Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.
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Chapter 26: We Need to Talk
For blue and gold, for the much-needed encouragement and the reminders that sometimes writing is hard and it's okay to take my time in order to get it right. Thank you!
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"They'll be talking about that for years, I expect," Lily observed as several of us sat around the fire in the Gryffindor common room in the aftermath of the fight at the Quidditch pitch. Rose was currently with Scorpius in the Hospital Wing. Hugo was there as well, unconscious and covered in bright green pustules, courtesy of Lyra Rinaldi. As it turned out, she was quite good at dueling (probably should have seen that one coming).
James and Al were nowhere to be found. I didn't know if that meant James was busy having it out with Al or if Al was trying to calm James down, or if they were even in the same place. I wasn't certain that I wanted to think about it. Just thinking about it was enough to give me a headache. All I knew was that James had been the one to use the ennervate spell on Fred, which had allowed Fred to rejoin the fight. Then James had left the pitch and stalked off towards the school.
Fred reached up to touch his left eye, which was bruised a deep purple and blue, and winced. "Bleeding Slytherins. Dunno who elbowed me in the face, but they have the pointiest elbows in Britain. Hurts like a bugger."
For his part in the fight, Fred had lost Gryffindor a load of points, and would be serving detention every Saturday until the end of term. Hugo, Rose, Rinaldi, and a couple of the Slytherins had received the same punishment. All in all, the day had been a complete and utter disaster except for Lyra Rinaldi being stupefied. I might have laughed out loud (and cheered) when that had happened.
"I can't even process how many points your family lost Gryffindor in the span of ten minutes," Christine moaned softly into her hands, her Head Girl instincts coming to the forefront. "Now we're all going to have to work extra hard to make up for that loss. Ravenclaw will have the House Cup for certain this year. At least the professors kept everyone else out of it. Thank goodness."
The professors had wisely - not to mention quickly – put up a strong shield charm that kept those who weren't already on the pitch in the thick of the fight out of it. If they hadn't done that, Gryffindor and Slytherin House would both be in the negative points for certain.
"Rinaldi started it," Fred defended himself with an indignant harrumph. "She's the one who pulled out her wand and hexed me before I had even said anything."
"And I suppose you hexed Scorpius in self defense, did you?" Lily asked dryly.
"I can't believe you hexed Scorpius," I thwacked Fred over the head with a roll of parchment that someone had accidentally abandoned on the floor next to where I was sitting. "No, I take that back. I can imagine it. You're an idiot."
"I didn't go out onto the pitch intending to hex him," Fred protested, now rubbing his head in an exaggerated manner for show. "I just wanted to threaten him a bit. Rose is my cousin - I'm not going to let some snake put his hands all over her. Things just…got out of hand."
"He was kissing her, not groping her," Richard pointed out logically from his place on the sofa next to Lily. They were sitting rather close to each other. He had a colorful bruise on his cheek where Fred had accidently elbowed him as he and Gareth were trying to pull Fred away from Rinaldi. That had been just before Scorpius had been hit with stupefy and impediamenta at the same time. I nearly winced at the memory.
Fred didn't appear remotely convinced. "Yeah, well, who knows what he does when they're alone?"
"Before the match, I asked Lily to go Hogsmeade with me," Richard said defiantly, his chin raising a fraction as he spoke. "Are you going to hex me now?"
I barely had time to feel excited that Richard had finally worked up the courage to ask Lily out because Fred was saying, "Depends. Have you thought about kissing her?"
Richard's face tinged pink, but all the same he replied, "Of course I have. But James and Al are all right with it."
Fred's eyes narrowed in extreme disbelief. "They're all right with you kissing their little sister? I highly doubt that."
"In case anyone noticed, I turned fifteen in February," Lily chimed in, her voice a bit tight. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself. You should know that better than anyone, Fred - you've been on the receiving end of my Bat Bogey hex."
Fred flinched involuntarily at the memory of Lily's expert hex. James had once mentioned something about his mum being skilled with that particular spell. Something about needing a good defense against six older brothers and a smarmy ex-boyfriend. Apparently she had passed her skills on to Lily.
"James and Al are fine with me wanting to go on a date with Lily, so I assume they know that I'll kiss her eventually. Probably." Richard's face was positively flaming at this point, but he was still holding his ground. I wanted to hug him and tell him how proud I was of him. Look at Richard and his Gryffindor spirit coming through!
"Sounds reasonable to me," Gareth commented easily. I agreed with a firm nod.
"It's different because we know you," Fred said, quickly changing tactics as his original argument crumbled. "You're a Gryffindor and you're related to Eva Louise, so you're all right. But Malfoy – he's bad news."
"Says who?" Lily asked, brown eyes narrowed as she stared down her cousin. Seeing that expression on her face forcibly reminded me of James, and the thought of him sent a strange wave of both guilt and annoyance surging through me.
"Says everyone who isn't in Slytherin," Fred countered, tenderly touching a hand to his eye again.
Christine sighed and transfigured the scroll of parchment I had used to hit Fred with into an icepack. She tossed it into his lap. "Here. This will help."
"Thanks," he muttered, grabbed the icepack and pressed it gingerly against his left eye.
