Chapter Text
The sun was shining brightly as Louis decided to take a walk down their town. Granted he was only nine years old but he was big enough to stroll around on his own. With small, quick steps he reached his favourite place- the Orchard. It was quite wide expanse of green land, speckled with trees and squirrels and butterflies. It was a fantasy world for the small boy.
Louis had been here before, plenty of time but this place still continued to mesmerise him. There was an array of flowers spread over a part of land. Red roses, white orchids, blue ivies and a lot more. The weather was cooler than that of the town as it was located outside the town. No one knew about the orchard and Louis was proud to call it his own. Louis’s orchard.
But this time, Louis could sense someone else around too. He could hear the muffled steps and crunching of dry leaves. A slight humming was coming from Louis’s right. He whipped his head there. How dare someone come to his orchard without asking him? This wasn’t fair to him. After all Louis had discovered this place. No one else was allowed her. No one.
With a firm thought in his head to chase the intruder away and a frown on his face, Louis set off in the direction of the song. The nearer he got the more curious he became. The thing was, the boy’ voice was really good- soft but gravely. And when he finally saw the boy, well his eyes widen and warmth spread through his cheek.
The boy was about his age that was crouching near the rose bushes. He didn’t pluck any but just sifted through the flowers, taking in their beauty. He had brown hair which curled at the ends and big green eyes which were shining as he looked around. His cheeks were flushed a light shade of pink due to the slightly cold temperature. He had a blue scarf around his neck and was wearing a burgundy jumper. There was an aura around him the beckoned Louis towards him. He didn’t realise he was staring. At that moment, Louis was sure that the beauty of the orchard or any roses didn’t even touch the beauty of this stranger boy in front of him. He wasn’t going to make him run away- he was going to know him better.
Louis realised that calling on to the boy would make him look like a creep as he was still hidden in the bushes. So the only choice was to walk up to him. Louis was told by everyone that he was ace at making friends. This was this chance to prove he could befriend anyone, even cute boys with blue scarves.
Louis took small, sure steps toward the boy, pushing the bushes aside. The boy didn’t look up even when Louis was right behind him, peering over his shoulders. Louis watched as Harry picked out a dried, grey rose from the bushes, tenderly and laid it on his hands. He had this pitying look in his eyes for the dried plant. Louis couldn’t be more endeared. This was a chance to make his entrance with a bam!
Bam!
Louis fell head first on the ground beside Harry as the lad scrambled around looking for the source of the commotion. Seeing Louis on the ground, the boy gasped and shifted to crouch beside the boy.
“Are you alright?” he asked. Louis heard the concern laced in the sweet, honey sweet tone of the green eyed boy. It was like chocolate bursting in a chocolate cookie or the warm sensation of the milk or the serenity of green pastures. What? This wasn’t description of his voice but the boy himself. From up close, he was prettier than the red roses beside him and the blue sky above him.
He had deep, chocolate coloured hair and milky white skin. Those big green eyes were staring at him with concern and ... expectation? Oh yeah he still had to answer.
Louis turned on his side and propped a hand to support his head. “Yup. Fine as... wine?”
With that Louis sent the boy in laughing which sounded like a bark. He immediately clasped a hand over his mouth. “Oops? I don’t laugh like that? Usually?”
Louis let out a tinkering, small laugh as the stranger’s words and as he changed every statement into a question. His rosy cheeks were now a delectable shade of red. His eyes were sincerely and apologetic.
“Hi,” Louis raised his hands to shake. If anything, Louis was polite. He had been taught by his parents to properly introduce oneself at the lot of places they went. “I’m Louis.”
“Harry,” the other boy replied, giving a blinding smile. There were two identical dimples on the either side of his face.
“You’ve got dimples?” Louis asked and immediately went to poke them but they were stranger yet so that wasn’t socially acceptable right? Wow! He was learning new words. “May I?”
Harry nodded quickly. Louis smiled and poked at his dimples. “You’re cute.”
With that the colour rose in Harry’s cheeks as he blushed furiously. With a small voice he replied, “You too.”
Louis knew he had a blush on his face too but he didn’t want to delve on that. So he chose to speak. He nodded towards the flowers in bloom. “So you, plucking flowers?”
