Chapter 2
The presence of another familiar against her magic made her look up.
Her voice was dry, "Wanted lunch?"
"I wanted to talk to you," Rigel said finally.
She met his eyes. No— they weren't even his eyes —not once since he'd come here had he let his glamour down. Apparently he'd gone to the room of requirement before leaving Hogwarts and taken a magical measuring device from there in order to render his magic usable without the suppressor should it be needed, so casting a strong enough glamour on himself to last a day hadn't been a big deal. He kept renewing it every night, asking her while still setting up his own privacy spells to keep away.
"Go on," Harry said.
"Look, I don't want to hurt—" Rigel shook his head at her exasperation and plowed through, "no, listen! I don't want any hurt to come to you or Archie. Which is inevitable if you know my identity, really. You're right. There is no way they won't find out sometime, and when they do, they'll corner the two of you. Archie can still get out of it. He's a pureblood. You're not."
"Have you forgotten plan B?" Harry asked him, "Even in the event of the ruse reveal, I'm never the culpable one. Archie will be taking most of the blame, and also shielding me from it." She didn't like it, but that was the most sensible thing to do. He could get off with a slap on the wrist, but if she were caught aiding and abetting blood identity theft…
"I know, but…" He sat down, and suddenly a rueful smile graced his features, "Actually, you're right. I've no idea what to do, so I'll hand the reins to you for a moment. Tell me, how do you think it should go down?"
She blinked, taken aback, then gave it some consideration, "First of all, you should start building up your image as a talent potioneer already. That way, you won't stand out as an emerging potioneer later, when Archie shows his clear lack of knowledge."
Rigel inclined his head, "and I suppose the fact that you'll automatically get to know my identity by simple process of elimination while still being able to maintain plausible deniability is a bonus."
Harry grinned, "I suppose."
"And then?"
"And then," Harry looked at him fondly, "we become friends as passionate academics in front of the world. Which, by the way, also happens before the supposed ruse reveal or the termination of the seven years."
Rigel bowed his head, "I admit I couldn't possibly have thought of that, O Wise One."
Harry picked up the nearest periodical and put it in his hands, laughing at his teasing grin, "You better become the wise one real quick if you want to be noticed by the world for your potions talent and not for slaying a basilisk."
Rigel ducked his head. That had been a teasing point for a while between them.
"The name Rigel Black will be remembered for centuries," He murmured to himself, "for killing a serpent that was wronged."
"Hey," She said, sobering up a little, "it wasn't your fault. Don't go around being all mopey again." She straightened and made her face carefully blank in imitation of him, "I'm Rigel Black… and everything is my fault."
That drew a smile out of him, "I'm Harriet Potter, and I'm unnervingly good at imitations."
They both burst into appreciative chuckles.
A chime came from the magical clock in the living room, and they rushed to attend to one of their other potions.
"So," Rigel said as he gave it another stir, "Lunch?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Harry said with a smile, "I've got Solom's pies with me today."
And they had a hearty meal.
It occurred to Harry suddenly, when she was talking about the latest piece of advice Leo had given her during their lessons. Rigel didn't make it obvious— in fact, she could see he was interested —but she thought she saw something sad lurking in his eyes.
She instantly regretted some of her words to him earlier. He didn't need to be reminded that every connection he'd had was temporary while she'd continue to have these friends and even use most of what she'd learned here openly.
"I'm sorry," she said to him, "I shouldn't have said some of those things to you. It was cruel."
Rigel gave her a half-smile, "It's okay. I'm surprised it took you so long to crack, actually. I've been told my affected attitude gets to people. Pansy's the only one so far who hasn't outright confronted me about it, and she, I'm pretty sure, has mentally despaired of me way too often. Draco's already had multiple breakdowns. Even Snape confronted me a bunch of times, although I was a bit oblivious then. Funny, I sometimes thought he thought I was up to something. Which I am."
She placed her hand on his across the table, "It'll be fine."
"Yeah," again that half-smile, "it'll be fine."
"No, really," she said, staring that self-deprecating look off his face, "it'll be fine. We're both going to be the greatest potioneers ever and still be friends and we'll try our best not to hurt everybody we know further. What else can we do? That's all there is, that can be expected."
And for a moment, he let himself hope.
Rigel squeezed her hand, "We'll be fine." It was almost a question, but not quite.
She let herself hope, too.