LUCY:

As soon as I collapsed onto the sofa in Hagrid's hut the morning after the full moon, unhurt but very cold, Harry handed me a mug of hot chocolate — my frozen fingers grazed his warm ones, and we both hesitated, longing for a touch that lingered, but we couldn't, so we pulled away.

The days that followed had many other "couldn't"s.

We wanted to sleep together in the nights after the full moon when I was so cold I shivered even when I was sitting right next to the fire, but we couldn't, so I asked Ginny if she'd mind sleeping with me instead.

"Of course," she said instantly, even though she looked across the common room at Harry with narrowed eyes, suspicious, confused. "Harry could do it too, you know. You have shared a bed before."

The blush that rose to my cheeks at the reminder was genuine. "Yes, but — different circumstances. I can't. We can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

I sighed. "If I had a Sickle for every time I've been asked that question lately..."

We wanted to tell Ron we were dating so he'd stop teasing us about the way we were dancing around each other, but we couldn't, so we tolerated his ribbing and generated new excuses instead.

We wanted to be each other's dates to the Slug Club Christmas party, but we couldn't, so we invited other people instead.

I decided to invite Neville and Harry decided to invite Luna, which raised more eyebrows than I expected. I wanted to invite him because I knew he fancied Hannah and he knew I fancied Harry, and because I knew he missed Hannah, and because I knew he'd understand that we were just friends. Similarly, Harry made clear to Luna that they were just going as friends, to which she responded that she was perfectly okay with that because she had no interest in ever being more than friends with another person. Harry and I had agreed ahead of time that Neville and Luna were the perfect dates for us, but we never expected the uproar our decisions caused, mine especially. Apparently, rumors had been flying about Neville and me — people seemed to think that I had a budding romance with Neville, and I had inadvertently fueled those rumors by asking him. Harry asking Luna to be his date the very next day caused a general uproar, particularly among Romilda Vane's group. Romilda herself had tried to give Harry a Love Potion, in the form of gillywater and Cauldron Cakes, but he had the foresight not to consume either, even before I told him I could detect the Love Potion. Despite all of the buzz, however, we stood by our dates and laughed about it all late at night in the Room of Requirement.

We wanted to tell Hermione we were dating so she would reconsider her choice to invite Cormac McLaggen for the sole purpose of spiting Ron — because she was convinced that Harry and I had invited Luna and Neville respectively to spite each other — but we couldn't, so we just kept begging her to invite someone else instead.

We wanted to wear something that visibly matched to the Christmas party, but we couldn't, so we wore something invisible that matched instead.

"If I wear a necklace that's secretly a locket and you wear a watch that's secretly a locket and we place an invisible photograph into each secret locket," I explained late the night before the Christmas party in the Room of Requirement, "we would be matching in a way that nobody else will ever figure out."

Harry grinned. "You're brilliant." He immediately removed his watch. "Here, charm it however you need to charm it. Do you have a necklace that will work?"

I extracted it from my pocket with a smile. "Lavender and Parvati convinced me to get it when they were helping me shop for a dress in one of their catalogs. I thought it was silly at the time, but now I'm glad they were so persuasive. Did you bring your camera with you tonight, by any chance?"

"I bring it every time now, since I unfortunately left it in my trunk the night you fell asleep on top of me and started laughing about pygmy puffs in your sleep."

"Oh, shut up," I replied without any real bite, blushing. "Anyway — " I reached into his pocket and grabbed the camera. "Say cheese, Potter."

"Wait, wait!" The camera flashed, and he laughed loudly as he lunged for the camera. "Seeing as these pictures are going to be invisible anyway, why not take a picture together?"

I pursed my lips. "I don't know. Seems risky."

"Then we can burn the pictures after the party," he said. "We can have the picture for the night, then we can come back here and burn the pictures together."

"Alright. I'm keeping this one, though," I replied, giggling even as I imagined what his face must have looked like.

Harry sighed, smiling at me regardless. "That's fair. Now come on, my lovely girlfriend, let's take a picture together that we will burn in 24 hours' time."

"How romantic of you, Potter."

"I know, I know."