“No,” Harry yelled outraged. “That would be a horrible thing to do. Imagine if someone pluck you out like that. Poor flowers.” He pouted beautifully at the flowers as if sympathising with them. Louis couldn’t stop the smile on his face which was spreading due to the immensely cute pout on Harry’s face.
“I really wanted to give you one,” Louis said in a sad voice. He picked the dead flower which was previously in Harry’s hand and was now lying on the ground. He gently touched each outer petal. He had what his mother called ‘magic’ on his fingertips. He had tried once or twice to replicate her way of blooming flowers but it would only work on petals. This time he wanted the whole flower to turn back to its reddish glow. He would try.
He moved his fingertips over the petals, stroking the stem and waited a few seconds. He desperately wanted to impress Harry and make him smile with those dimples. They had just met and Louis already felt like he had to prove something to him, win him over. But he was amateur at this stuff never having done anything or changed a flower but he wanted to right now. But the flower didn’t change, lying in its withered glory.
Just when he was about to give up, something changed. The drying petals started hydrating, little by little they were lifting up. Harry gasped as the greying, withered petals of the flower were filled with colour. They morphed from their grey form to a luscious shade of colour, slowly from the bottom to the tips. They weren’t red like the other flowers in the bush but they were very shade of pink which adorned Harry’s cheek. The rose changed fully until it was now pink in its full blossom. Harry’s eyes were wide with wonder. Louis smiled proudly at the flower and then sneaked a look at Harry.
His eyes were wide and shining as they took in the change in the flower. The wind slightly ruffled through his hair, messing them up. For that minute, not even the rose resting in his hand could ever compare to the downright angelic glory that was Harry.
“That’s beautiful,” Harry gasped, drawing Louis out of his stupor. He tenderly touched the petals like it would give in any minute and turn back to its withered form. When it didn’t Harry gave Louis a dimpled smile which made his heart swell.
Louis leaned ahead and placed the rose behind Harry’s ear. Leaning back, he tilted his head and observed the flower sitting snugly in Harry’s hair. He smiled wide. “Perfect.”
“Thank you,” Harry whispered, ducking his head to stop Louis from peeking at his blush, but the damage was done. Maybe it was Louis’s imagination but the rose just turned into a darker shade of pink, mirroring Harry’s cheeks.
“Even I can do magic, you know,” said Harry softly. Silent enough to be carried by the wind, undetected to the ear but to Louis, his voice was clear as day. Wow! His simile was improving. It was a simile right?
“Show me,” he demanded. Harry took one look at his face and nodded.
He picked up a leaf lying on the ground and placed it on his open palm. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the leaf. Louis was busy staring at Harry’s face scrunched up in concentration that he nearly missed that the leaf was levitated in the air, soaring with the wind. Harry opened his eyes and faced Louis with a wide grin. “How was that?”
“Awesome,” Louis replied, mirroring Harry’s smile with his own enthusiastic one. They were so alike.
-
After that, there was no telling the boys. They met regularly in the orchard. Playing with the leaves and moving with the winds. Louis got to know that Harry was from the neighbouring town of Holmes Chapel. Though it wasn’t as near if travelled by roads, but the orchard was just a five minute walk from their respective homes.
Louis got to know that Harry had one elder sister and a step father. Harry’s father had left them when he was young and Louis gave him a hug telling him how his father had died when he was young. He also told Harry how he had a younger sister and another was on the way, how he loved his new father and how his mum was the best. They got in a small argument deciding whose mum was the best but ended with the rolling over the ground and laughing, no final result.
It was no longer ‘Louis’s orchard’ but it was now ‘HarryandLouis’s orchard’.
Louis was happy with meeting Harry in their orchard, chatting and chasing the butterflies together. One day their moms followed them to the orchard to see where their child sneaked to every day and met the other. Harry and Louis pouted while their orchard was discovered by their mums and was no longer their secret place but the good thing was their mums slowly became the best of friends. They were both witches so they decide to extend their children’s friendship to them too.
--
“Harry, Hazza look,” Louis yelled as he bounded down the orchard to get to the green eyed boy. He looked at Louis with the same big green eyes Louis had come to like so much and smiled. Louis waved the paper in front of Harry’s face. “I got accepted at Hogwarts!”
