Yuletide Blues

Wiping the mascara from her face before it could leave track marks, Kreslyn looks in the bathroom mirror one more time and curses Draco Malfoy for putting her in this type of position. “I am not some weakling, crying over some boy. I am Kreslyn Leann Donevan, pureblood Slytherin. A 5th year prefect, what reason do I have to cry over some stupid boy.” She spat at her image before gasping as someone clears their throat from behind her. Seeing it was her older brother Gabriel, she lets out a gusty sigh of relief. “It’s just you….”

Gabriel smiles slightly before clearing his throat again as he walks towards his year younger sibling, “Why are you in here crying Lyn? As you said….this isn’t like you.” Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he rests his chin on her other and stares into her eyes via the mirror. It hurt seeing his sister cry, whatever the reason was. “We have band practice before the Ball this weekend.”

“It’s nothing Riel,” She said as she leans back into his embrace, thankful that at least one of her family members was in Slytherin with her. She closes her eyes to keep from looking at her reflection, taking a breath she steels her resolve once more and turns them away from the mirror; “Like you said, band practice let’s go.” She pulls away from her brother’s hold and starts towards the bathroom door, opening it she turns towards him. Pausing before she calls out to Gabriel, she looks at him closely and notices dark circles under his eyes as though he too was hurting in some way. “Riel…Come on then.” Seeing him nod as he heads towards her, she reaches out to hold his hand and squeezes it before they both leave the bathroom; heading towards the room of requirement for practice.

…

Entering the room after pacing in front of the door three times, a smile breaks out on Kreslyn’s face at seeing her triplet brother and sister already there with their lead singer. “Hi guys!” She calls out as she runs over to them with Gabriel following closely behind. “We ready for this practice, because Dumbledore is letting all the witches run to Hogsmeade for a last minute dress fitting so Helena and I need to go as well. Shocking, shocking yes.” Hearing their singer chuckle, she turns to give him an appraising look. “What was that chuckle for Harry Potter? Hmm, remember when Stella comes to take over. You are my date. So ha-ha-hardy-ha.” Harry grins at Kreslyn before shaking his head in defeat.

“Let’s get started shall we then, Kres?” He moves to stand in front of the mic center stage as his bandmates take their places with their instruments.

“Three…two…one…

Coming out of my cage and I’ve doing just fine…”

…

Helena rushes after her more agile sister, “Wait up Kres!” She calls out as she pushes her wild curly red hair out of the way for the fifth time since their jaunt towards Hogsmeade. Kreslyn looks back towards her sister before stopping by a tree to wait, “Sorry Lena.” She smiles sheepishly at the girl as soon she reaches where Kres stood, “But final fittings and all.” Helena, or Lena as family and friends called her, looked strangely at Kres. “When did you like anything to do with dresses….?” Kres just shakes her head before plowing determinedly through the snow towards the small town outside of Hogwarts, “Nothing to do with dresses…Just the outfit itself that Madame Sinesta and I cooked up is going to look maginificent.” Spotting some of their friends up ahead, including the reason for Harry’s heartache and her brother Gabriel’s. “Well hello Hermione and Ginny!” Helena calls out as they all stop before the dress shop, “Final fittings as well?” Hearing the girls confirmation they all enter the shop, With a Flick and Stitch.

Madame Sinesta appears from behind the counter with a smile at her favourite customers, “Hello Kreslyn, Helena, Hermione, and Ginny…Oh Miss Luna too! Hello hello!” Kreslyn turns slightly to see Luna Lovegood enter the shop, “Hey Lovey.” She calls out to the Ravenclaw that holds her brother Brynden’s heart even if the girl doesn’t realise it herself. “Kres!” The blonde rushes over to hug the dark haired girl with a dreamy smile, “You’re all here!” She squeals when spotting Helena, Hermione, and Ginny. “Good! I was hoping to see you all here and I got my wish, maybe the wish fairies heard me.”

Kreslyn chuckles at the girl’s loonyness, before hopping onto a stool to get the final measurements done for her outfit. “Helena, jump up already or is your gown ready?” Hearing her sister hum a small tune to her left, she glances down at Helena in time to see her nod. “Oh good then. Well, your turn Hermione.” She calls out as she hops down, both Helena and Kreslyn had an agreement with Madame Sinesta to hide their outfits from the other three girls. Their band Maskarade was playing at the Yuletide ball, so naturally with their bands name; they didn’t wnat the other girls to know quite yet.

