Requested by delta-cat.
Alien Reader
Thank you for requesting!!
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You're walking through the Court Yard when you feel sprinkles begin to fall on you. You frown and look up at the dark clouds gathering overhead. You notice that several other students are beginning to sprint for cover, some with parchment flying out of their bag in their haste.
You narrow your eyes at the foreboding cloud and concentrate. Right before your eyes, the clouds dissipate along with the rain. You smile in triumph as you continue to walk in the now-beautiful afternoon air. You notice some kids are staring at you oddly, obviously have realized what you had just done. One person even yells a thanks at you although you have no idea who it was.
Some of the student populace fear your "unnatural power" and give you rude looks accordingly, but some surprisingly think it's cool to have these powers. You smile to yourself as you think of some of the instances where people have actually stood up for you against assholes. Sometimes you lose faith in humanity, but there are rare moments that you experience happiness for being able to watch them develop as a species.
You glance down at your watch and curse under your breath. You shift your bag more securely on your shoulder before beginning to speed walk towards the dungeons for your Potions lecture that starts in seven minutes. You step through the threshold right as the bell rings.
You sigh in relief as you scan the Potions seats. You normally sit next to that Neville kid, but a Hufflepuff has taken your place today. There are two more seats open: one next to a boy that you have seen him pick his nose innumerable times or next to the famous Harry Potter. You debate for a moment: share a table with a nose picker or an attractive male human? You sigh as you realize it was stupid to even debate.
You sit in the seat and set your bag on the floor. As you lean back up, you lock eyes with Harry. You two smile awkwardly at one another. You hear the door click behind you. You turn to see a flourish of black robes moving swiftly towards the front of the room. The swiftly moving black cloth turns to reveal Professor Snape.
He eyes the entire class before drawling, "The lesson today is for you to write an essay pertaining to the Draught of Living Death. Once you are finished, place it on my desk and leave. Begin."
And with another flourish of his robes, he sits behind his desk. He eyes the class as students begin to pull out parchments, quills, and inkwells. You bend and grab your bag from the floor. You pull out your parchment and shift things around to attempt to search for your quill. Your hand brushes against the feather and begin to tug. You hear a snap, which causes you to look at the ceiling and pray to Merlin that you didn't do what you think you just did. You lightly pull the quill out and huff angrily at yourself. There in your hand lies the last quill you own snapped in half with ink staining your hand. You close your eyes and grit your teeth at your luck.
"You can have one of mine," Harry says quietly to you.
You open your eyes and they lock with his emerald ones gazing at you earnestly.
"What?" you murmur back.
He holds out his hand which contains a spare quill.
"You can have this one," he repeats.
You glance between the quill and his eyes sparkling with sincerity as you reach your hand out for the quill. Before your thank you even reaches your lips, Professor Snape begins to speak at his desk. You startle and drop your hand, as if you had been caught doing something wrong.
"Mr. Potter, not all of have been pampered our entire life and can afford to waste time in class instead of writing an essay."
You feel Harry tense next to you as he clenches his jaw. You watch as his sincere expression drops and anger quickly takes its place.
"Yes Professor, you're right. I'm excessively pampered. It really is extravagant of the Dursley's to let me have the ENTIRE cupboard under the stairs to myself. Next thing you know, I'll be making ridiculous requests like being allowed to eat every day or having clothes that fit!"
The silence is stifling before Snape breaks it.
"10 points from Gryffindor and you can meet me in detention, Mr. Potter."
"Yeah? And you can meet me in Hell."
There are some laughs across the room, although they are quiet ones.
"Damn Potter," you say, causing him to look over at you. "So many flavors of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and you choose to be salty?"
Harry smiles and begins to laugh.
" L/N, since you seem to be wanting to disrupt class, you can disrupt the detention with Harry as well."
You roll your eyes and pick up the quill Harry offered earlier. As you stare down at your parchment, you concentrate on the image of Snape at his desk. You imagine a desert sun beating down on his black robes, causing them to become warm and stiff on his body. You can hear him shift at his desk. You look up at him to find him staring intensely at you already. Even from the back, you can see the sweat on his brow in the frigid dungeon. You wink at him and then begin your paper.
After a torturous hour, you finally finish your paper as the bell rings. Students begin to mill out as you pack up your things. You poise the quill in your hand and turn to Harry as he stands.
"Are you sure that I can keep this?"
He smiles and nods.
"Of course. And hey, sorry about getting you detention."
You return his smile.
"You didn't, but thank you."
"Yes, I did. If I wasn't 'salty,' you wouldn't have spoken and he wouldn't have been a dickbag."
"I mean, yeah, that's true." You pause. "Want to know how to make it up to me?"
He quirks the side of his mouth. "Sure."
"Take me to Hogsmeade this Saturday," you say casually.
He blinks at you. "Like a date?"
You nod as he contemplates it. Slowly, a smile spreads across his face.
"Yeah, I'd like that.
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You laugh at another one of Harry's jokes. He smiles as you laugh and he picks his Butterbeer up to sip from. All day, you two had been together. Surprisingly, it hadn't been awkward. You two had clicked and the conversation continued to flow. You two had gone through Zonko's, Honeydukes, and random shoppes. He had even bought you a new set of quills despite your many protests. You had shown him your powers by making it snow on just him. He laughed and shuddered as he complimented you over and over again, especially after you admitted what you had done to Snape in class.
Now you are in the Three Broomsticks, smiling and laughing over butterbeers. He blushes, looks down at his drink, and fiddles with the handle as he begins to speak.
"I really enjoy spending time with you, even if we're just going to be sitting around and talking about nothing. There are a million things I like about you, like your nose or the way you smile, the way you look me in the eye, too. And I just get the greatest feeling when I make you laugh. I feel as if my company makes you happy, and that's what I wish for you. For you to be happy. And when I see you laugh at my clumsy ways, it just makes me want to spend every day with you so I can see a smile on your face."
You smile warmly as your face heats up.
"Look at Harry Potter. He has to be the one to get an alien boyfriend/girlfriend/enbyfriend."
His face lights up.
"Are you saying what I think you are?"
You laugh lightly.
"What, did you think you could admit that and nothing happen? Oh, honey. You're stuck with me now."
He reaches across the table and holds your hand.
"I wouldn't want it any other way."