A/N: Yay! Update day! A bit of an exciting chapter.
Thank you to all my lovely readers and reviewers. You guys are all fantastic! I hope the upcoming chapters answer some of your questions and fulfill your hopes!
Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
The next morning, I was up early again. This time, though, I wasn't so freaked about the scenery.
I looked over to see James sprawled on his stomach on his side of the bed, the covers flung partially over one of his legs and his face turned away from mine. If I were really looking, I would say that his back muscles were really well-defined…If I was looking. I'd also say that his hair was more unruly than usual first thing in the morning…and, okay, I did look at that.
I carefully slid out of the bed and made my way to the toilet. When I was finished, I examined myself in the mirror. My hair was a bit tangled and messy and I looked tired, but nothing a quick spell and splash of cool water couldn't fix.
I rummaged through the bags until I found something casual enough to wear home today and changed, all the while trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake James. Giving myself one last glance in the mirror to make sure I was decent, I made my way down to the kitchen to grab some tea.
Just as yesterday, no one was down in the kitchen when I walked in. I even made my tea and had a bit of time to spare, watching the scene outside the window, before someone came in.
Lily soon shuffled in, looking half-asleep still. She didn't look as chipper as she did yesterday morning.
"Good morning, Lily," I said politely. She looked up at me as if noticing for the first time that I was there. I chuckled at her lost little child expression. "Would you like me to fix something for you?"
She mumbled something incoherent while nodding.
"Right. I'll take that as pancakes? Possibly a side of eggs with them?" She slumped into a chair and laid her head on the counter, sighing.
I got to work, pulling out all of the ingredients and mixing the batter. As I was testing the pan to see if the temperature was right, I heard another shuffling approach to the kitchen. I looked slightly over my shoulder to see Albus come in and slump down next to Lily.
"Good morning, Albus!" I trilled, laughing secretly to myself over the prank. He too looked startled at someone else being in the room with him. He then jumped again when he noticed Lily before rubbing his eyes sleepily and checking the rest of the room.
I let James' siblings finish their sleep as I finished making the pancakes. As each one was ready, I flipped them on to a big plate, making sure to cover them again each time with the blanket cake; just like Gran taught me.
"Lily, Albus, how do you guys like your eggs?" I waited a second, cleaning up the batter bowl and the counter. When I got no response, I turned around to see if they were even still in the kitchen.
Both of them were sound asleep on the countertop.
I frowned, unsure of how to proceed. I could just make scrambled eggs for the both of them….but they might not like scrambled. Of course, I could always make them a different kind if they woke up and decided they didn't care for scrambled this morning. Or, I could make scrambled and fried… but how did they like their yolks?
I was ready to cook four cartons of eggs just to get it right when Ginny and Harry walked into the kitchen, having a very intense conversation. They stopped when they saw me.
Now I felt awkward, as if I had been interrupting them by being in their kitchen.
"Good morning. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of making some breakfast. I'll clean everything up." I pursed my lips and folded my hands behind my back. Please don't be cross with me.
Ginny walked over and kissed both of my cheeks. "Good morning, dear. Thank you for breakfast. I was just on my way down to make some myself, but it seems you have saved me the time." She smiled warmly at me.
"And what a good morning it is, Emelia. Thank you for breakfast. You've saved me from my wife's cooking," he stage-whispered to me and winked. "I'm just messing with you, Gin." He kissed her swiftly on the forehead.
"Would you like fruit or eggs, either of you?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt anything again.
"That would be great, thanks." Harry beamed at me.
"Oh, Emelia, let me do that. You are a guest here and I couldn't stand to think that we are working you." Ginny fluttered around me.
"It's alright, Ma'am. I'm already at the cooker." I smiled at her.
"Well, at least let me give you a hand. My husband is finicky when it comes to eggs and I wouldn't want to subject you to that side of him." She smiled lovingly at her husband before sticking her tongue out at him.
Harry responded in kind.
I stood for a second, shocked at their behavior. Weren't adults supposed to be more…adult-like? Gran would have a coronary if she saw that exchange. I could only imagine the talk these two would be getting. And then, Gran would surely turn on me for staring.
I shook my head and turned back to the cooker, trying to remember what it was I was doing in the first place. I saw Ginny with the eggs and it suddenly came back to me. I was making eggs for Albus and Lily. Er…I would have been if I knew what to make.
"Ginny, what kind of eggs do Lily and Albus eat?"
"Albus eats anything. Anything you put in front of him is gone in a second. Lily is a little more complicated. She only likes eggs whites." She smiled fondly at her two snoozing children.
I laughed. "Simple enough." I quickly made the two their eggs, adding Lily's yolks to Albus' portion.
I served up pancakes, eggs and some sausages I had also managed to cook and placed the plates if front of the two sleepers at the counter. I looked over at Harry and Ginny who were back in to their hushed conversation in-between bites of breakfast. Ginny looked up at me and motioned for me to just shake her children awake.