…



Harry wandered through the castle hallways, hands buried deep in his pockets as he became lost in his own thoughts. “Why does it have to be her…she’s my best friend, but obviously she prefers him over me.” He sighs as he lets his feet carry him out the castle and towards the Lake, not noticing if anyone was around him as his other mate Ron called out him trying to get his attention. But Harry just ignored him, he didn’t want to talk to the red-headed fellow at the present moment. For a few reasons, one was entirely selfish and it was because he was in love with Hermione who Ron was taking to the ball. They weren’t dating, if as of yet or ever. But it still hurt knowing she was gonna dance with the guy, all evening while Harry’s band played a song for them. Secondly, his bandmate Lena was in love with the bloke. A bloke who had only eyes for Hermione it seemed that he failed to notice another fellow Gryffindor actually liked him for him, his failures didn’t matter, the fact that he was obsessed with quidditch didn’t matter to her, or chess crazy, it didn’t matter. All that mattered to Lena was that Ronald Bilius Weasley was happy, even if with someone else.

But what about them…Helena and Harry were both in love with the two parties at question, Hermione and Ron. Harry fell in love with the know-it-all girl first year when she fixed his glasses for him, silly thing but no one has ever been nice to him in all his years up until then. Helena fell in love with Ron back in their childhood years, being neighbors their families spent a lot of time together. Might also be why their fellow bandmate, and brother to the Donevan siblings already in his band; Gabriel or Riel as he likes his friends and family to refer to him, be why Ron’s younger and only sister has managed to ensare the Slytherin’s attention and heart. But at the present she was dating Draco Malfoy, yes the amazing flying ferret git rat. Who also happened to have Kreslyn, his only best friend in Slytherin,’s heart. The git repeatedly kept breaking said heart since fourth year when he ignored her all year for her defending Harry against all the accusations thrown at him with Hermione.

Harry sat beneath the tree that he and his friends always seemed to locate too when the weather permitted. With a sigh, he looks out towards the lake with a dazed glazed look in his eyes. “Why. Why. Why.” He wondered as he sat there for hours, not noticing the time going towards evening and the sky darkening as it neared dinner time.

Hearing her voice, he unfroze his body and looked towards her direction. “Yeah Hermione?” He called out with a voice rough with disuse for a few hours, “It’s dinnertime Harry, and aren’t you freezing?” She hurries over to him to help him stand up and wraps her arms around him to help warm him up. Harry closes his eyes as a painful jolt hits his still beating heart, “I didn’t realise it was late…Let’s go.” He reluctantly pulls out of her embrace when all he wanted to do was stay there and breathe in her soft vanilla parchment scent that was all uniquely hers.

Turning from her, he failed to see his friend reach out to stop him and drop her hand in disappointment, holding Harry has always felt right.

…

Kreslyn wearily enters the Slytherin common room, dinner finished over three hours ago but with her Prefect duties she had to patrol the hallways. It is usually easy, but tonight was impossibly tiring after walking into a classroom seeing Draco and Ginny kissing. Usually she kept her cool around the two, but after that past morning her patience had been worn down to the bone and she snapped. “Malfoy! You are supposed to be helping me patrol the hallways! Not snogging tha…Her.” She spat at the two, her normally clear peridot eyes were now becoming shimmery with unshed tears as she stares at the young couple who seem flabbergasted at her outburst. The door behind her opens, she barely glances behind her to see her brother Riel behind her. “Great..” She thinks as she turns back towards the couple, “Just what we need…Riel and Ginny in the same room. Stupid girl…"

Gabriel looks at Draco and Ginny with cold eyes before turning to his sister, "Give them detention Prefect Donevan, Malfoy for failing in his duties as Prefect, and Weasley for being out of bed after hours.” Hearing the two gasp in outrage, he turns his icey blue gaze back to them. “If you wish, I could summon a professor and have points taken away.” He growls in a slight dark tone before spinning on his heel, “Kreslyn! Let’s go. Write up their detentions tonight in the common room before bed.”

Kreslyn turns to follow Gabriel out of the classroom, a bit surprised at the tone he used; “How bad did seeing that hurt you brother of mine..?” She wonders quietly but sends it out to him so he could hear the silent question and watched his shoulders stiffen in surpressed anger and hurt. “It didn’t.” He whispers softly before striding down the hallway rather quickly forcing Kreslyn to run after him.