"Your family takes overprotective to an entirely new level," I said trying to wrap my mind around everything I had seen and heard today. I had known that the male members of her family weren't going to like the fact that Rose was going out with Scorpius, but I hadn't expected a fight on the pitch. "You're a very close family; I understand that. What I don't understand is starting a fight in the middle of the Quidditch pitch over the fact that Rose is dating a Slytherin. It's Rose's life, not yours."
"We're the children of war heroes, Eva," Lily answered, twisting a strand of deep, red hair thoughtfully around one of her fingers. I noticed that her other hand was now firmly holding Richard's right hand. "People want to be associated with us because our parents are famous and have money and influence. We look out for each other; we always have. But as far as Scorpius is concerned…I don't mind. I don't even know the bloke. I can hardly make a judgment about someone I've never met properly."
"I would be all right with Eva dating a Slytherin," Richard said suddenly. "If James wasn't in the picture, I mean."
Wait…what?
"No, you wouldn't," I snapped. "You very nearly had an aneurysm when I started dating Jonathan."
"There were reasons for that," Richard defended himself emphatically.
"Yeah," Gareth agreed. "He was all wrong for you, Eva. Everyone thought James was finally getting somewhere with you and then you started dating that Hufflepuff."
"You never liked Jonathan because he was a Hufflepuff," I argued.
"No, I didn't like him because he was boring," Gareth rolled his eyes. "There's plenty of interesting Hufflepuffs. He's just not one of them."
"The thing is," Fred said firmly, bring us back on topic, "is that he's not just a Slytherin, is he? He's a Malfoy. Our families have hated each other for ages. Centuries, really. His family is part of the reason that my dad doesn't have his twin brother around anymore. His great-aunt tortured Aunt Hermione. His family would have happily seen our entire family killed."
"His family. Not him."
We all looked up to see Rose standing just inside the portrait hole. How long she had been standing there, I didn't know. She looked surprisingly calm. As she moved closer, I saw that her hands were clenched inside the pockets of her robes, but she was outwardly keeping her composure. Roxanne trailed behind her, sporting a white bandage across her forehead.
Fred opened his mouth, but then closed it with a snap, apparently thinking better of what he had been about to say.
Rose's gaze rested firmly on Fred. "Scorpius isn't his family. Weren't you listening when Uncle Harry told us what Albus Dumbledore once said? That is doesn't matter what a person is born, but rather what they become?"
"It's just…" Fred began, but Rose cut him off.
"No, you listen to me, Fredrick George Weasley," Rose said loudly, making all of us jump slightly. "You don't know Scorpius at all. And I know we're all used to protecting one another, but you have to trust me on this. Get to know him before you judge him. He wasn't even born when all of that happened. Our parents didn't fight against Voldemort so you could sit here and pass judgment on people because of their family name."
Fred looked properly chastised by Rose's words. I watched the girl standing before us with a feeling of fascination. It seemed that Rose Weasley was a lot stronger than she seemed. I was more familiar with Fred, Roxanne, and James and their obvious emotional strength and outgoing natures and as a result, I had overlooked Rose's own abilities and strength.
"Sorry, Rosie," Fred told her heavily. "I just …I don't want you to get hurt."
"Oh, Fred," Rose rushed forward and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Fred looked very taken aback by this turn of events. One minute his cousin had been dressing him down and the next she was hugging him. He patted her awkwardly on the back a few times.
"But this doesn't mean that I like him or that I approve of this!" Fred warned her as she released him. "He's still a Slytherin. And he's on their Quidditch team. Seriously, where's your House pride, Rose?"
"Are Scorpius and Hugo all right?" Christine asked what the rest of us had forgotten amidst all of the other drama.
Rose nodded. "Scorpius is a bit sore, but he'll be fine. He was able to return to his common room. But Hugo needs to stay overnight. Madam Pomfrey had to burst the pustules and now the open sores need to heal."
Everyone in the immediate vicinity winced. Ouch. My skin hurt just imaging it.
"He looks like a Potions experiment gone wonky," Roxanne sniggered slightly. "Wait…where are James and Al?" she asked as she surveyed the group sitting around the fireplace and realized that we were a couple of people short. Everyone glanced at me as though I would somehow have the answer to that question, which I most certainly did not.
"Dunno," Fred finally answered when I didn't speak up.
"He'll come around, Eva. I'll talk to him," Rose tried to assure me. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but it really didn't help any.
"How have we not talked about this yet?" Fred wondered out loud. "That argument was…er…yeah," he trailed off as Lily shot him a warning look that clearly said that he had better stop talking immediately.
"It was bleeding awful, it what is was," I groaned, rubbing my aching temples. I was definitely developing a throbbing headache. Not surprising, really. "I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Well, I need to go and write a terribly uncomfortable letter to my parents before they hear the news from someone else." Rose sighed heavily, but then squared her shoulders and marched off towards her dormitory with her head held high.
Deciding that no good would come of me moping around the common room, I trudged up to the girls' dormitory to work on my Transfiguration essay. One of my paragraphs concerning the transfiguration of large quantities of insects needed serious revision if I didn't want to receive a pathetically low mark. It didn't have to be brilliant, but I didn't want to receive a T, either.