Instead, I walked around the counter and gently shook Lily's shoulder.
"Lily," I called softly. "Lily, I made breakfast."
She mumbled something before turning her face away from me. I started to massage her shoulders, sure it would get her attention.
"Mmmmm, don't stop," she said dreamily. I laughed before ruffling her hair.
"Breakfast is in front of you." She looked up and pulled the plate towards her, smiling at the contents. I waited for her approval before moving to Albus.
I tried the same approach with Albus, starting by shaking his shoulder. When he didn't appear to be rousing so easily, I called his name. "Albus." I waited. "Albus, I made breakfast. You should wake up and have some." I waited once again, but received no response from the hibernating boy. I was at a loss of what to do and looked to Lily for help.
"Oi! Al! Get your arse up and eat!" She swatted the back of his head to emphasize her command.
This time, Albus reacted instantly. The arm that wasn't beneath his face flew up to try and protect himself from whatever attack he had thought was happening.
Unfortunately, on the way to covering his head, Albus' arm connected with my face. I had not anticipated such a strong reaction from him and therefore had not moved from my close proximity to him. I stumbled back, clutching at my face.
Albus nearly toppled off his chair, but managed to right himself in time and steadied himself on his stool. He looked around wildly, still trying to ascertain the threat and finally realised that is was only his sister, who was, by now, just about falling out of her chair from laughing so hard.
"That wasn't funny, Lily," Albus huffed.
Lily giggled and snorted. "You…You should have seen…" She couldn't get out the rest of her sentence from giggling so hard.
"Ha ha, Lils. Now, can you pass me the syrup?"
Lily complied, smiling sweetly at her brother. "Of course, brother mine. Anything for you."
"Oh, shut it, would you?" Albus grumbled irritably.
I hadn't even noticed the warmth spreading across my upper lip until Ginny pointed it out. "Oh!" she gasped. "Emelia, you're bleeding!"
I reached my hand up to touch my upper lip. Pulling it away, I could see that there was indeed a good amount of blood staining my fingers. Ginny was up and fussing about me, steering me over to a chair, running off to grab me a towel.
I tilted my head forward as I sat down, not wanting any of the blood in my throat. I didn't care that I had been trained to tell people to do the opposite. I didn't particularly feel like going vampire this morning.
I brought my hand up to my nose, hoping to keep the blood from getting on the floor, but it was flowing at quicker pace now.
The blood quickly pooled in my cupped hand and seeped between my fingers, splashing to the floor beneath me. I was afraid to move, lest the rest of my collected blood ended up on the floor as well.
Ginny ran back to me, pressing a small, wet, towel in to my other hand and guiding it toward my face. "Here you go, dear."
I was at a loss of what to do. "Could you ged be the bid, Giddy?" I asked, looking pleadingly at her. In a second, that appeared as well. I carefully leaned over the bin and turned my cupped hand over, releasing all that was in it. It spattered on the bottom and the drops still coming from my nose dripped down to join it.
"Oh, my!" Ginny sounded shocked at the amount of blood just as I had been. "Harry! Help her!"
"Look what you've done now, doofus!" I could hear Lily chiding Albus.
I brought the towel Ginny had handed me to my nose to try and staunch the bleeding. Using my other, messier hand, I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was a technique Leo had taught me. He claimed that he got into many a fight and this always helped him out.
"Id's okay," I tried to soothe Ginny. "Id's ndod as bad as id looks." Just then, another splattering of blood hit the bottom of the bin.
Harry came up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. He took a breath, ready to say something, when James sauntered into the kitchen.
Initially, he saw the pancakes and his eyes lit up, then he noticed the noise from Albus and Lily's bickering and frowned at them. He surveyed the rest of the kitchen for more food. His eyes finally passed over the spot where I was, hunched over a rubbish bin, with his mum and dad worrying over me.
He was about ready to turn back to the pancakes when he actually absorbed the scene.
"What in the bloody—" I laughed mentally at his unintentional pun.
He strode quickly over to me, kneeling in front of me and taking my face in his hands. He gently pulled my bloody towel away from nose and examined my nose. When he released my towel, I put it back against my nose, though the blood flow had nearly stopped by this point.
He looked frantically in to my eyes. "Emelia, what happened?"
"Id's dothing, Jabes," I tried to explain.
My explanation was drowned out by Lily's cry of "Albus punched her!"
James' head snapped to Albus and immediately his gaze honed in on the little bit of my blood on Albus' arm. He stood up dizzyingly quick and was nose to nose with Albus in a second.
"What is it that you're trying to pull here?"
"James!" His mother yelled after him! "Leave your brother alone! It was an accident, James."
Lily swatted Albus across the back of his head again. "See what you've caused!"
"Ow! Lily—"
"I'd be more worried about me if I were you." James had Albus by the front of his shirt now, lifting him slightly off of the stool.
"James, calm down! Harry, do something!" Ginny demanded.
