seeing you for the first time / chapter one (part A)
Author: piginawig / braveryandbiglove / amber
Pairing: Louis/Harry
Rating: PG13 (for now)
Summary: Harry Potter AU in which the boys grew up in Godric's Hollow together as best friends. And then Harry gets a girlfriend.
Notes: I wanted feedback and I was too impatient to wait until I completed this chapter to get it. Oop. Here's part one of chapter one. The title is taken from the song 'See U In The Dark' by Honor Society.
Stella had long blonde hair and a pretty round face and long legs and big tits (for a fifteen year old, at least) and a nice bum and she was everything Harry was almost entirely sure he wanted. He'd been talking with her all semester in Herbology, where they'd been partnered up, and he was surprised they weren't friends before considering they both grew up in Godric's Hollow.
On the day before term ended, when Harry and his best friend Louis were relaxing by the lake, limbs sprawled on the green grass in every direction, Stella approached. Harry's eyes were closed against the bright afternoon sun when suddenly the light was shadowed and his green eyes appeared from behind his lids.
"Harry," she greeted, a small smile stretched on her pink lips. Harry nodded, sitting up and brushing some grass out of his hair. Louis stayed in his position but cracked one eye open to watch the exchange with muted interest. "Can I speak with you?"
Oblivious to the unsaid privately, Harry just grinned up at the girl and said, "Sure, take a seat!"
Louis held back a snort and brought a hand up to shield his open eye from the sun. Now that he could focus on the scene in front of him, he recognized the girl as a Hufflepuff fifth year. He vaguely recalled Harry mentioning that she was his Herbology (or was it Potions?) partner but he hadn't realized they'd struck a friendship. He ignored the tug in his stomach at the thought of someone intruding on their lives.
Stella's smile had faltered only slightly before she sat down beside Harry, folding her legs beneath her and tucking a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. Louis idly thought about how much he disliked blonde hair (on everyone except Niall, of course, who could go bald and walk around in nothing but his pants and still receive nothing but positive attention) when he realized the words coming out of her mouth.
"Well, I was just wondering," she'd begun, eyes glancing at the ground before shooting back up hopefully at Harry, "if you'd like to ride with me on the train tomorrow. I won't be offended if you say no, because I know you usually sit with your mates, but I'd really like to chat with you."
Louis almost sat up to indignantly sputter that of course Harry would be sitting with his mates, it's tradition for crying out loud, when Harry's voice spoke up and Louis realized that he wouldn't have to, Harry would do it for him.
Except that Harry said, "Sure, I'll sit with you, just find me in the Entrance Hall in the morning after breakfast," and Louis could do nothing but gape.
"Great," Stella said, a full grin on her face. Louis wanted to smack it off or do something equally terrible, but he resisted the urge because his mother had instilled manners in him and he knew it was awfully rude to hit a girl. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
Harry muttered a "see you," before laying back down next to Louis. "Whaddya think that's about?"
Louis grunted.
"Lou?"
"You're seriously going to ditch us for some random girl?"
Harry turned his head to look at Louis. Louis had both his eyes shut again, but he'd thrown an arm over them to block out the still painful light.
"Are you upset about that? It's not like I won't still ride home in the car with you lot, it'll just be on the train. And we'll still have the traditional end-of-year bonfire day after next. You're being silly."
Louis only grunted again.
It was then that the sunlight was blocked again and the two boys on the ground blinked open their eyes to see three bodies standing over them.
"Well hello boys," Zayn greeted, plopping down on the ground by Harry's head. Liam and Niall soon followed and Harry and Louis both sat up. Taking note of the scowl on Louis' face, Zayn pulled an accent and said, "Vas happenin'?"
When Louis only rolled his eyes, Harry sighed loudly. "C'mon, Lou, don't be mad about this. It's not that big of a deal."
"What's not a big deal?" Niall asked immediately, nosing in.
"Harry's not riding home with us," Louis announced, "he's going to sit with a girl instead."
Zayn and Niall both whooped, Zayn patting Harry on the back and Niall yelling, "Get some!" while Liam glanced between Harry and Louis before offering a tentative smile at Louis.
"Don't look at me like that, Liam," Louis grumbled, picking at the grass beneath his fingers. "And none of those were the reactions I was looking for."
"Because you're overreacting and they're not?" Harry suggested quietly. Louis pointedly ignored him and examined his nails instead of replying. He couldn't fathom why the other boys weren't feeling as betrayed as he was and it just served to piss him off even more. They had ridden on the train in the same compartment together every year since the younger boys began Hogwarts, and now suddenly Harry was going to break the tradition for some random Hufflepuff girl?
