The Day After The Night Before

The rest of the night was like a dream. They danced to every song and kissed in every interval. The evening ended way too quickly in her opinion. After the last bars of the last song finished, Ailia and Jonathan were found in the garden stood on one of the bridges kissing each other. When they broke apart they realised that it must be the end as nearly everyone had gone. Holding hands they walked out of the Great Hall's doors. He had insisted on walking her to the portrait. Once there they kissed one last time, and she left him smiling after her. It felt as if she was walking on air, as she passed the late night partying of the older students. Smiling at the boys she waved before heading upstairs to bed.

The next morning she woke at ten. Realising she had only half an hour before she was meeting Jonathan, she ran to the bathroom and had a shower. Performing a quick drying spell, she was ready, dressed and had left her room with five minutes to spare. Before they had left the Great Hall that night, Dumbledore had informed Ailia, that because she didn't have the Hogsmead trip the day before, due to the decorating of the Great Hall, he had given her a special allowance, informing her that Jonathan might like a tour of the village. Conveniently "forgetting" that Jonathan used to live there. She met him by the front doors and they walked out. The sun was shining and warmed the usually chilly air. Hand in hand they made their way to the small town.

They had a wonderful day, walking, shopping and having lunch in The Three Broomsticks. When they weren't kissing they were talking about life in general. Jonathan telling her stories about quidditch life and being in the Order of the Phoenix, Ailia told him about the pranks that the boys played on the Slytherins. They decided that after lunch, they would go for a walk. They neared the Shrieking Shack, and sat down on a grassy knoll nearby. They relaxed, enjoying the sunlight, kisses and sweet caresses.

"So when do you go back?"

"Tonight"

"I thought so"

"I have really enjoyed this weekend, meeting you"

"Me too" she smiled sadly "I had so much fun"

"You know, if it wasn't for the circumstances we could have something long term"

"I know, but with you and your job and me and my little task, I doubt it would ever go anywhere, it's a shame really, you're a really good kisser" she grinned

"Yeah I know" he said smugly, before grinning "oh you want the same compliment?" he said looking at her "cause you're not going to get it"

She launched herself at him, tickling his ribs, holding him in place, as he laughed.

"Say it" she giggled "tell me how much of a great kisser I am!"

"Never!" he yelled laughing. She stopped and pouted

"Please..." sticking her bottom lip out, giving him puppy dog eyes

"Oh so I get that treatment do I?" she nodded "fine, fine, you are a great kisser, but now you must be punished!"

"What for?" she laughed

"Tickling me!" he rolled over pinning her down, and tickling her, laughing like a maniac.

After a while they both lay back panting. Ailia curled up against him.

"You will write to me, wont you? It won't just be an empty promise will it?"

"No I will write, but you have to do the same"

"I will, don't worry".

They lay there relaxing for a few hours before heading back to the castle. Walking hand in hand he led her back to the portrait. Saying hello to the Fat Lady as they entered; Ailia had borrowed his jacket the night before so he had come to collect it. Although people outside of the house weren't usually allowed in the common rooms, Ailia was sure that the Gryffindors wouldn't mind, and after a few autographs they finally got upstairs to her room. She went to fetch his jacket from the bathroom.

"You know if my uncle decided to drop by, you'd be in trouble"

"I know, but it's not like we're doing anything is it?"

"I know, I know. So are you going to be alright?" he asked, concern in his eyes

"Yeah I am fine, I don't see this as a loss, I have just gained a new friend"

"Sounds good to me, well I had better go and say goodbye to Uncle Albus before I go."

"Wait how am I going to contact you? I don't have an owl"

"Well I shall buy you one"

"You can't do that!"

"Look, I am going to be in Greece with quidditch around the time of your birthday, think of it as an early birthday present, no arguments"

"Okay, I know no matter what I say, you'll do it anyway, especially if you have the stubbornness of your uncle" she smiled

"Always have, and always will!"

"Do you want me to walk you to the portrait?"

"I'd like that"

So she followed him, grasping at his hand, when they eventually got outside the common room, they said their goodbye.

