Sorry that this was a bit later than usual - school, am I right?

Chapter 23

There was a certain beauty about waking up in your bed during the holidays. The warmth from the blankets, the feeling of complete relaxation because of the fact that you didn't have anything you needed to do, the beauty of not waking up to go to classes in the morning, it was all very serene. Almost therapeutic in a way.

I absolutely hated it.

Okay, that was bit of an overstatement. I didn't hate it- I abhorred it. I was a morning person, I hated having nothing to do. As a person who enjoyed having a list of things to do, this was like my personal hell. What was I supposed to? Read a book and enjoy the outdoors? No! I wanted to do something. What was especially worse was that my entire family loved having nothing to do, they enjoyed sitting around and doing nothing. Which made absolutely no sense to me! Instead of sitting around and relaxing, the time you spend doing nothing can be used to actually do something!

I glanced at the clock above the fireplace, it was eleven thirty yet no one was doing anything. After cooking breakfast my father sat down and began to read the newspaper, my mother was reading in the corner and my brother Greg was just sitting on the couch, staring at the cackling fire. He was just sitting there and looking at the fire.

"You people are driving me crazy!" I exclaim making them all turn to me. "You're just sitting there and doing nothing!"

My mother laughed, her deep soft laughter that made my father chime in as well, "Winnie, darling - what do you want us to do? We're just happy you are all here and we're taking the time to savour these moments." She said, with a smile.

My father nodded, "Your mother's right, besides what are you in a rush for? There's nothing to be done." He said, amusement dancing in his eyes.

I groaned and sat down on the couch, "Exactly, there's nothing to do! I'm so bored that I counted how many steps there are on the stairs!" I said, pointing to the wooden stairs, "Thirty-eight if any of you are interested," I said, dully.

I felt a pillow hit me from the side, I turned to look at Greg who looked almost as bored as me. "Hey- don't be rude to your mother, Winifred." He said giving me his signature mischievous smile.

I rolled my eyes at Greg and threw the pillow back at him as hard as I could, unfortunately for me he managed to catch it just in time before it collided with his face. Damn quidditch abilities.

Greg grinned at me, cockily and said: "I see that your quidditch abilities haven't improved, eh Win?" he said, purposely trying to wind me up.

I resisted the urge to punch him in the shoulder and glared at him, "Why don't you go stuff it Gregory?" I said, with a smirk as I watched his face go from neutral to annoyed in a matter of seconds. He hated when I called him Gregory but just before he could reply, my mother beat him to the catch.

"They haven't changed one bit have they, Harold?" She said, looking over at my father fondly.

My father put down the newspaper and glanced at us, "Those two? Ha, you wish Clara. " he said and then turned to me, "Why don't you go find something useful to do instead of fighting with each other."

Greg scoffed, looking appalled. "Dad, I can't believe you just said that. We aren't fighting, this is how we show love. Every scream means I love you, a punch means I really love you."

I laughed, nodding. "Oh yeah, he's right. You know what they say, the harder you hit - the more you care." I said, laughing. "Actually, no never mind. That's an awful mantra."

Greg rolled his eyes at me, "Winnie, can I ask how does it feel like to share the same name as a cartoon bear?" He said, grinning mockily as he referred to the great Winnie The Pooh.

I raised my eyebrows at him, "Well, since you asked. It feels great. How does it feel like to have a name so boring no one would use it to name a cartoon or book character?" I said, slyly.

Greg scoffed, "There are plenty of great people with the name Greg. Like for example, Greg Powers. He's amazing." He said, flashing me a arrogant smile.

I laughed, "Yeah right," I turned to my mum and sighed, "Mum, please - I'm going to die of boredom. What do I do?"

My mother rolled her eyes at me and gave me a pointed look, "Winnie, are you going to moan all day? Go find something to do," A erratic grin appeared on her face, "Why don't you go visit James! Oh, I'm sure he'd absolutely love to see you."

I stifled my laughter but nodded. My mother had this very strange idea in her head, a very hilarious idea that I would never reveal to any of the boys. She had only met James but she fell in love with him the minute she did, apparently he reminded her of my dad and she thought that he was 'the one' for me, despite the fact that I reminded her time and time again that we were strictly friends, she did not lose hope. It was quite amusing for the both of us.

