A/N: This is taking place about 10 years after graduation, and the POV switches between Elisa and James.

8th and Final Chapter of ~A Bottle of Red~

James sat at his desk, head leaning on one hand, his wand in the other. Most of the lights were out, and he was one of the very few still left in the office, but he didn't want to go home. Going home would be being with her, and he didn't want to be with her. Yes, in a way he did love her, he had loved her his entire life, but she always seemed to be missing something. Poor Lily. She was too good for him. He didn't give her the real love she deserved, because he really loved somebody else, and she was on his mind once more.

Elisa dialed the familiar number frantically, almost breaking the phone as she pounded the numbers. She waited four whole rings for an answer, and didn't bother with saying hello before she started yelling, "It's James! He wants to see me again!" "What the guy from last night? I thought you liked him!" "Not HIM, Boomer, James Potter!" Elisa heard a sigh come from the other end of the line, before Lindsay said, "I'll be right over."

"Yes", he thought, "I'll write to her, just tell her how I feel. Maybe she'll agree to see me again. I'll never know 'till I try..."

"So what does it say?" asked Lindsay as soon as she walked in the door, and grabbed some cookies off Elisa's counter. "Read it," said Elisa, throwing her the letter and putting her head down on the table in disgust.

*If I only had the words to tell you, If you only had the time to understand, Though I know it couldn't change your feelings and I know you'll carry on as best you can, if I only had the urge to tell you, if you only knew how hard it is to say, when all the simple lines have been taken, and the radio repeats them every day, if I never find a song to sing you, if you always find it hard to comprehend, well you know there wouldn't be much meaning, if I had to sing those tired words again

Please meet me at our Italian restaurant.*

"You haven't seen him since grad, have you?"

"Nope. He went off to Auror training a little while after, and then later on I heard he got a job at the Ministry." Elisa paced back and forth across the room.

"Lindz, what am I going to do???"

"I think you should see him. He may just want to catch up, see how you're doing. Or maybe, maybe, he just," she paused, looking uncertain, "maybe he still loves you."

"What do you mean, still? We were 15, what did we know about love?"

"Well, then he certainly old enough now, just give him a chance."

Walking into the once-familiar restaurant brought back a flood of memories Elisa thought had disappeared over the years. She had usually avoided this place when she was shopping in Hogsmeade with her friends, but being here now was still painful.

The same tablecloths, the same great smell of tomato sauce, and the same memories that pierced his soul.

"Hi, James."

He spun around, and there she was, more beautiful than ever. "How you doing?" he asked, trying to remain cool, even though it was taking him serious self control to keep from salivating all over.

"How you doing?" She thought of New York, and how his accent was nothing like those of her old boyfriends back home, yet at that moment she honestly felt that she wouldn't trade his voice for anything in the world.

"I'm fine", she answered, painfully aware of the rigidity and formality in her voice that she couldn't control. "How are you?"

*Things are ok with me these days, got a good job, got a good office, got a new wife, got a new life and the family's fine, we lost touch long ago, you lost weight, I did not know you could ever look so good after so much time*

"You flatter me, James."

"It's true. You look great." He tried to play it off, but he was really astounded, not so much now about how great she looked, but more so how he ever managed to forget it.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice sounding as if she was trying to be soft, but the stiffness took over.

"I wanted to see you," he stammered, slightly taken back. "I, uh", he paused, searching the ground, as if the answer to his problems were roaming around on the floor beneath him, "I missed you."

"You missed me? Baby all the lights are on you now, now you're in the center of the stage. Everyone revolves around you now, you're in your prime, you've come of age. And you can always have your way somehow, 'cause everyone loves you now."

"--We were the popular steadies, and the king and the queen of the prom, surely we never knew we could want more out of life, surely we would always know how to survive--"

"You can walk away from your mistakes, you can turn your back on what you do, just a little smile is all it takes. Yeah, you can have your cake and eat it too. And they all want your white body, and they all await your reply, but between you and me and the Staten Island Ferry, so do I."

James almost started to talk again, but was confused by the Staten Island reference. "Wait, what's Staten Island?"

Elisa looked annoyed, as if the conversation was not going as planned, and said resentfully, "Where I grew up. It's in New York, but no one has ever really heard of it unless they live there." She paused, noticing James' still-confused face. "See? It's happened again!"

James continued, "Elisa, you must begin again, all the roads you've walked are coming to an end. I was your lover but I thought I was your friend, I loved you but I thought I was your friend--"

"You know that nothing lasts forever, and it's all been done before--" She was done. She didn't want to hear anymore. It was too painful for her. She started to walk away but James still sang-

"Turn around, I will sing you a song. I don't know where you've been but you've been gone too long." He stepped in front of her, and looked at her with those puppy eyes that they both knew nobody could resist.

"You have lost your innocence somehow, but everybody loves you now."

Elisa struggled to get those last words out, as she realized that she included herself in that group.