Forever his ~ Harry Potter's daughter

14. Album

"I'm finished." Prince suddenly stated out of the blue.

I leaned in to look at the drawing to see... Me.

"That... That's incredible!" I stated, eyes blown wide. "Who cares about quidditch you have a real talent." I said with a smile. This was definitely more impressive to me than chasing after a little golden ball.

"You think so? I feel it is moderately good." He said criticizing his work.

"Moderately? I couldn't draw like this if I trained for decades." I said, taking the picture from Prince and starting to inspect it closer. It was incredible how he had managed to catch details from my face so accurately and in such a short time. He hadn't been drawing for more than half an hour.

"Do you want to keep it?" He asked.

"Can I?"

"Yes, I have plenty." He smiled.

"Thank you." I said and put it into my bag with the rest of my possessions.

"It's easy when you have something beautiful to inspire you." He said.

I felt my face flush red and covered my flaming cheeks with my hands in embarrassment.

"Don't hide yourself." He said and pulled my hands away from my face.

"I feel awkward." I mumbled.

"Don't. You're beautiful." He smiles and then seems to compose himself. "It was fun drawing you."

"Do you always do portraits?" I asked.

"No. Mostly landscape. I like them more. Makes me feel freer." He stated.

"I get that. Sometimes I just wanted to be someone else. I know it sounds pathetic when you have everything in the world but sometimes the pressure is-"

"-Crushing." He whispered the end of my sentence and my eyes flickered to his.

"You're right... Either way, I'm hoping the school year will be calm and drama-free this year." I smiled.

He scoffed: "You seem to be on a good start. Been to the infirmary twice already."

"I'm clumsy and prone to accidents." I mumbled, twirling a hair curl around my finger.

"Well, you have told me what you're bad at; flying, drawing and basic walking apparently. What do you excel at?" He asked.

"Well, I guess magic. Conflict resolution? I'm always breaking up fights. And I used to do gymnastics."

"How? If you really are always falling on your face."

I flushed red again. "I don't know. I guess I can be graceful when I put a lot of time and effort into it." I mumbled. "And jumping around doing cartwheels sounded fun. It was really hard at first, but I'm really stubborn so... I got quite good."

He started laughing and I blushed even more. "You must have looked hilarious." He got suddenly serious: "I'm not usually interested in the business of others." He said, his voice growing cold and almost calculating. "You intrigue me."

"Why? I'm like everyone else."

"Not like anyone I've met before." He mumbled.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" I asked silently, fiddling with my fingers.

"I'm not sure yet." He said, just staring at me.

"Well anyway." I said changing the subject after I started feeling uncomfortable under his gaze. "I feel like I should go..."

"Huh?"

"It's getting really late. We won't make it back in time for curfew unless we run." I said, my gaze turning to the clock on the wall.

"Yes. I suppose so. Stay a little longer." He said, looking towards the fireplace and casting a spell to light the fire.

"I mean I would love to, I just already kinda got into trouble last night and I just want to avoid that in the future." I mumbled, watching Prince's stoic impression as he stared into the flames.

"What happened?"

"Snape caught me. Surprisingly he didn't give me any detention, but I don't think he'll be as merciful next time." I said fidgeting with my fingers once more.

"No, he won't." He said turning to look at me. "You should go then."

"Good night." I smiled.

"Sleep well." He smiled back.

On my way to the common room, I had to run. No one was on the halls anymore and but I still felt like I had done something wrong just now. He just seemed so familiar but I couldn't remember how.

I thought about the things he'd told me, and what I had revealed to him. How kind he had seemed, but how I could almost feel bitterness and anger under his skin. Someone had done him wrong. And I was dead sure it had been his parents with his upbringing. I had a weird feeling.

I felt as if I had missed something. Some vital detail. But I just couldn't figure out what.

At the common room, some people were still awake. Stilling by the fire, chatting. They didn't notice me come in.

When I walked up to the girl's dormitory everyone seemed to be asleep.

I sat cross-legged on my bed and drew the drapes closed around it. I quickly spilled the contest of my bag onto my bed and looked at my only true possessions. I clutched the photo album between my fingers and let out one single tired sob as the realization of the fact that I was truly stuck here sunk in for the very first time.

Covering my mouth with my hand I just sat for a moment before opening the photo album at a random page. Actually, it wasn't random, it's what always opened up if you just threw the album oper. My favorite photo was on a page that was almost run down. The paper felt scratchy and you could see a corner had been ripped off by accident.

My whole family on Christmas Eve.

We were sitting on the floor, each of us with a present in our hands smiling at the camera. Wearing Christmas jumpers we had gotten from Molly and looking so happy. In fact, I think that was the happiest day of my life.

I sneaked off from my bed closing the curtains again after me. Tiptoeing to the center of the room where there were no beds. I crouched down and slowly reached down to one of the floorboards. Digging my nails to the edges I grabbed a tight hold of it and pulled until I heard the familiar sound of the wood screeching while being pulled up and away from its original place. I sighed in relief, I had been worried that maybe the floorboard wouldn't be loose enough to pull up in this time. On my own time I had stored my journal here, now it was the perfect place for my photo album.

Under the loose floorboard, there was a small space able to hold a mid-sized jewelry box or a book. Carefully placing y photo album there I slowly closed the floorboard. My head jerked up when I heard a squeak from one of the beds and quickly snapped the rest of the floorboard in place before dashing to my bed and immediately casting a silencing charm.

When I sat on my bed I peeked behind the drapes only to see Hermione on her way to the bathroom. Sighing in relief I put all the rest of my things back into my bag and decided to look at them later. Right now I was tired and so I laid down and fell asleep.

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So another chapter!! Yay!