Harry Potter and the Forgotten Secrets

Ch. 4 ~ Thanksgiving Invitation

Lara’s POV

My heart pounded as I walked towards Harry’s door. I didn’t know why I was nervous, I just was. I knew Harry the second I saw him; who wouldn’t? He was the ‘Boy Who Lived’. But he didn’t know who I was. Mum had always told me I’d come in contact with him, I just didn’t realize it would be so soon, or in this way. I smiled as Harry came out of his room, a bouquet of my favorite white roses in his hand. “You look great,” I said, looking over his tight black ensemble.

“So do you,” he said, putting the roses in a vase he already had prepared. “These are for you, but we’ll leave them here.” I nodded as he shut and locked his door. He turned to go down the hall, sliding his arm around my waist. “So, where would you like to go?”

I shook my head. “Hadn’t really thought about it.”

He smiled his crooked smile at me. “Good. I thought wed drive down to the lake and go out on a rental boat.” I smiled and nodded. He was so different now. When we first met, he thought I was a muggle. When he found out I went to Durmstrang, he was thrilled, and suddenly himself.

It was a nice drive to the lake. Neither one of us said a lot. I was too busy concentrating on my nerves. Once we got to the lake, I saw a mid-sized yacht already waiting. “You’ve been planning ahead, Potter,” I teased.

“But of course,” said he, helping me out of the car. He slid his arm around my shoulders and led me down towards the docks. A boat captain was waiting patiently.

“Welcome, Mr. Potter. Two hours enough time for ya?” Harry nodded. “And of course total privacy for the lady.” The captain gave me a wink and I turned slightly pink.

Harry helped me onto the boat and down into the cabin. It was perfect. White rose petals covered the cabin’s bed. The table held a dinner set for two. Soft music filled the room. “I hope it’s all right.” I nodded, half in shock. I watched as he looked out the cabin window. “Good, we’re moving.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his wand. He flicked it at the door and the lock jumped into place. He turned and looked at the table. He gave his wand another flick and our plates filled with Alfredo pasta. A third flick filled our glasses with bubbling champagne. “Perfecto,” he said, sliding into his seat. He began eating, really, really quickly. “Forgive me, Lara,” he said, a mouth full of pasta. “I’m really hungry; I missed dinner.”

I smiled, beginning to slowly eat my share. “It’s ok.” We ate mostly in silence. This wasn’t like Harry. “Is everything ok?” I asked concernedly.

Harry looked up with his last bite of food in his mouth. “Yeah, why?”

“You just seem really quiet,” I answered. I laid my fork down. My nerves were too high to eat.

Harry swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m more nervous than I thought.” There was a slight moment of awkward silence between us. Harry took a deep breath and slid closer to me. “I have been trying to find the perfect words to say to you today. No matter how hard I tried, nothing ever worked so, I’m just gonna start talking. When I graduated from Hogwarts, Dumbledore said in my 21st year my tea leaves would have an acorn, a moon, a flag, and a ring. Did you have Divination?” I shook my head. I didn’t really believe in that stuff and Durmstrang’s Divination professor was a real fruit. (A/N: American for “gay”; ok, so Lara’s picked up a bit of the American language in the last couple of months! Hehe! Ok…read on…) “It uh…he basically said, at some point over my 21st year there would be good health, love, danger, and marriage.” He paused. This last one surprised me. Marriage? Who? Me? My heart pounded and my stomach flipped.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “What exactly are you saying?”

Harry blushed and swallowed hard. He looked like he was going to lose his dinner. “Lara, I’m not totally sure what’s happening here. I’ve been trying so hard to figure out why Dumbledore sent us here. The only thing I can figure is to go into hiding.” No, that wasn’t it. “But, whatever the reason, we were brought together.” I smiled, blushing as he took my hands. “Will you be my girl forever?”

My heart jumped. “What exactly are you asking?”

