'I believe in poems as I do haunted houses.

We say, someone must have died here.'

[Rosa Alcalá]

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January, Hogwarts.

"How'd it go with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked Harry as he sat on the carpet in front of both herself and Addie sitting on the couch. Light chatter filled the Gryffindor common room with students talking amongst themselves, cramming late-night homework and gossip in small groups. Addie fiddled with a loose thread on her thin sleeve as she studied his face, and Hermione closed the open book in her lap.

"There's this memory of Slughorn's that's apparently been tampered with." He said, shrugging. "Dumbledore wants me to get the real memory from him somehow cause without it 'we leave the fate of our world to chance'... or something deep like that, anyway."

"How does he expect you to get the real memory?" Hermione's brow furrowed, sitting straighter in her seat. "You barely know him."

"That's what I said!" Harry expressed, his back warming from the fireplace behind him, smiling a little as Addie, in jeans and a long-sleeve top, stood from the couch and sat beside him. "I tried approaching him before I came back here, but he got all mad at me and walked away."

Hermione hummed. "He's definitely hiding something. Why else wouldn't he help?"

"Exactly," Harry nodded as she yawned.

"I'm gonna turn in, now," she gave them a tired smile, standing, giving him a look. "Don't stay up too late, you two."

"Has Ron already gone to bed?" Harry asked, ignoring her last comment. She nodded.

"A while ago, yeah." Hermione grabbed her bag from the floor and swung it over her shoulder, holding her book close. "Night, Harry. Sweet dreams, Addie."

"Why don't I get a 'sweet dreams'?" He called after her as she walked away, to which she rolled her eyes playfully at in response before disappearing up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Turning to Addie, his grin faded a little as he eyed the paleness to her cheeks and the way she wrapped her arms around herself, staring at the floor. "Hey," he nudged her shoulder lightly, and she met his eyes, leaning in closer so their arms were touching. "You okay?"

"Cold," Adeline mumbled, and although he didn't believe it was the whole truth, he didn't mention it. She sensed his concern and managed a small smile. "Can I borrow your Quidditch sweater, please? The wool one? It's the warmest thing I've ever worn."

"Sure, Ads," he said quietly, matching her level, standing up and offering her a hand, pulling her up slowly, as he knew she got dizzy from standing too fast. Feeling how cold her hand was, he kept hold of it as they walked, trying to push down the urge to wrap his arms around her and stay like that, stuck in time forever, so that the end of June would never arrive, and she'd never have to let go, and he'd never have to lose her.

He cleared his throat.

"It's in my dorm. D'you wanna come up?"

"Is Hedwig there?"

He grinned. "Yeah, she's there."

"Okay!" Addie said eagerly, and his heart warmed, leading her up the staircase.

If it were any other guy that was hand-in-hand with any other girl on their way to his dormitory, they'd have eyes, whispers and oooh's following them in amusement from the open doorways they'd walk past.

But seeing that it was just Harry and Addie, no Gryffindor boy spared the two a second glance. After all, for some of them, the two had practically been joined at the hip for their whole time at Hogwarts. It would be more peculiar to see one without the other, really.

Walking down the hall of the sixth years' rooms, the fourth door down, the one that led into his dorm, was already open.

Addie trailed after Harry inside, but the two stopped short in bemusement as they caught sight of candy wrappers scattered on Harry's bed and littered across the floor. They created a small trail which ultimately led to Ron, who sat cross-legged in his pyjamas, staring out the window with his back to them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he mused without turning around. "The moon."

Addie stifled a laugh at his dazed voice.

"...divine," Harry spoke as he moved to his dresser, opening the bottom drawer, and pulling out his Quidditch sweater. He eyed the wrappers. "Have ourselves a little late-night snack, did we?"

"It was on your bed, the box," Ron turned around at this, standing up slowly. He had a weird, dreamy smile plastered on his face, and was clutching a red box shaped as a heart to his side. "I just thought I'd try one."

"Or twenty," Harry handed the sweater to Addie who gratefully tugged the familiar fabric over her head, pulling her arms through, her hair tucked into its neckline.

"I can't stop thinking about her, Harry," Ron said breathlessly, to which Addie traded looks with Harry at the mention of Lavender as she moved to his bedside where Hedwig sat on a perch.

"Honestly, I reckoned she was starting to annoy you," Harry said, stepping over to and sitting on his bed as Addie ran a finger gently over Hedwig's white feathers.

"She could never annoy me!" Ron quickly approached and suddenly squished up beside Harry, sitting cross-legged on his bed a lot closer than he usually would, leaving Harry to lean away from him and send a desperate glance to Addie. "I think...I love her..." Ron continued, his smile widening, nodding feverishly: agreeing with himself.