With a complicated series of charms and a decent amount of trial and error, we managed to get the camera to float at the right angle to capture both of us in the frame. We developed all of the pictures quickly and duplicated the best one. With another complicated series of charms, we — and by we, I mean I — charmed my necklace and Harry's watch to have hinges that would open just wide enough for us to slide the photograph inside. Shrinking the pictures and casting a Disillusionment Charm was quite simple, really, so that was the fastest part of the process.

"Now remember," I said seriously as we got up to return to our dormitories, "try to act like we're just friends tomorrow."

"I'll do my best, but I couldn't exactly keep my eyes off of you at the Yule Ball two years ago and I can't guarantee it'll be any easier this time around."

I blushed. "Ditto. At least it will help, knowing that we have the plan to sneak back here after the fact. You reckon we could get away with doing that while we're still in our fancy clothes? I know we could always just wait until everyone else goes to bed and meet here in our pajamas the way we always do, but I'd like to try to snog you in formal clothes for a change."

"It's worth a shot. Good luck, Miss Diggory," Harry said with a playful grin.

I returned his playful grin. "Good luck to you as well, Mr. Potter."

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

I hadn't gotten two steps out of Transfiguration, my last class of the day on Friday, before Ginny Weasley grabbed me by the elbow and started whisking me away.

"Oi, I thought we were getting ready with Hermione!" I protested.

"She changed her mind and said she wanted to get ready with Luna!" Ginny replied. "They're getting ready later, anyway. We're starting now."

I snorted. "Covering my scars doesn't take that long."

"Whoa, wait, no, stop." Ginny dragged me to a deserted corridor and turned to face me, completely serious. "That's not what I meant, Lucy, not at all. I don't give a damn if you cover your scars or not and none of our friends do either. All I meant is that I think we should take the time to dress to impress Harry."

"I'm going with Neville, though, and he's going with Luna," I replied slowly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "And? Harry still has eyes, even if his glasses need cleaning. And we're going to make sure his eyes are on you all night long. Whether or not you cover your scars is entirely your choice. All I meant is that we're going to take the time to do your hair in a fancy way and paint your nails and all that. Okay?"

"Okay," I relented with a sigh. "Only if you devote the same amount of effort, though. I don't want to look silly."

"We can match," she said, smiling. "Stop looking so scared, there's nothing to be afraid of. Worst case scenario, Harry remains blind. Best case scenario, he doesn't! Now come on, Lucy, let's have fun and be silly and get all dressed up for our boys, yeah?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Okay. Let's."

Ten minutes later, Ginny and Lavender and Parvati were engaged in a passionate debate.

"It's dress, hair, then makeup!"

"No, it's hair, dress, then makeup!"

"No, it's makeup, then dress, then hair!"

"I'm just going to go put the dress on," I said, grabbing it and retreating into the loo and locking the door behind me.

I hastily stripped off my school robes and pulled the dress on in their place. I studied myself in the mirror with a critical eye.

The dress was cherry red, at Ginny's insistence. She swore up and down that red looked great on me, so we settled on a floor-length red dress with long, billowy sleeves that would cover the scar on my shoulder from the previous December. It had bright white snowflakes stitched around my waist, and with the help of a handy charm, they sparkled in the light.

By the time I emerged, Ginny had already changed into her dress — it was essentially the same as mine, but in a dark green and with mistletoe leaves stitched around her waist instead of snowflakes.

Ginny whistled, eyes wide as she looked me up and down. "Damn, Diggory. You look great."

"So do you," I replied, blushing at her praise. "Dean's a lucky bloke."

"Everyone who sees you tonight is lucky," she announced. She turned to Lavender and Parvati. "So, how should we do her hair? It looked good at the Yule Ball, curled like that, but I'm thinking updo tonight."

"With the low neckline? No way!" Lavender squawked. "I think we should leave it down and maybe just curl the ends."

"I'm wearing a necklace, if that affects your decision," I said, going over to my dresser and reaching for it.

Parvati nodded. "That's right! Hm, maybe we should go with the updo then, so your hair doesn't cover up the necklace."