Harry’s dimpled settled deep in his cheeks as he yelled. “Me too.” He leaped straight into Louis’s unexpected arms which led them to tumble down on the ground. Harry didn’t seem even slight frazzled by their state instead burrowing his face deep into Louis’s neck.
“Woah, Curly, your hair is tickling me.” In the span of two years, Harry’s hair had turned from straight to curly ringlets at the end. They still not curled as yet but Louis liked to call Harry ‘Curly’. It was fun.
Harry raised his head to stare deeply into Louis’s eyes. “Oops?”
Louis pursed his lips to contain the fond smile. “Hi.”
They had this habit of saying ‘hi’ if one of them said ‘oops’ or vice versa. No one except them would understand the meaning the words held for them. It was like their ‘forever’ or ‘always’ as one could say.
Harry rolled over him to lay by Louis’s side. They silently stared at the blue sky above them.
“So...” drawled Harry. “This means we’ll be together?”
“I guess so.”
The both of them stared the sky, thoughts flowing through the years they’ll be spending together.
--
Louis and Harry hold each other’s hands tight, afraid to let go. Their mums say soothing word but they both are scared. What if they run fast through the wall and crash?
“Its fine, loves,” Anne soothed. “I’ve done this when I was a kid too. Gemma?” She looked to the bored teen. “Why don’t you show them, dear?”
Gemma, who was busy rolling her eyes and sighing, rolled her eyes and sighed again. She uncrossed her arms and held on to her luggage trolley. “Fine. The things I do for my baby brother.”
“I’m not a baby,” Harry muttered under his breath, pouting. Louis squeezed his hand and said, “You’re not.”
Harry smiled at him. Gemma shook her head. “Oi! Watch and learn.”
She turned on her heels and ran straight toward the wall barrier. The two young kids were squinting their eyes, open just enough to see. They were afraid she was going to ram onto the wall. But she didn’t. Where she had ran off to was now only the wall- no sign of a fallen Gemma.
“See boys,” came the soothing voice of Anne. “Now your turn.”
The two looked at each other.
“Together?” Harry asked.
“Together.”
One hand on their trolley and the other entwined with other, they ran straight toward the wall in full speed. In what was a minute before the King’s Cross station was now another station. People- parents and kids alike- stood, talking and waving each other, a sea of black cloaks and chatter of voices as they bid farewell. A scarlet train stood in front of them, the children on the door. Some were the first years, chatting with nervous energy and enthusiastic air. Others were the older one who had been to the castle before and were speaking with their parent one last time before they left.
Louis looked at his mother and his sisters who were peering around her legs and smiled. “You’ll write to me?”
“Every day,” his mother assured. She had a proud smile on her face with glint of tears in her eyes. “Girls, go say bye to your brother.”
Two little head rushed to Louis as he crouched and hugged them. He’ll be missing them very much. “I’ll miss you.”
Over their voices, the horn of the train sounded loudly. He drew back from his mother and sisters reluctantly and turned toward his best friend to see him hugging his mother tightly. The two of them made their way towards the door and waved till they couldn’t see the platform anymore.
“We need to find seats yeah?” Harry asked. Louis nodded and they lugged their luggage as they looked for seats. Most of them were already taken till they came to the last compartment. There were just three other lads there- one was leaning across the window, presumably sleeping, the other two were chatting amicably. And the three of them looked first years too.
“Can we join you three?” Louis asked, opening the door just a little.
The one with the brown hair and puppy dog eyes looked up and smiled. “Sure.”
Harry and Louis pushed the door open and flopped to the seat beside the other kid, a blond boy who was Irish maybe from his accent. The one who was sleeping, a raven haired boy, was still sleeping.
“I’m Liam,” said the puppy eyed boy. “And this is Niall. The one who’s sleeping is... well I don’t know. He’s still sleeping and was from the moment I came in.” He shrugged.
“I’m Louis and this is Harry.”
“Like Harry Potter?” bellowed the Irish boy and laughter. Liam chastised him for yelling as the other nameless guy was sleeping but he was still sleeping. Louis smiled and exchanged a look with Harry. Seems like they found new friends.
It was an hour later after they had eaten- Niall was still eating- that they had been already been acquainted. Zayn, as Louis learned after he woke up, had food and fell asleep again, was a muggle born. He had three sisters- one older and two younger- and was from Bradford. Liam had two elder sisters, both in Hogwarts too and was from Wolverhampton. Niall was from Mullingar, Ireland, and had an elder brother who was in his last year.
