It was all open air and a cloudless blue sky when James and I tumbled out from the claustrophobic staircase. The cool air was welcome as it hugged both James and I in turn.

My eyes flickered everywhere, to the multiple skiers below us and the mountain peak above us. It took a moment for my brain to register how small the skiers looked. We were even higher than the ski lift that I'd had quite the experience with yesterday.

"The roof, James? This is possibly the worst place we could have gone! Now we have nowhere else to go!" I whirled on the boy, who was nonchalantly leaning against the door we had just burst from and taking in the view of the mighty mountain.

"We may not, but neither does creepy back there." His thumb pointed at the door.

I felt my eyebrows curve up in a skeptical glance.

"It's locked." He said simply.

"He's hotel staff. And if he is as much like Filch as I think he is, I'm pretty sure he has keys."

His lips struggled to stay in a straight line, but the smirk was too powerful. Without saying a word, James' fingers revealed a small, silver key that he had been pressing into his palm.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"You pick-pocketed him? When did you manage that?" I shouted, grabbing the key as if I could tell its authenticity.

"When we brushed past him in the pantry." He winked at me as he began emptying his pockets of food.

My eyes would not leave the small key. How had I not even noticed him take this?

"But…" I tried to form words, any words at all, but my tongue had frozen.

"We got a lot of practice at school. This guy was pathetic compared to old Filchy."

There was a sudden brush against my thigh, and I jumped, spinning to face James.

He held his hands up like a criminal. "Just grabbing food. You going to take that pudding out, or do I have to?" He asked, making himself comfortable on the cement of the roof.

Through the whole panic in the kitchen, and then just a minute ago in the hallway, I had completely forgotten about how hungry I was. My stomach gave off relieved grumbles that I was finally recognizing its existence again.

Hesitantly, I sat down in front of James, slowly pulling out my loot as well. Half of the stuff I didn't even remember grabbing: chips, jam, beans.

None of our food made a decent meal. Even if it could have made some sort of a casserole, it wouldn't have been very good. But we ate it anyway. I hadn't really noticed that I was never offered food in the infirmary, so I was starved.

"When did you first come up here?" James' voice broke our silent meal, and I glanced up at him from the bread.

"Up on the roof? A few minutes ago." I'm pretty sure I was wearing his smirk on my lips.

His glasses slid a little bit down his nose again. "Haha. Funny, Lily. I mean here. At the lodge."

I found myself looking up at the mountain that kept watch over everything at the lodge. I swear, it got taller every time I laid eyes on it.

"I couldn't really tell you. My dad used to come here with his parents. He loves it here, so he has always brought us, you know? I have memories from this place from when I was little." I could feel James' gaze on me. That buzzing feeling came back to my gut, so I took a bite of the bread to soothe it.

"What about you?" I asked him suddenly, uncomfortable with attention on me. His gaze always did that to me.

"Since I was nine." He replied, his eyes finally following mine towards the peak.

The breeze flew around us, making my hair lightly wrap over my nose and obstruct my vision.

I'd given up wondering how I'd gotten into this, how we had ended up like this. It was peaceful up here, beautiful. And as much as I didn't want to admit it to myself, I felt that I wouldn't have wanted to be up here with any other person.

Not because I liked him or anything.

Petunia would have ruined it by making some stupid comment.

My mother would have snapped a picture, because she never really looked at anything.

My dad would start to tell me a story about some friend of his that was completely unrelated to the view.

But James was as content with the silence as I was.

By the time we finished, there were no leftovers, and the sun was already making its way to the western line of mountains on the opposite side of the ski lodge.

I didn't want to be the one to speak first, but the question was plaguing my head.

"Why didn't you want the nurse to know you were there last night?"

At first I wasn't even sure he heard me; he didn't move or make any gesture that he was going to reply.

I was pretty sure the sun had moved another few inches by the time he spoke.

"I've…ever since Hogwarts, I've never really been a fan of hospitals." He sounded nervous again, just like when he'd knocked on my door this morning.

Tilting my head towards him, I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I know how to heal myself. I learned…at Hogwarts. Doctors, nurses, even Madame Pomfrey just make me nervous. I can't bring myself to trust them." The sun was reflecting from his glasses, making a kaleidoscope effect on his eyes.

There was something he wasn't saying, but I didn't call him out on it. I hadn't even expected the answer he gave me, so I didn't press.

"We should probably go." He said, effectively ending our previous conversation, and brought himself into a standing position before stretching his back, his fingertips reaching for the sky above us.

I couldn't stop staring at him in this light. He looked so calm, like we had not been tumbling down a ski hill yesterday, or chased by a crazy-Filch man today.

James tore his eyes from the sky and smiled down at me, offering a hand to help me stand. I debated whether I should pretend I didn't see it and just stand by myself, but my hand was already folded in his.

He went first this time, peaking out of the hidden door we'd made our earlier escape from. He waved me forward, opening the door a little wider.

This staircase was ancient though. I hadn't noticed it when we'd been running for our lives, but you could hear every step you made. On the last step, there was a deep creak in the wood, and with a jolt, it gave way.

My stomach leapt to my throat as I fell forward. I tried to push James away from me, but my fingers clung to his shirt in a panic instead, and he came down with me.

The hallway wasn't dark, but my eyes had grown accustomed to the light outside. Black, fuzzy clouds filled my vision, and I blinked rapidly to try and get my sight back.

James groaned beneath me, shifting. His hand brushed the same spot by my pocket again, and a gasp came from me.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

My sight was just starting to return and I could barely make out James' face below mine when the hallway was suddenly flooded with light.

"I knew you two would have to come down sooner or later. It was just a matter of time." The gravelly voice sounded very satisfied. Neither James nor I had to look to know it was the creep from before.

I don't know how I managed it, but I pulled James up with me, and in a rush we were flying down the hallway again. The man shouted some things that should not be repeated as he lumbered after us. Even as his voice began to dim as we pulled ahead, our feet didn't stop sprinting until we were back in front of my door. Back where the day had begun.

With a short tug, I awkwardly pulled my hand out of James' grasp. He flexed his fingers a bit before balling his hand into a fist. After a moment, he just shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Well," I breathed, looking anywhere but him.

"See you tomorrow." He asserted, nodding at me before he brushed past me.

"Sure." I whispered to an empty hallway.