As (Y/N) and Harry walked through the halls of the castle and towards the Great Hall, the heels of their black shoes clicked through the stone floor and seemingly echoed around the walls. Harry felt himself blushing just by being near the girl, his heart racing in excitement and nervousness.

(Y/N), who noticed the boy's anxiety, nudged him by her arm. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked out of concern.

"O-Oh, um... Nothing." said Harry as his shoulders jumped at the sudden contact from (Y/N)'s arm. He regained his composure as he cleared his throat and turned to look at the girl with a smile. "So, you seem to be getting along with Diggory."

"Oh, yeah." The Hufflepuff hummed and smiled to herself as an image of the dark haired boy popped up inside her mind. "He's... a nice guy."

Frowning, Harry felt a slight twinge of jealousy bubbling up inside his mind. "I told you to not pay that much attention to him, didn't I?" He muttered almost threateningly, but (Y/N) still heard what he said and turned to look at him skeptically.

"What?"

"I'm just... Well," Harry struggled to find his words and stopped in his tracks, causing the girl to stop as well and listen to what her childhood friend has to say. "Look (Y/N), it's been five years since we last saw each other. Ever since you came to Hogwarts, we haven't had any proper chances to talk and all that..."

"Didn't we just talk last week during Professor Moody's class?" asked (Y/N). Harry sighed and started to play with his fingers, especially the finger where the ring was.

"I know, but it feels like we've... just grown distant, you know?" said Harry, biting on his lip anxiously. "I just... I missed you, and I just wished that you talked to me more than Diggory."

None of them said a word to each other after that. (Y/N) kept her gaze at the nervous Gryffindor in front of her, feeling a weight on her shoulders when she saw how sad Harry looked. Was she really being a bad friend that Harry had to say something like this?

She felt guilty.

Harry was the first friend she's ever gotten in her life. Aside from her cousins who rarely visited her, Harry was really the only person who she turned to, and Harry felt the same. Both of them only had each other when they were nine years old.

She left him for over five years and when she came back, she didn't even bother giving Harry much attention as he does to her everyday, which indicates just how much he missed her.

Gulping, (Y/N) walked closer towards Harry and placed her hand on his. "I'm... sorry." She apologized and gazed right at his green eyes, which held a look of surprise. "I didn't know that I wasn't talking to you all that much."

Harry paused for a moment then flashed (Y/N) a gentle smile. "You don't have to apologize." He replied. "Just... Just talk to me more often, will you?"

'In fact, don't even talk to Diggory or anyone at all. Just talk to me instead.' thought Harry as he continued to smile.

Nodding, the Hufflepuff grinned at the Gryffindor and pulled him into a brief hug. Harry's glasses almost fell from his face and physically stopped from the shock. "I'm sorry again. I missed talking to you too." She said, and was about to retract from the boy but felt something thumping on Harry's chest.

His heart... was beating too fast and too loudly that even (Y/N) could hear it. 'Holy... How could someone's heart beat this fast?' She thought before hastily retracting herself from the boy.

"Harry, are you al-"

She stopped when she saw how red Harry's face had gotten. His glasses looked like it was about to fall and his chest heavily rose up and down as if he takes deep breaths everytime he breathes.

He looked like he was about to faint any moment now.

"Harry?" She called out to him once more, snapping the boy out of his daze and lifted his round glasses up to his eyes.

"U-Uh... Sorry." He briefly apologized and kept his look down to the floor. "I've been feeling a bit sick lately." He said as he cleared his throat, earning a look of worry from the (H/C) haired girl.

"Have you taken a potion from Madam Pomfrey yet?" asked (Y/N) while they continued to walk towards the Great Hall.

"No, that's not necessary." replied Harry with a shake of his head. "I'm sure this will pass by tomorrow. It always passes."

"Well, if you say so..." muttered (Y/N). As the silence grew between the two of them, Harry slowed his pace and walked a few steps behind the girl, admiring how her soft (H/C) hair bounced with every step she makes.

Blushing, Harry smiled to himself and began to retreat inside his thoughts while playing with his ring. At least with his act, (Y/N) will surely pay more attention to him now more than Cedric.

»»-----　♡　-----««

It was already past 9 pm. Students were already in their beds, peacefully sleeping and having sweet dreams about having a potentially attractive significant others and other bizarre dreams that no one would believe if you told them.

