Chapter 15

SPOV

I wake up to blinding sunlight and a fierce headache. "Oh Merlin," I groan, pulling the blankets over my head.

"Shh, sleeping," James whimpers from the other side of the bed.

I peek out of the blankets at him, wondering if he remembers what happened last night. I did what Fred said I would do. Well sort of. I snogged James and I really shouldn't have. I watch sneakily as he sits up and wipes his eyes.

"I'm so tired," he mumbles, his hands still over his eyes.

"Mm," I reply, pulling the blankets back up. I don't know what to say to him. Last night definitely changed things. Part of me hopes he won't remember, but the other part, definitely a bigger part, hopes he does.

"If I'm getting up so are you," he exclaims, yanking the blankets off of me. "Besides we need to talk."

I glance up at him and frown. "About what?" I ask, trying to play dumb. I sit up and push the hair out of my face.

"Maybe about how you threw yourself at me last night?" he asks, laughing slightly.

"Oh that…" I mumble, my face heating up. It takes absolutely no effort from him to get me to blush. I hate that.

"Yeah, you wanna explain what you were thinking?" He asks, running a hand through his hair. "And why did you tell Rose it was nothing? It was clearly something." He sounds hurt, and I start to feel bad.

"I just said that so she wouldn't say anything…" I pause. "And I was thinking that you looked really good and I just… got carried away."

"So it didn't mean anything?"

"I didn't say that James, I just… can we talk about this later? I don't feel well and I'm still processing," I reply, trying wrap my head around exactly what I was thinking last night. My friends were encouraging me to and I was drunk, but I couldn't tell James that and I'm not sure that was even the whole thing.

"Well, it meant something to me even if it didn't mean anything to you," he replies, raising his voice. "So unless you're serious about any of this just leave me the bloody hell alone." He grabs some clothes from the dresser and storms out while I sit there completely dumbfounded.

"What just happened?" I ask myself as I stare after James.

JPOV

I rush out quickly, making sure to grab clean clothes. "I can't believe her," I grumble to myself, as I go to the bathroom at the end of the hall to change.

After I get dressed and fix my hair I walk off to find Teddy. Maybe he can help me sort this out.

I find him in his room he shares with Victoire, he's helping her get Remus and Dora dressed.

"Teddy?" I ask, leaning against the doorframe.

"Yeah James?" he asks, wrestling Remus into a shirt.

"Can I steal you away for a moment?" I ask awkwardly.

He looks over at Vic and she nods. "Alright." He sets Remus down in his crib before following me down the hall. We head into one of the sitting rooms and shut the door.

I sit on an armchair and he sits on the sofa. "What's going on James?"

"It's Serena…" I run through the events of last night and this morning with him as quickly as I can manage. "I don't know what to do Ted, I just want everything to go back to normal." I rest my head in my hands. "I miss her so much, and she's right down the hall, but it feels like she's so much farther away."

Teddy smiles grimly. "James, just go ask her out. I'm not sure there's much else to do unless you want to give up and move out." He sighs. "I hate seeing you two like this. The whole thing is ridiculous. You've only been back for a month or so, but she obviously has forgiven you fairly quickly and I'm surprised that this hasn't already happened."

"Well…" I pause. "We have kissed before, but last night was… it was intense Ted and she was, I was uh just yeah. I don't know. I'm confused."

He laughs slightly. "Well you're going to be here until New Years Day, sharing a room, so you might as well figure out what's going on now rather than later."

I groan. "Don't remind me."

SPOV

After that embarrassing and somewhat hurtful conversation with James, I get ready for the day and head downstairs for some water and to see who's up. Molly and Arthur are up and cleaning the ballroom with Ginny and Angelina. I watch them for a moment before heading to the dining room. The only ones who're there are Rose, Scorpius, Lily and Albus.

I sit down at the table with them and grab a glass and pour some water in it from the pitcher sitting in the center of the table.

I drink it quickly before setting it down and resting my head on the table. "Hello."

"Well good morning Rena," giggles Rose. "Did you have a good time last night?"

I look up and find them all staring at me with slight smirks on their faces. "You told them? Rose, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours!"

"I'm sorry!" she laughs. "I couldn't help it."

I sigh. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. He's angry with me."

Albus rolls his eyes. "You guys are so dramatic."

"Excuse me I wasn't the one that stormed out the room yelling 'Leave me the bloody hell alone,' this morning," I mumble, staring at the table.

"He said that?" asks Lily gently.

"Yeah."

She frowns.

"It doesn't matter," I sigh. "I deserved it."

"Just because you can't figure out what you want?" asks Rose. "There's nothing wrong with that. Besides, it's not like he was trying to push you away last night."

"She's right," pipes up Scorpius. "You're not the only one at fault Rena."

"Yeah I guess."

"Don't let my brother put you in a bad mood," says Albus, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "It's gunna be fine. James is just being overdramatic as usual."

"Excuse me?" asks James, walking into the room. "She's being completely ridiculous. I'm sorry she hurt my feelings," he grumbles, grabbing some food off of the table.

"James stop it," frowns Lily. "You're making it worse."

"It's not like I set out trying to hurt your feelings James," I answer, standing up forcefully. "I'm sorry you're feelings were hurt really, but how do you think I felt when you left me?"

James groans. "I've been apologizing about that for weeks Serena, give me a bloody break. Let it go already."