I had just finished rewriting my conclusion when Christine returned from patrolling the corridors with Jonathan.
"We caught James and Al out after curfew in the owlery," she said. She sounded a bit hesitant, as though she wasn't entirely certain that I would want to hear about James.
I sighed heavily and not so carefully tucked my completed essay into my rucksack. "Were they having a row?"
"Yes," she admitted as she unknotted her Gryffindor tie and unbuttoned her robes.
"Prat," I huffed in exasperation. "I know Rose is his cousin, but he, Fred, and Hugo completely overreacted and they need to leave her be."
There was a pause as Christine pulled on her pyjamas. Then she said, "It was about you."
My jaw nearly dropped open in surprise. "About me?" What in the name of Merlin's pants were James and Al doing rowing over me?
Christine bit her lip anxiously. "It wasn't my conversation to hear, but…well, James is upset that you knew about Rose and Scorpius and didn't say anything. But mostly, Eva, he seems hurt that you're willing to so readily accept Scorpius as a good guy when it took you so long to think the same of him."
"That's like what he said after the match. What a stupid idea!" I ranted. "Those things aren't even comparable!"
"He's upset and jealous, he's not thinking straight," Christine told me. Her voice grew a bit hard. "And to be honest…I think he's more in the right than you."
I stared at Christine. I blinked slowly. "You do?"
Christine was my best friend for Merlin's sake – she was supposed to be on my side! That's what best friends were for, yeah?
"Think about how James is feeling. One word from Rose and you trust Scorpius when he's on the Slytherin Quidditch team and you've always distrusted all of them to a ridiculous extent just because of Rinaldi. Yet for the entire term there were several of us advising you to think twice about James because perhaps your perception of him was wrong."
"He was always rowing with me! What else was I supposed to think?" I asked through slightly clenched jaws.
"He wasn't the only one staritng rows."
An awkward silence fell between us as we regarded each other across the space between our four-poster beds. I couldn't think of the last time that we'd rowed like this. It felt strange. Unnatural.
Then Christine spoke up again. "Eva, you're my best friend…which is why I have to be honest with you. You spouted off about Al, Lily, and Roxanne knowing about Rose and Scorpius without a thought for how that might affect them! I've sat in this very room and heard you tell me that you enjoy James's company, that you like that he respects you and your abilities, that he can always make you laugh, and today you told him – in front of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and his family – that you didn't know why you fancied him. And I would be a terrible friend if I didn't tell you that I'm at a complete loss as to why you would say something so horrid to him when I know you don't mean it."
I felt defensive anger burning up inside of me, threatening to escape in the form of angry words. How could Christine insinuate that all of this was somehow my fault? She wasn't being honest - she was completely out of line! I took several deep breaths and closed my eyes momentarily. And then it occurred to me that if I was feeling defensive, it was because deep down I knew that Christine was correct. She was being honest. I was the one who was out of line.
Christine always had been the voice of reason in our friendship. What would I have done without her? Probably gone mad, that's what. I hadn't wanted to hear what she had had to say - who would? – but I had needed to hear it. Desperately.
"Why is it that I never have to counsel you through relationship problems?" I wondered out loud.
Christine shrugged, but her stony expression remained. "Kieran and I don't really argue. We never have done. He debates in proper Ravenclaw fashion. It's just the way we are, but it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with your relationship with James. You still want to be with him, yeah?"
"Yes, of course." I didn't even have to think about that answer. Then an idea I hadn't considered crashed into my mind. "Do you…do you think he still wants to be with me?"
Would James still want to date a girl who had publicly yelled at him that he was an idiot and that she didn't know why he fancied him?
Merlin, why had I ever let that slip out of my mouth…there was no (good) excuse for it. What was wrong with me?
Christine paused for a moment to consider, then said truthfully, "I don't know. But I do know that you need to apologize to him."
I nodded, my body suddenly feeling a bit numb as I thought back over the events of the day. All at once, the corners of my eyes were leaking hot tears I hadn't even realized that I had been holding in.
"Oh, Eva…." Christine immediately sat down next to me on my bed and drew me into a tight hug.
"W-what if he breaks up with me?" I choked out through my tears.
"I don't know."
Neither did I.
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If the fact that she had accidentally spread strawberry yogurt over her toast instead of jam was any indication, Rose was feeling out of sorts this morning. I supposed that I would look a bit peaky too if I was waiting for a reply from my parents after writing them that I was dating the son of their former enemy.
Giving her cousin a slightly wary glance, Lily gently pulled the butter knife from Rose's grasp and placed it down across the edge of her plate.
Rose didn't even seem to notice. She was too busy anxiously watching for the morning delivery of owl post. Then seemingly out of nowhere, Nearly Headless Nick floated through her on his way to the other side of the Gryffindor table causing her suddenly jolt back to reality. Turning back to her breakfast, she eyed her toast/yogurt combination with a confused frown.
I scanned the Great Hall for what felt like the twentieth time in not quite ten minutes, but nothing had changed. James still wasn't here. Neither were Fred or Christopher. Not that I would know what to say if I saw James, but having him missing worried me.