“So Louis,” Liam said into the silence. “Which house do you want to go in?”
“Let’s see. My whole family has been in Slytherin but they are not bad people so... any house would be fine by me. But.” He turned to look at Harry and entwined their fingers. “I’d like to be in whichever house my Hazza is in.”
“Hazza?” Niall asked through stuffed mouth. “Who’s he?”
Louis rolled his eyes while Harry stifled a laugh. “Its Harry’s nickname. But.” He looked threateningly around. “Only I get to call him that.”
Niall raised his hands in surrender while Liam laughed. Harry hid his face in the crook of Louis’s neck. “Same with me. Whichever house my Lou is in.”
Louis smiled fondly at Harry and missed the questioning eyebrows the other two boys raised.
“I’d rather be in Ravenclaw,” said Zayn from his corner of the seat, startling the four boys who had assumed him to be asleep. He took in the surprised looks and frowned. “Did you expect me to sleep the whole time? I’m not that sleepy.”
Louis and Harry snorted at the same, earning a look from the mocha skinned boy. “So you two are close?”
Louis wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist. “Yup. Known each other from three years now.”
“That I can see,” Liam said, smiling.
“You got a problem with that, Payno?” asked Louis sassily and raised an eyebrow.
“No,” Liam said sincerely, puppy eyes in full force. “Not at all.”
Louis shrugged and went back to leaning back in his seat with an armful of Harry.
-
The castle was more than what his mum had described to him. As he walked beside Harry, he took in the enchanted ceiling and armours and the moving paintings. This place was absolutely beautiful. Looking at Harry, Louis realised he was just as mesmerised by it.
Someone clapped their hands to draw the attention of the gobsmacked first years. They turned their attention towards the sound and found a tall, strict looking lady with spectacles standing. “Hello boys and girls. I’m Professor McGonagall and I’m the head of the Gryffindor house. All the first years line up and follow me to the hall where you all would be sorted into your respective houses.”
At the mention of sorting, a wave of uncertainty and nervousness ran through the crowd. The murmurs stopped and everyone followed the Professor. Louis looked at Harry nervously to find him looking back just as nervous.
“We’ll be together,” Harry said confidently. He was so sure that Louis found himself believing him. He nodded and looked ahead as they marched through the tables towards a small stool place in the centre of the hall where an ancient looking hat sat. That was the sorting hat, Louis presumed.
Professor McGonagall called each student according to their surnames. Louis was biting his lips when their turn drew nearer.
“Styles Harry,” was soon called. With a reassuring squeeze, Harry walked to the front and put the hat on. The hat was too big for his head and falling on his eyes and not a second had gone by when the hat bellowed, “Gryffindor!”
The table in the far right cheered and with a glance and smile in Louis’s direction, Harry marched up to the Gryffindor table and took a seat. He patted the one next to it and mouthed, “For you.” Louis felt his hear soar.
As more names by ‘S’ and ‘T’ were called, Louis’s name finally came. He nervously walked to the scary looking hat. The last thing he saw was Harry smiling at him before slipping the hat on. It covered his eyes and he could only see darkness and the back of the hat.
“Hmm,” a voice echoed in his head. It was the hat talking.
“Gryffindor please,” Louis thought furiously.
“Gryffindor why?” came the voice. “You’d do better in Slytherin like your whole family.”
“I want to be with my Hazza,” Louis thought firmly.
“Okay then...” the voice came before a different voice came out loud. “GRYFFINDOR!”
“Thank you,” he thought before pulling off his hat.
He saw Harry standing up, grinning widely at him. “I told you,” he mouthed.
“You did,” he mouthed back and smiled. He was happy beyond words. Ignoring the people at the table congratulating and pat his back, he made his way straight to Harry and hugged him tightly. He knew that the other boy returned the sentiment of happiness and relief.
“Aww.” Louis looked to his left where he saw Liam. Weird, he didn’t see anyone else’s sorting. He’d have to know where Niall and Zayn were now.
Grinning, the two boys took a seat. Happy of being beside the other. There was a feeling of merry in the air. Louis decided not to tell Harry that he had chose to be with him. It was his little secret.
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