…

“What a night,” Kreslyn mutters before wandering over to a table near the fire to write her reports and slips. As she sat down, she failed to notice Malfoy sitting in the highback chair in front of the fire; watching her as she wrote out his detention slip.

“Kres.” He calls out to her and smirks when she jerks her head up in surprise. “Shocked I am still awake Donevan? Now then, let’s talk about that det…” He stops talking as Kreslyn glares at him, her normally soft peridot eyes going hard with rage. “Now you listen here Malfoy, you have failed to do your duties for the tenth time this week. I’ve been letting it slide. No longer. You are to do your patrols or I will ask Snape to appoint someone else as my Slytherin Prefect partner.” She snapped at the blonde haired Slytherin, who just stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open in shock. Not her fault that he was slow and dimwitted in her brother’s opinion, not her fault that this boy continued to break her heart over stupid little matters like kissing his girlfriend Ginerva Weasley, not her fault that she continued to let him. No longer, she was gonna get over this boy and move on. Turning on her heel, she snatched up her paper work and stormed down to the girl’s dormitories.

Next morning…

As she listened to her dorm mates move about to get ready for the day, Kreslyn laid in her bed recalling last night and the disaster that came along with it. Closing her eyes to keep the pounding headache down to a minimum, she sat up slowly; her bed sheets and blanket falling to rest about her hips. Her long tresses of black and white hair were hazardously pulled up into a ponytail so it didn’t get knotted in her sleep. Peeking out her bed curtains, she spotted her best friend Daphne waiting for her. “Thanks Daphne…” She scoots out of her bed and stretches once she stands. Her tall, chaser body was slim yet lightly muscled as her shorts slung low on her hips and her tank top rose up to show off her little four-pack she had going on.  Feeling Daphne staring at her, she turns to look at her friend’s questioning gaze; “Yes it’s true I gave Malfoy a detention for skirting his duties this week…” Daphne said nothing to this statement as she walked over to Kres and hugged her tight. “It’ll be okay sweetie…He’s a boy. Let’s find you someone for now till he grows up and sees the real deal.” She said while Kres sniffled and held onto her friend tight.

“O-okay…” The girls left the dorm together to head to the showers, hands clasped tight to one another as they talked about the classes they had today.

30 minutes later…

Rushing out the entrance of the common room with Daphne close on her heels, Kreslyn looks around her bookbag to make sure she had the homework due today with her as well as all her books. “Potions essay, Transfiguration essay, Charms work. Got it all!” She turned to smile at Daphne only to stumble as she runs into someone. “Hey! Watch it!” She snapped before looking at the person, only to tilt her head back to stare into the tall person’s eyes. Deep blue eyes, the color of sapphire really, stared down at her in surprise. “Hello Kreslyn, I know it’s difficult to walk normally. But could you at least try for us normal sane people’s sake?” He drawled in a low baritone, with a slight Irish accent. Kreslyn narrowed her eyes as she met the gaze of one Cormac McLaggen, “What are you doing here McLaggen? Skulking about the dungeons is a bit weird for a Lion like you.”

“Well, I must say you’re such a sweet snake aren’t you?” He tried to dazzle us with his megawatt smile, but failed to do so as the girls just shoved right by him in a rush to get some breakfast. “Gotta go Cormac, you’re making us lag on the way to breakfast.” Daphne giggles at my attempt to make fun of his name which caused the said lion to growl under his breath.

Running up the flights of stairs towards the Great Hall, the girls turn a corner sharply and run again into someone but this time it was someone considerably smaller as the person squealed in fright as they went falling backwards, “Who the?” Kreslyn glanced down as she kept hold of Daphne so the girl didn’t trip on the squealer, “Xristopher, what are you doing down there little nephew?” She giggled as she helped the first year Slytherin up from the floor.  Xristopher looked up at his aunt with a slight shake of his head before blushing as Daphne giggles with Kreslyn, “I was going back to the common room…I forgot my charms textbook.” He mumbled lightly under his breath which caused Kreslyn to dip down to stare into his eyes, “Okay buddy, go on and sorry for almost running you over.” She kisses the top of his sandy blonde head as she scoots around the kid to continue on her way towards breakfast.

