"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚘𝚠 '𝙲𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍"

𝕀 𝕎𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕎𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 - 𝕋𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕠𝕣 𝕊𝕨𝕚𝕗𝕥

─── ∙ ~☾~ ∙ ───

One of the things that came out of the second task, besides Y/N and Harry's make up, was that everyone felt they needed to know what dramatic events occurred at the bottom of the lake. 

At first, everyone's story seemed to line up. Y/N and Hermione had both explained that Professor McGongall had put them in a sleeping spell assuring them they would be safe and that it was a pretty plain story. 

But because Ron had the glory of having all three of his friends go through a near-death experience, he heavily enjoyed telling the story for Hermione and Y/N even though he wasn't there. 

At first, it was the same as the two girls, but by the end of the week, Ron was telling everyone about a major kidnap and fights of fifty merpeople that people ate up. 

Hermione and Y/N both rolled their eyes as Ron was explaining their story to Padma Patil in the library while Harry smiled at his best friend letting him enjoy the limelight. 

Y/N gave Harry a look saying 'don't encourage him' but Harry just chuckled to himself. 

Ever since the second task, Harry couldn't help gushing over the tiniest moments with his best friend and he was finding it incredibly hard to hide it. The way that Y/N had returned to being his friend so kindly only made his guilt and feelings grow. He knew Y/N didn't like him back anymore, but as much as he pretended his feelings weren't there the stronger they became. 

The regret he felt for not just kissing her on the astronomy tower, or telling her how he felt at the Yule Ball instead of being angry had been messing with him incredibly.

"Then merpeople tied Hermione and Y/N up," Ron said excitedly to the small crowd that was around their study table, "If only I had been there. I could have taken those mer-idiots any day."

"What were you going to do, snore at them?" Hermione said sharply. 

She had been in a particularly bad mood since the second task because so many people had been teasing her about being the thing Viktor Krum treasures most. 

Ron started turning scarlet at Hermione's response and he started turning the story back to the realistic one. 

As March came, the weather became drier, and the winds became angrier. Owls had been thrown off course because of the furious winds making owl post slower. 

Y/N had let Harry use Athena again for Sirius's letters, but before Harry had resorted to using a school owl when he and Y/N weren't speaking. Athena had been ecstatic, finally having chances to stretch her feathers more than just around the grounds. 

Y/N didn't particularly have anyone to contact anymore so being able to make long trips at first made Athena excited. 

That was until she found out about the severe wind. 

During breakfast, Athena appeared at the Gryffindor table with Ron, Harry, and Hermione Friday morning while they were discussing the upcoming Hogsmeade visit. 

Harry tore off Sirius's note quickly while Athena seemed a bit dazed with her feathers sticking the wrong way from the wind. She looked nervous to leave but reluctantly flew away from the table. 

Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.

"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade, has he?" Ron asked. 

"It looks like it, doesn't it?" Hermione said. 

"I can't believe him," Harry said. "If he's caught..."

"Made it this far, though, hasn't he?" Ron suggested. "And it's not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore."

Harry nodded unconvincingly as he folded the letter and slipped it into his back pocket. 

He desperately wanted to see Sirius but his safety was Harry's main concern.

─── ∙ ~☾~ ∙ ───

Harry's mood didn't improve when he, Hermione, and Ron entered the last dreaded class of the day. 

Double. Potions. 

When they arrived they didn't see Y/N anywhere however they did notice Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco, along with a group of Slytherin girls snickering over something. 

Harry saw Pansy's face peer over Goyle's broad shoulder to immediately smirk at him. 

"There's Heartbreaker Potter now!" Pansy smiled at him evilly as the group of Slytherins began to disperse. 

"What are you on about?" Y/N said coming up behind the trio with Daphne behind her. The two girls already wearing looks that could kill. 

"And here's heartbroken Sinclair," Pansy giggled, her smile becoming even more devilish. 

Y/N's eyes went to the magazine that was clutched in Pansy's hands. Witch Weekly. The picture on the cover was of a curly-haired witch, pointing at a sponge cake with her wand and giving the camera a toothy smile. 

"You might find something to interest you in there," Pansy said. She tossed the magazine towards Y/N which she swiftly caught. 

