beautiful - harry potter

chapter 37

Thalia was doing her homework across from Harry and she kept looking up at him. She thought she was doing it pretty subtly but Harry could feel her piercing gaze on him. He just decided not to comment on it.

Finally, Thalia put her quill down and reached over the table. She grabbed Harry's hand and intertwined their fingers. His head shot up and he smiled adoringly at her. 

"Harry, you know that all of this is real, right?" Thalia asked uneasily.

"I really hope this isn't a long dream," he laughed. Thalia smiled but didn't laugh along.

"But you know that I actually have feelings for you, right? I'm not doing this out of pity or to spite my parents or because I like the attention," she noted. "I'm dating you because I want to date you. For you."

"Well, I know that now," Harry chuckled. His thumb rubbed against the back of her thumb soothingly and Thalia squeezed his hand.

"I just wanted to make sure," she said quietly. Thalia smiled again and continued doing her work. 

Harry was unable to do his homework because his writing hand was intertwined with Thalia's. He didn't mind it though, because he just rested his other hand on his chin and watched her.

After a minute or so, Thalia looked up and realized that he couldn't write. "Sorry," she quickly apologized as she let go of his hand.

The brunette went back to her homework and Harry went back to his. This time, Harry was the one who kept looking up at her not so subtly.

Her confession got him thinking. 

Harry licked his lips quickly and nervously looked at her. He kept his gaze strictly on his paper when speaking again. 

"Hey, I love you."

Thalia froze for a split second and then continued to scribble down the words for her final essay. Harry stopped writing when he didn't get a response and he studied her skeptically.

"Thalia?" he questioned. 

Thalia's head shot up and she wore a small smile on her face, the kind of smile that was upturned in the slightest bit so it was recognized as a smile, nothing more. No emotions, no feelings, it was just a smile.

"Did you hear me?" Harry asked. 

She did hear him, she just chose to ignore it. "No, I didn't," the Slytherin lied.

Harry contemplated himself in his mind and thought it best to just push away from the subject. He didn't want to make it awkward if she didn't return the feelings.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "I- I didn't say anything. W-well, I did but it's nothing important. Just- don't worry about it. It's nothing."

Harry just scratched the back of his neck while looking back down at his paper. Thalia frowned a bit and the two finished their essays in silence. Harry finished first and he began to roll up his essay and pack his bag.

"I- I gotta go to the, um, the Defense club thing," he muttered, not meeting her burning gaze. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, okay," Thalia replied, standing up. Harry slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his textbooks off the library table. "Goodbye then."

The sleeve of Thalia's oversized sweater brushed against Harry's skin when she cupped his face. Thalia kissed him softly and slowly, making sure to remember the feeling. 

She didn't want the school year to end because that would mean going back to her horrible household and focusing on the Dark Arts. It would also mean saying goodbye to Harry, even if he didn't know it yet. 

Thalia finally pulled away and rested her forehead on Harry's. She inhaled his broomstick polish scent through her nose and she closed her eyes, just wanting to be in his presence. Thalia never appreciated Harry enough until now and she didn't want to leave him.

Harry didn't know why she was being like this. She kept throwing all her plans away when he had free time and she kept offering to do things like working on essays and projects together. He didn't know why it was happening but he liked the attention. 

"I love you, Harry," she whispered. Harry thought he hadn't heard that right and his eyes fluttered open to meet her gaze as she pulled away. "I really do."

Thalia's vision got blurry and Harry quickly wiped away a tear that made a perfect stain on her freckled cheeks. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked in a quiet voice, putting his textbooks down to give her his full attention. "You're acting like one of us is going to die."

Thalia blinked away more tears and she smiled sadly. "We live in dark times, Harry," she sighed. "Everyone's going to die eventually, it's just a matter of time."

"Don't think like that," Harry hushed with a small frown. "Everything's gonna be fine, love. We're going to be fine. In fact, everything is going to be perfect, okay?" His chocolate brown eyes searched Thalia's green ones frantically an Thalia smiled a bit.

"Okay," Thalia nodded weakly. Harry smiled comfortingly and he pecked her cheek, then pulled her in for a warm hug. Thalia's arms wrapped around his torso and she sniffled into his shoulder.

"We're gonna be fine. Just a few more years here and then, if you want, we can buy a house or something," Harry offered, his voice merely above a whisper. "And we'll live there together and it'll be perfect because we'll design it the way that you want it."

They were only fifth years and Harry had never thought about a future with kids and a house but when he did think about it, he saw Thalia there, right next to him.

"With marble counters?" she asked tiredly.

"Yeah, with marble counters," he nodded. "And we can decorate the entire thing in green. Forest green, lime green, sage green, any kind of green you want."

"Okay," Thalia sniffled. "I'd choose sage green but thank you for the variety of choices."

Harry chuckled quietly and Thalia closed her eyes, inhaling his welcoming scent again. "Do you actually want to live together? After we leave Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do," Harry confirmed. "We don't have to think about that now though. We've got more than two years ahead of us to think about that."

Thalia thought about her father's instructions. She wanted to date Harry all throughout the rest of her years at Hogwarts and she wanted to go buy a house with him after they graduated, but she knew that her father would find her. There's no telling what he would do.

"Yeah, two years," she agreed as she finally pulled out of the hug. "Hopefully, I'll be Head Girl. I always wanted to be Head Girl." Thalia's mother was Head Girl, before she married Alexander Forthing, before everything in her life went downhill.

"You'd make a great Head Girl," Harry encouraged her. "Although, you would have to fight with Hermione for it. I bet she'd throw a fit when she loses to you."

Thalia knew that she would never be Head Girl with someone like Dumbledore as Headmaster, someone who favored Gryffindors. If Hermione or any other Gryffindor was in the same year, Thalia would never even have a chance at Head Girl.

"Listen, I've actually got to go to the Defense meeting now. I'm already hate," Harry winced, "but I'll see you later."

"M'kay," the brunette mumbled. She kissed Harry again and sent him another smile before he grabbed his textbooks again and exited the library.

Thalia sat back down and finished up her essay.