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1
Rigel, older than her classmates, older than sixteen, let her eyes wander along the faces of the students in the Great Hall. Her gaze caught on the second-years. All of them had already had their twelfth birthday.
All them were older than she'd been when she'd met Lionel Hurst for the first time.
It wasn’t really clear to her when exactly Leo's regard for her had changed, from something friendly to something decidedly not, but the more she thought about it, the more she became convinced there hadn't actually been any change. It had been exactly the same from the very beginning.
She tried to imagine being as interested in one of those children as he'd been back then. So obsessed. Wanting one of them.
It was clear to her that she didn’t experience attraction the same way other people did, had no understanding, no reference, for how her peers described crushes and falling in love.
So logically, Rigel knew she wouldn’t be attracted to one of these literal children, but even just thinking about it killed the last of her appetite.
Rigel shuddered looking down the pile of leafy greens on her plate and Draco, sitting next to her, sent her a sharp look.
Without acknowledging her friend, Rigel stood and briskly walked out of the Great Hall, paranoid that one of those second-years had seen her thoughts. Had heard her trying to think of them that way. Had heard her thinking of Leo's 'grow up already, won't you'?
As she burst through the main entrance out onto the lawn and took a deep breath of evening air, Rigel decided that Leo's obsession had made her uncomfortable for long enough already.
2
Leo had got her a flower and tucked it behind her ear. In itself, it wasn’t an unusual gesture. They hadn't seen each other for months while she was at Hogwarts, so she’d almost expected him to be over-exuberant in his greeting.
However, this was the first time Harry allowed herself to fully feel her ever-present discomfort at his proximity.
"Hey Leo," she greeted him and stepped back, looking around, ostensibly to see if she recognised anyone around them, but in reality she just wanted to reclaim her personal space.
"Missed me?" he asked, smiling cheekily and without asking, took the crates she carried and hefted them into his own arms.
Harry didn’t reply with 'like a toothache'. She didn’t say she'd spent the last months reevaluating their whole acquaintance.
Instead she made a sound of agreement and took off down Diagon. She asked Leo about the happenings in the Alleys since she'd last been there and hummed at appropriate points during his rambling speech. All the while her brain tried to come up with a way to get away as soon as possible.
With one ear she listened as Leo started lightly complaining about his mother and that she was currently annoyed at him for doing something dangerous and disregarding her medical advice.
After they'd delivered her potions to the Serpent's Storeroom, Leo automatically started walking in the direction of the Dancing Phoenix. Harry knew she had to redirect them, because in the Phoenix, she wouldn’t be able to get away.
"I wanna visit Hermione at Maywell," she said and immediately, Leo stopped.
"My ma's mad at me," Leo said. "I don’t think going to the clinic is a good idea."
Harry made her face perform disappointment.
"Oh no," she said, "I will have to go alone."
"I will wait for you," Leo assured her. Harry had no objections to that suggestion, but she knew Leo would wait in vain. She had no plans to leave Maywell any other way than the Floo.
3
Harriet Potter had never understood what people meant when they said they got butterflies in their tummy. When she saw Leo Hurst sitting at his usual table in the Dancing Phoenix and her belly made a strange little lurch, like she'd missed a step on the stair, for a split second, Harry thought 'oh, this is what people are talking about'.
A moment later she realised it couldn't be true, because it was the same feeling she had when somebody mentioned Peter Pettigrew's name around her.
It wasn't butterflies.
It was fear.
Before Leo or any of his companions could spot her, Harry turned on her heel and pushed the door open.
With a few quick steps and the crack of Apparition, she left Leo and the Phoenix behind.
4
"You've been avoiding me," came the accusing voice of one Lionel Hurst from behind her.
Slowly, Harry turned around and looked at her first non-Hogwarts friend. He was still every inch as handsome as the day she’d met him, and his hazel eyes sparkled despite his pronounced pout.
Harry felt absolutely nothing looking at him.
"I've been busy," she said, not acknowledging his hurt feelings and glancing out the window to his right. The Potion Guild's library was on the third floor of the building, and she could see the hustle and bustle of Craftsman Alley below them.
"Too busy to visit the Alleys?" Leo asked, brow arched. "I know you've been home from school for two weeks already."
Suddenly Harry could no longer stand it.
She would always be a little fond of him, grateful he'd given her a first chance to experience true freedom outside her home and away from the pressures of school and society.
However, this, his pointless pining, had to end.
"I don’t want your regard, Leo," she said, looking at him sharply. "You can keep it—or better yet, bestow it on somebody your own age. Caelum Lestrange is single, by the way, since Potioneers seem to be your thing."
She stepped past him, not letting him answer, and pushed open the window.
On the windowsill, she turned around one last time.
"Goodbye, Leo," she said and transformed, flying towards freedom.
+ 1
Harry Potter stepped into the Serpent's Storeroom, carrying three crates of potions she'd deemed too precious for a delivery by owl.
Somebody was already there. She hadn’t seen Leo's tall form through the window, hidden between stacks as he was.
She nodded in greeting and Leo seemed to freeze.
Slowly, he straightened up and put whatever ingredient he'd been holding back on the shelf.
Dipping his head at her, he walked out of the store without a word, giving her as wide a berth as possible.
Krait, from behind the till, boomed, "What have you done to our king, kid? He's been moping around the Alleys for weeks and now, he won’t even buy anything! What did I tell you about running off paying customers?"
Ducking her head, so Krait wouldn’t see her face, Harry smiled.