| Christmas came and passed, and Harry had never missed anyone as much as he missed Cadence that year. He had sent her owl after owl and waited happily for her reply. Since she wasn�t very far, it only took Hedwig and Sierra a few hours to deliver messages. Harry had spent most of the time reading, sitting in front of the fire in the Common Room, thinking about Cadence and about the way things had gone since he had met her. Since he had first come to Hogwarts, he had felt a loss, as if he was empty and hollow. He didn�t have the family that everyone else had and it was noticeable within his soul. He felt like instead of the celebrity everyone treated him to be, he was only a little boy without his mother, walking in the world with no one�s hand to hold. Yet his sixth year at Hogwarts had changed that for him. He got on the train with his things as was usual of any year. He sat with Ron and Hermione on the car like usual, but this year things weren�t usual for those two. It had happened in his fifth year. The both of them had been growing closer for the entire span of fourth year summer to the beginning of their fifth year. It made Harry so happy to see someone finally finding another person to connect with on that level, and it only made sense that it was Ron and Hermione. It had happened gradually and before either of the two knew it, they were holding hands, hugging, being closer and more comfortable than ever before. Things did change the first time Ron got up the nerve to kiss her. Harry smiled as he stared into the fire. He remembered Ron and Hermione both running to him with their separate stories. �Harry, I kissed her.� �You actually kissed her!� �Yes,� Ron turned as red as his hair. �Well, when did this happen?� �It happened when we were studying in the library. I had my book open and I didn�t understand what I was doing, so I leaned over to ask her what the answer was. She looked up, looked me straight in the eyes, and I knew it was time to jump over my blocking gates. Then I just did it.� �Well, what do you think?� �I think there�s something there in Hermione for me that she�s not saying aloud.� �You thought that too?� Harry laughed at how frantic Ron had gotten. He was beet red, fidgeting, and nervous, but it was in a definite good way. He was a new Ron Weasley after he and Hermione had finally discovered each other. Hermione had always been very quiet about real feelings, and mostly stuck with her books and homework, but when she described what happened to Harry, he realized that things were definitely taking a good change in his friends. �Ron kissed me.� �He told me about it.� Hermione appeared not to have heard it and continued. �I never expected him to act on the feelings that I have been having� it�s completely mad don�t you think?� �Well, I�� �I had a feeling that something of the sort would happen. It only makes sense that a common attraction would open between two people who have been close for so long.� �You see�� �The thing is though is that this kind of feeling� the feeling I got when Ron kissed me that is� it�s nothing I can explain logically. Does that sound mad to you? It�s actually completely unexplainable.� �Yeah�� �And it scares me that I can�t describe it to you from some book. Like it�s out of my reach, you know? I like that though, like I can�t look up what I feel for Ron. It makes me nervous and excited all at the same time. Does that make sense?� Harry only laughed at Hermione. He laughed at the memory as well. They had both become different people since they discovered each other, but Harry liked it that way. It had taken a while to get used to the fact that he would never be able to single one person out anymore, but that they now came as a package. That was why he knew that the train ride to Hogwarts would probably be a lonely one. Ron and Hermione had already begun the process of talking to each other excitedly and lovingly, in a way that Harry really envied. He had wished for someone as special as that to entire his life, but he doubted that would ever happen. The first thing he had realized though as soon as he entered that train car was that his life was going to change. Everything was going to be different for Harry in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He didn�t realize how until he sat down by a lonely blonde girl in the seat. It all made sense after they talked a little. His life took an abrupt turn one way as he guessed it would after knowing Cadence. He had never expected to fall in love so deeply, but it happened and he was positive that he liked it. Since his first year there no one had ever been as kind and loving to him as Cadence had been within the span of a few months. Christmas break was soon over though, and Harry had gotten much accomplished in his time at the castle. He waited anxiously in the lobby of Hogwarts when he had received word from Cadence that she was on her way back. It would only be a matter of hours before she returned, and Harry wanted to be the first person she saw when she returned. As soon as the doors opened and Harry saw Cadence�s face, he broke out into a smile like he had never know. She did as well, throwing her things down and running straight for him. He lifted her up into his arms in a huge embrace and squeezed her against him tightly. �It felt like it�s been years since I�ve held you in my arms,� he whispered into her ear. �I love seeing my family,� she said back. �But I have to admit time with you is not well replaced.