Real or Not Real {Harry Potter}

Forty Five

-Cool About It-

-feeling like an absolute fool about it-

-wishing you were kind enough to be cruel about it-

The rays of light shine on Bria's face, reminding her that this is the last morning of summer, and tomorrow she will wake up in her dormitory to begin her sixth year. She carefully pries herself from Harry's arms, sitting up in bed and picking her leg up off of the floor.

She's just about to click it in place when the bed rustles from beside her, and she turns around to see Harry blinking the sleep away.

"Hey," he says, his voice hoarse from the sleep.

"Hi. I was just about to head to Ginny's."

He rubs his hands over his face, exhaling loudly. "No need. I can smell pancakes. I'm awake now, let's go eat."

She observes him as he slowly wakes himself up. Bria has never really seen this side of him, usually leaving while he's still asleep, or being startled awake like when Ron woke them up those few times last summer.

He looks peaceful this way. The early sun shines warmly on his face, his hair rustled from sleep and his glasses still on the nightstand.

He sits up from bed while Bria clicks her leg into place, standing up as he slowly gets out of bed.

"Come on," he urges quietly, but politely, leading Bria downstairs.

Bria had expected the morning to be quiet and peaceful, the house only being filled with the voices of Mrs. Weasley, Harry, and herself. But all of that gets thrown out the window when they see Moody sitting at the table, his flask on the table with a plate of pancakes sitting in front of him.

He lifts his flask in greeting. "You two. Come sit."

Bria and Harry exchange a look, before following Moody's orders and sit across from him at the table.

"Molly, would you be a dear an excuse us for a moment?"

Mrs. Weasley looks between Moody, Harry, and Bria, before smiling sweetly at them. "Of course, Alastor. I'll go check on the laundry."

She heads outside to check the clothesline, and Moody leans forward to speak quietly.

"I am going to tell you this once, and only once. You two need to go back to school with pretty smiles and nice hand holding, or there will be hell to pay."

"We already knew that," Bria says in a hushed voice.

"I know that what happened last year hindered your friendship this summer," Moody says, shaking his head at the two of them. "But if you don't find a way to make it work this time, then there will be consequences."

Harry scoffs. "Consequences like what, exactly? We were bad at being a couple fourth year too, no one did anything then."

"Dumbledore's orders, boy. He thinks that a sweet relationship between two teenagers would help boost morale with the possibility of a war. People are scared, afraid. They need people, people like you, to show them that everything is okay."

"Why would people need to rely on two teenagers to let them know everything is okay?" Bria asks, rolling her eyes at how serious Moody is making it seem.

Moody slaps his hand on the table, making Bria and Harry jump. "He," Moody says, pointing at Harry, "cannot seem vulnerable. If you guys look like you're on the rocks, or you are not together anymore, then Potter looks weak. How can he defeat Voldemort if he can't even keep a girlfriend?"