While the students were already in their beds, a lone (H/C) haired girl twisted and turned around her bed to try and get some sleep, but her mind couldn't seem to cooperate with her wishes.

Sighing, (Y/N) sat up from her bed and observed the dark room where she shared with a few other Hufflepuff girls. They were all sleeping peacefully with their blankets covering their body and their mouths slightly hung open.

With her shoulders lowered, she climbed out of her bed and gently walked out of her dorm room. She needed to clear her head, maybe with some glass of water from the kitchen. The Hufflepuff common room is by the kitchen, after all.

Climbing down the stairs, the silent common room of her house almost seemed to unnerve her, but she shook those thoughts away and told herself to not be so paranoid. She lived with ghosts in Hogwarts, why would she be scared of an empty room?

As she walked out of the Hufflepuff common room, she glanced around the kitchen and saw no house elves around. It was just warmly lit, with a few other kitchen utensils messily placed on the tables beside baskets of ingredients.

As another sigh escaped her lips, (Y/N) walked over to the sink and tried to look around if she could see a clean, empty glass where she could drink her water in. Once her eyes caught the sight of one, she reached out to it.

But suddenly, the hairs behind her neck suddenly stood up. Eyes widening, (Y/N)'s alarming instincts made her turn around hastily to see who was there. She felt her heart racing both in fear and shock, especially since she saw no one behind her.

The kitchen was just as empty as it was when she walked out of the Hufflepuff common room.

Through the windows, (Y/N) could hear the faint harsh whistles of the wind outside, indicating that a storm was coming and it added more to the creepiness that she suddenly felt around the kitchen.

Gulping, the girl turned back around to grab the glass. She lifted it towards the faucet, twisting the knob to the side to let the water flow down and fill up her glass. When suddenly, she heard someone's breath right beside her.

With eyes widened, she hastily took a step back and almost threw the glass of water beside her out of fear. Shaking, she tried to tell herself that it was only her paranoia and fear making her imagine all these weird noises - an auditory hallucination.

'I should really go to bed.' She thought as she tried to compose her heartbeat, then brought her lips towards the rim of the glass of water in her hands. As she tipped the contents and finished it in five gulps, she let out a sigh of relief and was about to place the empty glass back on the sink to wash it,

Until she felt a harsh pinch on the back of her head, where she felt two strands of her messy (H/C) hair being pulled by someone. Eyes widening, she quickly turned around and scanned the room once more as she held the back of her head in confusion and fear.

That wasn't a hallucination.

She didn't want to call out to see if someone's there, as a prefect or a teacher might hear her from the kitchen. Plus, she knew that whoever was doing this probably wouldn't even respond to her.

(Y/N) hastily washed the empty glass and returned it back to where she found it. As she dried her wet hands by rubbing on her pyjamas, she quickly walked towards the barrels that led to the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room.

As she entered the dimly lit common room, she couldn't miss the faint whisper of someone greeting her 'good night' and the sounds of footsteps retreating away from the kitchen.

With her heart still beating rapidly, (Y/N) immediately climbed up to her bed and hugged her pillow tightly from the creepy encounter she just had. Was it one of the ghosts messing with her? Was it just Peeves, the mischievous ghost?

She didn't know that ghosts were capable of creeping students out in the middle of the night like this. As the girl closed her eyes, she tried to shake off her thoughts and go to sleep.

She'll surely forget about what happened tonight by tomorrow.

»»-----　♡　-----««

She didn't forget about what happened last night.

As morning arrived and (Y/N) went to the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall to eat breakfast with her housemates, the girl still couldn't forget about what happened last night.

She frowned as she slowly chewed her food, silently sighed to herself through her nose. Cedric, who noticed the girl's odd mood, inched closer towards the girl and flashed her a gentle smile.

"Morning, (Y/N). You seem pretty down this morning." said Cedric, much to (Y/N)'s surprise. She didn't expect him to suddenly start up a conversation like that.

With a shake of her head, she sent Cedric a weak smile. "It's nothing, Ced." she told the boy. "I'm just thinking about a lot of things."

When Cedric got the feeling that (Y/N) didn't seem like she'd want to share what she was thinking about, he nodded. "Alright. Just tell me if there's something that worries you, okay?" He told her, making her nod as the two continued to eat her breakfast.

