Invisible String

1.

Harry had stormed out of the Great Hall, furious at Hermione and Ron for constantly bickering at one another. Especially when there were bigger problems around. Not to say that his problems were more important than theirs, but his problems affected them too, honestly.

Mindlessly walking away from where people were, he found himself in the North Tower, where he was supposed to be shortly anyway. Frustrated, he threw his bag onto the floor and sat next to it. Burying his head in his knees, Harry tried not to cry. It was all getting too much, and it was only the first week, hell, first day of term.

Hogwarts is supposed to be my safe place, he thought.

He stared out the window, lost in thought and a slight overthinking of everything that was going wrong. It can't get worse than this, he thought. But it wasn't comforting to realise that this was just the beginning. If anything, it gets worse from here.

"Harry, are you okay?" Harry had snapped out of his thoughts to realise a girl had joined him under the trapdoor of the North Tower, with a concerned expression on her face.

Harry also realised that a single tear had rolled down his cheek. He wiped it quickly before facing her.

"Huh? Oh... yeah. Yeah I'm... okay..." Harry had trailed off once making eye contact with the girl who was kneeling down to look at him.

She's beautiful, was the first thought that ran through his head. A Slytherin girl, assuming by her tie colour. Long, jet black hair, dark eyes and slightly tanned skin. Tall, her lips plump, along with the rest of her body. She had a look of concern etched across her face.

"You know," The girl placed her bag on the floor and sat next to Harry, but not too close. "I believe you. I always knew..." Her voice got quieter. "...that Voldemort would come back. That it was only a matter of time. Your story isn't even close to being far-fetched and- umm, I'm surprised that people aren't taking it more seriously, especially after the impact of the last war." The girl looked up from the floor to look at Harry, who was already looking at her.

"It's rather frustrating, isn't it? That Umbridge bitch has no right treating you like that. Nobody has any right to treat you like this. Why would you of all people lie about something like this?" She scoffed.

"Thanks... really," Harry's eyes left hers, and went back to the window. "Even with the minimal people that do believe me, it feels good when it's erm, expressed to me," He grinned momentarily.

"I know I'm a Slytherin and there's supposed to be some type of stupid rivalry between our houses, and you also don't really know who I am- oh yeah! By the way," The girl extended her hand towards Harry. "My name is Aurora. Aurora Whitehall"

Harry turned to her, and shook her hand, "Har- well erm, I'm Harry. Potter" He faintly chuckled.

"I also um, obviously like, we just met and all, but I find that talking to someone who isn't actively in your life is always nice. Gives you an outsider perspective, I guess. So, if you ever need to talk, find me!" Aurora smiled at Harry and stood up because people had suddenly started to join them. Class was starting soon.

"Bloody hate Divination," Aurora had muttered before climbing up the trapdoor and entering class, followed by Harry and several others.

Aurora had thought about Harry's politeness during class, after class, and throughout the day. Harry had also been thinking of her. Though during his Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he managed to forget everything good in his life. He felt nothing but fury towards Professor Umbridge. Aurora heard about the incident shortly afterwards, as the word about anything to do with Harry Potter spread like a forest fire.