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- 15 -
When you're friends with Harry Potter there are certain things you need to get good at. It depended on how close you were with him of course, and as his designated older sister, I liked to think I had gotten quite good at these skills. It definitely always helped when someone else was good at the same things, because it meant you could rely on them as a sort of filtering system. If you weren't able to deal with it in time, it meant they were their to pick up the pieces. There was too many to list of course, and most of them happened subconsciously now, but there were three main skills that a friend of Harry Potter had to develop.
The first one, well, was the ability to get yourself into and out of trouble. When he's charging towards danger, you have to be ready to quickly assess and handle whatever that danger might be.
The second was the thickness of your skin. Now of course I don't mean the literal thickness of your skin, but rather just how well you handle his random outburst of emotions. I guess this didn't just come from being the chosen one, but because he's still just a 15-year-old, emotional teenage boy. But still, he had so much going on in his head, it was only natural that at some point or another, he was going to explode. Sometimes it was a good emotion. But generally, the emotions he bottled up meant he unintentionally spewed cruel words that he didn't always mean.
However, the skill I'm actually putting to use today is the ability to read his moods and body language to tell when something is going on with him.
After a desperate look from Hermione from across the Great Hall during the dinner feast, I knew it was time to spring into action. As soon as he had finished dinner he was on his feet, making his way to the exit. While I still had a quarter of my meal left, I knew that there'd be no time to catch him if I didn't leave now. Honestly, Harry's distraction was a welcome one. Anything to save me from Kelby and Eli stealing awkward glances at each other, and acting like there wasn't still something wrong. That, however, was an issue for another time. Right now Harry had to be my main focus.
As I reached the hallway, I called after him, he paused and turned to wait for me. That was a good sign at least, he didn't feel the need to completely ignore everyone around him.
"Hey? Where are you off to?" I asked as I caught up, falling into step next to him. His frown deepened, possibly at the thought of his evening plans. Did he get detention? Possibly for the other night... that could mean Umbridge. But the direction we were walking meant Snape, and I wasn't aware of any reason for him to have detention with Snape. Harry glanced around at the empty corridor before he spoke.
"I've got my Occlumency lesson tonight," He said in a low voice, making sure only I could hear him, despite the lack of any other students in the corridors. But I guess with the Inquisitorial Squad roaming the halls now, one couldn't be too safe.