Entering the Great Hall, the girls make their way towards the Slytherin table to get some toast and eggs. “Hey Riel!” Kreslyn calls out to her brother who waves at her and tells two of the boys he was sitting with to move over for his sister and her friend. Sitting down beside Gabriel, she briefly hugs him as she reaches for the platters of food to dish out for her and Daphne as Gabriel pours them both tea and pumpkin juice. “Classes today Lyn?” He asked as he took a bite of his own toast and eggs while his eyes glanced about the hall, landing on a red head who was currently talking to the local ferret. Clenching his fist around the fork in his hand, he angrily bites down on a piece of toast before feeling Kreslyn’s hand rest upon the one he was clenching. Looking down into her eyes, he softens his gaze as his body slowly relaxed from the sudden tension and anger that gripped him. “I’m okay Lyn,” He says softly so only that she could hear. Kres nods in understanding as her eyes go slightly paler with sadness as she turns back to her breakfast, her face never looking up from her plate as she eats robotically.

Later that day

Walking out of class with a giant gust of a sigh, Kreslyn rolls her shoulder to try and relax from the day’s classes. Spotting Harry motioning her over to where he was standing with Helena, she walks quickly over to them and was surprised as soon as Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder to hug her against his side.

“Hey there Kres, what’d you think of Flitwick’s lesson today?” He asked as they all turned to walk towards the room of requirement for the band practice they had set for after classes today, the ball was in the next few days and they wanted to make sure they were in tip top shape for their first gig.

“The lesson….” She purses her lips as she tries to come up with a proper response without sounding too annoyed or something, her mood was still all over the place thanks to her run-in with Malfoy and that Ginny last night. “It was something…” Both Helena and Harry laugh at her answer which suited her just fine as she rested her head tiredly on Harry’s shoulder, which seemed to surprise him but he just gave her a squeeze around the shoulders.

Feeling people’s gazes on them, he looks around discreetly and spots his two best mates with sort of shocked expressions on their faces as they looked at Harry’s arm around the Slytherin girl. Narrowing his eyes, he ignores Hermione and Ron while keeping his arm around Kreslyn; the girl in question knew how he was feeling when it came to hiding his feelings.  She was hiding her feelings from the ferret Malfoy, who was currently dating his best mate’s younger sister. A silent sigh escapes him as he thinks of what they were all going through; their band Maskarade really fit them all. Since every one of them liked or loved someone who didn’t realize how that person felt about them. Thinking about his other two band mates, Brynden and Gabriel; he remembered that Gabriel liked ferret’s girlfriend and Bry liked Loony Lovegood. He had a feeling Luna returned Brynden’s feelings, in fact; he was pretty sure something was soon gonna happen good for the guy and soon. He just wished that would happen for the rest of them, but it seemed fate was out to get the rest of them unfairly. Spotting Brynden and Gabriel at a distance, Harry and the girls quicken up their pace to reach just as the guys had opened the door.

“Hey guys!” Brynden called out as soon as the rest of the gang joined them at the doorway, “Excited for this weekend?” He asked with forced cheerfulness knowing full well, no one was except for their first gig. Kreslyn smacked his arm as she and Harry walked ahead of him, causing Bry to do a double take at the arm around his sister’s shoulders. Surprise was evident in his purple eyes when Helena came to stand next to him, she smirked at her brother before whispering in his ear; “They are just friends but they get what the other is going through considering the one’s they like are probably both dating the Weasley siblings.” A hint of sadness crept into her voice as she looked at her sister and Harry, “I know how they feel too…But for an entirely different reason considering I’ve been in love with Ron ever since he rescued my kitten from the tree that one summer remember?” Bry nodded as they made their way into the room with Gabriel on their heels, heading towards their instruments.

“You ladies done with your gossip?” Kreslyn calls out with a laugh in her voice while Harry just laughs as he sets up his mic for the song they were going to practice today. Her siblings grumbled good naturedly at them before setting themselves up for practice.

“Ready guys?” Harry asks while looking at his friends with a smile, but it never did reach his eyes that day; for his mind was back to yesterday when Hermione hugged him. Clearing his throat, he turns back towards the front and puts his lips to the mic.

“Sometimes I really wonder, if who you were was really there, could you be just thoughts in my head, of someone with pretty brown hair….”

…

Exiting the Room of Requirement in fits of laughter, the group of five stopped short at the image before them. One Hermione Jane Granger stood in their path, her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow lifted towards the sky; “What have you all been doing in there for the past…” She takes a moment to look at her watch sarcastically, “Three hours? Really, what is so important that you five would be hidden from the world for three bloody hours?” The group just stood there in amazement at Hermione’s statement with each of them trying to remember if she ever used such, intense language outside the classroom before.