Harry huffed, bringing Louis out of his train of thought. "Do you think she'll ask me to be her boyfriend?"
Niall shrugged and Zayn just laughed, but Liam sat up straighter and looked at Harry intently. "Do you want to be her boyfriend?"
"Dunno," Harry responded, twisting a bracelet on his wrist. It was his nervous tick, fingers always going for the bracelet from the Quidditch World Cup last summer, when he and Louis attended together. "I mean, I s'pose it'd be nice having a girlfriend, and she flirts with me an awful lot in class. But I never really thought about having a girl til now."
"Well," Niall cut in, "are you thinking about it now because you want it, or because you think she wants it?"
All four eyes locked onto Harry and he fidgeted uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence, Zayn and Niall seemed to realize they wouldn't receive an answer and decided to instead point out attractive girls to each other. Liam kept looking between Harry and Louis, brows furrowed and brown eyes confused. Louis fingered his green and silver tie, never looking up from the ground.
Harry just sat. His fingers continued to twirl his World Cup bracelet as his mind kicked into overdrive. He'd never been particularly interested in girls. His mum called him a 'late bloomer', told him that one day he'd see a pretty girl and he wouldn't be able to think of anything else. But Harry found Stella to be very pretty; he just wasn't sure he wanted to kiss her and hold her hand. She could hold a conversation and they could laugh together, but he could get that from any of his friends.
He was about to start his sixth year, though, and all of his friends had already hit the dating scene. He'd never liked being left out and maybe thinking someone was pretty and funny was enough to warrant them as girlfriend material. Harry wasn't sure, but possibly he was just overthinking it. Without looking at Louis, because for some reason he knew one look into his blue eyes would pierce his resolve, Harry answered the long forgotten question.
"I think I want to be Stella's boyfriend."
*
Louis was pointedly ignoring Harry. The five boys had eaten every meal together at the Ravenclaw table for four years straight. Louis had never made friends in his own house, always felt the Slytherins were judging his every move, so he decided in his second year when his four best friends all started Hogwarts that he would join them for meals at one of their house tables. The five of them had sat at the Gryffindor table that year, but Harry and Niall, the only Gryffindors in the group, had gotten trouble from their housemates for bringing a snake into lion territory. Liam and Zayn offered refuge at their own house table the next year, and the lot of them had peacefully eaten at Ravenclaw table ever since.
Until the last day of Harry's fifth year, of course, when after ten minutes of waiting on Louis to show up for breakfast, a stunned Liam had said, "There he is."
And he was pointing at the Slytherin table.
Harry and Zayn, who had their backs to that particular table, both flew around on the bench to follow Liam's widened eyes to see that Louis was, in fact, sitting at his own house table.
Harry huffed in annoyance. "The twat," he muttered, turning back around and picking up a piece of toast to nibble on. "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"No," Niall answered immediately, small bits of food flying from his open mouth. Harry grimaced.
"I don't get why he's being so crazy about this. It's one train ride, honestly."
"Well," Liam started, taking in a deep breath. "I don't think it's really the train ride that's upsetting him. I think it has more to do with someone new coming in and taking up your attention."
Zayn laughed loudly. "Aw, Lou's jealous!"
Harry flushed and ducked his head to hide his flaming cheeks. "I dunno, Li..."
"I think Lou needs to find a girlfriend himself, to be honest," Niall added and then swallowed, and Harry briefly wondered why he couldn't have swallowed first. Niall gulped some orange juice down and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his robe. "He's never had one, maybe that's what he needs. You guys can double date and stuff and he won't get so pissy!"
Harry tried to imagine he and Stella going out with Louis and a girl of his own. He couldn't fight the frown that appeared on his face. He didn't like the thought of being with Louis and not really having his full attention. That didn't feel right. Even when the five of them were together (all the time since toddler-hood, really), Louis and Harry had had a special connection, were always drawn toward each other. The other boys noticed and didn't mind; they understood there was some unspoken bond between the two.
Harry hadn't realized the conversation had gone on without him, and when he tuned back in he realized his friends were discussing the traditional end-of-year bonfire.
"This year will definitely be the best yet, now that Lou's of age and we don't have to have parents around," Niall said, a grin plastered on his face.
"There really won't be much of a difference, I don't think," Liam disagreed, brows furrowed, "it's not like we'll be drinking or doing magic."
Niall patted Liam's head. "No, of course not."