"Here, Lucy, I'll put it on for you," Ginny offered, crossing the room and taking the necklace from me. She fastened the clasp behind my neck before walking around to face me and adjust its placement on my chest. "The snowflake theme is perfect. Snowflake detailing on the dress, a snowflake necklace, all you need are snowflake earrings!"

"I have snowflake earrings you could borrow, Lucy! But they're gold, and your necklace is silver," Lavender said.

I shrugged. "I could charm it."

"Perfect!" She dug through her jewelry box for a long minute before emerging with the earrings. "Aha! Alright, Lucy, work your magic."

The hours leading up to the party passed jovially. Parvati and Lavender had the time of their lives doting on Ginny and me, and they did a brilliant job.

They painted my nails white, and when I tentatively suggested that I could paint a little silver snowflake onto each fingernail, Ginny high-fived me and announced that I was a genius. I ultimately decided to cover my scars for the evening, so I did that while they painted Ginny's nails. My friends compromised and decided I could wear my hair half-up and half-down. Ginny opted to leave her hair down, since her dress was sleeveless.

Parvati and Lavender decided to head down to the Great Hall for dinner, leaving Ginny and me on our own to finish up. We finished with time left to spare, so we flopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"So how have you been?" I asked.

Ginny laughed. "You see me every day, Diggory."

"And? Humor me, Weasley. How are you? How's life? Anything on your mind?"

"Everything's peachy," she replied lightheartedly. "Classes are alright. There's a massive war going on. Dean's lovely. The full moon is four days away and I'm not going to be there with you. But then the next day is Christmas. Life has its ups and downs like always. How are you? How's your life? Anything on your mind?"

I snorted. "You just about summed it up."

"Do you really fancy Neville?"

"Despite popular belief, no. I invited him to try to cheer him up, since he misses Hannah."

"I'm scared that one day we're going to receive the news that someone we know is dead," Ginny confessed in a whisper. "That's my worst nightmare." She jolted as she seemed to remember who was right next to her. "Merlin, sorry, that was so insensitive, I wasn't thinking — "

"Hey, it's alright," I said, resting my hand on her arm to calm her down. "Don't worry about it. For what it's worth, that's my worst nightmare. I don't want to — no, I can't lose anyone else. Sometimes I don't know how I've survived this long. I don't know if I'd be able to go through that all again with someone else I love."

"Don't talk like that," Ginny replied, taking my hand in hers and squeezing tight. "You always find a way to keep surviving despite the odds." She squeezed my hand harder for a second before releasing it and sitting up. "We're going to go be silly for the night, in our fancy dresses, and we're going to go blow the minds of everyone in the room, and we are all going to spend time together, you, me, Harry, Dean, Neville, and Luna. Harry is going to clean his glasses and kiss you in front of everyone, and — "

I laughed, but she frantically shushed me.

"No, no, I wasn't done! He's going to kiss you in front of everyone, and then you're going to dance together while everyone cheers, and then Neville and Luna are going to start dancing together because their dates have suddenly fallen in love, and then Dean and I are going to start dancing too, and then Ron is going to burst through the doors and declare his love for Hermione too, and then Cormac and Lavender are going to start snogging, and then Ron and Hermione are going to start snogging, and then Dean and I are going to start snogging, and Neville and Luna are just going to laugh until they can't breathe, and it's going to be the most unforgettable night Hogwarts has ever seen."

At that point, I truly lost it, and she started laughing too, and neither of us found that we could stop for a very long time.

Once the clock struck eight, Ginny and I made our way downstairs, where Neville and Dean were waiting.

Dean kissed Ginny's knuckles. "Looking lovely as always, Ginevra."

"You too, Dean...evra," she replied with a laugh.

"Just Dean," he said, chuckling.

Neville smiled at me. "You look nice, too."

"So do you," I said as I returned his smile.

"Well, shall we?" Dean asked, offering Ginny his arm.

"Yeah, let's go!" Neville offered me his arm too, and the four of us made our way to Slughorn's office.

We were far from the first people there — the room was incredibly crowded, full of people I didn't recognize. It was stuffy. And hot. And loud. And bright. And everything was simply too much all at once. I was overwhelmed immediately.

