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“What are you doing?”
Harry quickly pulled down his wand. He turned his head and saw Y/n standing by the door to the empty classroom he was in. She smiled at him and walked in, closing the door behind her. Harry tried to push down the feeling that smile gave him, but it was hard.
“Just practicing,” he mumbled, turning his gaze to the floor so he wouldn’t accidentally look at her lips.
“What are you practicing?”
He couldn’t help but look up at her. She had now put her bag down on the floor and was sitting on the desk in front of him, the cheeky smile still on her lips. He had to look at it. Just for a second, he had to. Then he would look away, careful not to look too long and raise suspicion. Words couldn’t express how much he loved that smile.
“Uh…” He was quite embarrassed to admit he was trying to learn the patronus charm. Not only was he the only one in school who needed it, because no one else fainted because of the dementors, but he was struggling so much with it he’s started practicing on his own. “Professor Lupin is trying to teach me the patronus charm, but I’m having some trouble with it, so I figured I could cram in some practice in my free time.”
Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. “The patronus charm. It fends off dementors, right?”
Harry nodded.
“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Harry,” she said, seemingly reading his mind. “You’ve been through so much, it’s not strange for you to faint when a creature who literally sucks out all happiness enters the room.”
Harry smiled. “Thanks, Y/n.”
“No worries. Now, what’s the trouble with casting the charm? I could try and help you out,” she offered, standing up. He wasn’t surprised by her offer. Y/n loved to help people. That’s what he liked about her.
“Well, you’re supposed to think of a happy memory, but not just any happy memory. It needs to be really strong, and I’ve been having trouble coming up with one that’s powerful enough,” Harry explained.
Y/n furrowed her brows again. “Well, that’s certainly a tough one. I don’t exactly have access to your memories.”
“Exactly,” said Harry. “Thank you for the offer, but I think I best be doing this on my own.”
Y/n mumbled something under her breath that Harry couldn’t hear.
“What was that?” he asked. Y/n’s gaze had dropped from Harry’s face in favor of examining the floorboards, something that was quite out of character for Y/n.
“There is something I could try,” she said, looking back up at him again.
Harry’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “What?”
Y/n didn’t answer right away, instead, she examined his face closely, and Harry fought the blush that was threatening to appear under her fixed gaze.
“Close your eyes.”
Harry was taken aback by the sudden demand. “What? Why?”
“Do you trust me?” Y/n asked.
“Yes,” Harry said without hesitating.
“Then close your eyes.”
Harry listened and closed his eyes. He had no idea what Y/n was going to do, but he meant what he said: he trusted her.
Nothing happened for a few seconds until Harry could hear Y/N’s footsteps as she walked towards him. Even though he couldn’t see, Harry knew they must have been standing very close to each other, since he could feel Y/n’s hot breath on his face. He felt a hand being placed on his cheek, and despite the tenderness of the action, his breath hitched. A nose bumped against his, and despite his extreme nervousness at what was going to happen, the side of his mouth tugged upward in a small smile. Then he felt lips being pressed against his.
Harry still had his eyes closed when Y/n pulled away from him a couple of seconds later. He could hear her footsteps as she walked to stand beside him, and her hot breath fanning his neck as she whispered in his ear.
“Try that.”
And Harry did. He raised his wand and focused all he could. He thought about her tender touch as she placed her hand on his cheek, he thought about the flutterring feeling in his chest as she got closer, and finally, he thought about the instense spur of joy he felt when she kissed him.
“Expecto Patronum!”
Harry could hear a delighted laugh coming from his side and he finally opened his eyes.
A whispy silvery substance was shooting out of his raised wand. A patronus. Harry couldn’t help but laugh as well. He looked at his left where Y/n was standing, Her eyes where fixed on his patronus, and she was smiling that cheeky smile again. And this time, Harry didn’t feel guilty about staring at it.
As his patronus dissapeared, Y/n’s eyes shifted to Harry’s face and a blush creeped onto her cheeks. A nice change of character, Harry thought, since it was usually he who blushed around her.
Y/n’s gaze shifted down to the floor as she cleared her throat and stepped away from him.
“I better be going, I’m supposed to meet Ginny by the black lake to hang out,” Y/n said and picked up her bag from the floor, “but I’m glad I was able to help.”
“Wait!” Harry called out before she was able to walk out the door. She listened and turned around to look at him. “I don’t have my permission slip to go to Hogsmeade, but during the next trip maybe we could hang out. We’ll have the castle for ourselves.”
Y/n smiled. “I’d like that.”