Chapter 35: Old Dates, Current Dates, Wishful Dates
Despite what she had promised herself earlier, Cressida now stands on the main street of Hogsmeade with her hand interlocked with Arthur McMullen's. He was very insistent on going to Hogsmeade, saying there was nothing to do around Hogwarts that is entertaining. Cressida could have spent hours debating that statement, but instead, she quietly let him take her to the carriages.
She refuses to let her anxiousness show itself. Whilst Hogsmeade isn't the biggest place, there's still a decent chance that she wouldn't run into James and Lily on their first date.
"Your friends are around, aren't they? They usually come on the weekends."
"Oh." Cressida grips his hand tighter, struggling to keep up with his fasten pace. "No actually, they wanted to stay at Hogwarts today. Except James. He's on a date with Evans."
Arthur halts his stride completely, facing her with a stunned expression. "Potter is on a date with Evans? When did this happen?"
"Not sure," she answers honestly. "But he finally convinced her." A deeply buried part of her rises back up. Anger. How could James want somebody that refused to even call him by his name for five years? Someone that didn't want to be in his presence? Her mind flings back to a conversation she had with Remus earlier in the year.
It was the chase that drew him in. But what happens now that the chase is over? Does a new one begin?
"Blimey," he exhales, tugging her back into a walk. "Where do you want to go then?"
"Madam Puddifoot's," she declares quickly. The boy's hate the shop's frilliness. It would be the last place James would take Lily. "I mean," she adds slower, "if you want to go there too."
"I was actually thinking the Three Broomsticks," he contends with a slightly shrivelled nose and a tone that's almost mocking in how he's trying not to offend her. As though her answer is ridiculous. "I'll shout you a butterbeer," he adds with a nudge of his elbow.
Cressida sighs internally, praying that Lily has done her a favour and somehow requested to go to Puddifoot's. James would be submissive to anything she asks for. Her mouth stays closed as Arthur rambles on about a prank her friends has pulled back in fourth year that was quite extreme that he 'just can't get over'. Cressida hadn't been involved in it, not wanting the five weeks worth of detention but doesn't admit that to Arthur who doesn't seem to care that much about what she has to say about it. Let him believe she was the mastermind for all she cares.
His lips finally pause for a moment as they push through the entrance to the Three Broomsticks which is filled to the brim in the midday lunch hours. "It's a bit full," she observes. "It'll take forever to get our food. That's if we even find seats."
Arthur's lips twist around, considering her words. With a sigh, he begins to agree. "Yeah, maybe you're right – hey, there's Potter and Evans!" His twisted lips unfurl and morph into a confident grin. Cressida's lips fall apart, her grip on his hand tightening. She doesn't look in the direction that his other hand begins to wave at, instead tugging the one she does have a hold of.
"Can we go-"
"We should sit with them. They have a big enough table."
"I'd rather-"
Her words fall deaf on his ears, his sights set firmly on two heads that Cressida refuses to look for. This is exactly what she wanted to avoid, yet despite her efforts, she is being pulled through a thick crowd right towards her problem. She spots them unintentionally, just as they spot her. Lily's brows raise in surprise, her lips revealing a wide smile. She's wearing a pretty pink shirt that suits her figure perfectly and jeans that she told Cressida are the best to display her backside. James' shoulders push backwards, his seat growing taller. He's wearing his denim jacket and black pants, a handsome but simple look. Arthur glances down to her, expecting her to be the one to talk to them, despite her repudiation of joining them in the first place.
Swallowing and keeping her eyes pinned on Lily with quick – polite – glances at James she says, "Hey. Sorry for interrupting, we-"
"Were wondering if you'd mind us joining," Arthur finishes her statement. He breathes out sharply with an evenly spread grin, glancing around the pub. "It's a bit busy today, innit it?"
"Oh, uh, yeah," James breathes out, cupping his glass of butterbeer. He smiles tightly – utterly fake. Cressida pulls on his hand, wondering if the boy standing next to her is truly that oblivious to her signals. James, and she'd bet Lily, don't want them here.
James glances at Lily but the polite girl only smiles up at the intruders with something a little more believable. "It is, isn't it?" She laughs and Arthur mimics the sound. It sounds horribly forced. "We don't mind, do we, James?"
Hearing his name come from her lips sounds strange. James shakes his head. "No, of course not." Just like that, he is sliding into the booth next to James and Cressida slowly sits down next to Lily.
She wants to apologise, but she can't bring herself to admit to them that he's going against her wishes. McMullen is a Hogwarts dreamboat – let them believe he's better than he's actually been. That's she's not so foolish to be on date with a douchebag – and not even a first.
Arthur doesn't miss a beat. "So how do you lot sneak around so easily undetected. Cressy here won't reveal your secrets to me." Cressida pushes her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Oh, what an awful nickname. She'd prefer Bear any day.
"It's a surprise we do," James answers without missing a beat. "Bear here is louder than Hagrid climbing the stairs."
Cressida folds her hands on the table, pursing her lips to hide her amusement. "Bear?" Arthur repeats. "Strange nickname. Is she that ferocious?"
"Can be."
Cressida turns in her seat to smile at Lily. "Would you like another drink?" she asks kindly. Lily's mouth rounds, picking up her empty glass. She briefly glances towards James' but his eyes are firmly set on Cressida's date. Likely terribly annoyed at the interference.
