heather; the beginning
♡
Mina Lee has been hopelessly in love with Harry Potter since forever, and this was the year she would get over him.
That's the promise she made to herself the summer before sixth year, anyway. He was always in the back of her mind somewhere, like a song she couldn't get out of her head; a catchy rhythm on repeat, day and night, for the last five years. And those five years had amounted to nothing except daydreaming, heartache, watching him get in and out of relationships (none with her, for the record), and somehow finding her way to be someone he considered a close friend (his friend; only ever his friend, for the record).
Mina doesn't exactly know what lit the fuse to her long-time crush, and after little to no interaction after her first two years at school, little her was convinced she liked him no more. Well, that is until his voice dropped, and he shot up about five inches over the summer between second and third year, and suddenly she couldn't even look at him without her heart beating its way out of her chest. Especially when they became partners for a potions project in third year, and suddenly they were spending time after school with each other even after the project ended, leading her to officially become friends with Harry James Potter.
Over the years, they'd get kicked out of the library for laughing too much. He'd join her at the Hufflepuff table when they both had a study period. She'd join him beneath his invisibility cloak to mess with Professor Snape during curfew hours—she'd run away with him from Professor Snape beneath his invisibility cloak during curfew hours. She'd give him small gifts; he'd make her origami. She'd help him finish a History of Magic essay due the next day, he'd sneak her out of a detention that was his fault. She'd give him advice on his relationships, he'd try to set her up with Gryffindor guys he thought she'd fancy. She was in love with him, he had no idea.
She had two options, really: get together with him or get over him.
And although she was promising herself to focus on the latter, a stupid, small glimpse of hope from all these moments made her heartache for the first. Specifically, one on the 3rd of December of their fifth year. That afternoon was the last Quidditch match of the year: between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and just as a way of making conversation that morning in the hallway, Mina told him that she'd have to dig through her trunk to try to find something red to accompany the yellow of her Hufflepuff sweater. For some reason, she'd been in a mere T-shirt despite the wintery month, rubbing her arms. In response, he stopped walking and tugged his own Gryffindor sweater over his head, lifting his T-shirt beneath slightly (she had to pull her eyes away from his toned stomach), and handed it to her—leaving him in just a T-shirt. She had to ignore the warmth of the fabric and the way it smelled just like him because otherwise she'd be redder than it's crimson. He motioned for her to put it on because now she'd be warm, and she could wear it to the match. Killing two birds with one stone. Mina pulled on his Quidditch sweater (which had, amazingly, 'POTTER' and the number 7 on the back), which swam on her, and as she untucked her hair, he grinned and said the words that were still playing in her head all these months later: "It looks better on you than me."
And that wasn't the only moment from December. Mina liked getting little gifts for her friends for Christmas, and he was no exception. For Harry, she'd given him a silver locket on a long black-string necklace. The locket itself was oval-shaped with a lion's face on it, and he'd felt so bad for not getting her something that, when he enveloped her in a hug, his arms lingered around her. She didn't really know if he'd wear it, but one time in class, a few weeks later, sitting behind him, she noticed the black string around his neck just peeping over the top of his shirt's collar, and her heart did all kinds of flips that day. Even months later in the warmer weather, she could just see the string laying on his collarbone from where he'd loosened his tie and undone his top button (although it was never really done up in the first place), and other times when he'd taken his tie off, she could see the oval shape laying on his chest through the white of his shirt.
These were just two of the moments keeping her from wanting to completely get over him, even when there was nothing between them, and she wasn't brave enough to make anything happen between them. Not once, in all her years at Hogwarts, did she have a boyfriend—or even a proper date with someone she actually liked. It wasn't as though getting into a relationship was her priority (because, genuinely, it wasn't), but this—whatever this was—that she had for Harry meant that she, really, only had eyes for him, meaning that she had, over the years, turned down every perfectly kind boy who'd asked her on a date, and thereby, any chance to like someone who actually liked her back; any chance for a happy, mutual relationship that was real—not just in her head; in her dreams.
Which was why she needed to get over him; why, in the summer holidays before sixth year, she promised herself that she would be over him. She wouldn't get rosy cheeks anymore; she wouldn't replay their conversations, she wouldn't overthink their hands brushing as they walk, she wouldn't get internally jealous over any other girl he glances at. It was going to be hard, but this plan was going to work. It had to.
So, it was official: Mina Lee was going to get over Harry Potter.
That is, until Heather came along.
♡