Harry sheepishly smiled at his friend before skimming back Kreslyn to reach her, “It’s okay Hermione…we were just um…” He fumbled for an excuse in his head, but Kreslyn stepped forward and took the reins; “Harry and Gabriel were helping us with our DADA. That’s all, what with that Umbridge woman teaching us. We need all the help we can get.” She smiled endearingly at Hermione while coming to stand by Harry’s side, her hand going to rest between his shoulder blades in a gesture of comfort. He glanced back at Kreslyn with a half-smile in gratitude before turning back to face Hermione and watched a mixture of emotions he couldn’t identify run across her face, confusion though was evident in her eyes as she took in the gesture. Usually she was the one to comfort Harry, when did that change from her to Kres?

Harry clears his throat as he goes to stand in front of Hermione, “We got DADA essay to finish up tonight for tomorrow don’t we? I need you to proof read mine, if that’s okay?” He smiles down at his best friend before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and turns to his..erm…other friends, band mates, dueling buddies. “Helena, see you later?” He asks before steering Hermione towards the Gryffindor tower and away from the rest of the group.

Kreslyn watched them leave with a sad smile on her face, “Those two…” She thought with a sigh as she turned to her siblings, “Well Gabriel, we got Hallways to patrol, so do you Brynden. Helena, night and sweet dreams.” The siblings part and go different ways, the Slytherins heading towards their common room to drop off their school supplies before patrolling.

Brynden wanders towards the Ravenclaw lost in his own, somewhat deep thoughts. His mind goes towards a song he’s been listening to on the wireless while he studies. “Pretty Eyes” by some random muggle or other called Alex Gooty, at least that’s what he thinks the bloke’s name is. With a shrug of his shoulders he begins to play the tune in his head as he begins to sing the lyrics, thinking no one was around to hear him. “Pretty eyes, staring back at me so blue and wide, colors of the summer sky. Colors of the world. If Love is blind, why do I see you so clearly now…” A figure stepped from the shadows in front of him, causing him to back pedal in surprise while pulling his wand out to defend himself if the situation occurs only to lower it. “Luna?” He looks at the younger girl with mixed emotions running through his system, things like nervousness, shyness, love, and fear that she would pick up on these feelings.

Luna looks at the boy before her, her baby blue eyes looking thoughtful as she takes in his presence; “That’s interesting…I could’ve sworn I heard someone singing a while ago. Did you happen to see anyone?” A little smile appears on her face as she cocks her head to the side, feeling a little bit bold when it came to one Brynden Cressin Donevan. Seeing him shake his head to her question, the smile grows a bit bigger at his lie. “Come now Bry, surely you saw the person singing…About a blu…” She stops mid-sentence as Bry excuses himself suddenly and takes off towards their common room. “Maybe Kreslyn is right…Mayhap something is in the air for us.”

…

Exiting the Slytherin common room with her brother in tow, she grumbles about Malfoy once again skiving off his duties as prefect. “Probably with Ginny again…” Her mind snarks at her as the fifth and sixth year prefect make their way up from the dungeons, “Which hallway are we patrolling again?” She asks her brother as she fixes her robes and appearance so she looked at least like an authority figure, when on the inside she felt like some stupid hormonal teenager. Gabriel clears his throat, “Um…Astronomy Tower area Kres.” He watched as his sister’s back seemed to stiffen and her fists clenched around her wand before she seemed to shake off whatever was bothering her and strode forward without warning. “Well let’s get on with it!” She barked over her shoulder to him as she made her way towards the area where their patrol was to be.

