Chapter 13

JPOV

At around three the girls have disappeared to the upstairs to get ready for the party. Unfortunately it's a dress robes occasion, which means we won't see the girls for three or four hours.

Louis, Lia, Fred and I are lounging around in the sitting room. The two of them are talking about the party tonight while Lia and I sit on the floor playing pass. I roll the ball back to Lia as Louis mentions all of the ministry workers that will be here tonight. A lot of them work with our parents so it's no surprise they'll be here. I'm mostly just worried about how they'll react when they see that the eldest Potter really is back.

"James?"

I pull myself out of my thoughts and look over at Louis. "Yeah?"

"Katherine needs Lia upstairs. Would you mind bringing her? Dad wants me to go help with something in the ballroom."

I grab Lia and the ball off of the floor. "Yeah no problem." I turn to face Lia, "I would love to take this little bundle of joy upstairs." She giggles and sticks out her tongue at me.

"Thanks mate." Louis kisses the top of her head before he and Fred head to the ballroom.

I give Lia the ball and put her on my shoulders. "Ready to go upstairs?!" I thump loudly up the stairs, causing another fit of giggles. When we get to the top I set her down. "Go find Mum!"

She toddles off and I follow close behind. We look in a few bedrooms before I find them all crowded into mine. "I've brought Lia up like you-" I stop midsentence as I see Serena in her dress. It's not the one we picked out the other day, but it's ten times better. Before I can get a good look I'm shoved out of the room by Katherine.

"You're supposed to knock first you know," Katherine says as she picks up Lia. "What if we had been naked?"

"Well that would've been quite awkward then huh? Look I didn't see anything. Lia's been opening up random doors looking for you I didn't exactly not knock on purpose. You do realize I have a large majority of family in there don't you? I would've knocked if Lia had given me a chance."

She shakes her head. "Yes, yes I know." She turns to go into the other room. "Oh and you should all probably start getting ready!" She gives me a smile and Lia waves before Katherine steps back into the bedroom.

"I can't exactly get ready, you have all of my things hostage in that room with you!" I call before she shuts the door.

"Oh right, just a moment."

I shake my head as the door falls shut behind her. Moments later Lily comes out with my things. "Rena grabbed your stuff for you." She holds it out.

I give her a smile. "You look amazing Lils." She has a deep green dress on which matches her eyes. I recognize the dress as well. It was one of our Mum's old ones, Lily had always liked it, even when she was little.

She grins back as I take my things. "Thanks! Mum finally let me wear it!"

"Well I would hope you didn't just take it."

She laughs, "Of course not. Now go get ready!" She gives me a small shove before disappearing back into the bedroom.

JPOV

By the time six o'clock rolls around everyone is ready and heading downstairs. However, no one will be arriving for another half hour or so. I'm talking to Mum when Lily rushes over. "Do you like it?" She does a small twirl and our Mum smiles.

"You look beautiful darling," she tucks a piece of Lily's hair behind her ear.

Lily beams. "Thanks Mum!" She gives her a quick hug as Dad walks over.

"Lily you look all grown up!" He pulls her into a hug next.

"Dad, I'm already out of Hogwarts, I've been grown up for awhile." She protests, hugging him back.

What she says next I'm not really sure. I'm facing the stairs and at that moment Rena and Dominque are coming down them. Serena's wearing a dark red dress that's fairly fitted at the top and flares out only slightly at the waist. She has part of her hair pinned back, but the rest is in waves around her shoulders. She hardly ever wears it down since she's always off playing quidditch and I had forgotten how pretty it was. It's grown a lot since I've gotten back. I catch her eye and she smiles shyly at me. When she reaches the bottom of the steps I'm already standing there.

"Hi," she says softly, coming to stand in front of me.

I grin, "Hello, beautiful."

"James," she scolds, her face turning pink.

"What? It's true you know. You look beautiful." My voice softens at the end and she smiles at me again.

"Thank you."

"Anytime… but what exactly happened to the dress we spent hours shopping for?" I ask, teasing her.

"Well, Katherine and Mandi had bought me this one and I couldn't really say no…" She trails off, giving me a 'you know how they are' look.

"Well you'll just have to go change halfway through then."

She raises her eyebrows. "I don't think so."

I laugh. "Alright alright, we'll just have to find another occasion for you to wear it."

"No James, I thought I would leave it in my closet, untouched." She smirks. "Let's go into the ballroom with everyone else."

I glance around. I hadn't even noticed they had all left.

I hold out my arm. "M'lady."

She shakes her head and laughs slightly as she takes my arm. We walk into the ballroom to find that some of the guests had already arrived. As we look around we see Lia toddling across the room with Louis right behind her.