"Uh, no, I'm fine thanks."
The two girls smile at each other in understanding before Cressida quietly slips from the table and hunts down Madame Rosemerta, the barmaid of the pub. Her shoulder brushes against many strangers; from drunken men that had likely been there since the night before to other students from Hogwarts. She can even see Professor Slughorn amidst a small crowd near the main hearth.
Cressida glances out of the window in a moment of longing for open space, but her eyes don't catch the beautiful nature, but a single figure walking past the window with his hands stuffed into a light coat. "Elias?" she mumbles. Her path changes, twisting her body through the swarm of people until her hands press the entrance door wide open. "Elias!"
The handsome man's head turns upwards in a wide grin. "Cress?" he calls back. She hasn't felt so relieved in a long time. Her arms open wide, near skipping towards him and Elias leans down slightly until she jumps into his awaiting arms and her feet leave the ground. "You've grown taller."
When her feet plant back on the stone ground, her cheeks are stretched wide to hold a smile that makes them hurt. She kicks her right foot up to the side to show her shoes with a short but thick heel that she had thrown on before finding Arthur. "It's the heels. Fools everyone."
"Ah," he grins back. He sighs contently. "You look amazing, as per usual."
A blush dons her hurting cheeks. "Thank you. You look like you always have. Which is a good thing. What are you doing here? And more importantly-" she punches his shoulder "-why didn't you tell me you were coming."
He holds up his hands, stumbling at her strike. "Alright, let me defend myself. I only found out that I was coming here around five hours ago. I've got a job."
"Is it top secret or more like you're picking up goat feed for Molly?"
He winks slyly. "Top secret. But I suppose you're a good secret keeper, aren't you?"
Cressida folds her arms with a smirk. "The best."
Elias tips his head forward tauntingly, but he leans forward close to her ear. His body language softens and hers copies instinctively. "I'm heading to the Hogs Head Inn. I think someone there has information about Voldemort's whereabouts."
Cressida's eyes widen, staring into his brown eyes as he leans back on the heels of his feet. "Are you hunting him down?"
"Me personally? No." He places his hands back in his pockets, glancing around perceptively. "But there are people in the Order who are. I'm just trying to help them." Cressida sucks on her teeth, realising how simple life at Hogwarts really is in comparison to what Elias must be doing. "I'm sorry I can't write much. A lot of the times it isn't safe to send an owl."
"It's fine," says Cressida, her grin now a soft smile. "You're a busy man. Speaking of being busy – I'd love to talk more but I'm actually on a date and I don't think he'd appreciate me leaving him behind for so long."
Elias laughs, nodding his head. Then his eyes flicker over her shoulder. "Finally got the date with James then?"
"What?" she blanches. "No. No."
Elias raises his brows, unbelieving of her words despite them never being truer. She glances over her own shoulder and realises why he must have come to that assumption. James has come outside as well, slowly walking up to the pair. Elias waves with a friendly smile.
"Sorry, tell Arthur I'll be inside in a second," she calls to him.
"Just coming out for some air actually," he responds, smiling casually. He stops at her side, his elbow brushing against hers. "Elias, nice to see you again. What brings you back this way."
"Work," Elias laughs. "I was just apologising to Cress that I hadn't had the time to write and tell her I was coming."
James nods with a similar laugh. It isn't forced, she notes. Cressida remembers that James liked Elias. "Did she punch your shoulder? She does that when she doesn't have a book to whack you with."
Her cheeks heat up even more, her fist raising to do just that before realising the irony. The boys laugh at her pouted expression and the irony. "She did," Elias agrees.
"Hmm. She's not very strong, is she? Feels like a fly knocking into your arm," James drawls. Cressida huffs indignantly, raising her fist again and knocks the side of her hand against his shoulder just enough to elicit some pain. James laughs again, stepping away from her side before leaning back in and wraps one arm around her shoulders and the furthest reaching out to hold the arm that punched him by her side. "Alright, alright."
"Don't worry," Elias drawls in the same tone James had. "I'll tell them you bruised me."
"I'm not aiming to hurt you," she sighs with a crooked smile. "But I'm definitely strong enough to."
James winks at her. "Of course you are, princess."
Her heel digs into his foot, eliciting a string of hisses from the messy-haired boy. Elias raises his hands in surrender, taking a step back just in case. "If you boys want to stop talking like I'm not here, I think we all have things to go to." The fall into agreeance. "It was really nice to see you again. If you're still at the Inn when I finish, I might duck over to say hi and we chat some more."
Elias smiles, taking a few steps backwards in preparation to leave. "Don't rush," he says. Nodding to James in farewell, he turns back onto the path she interrupted him from and leaves her standing with James alone.
"I thought we discussed calling me princess," Cressida notes as the older boy wanders out of sight. "And we decided not to."
"I never agreed," James refutes. "You said it made you sound spoilt. I, however, like to spoil you." His arm slithers back across her shoulder and she doesn't have the strength to wriggle her way out of it. "Do me a favour and stay with me when we get back in."
Her face falls into a frown. "Why?" she inquires. He doesn't answer, only leading them both back into the pub. "I'm getting us some drinks," she adds so James only continues leading her to the bar. She's surprised to see Arthur already there.