Hey! I know that it's been a while but my life is a mess! I wrote this instead of writing an essay that is worth twenty-five percent of my grade. Good decision? Not really.
Drop me a review!
Chapter 4
Alice
Waking up from a haunted sleep, I sat up in my new room, my new quarters, with my Head Girl badge on the bedside table. Life should have been perfect. Life almost was perfect, to be honest.
I had a shining badge, a loving family, and amazing friends. I am seventeen and willing to accept society for what it is, although wanting to help mold the world for the future. I am slightly attractive, and can hold my own in a Quidditch match. The boys don't mind when I spend time with them but the girls and I have had hundreds of girls nights while at school.
I was the daughter of a war hero, not one of the Golden Trio, but having Neville Longbottom, as a dad is amazing. Most people don't know who you are, so people don't stop me, but when I am recognized, it's nice.
The only problem was I didn't have the guy; the one guy who I've been trying to move on from since I met him. He's only one that I can never quite walk away from, no matter how hard I try. He's never looked at me the way that I want him to, the way that I look at him.
Of course, I would be that stupid cliché of the girl falling in love with her best friend. James Sirius Potter is so bloody infuriating.
Loving him is not easy, especially when he is the second biggest womanizer at school. Fred, of course, is first, but James pulls a close second. He can't seem to be able to hold down a girl for more than two, three weeks, maximum. The worst part is, every girl seems to think that they are going to be different, the one to change his ways. Of course they never are. It's pathetic.
I know that kissing him last night was stupid, but the only way that I get away with it is if I'm drunk or emotionally strung out. He knew I wasn't drunk, so emotionally strung out should have worked. He almost never says no, the only times he says no are the times when he worries that someone might find us. I can't understand why he said no last night.
I hate that word. No.It's not as if I've never been told the word, it's only when James says it. He makes it sound so final. There is no debating whether he means it; I always know that he does. Rolling over to grab my wand from the nightstand, I set a silent spell to warm my dressing gown and my slippers. Sipping the warm covers off my legs, I stepped into my warm slippers and dressing gown.
Opening the door to the bathroom, I heard running water. Oh wonderful, James was already up. I was hoping to be put together somewhat before I had to answer to him. I walked in as quietly as I could, but stumbled over a stand and sent it tumbling to the ground.
"Shit. Ow, my foot." I whined loudly. James stuck his head out of his shower.
"What did you trip over?" His tone was concerned but his face said otherwise.
"Towel rack. Fucking thing jumped into my path, bloody magic." He rolled his eyes and jumped back into his shower. I let out a small sigh, and moved over to the sink that had all of my toiletries around it. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. As I was ready to hop into my own shower, James was stepping out of his. He had a towel slung around his waist and had not dried off at all.
Another hard thing about falling in love with your best friend, he is completely comfortable walking around without a shirt on in front of you. I tried not to stare as water dripped down his Quidditch-sculpted chest and water droplets clung to his mahogany hair. I turned back to the sink, and grabbed on for support. I could feel my knees buckling, and the last time I had a "fainting spell" around James he made me go to the infirmary and Madame Pomfrey wouldn't release me for twelve hours.
He came up behind me and looked at me in the reflection. I tried not to get lost in his dark brown eyes. He says they are just a plain, boring brown. But, I know, after close inspection that they have the slightest specks of tiny green around the edges. He had just enough of his mother to not be sickeningly masculine, but enough of his father to have a strong chin and jaw. He was stunning, and for the moment, he was mine.
"Are we okay? After last night?" His words cut through me, as his eyes stayed locked on mine. I tried to back away and just bumped into his chest… his bare chest… dripping with water… from the shower… still wet… only a towel wrapped around him. Oh god, I am so far gone on this boy.
He put his hands on the sink where mine had been, effectively trapping me. I looked into the mirror and avoided his eyes, focusing on his left eyebrow. There was a scar there from an exploding potion in second year. "Alice?" He raised the aforementioned eyebrow and I shook my head, to clear the thoughts that were forming again.