"Er- right. Boys! Listen to your mother!" Harry tried to cut in authoritatively.
"Oooo, Al, you're going to get it now," Lily sing-songed.
"Look, James, it was an accident, mate! I swear it! I would never mean to—"
"James! Just listen to him for a second!"
"Don't touch my fiancée!"
"Boys."
"—I wasn't trying to hurt her! I was—"
"—ever put your hands on her again, I'll—"
"—tell him, James!"
"Boys."
"—shouldn't do that, Albus. You're only making it—"
"—don't know where you get off—"
"—honest, James, I was no—"
"BOYS!" Their voices all came to a crescendo at the sound of Harry's final warning.
Lily froze, staring on wide-eyed at her brothers. James had pulled Albus out of his seat and looked near ready to punch him. Albus had taken up a fighting stance as well. Harry had moved to stand somewhat between his boys while Ginny stayed next to me, her hand taking the place of Harry's. James' chest heaved up and down, his eyes still holding a bit of murder in them.
"James, I swear to you, I did not punch Emelia." Albus held his hands up in a placating manner.
"Then how do you explain the blood on you?" James gestured sharply.
Albus looked perplexed for a second before looking at where James mentioned. He caught one glance of my blood on his arm before he went completely pale and crumpled soundlessly to the floor.
"Albus!" Ginny ran to her fallen child. She kneeled next to him and started fanning him with her hands.
"Why don't you use just use a revival spell, Gin?" Harry asked.
"Or some smelling salts!" Lily threw in. "Or you could just use a pair of Al's socks. That will work twice as well!"
"Hush, Lily," Ginny sternly reprimanded her daughter. "Oh, he's coming out of it! Albus?"
Albus started stirring from his position on the floor. He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings.
"Careful. Slowly, now. There's a good boy," Ginny softly crooned to him, stroking his bangs.
Albus groaned. "Wha' happened?"
"You fainted, silly!" Lily rolled her eyes and giggled.
Albus' eyes quickly cut to me, and then James, panicked.
"It's alright, Albus," I assured him. By now, my nosebleed had completely stopped. I looked an awful mess, but it wasn't getting any worse.
I stood up and walked over to him and kneeled in front of him. I reached to place my hand on his shoulder, but thought better of it when I noticed how it was currently coated in blood. Albus recoiled slightly at the sight of my bloody hand, so I offered him a reassuring smile instead.
I felt James come stand behind me. I rose and turned to meet his gaze. I looked him straight in the eye, trying to figure out what he was thinking. He was busy glaring at Albus.
"Hey. Look at me, please," I demanded. When he did finally make eye contact with me, "I'm fine."
He looked ready to retort, but I just shook my head. I spun on my heel and stormed out as politely and quietly as I could at the moment.
"Ooooo, Jamie's in trouuuble."
"Lily, eat your breakfast."
I continued up the stairs and into James' room, tempted to slam the door. I couldn't do that to Mr. and Mrs. Potter though. I stomped (Well, to me, it was stomping. I suppose to other people it was more of a lady-like march) around the room, getting my stuff together. I started shoving the smaller shopping bags into the larger ones, trying to make the load smaller.
Pretty soon, I heard James' footsteps in the doorway. I paused for a moment before continuing with my preparations. I kept my back to him, hoping he would get the idea.
"Emelia…"
"No, James. I think you've done enough. I can get myself home." I roughly smashed my clothes from the first night into an already full shopping bag.
"Are you mad at me?"
I snorted.
"Sorry," I automatically apologized for my rudeness.
"You're sorry for being mad at me?" James asked, confused. I could hear him slowly getting closer.
I sighed. "James, I'm not mad at you. I'm disappointed in you." I looked at him sadly. "For the way you reacted back there. You didn't even have the full story and you just exploded."
He opened his mouth to say something, but I silenced him with one of Gran's patented looks.
"I…understand that you were… upset for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean that you need to go and assault your brother! All I'm saying is that, you were a little swift and violent in your actions. It was a scary side of you." I had found the courage to square my shoulders and look him in his eyes when I said this.
"For whatever reason? What do you mean 'for whatever reason'? I think my reasons were perfectly clear! Well, there really only was one reason..But still! Albus deserved it!" James said hotly.
"He most certainly did not, James! He was just… Lily startled him and his arm accidentally caught me in the face. He did not intend to punch me nor to harm me in any way." I begged him to understand. He sat there, thinking over my words.
"Right, well, I should be getting home." I gathered up my bags and turned to face him once more. "Thank you for having me, James." I was just about to disapparate when James reached a hand out to stop me.
"Emelia, I meant it when I said that I had a reason for reacting that way. My reason was you."
I couldn't believe he was blaming me for this. I hadn't meant to go and get a gusher of a bloody nose. Honestly, the nerve of some people.
I frowned slightly, but otherwise kept my confusion and frustration tamped down beneath the small smile I gave him next. I was gone the following moment.