Shaking his head at her attitude Gabriel strides quickly after her; his cloak flaring out in a Snape-like fashion as he matches his pace to hers. “What’s wrong now? Is Malfoy still bothering you? I could hex or jinx him for you Lyn, just say the word.” He attempts to joke to get her in a better mood but when her eyes connect with his, he gives up immediately. It’s been this way ever since she stood up for Harry in the fourth year; couldn’t that git see that all Harry would ever been to Kreslyn was her best guy friend. Nothing romantic was going on between the two of them, Potter was hung up on Hermione anyways. Poor bloke, to like your best mate’s girlfriend…Shaking his head at the situations they were all in, he reaches out to tuck a lock of hair that had fallen out of the ponytail behind her ear. “It’ll be okay Lyn, I promise it will be.” He softly says as she smiles with sadness in her eyes as they reach their destination and opens the door to see about ten couples there, “Detention you lot. With Filch and Snape, out after hours and doing non-school activity.” Kreslyn barked at the stunned students, her eyes cold as they rest upon Malfoy and Ginny; “Again Malfoy?!”  She screeched at him before storming forward to grab him by the scruff of his robe, “It’s time Professor Snape knew how well he entrusted that badge to a student who is skiving off his duties with his Gryffindor girlfriend.” She drags him out to the hall, leaving Gabriel to handle the rest of them as she storms towards Snape’s classroom. “I can’t believe you Draco…Just really. We…We used to be best friends…Third year there was something, you cannot deny that that there was something between us, and now you’re dating Ginny Weasley who used to have a crush on Harry.” She turned to look at her childhood friend and housemate, “What changed Draco…” Kreslyn didn’t wait for him to answer as she continued on her way towards their Head of House’s room. Stopping in front of the door, she knocks politely and waits for the Potions Master to give them permission to enter. Shoving Malfoy in front of her, she follows the silver haired boy to Snape’s desk and stands off to the side to address him; “Malfoy has been neglecting his prefect duties sir, since he began to see that Weasley girl.” She stands at attention before Snape as he stares with his black eyes at the two top students of his Slytherin fifth year class, “What do you mean by ‘neglecting Miss Donevan and speak plainly please.” Nodding her head, she raises her gaze to meet her favorite teacher’s gaze head-on; “Ten…no excuse me, eleven times this week alone he has failed to perform his duties as a Slytherin Prefect sir. I have found him countless times doing non-school or Quidditch activities with the Weasley girl. If I may sir, it might be proper course of action to offer the Badge to a more…Well perverse student. Like Blaise, or any of the other fifth year boys. Not Crabbe or Goyle sir, they don’t know how to follow the rules of flushing a toilet or so I have heard.” Seeing amusement light upon the Potion Master’s eyes before he turned his gaze towards Malfoy, the light so previously there going out and he sneered at the young Malfoy; “I will take your consideration into effect Miss Donevan, thank you. Now Mr. Malfoy, how far you have sunk that you are letting that girl distract you from your studies, duties as a prefect, and as the seeker to our esteemed Slytherin Quidditch team where Mr. Donevan is the Team Captain and fellow Prefect. You are to have your privileges revoked as of this moment. You disappointed me Mr. Malfoy, I expected better of you. I shall write a letter to your mother, detention for a month. And as much as this pains me to say this, 50 points from Slytherin for your complete lack of tact.” Kreslyn keeps her gaze on Snape as he doles out the punishment for Draco, her face for once blank to hide any emotion that would creep up. Dismissing the two students, Snape returns to the papers he was reading and grading.

Kreslyn precedes Draco out of the classroom and hurries away before the “git” could say anything to her, just as she rounded a corner she ran into Harry who was hurrying towards the Gryffindor Tower. “Oof!” The two of them cried out as they both fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and bodies, “Well hello there Donevan!” Harry laughs as he gets a proper look at the girl in his arms, who just rolled her eyes at him before getting off the floor and brushes off any dust, real or imaginary. “Geez Potter, can’t walk properly yet you can dance the skirt off any girl within a mile of you.” She giggles as she reaches down to help him to his feet.

They both chuckle as they turn to walk down the hallways, not once noticing Malfoy in the shadows clenching his jaw at the sight of the two of them.

…

Harry awoke the next morning with a slight smile on his face, rather than be plagued by his daily nightmares; he had a dream of remembrance from his “run-in” with Kreslyn last night. Under the safety of the invisibility cloak, they had snuck to the Room of Requirement to try out acoustic style for some of their songs they had written. Songs like: Brown Eyed Girl, She’s My Best Friend to songs like Entranced, Ensnared by His Gaze. Stuff like that, but mainly they stuck to singing covers of song. His particular favorite of hers was the song, “Girl Next Door” by Saving Jane that she sang to him before they left. He asked her if it was for Malfoy, she had said yes but also admitted to it being useless where they were concerned. She asked him about Hermione, which he promptly tried to make the topic drop for he didn’t want to speak of why he was “out after hours”.  After he had left with Hermione, they walked to their common room in Gryffindor Tower only to be stopped by Ron; who had previously been looking for Hermione so he could ask her what type of corsage she wanted to wear with her dress robes. Harry immediately turned back the way he came from, ignoring his calling out to him so he would stop and come back. But he didn’t want to see them together; it hurt more than getting his arm broken by the bludger back in Second Year. That was just saying something, because broken bones that suddenly disappear thanks to that year’s disastrous DADA teacher, only to have to be regrown again thanks to that teacher for making them disappear. His walking had led him into the run-in with Kreslyn, which led to the music and singing, which then led to something neither were prepared for. Considering Christmas was around the corner, mistletoe was already being hung up in the hallways; what neither was expecting was to be caught by Fred and George’s invention mistletoe. The one where it caught to the unsuspecting people in a charm where it stuck them to floor, and the only way for them to escape was a kiss. You can thank Peeves for this information, he had been the one to see them get ensnared and didn’t think to warn the ickle kiddies; as he called all the students.