"I talked with James last night, and it seemed to help," Al told me with a faint smile that looked slightly forced. "He just needs some space. I saw Fred, Christopher, and him leave their dormitory this morning, but…well, I wouldn't count on seeing him today."
"I'm sorry, Eva," Rose told me mournfully over her ruined toast.
"For what?"
What in the world did Rose Weasley have to be sorry for? As far as I was concerned, nothing that had happened yesterday had been her fault.
"None of this would have happened if I hadn't gone and blurted out that I was dating Scorpius like that. I should have just stayed well out of it."
"Don't be daft, Rose," Roxanne cut in sensibly as she climbed over the bench and took a seat next to Lily. "The boys would have been upset no matter how they found out. And let's face it, James was always going to hold a grudge against Malfoy for all time for beating him at Quidditch."
I had to admit that this was an entirely likely scenario.
And speaking of apologies…
"Listen," I said, setting down my utensils and pushing my still-full plate away with a sigh. "I'm really sorry that I told James that you three knew about Scorpius. It was an accident, I swear. I was just so frustrated with him that it slipped out."
"Yeah…not your finest moment, Eva," Roxanne told me truthfully. She shot me a peeved expression. "Way to throw us to the dragons."
I internally winced at that, but Roxanne was correct.
"That's all right, Eva," Lily told me with a warm smile. "I just hope you two can work things out."
Al nodded understandingly. "You're only human. I grew up with James, so I understand all about being frustrated with him."
I was about to reply, when Richard and Gareth approached me on their way out of the Great Hall.
"We got him," Richard whispered surreptitiously into my ear.
Wait…what?
"Am I missing something?" I asked, gazing up at my brothers in confusion.
Al, Roxanne, Lily, and Rose tactfully began talking among themselves and ignored my brothers and me. It was very non-meddling behavior. How…odd.
"James," Richard widened his brown eyes, urging me to catch on. "We saw him leaving the common room on our way here, so we hit him with a tripping jinx."
Gareth grinned. "Lucky for us, he thought that Fred accidentally tripped him with his feet."
Oh…they had taken me seriously about hexing James in the corridors. It was rather meddlesome, and normally I wouldn't have appreciated their interference, but I had asked them to do it, even if I had only been joking. Even though I wished they hadn't taken me seriously, it was kind of a nice feeling, knowing that my brothers would support and protect me even if I hadn't asked for it.
I forced a slight laugh past my lips. "Thanks, you two."
"Do you want us to trip him on his way to lunch as well? Gareth asked earnestly, his face quite serious and a steely glint in his eyes. He mimicked flicking a wand.
I shook my head. "No, once is enough. He overreacted and said some daft things, but so did I. I said a lot more stupid things than he did."
They both nodded. "If you change your mind, let us know."
"Oh!" I cried as I remembered. "Richard – congratulations on asking Lily to Hogsmeade!"
Richard ducked his head a bit as a pleased smile crept across his face. He stole a quick glance at Lily, who also happened to be stealing a quick glimpse at him.
"He just went for it, didn't you?" Gareth grinned widely, elbowing his twin gently in the side.
Richard nodded bashfully, still looking down at his shoes.
"That's all of the details you're going to give me?" I raised an eyebrow. "After all of you've been so meddlesome about my life, I think that I, as your older sister, deserve a few more details than that."
"I'll let you tell it," Lily told Richard with a wide grin.
Ha, I knew they had to be listening! Potters and Weasleys simply weren't capable of non-meddling behavior. They just weren't.
A light red blush stained Richard's cheeks. "I dunno…it was raining, and she asked me if I wanted to share her umbrella. So on the way down to the pitch for the match, I just pulled her aside and asked her if she'd like to go together the next Hogsmeade visit."
"I can't believe you finally asked her!" I smiled fondly at Richard. "I thought that perhaps she was going to have to ask you."
"You and everyone else," Roxanne said cheekily.
I caught Al's eye and we both smiled as I remembered Al and James's mad plan (that wasn't much of a plan at all, really) concerning Lily and Richard.
"Stop embarrassing him," Lily chided gently. She turned back to Richard. "I'm glad you asked, though I was prepared to ask you."
"Just seemed like a good opportunity," Richard mumbled. "Well, we need to go to the, er… owlery," he added hastily, clearly finding the current situation a bit awkward.
I waved at them and then turned back to my breakfast with a slight smile. At least something good had come of yesterday.
"Good morning, Rose."
Everyone's head snapped up to see Scorpius Malfoy standing next to the table. All eyes rested on him for a moment, before shifting quickly to Rose. I noticed that several of the nearby students – even those at other House tables – were watching the exchange. They weren't even attempting to be subtle about it either. Merlin only knew what rumors would be swirling around the castle before breakfast had even finished.
"Scorpius!" Rose greeted him cheerfully. She daintily dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "Your bruise is gone."
Scorpius shrugged, as he reached up to press a pale hand to his now unmarred forehead. "Madam Pomfrey took care of the swelling." He cast a quick glance down the table as if looking for Fred or Hugo. I could hardly blame him.
"You're allowed to sit down, you know," Roxanne told him as she selected a slice of ham from a platter resting in the center of the table. She pointed with her free hand to the empty place next to Rose.
