This is a sequel to my story "The Fire Within" so if you haven't read that, this story might be a bit confusing. I tried to fill in as many holes as I could for those of you who didn't read the first story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I only own the plot for this story and some of the characters.

Just a heads up, this story is rated T for some foul language.

Alright now, enough of the formalities! Go ahead and enjoy the story! :)

Chapter 1

The sky above me is a lovely azure blue. The sunlight peeks through wisps of clouds up above. Off in the distance are grey storm clouds. The wind lightly blows my waist-long, strawberry blonde hair as I sit on the warm grass and stare at the grey stone in front of me. It reads:

Carter Alan Cass

1997-2012

The best friend anyone could ask for

Rest in Peace

Carter had been my first and best friend at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had been killed, well murdered actually, by his own father a couple of months ago for refusing to turn me in to the Dark Lord. He had been killed right in front of me too. He had been like my brother and I blame myself constantly for his death.

"I know I haven't been here since your burial and I'm really sorry about that. I promise I didn't forget about you, I've just had a lot going on… You would be amazed at how different things are now, Carter. Since living with the Potter's, I've basically lost my American 'accent'. I'm even using the vernacular like a pro! I sound like a right Brit now!" I let out a chuckle.

I had been transferred here from Salem Academy last year after my dad was murdered. My mother had died when I was very young, so after his death I had nowhere else to go. I live with Harry and Ginny Potter, along with their three kids: Albus, Lily, and James. Their godson, Teddy, also lives with them. Carter's father had disowned him so James and I were going to try and talk Harry into letting Carter move into their house too, but we didn't get the chance since Carter died before the end of the year.

When Carter had first met me, I was completely American. I hadn't had the slightest accent, although Carter always said I did. Now though, I have a complete accent. James tries to take credit for my new accent, but it was actually hanging out with my roommates from Hogwarts that did it.

"I got selected to be a prefect this year too. I'm really nervous though. How am I supposed to lead and help a bunch of first years when this is only my second year at Hogwarts? I don't even know how to tell James… Oh! I don't know if I told you, but I'm dating James. I can imagine you laughing about that... I heard you were dating Astoria. She was really crushed when you died; we all were. I miss you Carter." I can feel tears welling up in my bright green eyes. "Carter, I'm so sorry. If I hadn't gone into the forbidden forest and fallen right into the Dark Lord's trap, you would still be here with us. We would be planning secret trips to Hogsmead and you would be planning dates with Tori."

By now I can feel warm tears rolling down my face. I reach my hand up and wipe them away. I absolutely can't stand crying; it makes me feel weak and vulnerable. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around and smile weakly. The boy standing behind me has messy black hair and hazel eyes. He stands about six feet tall and wears a gentle smile. "Hey James."

He crouches down next to me. "Sorry to interrupt, but we really need to go now. It looks as though it's about to rain."

I nod and stand up. I place my hand on the grave stone. "Bye Carter. I will visit again, I promise. And I will keep my earlier promise to you, you can count on that." I turn away and wipe more tears away.

James reaches down and grabs my hand with a smile. We are about halfway down the street when the rain begins. It starts off light, but by the time we are almost to number 12 Grimmauld Place, the rain is torrentially pouring out of the dark grey sky and we are soaking wet. I laugh and pull James down for a quick kiss.

He smirks. "What was that for?"

I smile and shrug. I tug his hand and we keep walking. After about ten minutes, we finally arrive at Grimmauld Place. James slowly opens the door and turns the lights on.

"SURPRISE!"

I jump back and pull out my wand. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?"

A large group of people, mostly consisting of the Potters and the Weasleys, had jumped out from different hiding places throughout the house. I quickly put my wand away. I can feel myself starting to blush so I look to James, who is poorly trying to stifle his laughter.

Ginny, James' mother, walks up and gives me a tight hug. "Happy birthday dear Ariana! Were you surprised?"

I laugh sheepishly. "Just a bit…" How could I have forgotten that today is my birthday! Now that I think about it, James had kept me out of the house almost ALL day today. It makes sense now…

Ginny reels back from our hug as she feels the dampness of my clothes. "Merlin's beard! You two are soaked! Go upstairs and change this instant!"

James and I laugh and make our way upstairs. Once we get to the second floor, James grins to me then enters his room. I continue up the stairs to the fifth floor. I walk into my room and strip out of my dripping clothes.

