A/N: Hello :) Thanks for clicking this story! Hopefully you'll enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Harry Potter. Title, summary and lyrics in this story are from Abba's Waterloo, which I don't own either, of course.
She was a history freak, Elisa Hammings was. She also was officially the only person in her year who liked History of Magic and stayed awake during that class. Oh, and asked the Professor multiple questions every lesson. Every book in the library about history had been in her hands after the six years and a few months she'd been at Hogwarts.
She wasn't just interested in the history of witches and wizards – no, Muggle history interested her, if possible, even more. She was, after all, a Muggleborn witch, who had grown up hearing stories about the World Wars, the Industrial Revolution, colonialism and much more.
It wasn't just her passion for history that made her one of the best known students at Hogwarts, though.
Elisa, or Lizzy, as her friends had dubbed her early on in their first year, was also widely known for her ability to raise her voice to an unimaginable level. She didn't always do this, of course – only when a certain boy was involved. A boy who, because of his immaturity, constantlyannoyed Elisa to no end. He was also a boy who, despite that same immaturity, had always stayed true to her. Even though Elisa often wished he wouldn't, because she despised him. Or so she thought.
My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
"Lizzy!"
Ignore him, she thought to herself. Perhaps if you ignore him, he'll go away.
"Lizzy? I know you can hear me."
Think about a happy place, Elisa told herself. A happy place. With rainbows and unicorns and… general happiness. No James Sirius Potter at all. That proved to be quite hard when said boy was sitting right there.
"Lizzy, you're pursing your lips and your knuckles are all white. I know that you know I'm here. You can hear me."
"What do you want, Potter?" Elisa snapped at him, finally looking up from her book. It was a great book. An old book. Written by a Belgian wizard who had fought at the Battle of Waterloo. Mighty interesting, as far as Elisa was concerned.
She glared at the boy in front of her. Granted, his messy black hair and his piercing brown eyes made him look quite handsome, but he was, even at the age of seventeen, still rather scrawny. Besides, he was more annoying than everything else that could cause Elisa to get annoyed.
"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" he asked her, cocking his head slightly to one side. She had to give it to him – he was very persistent. One could even call him stubborn. But two could play that game.
"No," she replied simply, picking up her book again.
"You still don't want to come to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked, sounding put out.
"You heard that correctly, Potter," she said without looking up. That was, once again, quite difficult, as she could feel his intense gaze even through her book. It made her rather ucomfortable.
Finally, he sighed. "Fine, then."
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself
Five minutes later, Elisa was starting to feel exasperated. "Potter, why are you still here?" He was turning into a real stalker nowadays. As they were Head Girl and Head Boy, the opportunities to stalk her seemed endless. She knew exactly what everyone was thinking; this had happened before. James' grandmother had hated his grandfather, whom he had been named after, for years, before eventually going out with him in their seventh year. Both of them had been Heads, too. And though Elisa's hair wasn't red like Lily's, James often claimed he saw a certain red shine in it. It was all very coincidental. She knew that it was often said that history repeated itself, and as a history… freak, she knew better than to deny that. But so far, she had ignored all of that, against better judgement.
"I have a first name, you know," he told her, ignoring her question.
"If you don't leave, then I will," she threatened him, ignoring his comment. He was making her feel more and more uncomfortable every minute.
"Can't we both stay here?" he asked. "Or both leave?"
"No, James, we can't," she said, fuming by now. He was so insufferable sometimes. She stood up quickly, only to return her book and pick out a new one. Even though she had already read all of them at least once, they were still interesting.
She made it to the bookshelf where she had picked up the book earlier on that evening, but she didn't make it any further.
"Lizzy," he said softly, causing her loose hair to move ever so slightly. "Can you really not even give me one chance? One small, measly chance?"
"No can do, Potter," she replied stiffly, trying not to show him how weird she felt now that he was standing so close to her. "Can you at least move? You're blocking half the shelf."
"Sorry, Lizzy," he told her, and he moved just enough for her to be able to place the book back. Then, before she knew it, his arm was around her shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Potter," she said. "Now let go of me – "
"Of course," he whispered. He gave her a hug, kissed the side of her head, and let go of her. And then he left.
Immobile, Elisa stood there for a couple of seconds. Then, she stared at the bookshelf in front of her, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. She couldn't deny it anymore.
Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
There were two options now. One, she could continue to ignore him, snap, shout and yell at him, curse his name at least five times a day – or two, she could tell him.
Although the second option seemed much more preferable, Elisa didn't know if she could do that. He would think that she was only joking – or, as he liked to put it, messing with him and his feelings. Yet, she didn't know if she could take acting angry at him all the time anymore. No, she was sure of it.
What to do? Telling him that she would like to go to Hogsmeade with him after all would make her the laughing stock of the entire school and that wasn't something she wanted to achieve. Not telling him just wouldn't do. Perhaps she could wait until he'd ask her again and try to play it cool, then.
What had even happened? What had made her change her mind like this? He had hugged her, something he hadn't done before, as far as Elisa could remember. As she stood there, thinking about what just happened, she suddenly felt the desire to have his arms around her again.
But his hug – was that what was making her fall for him, now? No, she told herself. That wasn't the case. She had been noticing for weeks how nice he could actually be, how caring. She had been studying him for at least the same amount of time, wondering how someone so immature could be so sure about his (mature) feelings for her. This, she told herself, this hug – that was simply her breaking point.