Right at that moment, the door to the dungeons opened and Snape encouraged the students to come inside. 

Y/N and Daphne sat at one of the biggest tables and Hermione joined them gladly. Ron and Harry followed them with intrigue wondering what Pansy had been laughing at.

As soon as Snape's back was turned and he began writing today's potion ingredients list, Y/N pulled the magazine out from under the table and began frantically flipping the pages in her lap. 

Her stomach dropped at yet another title. 

𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞

Daphne who was sitting on her right, and Harry who was sitting on her left leaned in closer to read. 

A boy like no other, perhaps – yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Y/N Sinclair who had already been abandoned by her questionable family this past summer. Little did she know that she would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in her life that had already been littered with personal loss. 

Miss Sinclair, a plain but cunning girl seemed to find comfort in an American boy going to a Bulgarian School, Adrian Agapov, other than her boyfriend Harry Potter. Agapov, who is obviously head over heels with the young girl, found comfort in her as well. Ever since Mr. Agapov's arrival, she has been involved with both boys with her where her loyalties laid were undetermined. That is until Mr. Potter had finally had enough when Miss Sinclair went to the Yule Ball with the Duramstrang student instead of him. 

Their public break-up was one to go down in history where the boy who lived confessed that he had never had feelings for her leaving Miss Sinclair heartbroken. Seemingly after a rendezvous on the school's Astronomy tower, Miss Sinclair had deeper feelings than she had ever had, but Mr. Potter was assured: "what happened on the astronomy tower was nothing." Making sure she knew he had never liked her. 

This leaves us wondering...was their relationship always one-sided? And now that Potter's eliminated himself from the running in Y/N Sinclair's life does this give Mr. Agapov a chance?

However, it might not be Miss Sinclair's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest. "She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's got a best friend who's quite brainy and dating Viktor Krum. I think that's how they're doing it."

Viktor Krum the Bulgarian Seeker, hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, and Miss Sinclair's close Muggleborn friend, Hermione Granger, have appeared absolutely infatuated with each other. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

Once Y/N finished the article she felt as if she was going to throw up. There were tons more about how the great 'boy who lived' broke her heart and how she might have deserved it for toying with two boys at once. 

She looked up at Pansy's table where she sent a sarcastic smile and then passed the article to Hermione and Ron. 

"She's losing touch," Y/N said. Hoping if she acted like the article didn't affect her, it wouldn't.

"It's all fake," Daphne assured putting a hand on Y/N's arm. "She just threw everything out of proportion."

Harry felt sick. He felt incredibly guilty for the whole article. He and Y/N's fight had been put in a public magazine that people like Mrs. Weasley read. The events of the Yule Ball just kept replaying in his mind. He wished he could go back in time and use 'Silencio' on himself. 

Y/N too was feeling guilty but for different reasons. Rita had painted her out to be a girl who messed with one boy and then when she got bored, switched to the other one. 

Merlin, she really wished she had asked Eloise Midgen to the Yule Ball if she had known this is what would come out of it. 

"What a pile of old rubbish," Hermione said once she and Ron had read the article. 

Ron's face was scowling, "What kind of vendetta does she have against you? She's painted you out to be some sort of-of Scarlet woman!"

"Scarlet women?" Y/N asked furrowing her eyebrows at him. 

"It's what my mum calls them," Ron said his face still burning with anger. "She's gonna freak."

"Your mom reads Witch Weekly?" Y/N asked in realization. "Merlin, no," she sighed, putting her head in her hands. 

The mental picture of Mrs. Weasley reading that article about her when the Weasleys had become her family only made her more nauseous. 

"I don't think she'll believe this," Ron said trying to be comforting, "She's met you."

"And also none of its true," Daphne encouraged looking at Y/N. 

Y/N made contact with her best friend realizing Hermione and Daphne thought everything Rita said was false. Including the "break up" between Harry and Y/N. 

"Right?" Daphne said reading her friend's face in confusion. Y/N didn't say anything but her face said it all. Daphne's face went from realization to anger to her eyebrow-raising and she turned to give Harry a look that quickly made him lose eye contact with her. 

"Well," Daphne sighed trying not to fully express her anger for her friend's benefit, "even if you and Potter were dating he went to the Yule Ball with someone else too."