Well of course, I wasn't okay, but I couldn't just up and tell him that I love him and I wasn't just crazy with emotion. That would be the worst mistake I could make. So I nodded, and swallowed.
"Fine, we're fine. I was just strung out last night. I wasn't thinking." He let me slip under his arm and walk over to my shower. I let the dressing gown slip over my shoulder and I slid out of my slippers. He was watching me with caution. I looked back at him, and then turned around. His eyes raked up and down my body quickly, and then smirking turned around to face his sink.
"I better be the only male to ever see you wearing that little stitch of cloth you call a nightdress." I glanced down and saw that I was wearing my most revealing nightdress that I owned. I blushed scarlet and stepped into the shower. Luck and wit was on my side and I quickly retorted.
"Alright, I'll just make sure the others see me in nothing at all." I threw the garment out and heard him laugh loudly, before the water from the sink was running.
I ran through my shower routine quickly. I was in and out within ten minutes, and I all but ran to my room, so I could quickly get ready. My conversation with James had taken longer than expected and I was running behind. I used a heating and wind charm on my hair to dry it while I was putting on my makeup. As I was finishing my eyes, my door banged open and I jabbed myself with the mascara wand. I looked up and saw Anne lounging on my bed. I rolled my eyes and used more magic to clean up the mess I had made with the mascara.
"Even with my own private quarters, with my own private password, you still find a way to make me more behind than I already am." I said over my shoulder to Anne. She shrugged.
"I figured you could use the company. We ran into James on the way down to breakfast. He said you were still getting ready. He also said that you tried to pull something again last night. He is crediting hurt emotions." She raised one eyebrow and just watched me as I finished putting on my lip stain. I said nothing, but the silence was confirmation.
"Alice! You can't just keep jumping him every time that you want to! He will notice eventually and then you will have to tell him!" She had jumped up from the bed and walked behind me. I stood up, still silent and walked into the bathroom. She stood in the doorway, appraising the room. One eyebrow slowly rose as she noticed the two showers and two sinks. "You are sharing a bathroom with him?" I nodded as I sprayed my perfume in a cloud around me. It was one of Weasley Wizard Wheezes beauty products. When you sprayed the perfume in a full circle around yourself, it saturated your skin and it smelled wonderful until you washed it off, leaving you smelling your best all day. It was my favorite of their products.
When the cloud cleared, Anne was standing, waiting for me patiently. I rolled my eyes, and pushed by her to grab my bag and my wand. I started out my door, and down the stairs, with Anne trotting along behind me with a smug grin on her face.
"I'm sure this morning was pleasant for you. Doesn't James tend to walk around shirtless while getting ready for his day?" The impish smirk on her face grew as I blushed magenta. It was no use trying to keep anything from Anne. She was impossibly good at getting answers from people.
"Just don't say anything more, alright?" I knew my face had dimmed to a bright red and we were almost down to the Great Hall. She nodded through her silent giggles. We pushed open the doors and made our way down to where the boys were sitting.
As we sat down, James looked at me and I felt my stomach drop, not because of my unrequited love, but something else. His eyes were shimmering, shimmering a way they only shimmer when a prank is going to happen. I cocked my head, narrowed my eyes and shot him a grin. He looked up and then over his shoulder at the Slytherin table. I watched the reptiles as Fred made a quick wand movement from beneath the table, and all of the present Slytherins' hair turned either burgundy or gold. Every robe turned a navy blue and silver pin stripe, and all of their skin turned yellow and black stripes.
As their screams echoed in the Hall, everyone else roared with laughter. Covering them in the colors of the other houses was a brilliant plan. I just didn't know it would be set into action so soon. As the teachers tried to free the Slytherins of their multicolored appearance, the other students slipped in and out to eat breakfast. We watched as the teachers used spell after spell and most of the time it only made it worse.