Harry and Zayn chuckled and Niall smiled at them. Liam frowned. "We're not doing anything illegal, boys."
"Whatever you say, Li," Zayn agreed, nodding his head solemnly. Harry grinned and turned to whisper something into Louis' ear about Liam acting like their dad again, when he remembered that Louis wasn't there.
The smile fell off his face and he sighed, turning his head back around to look at the Slytherin table. Immediately he caught Louis' eye, but Louis raised his brow, crossed his arms, and pointedly looked away. Harry groaned and plopped his head on the table. Damn Louis.
*
Louis sat in the train compartment with Liam, Zayn, and Niall with a scowl on his face. The boys were collectively ignoring his foul mood and acting as though everything were normal, which made Louis even more upset because of course things aren't normal, Harry's not here.
It wasn't until Louis declined the offer of a Chocolate Frog that Liam realized something was truly off, and he told Zayn and Niall he would sit out this game of Exploding Snap. He switched seats to be next to Louis, who was curled up next to the window.
"C'mon, Lou, will you stop looking like somebody stabbed Rufus?" Liam asked, referring to Louis' pet toad. Louis didn't answer. "This isn't going to change anything, Harry's still going to be our friend. It'll be just like when any of us got girlfriends."
"No it won't," Louis argued, his voice taking a higher pitch than usual and Liam's eyes widened because that meant Louis was fighting off tears. "You guys didn't ditch us when you had girlfriends."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure all of us ditched a time or two," Liam responded with a small chuckle.
"You guys aren't Harry," Louis said, even quieter, then squeezed his eyes shut. And Liam knew. Liam had known for at least a year, when he saw two seventh year boys snogging in the hall and learned that some boys like boys, that Louis had less than platonic feelings toward their curly haired friend. He knew Louis wasn't aware, because Louis told him everything, and probably would have freaked out upon realizing these feelings. But at Louis' words, Liam's stomach clenched, because suddenly these feelings that Liam knows about seem much more important than they did two minutes ago.
"Harry's not going to stop being your friend, Lou."
"I know, but," Louis stopped for a moment, "But there's gonna be somebody else that's more important to him than me..."
About Harry's feelings Liam was less sure. The boy was a mystery to him, but he was absolutely sure of one thing, and he said as much to Louis. "Lou, there's never going to be anyone more important to him than you."
Next
Pairing: Louis/Harry
Rating: PG13 (for now)
Summary: Harry Potter AU in which the boys grew up in Godric's Hollow together as best friends. And then Harry gets a girlfriend.
Notes: I wanted feedback and I was too impatient to wait until I completed this chapter to get it. Oop. Here's part one of chapter one. The title is taken from the song 'See U In The Dark' by Honor Society.
Stella had long blonde hair and a pretty round face and long legs and big tits (for a fifteen year old, at least) and a nice bum and she was everything Harry was almost entirely sure he wanted. He'd been talking with her all semester in Herbology, where they'd been partnered up, and he was surprised they weren't friends before considering they both grew up in Godric's Hollow.
On the day before term ended, when Harry and his best friend Louis were relaxing by the lake, limbs sprawled on the green grass in every direction, Stella approached. Harry's eyes were closed against the bright afternoon sun when suddenly the light was shadowed and his green eyes appeared from behind his lids.
"Harry," she greeted, a small smile stretched on her pink lips. Harry nodded, sitting up and brushing some grass out of his hair. Louis stayed in his position but cracked one eye open to watch the exchange with muted interest. "Can I speak with you?"
Oblivious to the unsaid privately, Harry just grinned up at the girl and said, "Sure, take a seat!"
Louis held back a snort and brought a hand up to shield his open eye from the sun. Now that he could focus on the scene in front of him, he recognized the girl as a Hufflepuff fifth year. He vaguely recalled Harry mentioning that she was his Herbology (or was it Potions?) partner but he hadn't realized they'd struck a friendship. He ignored the tug in his stomach at the thought of someone intruding on their lives.
Stella's smile had faltered only slightly before she sat down beside Harry, folding her legs beneath her and tucking a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. Louis idly thought about how much he disliked blonde hair (on everyone except Niall, of course, who could go bald and walk around in nothing but his pants and still receive nothing but positive attention) when he realized the words coming out of her mouth.
"Well, I was just wondering," she'd begun, eyes glancing at the ground before shooting back up hopefully at Harry, "if you'd like to ride with me on the train tomorrow. I won't be offended if you say no, because I know you usually sit with your mates, but I'd really like to chat with you."