Kreslyn looked up at the ceiling in exasperation and slight annoyance at this newest predicament she was now in with Harry. Poor Harry, he looked as uncomfortable and annoyed with this situation as she was; but in order to not be caught by Filch they had to kiss, snog, whatever. Taking a deep breath, Kreslyn grabs the back of Harry’s neck to pull him down to her lips for; in her opinion a chaste kiss between friends but it ended up being something more as the seconds turned into minutes….

…

Harry shook his head as he rolled out of his four-poster bed to go get ready for an early morning meeting that he promised Kreslyn before they parted after their…A secret smile crossed his face as he recalled the kiss. His hands pushing back his bangs from in front of his eyes before reaching for his glasses to see. He looked quickly around his dormitory but seeing none of his mates awake, he quickly escapes to shower and dress. Fixing his tie properly on his way down the stairs, he stops as his gaze collides with chocolate, amber ones of Hermione Granger; surprise evident in both their faces. Harry curses in his head as he remembers his actions before the collision with Kreslyn, opening his mouth to apologize to Hermione who just shakes her head and continues on her way towards the portrait hole. Harry, after a few minutes wait; continues on his way out even with that awkward moment between him and Hermione he had this slight bounce in his step. He hoped that Kreslyn and he would be able to still be friends but be able to get their minds off their respective crushes. As he hurried down to the Great Hall, he hummed a tune under his breath as he took the stairs two at a time before entering into the hall and spotted Kreslyn waiting by the Gryffindor table. Already holding a napkin of toast in her hands, she smiled at Harry as soon as she saw him enter the hall before looking down the table at Hermione wondering why they didn’t walk down together.  Harry hurried over to Kres, “Let’s get out of here please?” He asked quietly so as not to draw any attention to themselves before they both walked out of the Hall and headed towards the lake.

Kreslyn bit her bottom lip as they walked, recalling last night her moment of…Insanity? Lunacy? Heehee, lunacy indeed. Grabbing a piece of toast from the top of the stack, she bites into to help her thinking process of the incident. Really, Harry was a splendid kisser. Not too messy at all, much to her liking. Liking? Did she, Kreslyn Leann Donevan, like her guy best friend? The scandal, she could already see the Daily Prophet: Potter and Donevan, star crossed Romeo-Juliet lovers. Both from different houses, can they stand the battles that go on between their houses, will their “love” prevail over all else. She pretended to gag in her mind at this; Rita Skeeter would have a field day. But that’s what this meeting was about, to discuss last night and see where they both stood. Like, how they both had crushes or loved someone else but those someone else’s were in relationships. Or like, they were both friends and their friendship meant the world to each other. Feeling Harry put a hand on her shoulder, she stopped in surprise to see that they reached the tree they all usually sat under on sunny days. “Oh!” She exclaimed in surprise before sitting down and offers him a piece of toast. “Hungry?”

Harry chuckles at her obvious, lost in thought rambling before taking the toast she offered; “So last night…to me? Wasn’t a mistake.” He took a quick bite of his toast while Kreslyn looked at him in amazement, “It…ahem, it wasn’t?” She asked a little bit softly, not sure she heard him correctly but seeing him nod in confirmation. “It was a spur of the moment, but we both know where each other are emotionally, where each other’s head is. We are friends, and even after this we will be the best of friends no?” He looked at her with his emotions held in check, thinking he made a fool of himself as she just sat there with her mouth hanging open in shock. Reaching over, he shut her mouth for her; “Can catch bugs that way Lyn.”  He chuckled and nervously ran his hand through his hair, tossing it about even more than its already naturally messy way.