Romilda. Harry thought. Romilda had barely said a word to Harry since the Yule Ball and it seemed that she now found him repulsing given she couldn't stop talking to her friend about the boy she danced with at the Yule Ball when she left Harry's jealous ass in the dust. 

"Daphne's right," Hermione said, "It's just Rita's internalized misogyny."

"Yeah," Harry said trying to insert himself in a conversation he felt very awkward in. "And she was totally sexist too."

"Misogyny is sexism," Y/N said cracking a smile despite everything. 

"Right yeah," Harry said pink rushing into his cheeks, "I knew that."

"You've got the right spirit," Y/N encouraged, her, Daphne, and Hermione breaking out into laughter. 

Even if it was at his own expense, Harry was just happy to see her laugh not even trying to stop the butterflies that swarmed into his stomach. 

They all started unpacking their table's ingredients and began to independently brew a Wit-sharpening potion. 

"There is something I don't understand," Y/N said suddenly, ten minutes later. "How could Rita Skeeter have known?"

"Known what?" Ron asked. "You haven't been mixing up Love Potions, have you?"

"No Ron," Y/N said annoyed, "No, it's just... how did she know exactly what Harry said to me at the Yule Ball?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked confused crushing her beetles with a mortar and pestle. 

She looked from Y/N to Harry until everything seemed to click and she gave Harry a stern look a sister would give his brother when he fucked up, and then looked back at Y/N. 

"Continue," she said giving Harry one last look.

His ears were scarlet as Ron seemed to be amused to finally not be the one the girls went after for saying something stupid. 

"She used the words 'what happened on the astronomy tower was nothing.'" Y/N quoted. Hearing her say the words out loud and so casually only made Harry feel even more guilty. "How was she at the Yule Ball to know what happened? And most people had gone to bed by then."

"Yeah," Hermione said thinking back on the article too, "And how did she know about Krum asking me to visit him over the summer? She wasn't at the second task."

"What?" Ron said his pestle dropping with a loud clunk. 

Hermione's face went red and she looked to Y/N and Daphne for help but they seemed quite amused with the 'jealous' act Ron now had. 

"He asked me right after he'd pulled me out of the lake," Hermione muttered avoiding Ron's eyes, "After he'd got rid of his shark's head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he sort of pulled me away from the judges so they wouldn't hear, and he said, if I wasn't doing anything over the summer, would I like to—"

"And what did you say?" Ron asked,  grinding his pestle on the table instead of his bowl because he was too focused on Hermione's answer. 

"And he did say he'd never felt the same way about anyone else," Hermione continued, her face getting redder and redder, "but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn't there...or was she? Maybe she has got an Invisibility Cloak; Or snuck into the Yule Ball; Or a passing kid heard and told her—"

"And what did you say?" Ron repeated his pestle now making a dent in the desk. 

"Well, I was too busy seeing whether Y/N and Harry were okay to—"

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," an icy voice said causing all five of them to jump, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

While they had been talking Snape had crawled his way out of hell and to their table to disrupt them. 

At least that's how Y/N put it. 

The whole class now had their eyes on them and Draco chose that moment to flash his POTTER STINKS badge across the room making Y/N have to stop the urge to flip him off. 

"Ah...reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape said taking the copy of Witch Weekly from Hermione. "A further ten points from Gryffindor."

"I had the article Professor," Y/N spoke up not wanting Hermione to get blamed. 

"Were you in possession of this magazine when it was confiscated? No. So I think it's best you mind your tongue," Snape said coldly. 

Y/N rolled her eyes knowing that if she was in another house, points would have been taken off immediately. 

"Oh but wait," Snape said smiling devilishly at the article, "It seems you and Potter need to read your press cutting don't you."

The class roared with laughter, and to their horror, Snape began reading the article aloud for his amusement. 

"'the Heartbreak Prince'...dear, dear, Potter, what's ailing you now? 'A boy like no other, perhaps...'"

Harry's face was burning as he saw Draco laughing loudly with the rest of his friends. When Snape read it, the article seemed to be ten times worse. 