Harry sighed, squeezing my hands. “I’m asking if you’ll marry me.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Did Harry Potter just propose to me? He did, and I didn’t know what to say…so I said the first thing to come to mind. “Yes.” I smiled as he let out the deep breath he had been holding. I laughed. “What’s the matter? Did you think I was going to say no?”

“I thought you might,” he said, a blush on his cheeks. Harry leaned towards me. “I don’t have a ring for you yet.”

He was so close I could feel his warm breath on my lips. My heart pounded, and our lips brushed together. “It’s okay.”

Our lips brushed a second time, but we never connected them. I felt Harry’s hands slide into place at my sides. I shivered at his touch. His breathing became deeper and his grip tighter. Our lips brushed a third time, but this time Harry quickly moved his lips down and began kissing the side of my neck. I tilted my head back and let my feelings take over. I breathed in the scent of his hair, felt the softness of his skin, and suddenly we were moving towards the bed. Harry somehow had managed to pick me up and was now gliding smoothly across the floor towards the cabin’s bed.

Harry pulled his head back up and we kissed passionately as he laid me carefully on the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I knew exactly where our relationship was headed. This was the moment we would physically commit to each other forever. My heart skipped as we got closer and closer to our close off. It seemed like we had been that way forever when suddenly the boat jerked to a halt. Harry jumped up, trying his hardest to adjust his pants. He raced to the cabin door. “We’ve stopped.” He grabbed his wand and flicked it at the door, unlocking the lock. He turned and looked at me; I was struggling to redress myself. He smiled crookedly and flicked his wand at me and then himself. Everything was back to normal. He turned back as the door opened. “Captain?”

“Sorry to bother you and the lady, Mr. Potter. I’m afraid we’ve lost a rudder. There’s a boat coming out for you and your mistress. We’ll refund your money of course.” With that the captain turned back and went back to the deck.

Harry sighed. His night had obviously been ruined. “It’s okay, Harry. I’m not totally disappointed.” I stood up and walked closer to him. We wrapped our arms around each other. We ended our boat trip with a soft, gentle kiss.

It wasn’t long before we were back at the dorms. Harry had walked me to my room in silence. It wasn’t awkward, just silent. He smiled at me as we stopped in front of the door. “I’m sorry things didn’t go quite as planned.”

I shook my head with a smile. “It’s okay.” We kissed again and I turned to unlock the door. “’Mione and Ron must not be home yet.” I opened the door and flipped the light on. I jumped when Hermione jumped off of her bed, pants almost off of her hips and a redheaded somebody on the bed. “’Mione! Ron! What on earth!”

The two blushed. “We weren’t expecting you back for a while yet,” Hermione said sheepishly.

“Obviously not,” Harry said, a stupid grin plastered on his face. “Well, come on, mate,” he said to Ron. “I’m tired. Let’s get some sleep for the Burrow.” Ron nodded and got off of the bed. “Night, love,” Harry said, winking.

“Oh,” Ron said, turning back to face me, “mum says to invite you with us to the Burrow for the holiday.” I nodded, accepting his invitation. “Goodnight, ‘Mione.” I smiled as he and Ron headed back down the hall.

I turned to a blushing, disappointed looking Hermione. “Sorry. Our boat trip got cut short.”

Hermione nodded, plopping on her bed. “It’s okay. We really didn’t need to again.” I widened my eyes. Did she just say again?

“Did you just say again?” Hermione blushed. “Tell me, ‘Mione.”

She blushed again, but sat up to look at me. “He proposed to me, and then we went to a hotel for a few hours.” That was all I could get out of her.

“You didn’t!” Hermione just nodded. “Well, looks like we’re both engaged now.” I smiled, thinking about how nervous Harry was when he was trying to ask me.

“Harry asked you, too!” I nodded. “Girl, we in big trouble now.” We both laughed as we got ready for bed. This holiday was going to be good. Not just because we were getting a break from school, but because we both had the men we loved. Love? I actually loved someone? Well, I guess those tea leaves aren’t so bad after all.