Kreslyn worries her bottom lip as she thinks over what he just said but fails to come up with any argument. They couldn’t be with the ones who they wanted to be with, obviously there was chemistry in that snog last night or else they wouldn’t both still clearly remember it. In her case, vividly. It had been a while since that stolen kiss she had with Malfoy during the third year. Shaking her head, she reaches out to take Harry’s hand and interlocks their fingers together; “We are the best of friends Harry, second of course to the Golden Trio, but we have a lot in common. And you’re right. We know each other…which in conclusion means…this.” She leaned over towards him and pressed her lips against his, tasting his chocolate minty toothpaste which was an interesting combination for her.

…

After their brief interlude of peace down by the lake, they walked back to the castle hand in hand; thankful that the ball was in a few days so they could take a break from the band practice and just concentrate on being a couple. A normal, teenage relationship where all they had to worry about at the moment was school, homework, and each other. Yes, they still liked who they liked, that wasn’t going to change because while they were a couple; they weren’t in love with each other. It was a simple fact, and one that was good enough for the two of them.

As they entered the castle, they failed to see a bushy brown haired girl crying at the window; she happened to be walking by during their snog and just saw them. Harry and Kreslyn, when did that happen? Feeling a hand on her shoulder she turned to see Ronald behind her and quickly wiped her eyes. “What’s wrong Mione?” He asked before cupping her cheek to look into her eyes, wondering what was bothering his girlfriend. “N-nothing, Ronald. Just hit my elbow on a corner back there…” She gestures aimlessly behind her as she lowers her gaze to the ground to avoid looking at him. Ron just shrugged before pulling her into a hug and squeezes her tight. “Wanna go to the hospital wing luv?” Feeling her shake her head against him, he guides her towards their first class while keeping a tight hold on her. “DADA with the Slytherins can’t wait.” He informs her sarcastically in hopes of making her laugh, when all she gave him was a weak hiccup of one.

Harry and Kreslyn walk up behind the other couple, unnoticed as of yet by his two best mates before they slip into the classroom behind them and take a seat across from where Hermione and Ron sat. Not that he was avoiding them, he just wanted to sit next to Kreslyn today; her note taking was almost as detailed as Hermione’s most days. Plus this was Umbridge’s class, hopefully by her being his girlfriend she’d be able to keep him out of trouble in here; that toad woman certainly asked for it every time she croaked at him or did that little girly giggle throat clearing thing. Kreslyn just smiles at him as he takes the seat to her right, in order to leave the other one next to her open. Rolling her eyes at him, Kres gets out all her note making material as she feels someone’s gaze upon her and Harry. Discreetly looking around as she leans close to Harry, she spies Hermione was watching the two of them with a question in her eyes as to why Harry wasn’t sitting with them but instead with Kreslyn. “Me thinks Harry, your friends are wondering why you are sitting with a snake; even if said snake is your friend and now because of recent events your girlfriend.” Hearing Harry’s chuckle, Kres looks up with a grin at the green-eyed fiend who was grinning back at her before waving to his best mates. Feeling someone sit beside her, she glances to where the open seat was only to smile at Daphne as her friend hands her a slip of a paper. “So this is how you’re going to be getting over Draco for now? Nice choice, even if he is a Gryffindor good-doer.” Chuckling at her friend’s letter, she just winks at Daphne before settling comfortably for note taking as Umbridge enters the room. Hearing Harry sing under his breath, “Here comes the wicked witch, the wicked witch of the west.” This caused her to stifle the laughter that was threatening to bubble out of her mouth; thanks to his stupid song. After what felt like such a short time in class, the bell rang for the students to head off to their next lessons. As class broke up, Harry asked if Kreslyn wanted to walk to their next class which was Care of Magical Creatures together. Shaking her head, she reaches out to take his hand as they exit the classroom together, “Boys are so silly.” She thought to herself with a rueful grin upon her face as they walked towards the front door to head towards the bridge that would lead down to Hagrids.

As soon as they reach the class, it seemed that gossip had preceded them as all their classmates looked at their hands in surprise. Kreslyn watched as her classmates whispered behind hands or openly and loudly about how Harry actually landed a hot girlfriend. Hearing him growl at that statement, she tugged on his hand and leaned up to whisper in his ear; “Don’t let them bother you okay?” Getting off her tippy-toes, she smiled up at Harry before turning around as Professor Grubblyplank walked out to the paddock with what seemed to be baby unicorns. Feeling her interest peaked finally by this woman; she drags Harry over to the paddock wall and looks over at the unicorn. “Oh, look at that. Such a handsome young fella.” Kreslyn grins at the little colt as he romps around the paddock.