Rachel woke with a start.
She had been having a dream-a nightmare, really. She could still feel the icy chill it had enveloped her in. And yet, the strangest thing was, she couldn’t remember what it had been about. The last thing she could remember was sitting up in bed, her sheets tangled around her, her nightgown soaked with sweat, completely wide awake.
Rachel glanced around, wondering what had woken her. The room’s two other occupants were sound asleep.
Rachel shrugged and lay back down. She knew she was no way she would be able to fall back asleep now. The first fingers of sunlight were poking through the window, and one ray happened to fall directly on Rachel’s face. She closed her eyes to block the glare and contemplated the events of the day before.
The train ride had been a disaster. After leaving her in tears, Harry and his friends seemed to have found some other compartment to barge in on, as they hadn’t returned, thank God. Although Rachel had mostly managed to clean herself up so that she looked less like someone who had just been crying their heart out and more like someone eagerly excited to start a new term at Hogwarts, she had caught Draco’s glance as she disembarked the train, and his smirk was not a pretty one. She was just glad that she had managed to escape his wrath after dinner (which had been uneventful, unless you found the Sorting interesting, which Rachel didn’t.) She had run as quickly as possible up to her dormitory, where she had hurriedly prepared for bed and slipped beneath the covers just before Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode had entered the dormitory. Exactly one nasty comment and two shrill giggles had been aimed her way, which had to be some kind of record; usually the number of snide remarks was somewhere around twenty. At last, though, she had managed to fall asleep, and now she lay there, feeling her usual combination of nerves and excitement for her first day of classes at Hogwarts to begin.
Although…there was something else on Rachel’s mind, something that had been troubling her since the previous day’s train ride. As Harry Potter had been leaving her compartment, he had turned to her and mumbled, “I’m sorry.” Something about the way he had said it-his sincerity, perhaps-had stuck with her. I’m sorry. Could there really be someone else in the world besides Narcissa Malfoy who cared about her? No, of course there couldn’t, she reminded herself. After all, his two friends had made it pretty clear that they hated her, and Harry seemed like a loyal person, the type that would never go against his friends. But, still. I’m sorry.
Suddenly, Millicent Bulstrode let out a low groan. Simultaneously, Pansy Parkinson sat up and stretched her arms to the ceiling, her mouth wide open in a yawn. She turned to Rachel and shot her the dirtiest look she could muster.
Rachel got out of bed, ignoring Pansy. She carefully dressed, yanked a comb through her hair, and curled her eyelashes with the end of her wand before heading off to the bathroom to wash up before breakfast.
Rachel’s first class of the day was Potions. She entered the dungeons warily, since (though she hated to admit it) she was a bit frightened of Professor Snape. Just like the rest of the world, he hated her mother, and therefore he transferred that hatred onto her. He was rather fond of making snide comments whenever possible and giving her dreadfully low marks.
Rachel made her way to her usual seat at the back of the classroom. Before sitting down, she carefully set up her cauldron. She then seated herself and patiently waited for class to start.
The noisy throng of Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth-years entering the dungeons would probably drive Professor Snape up a wall, had he been in the room. Rachel spotted Harry and two friends she recognized as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger making their way to the tables in the front of the room.
“Silence!” At that moment, Professor Snape entered the dungeons with his usual attempt at dramatic flair. He stalked to the front of the room and turned around to face the students. A subdued hush instantly fell over the classroom.
“As I hope many of you already know, this year will be one of the most important years in your magical training,” Professor Snape said, sounding bored. “It is the year when you will take your Ordinary Wizarding Level examination. In order to adequately prepare you for this test, I have designed a project that should keep you busy for the entire first month of term.” He paused, as if expecting groans, but everyone knew better than to make a sound in Snape’s class.
He continued. “Allow me to warn you that the project is quite difficult. The potion you will be making is perhaps one of the most complicated potions known to man. Furthermore, I will not be giving you any instructions to aid you in the creation of this potion. You must find that out for yourselves. The research will be done almost completely outside of class; you will be allowed class time for the actual brewing of the potion. You will be working in pairs, which I have already determined.”
Professor Snape plucked a piece of paper up off his desk and began to read off it in a random order. “Neville Longbottom, you will be working with Pansy Parkinson. Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley. Seamus Finnigan, Millicent Bulstrode. Vincent Crabbe, Parvati Patil. Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown. Gregory Goyle, Hermione Granger. And finally, Harry Potter, Rachel Lestrange.” He glanced up. “You may now move so that you are sitting beside your partner.”
Rachel turned her head slightly. She saw that Harry had gathered up his things and was now making his way towards her. “Hello,” he said, somewhat awkwardly, as he slid into the seat beside her.
“Hello,” Rachel replied, somewhat stiffly. Suddenly, Professor Snape broke in. “There will be no time for chit-chat. Get straight to work. Today is the only class time I will be providing for work time on this project.”
Harry turned back to Rachel as soon as Professor Snape finished talking. “Look...I’m really sorry about what happened on the train yesterday.”
Rachel felt whatever good feeling she had had for Harry Potter instantly leave her body. Wasn’t it enough that his friends hated her? Did he really need to bring it up now, when she had already almost forgotten about the incident? Her anger infiltrated her voice so that it sounded tight and constricted. “Oh. Well, I guess it’s not your fault that your friends happen to hate me.”
Harry looked at her sharply. “My friends don’t hate you.”
Rachel nodded her head vigorously. “Oh, yes, they do. Neville has probably hated me ever since he found out what happened to his parents, so I suppose his reaction was understandable. But the redhead? Ginny? I had no idea she harbored such ill feeling towards me.”
Harry looked uncomfortable. “Well…about that…I’m really sorry if you felt like they were a bit-er-nasty…”
Rachel’s voice rose. “A bit nasty?
Harry cringed. “Okay, maybe more than a bit.”
Rachel turned away from him. “Maybe a lot.”
Harry gently, tentatively, reached forward and laid his fingers on Rachel’s arm. She froze. Every cell in her body was aware of his fingers, Harry Potter’s fingers, resting on her elbow.
Harry spoke softly. “I really am sorry.”
Rachel took a deep breath. “It’s all right, I suppose.”
Harry leaned back. “Good.” Rachel felt herself idiotically wishing that he had left his fingers on her arm.
Stupid! she chastised herself. What was wrong with her? Why in the world would she want Harry Potter laying his hands on her?
Rachel suddenly wished desperately for the class to end. She needed to get out of here, before Harry Potter caused her to lose her mind.
“Er…should we get started, then?” Harry asked tentatively.
Rachel startled. “Er…yeah,” she said awkwardly. “I’ll look up ingredients if you look up methods.”
“Sounds good,” he replied cheerfully, and he pulled out his textbook to begin researching.
Rachel’s eyes may have been scanning the textbook, but her mind was elsewhere. She was very aware of Harry’s presence next to her. Every shift, every movement, that he made, was carefully noticed. She didn’t know why she seemed to have this sudden obsession with him, but it was something she couldn’t shake. Her arm still burned where he had touched her.
Suddenly, class ended, and Harry took off. And Rachel found herself sitting there, wondering why in the world she suddenly found herself completely infatuated with Harry Potter.
Falling for an Eternity by slytherin_princess_9
Chapter Notes: Since Book 7 has now been released, I think that I should make it very clear that there will be absolutely NO spoilers in this story. It almost completely disregards Books 5, 6, and 7, although it does weave in some elements from Books 5 and 6. There will, however, be no weaving in of elements from Book 7 (although I absolutely loved it, how about you?) Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. As always, everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!