тнιrтeen

Callum tugged nervously on the hem of his shirt with one hand, while his other clutched a small roll of parchment tightly between the fingers. He brushed his blonde hair every now and then, not to make sure whether it was okay, but simply out of habit – a nervous gesture. He kept looking out of the window, down toward the main gate, where Harry was supposed to appear.

A letter had arrived for him some two days after seeing Harry, where he had said that they would be going to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and that they would love to take Callum. Callum wasn't so sure however, for the only wizard he had met was Harry and he could tell that squibs weren't exactly honoured in the wizarding world. The thought of meeting Harry's friends, of what they would think of him, though he was sure they knew he was a squib, kept pulling on his nervousness, and he couldn't rest until Harry would arrive and tell him that it was okay.

And the fact that Harry had kissed him during his departure last time wasn't doing much to settle his nerves.

He unrolled the parchment and read over the letter again. It had become a sort of a habit, taking out the letters he had received from Harry and reading through them – observing the slightly untidy scrawl, the frequent ink smudges characteristic of quill written letters, the end which usually said Love, Harry – in a way of making up for the time he couldn't spend with him during the academic years. Callum brushed back his hair from his forehead for the umpteenth time, for it had stuck there with sweat – he was sweating excessively today – and looked out of the window once again. The memory of Harry pressing his lips on his cheek flashed in his mind, adding to the nervousness as he couldn't be certain whether it actually was a friendly gesture, or whether Harry reciprocated his feelings, which he himself wasn't quite sure of.

In the end, he decided to calm himself and stuffed the letter inside his drawer, before he took a deep breath and sat down on his bed, not wanting to stress himself out. A few minutes later, a sharp crack reached his ears and with a jerk he looked out of the window. He had never before witnessed Harry's arrival, and he had to blink a few times as the sight of him materialising out of thin air in a swirl of mist tried to register in his ignorant, squib mind. When he had recovered, he rose to his feet and raced down the stairs, the bell ringing only when he had reached the bottom step.

Once at the door, he paused, then pulled it open. Harry stood on the other side, a woman with pink hair beside him. Harry smiled in greeting, but Callum was too enraptured by the slight, hardly noticeable shifts in the shades of her hair. "Are you ready?" Harry's voice pulled him out of his shock and he wrenched his eyes away from her hair to look at him.

"Yes, but are we in a hurry?" he asked, his fingers reaching once again to his hair to brush it back. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure." And he led Harry inside, offering the woman to come in too, though she refused politely, saying she'd wait. He took him to a room right next to the doorway and looked up at him anxiously.

"Are you sure about this, Harry?" he asked worriedly. "I don't want to intrude –"

Harry's brows furrowed. "But didn't you say you wanted to go to Diagon Alley?"

"I did," he said with a sigh. He had nearly forgotten about that. While he did want to know about and see more of the wizarding world, he wasn't feeling so confident right now. "But wouldn't your friends mind?"

"Of course not," replied Harry, sounding rather offended. He placed his hands over his shoulders reassuringly. "I – I like you, Callum, and I would love to hang out with you more."

Callum saw, much to his amusement, that Harry's cheeks had pinked slightly. He gave a small smile and leaned in his head to rest over his shoulder. "You like me?"

He felt Harry squirming under him in embarrassment. He laughed internally. "Why else do you think I kissed you?"

Callum remained there for a little longer to let his heated cheeks cool down. Harry asked, "Did you tell your parents anything, in case we're late?"

He stood straight and nodded. "I told them I'd be going to a friend's house."

"What if they call them?"

He shrugged. "They won't."

Harry rubbed his shoulders comfortingly. "So, do you want to go now, or wait a few minutes?"

He took in a deep breath. "Let's go."

_/_/_/

this chapter is so short and lame:/

but the next one is coming in a few minutes and will hopefully make up for this uncreative piece of grabage.