His cool, grey eyes regarded all of us sitting near Rose carefully for a moment, then he sat down with slow deliberation. Rose beamed at him while he and Al exchanged greetings. It must have been strange for the pair of them to finally be acknowledging the other one in public in this new way.
"How's your shoulder? I asked him. After the problems I had caused, being welcoming towards Scorpius seemed like the decent thing to do.
Rose shot me a grateful look, while Scorpius seemed a bit surprised.
"Sore," he replied simply. "But fine."
"Direct hits are painful," I added with a knowing smile. "But I don't need to tell you that. I've been lucky so far this term. I've only had to go to the hospital wing for some minor incidents. It's been quite nice, not having to endure Madam Pomfrey sighing heavily every time I walk in the doors."
"Madam Pomfrey enjoys informing me about the dangers of Quidditch as though I wasn't already aware," Scorpius said with a hint of a smile.
"Yes!" I agreed with a laugh. "That happens to me too!"
"You should have seen the look she gave me after that Bludger gave me that nasty bruise at practice a few weeks ago," Lily chimed in.
"She's right fussy about visitors too," Roxanne agreed. "You'd think visiting your cousins in the hospital wing after hours was a crime worthy of Azkaban."
"We tried to sneak in to see James one time after he'd broken his arm," Al explained for Scorpius's benefit. "We weren't very stealthy and Madam Pomfrey caught us. It wasn't pretty."
This was going quite well. Scorpius still appeared to be a bit unsure and distant, but then perhaps that was just his personality. Still, this was good progress for him and Rose. Who thought he would be willing to sit at the Gryffindor table? And here he was, discussing Madam Pomfrey with her cousins.
"What are you doing here?"
I looked up to see that the owner of the extremely frosty voice was Hugo Weasley, apparently newly released from the Hospital Wing. The look he was currently giving Scorpius was none too pleased. His light brown eyes were practically shooting sparks from their depths.
Scorpius slowly laid down his fork and knife and turned in his seat to face the lanky younger boy. His face remained relatively impassive. "I'm eating breakfast with Rose, her friends, and some of your family."
Hugo's long nose quivered a bit and he stared obstinately back at Scorpius. "Shouldn't you be at your own table?"
"Hugo, I know you don't like me, but I don't care. It doesn't matter how many glares or hexes you send my way because that's not going to change the way I feel about Rose. I care about her. I hope you can accept that."
Um…Could I just say that Scorpius Malfoy was not who I expected him to be? I didn't think Slytherins had it in them to act as he had over the course of the last two days. I had seriously underestimated him.
Hugo's fiery stare softened just a fraction. Standing up, Rose took her brother gently by the elbow. "I want to explain everything to you, Hugo. Breakfast in the kitchens together?"
Hugo paused, and then nodded, his shockingly bright red hair flopping onto his forehead. "Yeah, all right."
Our group watched them walk away with a sense of awe. Well, this was certainly turning out to be an interesting morning.
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During the afternoon, I worked steadily on my massive load of schoolwork that had been assigned over the weekend. Roxanne, Gemma, Sorcha, Christine and I all worked on practicing our spells for a Transfiguration practical exam the next day. Gemma didn't talk to me much, but that was all right with me. She did, however, send several extremely cross glares in my direction when she thought I couldn't see.
"Well, that was exciting yesterday after the match, wasn't it?" Sorcha commented during a brief study break. With Christine's help, I had somehow managed to evade her questions the night before, but naturally that was too good to last for more than twenty-four hours.
"It was something all right," I replied, trying not to outwardly cringe.
Exciting? Really? Ugh.
"I mean, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy – who saw that coming?" she continued her gossip. I realized with a sense of relief that she hadn't been talking about James and me.
"They're an interesting couple," Gemma allowed thoughtfully. "They look well together. And the way he kissed her like that…so romantic! I wish someone would kiss me like that."
Roxanne and Sorcha hummed in agreement. I thought of my first kiss with James and how he had placed his hands on either side of my face and how it had all been so sudden.
Sorcha must have read something in my facial expression, because she leaned over and patted my hand in a sympathetic manner. "I heard about your row with James. Don't worry, Eva. You two are perfect together. It'll be all right."
I pulled my hands back and tucked them under the table in my lap. Perfect was such a ridiculous label and far too much expectation. We were still in Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake!
"James and I aren't perfect, Sorcha," I told her firmly. "We're human. We're stubborn people, and we fight. We'll work it out when we're ready."
Gemma scowled heavily into her Transfiguration textbook. It made me want to tell her to bugger off and stop fancying my boyfriend.
"That's the spirit," Sorcha told me, voice cheery and hopeful.
Nothing seemed to permeate her preconceived ideas. I had just tried to tell her James and I weren't perfect – that it didn't exist – and it had gone in one ear and out the other. She hadn't heard a word I said, had she? Why couldn't she have chosen today to be normal like she had been that one time?
Sighing heavily, I returned to studying. Slowly but surely, I made my way through the majority of my schoolwork. All I had left was my Charms reading, but I wearily pushed the large tome away from me.
"I'm going for a run," I announced suddenly, with an air of conviction.
"You went for one this morning before breakfast," Christine pointed out. She eyed my determined expression warily.
