𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 122

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND TWENTY TWO
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH HARRY
CONFRONTS AVIANA

. . .

Aviana kept glancing over at him during breakfast.

Not in that familiar way, across several tables in the Great Hall, accompanied by a wink or a smirk or something similar, that would make his heart thump in his ears and Draco roll his eyes and mutter something stupid or have Hermione grumbling and badgering for his attention, citing something or the other as stupid and he needed to focus on things, especially this year if any.

And it wasn't of concern either, because he knew she was so sure that he wasn't being possessed, and whatever she had seen in St. Mungo's had now been shared in that Order meeting.

He hadn't slept the night of the meeting, and spent the day after catching up on the sleep, trying to do some of his school work in between naps, avoiding the general hubbub of living in Grimmauld Place. Sirius seemed cheerier than ever, and over the few days following Harry joined him in feeding Buckbeak, and found himself sitting in the drawing room with everyone more and more.

Aviana was always there, sat in a corner silently, listening, watching, contributing to the conversation when necessary, and yet he still found that she was still looking over at him, could see it out of his peripheral, the way her book would lower a little and her eyes would narrow ever so slightly, and if he looked up it was though she had never even seen him at all. 

And so, when it happened yet again on that third afternoon, Harry followed her when she got up out of her armchair, out into the hallway, and pulled through the open door of the drawing room.

"Are you trying to read my mind?" He hissed, pushing the door closed behind him.

"No." Aviana replied defiantly, crossing her arms. His eyebrows rose. "Yes, but not because I'm remotely interested in anything you're thinking, I'm just particularly concerned of what you're thinking about me."

"What the fuck?" Harry pulled a hand through his hair. "Why... why are you reading my mind?"

"Well... I'm not, really." Aviana frowned. "But you keep giving me all these weird looks and I wanted to know why, seeing as you're obviously too much of a pussy to just tell me whatever you're upset about." She shrugged, making her way across the room to sit down in the arm chair, legs crossing as she looked up at him.

"You can't just read my mind, Aviana." Harry replied, head shaking as he unwittingly began to pace across the rug in front of her, every so often his shoes clicking against the exposed wood beside it.

"I haven't been." Aviana told her, incredibly matter-of-fact. "In case you've forgotten, I haven't actually ever practised Legilimency in a serious situation, I've just done it by accident and... and now I seem to have found myself in a position where it might be quite useful, so I thought I should practise."

Harry's eyebrows raised. "What, now that you've joined the Order?" He asked flippantly, and much more snappish than he had been expecting - and he hadn't even expected to bring it up at all.

Aviana didn't react, because who would she be if she were not entirely emotionless, choosing her emotions as she pleased. "Well," she began in a hum, "at least I know my paranoia wasn't insanity."

"What?" Harry momentarily stopped pacing and turned to face her.

"When I cast the spell the other night that stopped you, and the other dickheads from listening on those stupid string ears." Aviana replied, arms folding across her chest. "I wasn't just being paranoid."

"If neither I, nor the twins - who are of age - can be in the Order and you can, then I don't see why we shouldn't get to listen in on the meetings." Harry replied.

"You can't blame me for the fact that the contents of those meetings are not to be discussed with you." Aviana said. "Besides, what have you actually got to offer?"

"What?"

"What have you got to offer that will aid the Order?" She pressed. Harry said nothing, momentarily speechless. "It's not as though you can do anything, you're at school-"

"So are you!"

"Harry, the Dark Lord is using Legilimency to invade your brain. If you're sat in an Order meeting and he happens to do it that night and he can access that information, than what good is it to the Order for you to be there?" Aviana looked bored, as though it was entirely obvious. "Besides, it's not as though I wanted to join their stupid club."

"Then why was that your first demand?" Harry questioned, returning to his pacing.

"Merlin, you're going to give me a headache." Aviana shook her head, adjusting to a more comfortable position. "Harry, what do you think will happen if anyone - my father, the Malfoys, Salazar forbid, the Dark Lord - find out that I've been giving information to the Order?" She blinked. Harry didn't reply. "You'll be left entirely girlfriend-less and having me around has done you wonders this year-"

"And yet you remain so humble." Harry sighed, shaking his head. "What's that got to do so with being in the Order?"

"If I was any better at Legilimency then it would be easy to figure out why you seem so gormless all the time." Aviana hummed, examining her nails. "If I'm not going to be a Death Eater, then it's not as though I can just... be." She shrugged. "I've grown up in such a way that one path was carved out for me, and thoroughly cemented when the Dark Lord was born again." She shuddered at the idea. "I need to have something in place in case what I suspect will happen and my father gets out of jail and comes to kill me."

"He wouldn't kill you." Harry said, but the confidence in his voice was wavering.

Aviana didn't reply to the weak attempt at consolation. "Now that I'm part of the Order... and I can actually help them... then I'll be able to survive." She shrugged. "And, well, that is certainly preferable." 

Harry couldn't decided if he was upset or not anymore. 

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