"What! Mum, how is that fair at all? She does something and she's sent to see her boyfriend? When I get in trouble I'm not allowed to go anywhere!" He said, scowling at me.

I laughed, "It's because I'm her favourite," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. "Also James is not my boyfriend, Gregory!" I said, swiftly grabbing my coat from the rack and heading out, I was almost certain I heard him retort something but it wasn't coherent.

I stuck my hands in my pockets, shielding them from the cold weather. I could feel the icy weather trickling my nose and probably turning it red like a red-nosed reindeer. I glanced at the streets around me, I was close to where James lived, which was about fifteen minutes away from me. Which, in my opinion was the greatest thing ever.

I approached his house which immediately put a smile to my face, despite the fact that it was winter, there was a warm, cozy vibe to the house. I kicked around the snow that covered the path and knocked when I arrived at the doorstep. I rubbed my hands together as I waited to be let in. In less than a minute, the door slammed open to reveal a disheveled looking James Potter.

His eyeballs almost sprung out of his head, "Oh thank Merlin you're here," He said and grabbed my arm, pulling me in.

I barely had time to react, I was in the living room where the Potter family sat, mugs in their hands. "Hey what the- oh hello Mr and Mrs. Potter! Hope you're well - how's the hip?" I said, but James was already pulling me towards his room before I had time to actually greet his parents properly.

James pulled me into his room and shut the door so quickly, I didn't even notice it happening. He then began to rummage around the room, maniacally looking for something, he fumbled through the desks and began pulling out every single shelf and basically making a mess of his (surprisingly clean) room. I stared at him hopelessly and then he stopped and began to laugh as he pulled out a letter from underneath the table.

My eyes darted between the letter and him, "Eh? I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing here. Actually, I don't know what's happening at all." I said, laughing slightly.

James shook his head, a smile on his face. "Winnie, my beautiful yet blind friend please do me a favour and read who this is from!" He said and thrust the letter unto my hands.

I stifled a laugh and read the name written on the letter, "Lily Evans?" My eyes snapped up to his, "Lily Evans! Spit in my cup and call it water, James why the hell did you get a letter from Lily Firecracker Evans?" I said, grinning.

James laughed a larger smile on his face, "I don't know! Actually no, I do! I sent her a letter wishing her a happy new year! I didn't think she'd actually reply!" He said, looking at the letter like it was his most prized possession, which it probably was.

I chuckled, "So, what's it say?" I said, flopping down onto his bed which was adorned in gold and orange colours, which resembled the colours of the Gryffindor house.

He shrugged, "Who knows! I was waiting for you to get here so we can read it together - just in case, I accidentally read it wrong or something." He said and then sat down next to me.

I gaped at him, "What the - you were waiting for me? How'd you know I'd come?" I said and couldn't stop the smile that was forming on my face.

James scratched his cheek, "I don't know, I just know you always do." He then looked at the letter, "Should I open it or should you? No you do it -" He said passing it over to me, before jerking it away once more, "Or maybe I should? No, no no you do it." He said and reluctantly passed it over to me.

I rolled my eyes playfully at how excited he was and began to read the contents of the letter in a clear voice, "Dear Potter, thank you for wishing me a happy new year and I wish the same to you. Please, refrain from sending me love poems, I do not need them. Sincerely, Lily Evans." A scowl replaced the smile on my face, "What? That's it?"

James face dropped too, "I thought that poem was quite romantic, actually." He said as he slammed the pillow on his face, "I got my hopes up too high, didn't I?" He mumbled.

I felt sorry for him, it wasn't the fact that Lily rejected him that made me feel bad it was the fact that he thought that she'd change. But with my experience, I knew one thing for sure. People didn't - don't change. Once again, it really pissed me off how Lily thought it was okay to give him hope and then take it away in an instant.

I took the pillow off his face, "You alright James?" I said, knowing the answer to that question.

He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, "Well if feeling like absolute shite is your definition of alright then yes, I'm alright." He said, sighing. "Why do I do this to myself? I raise my expectations too high and then I end up getting hurt." He said, blankly as he stared at the wall behind me.

I instinctively reached out and touched his arm, wishing there was something I could do to fix this. "Do you want to get out of here?" I said, tilting my head to the side to get a better look at his face.