I stare at him in disbelief. "Oh yeah okay I'll just let it go. Just let go of the fact that you left me a note breaking up with me and were gone for three fucking years and broke my heart. Yeah let me just let that go real quick," I snarl as I feel like I'm about to cry.

He stares at me in disbelief as I start my rant up again. "You're the worst human being I have ever met James Potter and I can't believe I ever loved you, you're such a bloody git." I shove past him and run up the stairs as I finally start crying. I can't believe him. I run into the room we share and slam it shut, making sure to cast a spell to lock it before I lay on the bed, crying. This has not been a good Christmas.

JPOV

I stare after her completely dumbfounded.

"I can't believe you said those things James!" exclaims Lily. "She has every right to be mad at you for what's been happening."

"Yeah, but maybe she didn't need to be that cruel?" asks Al, sounding confused.

"Was that Serena yelling?" asks Katherine as her, Louis, Fred and Mandi walk into the room.

"Yes," answers Scorp. "James was being an prat."

"James, I'm pretty sure she was crying," says Mandi with a frown. "What did you do?"

"Why is it always my fault?" I shout, exasperated. "She hurts my feelings all the bloody time and no one stands up for my outbursts! You guys are my friends too!" I exclaim sitting down at the table. "No one cares about me though. Obviously." I mumble, resting my forehead against the table.

I hear the chairs squeak against the floor and I can tell the others have sat down around the table.

"You're right James we're sorry," says Katherine, resting her hand on my arm. "You have a right to be upset too."

"Thank you," I mumble.

"Someone should go check on Serena," says Scorpius softly.

"I'll go," says Al, standing up from the table. "I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her yet, maybe I can help sort this out."

I sit quietly and listen to his footsteps as he leaves the room.

"James, just get something to eat and find a way to distract yourself for awhile. Al will talk to her and it'll be fine," says Rose.

"Yeah, okay," I mumble.

SPOV

I look up at the sound of knocking on the door. "Go away James," I shout, snuggling farther into the bed.

"It's not James." I look up as Al walks in. "Good job trying to lock the door, but I've always been good at charms." He smirks, and sits down on the bed beside me. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asks.

I sigh and sit up. "Not particularly," I mumble, leaning my head against his shoulder. "I feel awful."

"James does too." He wraps his arm around my shoulder. "Are you alright? You really gave him an earful downstairs."

"Is it bad that I sort of feel better?" I ask.

He chuckles. "No, I always feel better after yelling at James."

"Yeah…" I pause for a moment. "I shouldn't have said those things though."

"I think it's what James needed to hear. He's being a bit of a prat. To be fair though you are too."

"I know," I sigh. "Albus I really didn't mean to hurt his feelings this morning." I quickly explain what happened before adding, "I just wanted to get a chance to think about it and grab something to eat."

We sit quietly for a minute before he answers. "I think you need to talk to him about that. You just need to be straight up with him and explain that it was just a misunderstanding."

"I know, but I'm so embarrassed about how I acted last night and today was even worse…" I groan.

"Do you love him?" asks Albus.

I sit quietly, stunned by his question, but I find myself answering yes.

He squeezes my shoulder. "Then just go tell him that."

"I'm scared."

"Why?" asks Albus, looking down at me. "It's just James. He's not very scary."

"I know, but… the last time I told him I loved him, he left me…" I reply, trying not to cry again.

He pulls me close. "He won't do that again. If he does I'll beat him up."

"Thank you Albus," I mumble, wrapping my arms around him.

"Anytime, Rena."

SPOV

Al leaves me alone for awhile, so I can figure out what to do. Instead I ended up falling back asleep for a couple hours. When I wake up, I feel ten times better. I climb out of bed to go looking for James. Before I go, I head into the bathroom. I fix my hair and my make up to make it look like I hadn't been crying. I lean against the counter for a moment, trying to steady myself.

I stay there for a few moments, trying to figure out what to say to James, but I give up and decide to just go for it. I march out of the bathroom and skip down the stairs. I find him cleaning up the ballroom with his cousins. I stand in the entry way, staring at him. Eventually he notices me and we make eye contact. I hold his gaze for what feels like forever, before we both move forward. I meet him in the middle of the room and start apologizing, but I don't really get a chance to because before I know it we're kissing.

When we break apart, my arms are wrapped tightly around his neck. "James I am so sorry about this morning, last night did mean something to me and I'm sorry about today and how I yelled at you, I never should have said those things I'm just so so so sor-"

"I love you Serena."

I stare at him, my mouth hanging open. "You what?" I ask, my eyes widening.

"I love you Serena," he says his hands on either side of my face. "I've always loved you."

I feel my face heat up and weirdly enough I start to cry.

"Serena what's wrong?" He asks. He sounds shocked as he tries to wipe the tears off my cheeks.

"Nothing, you git. I just- I love you too," I say smiling.

"Oh good," he says, relieved.

"Finally," someone shouts from across the room.

I look around the room, wiping my cheeks. "Oh Merlin, this is embarrassing."

James pulls me against his chest. "Just ignore them," says James as Rose and Katherine aww at us.

"It's kind of hard to ignore your cousins when they're right there," I mutter, glaring at Katherine and Rose.

"Then let's go." James pulls me from the room and up the stairs. "We need to talk."