sorry for making it the night after, but my laptop hated me last night.....

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Chapter Twenty Three - She Had To Do It Now

After being convinced endlessly by Hermione, Indie was once again asleep. However uneasy, she managed to wake up when the sun came in the window feeling a little more refreshed and relaxed than she had a few hours ago.
Sighing, she rilled over to look around the room. It was empty, aside from Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. Sitting up, she looked around, confused. The sun was brighter than it normally was when she got up for classes, meaning she had over slept. Reaching anxiously for the watch on her bedside table, she put her hands on a piece of parchment instead.

Indie,
I've taken this opportunity to allow you the morning off classes. Should you feel you need to catch up on any missed homework, you will find your notes in the drawer of your bedside table.

Regards,
Dumbledore

Huh, well that explained why she was alone, and why the sun was so bright. And, why her stomach was rumbling. Luckily, it wasn't lunchtime yet.
Dressing slowly and clumsily, Indie was able to make her way to the Great Hall just in time for the lunch banquet. Sure, it wasn't exactly a breakfast menu, but she wasn't complaining.
"Hey, Indie!"
Harry's voice caught Indie by surprise, as he headed toward her.
"You weren't in class this morning," he said, looking worried, "is everything okay? Hermione said something -"
"Harry, it's fine," she said, shouldering past him to the table, where she found her siblings, Hermione and the Weasleys.
They were already having small, incoherent conversations with one another, but that stopped when Indie sat down. She felt as though every eye there was on her, and it was making her feel uncomfortable, and her appetite decided to disappear.
Looking awkwardly down at her plate, chewing the croissant she'd just taken, Indie felt a body beside her. Really close beside her. Glancing through her peripherals, she noticed it was Harry, but chose not to mention or do anything...
"So, Hermione, are you excited for midterms?" Bella asked, a glint in her eye and sarcasm in her voice.
A few giggles escaped, and few heads shook, but Hermione just rolled her eyes.
"Of course I am, aside from Defence Against the Dark Arts..."
A few murmurs of agreement followed. However, the lunch continued to be exceedingly...awkward...
Before long (actually, it felt like an eternity), they were headed to class.
"Indie."
Feeling herself being pulled aside, she found herself in a small hole in the wall squished up next to Harry.
"Yes, Harry?" she asked, her tone indifferent.
She wasn't sure why she was treating Harry like this; she knew he wasn't the one from her nightmare, but i was still kind of...haunting.
"I, sort of, feel like I may have done, something..."
Indie pulled away.
"Harry, listen, it's not you, really," she said quietly, feeling the tears welling and her throat closing, "I just - I just - need to - get over something. Something that - that - is kind of...haunting me, right now..."
She looked up at him, from her slightly lower vantage point, her eyes wet and red.
All he could do was nod, and began to walk away.
"But, listen," he stopped, "I still want you to meet me out by Hagrid's place, after last class."
Indie smiled, the tears still almost overflowing, but she held herself together. Nodding, she allowed him to go to his class, a smile on his face as he went.
She started to walk away too, but paused, and turned to head back the other direction. It was the quickest way to Dumbledore's office. She may have been talked out of it last night, but after the confrontation with Harry, she knew one thing.

She had to do it now.