Dandelions

~53~

At the end of February, time just seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye. June arrived and everyone was eating breakfast in the great hall as they would any other day. Harper looked across the hall to see Narcissa and Regulus actually smiling for once which swelled her heart with such joy, that she began smiling as well. Regulus noticed her staring and waved hello in greeting so she waved back to him. "Oh. My. Merlin." Lily gasped as she stared at the Great Hall entrance. Harper's head whipped around to look at what everyone else was laughing at when she saw the four boys. They were dressed in winter gear which confused the girls until they felt the hot room suddenly turn ice cold. "Merry Christmas to all!" James yelled before snow began to fall from the ceiling. The room quickly filled up with snow and giggles from students who were enjoying the cold fluffy white snow.

Harper smiled at Sirius who smiled back. What she didn't notice was that his wand made a flicking movement chasing several snowballs to hurtle at her. She let out a scream of anguish as they hit her. Harper glared at the boy before growling, "You're so dead, Black." The Gryffindor boy began to duck under the snow as if that would help him get away but Remus soon pulled him out and held him so Harper could get him. "Moony! You're supposed to be my friend!" Sirius could be heard screaming as Harper conjured up at least 50 snowballs. "Duck!" Harper yelled to Remus as she flicked her wand and the snowballs zoomed towards Sirius. One hit him right in the balls making him drop to his knees in pain with a loud gasp. Marlene let out a cackle before grabbing Lily to help her build a snowman. "Damn, Rossi." James laughed as he helped his best mate up who was still in pain. "I told you there would be payback." She smiled before kissing her boyfriend. Sirius mumbled, "My poor kids.."

Before Harper could retort, she felt someone's presence behind her, who she instantly knew as the Gryffindor Head of House. "My office now" Mcgonagall said before leading them out of the room. Harper followed making Mcgonagall stare at her with confusion, "You're in on this Ms.Rossi? You've corrupted her!" Harper laughed as she accused Sirius of "corrupting" her. "No I would just really like to see these four get in trouble - only if you wouldn't mind." She saw the small smile that the older witch let out before she continued her walk to her office. "Come on Minnie! It's hot out, we just wanted too cool everyone down." James groaned out earning a slap in the back of the head from Remus. "Detention tonight at 7 p.m. in my office. Ms.Rossi as you seem very interested in the justice of this, would you like to partake in taking care of these four goons?"

Harper let out a squeal of delight as she nodded her head violently. "YES! Thank you professor! Best gift ever." Sirius couldn't help but smile as he saw the girl get excited over assisting the professor in giving him and his friends detention. James feigned hurt at the girl but soon stopped when even Peter got in on slapping him upside the head. Everyone was still weird around the boy as he would still disappear without a trace and was acting rather suspicious, but decided not to worry about it until the school year was complete. Walking out of the office, Harper waved goodbye to the professor and set off towards the Herbology. "Hey! Don't think you're getting away from this, THAT fast!" Remus called after her as the three boys followed chasing after the girl. "You can thank Mr.Black for hitting me with snowballs. See you in detention mates! Cheers by the way!" She giggled before running off towards the greenhouses. Harper had been giving herself more of a break instead of focusing 24/7 over the tasks but she still would take time out of her day to work on what the last task would end up being.

She walked into herbology and noticed that she was indeed late making everyone look up at the girl. "Ms.Rossi, you're late." Sprout said as she looked at the girl who had a crest fallen look on her face. "Sorry! I was with Professor Mcgonagall doing something.." She whispered as she walked over to her spot where no plants laid in front of her desk. "It's quite alright, it's your first time late in your seven years here. Nevermind that! Back to what I was saying." Narcissa looked up at the girl who seemed a bit happier she wasn't in trouble but noticed that she looked much different lately. She had been quite relaxed and hadn't been focused on the last task as she was always worrying about the 'horcux hunt' with her cousin, Regulus. Quickly scribbling down on a note, she quietly passed it over to Harper. It read:

Harper,
Stop worrying about the hunt. You'll be fine. You have R.A.B there.
Narcissa

Harper smiled at the note for a second before thoughts clouded her mind of the hunt. Honestly, she was terrified for the hunt but refused to let Regulus go alone. She nodded at Narcissa before turning back to the teacher who was talking about the NEWTS and how important they are. They were coming up fast as well on top of all the other things Harper had to worry about, but luckily she was managing her time perfectly and wasn't worried at all for them. She was confident she would do well in all her classes and even more confident she'd get O's in Herbology and in Astronomy. All they did was review things like incendio and plants and what they're for. Luckily, Harper's next class was double Astronomy with Gryffindor so she was extremely excited to go there. "Rossi, have you found out what the next task is?" Finch-Fletchley asked her as he was trying to cast the spell. "Oh uh, no. They're just gonna tell us when we get there this time." A look of disappointment crossed the boys face who just nodded and continued working.

Sometimes it felt like Harper wasn't really herself and nobody really cared. Most people talked to her because of her being a champion or Sirius's girlfriend. The Hufflepuff girl knew she was more then just someone's girlfriend but it still hurt that people addressed her like that. She walked alone to the astronomy tower and sat down at a table alone as none of her friends were there yet. Her mind soon drifted off and she looked to see Snape, Malfoy, and Regulus all sitting outside, enjoying the sun. Lucius looked as if he were tanning and Regulus was trying not to laugh at the older boy. Harper giggled but jumped when she heard, "What are you laughing at, darling?" Sirius arrived and sat next to her before spotting what she was looking at. "This is gold! Prongs look!" Soon, everyone in the friend group was staring at the sunbathing boy, Regulus who was struggling to not laugh, and Snape who was absent mindedly playing with his hair. "Snivellous should clean the greasy hair, not play with it." Marlene laughed earning a glare from Lily.

Even if she wasn't friends with him, she still thought he deserved respect and didn't tolerate the awful name the boys made up for him. "Alright, class. Today we're learning about something fun!" Peter groaned at the teacher pretty loudly, which caused the whole class to stare at him. He turned red and quickly put his head in between his hands. "Thank you Mr.Pettigrew. That's.. Hmm.. Ten points from Gryffindor." The Hufflepuffs let out small laughs while the Gryffindors shot glares at the smaller boy who shrunk in his chair more.