Harry's heart broke when he saw Y/N's face waver slightly when Snape readout Harry's 'break up' for everyone to laugh at. 

"'...Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.' How very touching," Snape sneered, rolling up the magazine, the laughter from the class continuing. 

"Well, I think I had better separate the two of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love lives. Miss Sinclair, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Potter—that table in front of my desk. Move. Now."

Angrily, Y/N, and Harry both threw their ingredients into their cauldrons the loudest they could, their extreme pettiness showing, and dragged their items to opposite ends of the potions room. 

Pansy smiled at Y/N as she took a seat next to her and Y/N scowled now being sandwiched in between a pug and a ferret, definitely wondering if after class she should go to Madame Pomfrey for a tetanus shot. 

She ignored Pansy's grin and Draco's uncomfortable stares as she ground her beetles pretending it was Snape, Pansy, Rita, and Draco's face. It was apparent the boy couldn't take a hint given at the very most Y/N saw him as an annoying very distant relative she, unfortunately, had to see every day. 

Harry sat at the front desk, Snape following him and taking a seat at his desk. 

"All this press attention seems to have inflated your already overlarge head, Potter," Snape said quietly after the class had quieted. 

Harry ignored him knowing Snape was just trying to get a reaction so he could take more house points from him. 

"You might be laboring under the delusion that the entire Wizarding world is impressed with you," Snape continued while Harry was grinding his beetles even though it was already a fine powder, "but I don't care how many times your picture appears in the papers. To me, Potter, you are nothing but a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath him."

Harry poured his powdered beetles into his cauldron innocently, before beginning on his ginger roots. 

"So I give you fair warning, Potter," Snape said, his voice soft but dangerous, "pint-sized celebrity or not—if I catch you breaking into my office one more time—"

"I haven't been anywhere near your office!" Harry said angrily giving up his act of pretending to be deaf. 

"Don't lie to me," Snape said, "Gillyweed. Comes from my private stores, and I know you stole it."

Harry looked at Snape determined not to make himself appear guilty. Technically he hadn't stolen the Gillyweed. Dobby stole it and gave it to Neville who gave it to him. And there was no way Snape could prove that he stole from his office. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said sharply. 

"You were out of bed on the night my office was broken into!" Snape said angrily, "I know it, Potter! Now, Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your fan club, but I will not tolerate your behavior! One more nighttime stroll into my office, Potter, and you will pay!"

"Right," Harry said turning back to his ginger roots. "I'll bear that in mind if I ever get the urge to go in there."

Snape's eyes flashed with anger. He reached into his robes and for a second Harry thought he was going to curse him with his wand but instead he pulled out a small bottle with a crystal liquid. 

"Do you know what this is, Potter?" Snape said, his voice becoming dangerous again. 

"Bubblejuice?" Harry shrugged. 

"Veritaserum," Snape said enunciating the syllables. "Three drops of this and You-Know-Who himself would be spilling his darkest secrets. The use of it on a student is...regrettably forbidden...however, should you ever steal from my personal stores again....my hand just might slip," he slightly tilted the bottle, "over your evening's pumpkin juice. And then, Potter...then we'll find out whether you've been in my office or not."

Harry stayed silent and went back to his ginger roots knowing that silence, and doing his work properly was the best way to get on Snape's nerves. 

Sipping Veritaserum terrified him but he tried not to show it. He had so many secrets like Sirius, that if he spilled it would have deathly consequences. If he took Veriteriserum there was no way he wouldn't be spilling all about his feelings for Y/N to the world. Hell, maybe he should have been like Mad-Eye Moody and took a swig of it from a flask before he went to ask her out to the Yule Ball. 

After a while, there was a knock on the dungeon doors. 

"Enter," Snape said. 

Everyone naturally turned to the door to see Igor Karakroff come in and immediately make his way to Snape's desk. 

"We need to talk," Karakroff said trying to mask his urgency but failing drastically. He was trying to make sure no one could hear them by barely moving his lips but Harry could hear him easily given his close proximity to the Professors. 

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape said dismissively, Harry keeping his eyes glued to his work but listening intently. 

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip off, Severus. You've been avoiding me," Karkaroff insisted. 

"After the lesson," Snape said. 