I scanned the crowd, searching for a glimpse of Harry, but it appeared that he hadn't arrive yet.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Neville asked in a soft voice, apparently noticing my panic.

"Yeah. Sorry," I managed. "Just — lots of people."

"Go, get away from the crowd," Ginny said to the two of us. "I'll bring Harry and Luna over whenever they come."

I nodded gratefully and let Neville lead me to the quietest corner of the room. We found two chairs to sit in and gladly accepted glasses of cold butterbeer a house-elf offered to us.

"Sorry," I said again. "I know I'm no fun, it's just — so many people."

Neville shook his head. "No, don't apologize. Ginny told me about... what's happening on Christmas Eve. I understand. Truthfully, I'm overwhelmed already too. We can just people-watch tonight, watching certain people more closely than others," he added with a wink.

I chuckled weakly. "Right."

At that exact moment, the door opened to reveal Harry and Luna.

Harry's eyes locked on me, and he blinked, his mouth hanging slightly open. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks under the intensity of his gaze, and he started to take a step toward me, but before he could, Professor Slughorn spotted him.

"Harry, m'boy! Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed.

Harry shot me a despairing look as Professor Slughorn dragged him into the crowd. Harry's hand shot out for Luna's, and he dragged her into the crowd as well.

Neville and I exchanged a glance before cracking up.

"Dear Merlin, thank you for coming with me," I said in between bouts of laughter. "I would have died if I'd been Harry's date. Poor Luna. Poor Harry. I'm content being a wallflower tonight."

"I am honored to be your designated wallflower partner, Lucy Diggory," Neville replied, chuckling.

"I don't envy Harry."

"Merlin, neither do I." He lifted his glass at me and raised his eyebrows. "Cheers to the wallflowers."

"Cheers!"

We clinked our drinks together and downed long sips of the sweet, cold liquid.

After a couple of minutes of chatting with Neville about who we thought the various guests were, I spotted Ginny and Dean making their way over to us.

"Well that didn't go how I expected," Ginny commented with a pout.

Over Ginny's shoulder, I spied a head of bushy brown hair rushing through the crowd.

"Hold that thought, Ginny," I said, hurrying toward Hermione. She all but ran into me, eyes wide, chest heaving. "Hermione, are you okay? What happened?"

Before she could answer, Harry rushed to her other side, looking as concerned as I felt. "What's happened to you?"

"Oh, I've just escaped — er, left — Cormac under the mistletoe," she explained breathlessly.

"Serves you right, for inviting him," Harry muttered.

I silenced him with a look and gently grabbed Hermione's elbow. "Come on, Neville and I found a quiet corner of the room, Ginny and Dean just joined us, you can come sit with us. You two can come as well," I said, smiling at Harry and Luna. "You look lovely, Luna."

I led the group over to where Neville, Dean, and Ginny were waiting.

"Whoa, Hermione, you look like you just lost a wrestling match with the Whomping Willow!" Ginny exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Cormac," Hermione spat. I passed her what was left of my butterbeer, and she drained it in one swallow. "Thanks. McLaggen makes Grawp look a gentleman. I wish I'd asked Zacharias Smith instead."

My jaw dropped as I looked at her. "You mean to tell me that you were trying to choose between Zacharias Smith and Cormac McLaggen? All due respect, Hermione Jean Granger, have you gone mad?"

"I thought they'd annoy Ron most," she explained. "Oh, bloody hell, here he comes, I need to go!"

Before any of us could respond or try to stop her from running off, a tipsy-looking Professor Trelawney stumbled over.

"Harry Potter! My dear boy! The rumors, the stories, the 'Chosen One!'" she exclaimed. "Of course, I have known for a very long time, the omens were never good, Harry, but why have you not returned to Divination? For you, of all people, the subject is of the utmost importance!"

Harry was saved from responding by the arrival of Professor Slughorn.

"Ah, Sybill, we all think our subject's most important!" he said. "But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions! Instinctive, you know — like his mother, and his father, for that matter! I've only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Sybill — why even Severus — " Professor Slughorn plucked Snape from the crowd and pinned him in place with a heavy arm around his scrawny shoulders. "Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus! I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!"

Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all."

"Well, then, it's natural ability! You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death — never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus — "

"Really?" Snape asked, eyes narrowing further.

"It's amazing what tremendous growth can happen when students have the chance to work in environments that want them to thrive," I said, trying to mask the acid in my voice with a sweet smile. "If there is one thing I learned from my parents, it's that all things, from plants to creatures to people, are capable of greatness when they are given a safe and encouraging place to grow and learn."

"Well said, Miss Diggory!" Professor Slughorn said with a fond smile. He then returned his attention to Harry. "Speaking of growing and learning, remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology — "

"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," Snape interrupted, sneering.

Harry straightened up. "Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to do."

"And a great one you'll make, too!" Slughorn announced with a smile.

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," Luna said suddenly, her sweet face contorted with concern. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."

Harry then laughed so hard he started choking on his drink, and it was only with great effort that I didn't start laughing too.

I glanced at Ginny with a sigh. "Ah, well, if that's true, I suppose I should give up my Auror ambitions as well and play Quidditch with you."

"Cheers to that!" Ginny replied, lifting her glass with a laugh.

Before anyone else could say anything, an angry-looking Filch marched up to us, dragging none other than Draco Malfoy by the ear.

"Professor Slughorn! I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Draco yanked himself free. "Alright, I wasn't invited! I was trying to gatecrash! Happy?"

"No, I'm not! You're in trouble, you are! Didn't the headmaster say that nighttime prowling's out, unless you've got permission, didn't he, eh?"

"It's alright, Argus, it's alright. It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment; you may stay, Draco," Slughorn said.

Filch predictably looked upset, but so did Draco — and Snape, oddly enough, but only for a moment. A quick glance at Harry confirmed that he was seeing the same thing I was, and he was confused too.

"Thank you, sir," Draco said, his face a perfect mask of sincerity. He seemed paler than usual, which was saying a lot, by his standards of paleness.

Professor Slughorn waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing, nothing. I did know your grandfather, after all."

"He always spoke very highly of you, sir! Said you were the best potion-maker he'd ever known, and — "

"I'd like a word with you, Draco," Snape interrupted.

Professor Slughorn frowned. "Oh, come now, Severus, it's Christmas, don't be too hard — "

"I'm his Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be. Follow me, Draco."

With that, Snape swept Malfoy away, and Harry watched as they left.

"I'll be back in a bit, Luna — er — bathroom," Harry said, turning to follow them only a few seconds later.

If Luna thought this was at all odd, she didn't show it, instead saying a cheerful "Alright!"

"What is this Rotfang Conspiracy you speak of, child?" Professor Trelawney asked, eyes wide.

Professor Slughorn shifted uncomfortably, looking out of sorts without Harry there to dote on. He turned to Ginny instead with a smile.

"So, professional Quidditch? Any team in particular? I know Gwenog Jones personally, you know, of the Holyhead Harpies."

Ginny's jaw dropped. "I'd love to play for the Holyhead Harpies!"

To my surprise, Professor Slughorn was quite knowledgeable about Quidditch, so I joined the conversation, and so did Dean and Neville, while Luna continued to talk to Professor Trelawney about the Rotfang Conspiracy.

Harry returned after about fifteen minutes, looking like he had quite a bit on his mind. Once he looked at me again, though — really looked — I watched the change in his eyes as I became the sole subject of the thoughts in his head.

I smiled knowingly, and to my surprise, he flushed a brilliant shade of red.

I looked away and returned my attention to the Quidditch conversation, but I could still feel Harry's eyes on me as I did so.

Fortunately, Professor Slughorn didn't drag Harry away to meet people again, and once the party started to wind down, we were all able to leave without anyone trying to stop us.

"You know," I said, "I'm still hungry, since I didn't eat dinner and I didn't eat anything at the party." I glanced at Harry out of the corner of my eye pointedly, and he got the hint.

"I'm hungry too," he piped up right away. "How about we sneak down to the kitchens? We can bring food to the common room for the rest of you. I think we're all hungry."

