When you think of a place where James Potter was least likely to spend his time, library was fairly high up on the list. As it happened, the Black family was quite keen on its literature. Because of this, 12 Grimmauld Place had an extensive selection of first editions and ancient scrolls, the room compared in size to that of the entirety of the Burrow, even after all of the extensions in recent years. This made it the ideal hiding place for an eighteen year old boy with a crushed ego and a broken heart. He was sitting on the floor between the shelves, 'Dark Magic' and 'Very Dark Magic', hugging his knees and teaching himself how not to cry. There had always been a little box of feeling in him with a padlock and chain. A little box of Alice. But the mistletoe was a key and Alice's smile was a sledgehammer.

Thinking about Alice was like a bad bruise. He kept touching it but it hurt every time, he always knew it would hurt but he couldn't help himself from making the same mistake, over and over.

Neither of them had been in any form of relationship since each other, he wouldn't know what to do with himself if she did. He had always assumed that she had gone off him, that he had been too arrogant or that he had just been too boring. That had hurt. But today, thinking for just a moment that she wanted him too, and then having it torn to shreds. Nothing could have hurt more.

He remembered the day that she had ended it. The Longbottom family had been invited for brunch on the last day of the summer holidays, one day before the first day of sixth year and their one year anniversary. He had hugged her and kissed her on the cheek and the families had sat down at the table together. It was the height of summer and so they were eating outside in the garden. Of course, their anniversary was a big topic of conversation, almost the only topic of conversation at that, but James didn't mind because it only reminded him of her and how they would be together forever. After dessert, they had taken a walk to the end of the extensive gardens. They held hands and talked about their future. They walked in silence for what seemed like hours of bliss.

She stopped and turned to him, 'James. I'm breaking up with you.'

He laughed and answered in playful sarcasm, 'Alright, sure, shall I go and get the divorce papers?'

'No, James. I don't want to be with you anymore.' His smile faded.

'What? Why?' A breath caught in his throat.

'I just…I…Don't love you anymore.'

'But our anniversary is tomorrow! I love you!'

'James, I'm sorry but I can't do this.' And with that she walked away, leaving him breathless and alone. This was the last time they had been alone together in two years, until today.

One of the things that they had bonded over initially was their shared hatred for books and reading. Which was why, coincidentally, they had both chosen the same hiding spot. As he sat in silence, wallowing in his misery, only one aisle over, Alice Longbottom sat wallowing in hers, between shelves reading, 'Very Dark Magic' and 'Extremely Dark Magic'.

She remembered the day that she had ended it, she remembered and she regretted with all of her heart. The Potters had invited her and her family for brunch on the last day of the summer holidays, one day before the first day of sixth year and their one year anniversary. When he kissed her on the cheek, her heart melted and she remembered why she loved him so much. He led her outside to the table where they sat together and he held her hand tightly. Their anniversary was only one day away and that was all anyone seemed to talk about. Relentless questions delving into their personal lives and jokes about her being the future Mrs Potter. James seemed to love the attention and didn't mind the pestering but at this point she realised that she didn't want to be Mrs Potter. She loved James but she couldn't spend the rest of her life being an accessory to the famous James Potter. She imagined herself walking down the halls at school and people saying, 'I don't know her name but it's definitely James Potter's girlfriend.' The parents rabbited on and James soaked up the glory but all she could picture was her death and a gravestone reading, 'In loving memory of James Potter's Girlfriend'. No. This would not be how she spent her life.

After dessert, James took her hand and they walked around the gardens. She walked in silence as he talked endlessly about their future. Finally, she snapped.

'James. I'm breaking up with you.'

They next thing she knew, she was running up to the house. She grabbed some floo powder from the fireplace as her family rushed after her concerned. Not until she lay in bed that night did she shed a single tear.

As she sat in the library two years later, she knew two things for certain. She was in love with James Potter. She could never be with him.

As much as she regretted not being able to be with James, she knew that she would never regret the decision that she made. If they were together then she would never be her own person and no one would ever see her as an individual. If she did she would grow to resent James and his family and she couldn't live with that.

On the far side of the library, the door creaked open and the footsteps of two giggling teens echoed across the room.

'Come on Scor! There's no one in here and there's no way my dad will walk in on here! We have a lot of catching up to do…'

'Don't you think we should be looking for James and Alice like the others?'

