The Great Hall was fantastically warm, but there wasn't any food there yet. So we traipsed down to the kitchen, keeping up the conversation. James tickled the pear in the fruit bowl portrait and swung open the door.
The scurrying around of the house-elves gave the kitchen a busy, buzzing vibe. A handful spotted us and hurried over, their feet making little pitter-patter noises on the stone floor.
"Misses and sirs look chilly; why not move to beside the fireplace?" one squeaked, grabbing Alice's hand and leading her to the gigantic fireplace. Once all of us had gotten to it, the house-elves started offering a number of things.
"Would miss like a hot chocolate?"
"Does sir want a warm treacle tart?"
"Will sir take some apple cider?"
"Miss wants some cinnamon toast?"
"Does miss want a hot tea?"
"I would like some hot chocolate with marshmellows, please." I requested. One elf trotted to a large cauldron, full of steaming hot chocolate, filled a mug, and plopped three marshmellows into it.
"Would miss like some cinnamon toast with her hot chocolate?"
"Ummm…Do you have any French toast?" The elf handed me the mug, bowed and walked off. I started slurping my drink as the others got this and their snacks. The elf that had gotten me my drink returned a slice of French toast in hand. It even had a light sprinkle of powdered sugar on it.
"Thank you!" I exclaimed, bending over and kissing him in his head.
"He blushed and replied, "Not a problem, miss." Once he had turned to get back to work, I looked up to find all the others staring at me.
"What?"
"…You must really like French toast," Frank replied.
"I do, as a matter of fact, so you can all stop staring at me now, please and thank you."
"You're so breathtakingly beautiful that I'd rather not stop, though."
My face, which had just returned to normal color after being pink from cold, turned scarlet. James, always the charmer. "Oh. W-well then… I'd, um, still prefer that you not, uh, stare…" I stuttered.
"Awww, James, you've got her speechless!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I was just telling the truth," he shrugged.
I stayed silent, watching as their conversation bounced around
I wanted to go swimming. Really bad. Of course, the lake's too cold (and there's the problem of it being frozen over…), but that's where being head girl comes in handy. Or, you know, being a prefect or quiddich captain. I love the prefect's bathroom. I grabbed my swimsuit, stuffed it in my robes, and slipped out of the common room.
Hoping that no one would be in there, I hurried off to the bathroom. Last time I had wanted to take a swim in the pool-sized tub, I had gotten to the bathroom in time to discover Luna Averby (the seventh year Huffelpuff prefect), and Nathan Daniels (sixth year Reavenclaw, also a prefect), taking a "swim" together.
The memory still makes me shudder. Thankfully, it was empty when I got there. After changing into my purple and blue bikini, I began to fill the tub up with all the different kinds of bubbles. My favorite bubble tap has flower-shaped bubbles that smell like lilies. Now that it's full, I turn off the last tap and climb to the very top one. Then jump off, landing in a cannonball. When I surfaced, I did a few laps. Some flips.
I climbed back up the taps, jumped, and did the same airborne acrobatics that I always had when I jumped out of the swings. Finished it with a perfect swan dive. Surfacing, I heard someone clapping. Frowning, I looked for the sound. And spotted the source almost immediately.
"James! How long have you been standing there?"
Just long enough to see you jump off the taps. But I, unlike you, actually came in here to get a bath."
"There's nothing wrong with coming in here to swim."
"Yeah, Luna and Nathan think so, too," he smirked. "Do you have anybody hiding behind all of those bubbles?"
"Yeah, I do. He snuck in just before you. I stunned him and decided to hide him in the bubbles."
"Really now? I didn't think you were that type. So, is it okay if I join you for a swim? It looks like you're not going to get out anytime soon; so I assume I'm not going to be getting a bath in here tonight. But I'd still enjoy getting to sit back and relax. And your company won't be too terrible, either; if I decide I want a conversation."
"You don't have a swimsuit."
"I'm wearing a pair of muggle gym shorts that I borrowed from Remus; I'll be fine."
"…Okay." And with that, he stripped off his t-shirt, set his glasses atop a pile of towels, and submerged himself in the water. Leaning against the side, he closed his eyes, let out a great sigh, and relaxed. I stared at him for a few seconds, shrugged, rolled my eyes, and went back to my swimming.
After about ten minutes had passed by, James spoke up. "What's your favorite color? We've gone to school together for seven years and I still don't know the answer."
"Oh. It's purple… And good point, what's yours?"
"Green. Why is purple you favorite?"
"It's a romantic color to me. Relaxing, and it represents peace and equality. Why is green yours?"
"It's the color of your eyes. Before I had seen them, though; my favorite color was orange." He was blushing slightly; his face had become more of a red and less of a pink from the heat of water. "You've changed a lot about me since I met you. Mostly for the better."
Great, now I was blushing. "That's why you used to irritate me so much. You were so full of yourself; always trying to be Prince Charming. It always worked, too."
"If it always worked, it wasn't trying, it was succeeding," he grinned. "It didn't always work, though. If it had, I'd have you, or would have already had you." He had sat up some, and was looking at me; although I couldn't quite identify the emotion flickering in his eyes. I didn't say anything else, so he resumed relaxing against the edge of the tub.
"Would it bother you if I jumped in again?"
"No; go ahead," he relied sleepily.
Scaling up the taps once more, I decided I wanted to try another acrobatic jump. At the top, I squatted on the tap, balancing; planning the jump in my head. Hmmm… Backwards twisty flip, cartwheel, then move into a swan dive. I wish my wand was with me; if I had it I could really show off and make it look like I was half-human, half-swan.
Wait. Why would I want to show off? Because James is here. No. No no no no no no no; that's not why. But you wouldn't see it; so what would be the point of it? Uggh. Shut up. I shouldn't argue with myself. People would think I'm crazy.
Standing up, I tensed myself for the jump. It went perfectly. Hope James liked it… Wait, why do I care what he thinks? He's not even watching. And since when did I start caring what he thinks, if I do care? Shrugging off these thoughts as I surfaced, I found him watching me. See? He was watching you.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just watching you dive. It was nice; even though you were kind of blurry."
"Oh. Thanks. Well, I'm about to get out, so…"
"I'll leave, too." He stepped out of the tub. "And I'll go and change outside while you change in here."
"Thanks." Surprise must have been evident on my face.
"Surprised? I actually have manners, you know," he replied. "I'll go ahead and admit that I'd love to see you naked," (cue me blushing),"but I respect you, and won't invade your privacy like that."
Opening and closing my mouth like a fish gasping for air, I started searching for something to say. It was as if my brain had temporarily gone on the fritz. "Okay. I'm sorry," I finally managed to reply. He just nodded, and walked out the door. It changed as quickly as possible, put my wet hair in a ponytail, and slid out the door.
James was dressed and dry. Soundlessly, we headed back to the common room. I felt relaxed from the heat of the water, and now the soft rhythm of our footsteps was pulling me towards sleep.
Once we reached the common room, I said goodnight to James, practically slept walked to my dorm, haphazardly put on my pajamas; and fell into my sheets and a night of dreamless sleep.