Louis almost sat up to indignantly sputter that of course Harry would be sitting with his mates, it's tradition for crying out loud, when Harry's voice spoke up and Louis realized that he wouldn't have to, Harry would do it for him.
Except that Harry said, "Sure, I'll sit with you, just find me in the Entrance Hall in the morning after breakfast," and Louis could do nothing but gape.
"Great," Stella said, a full grin on her face. Louis wanted to smack it off or do something equally terrible, but he resisted the urge because his mother had instilled manners in him and he knew it was awfully rude to hit a girl. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
Harry muttered a "see you," before laying back down next to Louis. "Whaddya think that's about?"
Louis grunted.
"Lou?"
"You're seriously going to ditch us for some random girl?"
Harry turned his head to look at Louis. Louis had both his eyes shut again, but he'd thrown an arm over them to block out the still painful light.
"Are you upset about that? It's not like I won't still ride home in the car with you lot, it'll just be on the train. And we'll still have the traditional end-of-year bonfire day after next. You're being silly."
Louis only grunted again.
It was then that the sunlight was blocked again and the two boys on the ground blinked open their eyes to see three bodies standing over them.
"Well hello boys," Zayn greeted, plopping down on the ground by Harry's head. Liam and Niall soon followed and Harry and Louis both sat up. Taking note of the scowl on Louis' face, Zayn pulled an accent and said, "Vas happenin'?"
When Louis only rolled his eyes, Harry sighed loudly. "C'mon, Lou, don't be mad about this. It's not that big of a deal."
"What's not a big deal?" Niall asked immediately, nosing in.
"Harry's not riding home with us," Louis announced, "he's going to sit with a girl instead."
Zayn and Niall both whooped, Zayn patting Harry on the back and Niall yelling, "Get some!" while Liam glanced between Harry and Louis before offering a tentative smile at Louis.
"Don't look at me like that, Liam," Louis grumbled, picking at the grass beneath his fingers. "And none of those were the reactions I was looking for."
"Because you're overreacting and they're not?" Harry suggested quietly. Louis pointedly ignored him and examined his nails instead of replying. He couldn't fathom why the other boys weren't feeling as betrayed as he was and it just served to piss him off even more. They had ridden on the train in the same compartment together every year since the younger boys began Hogwarts, and now suddenly Harry was going to break the tradition for some random Hufflepuff girl?
Harry huffed, bringing Louis out of his train of thought. "Do you think she'll ask me to be her boyfriend?"
Niall shrugged and Zayn just laughed, but Liam sat up straighter and looked at Harry intently. "Do you want to be her boyfriend?"
"Dunno," Harry responded, twisting a bracelet on his wrist. It was his nervous tick, fingers always going for the bracelet from the Quidditch World Cup last summer, when he and Louis attended together. "I mean, I s'pose it'd be nice having a girlfriend, and she flirts with me an awful lot in class. But I never really thought about having a girl til now."
"Well," Niall cut in, "are you thinking about it now because you want it, or because you think she wants it?"
All four eyes locked onto Harry and he fidgeted uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence, Zayn and Niall seemed to realize they wouldn't receive an answer and decided to instead point out attractive girls to each other. Liam kept looking between Harry and Louis, brows furrowed and brown eyes confused. Louis fingered his green and silver tie, never looking up from the ground.
Harry just sat. His fingers continued to twirl his World Cup bracelet as his mind kicked into overdrive. He'd never been particularly interested in girls. His mum called him a 'late bloomer', told him that one day he'd see a pretty girl and he wouldn't be able to think of anything else. But Harry found Stella to be very pretty; he just wasn't sure he wanted to kiss her and hold her hand. She could hold a conversation and they could laugh together, but he could get that from any of his friends.
He was about to start his sixth year, though, and all of his friends had already hit the dating scene. He'd never liked being left out and maybe thinking someone was pretty and funny was enough to warrant them as girlfriend material. Harry wasn't sure, but possibly he was just overthinking it. Without looking at Louis, because for some reason he knew one look into his blue eyes would pierce his resolve, Harry answered the long forgotten question.
"I think I want to be Stella's boyfriend."
*
Louis was pointedly ignoring Harry. The five boys had eaten every meal together at the Ravenclaw table for four years straight. Louis had never made friends in his own house, always felt the Slytherins were judging his every move, so he decided in his second year when his four best friends all started Hogwarts that he would join them for meals at one of their house tables. The five of them had sat at the Gryffindor table that year, but Harry and Niall, the only Gryffindors in the group, had gotten trouble from their housemates for bringing a snake into lion territory. Liam and Zayn offered refuge at their own house table the next year, and the lot of them had peacefully eaten at Ravenclaw table ever since.
