beautiful - harry potter

chapter 17

"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-"