Late that night, Pippa found herself sitting by the edge of the Black Lake, her knees drawn into her chest, flipping dandelion heads off of their stems. The yellow blooms floated away from her lazily in the water and she sighed. The first day back certainly hadn't gone the way she had hoped it would.

Other than the Hufflepuff Common room, she liked being outside the best at school. When the weather cooperated, she preferred to do homework outside, near the water's edge. If she sat long enough and listened carefully enough, she heard the merpeople sing. Their song was beautifully haunting, full of dying trills and decaying melodies, like a sad hymn echoing in an empty cathedral.

"Pippa?"

She turned around at the sound of her name, but no one was there. Is this a prank?

"Hello?" She called nervously. Thinking ahead, she reached into her pocket for her wand.

"What? Oh, shoot, I've still got this thing on. Give me a second." Harry Potter appeared out of nowhere and stowed a cloak in his bag, looking rather embarrassed.

"You've got an Invisibility cloak?" Pippa asked in awe.

"Yeah, it was my dad's. I got it a few years ago."

"What are you doing sneaking around under it? Breaking the rules, losing Gryffindor's House points, or both? I guess you can afford to do that. Hufflepuff's already at negative ten points, thanks to me."

"Um, no. Actually, I fancied paying Hagrid a visit," he admitted. After a moment of hesitation, he sat down on the grass next to her.

Pippa laid on her back and looked up at the stars. The weeds tickled her. Because her father was an astro-physicist, she knew every planet and constellation like the back of her hand. It made Astronomy classes quite easy for her. She also just liked thinking about space, this big expanse of sky dotted with fleeting objects of beauty. Shooting stars and meteor showers were her favorite. Every time they were expected, her father made sure to send an excited letter, and she made sure to be outside that night. Ideally, she would watch from the Astronomy Tower, but she hated being up there when she didn't have to be for class. Pippa Wilson and heights did not mix with good results.

"What're you doing?"

"Looking at the sky," she said. "You should try it once in a while. It's relaxing. I like looking at the stars when I'm stressed out or sad."

He laughed a little. "You think I get sad or stressed out?"

"I know you get sad and stressed out." Pippa tilted her head to look at him. "People who are quiet tend to notice things more, you know."

For a moment, he looked shocked. She worried that she'd made him uncomfortable, which was the last thing she wanted to do, but then he laughed. "Fair enough. What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking," she answered. "Today was rough."

Harry frowned and looked out at the lake, tossing a rock at the giant squid off in the distance. "Yeah, I heard about that. I'm sorry. Malfoy's a real pain."

"I know he is," she said, but her eyes widened. She didn't want to insult anyone even though Harry seemed to have no problem with it. Everyone knew that Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter had been enemies since day one. "I mean, he's pretty difficult sometimes. How did you hear about it?"

"Everyone was talking about it at dinner," Harry said. She'd skipped eating in the Great Hall and headed right down to the lake, intending to hide from anyone who witnessed the events of that morning, but apparently, the whole school knew anyway. "I think the Slytherins were acting it out over at their table. It was terrible."

"I bet. Who played me in this glorious re-enactment?"

Hare glanced over at her, surprised to hear the slightest touch of humor in her voice. "I think that Malfoy reprised the role of himself and Crabbe was you. Pansy Parkinson was Professor Snape."

"Ah. At least they did my character justice with a quality portrayal, then," she chuckled, but her voice trembled, and he heard it.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm alright."

"Half of your hair is dark blue," he retorted with a wry smile. "That's new."

Red crept up her pale cheeks. She blushed a great deal, something she was quite subconscious about. "The potion he spilled all over me stained it. I had to throw out that new set of robes, too. I haven't figured out how to get my hair back to normal yet. I bet there's a spell or something, though. If not, I'll have to go to Madam Pomfrey and ask her about it. I really don't want to have to cut it. I spent three years growing it out."

"You walked around looking like that all day?"

"I guess so. Does it really look that bad?" Pippa asked, pulling her hands into the sleeves of her sweater as she bit her lip.

Harry's bottle-green eyes widened and he instantly backtracked. "No! Not at all! No, the blue looks... it looks cool. Really cool."

She giggled and pulled her blue/brown hair into a loose ponytail. "Thanks."

"So what are you going to do about Malfoy?" He asked.

"What do you mean, what am I going to do about Malfoy? It happened, it's over. I'm just going to move on and hope tomorrow goes better in the library."

Harry looked at her like she was crazy. "That's all? He embarrassed you today!"

"Maybe he was just having a bad day. I did run into him in the hallway, maybe that made him upset-"

"No no no," Harry interrupted, waving his arms and shaking his head. "You can't just let him get away with that!"

"He already did," she said quietly, shrugging.

"Well, then make sure he knows not to mess with you again!"

Pippa pulled her sweater more tightly around herself and hugged her knees to her chest as a cool evening wind blew. "I don't know. I'm not all that intimidating, and people know it. Revenge isn't really my style, Harry."

"And letting people walk all over you is?" His facial features softened when she didn't answer, only stared up at the sky with a dejected expression. "Sorry."

"It's okay. We just have different methods for dealing with stuff like this." They both sat there for a while, listening to the crickets chirp and the occasional sounds of the giant squid splashing. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm annoying?"

"What?"

"Malfoy told me I was annoying today. I just wanted to, you know, check."

This was what was really bothering her about her encounter with Draco Malfoy. Just stop being so bloody annoying. You're getting on my nerves. She didn't want to believe that, but comments like that always got under her skin. Being a sympathetic individual made her feel more deeply than the average girl.

Harry shook his head. "No. You're not annoying. Not at all."

"Thank you." After giving him a genuine smile, Pippa stood up, brushed the grass off of her outfit, and looked at the night sky. "I won't bother you with my silly problems any longer. Go visit with Hagrid."

"You're not bothering me," Harry said sincerely, and she could tell he meant it. "Like I told you, you're not annoying."

She smiled shyly. "Well, thanks. Either way, I think I'm going to head back in. My friends are probably wondering where I wandered off to. I may or may not have ghosted them all afternoon and I skipped dinner altogether."

"Actually, I'll go with you. It's getting kind of late anyway."

"Okay, if you want."

The pair walked back up to the castle in silence, leaving Pippa with plenty of time to think up a plan.

She didn't want this partnership to ruin her entire year. It wasn't in her to give up so easily. More than most, she believed in forgiveness and kindness to the end. Tomorrow, she thought decidedly, I'll give him another chance. If he thinks I'm annoying, that's not my problem.

Actually, considering her grades were dependent upon them working together, it kind of was her problem, but she was too caught up in the joy of being confident again to let it bother her.

Once they entered the castle again, Harry turned to Pippa. He looked sheepish. "I'd walk you to your common room, but I kind of have no idea where it is."

"You don't need to walk me back to my common room. FYI, it's downstairs, a little past the kitchens."

"Ah. I'll walk you to the stairs, at least."

Silly chivalrous Gryffindors. She shook her head when he wasn't looking.

When they reached the stairs, Pippa winked. "I guess this is where we say our goodbyes. Thanks for listening to my whining instead of having tea with Hagrid. You didn't have to do that."

Harry's brow furrowed. You weren't whining. You barely opened up at all, come to think of it. All night, she'd confused him. There was something so honest about Pippa Wilson, but it wasn't the brutal kind. It was soft. "No problem. See you in class."

"Night, Harry."

"Night, Pippa."

With a smile, she hopped up onto the railing of the marble staircase and slid down, dismounting perfectly at the foot of the steps. What started off as a very horrible day had a pretty decent ending.

new chapter! this one's a little shorter. tell me what you think!