Until the last day of Harry's fifth year, of course, when after ten minutes of waiting on Louis to show up for breakfast, a stunned Liam had said, "There he is."
And he was pointing at the Slytherin table.
Harry and Zayn, who had their backs to that particular table, both flew around on the bench to follow Liam's widened eyes to see that Louis was, in fact, sitting at his own house table.
Harry huffed in annoyance. "The twat," he muttered, turning back around and picking up a piece of toast to nibble on. "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"No," Niall answered immediately, small bits of food flying from his open mouth. Harry grimaced.
"I don't get why he's being so crazy about this. It's one train ride, honestly."
"Well," Liam started, taking in a deep breath. "I don't think it's really the train ride that's upsetting him. I think it has more to do with someone new coming in and taking up your attention."
Zayn laughed loudly. "Aw, Lou's jealous!"
Harry flushed and ducked his head to hide his flaming cheeks. "I dunno, Li..."
"I think Lou needs to find a girlfriend himself, to be honest," Niall added and then swallowed, and Harry briefly wondered why he couldn't have swallowed first. Niall gulped some orange juice down and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his robe. "He's never had one, maybe that's what he needs. You guys can double date and stuff and he won't get so pissy!"
Harry tried to imagine he and Stella going out with Louis and a girl of his own. He couldn't fight the frown that appeared on his face. He didn't like the thought of being with Louis and not really having his full attention. That didn't feel right. Even when the five of them were together (all the time since toddler-hood, really), Louis and Harry had had a special connection, were always drawn toward each other. The other boys noticed and didn't mind; they understood there was some unspoken bond between the two.
Harry hadn't realized the conversation had gone on without him, and when he tuned back in he realized his friends were discussing the traditional end-of-year bonfire.
"This year will definitely be the best yet, now that Lou's of age and we don't have to have parents around," Niall said, a grin plastered on his face.
"There really won't be much of a difference, I don't think," Liam disagreed, brows furrowed, "it's not like we'll be drinking or doing magic."
Niall patted Liam's head. "No, of course not."
Harry and Zayn chuckled and Niall smiled at them. Liam frowned. "We're not doing anything illegal, boys."
"Whatever you say, Li," Zayn agreed, nodding his head solemnly. Harry grinned and turned to whisper something into Louis' ear about Liam acting like their dad again, when he remembered that Louis wasn't there.
The smile fell off his face and he sighed, turning his head back around to look at the Slytherin table. Immediately he caught Louis' eye, but Louis raised his brow, crossed his arms, and pointedly looked away. Harry groaned and plopped his head on the table. Damn Louis.
*
Louis sat in the train compartment with Liam, Zayn, and Niall with a scowl on his face. The boys were collectively ignoring his foul mood and acting as though everything were normal, which made Louis even more upset because of course things aren't normal, Harry's not here.
It wasn't until Louis declined the offer of a Chocolate Frog that Liam realized something was truly off, and he told Zayn and Niall he would sit out this game of Exploding Snap. He switched seats to be next to Louis, who was curled up next to the window.
"C'mon, Lou, will you stop looking like somebody stabbed Rufus?" Liam asked, referring to Louis' pet toad. Louis didn't answer. "This isn't going to change anything, Harry's still going to be our friend. It'll be just like when any of us got girlfriends."
"No it won't," Louis argued, his voice taking a higher pitch than usual and Liam's eyes widened because that meant Louis was fighting off tears. "You guys didn't ditch us when you had girlfriends."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure all of us ditched a time or two," Liam responded with a small chuckle.
"You guys aren't Harry," Louis said, even quieter, then squeezed his eyes shut. And Liam knew. Liam had known for at least a year, when he saw two seventh year boys snogging in the hall and learned that some boys like boys, that Louis had less than platonic feelings toward their curly haired friend. He knew Louis wasn't aware, because Louis told him everything, and probably would have freaked out upon realizing these feelings. But at Louis' words, Liam's stomach clenched, because suddenly these feelings that Liam knows about seem much more important than they did two minutes ago.
"Harry's not going to stop being your friend, Lou."
"I know, but," Louis stopped for a moment, "But there's gonna be somebody else that's more important to him than me..."
About Harry's feelings Liam was less sure. The boy was a mystery to him, but he was absolutely sure of one thing, and he said as much to Louis. "Lou, there's never going to be anyone more important to him than you."
Next