โœง*.๏ฝกโ€ข. ๐•๐ˆ๐ˆ๐ˆ.

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โ€”ยป ๐ฅ๐š๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ž๐ซ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ฌ ยป

๐‡๐„ ๐–๐€๐’ ๐‹๐Ž๐’๐“.

How could he be lost? He had a map. He had followed the little pink trail to the dot, tracing back the steps that he had taken with the mapmaker, where he had held her hand as she led him over gnarled roots and soft grass. But then again, if he wasn't lost, why was this the third time he was passing the same odd-looking rock in the shape of a nose? Maybe he was as useless as his aunt gripped constantly.

Hee hee. The leaves rustled overhead, causing him to glance up. Hee hee hee.

"Who's there?" His eyes darted back and forth through the brilliant green foliage, jolting at the slightest shift. "I โ€” I don't mean to disturb you. I'm just trying to make my way towards the willow tree, I'll be on my way soon."

The tree leaves stopped moving and silence fell, the wind faint in his ears. Time had frozen in a moment, the shrinking of shadows the only marker of time as the seconds grew into minutes. It was silent for a forest, a little too quiet.

Shrieks and squeals burst to life. The tinkling of angry bells descended in the woods. Leaves danced and flurried about like a great wave of thunder. The wind pierced through the branches, carrying along bits and pieces of the forest along with it. Rocks, twigs, dried leaves, even bark and small insects were sent flying through the air.

The whole area was sent into a frenzy bigger and more chaotic than when the letters poured down the chimney. Harry ducked and covered his head when a twig nearly poked his eye out, shielding his face with his arms. What was happening?

"Harry!" The wind dropped like a stone, and he blinked. He didn't know what was weirder; the forest fighting against him when he tried explaining that he wasn't there to disturb it, or the fact that it all stopped the moment Hyacinth had called out his name.

She was wearing a breezy white shirt with puffy sleeves that tapered at the middle of her upper arm, grass stains wiped down the front. The blue shorts she was wearing were in a similar state, bits and bobs of leaves and pieces of grasses stuck on the hem. Her dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and he could see there was some semblance of an attempt to tame it down. The usual lavender scarf was replaced with a blue bandana tied to the top of her forehead like a cap.

It was different, but it suited her.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he couldn't hear the said girl who was trying to get his attention.

A sharp tug on his ear yanked him back into reality. "Ow, ow, owwww."

She harrumphed at him, and he rubbed the back of his neck and shied away from her brown eyes. They were big and pouty and sharp. All in all, it made him feel guilty.

"Hi, Yasi."

"You're late." She said, crossing her arms.

"Sorry," he grinned sheepishly, "I got lost."

The sharp edge in her eyes melted into an exasperated expression. That, he could deal with. Maybe.

"Ah, so the boy who can't tell time also cannot read a map." She bumped her fist against his arm in a teasing manner. "You're really hopeless, you know that?"

"So I've been told." He grinned, falling as her face turned serious. "What? Did I say something?"

"You know, I don't really think you're useless. You know that, right? I'm just joking around." Her warm gaze fixed upon his lensed one, crystal clear in the green light passing through the leaves overhead. "I would never think you're less than awesome."

She wasn't lying. Not that he ever thought that she would lie about things like that.

Harry smiled at her. "Yeah, I know."

"Good." She returned the smile. "Now, how about we go to the tree? I think we have some time to climb it before sundown."

He nodded, and she took his hand in hers, just like the first day they met. The forest faded into the background, a blurred image of yellows and browns and greens, the sound of crunching leaves under their heels, and her voice prattling on about who-knows-what in that strange accent of hers.

They had reached the willow tree, and she dropped the bag she always carried around with her at the base of the tree.

"Alright, do you wanna go first?" Hyacinth stretched her fingers forward, her knuckles popping at the movement.

Harry pointed at himself. "You want me to go first?"

"Yeah, why not?" He felt his cheeks warm, and he glanced at the rough bark of the tree, not meeting her eyes. "Do you not know how to?"

Her voice didn't sound like she was looking down on him. She sounded genuine like it was normal for everyone to know how to climb a tree. Granted, he thought, it probably was for her. A lot of times, when she talked, you could tell that she knew things and thought in a way that other people didn't, and she thought other people were on the same page as her most of the time.

He shook his head, still focusing on the tree. Hyacinth took his hand, and he turned his head to meet her beaming grin.

"That's ok, I can teach you!" Her hand felt warm and rough. Real.

He returned the smile. "Ok."

เผปโœงเผบ

๐“๐‡๐„๐‘๐„ ๐‡๐€๐ƒ ๐๐„๐„๐ย a slight struggle getting him up because he barely had any muscle in his scrawny figure, but with the combination of Hyacinth's ridiculous amount of strength and a weird sense of technique on his part, they found themselves sitting up on one of the upper branches. Or, at least, he was sitting on one of the upper branches. Hyacinth was dangling by her legs on the highest branch they could see, her dark hair free from the ponytail, falling like a curtain not unlike the sweeping leaves of the willow tree.

"So, let me get this straight." She said, clutching the branch where she hung by her legs. "Your dead parents, who your aunt and uncle don't talk about, went to this boarding school up north and put your name down for the same boarding school while they were alive, and now you're going to be going there too."

He nodded.

"And, they left you this massive amount of money and gold?"

He nodded again.

"And you got ice cream afterward?"

He nodded for the third time. His head was starting to feel a little bit disoriented from all the nodding.

She dropped her hands and let them hang below her head. "Do you think you could buy me ice cream too? I ran out of allowance last week when I bought a new book."

Harry couldn't help but laugh, and their giggles rang throughout the forest, the sun setting on yet another summer day.


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