn't act like she had a boyfriend this summer though."
"Still flirting with Potter?" Terry says, but falls silent at the warning look Michael sends him over her head.
The compartment falls silent after that.
"Yes, she's still flirting with Harry. And it's fine, you guys. We're friends. Just friends."
"Friends that have to hold hands, and kiss, and go on dates," Padma says.
"Dumbledore said that if we broke up it would make Harry look weak."
"So? Who cares? He can't keep a girl to save his life. You're too nice to him," Anthony pipes in.
"He's the Chosen One. When the war comes people are going to have to stand behind him."
"We just don't want him to use you again," Michael says in a low tone.
She exhales sharply, rubbing the part where her stub meets her prosthetic. It's become a habit of hers.
Michael follows her movements. "How's the leg?"
She shrugs. "I wore it pretty much the whole time I was at the Burrow. I didn't feel comfortable taking it off."
"Smart move, Brioche. Knowing Weasley she would've set your leg on fire or something," Terry says, trying to lighten the mood.
"Probably thrown it in the lake, knowing how I can't swim," Bria says, following Terry's thinking.
"We need to beat Gryffindor in the Quidditch Cup this year. I can't stand to see her smug smile if she beats us," Padma says, looking pointedly at Michael.
"I just wish you were captains with me, Brioche. It's not fair."
She smiles at Michael, hoping to wash his feeling of guilt away. She doesn't want him to feel bad for things that are out of his control. "Well, I could help you with plays and tryouts. Even help run practice while you're flying with them. But I'll be cheering on Ravenclaw from the stands this year."
He ruffles her hair. "You're too kind, Brioche."
The five of them continue talking about mundane things, such as how great sixth year will be, how annoying the Gryffindors are, if they're going to smoke after the Welcoming Feast.
Bria has to go back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's compartment to change into her robes and gather her belongings.
To her dismay, Harry has still not returned from his lunch with Slughorn. She wonders what they could possibly be talking about, and the rest of the ride Bria, Hermione, and Ron theorize what on earth Slughorn could want from Harry.
Soon enough, the train pulls into Hogsmeade, and Harry still has not returned. Ron offered to carry Harry's things alongside his own, and the three of them follow the rest of the students to the school.
This year is different than the previous ones. Bria knows it has to do with Voldemort's return. Aurors are there to check everyone's belongings in search of dark magic items, which takes an extremely long time and by the time Bria is cleared she just wants the Sorting to get over with so she can eat.
She leaves Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table and makes her way back to her friends at Ravenclaw.
Once the Sorting commences the doors to the Great Hall open, and of course Harry walks in late. He seems to always have to make a dramatic entrance.
From afar, she can see he's holding a cloth to his nose, and as he walks closer to the Gryffindor table she can see that it's bleeding and swollen.
Conveniently, Harry sits on the bench beside Ginny, who's sitting across from Ron and Hermione. He seems to be explaining what had happened and Bria wishes that she were there too.
She watches as Ginny grabs the cloth from Harry and begins to assist with cleaning the blood away, and Bria can't deny how romantic it seems.
Ginny tenderly wipes away the blood that Harry missed, and he seems to only be paying attention to her. He can't keep his eyes off of her, and she's only focused on him and the task at hand.
It's as if Dean and Bria did not exist, or anyone in the Great Hall at all. Ron and Hermione aren't paying attention, both whispering to each other harshly, most certainly in another one of their infamous arguments.
The blood seems to be all cleaned off, and Ginny has no reason to continue wiping at his face, so she hesitantly pulls her hand away from his face, the cloth still in her hand. Harry glances at the cloth one last time before turning back to his food, the moment seemingly over.
Ginny is still holding the cloth, looking down as if it holds all of the secrets in the universe. As if that cloth is the proof that Ginny needs to know that Harry feels something back.
Bria can't blame her, really. She knows that if she were there, cleaning Harry's blood away, she would feel the exact same way. She would look for signs that aren't there, look for answers to Harry's feelings that he doesn't return.
Bria finds herself relating to Ginny more than she ever thought she would. Ginny knows exactly how Bria feels. What it's like to be in love with Harry, even if he barely pays attention to either girls' affections.
She can't fault Ginny for doing exactly what Bria wishes she could do.
Because she knows what it's like to be in love with Harry.
AN:
If you feel like the ending is rushed, that's because it is lol I got tired by the end of writing it while I was in class. On another note, TBOSAS was so freaking good I've already watched it twice. Dare I say, almost better than the og four movies? I know some of you might hate me for that opinion but I don't care TBOSAS is beautiful in every way. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!!