"...Well, brilliant..." Harry slid off his bed and moved past Addie to sit on the next one over. Ron's gaze never left Harry as he sat on the edge of the bed, holding the—empty—chocolate box close to his chest the way a child might hold their teddy bear.

"Do you think she knows I exist?"

"I bloody well hope so," Addie scoffed, half-laughing as moved to pull her hair out from the collar of Harry's sweater. "She's been snogging you for three months."

"Snogging?" Ron's expression changed as he looked to her. "Who're you talking about?"

Addie's brow furrowed, her hands pausing mid-air. "...Who're you talking about?"

"Romilda, of course!" He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Romilda Vane."

Addie recognised the name—she'd overheard Hermione tease Harry a while ago that Romilda was trying to sneak him a love potion, and suddenly the explanation for Ron's ludicrous behaviour dawned on her. She lowered her hands, leaving her hair still tucked into the sweater, eyeing the heart-shaped box he cradled.

Harry, who had not yet realised, just rolled his eyes. "Romilda Vane?" he repeated. "Very funny," he said, standing up and beginning to gather the chocolate wrappers from the floor in his palm.

Ron abruptly stood and threw his beloved chocolate box at Harry as hard as he could muster—which missed him by an inch, and landed loudly on the floor.

"What was that for?" Harry recoiled, and Addie, although just as confused as Harry, couldn't help but start to laugh—though pressed her lips together as Ron looked to her, exasperated, and then back at Harry.

"It's no joke!" He cried, wrinkles appearing on his forehead. "I'm in love with her!"

"Alright, fine, you're in love with her!" Harry stood straight and thought for a moment. "...have you ever actually met her?"

It was Ron's turn to ponder. "...No..." he said eventually, defeated, though instantly perked back up. "Can you introduce me?"

Harry didn't answer. Ron grew silent and looked to the side dreamily, as though in another world; somewhere far, far away from this conversation. Addie tentatively walked behind him, cautious of his sudden mood changes, and picked up a pink, glittery card laying on Harry's bed, opening it.

Inside was a heart-shaped, moving picture of Romilda Vane blowing a kiss which transformed into small, pink heart bubbles that floated up from the card. As if there couldn't be enough pink and glittery goodness, Romilda had written in sparkly pink ink:

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎,

𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊

𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓁𝒹𝒶 xx

As Ron moved past him absentmindedly and sat down once more in front of the window, Harry spared one last glance of utter confusion his way before walking over to Addie and reading the card over her shoulder.

"She tried slipping me a love potion," He made a face, looking from the card to Ron, and then to Addie, who had an amused, although equally surprised expression, leaning back so her upper back rested against him.

"Is this the part where I go hex her for trying to steal my boyfriend, like how Ginny said?" she joked, looking up at him as he laughed and carefully untucked her hair from beneath his Quidditch sweatshirt, letting it softly rest over her right shoulder.

Bringing his arms around her from behind, he brought his hands over hers and took the card from her hold; closing it, and ripping it in two, then four, then eight, letting the pieces dramatically fall to the ground.

"I'm all yours," he said, snaking his arms around her middle in a hug, burying his face in her left shoulder. She laughed as his messy hair tickled her neck, and he kissed her faintly pink cheek in response.

Their attention was brought to Ron as he sighed loudly in content, still gazing lovingly at the moon, and the two snickered to themselves before stepping over to him.

"Hi, Ron," Addie said, kneeling beside him. He turned to her and smiled widely.

"Hi, Addie!"

Kneeling on his other side, Harry patted his back and, with an uncharacteristically enthusiastic voice, said "Come on, Ron. We're going to introduce you to Romilda Vane."

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"Wait—" Adeline put her hand over Harry's, stopping him from knocking Slughorn's office door, whispering. "He won't answer if it's you. No offence," she added with the look he gave her. "I have to avoid this guy wherever I go cause he's so fascinated in me. Trust me, he'll open up." She said and pounded the wooden door thrice with her knuckles.

Sure enough, as soon as he appeared at the little peephole and caught a mere glimpse of her dark hair and grey eyes, the door opened. "Miss Riddle!" Slughorn cheered. "What a pleasure it is—Ah. You..."

He moved to slam the door closed upon seeing Harry, but Adeline wedged her foot between the door and its frame before he could, biting back a wince. "Sir, please! We need your help."

He sighed, and after a moment, opened the door just enough to squeeze his head out. Addie let out a breath and shook her foot a little as Slughorn finally noticed the very disassociated Ron Weasley muttering "Where's Romilda? That's not Romilda, silly Addie."

"What's the matter with Wenby?" he nodded behind her at the redhead, lowering his voice.

"He's under a very powerful love potion," Addie whispered.

"Very well, Miss Riddle. Better bring him in," Slughorn opened his door, his brow furrowing in confusion as Ron asked "Is this where Romilda lives? In this old man's cave?" as he walked inside after Slughorn, leaving Addie to put a hand over her mouth as she followed, and Harry to press his lips together to stop himself from laughing at the fact that she was trying to stop herself from laughing, closing the door behind him.