James nodded, "Yeah, let's get out of here." He said and stood up, heading out the door before I could get another word in.

I sighed and grabbed a jacket for him, it was too cold to go out without a jacket and I was almost certain that he would catch hypothermia without it. Surprisingly, the jacket was actually a jacket I had gifted him a few years back and it was kind of nice to see that he still had it. I quickly followed James who was waiting for me by the gate.

I looked at him. At the sadness on his face, the confusion and I absolutely hated it. Lily Evans was beginning to get a bad name in my book and I did not like how she was treating James. At all.

"Here," I said, walking down the steps and throwing the jacket at him. "You'll need this, it's freezing." I said, with a lopsided smile.

He gave me a grateful look and put it on in one swift motion, "Thanks Win," He laughed. "What am I supposed to do without you?" He said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

I shrugged casually as we began to walk, "Wither and die. Or just die. You probably wouldn't survive that long without me." I said, smirking and hitting my shoulder with his.

He looked over at me, a fond smile on his face. "You're turning a bit arrogant aren't you?" he said, obviously joking.

"Well, I learned from the best didn't I?" I said, returning his question with a question. "I mean, have you seen how much product Sirius uses on is hair- and he has the audacity to call me high-maintenance." I said, scoffing.

James threw his head back in laughter, "Apparently it 'enhances his curls'," He said, laughing and lazily putting his arm on my shoulder.

I gaped at him, "Is that what he does? I should've known. Those curls were too good to be true, I mean nobody and I mean nobody has perfect curls all the time." I shook my head, "I'm speaking from experience,"

James laughed and then he stopped, "Winnie, can I just say that this world is terrible, cruel and downright awful. But you make it a just a little bit more tolerable."

I smiled and hit him in the shoulder, "Aw, I love you too, James-y." I said, actually happy to hear him say that. It was nice to be appreciated, especially by your friends.

He ran a hand through his head and left his hand to rest on the back of his head, "That's not what I was saying but okay." He stuck his hands in his pocket, "Winnie, do you think I need to -"

I cut him short, "Yes. I do, I really do, James." I nodded and we stopped at a bench and sat down, staring at the near- empty street that faced us.

His eyes widened, "You really think I should finally and officially give up on Lily Evans?" He said, sounding shocked.

I scratched the back of my head. This wasn't actually what I was agreeing with but now that he brought it up, I did agree whole-heartedly. "Yeah, I really think you should. I mean, she's not even nice! To you, I mean to you. She's nice to other people though."

He snorted, "The last time I talked to her she shot a curse at me. I defected it though." He said, laughing for some bizarre reason.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, she seems to really like you mate." I turned my body to face his, "James, can I ask you a really serious question?"

He shrugged, "No you can ask me a James question." He said, making me laugh. "Yeah of course, ask away."

I smiled, "Why her? Why out of all the girls in the school who would die to even get a glance from you - why her? I mean, she's the last person who's interested in you. She practically would dance on your grave if she could, yet - you still like her? How is that even remotely possible?" I asked, bemused beyond reason.

He laughed, staring ahead. "I like her because she doesn't throw herself at me. I like her because she doesn't like me, ever heard of opposites attract? She's not like the other girls, Winnie." He said, looking a bit dazed.

If I could roll my eyes at anything in this world, it would be at what he just said. What he said made absolutely no sense! He thought that would answer my questions but it did the opposite. I mean there were so many other girls who were just like him. He needed someone who actually cared about him, not someone who wanted him to leave her alone.

"You want my honest opinion on what I think about all this?" I said, a scowl on my face.

His hazel eyes met mine, "I have a feeling you're going to tel me regardless of if I say yes or not." He said, amusement twinkling in his eyes.

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, "True - but that's not the point. I don't think Lily is the right person for you - she's rude, tacky and insensitive. She doesn't deserve you because she doesn't see how great you are and she doesn't acknowledge how much time you put in to do stuff for her - also I don't like redheads that much." I said, laughing. "You deserve so much better than her, James." I said, trying to get my point across in the best way possible.

James laughed, probably realising how frustrated I was. "Why do you care so much?" he said, studying my face.

I hit his arm, annoyed at what he just said. "Hmm, you tell me. Why should I care about someone I love? Do I look like an evil troll? I want the best for you. Idiot." I said, rolling my eyes.

Then he kissed me.