I shot her a pointed look. "I need another."
I might have spent my afternoon working on schoolwork for lessons, but that didn't mean that my mind had been solely on my assignments. My mind had been continually wandering to James. I hadn't seen him all day, and that bothered me. I wondered what he was up to…what he was thinking. Knowing his stubbornness as I did, he had probably worked himself up into a fine frenzy by now.
I chose to run around the lake, just in case the Ravenclaws were spying on me. I couldn't allow myself to fall into too predictable of a routine with the final match of the season rapidly approaching.
The evening air was cool as I steadily jogged. It felt good in my lungs as I steadily breathed in and out, taking long, deep breaths. The sky was a mottled yellow and orange color. It was calming. Still, I enjoyed running in the early morning better, when the sun was just peering out over the tops of the mountains surrounding the castle and the light was shining on the water.
About half way around the lake, I saw a familiar figure standing at the edge of the water skipping stones. Well, not so much skipping them as throwing them out over the water as hard as possible. He turned his head to glance at me as I walked towards him, breathing hard.
"We need to talk," I told him as I approached.
James stared at me for a moment, his expression as serious as I'd ever seen it. "Yeah, I reckon we do."
My conversation with Christine from the previous evening flashed through my mind. Oh Merlin…he was going to ditch me wasn't he? I couldn't blame him, but the realization made me angry. Not angry with him, mind you, but angry with myself. James had been nothing but constant and (somewhat) patient. He had waited so long for me to give him a chance, and what had I done? Pushed him away by being completely awful to him.
We continued to stand there, staring at each other. Neither of us seemed to know quite what to say, or even how to begin. Stubborn people aren't very good at this sort of thing.
Then all at once, a fire seemed to rise up in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't going to just stand here without saying or doing anything and let James walk away from me.
"I'm sorry!" I blurted out, the words bursting forth from my throat. Well, sorry seemed like the best place to start.
He didn't say anything, just watched me solemnly.
Squaring my shoulders in an attempt to appear bold, I strode forward until I was standing directly in front of James. His arms were crossed over his chest and his stance was rigid. I stared up into his face, my eyes pleading with his own. His brown eyes, usually glinting mischievously, were colder than I'd ever seen them. Even when we spent most of our time rowing before he fancied me, he'd never looked at me like he was looking at me now.
But instead of causing me to quake, his hard gaze fueled me with a resolve to put things right. I'd faced down Lyra Rinaldi for Merlin's sake – I could do this. James was angry with me, but he didn't hate me. I hoped.
"Nothing can justify what I said. It was stupid. It was uncalled for and horrid and it's not at all how I feel. Not a bit. James, I promise that if you don't ditch me like you ought to that I will never say something like that to you again. I didn't mean it when I said I didn't know why I fancied you… "
"Then why'd you say it?"
His voice was harsh and it made my chest constrict slightly, but I rallied my Gryffindor courage and refused to look away from his eyes. "Because I'm an even bigger idiot than I've always accused you of being. I felt defensive and I was upset and it's the most hurtful thing I could think of."
His jaw tensed as he remembered to the events of yesterday. "You certainly hit your mark."
"I don't know what else to say, James. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say other than I was a complete and utter cow towards you and that I don't deserve you. And I want you to know that if you break up with me, I'll fight for you."
"Oh, really? And how would you accomplish that?" James's mouth quirked up for a brief second, the faintest flicker of a smirk. It reminded me slightly of the smirk he acquired when he wanted to row with me. I wasn't certain if that was a good thing or not.
I shrugged. Gryffindors rarely had full-fledged plans (except when it came to Quidditch). I was completely making all this up as I went along.
"No clue," I told him honestly. "But you of all people should know that Gryffindors don't give up easily."
Another tense silence fell between us.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," he muttered finally, running a hand through his dark hair. "You made a promise to Rose, and you shouldn't have broken it just because we were going out. Or were moving towards it. I overreacted about Rose and Malfoy. I know that."
Were going out…as in past tense? My stomach seemed to have dropped. It was the same rushing and sinking feeling I had experienced when I had jumped out of that tree at home.
Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed aside my sudden feelings of nausea and instead focused on what he was saying. I would worry about the rest later. Right now, we had apologies to make and explanations to give.
"I can understand why you were upset," I replied truthfully.
James kicked at a rock sticking up out of the ground with the toe of his shoe. "I… I was jealous all right? When you were waffling on, defending Malfoy. A couple of brief encounters with him and Rose's word and you had no problems with a sodding Slytherin."
I sighed as I gazed out over the deep blue lake. "I told you, it wasn't like that," I assured him. "I'd never even met Malfoy properly until this year. I'd only seen him around Rinaldi."
"How can he be dating our Rosie when he's always been hanging around Rinaldi?" James asked, disbelief written all over his face. He made a sour expression as he said Rinaldi's name. I didn't blame him. Whenever I heard her name it made me want to scrunch up my nose in distaste. Or vomit.
"It's the other way around," I explained. "She's always hanging around him. Rinaldi's dead set on him and he can't stand her. He let me punch her in the face, remember? I'm sorry if it seemed as though I don't trust you. I do. I just didn't have as many preconceived notions about Scorpius as I did about you because he wasn't on the Slytherin team until this year. You and I spent six years being rivals and disliking each other."