"Expect your owl within the week okay?" grinning as she rolled her eyes

"Yes, I will" she kissed him gently "I'll look forward to your first letter"

"Okay, well I will see you soon, hopefully" he said cupping her face in his hands

"Yeah, have fun in Greece"

After one last kiss he left, as he reached the bottom of the stairs

"Oh Jonathan!" she called

"Yeah"

"You never told me why you were here in the first place"

"Oh yeah, Uncle Albus, called me asking me to do him a favour"

Suspecting the worst "What kind of favour?"

"He asked me to take one of his favourite students to the ball, because none of his idiot students had asked her" he grinned when she rolled her eyes.

"I am going to kill him" she said smiling

"I'll warn him on my way out" he waved "speak to you soon"

"Yeah bye!" she waved back before going back through the portrait.

Smiling at the other guys, who were playing a game of exploding snap, she decided to join them. She welcomed their greetings.

"Hey Ailia you alright?" Lily asked, smiled warmly

"Yeah...yeah I am fine, did you guys have a good night? I didn't see you at all"

"It was great, especially when Sirius got slapped by Ruth, it was so funny!" giggled peter

"Should I ask?" she asked looking first at Sirius then Lily, who shook her head.

"Let's just say, she didn't enjoy his WHS"

"What's WHS?" asked Ailia

"Wondering Hand Syndrome"

"What can I say, she obviously has no taste" he cried defending himself

"No Sirius my dear, she obviously had impeccable taste, for her to turn you down!" Laughed Ailia

"Oh shut up, it's your turn anyway"

And that's how they spent the rest of the night playing exploding snap. Ailia went to bed with a smile on her face. She finally felt at home.

A few days later Ailia was sat at the Gryffindor table with Lily and the boys. Just as she was about to pour some juice for herself the owls started to arrive, they were noisier than usual she thought to herself. James looked up

"What the hell?"

Ailia looked up to see the owls scattering trying to deliver post and get out of the hall as quickly as possible. Then she saw it, a beautiful osprey chasing most of the owls, snapping playfully at their tails. Ailia smiled it looked like the bird was having fun, looking around to the rest of the students she tried to figure out who the great bird belonged to. But no-one seemed particularly annoyed or embarrassed about its behaviour. Shrugging she went back to her breakfast. Then from one end of the Gryffindor table came a small scream, looking down she saw that the Osprey had landed and was slowly walking up the table. It was walking past every student peering at them as if it was trying to recognise or find someone. Slowly it made its way towards the seventh years; she could tell that most of the people in the hall were watching it, to see what it was going to do next. Even Dumbledore seemed interested and amused by the bird. It finally made its way to Ailia and stood in front of her with its head cocked; it let out a small squawk. Ailia looked up at the bird, she moved her hand slowly towards it, and it let her tenderly stroke its head. It held out its leg for her, she gently untied the note, offering her breakfast scraps to the falcon she opened the letter, smiling as she read.

'Dear Ailia,

How are you? I hope you like Archimedes, I know I said I was going to get you an owl, but he attacked me in the pet shop, and it reminded me how you had attacked me at the ball'

She snorted into her pumpkin juice.

'I leave for Greece on Saturday, and I wanted to say that I had a wonderful time at the Ball and on Sunday. I am so glad that Uncle Albus introduced us, please don't be angry with him, I think he had your best interest at heart. Just think of me as another friend that you can talk about things with. You know what I mean. Anyway, I know that this was only a short note, but I really should be packing, the Coach is shouting at Archimedes for attacking his cat! Make sure you have a good birthday, and have fun. Don't let anything get you down. I will be back in the country around Easter time; I hope that we can meet up. Anyway you had better write back.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Jonathan'

Ailia sighed as she finished reading the letter, passing it to Lily who grinned. Ailia was happy she had another friend. And it was one that knew her secret, sometimes only having Severus to talk to was hard. Picking Archimedes up she carried him to her room, transfiguring one of her chairs into a stand for him she lowered him down.

"I will get you a proper house and things as soon as I can. I think it would be best if you lived here rather than in the owlery, it seems you pissed half of the owls off"

She smiled when he squawked again. He made himself comfortable.

"Well see you soon"

She walked out of her room, thinking about what she would write in her return letter.