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'COLOGNE'
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♡

The next morning, Mina was walking through a hallway to breakfast when a hand suddenly met her bicep and pulled her into an empty classroom.

She let out a small sound of surprise, and made to protest, but stopped when she saw the hand belonged to Harry. The classroom was lit by the white morning light, and as he shut the door behind her, the noise from students in the halls was drowned out. Excitement radiated from him as he spoke quickly.

"Sorry, okay, so, I'm gonna ask Heather out today, and basically I bought this new cologne the other day but I don't know if it smells any good because I've smelt it so many times that it's the only thing I can smell right now—I've said the word smell so many times—so, how do I smell?" he said in a blur of words.

"What—?" before Mina could comprehend anything, Harry leaned forward, his head going over her shoulder, and angled his exposed neck toward her.

Heat rose to Mina's cheeks instantly; both at his sudden proximity like the previous afternoon and the way the subtle scent of his cologne met her nose. He pulled away.

"Well?"

"Uh—" she cleared her throat. "Good. Great."

"Okay, cool," he nodded vigorously with way too much energy for 7am. Her head finally caught up on what he'd said.

"...You're asking her out already?" Mina asked, hating the way her heart tugged painfully as the words left her mouth. "I thought you were gonna take things slow?"

"I heard some other guys talking about her last night in the common room," he said. "I reckon it's about time I make a move before someone else asks her...I was gonna find her before breakfast. Does my hair look bad? I feel like it looks bad."

She never knew him to be so self-conscious. "No, no, it looks good," Mina said, and in an effort to calm down his flustered nature, added with a reassuring smile, "you've got this. Okay?"

"I've got this," he repeated, taking in a long breath to inwardly prepare himself, before patting her shoulder as he made for the door. "I better go—thanks, Mins," Harry said quickly, and left before she could correct him; swallowing down the jealousy growing in the form of a lump in her throat.

><><

"Why the long face?" Ella asked her, looking up from the Daily Prophet in her hands to Mina, who slumped down beside her at the Hufflepuff table, opposite Josiah.

"Harry's finding Heather to ask her out as we speak," she crossed her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. Josiah added toast to her plate, but she nudged it away.

"How d'you know?" Ella asked, taking a sip of pumpkin juice, and she sighed miserably.

"He told me," Mina said, her eyes trained to the wooden table. "It's just—yesterday in the rain. He caught me and we were laughing and then we were almost chest-to-chest in the broom cupboard—"

"WHAT? You didn't tell me that part!" Josiah said a little too loudly, and Ella sent him a look. He spoke quieter, leaning closer to the two girls from across the table. "Did you kiss him?"

"I wanted to...but I just couldn't, I don't know," Mina spoke. "I thought we had a bit of a moment, that it might've changed things between us, but it's as though nothing happened. I mean, I've been helping him with Heather, but still—"

"WHAT—!" Ella and Josiah chorused—the former accidentally sloshing pumpkin juice onto the table—but Mina shushed them. She sat straighter defensively as Josiah's mouth remained wide open on shock. It took a moment of silence before he responded.

"What the fuck, Mins—"

"Language," Ella shot him a glare, but he put a hand up to block her face from his view and lowered his voice as he spoke to Mina.

"No, this is worthy of an f-bomb, El," he said. "You're helping him with Heather? Okay, please, enlighten me on where the logic is in this: you like a guy. You don't do anything about it. You help him date another girl. Do you see how this makes literally no sense?"

Mina shrunk a little in her seat, unsure of how to respond. "...I—"

"If you like him so much, just tell him!"

"I can't do that!" She gaped. "He's way out of my league."

"Holy hell, Mins, you don't know your worth," Ella spoke exasperatedly, turning around on the bench to face her properly. Mina couldn't help but notice that Harry had said the exact same thing to her just days ago. "If anything, you're out of his league. Besides, even if he doesn't like you back, at least you'll have closure after...what—four years?"

"Six...or five. Five and a bit?" She groaned. "I don't know anymore."

"Too. Bloody. Long." Josiah interjected, his mouth full of cereal, waving around his spoon as he gesticulated. He pointed the spoon at Mina. "You should make a move."

"But he's literally asking Heather out right now—"

"Maybe she won't even say yes!" Ella spoke. "Besides, saying yes to a date isn't a relationship."

"Yeah, but I'm not even his type. Like, at all," Mina said defeatedly, resting her chin back on top of her arms.

"Well...what is his type, anyway?" Josiah asked. "He's dated a bunch of different girls."

"He's dated pretty girls," Mina corrected him. "I mean, look at me, then look at Heather. I'm not even half as pretty—"

"Uh-uh, shut up, you're literally prettier," Ella immediately interrupted.

"But it's true!" Mina said. "She's tan, and I'm paler than Josiah's unused napkin. She's Australian, so even her voice is better than mine. Her eyes are, like, I don't know, brighter than the blue sky, and mine? Mine are stupid brown! Like MUD!" She pulled on her bottom eyelids to emphasise this point to Josiah, because by now, Ella had covered her ears in protest; refusing to hear Mina talk badly about herself.

"Just because you look different from her doesn't mean you're any less pretty," Josiah spoke, and Ella finally uncovered her ears. "You're beautiful Mina—that's better than pretty!" he said, but she scrunched her nose; not believing him. "Don't look at me like that, it's true. Besides, Heather could have a really shitty personality for all we know."

"But she doesn't—she saved me from detention that time when I burnt my hand in Potions," Mina sighed, and rested her face in her hands. "She even offered to walk me to the hospital wing!"

"Hm. That's true," Ella said, and thought for a moment before continuing. "Oh well, even if she is such an angel, if Harry can't see what's right in front of him—you—then he isn't worth it, as dumb and cheesy as it sounds. There's nothing wrong with you if he doesn't see you the same way. Besides," she perked up, and finished the rest of her pumpkin juice in one gulp. "Maybe Heather will say no..."

♡

a/n:
two updates in two days woah look at me go

hope you guys like the chapter!! it's so much fun tying the song's lyrics into the story

-g