"You spent six years disliking me," James corrected me. His smirk was more pronounced now. "I spent five and a half disliking you. Or have you forgotten the mistletoe debacle of last year?"
No, I certainly hadn't forgotten about that. The entire incident was rather permanently etched into my brain. The memory of James standing in the middle of the common room pointing at me and Al with a rather bewildered and unhinged look gracing his face was as vivid as ever. It almost made me laugh to remember it.
Instead, I asked, "You're going to talk to Rose, yeah?"
"Yeah," he agreed.
"I heard you talked with Al?"
He nodded a bit tersely. "He was the one who talked me down from being so angry. He's surprisingly good at that. He told me about how's he's got to know Malfoy from studying with them, and how Malfoy is a good sort. I…I still don't like the idea of her dating someone on the Slytherin team, but there's nothing I can do about it. Rose got her stubbornness from both Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. There's no talking her out of something she wants to do."
"She's stronger than I thought," I observed, thinking back to their spectacle in the middle of the pitch. Merlin, so much had happened in less than twenty-four hours; it seemed like ages ago.
"Rosie?" James asked with an unexpected burst of laughter. "Oh, yeah. She's quiet about it, but never underestimate her. I've done that and paid dearly for it. Last year, some of us cousins wanted to practice dueling over the holidays. I thought Rose would be an easy target. Godric, was I wrong."
I laughed at the idea of James being beaten by Rose in an amateur duel. The look on both of their faces must have been priceless. I was sorry that I hadn't been there to see it.
"Do you think Hugo will come around anytime soon? I mean, Rose did have a chat with him this morning during breakfast. He seemed cross and wary, but not homicidal."
James laughed outright at my query. "We'll see. If there's one person more stubborn than Rose, it's Hugo. The idea of his sister having a boyfriend is bad enough, but a Slytherin? Uncle Ron is still a bit prejudiced towards the Malfoys – with good reason, mind – and Hugo has picked up on that."
"Stubbornness and meddlesome tendencies aside, I like your family," I told James truthfully.
"You haven't even met them all," James said with a small snigger. "Just wait until you've meet everyone at a family dinner. It's completely mad, but it's a good time. Except for Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey. They're barmy. And Great Aunt Muriel's an old bat, but everyone else is normal. Mostly."
"Meet your family?" The words flew out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying.
James smirked. "Of course. You're my girlfriend, so they're curious. They've heard a lot about you from mum and dad."
You're my girlfriend.
I was his girlfriend. James wasn't breaking up with me.
"You…you forgive me, then?" I asked hesitantly, hardly daring to hope.
James chuckled softly, and his stance relaxed completely. I nearly sagged in relief. "Would I still be standing here talking to you and wanting to kiss you if I didn't?"
Slowly, pushing myself up on my toes, I leaned forward a bit to press a kiss to his lips. He didn't hesitate to return the kiss, adding his own warm, firm pressure. Running my hands up his shoulders to the back of his head, I threaded my fingers through James's hair, the ebony strands silky beneath my Quidditch-roughened fingertips. The electric feel of his slightly chapped lips moving against mine sent shivers up my spine.
I slowly pulled away from James and smiled up at him. At first he looked highly put out by this change in the situation, but then I took him by surprise by pulling him down so that were sitting on the bank of the lake. I curled up against his chest with my arms around him, which seemed to be more than fine with him. He wrapped his own arms around me and I nearly sighed in contentment.
"You're kind of wonderful," I told him, angling my head to press a feather-light kiss to the bit of skin directly above the collar of his shirt.
"I do have it on good authority that my snogging skills are amazing," he teased me, kissing the top of my head.
I rolled my eyes. "Your being wonderful has nothing to do with your snogging skills."
"Doesn't hurt."
Well, if I was being completely and totally honest, it was a rather enjoyable perk.
"I fancy you because you're wonderful," I told him, gazing up into his face.
"Eva, you don't have to – " he began, but I cut him off by gently pressing a hand to his mouth and stopping his speech. He quirked an eyebrow, but I silenced him with a look and then removed my hand.
"I fancy you because you're stubborn. Because you see something in me that I just don't. Because you're incorrigible. Because the Harpies are your favorite team. Because you walk around half the time with your Gryffindor tie done up wrong."
"I do not!"
I grinned widely at him. "Because you can sound so indignant. Because you're clever. Because you respect me. Because you share my love of Quidditch. Because for some unfathomable reason you like banoffee pie."
"Because it's delicious?" James offered, looking slightly affronted by my criticism of his favorite pudding.
"It's vile," I gagged. "Banana and toffee? Horrid."
"It's an absolutely brilliant combination, I'll have you know. I will stand by that to the death."
"But most of all – and in spite of your terrible taste in pie - I fancy you because you can always make me laugh because you know me so well. I care about you, so you should stop doubting it. No more being jealous for silly reasons. Or any reason."
He arms tightened around me almost imperceptibly and on instinct, I leaned into him further.
"Of course I'll be jealous."
Er…why, exactly?
"I've told you before," he said, answering my unspoken question. "You're a brilliant Quidditch player and you're very pretty - it's an unstoppable combination."
