The Golden Marauders

Harold's Speech On Love

Things had definately changed, and not changed over the past two weeks.

Things Jade was happy about, and not so happy about. Things Marco hadn't noticed, and what he did, he was not so happy about. Things Elyse had noticed, and was happy about . . .sorta. Things James, their local oblivious idiot, didn't notice.

Nothing had changed between Jade and Marco. They had gone back to being best friends. It was frustrating for the both of them. What had changed between the two was something Roxanne and Elyse had both picked up on; the glances shared between the two.

Over the past two weeks, Jade had been looking more closely at Marco. While bored in Divination, her green eyes would slowly find their way to him. She hadn't meant for that to happen, but it did.

Jade was not the only one that found it hard to keep their eyes off of their friend. Marco was guilty of the same things. Sometimes, their eyes would meet. They wouldn't look away. Their eye contact would remain, then, eventually, the two would look away.

Elyse and Roxanne had definately noticed and were growined extremely excited. They have been waiting for this to happen for years.

Speaking of Elyse, she was growing to hate everything. She was growing to hate how her palms would become sweaty as she spoke to James. She was growing to hate how much she disliked literally anyone that would speak to James (expect her friends and family). She was growing to hate how her heart would skip happily at the thought of him. How butterflies were in her stomach at his prescence.

Another that changed was Jade's broom closet activities. They hadn't happened. She stopped meeting people there. She stopped snogging people.

She knew it sounded stupid, but she wasn't as into it as she was before. She had attempted to meet someone days following the party, but she hadn't gone. She got to the meeting place and turned back. She felt, well, she felt like she was forgetting about him. Even though she said she'd forget about the incident, she hadn't. She didn't want to. She felt like if she were going to meet those people, she'd forget what if felt like to have Marco's arms around her, to have his lips on hers.

She didn't want to forget.

One thing that hadn't changed was Skylyn's obsession with James. She was always trying to talk to him.

Key word being trying.

Jade was always there to stop her. She would engage in a conversation with her twin, doing anything in her power to keep the mysterious girl away from her brother. She didn't care about not judging people. In this case, she knew Skylyn was up to something, something involving her brother.

When Jade wasn't there, Elyse was. James was always too distracted to even notice Skylyn.

Did Jade feel bad for Skylyn?

Not in the slightest.

Okay...maybe a little bit.

All it took for Jade to be angry with Skylyn again was too remember the comments she had made.

"Hi, Dad!" Jade grinned as Harry entered his classroom. Jade sat in his chair with her feet on his desk.

"Hullo, Jade," Harry smiled. "Are you excited for your game tomorrow?"

"Of course," she smiled, but it fell.

"I take it that was not what you wanted to talk to me about," Harry raised his brow.

"Dad-"

"I swear to Merlin, if you tell me you're pregnant," Harry began. "I will be going to Azkaban for murder. Unlike your Papa Siri, it won't be a falsely accused on either."

Jade tried to tell him she wasn't pregnant, but Harry continued to give a very detailed description of what he was going to do to whomever got her pregnant.

In Heaven, Sirius giggled. He actually giggled.

"That's exacty what I said I'd do to him if he broke mu daughter's heart," he grinned.

"Padfoot, mate," James began. "Please don't giggle. It's terrifying."

"I'm not pregnant!"

"Thank Merlin," Harry sighed in relief. "I am not ready to be a grandfather."

Jade rolled her eyes.

"What is it you wanted to talk about then?" Harry asked, leaning against his desk.

"You love mum, right?"

"You're joking, right?"

Jade looked him in the eyes. It was clear she wasn't joking.

"More than the sun," Harry stated. "More than anything."

She nodded in understanding.

As much as Jade pretended to be disgusted by how much her parents loved eachother, she wasn't. When she was young, she loved to hear their stories. They were always full of adventure, happiness, love, and some sadness (they clearly left out a lot at the time).

Even from a young age, Jade knew she wanted someone to look at her the way her dad looks at her mum; like she was the best thing to ever walk the planet, with respect, with devotion, with great amounts of love. Jade also knew that she wanted to be able to unapologetically look at someone her mum looked at her dad; with great respect, with trust, with love, with the ability to be vulnerable around them.

"How did you know that things changed between you and mum?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" his brows furrowed.

"It's no secret that you and mum were friends long before you dated," she said carefully. "How did you know that things had changed between the two of you? When did you realize that you wanted more than friendship with her? How did you know?"

"In all honesty," He began. "I had feelings for your mother long before I actually knew that I had. Drove your Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron mental. I was 100% sure things had changed between me and your mother after we had gotten into a shouting match, which ended in her kissing me. I, stupidly, hadn't said or done anything to show her that I wanted the same things she clearly did."

"When did you know before that?"

"Your mother was one of few people that understood me," he stated. "She was always there when I needed her, and I was there for her. I remember very vividly in our second year when I was hearing the basilisk. I was convinced I was going mad. Your mum said that I wasn't, and even if I had, she'd be there to help me through the insanity. We had moments like that as the years went on.

"I suppose I can't pick when the specific moment I knew things had changed for me. It might have been when she went with your Uncle Cedric to the Yule Ball. It could've been one of the millions of times she defended someone. It might even have been when she told Snape on the first day of classes that he needed to shove it and realize I was only a first year.

"I just know that after awhile," Harry looked his daughter in the eyes. "I started to seek her comfort. I started seeking her out in crowds. My gaze started drifting towards her. The mere sound of her voice calmed my anger. She was one of the few things that I could count on. I started purposely messing up my tie so she could roll her eyes an fix it. When the small habits she had became things that I had grown used to, that they were things I started doing too because they reminded me of her."

"Dad," Jade said siriusly. "You are whipped."

"So I've been told," Harry rolled his eyes.

She moved to leave, but stopped at the door.

"Thank you, Dad.

"Anytime," he smiled, which soon turned into a small smirk. "Tell Marco I said 'hi', will you?"

"You could just tell him yourself," Jade offered. "But I'll do you the solid."

"Thank you, Jade!" Harry called as she left.

Once she was gone, Harry had pulled out his cell phone and called his wife.

"Love, guess what just happened."