I didn't want to revise when I didn't have the burden of excitement on my shoulders, so I don't know why I thought that I would want to revise now I do.
James' little message that he left on my pillow has intrugued me, and so writing in here has once again become more interesting that my so-called-attempts at revision.
It's only just gone nine o'clock now, which is very frustrating. Why can't it be half ten already? Maybe I'll try sleeping or something.
- - - - - - -
OK, so sleeping didn't work. Not that I really expected it to, to be honest. If I can't concentrate enough to read, I don't know why I thought that I'd concentrate enough to sleep. Wishful thinking I guess.
I keep going over what he might want to show me, in my mind, and I'm not entirely convinced that it's not just some elaborate ploy to get me alone with him late at night in the common room. I can't quite decide if he has truely renounced his mischevious ways, or if he just tries to in an attempt to placate me. Sometimes I see that glint in his eyes, and it does make me wonder. But then he looks directly at me, and there's such a depth of feeling there that I shrug it off again, unsure of whether I really saw anything there at all.
It's almost ten now. Maybe if I get changed, that'll kill some time.
- - - - - - -
Twenty past ten, and I'm ready for my night-time excursion. I've sorted my socks into colour order in the drawer too. I can't help it; I find sorting things therapeutic.
Anyway, I've done my hair too. I put it up in a twirly knot thing that I saw Gerry Hopkirk doing last weekend, and I think it worked quite well actually. Took me nearly ten minutes, and there's no way that I'd ever bother with it normally, but I was trying to kill time. And you can't deny it looks good.
I bet James doesn't notice.
And I had to charm my hair to stay in place, because no-one around here believes in hairspray, and I am never usually bothered enough with my hair to need any myself.
Anyway, I'm heading downstairs in a minute. I guess I'll put my quill on record again.
See you there. Metaphorically, of course.
- - - - - - -
Boys. They're never on time. It's just gone half ten now, and I'm sitting here in this big squishy chair waiting for James to appear. I can't believe he's late. I mean, this was his idea.
Maybe he's forgotten about me. Or worse, maybe he wasn't ever going to meet me at all. Maybe it's a prank, or a prank not even by him. Maybe this is Sirius and Peter's idea of a joke or something-
What's that noise? I'm alone here in the common room, and it's a bit eerie. Especially when I keep hearing shuffling noises. I hope that Kim Belkin's cat hasn't got loose again or anything.
There is it again! I swear I'm not imagining it. Over there, by the fireplace.
What the- James?
"Evening." Where on earth did he come from?
"I don't understand... Where did you come from?" He looks very smug. Hmph.
"You look beautiful." He's coming to sit by me now. It's snug in this chair with the two of us. He's looking at my hair; well, at least he noticed it.
"Thanks." Even when I'm ruffled, he still makes me smile. "But I still don't understand-"
"I told you I had something to show you. Let's go for a walk." At night? Is he mad?
"We can't! We'll get caught! Or worse-" His hand is on my lips, shushing me.
"Would I get you into trouble?" Hmm, I'm still not sure about that. "Come stand by me." He stands, and pulls me to my feet next to him. It's nice being this close, and I instinctively put my arms around his waist, making him smile.
"So, what's your big secret then? Going to make us disappear?" He's got that look in his eyes, that glint I said about earlier.
"Something like that." He's pulled something from his pocket and wrapped it around me, but I don't see what's supposed to be different.
"What-?"
"Look." He points his wand out from beneath the sheet we're under, and shoots a silvery liquid from it. The liquid looks beautiful, and the dim light in the common room plays off it, casting playful shadows onto the walls. Now it forms a round disc in the air, slowly hardening into a shiny flat surface. It's a mirror. Looking into it, I can see the common room reflected back, and James' wand, but-
No. It can't be.
"We're... invisible?" I can't believe it. It's impossible, surely. But James has that look on his face again.
"Yup." I'm actually speechless. I don't know what to say. "It's an invisibility cloak. It was my Dad's."
He's pulled his hand into the cloak again, and I can't take my eyes off the mirror. I keep expecting to see something there, but there's nothing.
"Do you feel like going for that walk now?" Can I say no to that? This is... something completely new. It's exhilirating.
"K." My voice sounds quiet and weak even to me. Must be the shock.
"Hey. We don't have to. Just say and we can stay here if you want-"
"No. I want to." That must also be the shock. James seems pleased though. Big surprise.
- - - - - - - -
Moving with someone else under this cloak is an... interesting experience in itself. I have to keep reminding myself that no-one can see us. I'm also finding it much harder than I should to concentrate, and I can't quite pinpoint why. Maybe it's the new feeling of breaking rules. Maybe it's the fact that I keep feeling James' hands brushing my sides. Maybe I'm just tired.
James has brought me to a room with a balcony in the North Tower that I didn't even know existed. The view is amazing, right out across the lake, with the stars reflecting in its glittering black surface.
"Do you like it?"
"How could I not?" He never ceases to amaze me, it seems.
"Good." A comfortable silence; just us standing looking out at the view, with James behind me, holding me.
"So, is this your secret then?" Now a longer silence, and so I turn around to look at him. He looks a little troubled.
"I've got a few." His mood passes, like someone wiping the frown from his face. I don't know whether to push him further or not. "Another day, Lily, I promise."
There's no answer to that. Well, maybe there is.
Reaching up to his face, I tangle my fingers in his hair and pull his head down to meet mine. Our lips meet with a soft, gentle touch.
After we pull away, I rest my head on his shoulder. It might sound corny, but it's true; I've never felt safer than on that exposed balcony, wrapped in James and an invisibility cloak, standing beneath the stars.