Standing awkwardly in the middle of the room as Slughorn rummaged though a cabinet of varying brews and objects they couldn't identify from afar, Addie and Harry held one of Ron's arms each to stop him from wandering around stupidly.

"I'm sorry, by the way, professor—" Harry started.

"No need to call me professor, Hazza" Ron mumbled almost drunkenly, slinging an arm around Harry's shoulder, who shrugged it off and continued.

"—about earlier today."

"Oh, not at all," Slughorn added varying liquids and ingredients to a cup. "All water under the bridge, you know?"

"Right," Harry nodded although the professor's back was to them, and the office descended into silence aside from the occasional cracks and pops from the fireplace and indistinct bubbling, scooping, fizzing and stirring as Slughorn quickly worked on a remedy.

In the meantime, Ron brought a hand to Addie's head and ruffled her hair, affectionately looking between herself and Harry, bringing them both closer into his sides, sighing "I'm so glad you two're together. It's about bloody time..."

He went quiet for a moment, before adding, "Y'know, Harry, if you ever die, I'll happily take your place as Addie's—"

"That's enough from you," Harry interrupted, pushing him backwards so his legs gave way to the couch behind him. He flopped onto the cushions rather helplessly, forgot what he was saying, and eventually curled in a fetal position, closing his eyes; a content smile on his face as he began sleeping.

Before Addie could comment, Slughorn strode over their way and shook Ron awake, who sat up rubbing his eyes and squinting at the light despite having them closed for only five seconds.

"There you are, old boy," He handed Ron a glass filled with a peach-coloured liquid. "Bottoms up."

"What's this?"

"Tonic for the nerves."

Satisfied, Ron slowly took a sip and swallowed. The dreamy daze on his face lingered, but eventually, as he sobered up, it moulded into a confused expression.

"...What happened to me?" He asked. Harry and Addie sighed in relief.

"Love potion," Harry said.

"And a bloody strong one at that," Added Slughorn, collecting Ron's glass and returning to his cabinet.

Ron gulped, and traded looks with the two standing before him. "I feel really bad." He stared into blank space.

"You need a pick-me-up, m'boy," Slughorn said from across his office before Addie or Harry could speak, rummaging through glass bottles. "Got Butterbeer, wine, dazzling oak-matured mead..." He picked up the bottle, nose scrunching as he squinted to read its label. "I had other intentions for this, but I think given the circumstances..." the bottle opened with a pop, and he poured the drink into four glasses.

Walking back over to the three, he handed each of them a glass. Addie peered into hers, looking at the liquid curiously, and Ron gulped his down as Slughorn clinked Harry's glass with his own, and toasted 'to life!'.

As if on cue, Ron collapsed onto the carpet; the rest of his drink spilling as his glass broke on the floor.

Harry and Addie shoved their own glasses into Slughorn's hands before dropping down beside Ron; eyes widening in horror as he foamed at the mouth and began convulsing on the floor.

"Professor—do something!" Harry expressed, but seeing as the Professor remained where he was in shock, repeatedly saying "I don't understand!", Harry stood and rushed over to the cabinet, whilst Addie turned Ron onto his side so he wouldn't choke.

"Harry!" She cried as he opened drawer after drawer, watching helplessly as Ron continued to violently convulse, his eyes watery, rolling to the back of his head. Addie tried thinking of how she could use her magic to help, but she didn't even know what was wrong with the drink.

Harry quickly returned, moving Ron onto his back once more, and she couldn't even comprehend what ingredient he was fumbling with in his hand before he put it into Ron's mouth and tried to get him to swallow it.

Ron became still, and the office became silent as they held their breaths.

Just as Addie's eyes began to water at this awful reality they were facing, Ron began spluttering and coughing, sitting up slowly.

Chest rising and falling rapidly, heart racing, Harry moved so his back was against the couch, trying to catch his breath.

Slughorn, in an armchair and of no help, released his own breath, sitting back; his face still appearing stressed.

Addie let out a small sob of relief and bit back another one as she sniffed, wiping her cheeks with her sleeves.

"These girls...they're are gonna kill me," Ron mustered as his coughing subsided, laying back down on the carpet, finally able to breathe.

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a/n:

hi omg

1. i'm obsessed with the fluff at the start of this chapter

2. i love daniel radcliffe although i find myself imagining harry in this book as this guy who popped up on my Pinterest feed (pictured below).

obv you can picture him however u want, this is just how i picture him.

3. as always let me know what u thought of the chapterrrr

i'll see u guys soon!!

-g

P.S. ( ^ i feel like the haircut is really accurate)

P.P.S. the bit it the movie scene where ron throws the chocolate box at harry literally makes me laugh every time