Suddenly, she stopped chewing and felt her hair on her neck standing up again. She immediately felt uncomfortable that she physically stopped chewing her food.

'It's that feeling again...' (Y/N) rose her head and began to scan the Great Hall out of suspicion. 'It's that feeling of being watched...'

Her instincts told her to leave the Great Hall and go back to the Hufflepuff common room, where she felt safe. She didn't know why, but she had a sinister feeling about this all of a sudden that it ruined her appetite.

It made her paranoid, especially since she felt like she was being watched throughout the whole week too. She wanted to think that she was just overreacting, but she can't.

Standing up from her seat, Cedric looked up to (Y/N). "Where are you going?" He asked with worry.

"I'm just... heading back to the common room." She replied and left it at that. Hastily walking out of the Great Hall, the feeling of being watched was still growing stronger in her mind. She felt like she couldn't escape and couldn't breathe.

Just before she could lose her mind as alarms went off in her head to indicate that she was in danger, she felt a hand circling around her wrist to stop her in her tracks.

With a yelp, (Y/N) turned around and was about to slap whoever grabbed her hand, but stopped when she saw that it was just Harry. "Woah, what's wrong?" He asked, tilting his head to the side out of concern and confusion.

(Y/N) paused and took a few deep breaths. She looked around and noticed that a few students were looking at her weirdly due to her sudden outburst. With a shake of her head, the girl flashed Harry a weak smile. "Sorry, Harry." She apologized and drifted her eyes down to the floor.

"It's just... I feel unsafe all of a sudden." She told the boy with a sigh, expecting Harry to tell her that she's overreacting but she needed to tell someone about it. "I feel like I'm constantly being watched, especially since something happened last night.

"Really?" Harry asked the girl in concern. He scanned the hall for a moment and sighed as he grabbed the girl's hand to comfort her. "It might be unsafe for you to walk around alone then. Don't worry, I'll accompany you - we have the entire day to ourselves, after all."

(Y/N) lifted her head and sent Harry a gentle smile. She felt reassured around her childhood friend that she was thankful for having Harry beside her once more. "Thank you, Harry." She thanked the boy.

"Do you want to come over to the Gryffindor common room later?" He asked the girl and silently crossed his fingers behind his back to get a positive answer from her. However, his hope plummeted as (Y/N) shook her head.

"I'm sorry but I'm supposed to be trying out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team this afternoon. Professor Sprout moved it today since Cedric was in the hospital wing yesterday." She replied with an apologetic smile on her face.

Harry paused and his smile dropped when he heard the girl say those words. "Oh," was all he could say.

Once (Y/N) noticed the lack of reaction from Harry, she immediately felt nervous. "Um. Well, I could go to the Gryffindor common room after the tryouts are done." She told the boy, whose face suddenly beamed happily once those words came out of her mouth.

"Really?" He said. "Then, I'll be waiting by the library after you're done. You'd better come after, alright?"

Chuckling, (Y/N) nodded. "Alright, but why don't you come and watch me play, Harry? So then, maybe we could go to the Gryffindor common room afterwards." She proposed, but Harry shook his head, still retaining the smile on his face.

"I'll be busy by then. I might not be able to watch you play now, but I'll certainly do next school year so..." he replied, earning an understanding hum from the Hufflepuff girl.

"Alright. I'll be heading back to the Hufflepuff common room then." She said.

"Let me come with you. You said you're feeling unsafe, right?" Harry spoke almost immediately that it surprised (Y/N). Nonetheless, the girl nodded as the two walked towards the Hogwarts kitchen and began to chatter about what the Triwizard Tournament is going to be like.

While the two were chatting, Harry began to thought about how lucky he was today. It's not like (Y/N) and the rest of the Hufflepuff team can play today.

He broke their brooms after all.

He hid (Y/N)'s.

She only needed to rely on him and no one else. Maybe a vulnerable (Y/N) is something that Harry should work into in the nearby future.

»»-----　♡　-----««

wc: 2,637

i just realized; you guys will probably see a lot of similarities from this fanfic's yandere harry and erised's yandere harry. they're both ooc lmao

also im sorry for not updating yesterday i had a breakdown bsdhsjdjdsh

thank y'all so much for 1k reads and 130 votes! 

anyway, see y'all tomorrow