'Everyone's looking for them, they don't need us! Can't we just take a little break…'

The room fell suspiciously silent as James and Alice cringed in their respective hiding places. They didn't want to know what that silence meant.

The silence ended with heavy breathing.

'But Rose, I don't get it. Why did they break up if everyone says they loved each other so much? Did they just get bored of each other? I mean, James did say it was mutual.'

'Oh, don't believe that! Everyone knows the 'mutual breakup' is bullshit, Alice dumped his sorry arse for sure.' James winced, 'Freddie reckons he was pressuring her to have sex with him but Lily thinks he must have cheated on her. It must be something really embarrassing if neither of them will tell us. I mean, it's been two years and we still can't get anything out of them!'

James and Alice were both offended by the bold accusations, didn't they know that he loved her too much to do these things to her. He had tried to talk to her in the weeks following the sudden break up but he never seemed to be able to catch her alone. By the time the whole school had noticed the split and had started with the relentless questions, he had already pushed those feelings so deep within him that he no longer knew how he felt about her. That is, until today when his feet were glued to the floor and he looked upwards.

'I don't believe them though.' Rose added, 'I think I know what it must be.'

'Well then why don't you share because I'm dying to find out', spat James bitterly as he emerged from behind a bookcase.

Scorpius and Rose gasped in shock and immediately started to straighten their clothes and hair which included Scorpius swiftly picking up his shirt from the floor and coughing nervously.

'Look…James…What we said about you and…urm…we didn't…urm…sorry?' Rose spluttered, her face turning beet red. Alice sat in shock, not realising that she had been sitting only metres away from the person that she was thinking about.

'No, really! Tell me your theory, because I sure as hell don't know why she broke my heart!' James spat in rage.

'Calm down, mate' Scorpius put a comforting hand on James' trembling shoulder.

'Wait?' asked Rose curiously, 'you don't know why she broke up with you? At all? It actually wasn't mutual?'

'Of course it wasn't fucking MUTUAL! Why the FUCK would I break up with the most beautiful girl in the entire world! I was the happiest guy in the fucking WORLD, and she just turned around one day, told me that she didn't love me anymore and broke my heart into two!' James panted, 'So tell me, please… why did she do this to me?' They sat in silence as a tear rolled down Alice's cheek until Rose answered.

'Well, my dad told me one time. About this argument. This argument between your mum and dad before you were born. She tried to break up with him. Back when they were like, 19. Because she didn't want to be like. Like a trophy wife. Of course, he didn't let her and they were fine. But she was really worried. That her only achievement would be as Harry Potter's wife. Or something like that. I always thought that it might be something like that. There was always so much pressure on her because you were the most popular guy in school.

'You always were so smart Rose'. Their heads whipped around to see Alice leaning against a bookcase, mascara smeared down her face. 'Only you could have got it in one…'

'Alice! What are you doing in here?'

'I didn't think anyone would look for me here…'

'Me too…Guess that's one thing we have in common. Along with a shared hatred of libraries. Oh, and let's not forget the shared experience of you breaking my heart! '

'I had to do it! Can you imagine me spending the rest of my life as Mrs James Potter! I need my life to be more than just being with you!'

'But why couldn't you be yourself and still be with me! I know that you still love me, you have to still love me or I don't know how I'll live without you!'

'Well, you've survived without me for the last two years!'

'There's a difference between surviving and really living. Alice. Look at me.' Her eyes stayed fixed to the floor. 'If you can look me in the eye and tell me that you don't love me and that you don't want to be with me then I'll leave you alone. I'll avoid you at school and then after that, you'll never see me again.'

'No, James! That's not fair! Because you know that I love you and you know that I want to be with you but I just can't…'

'I know that? When was I supposed to figure this out? Was it somewhere between you brutally breaking my heart and you ignoring me for two years? Was that when I was supposed to figure it out?'

'How about today? When we kissed. YOU were the one that ran away! YOU were the one who rejected me in front of everyone we know!'

'You didn't have a choice but to kiss me! We were under the bloody mistletoe!'

'And what if I kissed you now?'

'What?'

'If I kissed you, right here, right now, would you believe that I love you?'

As James looked around, he realised that Scorpius and Rose had silently slipped out of the door and that they were alone at last. They walked towards each other, closer and closer, but a kiss never came. Because he already knew. He already knew that she loved him and all he needed now was to hold her in his arms for the first time in so long.