Waking Up, It's Hard Sometimes
Every evening I go to sleep, and I wonder how I managed to get through the day without holding her, without kissing her, without being with her every moment of every day. Every night I lie awake, and all I can think of is her.
She is everything to me, and every day is better than the last. I wish that she will always be near me, I wish that she was mine, one day she will be.
Thoughts drifted through James Potter's head, unbidden yet not unwelcome as he lay awake at night once again, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow he would see Lily once again, tomorrow was the beginning of a whole new year at Hogwarts, maybe he could get through it without acting like a total prat.
It was another year, like any other. "It can't be like the others though," whispered James into the night air.
James pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and stared over the clutter of his desk and beyond his owl's cage, out the window at the stars in the night sky. He stared, and he thought, and he drifted down to sleep.
James woke up the next morning to the sounds of Sirius bounding down the stairs and into his room. "School!" yelled Sirius. James simply moaned in reply and rolled over on his side, shielding his face from the light and his body from Sirius. However, Sirius seemed to take this as an invitation to conjure a large jug of water on top of James' head, and then jump on his bed until the water spilled all over him.
"AHHH, Sirius, I'm gonna kill you, grow up you little puppy," James roared. "Why do you want to go to school anyway?"
"Well, I personally enjoy the academic opportunities that the educational system provides, including what I like to call the three B's: broads, butterbeer, and Birman."
"Birman?"
"The Birman twins, Angelica and Tiffany"
"Why am I surprised?" James groaned.
"No Clue."
"Fine, I'm coming." James hoisted himself off of the bed and got dressed, "So, do you want to go get our school stuff?"
"Sounds like a plan. Didn't the letters come a while ago?"
"Yeah, I think that they're on my desk somewhere."
Sirius walked over to the desk and pulled out the letters. He tossed James' letter to him and then walked over to the owl cage perched on the other side of the desk. "Hey Petrarch," he said to the eagle owl inside, "Can you take this to Sarah?" he asked, indicating the equipment list from his restaurant. Petrarch hooted in reply and grabbed the letter in his talons before flying off.
By the time that Sirius had turned around James had gotten dressed and pocketed his letter. "Lemme see the new badge," demanded Sirius, "They always come up with a new design for the Quidditch Captains."
James pulled out his letter and spilled its contents out into his hand. Nestled beside the red and gold of the Quidditch Captain's badge was the Silver and Gold of…
"Head Boy!" crooned Sirius. "Why?"
"No Clue," said James.
"I would have thought Remus."
"Yeah, but you can never tell with Dumbledore."
"True enough, you want to go?"
"After you," quipped James, and both Friends spun on their heels and apparated into the Leaky Cauldron.
The Leakey Cauldron was an old pub that always seemed to be filled with people and either attended by the innkeeper Tom or his young niece Sarah. She was there when James and Sirius apparated, wiping down the bar. Even in the early hours there were quite a few people but James and Sirius managed to find a couple of stools near the bar on which to sit.
"Hey Sarah," Sirius grinned, "you get the things?"
"Haven't had the chance," Sarah replied. She was a young woman who had recently graduated from Hogwarts. During her school days she and Sirius had maintained a periodic and…athletic…relationship. She had long, dark hair that fell halfway down her back and stunning blue eyes. She also had a variety of other assets of which Sirius was particularly appreciative. "How about you have some breakfast while I pick up your stuff." Like food. "It was pretty slick of you to have me do your shopping for you. Perfect way to get out of even a modicum of hard work."
"Well," began Sirius, "I pride myself on my clever ways to get out of hard work. After all, we can't have the new head boy working up a sweat."
A/N: I'm back...kinda. I wrote this for me own redhead. Well, actually her hair is a little more of an auburn color. Either way, wonderful. Anywho...have fun.