I smile. "That kid has got a lot of energy."

"She sure does," she replies as Lia looks over her shoulder. When she realizes Louis is chasing her she speeds up and runs straight for Fred. Fred picks her up and swings her around. Louis sighs, glad that someone has got ahold of her and he slows his pace down.

We walk over to them and together we go find somewhere to sit. We end up sitting with Uncle George and Aunt Angelina as well.

Dinner goes by quickly and surprisingly smoothly. The only real excitement was when Lia threw her roll at Uncle Bill who was sitting at the next table. Since it was Lia however, no one was really upset. However, when Uncle George tried to throw a roll at Uncle Bill that did not go over well.

Soon after our small dinner theater the tables and chairs were vanished and the music came on and the lights went down. The younger children that were attending became all sorts of excited and formed a little circle of dancing with their parents standing nearby.

I grab a couple drinks from the bar and walk back over to where Rena is talking to Mandi and Fred. Mandi catches my eye and she pulls Fred onto the floor to dance. Rena spins around and smiles as she sees me come up with two drinks.

"Would one of those happen to be for me?" she asks, raising her eyebrows.

"I actually was planning on giving it someone else, but she seems to have disappeared," I look around quickly before turning back to her. "You'll have to do I suppose," I say with a sigh as I hold out the drink for her.

She swats my arm gently and grabs the drink. "So glad I could be your backup girl."

I take a sip of my drink before stepping closer to her. "Rena, you're not my backup anything. You're always my first choice," I say back, acting slightly more serious.

She looks down at her drink, and doesn't say anything.

I run my free hand through my hair. "Was that too forward?"

She shakes her head. I watch as she finishes her drink rather quickly. "Will you dance with me?" She looks back up at me, her face slightly flushed.

I set my mostly empty glass down. "I would love to." I hold out my hand and lead her out on the floor close to Fred and Mandi. I pull her close as we dance. The slow music doesn't last long and when it switches I can't tell if she looks relieved or upset.

We spend most of the night together, for her I feel as though it's partly because she doesn't want to be alone during the slow songs and I can't say I blame her.

About an hour or so after the dancing starts Louis and Teddy bring their kids upstairs for bed while Katherine and Vic talk to Fred and Mandi.

Rena and I are sitting at a table near the floor talking. I look over at her as watches everyone dancing. I finish off another drink, unsure of how many I've had, but since the room is almost completely stable I know it's not many. "Serena?"

She takes a sip of her drink and turns to face me. "Yeah James?" She asks and I can tell she's had a bit to drink. She's much smaller than me, but she's been having a new drink every time I've had one so I know that she's a little tipsy.

"Did you want to dance?" I ask. Personally, I'm a bit tired of dancing, but she makes it fun. I'd dance if she wanted.

She shakes her head. "Not right now." She finishes her drink. "Can we actually go to the kitchen? I'm a bit hungry."

"Of course." I stand up and offer her my hand. She takes it with a small smile and I lead her out of the ballroom and into the kitchen. I look around as I push open the door, but there's no one in there. "What did you want to eat?"

She walks over to the counter and picks up one of the cookies. "A Christmas cookie," she replies, her mouth already full of cookie. She holds out a cookie for me. "Want one?" It comes out more like 'wan won?' but I say yes anyway.

The two of us lean against the counter munching on cookies. I stare at the floor quietly, trying to figure out how to apologize for the night before. It seems like she's forgiven me, but I know I should talk to her anyway. "Serena, I'm really sorry about last night. I was out of line and I didn't mean what I said…" I pause. "Well that's not entirely true, I did mean some of it, but I shouldn't have gotten so worked up and angry. I'm sorry."

"What part of it did you mean?" She asks softly, looking down at her hands.

I turn my body to face her and put my finger under her chin and tilt her face up so I can see her face. "I meant it when I said I have feelings for you. I meant it when I said that I wanted to be with you. And…" I hesitate, as I meet her gaze. Her brow is furrowed slightly as she looks at me, but I can see a small smile forming on her face. "And I meant it when I said that I don't understand, but I lied when I said that I might not be around when you figure out what you want. I'm not going anywhere."

She closes her eyes briefly before meeting my gaze again. "Do you promise you aren't going anywhere? Whether we're together or not… do you promise you aren't going to run off?" She looks a bit teary eyed, but I can't tell in the dark.

"Rena, that was the worst decision I've ever made," I reply my voice faltering slightly. "I will never leave you or my family again. I promise."

She throws her arms around my neck and buries her face in my chest. "I really missed you Jamie."

I wrap my arms tightly around her waist. "I really missed you too Rena."