I didn't really have a reply for that, but I felt my face grow warm with contentment at his words.
"You know what I think?" James said after a moment of comfortable silence.
"Hmm?" I asked, fully prepared for him to say something clever and rather swoon inducing in that way he had when his voice was pitched a bit lower than normal. That voice had the ability to send waves of giddy tingles down my spine.
I could practically hear the grin in his voice. "We should go to the kitchens and ask if the house elves have any banoffee pie."
Ugh. I'd rather not.
"All right, then," I said with an overly dramatic sigh, making to move off his lap. "Though I don't promise to eat any that utter rubbish."
James wrapped his arms more firmly around me and pulled me back, preventing me from standing up and moving away from him.
"I was teasing." His breath was hot against my neck. "Let's just stay here like this. Just a bit longer until it gets dark."
I nodded in relief. Thank Merlin, no banoffee pie. "Thanks."
"For what?" he asked, brown eyes looking at me curiously.
"Not making me eat any of that horrid pie, of course."
James laughed. Using one hand to gently sweep my hair behind my shoulders, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my collarbone. "I'd rather put my amazing snogging skills to good use."
"Much better use of your time," I agreed with a wide grin and leaned in to kiss him again.
~…~…~…~…~…~…~…
I sensed that someone was watching me. Cracking open a bleary eye, I saw Fred's face peering down at me.
"Fred!" I cried, sitting straight up in alarm. "What are you doing in here?"
He gave me a funny look. "I'm allowed to be in the common room."
Glancing at my surroundings, I realized that he was correct. I also saw that James was asleep on the sofa beside me. He was still sitting upright and his head was lolling back in an uncomfortable looking position. We had come back to the common room and chatted for a while before apparently falling asleep on the sofa.
"He sleeps like the dead," Fred explained quietly, motioning to James's sleeping form. "I take it you've made up?"
I looked over at James and felt that now familiar swooping sensation in the pit of my stomach. I smiled slightly.
"Good," Fred said firmly, but with a mischievous light in his eyes. "I want you in the family someday."
In response, I flung a throw pillow at him. Naturally, given my skills as a Chaser, it hit him in the face. He spluttered indignantly and wandered back towards the boys' staircase muttering something about mad birds.
"That's what you get!" I called after him. "We are entirely too young to even be thinking about… that!"
"Huh?"
I looked over to see that James had finally woken up due to my yelling and pillow throwing. He was rubbing the palms of his hands against his tired eyes.
"Not you, your tosser cousin."
"Fred's a delight in the morning," James said sarcastically, and then yawned.
"I'm going to go and get ready," I told James as I stood up and stretched my arms over my head.
"Meet you back here before breakfast?"
When I returned to the common room after showering and dressing, I saw James and Rose standing near the portrait hole.
"I'm never going to be best mates with the bloke, but I won't hex him," I heard James say as I drew closer.
"Promise? Hugo already spit his rucksack open yesterday even after we talked over breakfast."
James hesitated, but then said, "I promise, Rosie."
"For now, that'll have to be good enough," Rose acknowledged with a small smile. "But I think he'll grow on you," she added just before she turned to exit the portrait hole.
In many ways, Rose couldn't have picked a worse boy to date than Scorpius Malfoy. But they seemed to genuinely care for one another (it was still a bit odd to contemplate the idea of that), so hopefully they didn't let their families and friends get in the way of their relationship.
As I came to stand next to James, I slid my hand into his. "Who knows?" I teased him. "Perhaps you will be best mates with Scorpius someday."
James snorted disbelievingly, but appeared somewhat amused by the idea nonetheless. "Not bloody likely. No one can replace Fred."
I laughed at his statement. "Fred is one of a kind," I agreed wholeheartedly.
"Knew you secretly loved me, Eva Louise," Fred joked as suddenly appeared at the foot of the boys' staircase and bounded across the common room.
Oh, naturally he would have appeared right at that moment. Uncanny, really.
"You've grown on me," I admitted with a shrug of my shoulders.
"I like her," Fred told James, his tone half teasing and half serious. "You should keep her around."
I felt my face burn red at his words. Fred Weasley knew exactly what buttons to push to embarrass me. I really wished that he would stop with the whole "part of the family" talk. I was a long way off from being ready to even think about that.
James glanced at me and took in my flushed skin with a knowing smirk. "Yeah, I reckon I will."
I didn't really know what to say to that. So instead I settled for, "Your tie is done up wrong."
James glanced down with a slight scowl, trying to check his tie for himself while Fred howled with laughter.
~…~…~…~…~…~…~…
Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and story alerts! I appreciate everyone who reads my story and everyone who has let me know how much they enjoy it!
Thanks to everyone for their patience waiting for this update. I know it was a long wait, but I've had two family health emergencies since the last chapter was posted in addition to the ever-present schoolwork and the difficulties of writing this chapter. So thank you for your patience and for those who sent me message of encouragement. I hope that you enjoyed the longer chapter and everything that happened! And don't worry – I will never abandon Game On.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!
Next chapter: James appears in a wet t-shirt, Tristan makes his return, and Eva gets a surprise or two in Hogsmeade.