Now that Poppy was this close to him, maybe he wasn’t so much of a boy anymore.
She remembered being sorted into Hufflepuff just two names before Harry got sorted into Gryffindor. She’d looked over his shoulder to see him chattering nervously with Ron. And when he’d been sorted, he’d run to sit between bosom friends in the making while she had sat between strangers and been too overwhelmed to eat.
“I should get going, but I’m sorry again,” Harry said, inching towards the door.
“Sure. Please stop apologising and just go.” Poppy winced and cursed herself internally.
Harry’s eyebrows rose a bit at her bluntness, but he didn’t leave. Instead, he stepped forward until he stood right in front of her. He stuck his hand out halfway, pulled it back, and then jutted it forward again with gusto.
“Harry, Harry Potter.”
Poppy stood there in silent shock for a second, eyeing his hand, then his bright red face, his hand, and his face again. He wouldn’t look her in the eye, but even in her hesitation, he held his hand in the air, awaiting hers.
It’d taken him six years to notice she was there.
She tossed those thoughts to the side, and took his hand in a too-firm grip.
“Poppy Paddington-Prince, and I know.”
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Complete story can now be found on Ao3!
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Summary: Poppy Paddington-Prince is a brilliant young witch who has spent the past five years being the best student she can be at Hogwarts, and the past sixteen years wondering if this is all she is. Her sixth year of studies begins with a single strand that is quickly entangled into a web of secrets, lies and deceit. At the centre of this most complicatedly woven web is a boy - and he has the saddest blue eyes she's ever seen and maybe the biggest secret of them all.
While the lies in Poppy’s life unravel in the background, she is propelled head first into a fiery romance that challenges everything she was raised to believe in. What will she do when her moral compass swings more wildly than she can handle?
Story Name: Paper Cranes Author: Prince_Po