Harry snuck a glance at the two and Karakroff seemed extremely worried while Snape looked livid. 

For the rest of the period, Karakroff hung behind Snape's desk desperately waiting for the class to be over. 

"Hey, you ready to go?" Y/N asked walking over to Harry with her bag at the end of class. She had let Hermione, Ron, and Daphne leave without her given she wanted to assure Harry the article wasn't his fault. 

"Yeah, one second," Harry said, even though he seemed preoccupied. 

He very obviously pretended to knock over his empty beaker on accident. 

"Oh no," he muttered sarcastically. "Help me will you?"

"What?" Y/N asked confused until she was being pulled under the desk by Harry. 

"What are you doing?" Y/N mouthed. 

Harry pressed a finger to his lips and pointed up. Y/N remained confused but she trusted Harry enough to listen. 

"What's so urgent?" Snape hissed at Karkaroff. 

"This," they heard Karakroff say. They both peered over the desk to see Karkaroff's sleeve rolled up to show something on his inner arm. 

"Well?" Karakaroff said, "Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since—"

"Put it away," Snape said surveying the classroom. 

"But you must have noticed—"

"We can talk later, Karkaroff!" Snape spat. "Potter! Sinclair! What are you doing?"

Their hiding spot had been given up and before Harry could come up with an excuse Y/N smiled innocently at her teacher.

"Snogging, sorry Professor," Y/N said surprising Harry at how nonchalantly she said it. 

"Get. Out. Of my classroom." Snape said completely fed up with the two given in third year he had "caught" them for doing the same thing. 

"Yes sir," Y/N smiled saluting him goodbye with two fingers and picking up her bag. She grabbed Harry's hand and they left the classroom both trying not to laugh. 

"So that's the excuse you went with," Harry said looking at her. 

She shrugged, "It's funny when he gets angry. That was also payback for third year," she said narrowing her eyes at him, "Don't think I didn't forget that horrific experience."

Harry just laughed at her finding himself completely captivated with her. 

Sadly, whenever they joked about things it always kept reminding him about how if he had just told her how he felt sooner, they would be so much more. 

"Hey," Y/N said noticing his sunken face, "You know I don't blame you for that article right?"

Harry took a breath, "I'm so sorry I said that. The words never should have left my mouth and now you have the third article written about you this year, and Snape was being a little shit for reading it out loud—"

"Harry," Y/N said chuckling slightly, "I promise you that article is not your fault. Yeah, what you did at the Yule Ball sucked, but it's not like I haven't called you four eyes, or dramatically not a Ravenclaw—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it," Harry said playfully rolling his eyes. 

Y/N laughed. She then placed both hands on his shoulders forcing him to look in her eyes. 

"You do know I stand by my previous statements," Y/N said, "the ones before the first task. You and me, 'Forever and Always," she said extra dramatically, "Yeah and sometimes I'm gonna hate you cause let's be honest you can say stupid shit, but know that we are Forever and Always."

Harry's face was burning and he was finding it very difficult to fight back the smile on his face. 

"Yeah," Harry said softly in a way that sent Y/N's heart on overdrive, "Always and Forever."

"Good," Y/N said letting go of his shoulders and satisfied with his answer. "Now I have to go to my dorm but I'll see you at dinner right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said cursing himself for not being able to muster up anything better than 'yeah'.

She began to leave until she turned back around and called, "And Harold?"

He looked at the girl with intrigue. 

"While you're at it, you might want to wipe that dopey smile off your face," she shrugged playfully sending him a smile. 

Harry turned even more scarlet as she turned around and headed to the Slytherin common room. 

He watched her until she disappeared down the staircase and then turned upwards to head to the Gryffindor common room. 

His mind was racing. 

Was he forever and always going to only be her best friend?

The one thing he knew for sure...was that he was forever and always going to have feelings for Y/N Sinclair. 

─── ∙ ~☾~ ∙ ───

𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟒: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟐

A/N: I LOVE THIS CHAPTER! I also couldn't think of another title but I think this one was accurate. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS SM FOR !! 4K FROM 50K AHHHHH

I'm also convinced Back to December by Taylor swift is Harry's point of view about the Yule Ball as well as I Wish you Would. 

Okay that's it ILY ALL <33