To be continued tonight
It was past one in the morning when Harry's face finally appeared on the edge of the window of the third-floor room at 12 Grimmauld Place, which had been deliberately left open.
Ron lowered his voice, “Harry! You’re finally back! If it weren’t for Sirius, we almost wouldn’t have been able to explain your disappearance in the ‘Finding Harry’ game!” Although they had planned to use the Invisibility Cloak as a cover from the start, several hours had passed and Harry still hadn’t appeared, even into the middle of the night, and Mrs. Weasley began to worry.
Harry grunted in agreement, climbed down from the window, and sat down on the bed. The effects of the aging potion had worn off; he rolled up his suit trousers and shirt sleeves, his coat had long been taken off and was hanging on his arm, and his shoes no longer fit properly. He looked somewhat comical, like a child who had stolen an adult's clothes.
“Actually, Sirius’s explanation wasn’t very clever either,” Ron continued to mutter. “He said you might have accidentally fallen asleep somewhere while wearing an invisibility cloak, and Mom is worried sick about it. She’s dragging Sirius all over the house searching for where you might be hiding.”
Harry grunted in response.
Ron continued, "You need to let your mother know you're safe, otherwise she might wake Dumbledore out of bed and have them look for you."
Harry said "Oh".
Ron opened the door and nearly bumped into Hermione, who was about to push it open herself. "Oh Merlin! Hermione! You didn't make a sound!"
Hermione ignored him. "Harry's back? Come downstairs with me, Sirius can't stop Mrs. Weasley from summoning the Patronus to Hogwarts to deliver a message!"
Harry exclaimed.
Hermione turned to Ron, "What's wrong with him?"
"Who knows? He's been like this ever since he came back. He looks sluggish and listless, like he's been under a spell."
"You think you're funny?"
"good?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Whatever spell he’s been cast on—though we all know who it is obviously—get him out of that suspicious, flashy suit in two minutes and come downstairs with me.” She gave the order swiftly, then turned around and suddenly turned back, her hair whipping around and hitting Ron in the face. “Oh, and tell Harry to get rid of that silly grin on his face too.”
A few hours ago.
Following Queenie's instructions, Harry first went to the dressing room to get their belongings, then carried Queenie to the school gate, where a taxi was already parked. Clearly, this was part of Queenie's plan. She jumped off Harry's back, opened the car door, and got in. Harry had no choice but to follow, feeling like he had been completely taken care of.
But he didn't dislike the feeling. It was as if Queenie was leading him on a wonderful adventure, unlike the ones Sirius had promised to take him to. This unknown adventure was made even more ambiguous by Queenie's presence.
Harry stole a glance at Queenie's profile. Her features, illuminated by the passing lights outside the car window, resembled a fine sculpture: high brow bones, a straight nose, a slightly upturned tip, and the corners of her lips turned upwards... Harry thought of the touch of those lips on his lips not long ago, and couldn't help but lower his head and look away, but then couldn't resist looking again...
Suddenly, the sculpture came to life.
“If you want to look, just be open about it.” Queenie turned to face him. “Like now, if I want to look at you, I’ll just keep staring at you.”
"What's so interesting about me..."
“Of course.” Queenie moved closer to him, seemingly intentionally, and her hand happened to touch Harry’s hand on his seat. “You look especially handsome today. It seems Mr. Potter has put in some effort for today?” She guessed that Harry was also wearing makeup, but that was fine. No one said that boys couldn’t wear makeup. On the contrary, she thought that Harry took this ball very seriously.
Harry tried to move his fingers with difficulty, but Queenie held on too tightly and he couldn't pull them out, or perhaps he didn't want to at all.
"You could say that..." Although his effort was simply to take a sip of the beauty potion.
Queenie continued to scrutinize his face. When she first met Harry today, she couldn't find any trace of makeup, and it was the same now. However, his complexion had a subtle glow, not like a light bulb, but rather like he was glowing in your eyes.
Hmm, maybe Harry got his hands on a treasure highlight?
Queenie was still looking at him, as if she really wanted to keep her eyes on him as she had said.
Harry swallowed nervously, his Adam's apple bobbing, immediately drawing Queenie's attention away from the highlight and towards the fascinating cartilaginous protrusion.
She curiously reached out to touch it, but Harry pressed her hand down.
Queenie blinked. "You won't let me touch you all day."
Even though age-enhancing agents and Adam's apples are different in nature, these are two things that you really shouldn't touch without thinking...
"I'm so sad."
Harry could only agree to Queenie's request, even though there was no sadness in her honey-colored eyes.
Queenie successfully touched Harry's Adam's apple, which, like the ear, is made of cartilage but is much harder. She ran her hand around its clear boundaries, then pressed it with slightly more pressure, and it immediately began to roll again, magically moving between Queenie's fingertips.
Harry leaned back slightly, pulling away from Queenie's caresses; he was feeling a little thirsty.
"Aren't we there yet, Queenie? Where are we going?"
They returned to Queenie's apartment.
As soon as the door opened, a restless balloon jumped to Harry's feet, startling him so much that he scrambled to the side.
“Oh well, it fell down again,” Queenie said, annoyed. She bent down, picked up the balloon, and pressed it back into place. “You can’t even last a few hours, can you?”
Harry followed her gaze to the wall directly opposite the entrance. In the center of the fairy lights were words spelled out with letter balloons. He subconsciously read aloud, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY...happy birthday? Is today your birthday?"
"No, my birthday is in March."
A guess was about to be made, and Harry's breathing quickened slightly.
“It’s for you,” Queenie answered directly. “I know it’s been a month, but I wanted to make it up to you.”
Her eyes crinkled into crescents, and the golden fairy lights twinkled in them; her tone was as captivating as her expression.
Happy birthday, Harry.
Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a breathtaking hug.
"Where have you been hiding, Harry? We've practically turned the whole house upside down! Even Kreacher couldn't find you! You—" She finally noticed something was wrong with Harry, and she became anxious again, "What's wrong, Harry?"
Hermione said calmly, "Oh, Harry did fall asleep while hiding, just as Sirius said, and he's not awake yet. It's called sleep inertia, and his inertia lasts a long time."
Ron chimed in, "Yes, I shared a dorm with Harry for four years, and it took him a long time to fully wake up every morning."
Sirius cooperated by giving a "I told you so" look.
Mrs. Weasley accepted the explanation with some skepticism. She remembered that Harry didn't have this sleep inertia problem when he was at the Burrow, but it was late, and Harry should be sleepy. Most importantly, he was safe and sound.
"Alright, now that Harry is alright, you can all go back to sleep. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I don't want to see anyone late."
Ron and Hermione led Harry upstairs one after the other, with Sirius following closely behind.
When they reached the corner on the third floor, Sirius didn't continue upstairs. He followed the trio into Harry and Ron's room. He wanted to know what Harry had gone through that night. To be honest, he looked exactly like James after his first official date with Lily.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