"You can spend the night with us in the Gryffindor common room if you'd like, Luna," I added, remembering that she was the only non-Gryffindor in the group.

She shook her head. "That's alright. I need to go finish my father's Christmas gift."

"I understand," I said. "Speaking of Christmas, would you like to ride with us on the train back to London?"

"I'd like that," she replied with a wide smile.

A couple of minutes later, Harry and I were huddled under the invisibility cloak and hurrying to the Room of Requirement. We opened the door to discover that the room looked almost like it had the night of the Yule Ball.

I smiled. "Seems like the Room of Requirement thinks we should have gone to the Yule Ball together and it wants to give us a second chance."

In response, "Magic Works" by the Weird Sisters started playing.

"Yeah, we have time for a dance," Harry said. He stared at me for a long moment, holding his hands out awkwardly. "Damn, I don't remember how."

"Fortunately for you, I do," I replied with a chuckle, reaching forward and placing one of his hands on my waist and holding his other one.

Harry once again blushed bright red. "You look amazing, you know?"

"So do you."

When Myron Wagtail started singing, I swayed back and forth to the beat, and Harry followed suit.

"So when I followed Snape and Malfoy," he started, but I popped up to my tiptoes and kissed him to shut him up.

"Later, love," I said. "Please just enjoy this with me. We can talk about it later. Let's just dance."

He blinked, once again blushing bright red. "Okay, yeah, good idea. You look amazing, you know?"

"So do you." I let myself get lost in his eyes, in the beautiful emerald green that felt like home, brought out by the green tie he was wearing with his black dress robes. I let myself get lost in the fondness that resided there, in the beautiful emerald green that felt like home. "I love you, Harry."

"I love you too," he replied.

We fell silent as the chorus began. Feeling brave, Harry twirled me around, and a giggle escaped me as we came back together. He smiled in response.

The sleeve of his robe had slipped down when he lifted his arm to twirl me, so the silver watch that was secretly a locket was visible.

I stared at it for a long moment. "I don't want to burn the pictures. I think we're safe. Our little secret."

"Our little secret in addition to our big secret?"

"Yeah, that." I giggled again, and I looked back at Harry. "We're going to have to run to the kitchens and back in order to be 'on time' after this little detour."

"I think showing up out of breath would be even more suspicious than taking longer than expected," he replied with a chuckle.

I flushed. "Oh. Right. Well — we can just say we got distracted talking to Dobby. I was planning on talking to him at the party, but I didn't see him. He must not have known you were Professor Slughorn's guest of honor, or else he would have gone out of his way to say hi to you."

"You're right. At least we didn't have to deal with his, ah, creative holiday decorations this year."

"I don't know, I think 'Have a very Harry Christmas' has a nice ring to it," I teased. "I intend to have the Harry-est Christmas possible this year."

Harry tossed his head back and laughed. "Alright, that's fair. I intend to have the... the Lucy-est... Lucy-est ho-Lucy-days possible this year."

I shook my head, grinning. "Nice try, Potter."

"We can't all be as clever as you, Diggory." Harry's eyes lingered on the snowflake necklace I was wearing. "You know, the Muggles say that no two snowflakes are the same. Each snowflake in the world is as unique as each person in the world."

"That's interesting," I said with a smile.

Harry blinked. "I — well, I had a point, I was going to say something romantic about how I was glad that your one-of-a-kind snowflake crossed paths with mine, but then you smiled and I lost my train of thought."

My face burned beneath the makeup concealing my scars.

"I know you're blushing," he said with a chuckle. "Come on, Lu, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that you're perfectly capable of saying something romantic without the help of a snowflake analogy," I replied.

And with that, I caught Harry's face between my hands and kissed him, all dancing forgotten. His hands settled on my hips, and he pulled me in.

And just like that, nothing else mattered. All of the secrecy, all of the lies, all of the hidden truths, all of the half-truths, all of that melted away until the truth, the thrilling and shocking and beautiful and amazing truth, was the only thing on my mind: I loved Harry James Potter and Harry James Potter loved me and that love was worth the fight, worth the struggle, worth the anxiety, worth the secrets, worth it all.