When the bell rang to signal fifteen minutes until lessons started, we had timetables appear right in front of our faces. I guess McGonagall was too busy to deliver our timetables personally. Glancing over my schedule, I had a break for the next two hours and then double History of Magic with Ravenclaws, double Herbology with Hufflepuffs, a break for lunch, and then double Potions with the Slytherins. Fabulous.
I looked up at James and Fred. They didn't seem very happy about our Monday scheduling either. James had his head on the table, whilst banging his fist upon it, and Fred had raised his face towards the ceiling, and shook his fists at the big puffy clouds rolling along the rafters. Anne looked like she had been punched in the gut, but better than both of the boys did. There was a wonderful benefit to all aspiring to be Helears and Aurors, we all had the same classes.
We got up from the table and walked up the stairs towards our new rooms. James and I waited in the Gryffindor Common Room for the twins to grab their school bags, then we all headed up to our new living quarters. James and Fred immediately disappeared into James' room, leaving Alice and I the main room.
Two hours later, with just enough time for the four of us to get to History of Magic, we left the room. The professors gave the same speech we had been hearing for the past three years, about needing to study and work hard to prepare for exams, that this year was the hardest, with the most work, lots of boring welcome backs, and three assignments in two classes: Two long essays and one short response. When my dad assigned that long essay, I swear he laughed at us. I'm going to have to talk to him about piling on work just because he thinks that it's "beneficial" to the student. I could kill him sometimes.
After lunch, James and I dawdled on our way to the dungeons. I was dawdling for extra time with him, but he had other plans.
"Are you going to be ok, with Potions this year, I mean?"
"Hmm?" He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. He looked around and pulled me behind a tapestry. There was a small alcove behind it and he lit his wand.
"James, really, this is ridiculous. We need to get to class. We can't be late on our first day back…" He pushed me back against the wall and put his non-wand hand on the wall next to my head. My heart started jumping out of my body, and the blood rushed to my head. He had to know how he affected me. He had to. There was no possible way that he didn't. It was so obvious, every time he came within a foot of me-
"Alice. Are you going to be able to take Potions this year?" His face, for once, matched his eyes. His whole body radiated concern. "I know that fifth year was really tough for you and I just need to make sure…" He sighed and looked down. He let his wand drop with his face. His whole body drooped and he put his forehead to mine. My heart stopped and I didn't feel it start again. He whispered, "Knox" and slipped his wand into his robes. He wrapped his free arm around the back of my neck and his wand arm around my waist.
Not only was my heart not beating but my lungs had stopped working as well. I was as close to passing out as I could be. "Alice… please tell me that you will be ok. I need to know. That fuckwit has no right to be back here. He deserves to be drawn and quartered." I laughed a short tiny breath.
"James, I was over him before the bruises were black." He let out a small growl. I slapped his arm and then rubbed my hand up and down his bicep. "James, I will be fine. I will graduate top of this year, and we, the two of us and the four of us, we will be out of this place and into the real world in nine months." He nodded against my head and then dropped his face into the crook of my neck.
"I love you, Alice." He said it with so much simplicity. I knew that he didn't mean it in the way that I wanted him to mean it, but the words still made my heart start again in my chest, and beat a sporadic pace.
"I love you, too, James." He nodded and then straightened. He smiled at my slightly and then grabbed my hand.
"Come on! We're going to be late to Potions! We don't want to be late on the first day back! You are setting a horrible example to the younger children." I scoffed at his arrogance and whacked him across the arm again.
We had almost made it to the dungeon doors when the warning bell rang. As we made it to the classroom doors, we bumped into James' younger brother.
"Al! What are you doing down here? Oh that's right, you are a spineless-"
"-a spineless traitor who lives in the cold wet basement, and slinks around with people who slink. Yes, I know James. You have told me a thousand times." James rolled his eyes at his brother as Al hurried up the staircase. How strange. His posture hunched and his stride seemed off. For the rest of, well most of, Potions I thought of one person, and just because of a chance run in with the boy. Odd usually one Potter dominated my thoughts. Today it was the other.
Albus Potter.