� �Never,� he said, holding her close and then grabbing her stuff to take back to the rooms. They spent the next few days before everyone got back from their family�s houses together, doing things quietly. They talked and laughed, got help from each other on the work they were given for the holidays, spent silent nights just sitting together on the couch, and had even once fallen asleep there. Fortunately enough, they had not been awoken. The last day they were alone together they decided to go out and play some Quidditch no matter how cold the weather was. It would get them back into the spirit of playing and they didn�t care how messy their skills had gotten. After a two and a half hour game of Quidditch in the blistering cold, they had fallen onto the snowy field; laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. They ran back into the castle, changed from their cold, wet clothes and put on warm ones, sat in front of the fire, and chatted. The attendants of the school began to fill back in and Harry and Cadence noticeably groaned. They liked their time alone together, but things had to go back to normal, and this was only the beginning of all of it. Classes resumed the following Monday. Cadence and Ginny got the chance to talk like they had never talked before, explaining to each other how their holidays had gone, what they had given and received, and how much they had missed each other while they were away. �I loved your present by the way,� Ginny said to Cadence. She pointed her ears in the direction of Cadence. �I needed some earrings.� They were gold and went wonderfully with her hair color. They were just large enough to be noticed and do something different to her face, but small enough to be concealed by her short, thin hair. �Oh, that�s good. I really loved your present too,� she said, smiling. Ginny had sent her a picture of her and Harry playing Quidditch the first game. It was of the goal that they had scored together. It was now sitting on the nightstand in her dorm. They talked quietly for a few more minutes before Professor Sprout began the lessons for the day. After class, Cadence and Ginny walked back into the castle, laughing together. �I definitely don�t miss Herbology,� Cadence commented. �I can�t say that I�m looking forward to Transfiguration either,� Ginny said under her breath. They giggled as if than they actually were as they stepped into class. It seemed to be the longest two hours of Cadence�s life as she anxiously waited for lunch. They disappeared into the Great Hall minutes after class had ended and both of them vanished from each other within seconds. Harry was already seated at the table, staring up at Cadence. She rushed over toward him and sat next to him almost immediately. She pulled out her stuff, kissed Harry on the cheek and began a conversation. Things continued on at that pace for the remainder of the lunch hour they had. The end of the day couldn�t come soon enough. Cadence and Harry met outside the Great Hall as they usually did now, took each other�s hands and walked back to the Common Room. Cadence told Harry that she had something to show him she had received over the holidays. They wandered into Cadence�s dorm and settled neatly on her bed. She reached underneath her things to pull out the same box that she had while she was in the hospital. She opened it and dug through the many pictures. She handed them all, once again to Harry, and told him to look harder at them. He did as he was told, and realized that he had completely missed the fact that his mother was in almost every picture that her mother was in. �What is this?� he asked breathily. �That is my mother, Ashley Lynn Smith is her maiden name and I believe your mother�s name is Lily. Am I right?� Harry nodded. �I thought that picture you got me for Christmas was amazing, but this is truly something� I can�t believe how close they were.� �Neither could I,� Cadence answered, digging under her bed once again. �But apparently, they were close enough to do this,� she ended up pulling up an old, dusty diary. She opened to the first page. � �Second of November. I am at Hogwarts in my first year, and not only do I find it the best place I could ever be, but also I have great friends. I met a girl named Lily. She�s very sweet and very nice; I hope we can become the best of friends. I enjoy my classes, and I like the house I am in. The people are nice and the classes can sometimes be hard, but I am having a lot of fun,� � Cadence read. She skipped through the pages a little and came to about the middle. � �Eighteenth of May. Lily said the funniest thing today. She told me that she has a crush on James Potter! I thought that was really funny, because James is really nice too, and I told her they�d make a totally cute couple. She just told me to shut up. I didn�t listen. I kept teasing her. She got really mad and ran away from me. I apologized later on. I didn�t mean to make her mad, but I thought it was funny that she liked someone already. There are a lot of cute guys to choose from. I can�t imagine selecting one.� � �That�s amazing!� Harry exclaimed. �Where did you ever get that?� �My grandmother gave it to me for Christmas. She thought I might enjoy reading it, seeing as how you and I were so,� she cleared her throat, �close.� Harry smirked at her. �Read some more.� She smiled excitedly at him. �I read the entire thing and I marked off a page that I thought was so unbelievable that I had to share it with you.� She opened the diary almost all the way toward the back and smiled as she read. � �Twentieth of September. It�s only been a few weeks since we got back to Hogwarts, but Lily and I have decided on something. Since we both have boyfriends now (sigh� Jeffrey) and we�re in our seventh year at Hogwarts, we�re starting to think about where we want to go. We want to get married and have children. Lily and I decided that no matter what happens, our kids are going to get married. No matter what. Isn�t that funny? Chances are that won�t happen, but we decided for arguments sake that they would, just to keep the family line going!� � The two laughed out loud and Cadence closed the notebook. �How pleased would they be if they could see us now?� Harry asked. The laughter died down and Cadence set the book in between them. �You can borrow that whenever you want, you know. It contains your family history as well.� Harry looked up at Cadence and caught her glance. They stared at each other for a few minutes before Harry whispered, �I love you.� The way he said it was so full of passion that Cadence couldn�t help but lean in and kiss him the way she wanted to be kissed at that exact moment. |
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