salute [h.s]

chapter 29 - prodigious polyglots & boisterous briefings

She smelled Harry before she saw him but that was only because he was carrying two plates in his hand when he walked into the library. Stacked high with pancakes and surrounded by slices of crispy bacon, the smell alone was enticing enough to briefly pull her attention away from her book. She glanced up quickly to give him a warm smile before turning her attention back to the book sitting open on her bent legs. Hugo had the sort of writing where if she lost her place, she'd never get it back and she'd have to start all over again.

"Give me a mo'," she said, loud enough that Harry could hear her. She heard him reply back brightly but didn't quite process the words. He was too busy trying to keep Bertie, who had leapt from his place on the couch beside her at the sight of food, from eating any of the pancakes.

This had become a habit of theirs over the last week or so, since Harry had gotten back from the Bahamas. That tumultuous night ended with Harry sleeping restlessly sprawled over her stomach while she was cursed to stay awake. When he'd began to stir the next morning, she'd gently carded her fingers through his hair as he mumbled nonsense to himself.

"Hi," she said softly. "Sleep alright?"

He shuffled against her, frowning sleepily as he tried to remember where he was. Pushing up off of her stomach, he watched her curiously as the final bits of sleep fell off. She could see the exact moment he remembered the night before in the way his eyes flickered down and he pulled his lip between his teeth nervously. "Oh," was all he said before he rolled away, flopping down on his back beside her.

Piper ran her hand gently over his forehead before threading her fingers into his messy hair. "You doing okay?"

"Fine, I guess." He averted his eyes sheepishly as an uncharacteristic flush bloomed on his cheeks. "A little embarrassed if I'm being honest."

"Why?"

"Why?" Harry repeated incredulously. "Last night —"

"Last night, you were honest with me," Piper interrupted, her voice softening when she saw the apprehension clear in Harry's eyes. "You told me something very personal and trusted me with it. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she told him. "I'm very proud of you, Harry."

She leaned down to give him a tender kiss, her lips grazing his in the slightest of touches. He curled an arm around her and yanked her down on top of him so he could wrap both his arms across her shoulders. His lips touched down on her temple briefly and then he pushed her hair out of her face.

"You look knackered."

"I didn't really sleep much."

He frowned, his fingers running gently over the bags under her eyes. "Because of me?"

"No," she said a little too quickly. When Harry quirked a brow, looking sceptical, she sighed. "I just couldn't turn my brain off. You know how I get."

He hummed his agreement. "That I do. Why don't you have a lie in and I'll make us some breakfast?"

"You sure?"

"After what you did for me yesterday?" He leaned over to kiss her once more, this time sweet and slow in a way that made her toes curl. "It's the least I could do. Come meet me in the library when you're up."

The backroom where Harry had chosen to store her books had been renamed the library in the interim, mostly because Piper spent hours on end in there with her books. She'd mentioned to Zayn that she was struggling to find her own space in the house and the library had become that for her. It had become the place she escaped to when she needed a moment's peace and over the course of the last few weeks, she'd taken claim of it and really made it her own.