I walk over to my closet and look at my clothing choices. I pick a red strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. It is a simple dress, just plain red, but it's one of my favorites. I wrap my wet hair into a towel and start on my makeup. I pick a silver eye shadow and a light pink lipstick. I finish off my eye liner and mascara then take the towel off my head. I pull out my wand and use the hot-air charm to dry it. I finish drying it and quickly put it into a slender braid. Now it's time to get into the dress. I walk over and slowly pull it over my head. Once it's on, I reach back and zip it up. The dress hugs my waist and flairs out at the bottom, falling right above my knees. I stand in front of the mirror and spin around. I let out a giggle as I look upon my refection.

The past few months had been great, which was unnerving; nothing in my life ever stayed normal this long. I refuse to think about that today though. Today is my birthday and I will have fun damn it!

Suddenly there I a knock at my door. I lean back and yell "Come in!"

I hear the door open an in walks Bella Cattertome, my roommate at Hogwarts and one of my really good friends. She smiles when she sees my outfit. "Ariana Brighton! You look gorgeous!"

I run over to her and give her a hug and say "You don't think it's too much?"

She lets out a laugh. "Ari, it's your sixteenth birthday. You can dress however you please!"

I smile and nod. "I guess you're right. Now let's go downstairs and party!" We exit my room and walk down the stairs cheerfully. As soon as we get downstairs, Ginny leads us into the kitchen. I take a seat next to James and grab his hand.

Ginny grabs a glass and taps it with her spoon. "I would love to say a few words about Ariana before we begin eating. I just want to say that I am so glad you moved in with us last year. You fit right in with us as soon as you showed up. You have shown exceeding bravery with everything that has happened in your life and I know you will continue to face challenges and struggles with bravery and knowledge. I love you very much Ariana."

I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks as Ginny sits down and everyone applauds her speech while looking at me with large smiles. I look at Ginny and smile. "Thank you Mrs. Potter. I appreciate everything. I love you too…"

She smiles largely. "Alright everyone, let's eat!"

I get through dinner embarrassment free. The same, however, cannot be said for my poor boyfriend. During dessert, Ginny burst into a story about when James was little and used to walk around in her heels. His face turned so red I was sure it was going to explode.

Now that dinner is over, all the teens are in the living room dancing while the adults are in the kitchen talking. I had opened presents after dessert and now we were having a dance party, which Freddie suggested.

The living room consists of Bella, Lily (She just turned 7 last week) , Al, Astoria (one of my other roommates and friends), Rachelle (my third roommate and also a friend), Freddie (Bella's boyfriend and James' cousin), Roxanne (Freddie's younger sister who apparently goes to Hogwarts also), Hugo (James' cousin who just turned 15), Rose (James' cousin and a sixth year Ravenclaw who I am just meeting for the first time tonight), Logan Radley (Rachelle's boyfriend), Lorcan and Lysander Scamander (Al's friends and James' pranking partners), and Teddy.

I am dancing with Lily, who is giggling and twirling, to a rather fast song when I see James across the room talking to Freddie. I finish my "dance" with Lily and excuse myself. I walk over to James and grab his hand. "You think you're clever, don't you?"

Freddie laughs. "I'm going to go find Bells, mate. She will probably want to dance soon."

James turns with a chuckle and wraps his arms around my waist. I respond by wrapping my arms around his neck. Since I'm only 5'1 it's a bit of a stretch for me. "Just a bit, yes. You should have seen your face, it was brilliant!"

I smirk. "It was probably the same as your face when your mother brought up you running around in her heels."

His smile drops and he shakes his head. "I can't believe she brought that up… It was bloody embarrassing…"

The music changes to something slow, so we slowly turn in a circle while we talk. I play with his dark hair as we dance. "I thought it was lovely! I've never seen you so red!"

He smiles and changes the subject. "You look beautiful tonight, you know that?"

"Thanks…" I murmur. I can feel myself blushing. "Jamie, I have something I need to tell you."

He nods. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing!" I say quickly. "I just wanted to let you know that I got selected to be a prefect this year. It's going to be me and Bella as prefects for Gryffindor this year."

"That's it? That's really exciting!" he says with a smile. "I have something for you. Come with me."

I let go of his neck and grab his hand again. He leads me up the stairs to his room. He holds my shoulders. "Stay right there and close your eyes."

I close my eyes and he releases my shoulders. I can hear him rummaging through his trunk for something, then he is near me again. "Okay now open your eyes."

