If you ever need someone to talk to because you had a exhausting day,
I will be here to wash your woes away,
In gentleness I'll keep ya close
Until those Bad thoughts have drowned.
Until you forget that you frowned
Be happy that smile looks good on your face
Don't worry I will help you out of that maze...
So shine on my loving star
Your light will reach so far...
So let me help you
Let me stay...
And know when I say..
You are loved
- Umi
As soon as Harry stepped in the Great Hall, he felt constricted. All he wanted to do was turn back and leave, before anything happened. Because something was going to happen. He was sure about that. However, he kept walking, head raised in defiance and eyes glinting with challenge. Hermione and Ron were walking behind him, Hermione gently pushing him ahead with her hand rested on his back.
Harry felt the stares at the back of his head, those hungry eyes looking at him, those hushed voices quickly speaking about him; as if he couldn't hear them. He could hear all of them, from the quiet surprised ones to the loud adoring ones.
As soon as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, he brought his hands to his temples and massaged them slowly. "Ugh, I am getting such a big headache," he grumbled to Hermione, who looked at him empathically.
"I know, Harry, but think about this; it's just now, they will eventually calm down." She said, as she shooed away a first year who approached them with a pen and paper in his hand.
Ron rolled his eyes, "They are like hungry grindylows, I tell you."
Harry tuned his two best friends out as his eyes were drawn to a familiar blonde head at the Slytherin table, shoulders slouched and face thin and worn as those grey eyes cautiously scanned the Great Hall. He breathed out as he noticed the familiar glint in those stormy eyes, the flicker of distrust and crushed hope that had become usual during the war.
But this was wrong. Harry wasn't supposed to be seeing this kind of look in other's eyes. It was all supposed to be alright now, now that everything was over. It was supposed to be all parties and staying up late just because you could and going to bed early because you were tired. It was supposed to be laughters, smiles, love.
Not this.
Just in that moment, Malfoy's eyes met Harry's, and Harry saw the blonde widen his eyes very slightly. He held Malfoy's gaze, not really smiling, but not scowling either.
In that moment, nothing else mattered. Harry didn't notice it, but everything fell away around them, and all sounds were blurred. It was as if they were drowning in amber.
They quickly glanced away from each other and Harry didn't notice the look of hurt that flashed in the blonde's eyes.
-
Unlike Hermione had told him at the beginning of the year, the following weeks were filled with stares and whispers which still followed him wherever he went.
Through the dark hallways, eyes would hungrily stare at him, in search for something, something that would tell them about their 'Saviour'. Something that would somehow bring them closer to Harry.