She had no idea how long she stood there, just thinking and wondering, but in the end, Elisa returned to the Gryffindor common room without a book. She now had a problem she couldn't solve simply by reading a book.
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
wooh wooh wooh
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo
Entering the common room, Elisa was met by the loud noise of the whole House being down there and talking. Usually, she was able to block out all those sounds when she was reading, but now, she was determined to join in. Sitting with her friends, she asked, "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" Trisha, her best friend, asked.
"Well," Elisa started, looking around, "why are all these people here?" There were even some first and second years up – terribly irresponsible, if you asked her. "Shouldn't they be in bed?"
"Apparently not," Trisha said, shrugging. "Oh – wait, I remember. James Potter came in earlier, telling everyone to come down to the common room, because he had something to tell us all. So if you've got any complaints, I'm sure you know how to deal with him."
Temporarily forgetting her earlier… epiphany, for lack of a better word, Elisa stomped towards where the boys from their year were hanging around. Of course, they saw her coming from a mile away. James, she noticed (as much as she tried not to), looked particularly happy to see her. Even though she was going to yell at him again.
"Potter, what are you thinking? Why are you making everyone – and I mean everyone – stay in the common room so late? So what if you're nocturnal, that doesn't mean that the whole House should be!"
"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked promptly.
"What?" Elisa asked, flabbergasted. "Wh – Potter, answer my question!"
"Only if you answer mine first," he teased, and she glared at him.
"No," she said, crossing her arms.
"No?" he repeated. "That's a pity, then. If you won't answer, then I won't either."
"That was my answer, Potter," she told him flatly. As soon as the words had left her mouth, she regretted them. She would want to go to Hogsmeade with him, but she couldn't exactly tell him that now, could she?
"Oh," he replied, scratching his head, confused. He looks so adorable, Elisa thought without thinking, and her eyes grew wide. She hoped that nobody in this room was practising Legilimency right now. "Well, then, people – the show's over. You can all go to bed." And they did. Most of them, anyway – including Elisa's friends. Traitors.
My, my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger
Oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
"You still didn't tell me what they were all here for," she said after a minute.
Danny, one of his friends, snorted. "He was convinced that he had you where he wanted you now. He was sure that you'd go to Hogsmeade with him."
"And he wanted the entire House to witness that?" Elisa asked disbelievingly. She knew he was crazy and mad (and not just about her), but this was taking things a little too far. But how right he had been… he had her cornered, just not in the literal sense of the word.
"Pretty much, yeah," Danny replied. "Anyway, I'm going to bed too. Goodnight."
Feeling a little uncomfortable (again), Elisa walked towards one of the couches and sat down. She was hardly surprised when James sat down next to her seconds later. Alright, she thought, now what? She had turned him down twice already, today. Did she even want him to know what she just realised? Perhaps it was a spur of the moment thing – when she'd wake up tomorrow, everything would be back to the way it was.
For the second time that evening, his arm snaked around her shoulder and pulled her a bit closer.
"Let go," she muttered, not too sure herself that that was what she wanted. "James, come on, it's not funny."
"I completely agree with that, Lizzy," he said, turning so they were looking each other in the eyes. "This isn't funny anymore."
Her breathing quickened as he moved slowly towards her – for what, she didn't know. "James – " she started, but he placed a finger on her lips.
"Sshh, Lizzy," he mumbled. "Now is not your time to talk. Do you really hate me so much that you won't even give me the chance to prove that I love you?"
For a moment, her heart stopped. He loved her? He loved her? Her? "W-What?" she stuttered.
"Well, it's true," he said, shrugging – as if it was a very common thing to tell the girl who screamed at you at a daily basis that you loved her. Now that she thought about it – he might have mentioned it some time already. "Do you really want to break my heart like that, Lizzy? I always thought you were a nice girl. Nice girls don't break people's hearts, Lizzy."
"I'm sorry," she said softly, looking down at her lap. "I didn't mean to – "
"What did I ever do to deserve this?" he asked, and Elisa had no idea whether she was supposed to answer that question or not. In the end, she just shrugged, causing him to pull her even closer. "Lizzy," he said, and her breathing quickened again, "are you sure you don't want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"
She pulled back from his grip just enough to look at his face. It was completely serious. "I – " she started, and she couldn't help herself; she blushed. The look in his eyes was intense enough to make her melt into a puddle.
"Lizzy, are you blushing?" he asked, seeming very surprised.
"No, I'm not," she said feebly, looking away from him. Other than the two of them, the common room was deserted now.
"Yes, you are," he muttered. Then he grinned. "Does that mean you do want to go to Hogsmeade with me some time?"
Still looking away, she nodded. For some reason, looking at him would confirm it all; every feeling she had, every thought that had run through her head tonight. In the end, she did look, and she saw a look of surprise, mixed with pure happiness. She couldn't help but smile a small smile at him.
Cupping her face with his hands, he said, "Thank you, Lizzy. Thank you." He grinned widely. "I promise I won't disappoint you."
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose
As he pulled her in for a kiss (just a small one – he insisted on not rushing her), Elisa felt happy too. Everybody had been right, it seemed. Especially the person who had said that history always repeated itself.
A/N: Well, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review!