He is standing in front of me wearing a large grin and holding a small box wrapped in gold with a red bow on top. I take the box from him and walk over to his bed. I sit on the bed and pat a spot next to me. He walks over and sits down. "You really didn't have to get me anything…" I say with a smile.

He laughs. "What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn't? Plus, I WANTED to get you this."

I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. "Well thank you." I pull on the bow and tug at the gold wrapping paper, revealing a white box. I pull the lid off the box and smile. Inside the box is a silver charm bracelet with three charms. One charm is a small, golden snitch. That's the position James plays for the Gryffindor quidditch team and the position Carter used to pat for the Slytherine quidditch team.

The second charm is a phoenix, which is the form my patronus takes.

The third charm is a small gold heart with a "J" on it. I gently pick up the bracelet and hold out my wrist to him. He puts the bracelet on and says "I know it's a little corny, but-"

I cut him off with a kiss. I lean back and smile. "I love it. Thank you!"

He lays back and laughs. "Okay good."

I lean over and lie on his chest, holding up my wrist to look at my lovely gift. He says "The heart is so you know that you will always have my heart."

I let out a laugh. "You're so sappy. I love it."

"Don't tell anyone. I have an image to protect!" he says with a chuckle.

Suddenly we hear "You two better not be shagging up there!"

I stifle a giggle. James slaps his hand to his forehead and yells "OH MERLIN! SHUT UP MOM!"

I hear the adults laughing downstairs. She yells back up "You two get your butts down here NOW!"

I sit up. "We are on our way!" I grab James' hand and pull him off the bed. "We should go before she comes up here and kills us." He laughs and we walk down the stairs.

Harry and Ginny have been really supportive of James and my relationship. Probably because they think I am a good influence on James. They really only have one rule since we both live together. We are not allowed in each other's rooms unsupervised. They don't realize that we break the rule all the time. We get to the bottom of the stairs and find Ginny with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.

James looks at her sheepishly. "Geez mom. I was giving her my present! No need to get all mental!"

She shakes her head. "You two know the rules…" She turns to me. "Sweetheart, I wanted to let you know that everyone's leaving."

I nod and walk away to bid everyone a farewell.

After everyone has left, I make my way over to Ginny and Harry. "Thank you for the lovely party. I absolutely loved it." I give them each a hug. "Do you need help with the clean up or anything?"

Ginny shakes her head. "Don't be silly! I will take care of the mess. You look exhausted. Why don't you head up to bed?"

I nod with a yawn. I hadn't realized how tired I was until Ginny had mentioned it. I turn and walk up the stairs, stopping at James' room. I knock on the open door and lean my head in. "I off to bed. Goodnight, I love you." I lean my head back out and get to the first stair before I stop abruptly. Did I really just tell James "I love you"? We haven't said that to each other yet! What the hell is wrong with me? Shit, what if I just scared him away? We've only been dating for a few months; I just probably freaked him out!

I turn back around wide eyed. James is standing in the doorway to his room with a look of shock.

I walk back toward him slowly. "James… I. Am. So. Sorr-"

He walks over and kisses me with a smile. "I love you too. Goodnight, I will see you tomorrow." He smiles again and walks back into his room.

I let out a sigh of relief and turn and walk up the stairs. I get into my room and change into my pajamas. I leave my hair in its braid and throw myself onto my bed. I pull the covers up over me and smile largely.

I had just told James that I love him. And he said he loved me too. I don't think things could get much better than this. My life right now is as close to perfect as it can get. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

James' POV

I am changing into my pajamas when I hear a knock at my door. "I'm off to bed. Goodnight, I love you."

I stop what I'm doing at look up at the door but she's gone. Did she just tell me that she loves me? That's huge…

I walk to the doorway and see her standing on the stairs with wide eyes. She starts slowly walking toward me and says "James… I. Am. So. Sorr-"

I rush over to her and kiss her with a smile. "I love you too. Goodnight, I will see you in the morning." I smile to her again then walk back into my room.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that I love her until she said it out loud. As soon as she did though, I knew I did too. I crawl into bed and lie back with a smile. I pull up my covers and close my eyes. As soon as I do, I fade into a deep sleep.

Alright so I was helping my parents move today when I realized how I wanted thos story to go and this chapter to go. I just had to rush back home and write it ASAP! haha

So let me know what you thought about this chapter with a review!

As always, criticisms are welcome. :)

Thanks!

-Tx