Moments

I don't own anything in the Harry Potter Universe

Chapter 23:

"Leave me alone!" Alison shouted.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on Ali."

The door opened and I let out a sigh of relief. Then a pillow hit me in the face.

"That's real mature Ali" I called. "You can't hide in the room forever!"

"I'm not hiding" she called.

"Fine, if you're not coming down, I'm going up there" I shouted.

There was no response.

Naturally all eyes were on me. Everyone knew that guys weren't allowed in the girl's dorm. I'm not stupid. I walked up the first three steps and it turned into a chute just like I knew it would. As if I'd little something little like chutes stop me. I mastered climbing slides on playgrounds when I was four; this would be a piece of cake.

It took me a second to get a good grip on the wall, but I managed to climb up the chute. I made it all the way to the top. See, easy. Suddenly something shocked the bottom of my feet and I found myself sliding down.

"What the hell?"

Rose leaned over me with a smirk, "You didn't honestly think the only defense would be turning the stairs into a slide did you?"

"What happened?!" Ali called.

"He got zapped by the stairs. Honestly, am I the only person who has read Hogwarts, A History?"

"Yeah" I grumbled as I picked myself up off the floor.

I dusted myself off.

"What are you doing? You aren't going to try again are you?"

I ignored Rose as I rushed up the chute. If I use a levitation charm I don't have to touch the ground. Man I'm awesome. I grabbed the door handle. It burned me. I lost my concentration, dropped to the ground, got zapped and found myself at the bottom of the chute again.

"Ali would you just come down, for this idiot hurts himself?" Rose called up the stairs.

"Or I could just summon a pair of gloves" I said. The doorknob can't burn me if I don't actually touch it.

"Don't ruin our entertainment Rose" Chasity said. "It's funny to see James be desperate."

"I am not desperate. Accio gloves."

"Sure you're not" Chasity shrugged. "What did you do to piss Alison off?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"No girl ignores her guy on Valentine's day for no reason."

"It's the pregnancy hormones. They've made her crazy" I explained.

I had to duck to dodge the next pillow that came flying at me.

"See what I mean? Calm down babe, you're putting on a show for the whole common room" I called up the stairs.

"We all know how much you love attention" she called back.

Hmmp. My Quidditch gloves came to me. I pulled them on. "Last chance, I'm coming up or you're coming down. You got five seconds."

Five seconds later and nothing.

So I ran up the stairs again. Levitation spell worked. I grabbed the door. I could see it turn red, but it didn't burn. Dragon hide gloves are the best.

I opened the door. I could see Ali standing in the center of the room with her hands on her hips. I took a step inside and automatically fell to the floor.

What the hell? These defenses were ridiculous. What did the founders really think was going to happen in the girl's room?

"Why. Does. It. Feel. Like. My. Lungs. Collapsed?" I had to pause between each word because it was hard to pronuciate when it felt like my tongue was glued to the top of my mouth.

"Dense gravity charm" Ali explained. "What are you doing up here?"

"It's. Valentine's. Day. Have. To. See. My. Love."

"I don't want to be seen like this."

I struggled to look up. She was wearing a white dress with big yellow calla lilies.

"You. Look. Hot. Did. Is. It...?" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"I look fat" she pouted.

I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That's what this was about?

"Not. Fat. Pregnant. Beautiful."

"You have to say that."

"Not. True."

"This is ridiculous. James would you get out of here before your lungs really collapse?"

"Not. Without. You."

"Fine. Go down stairs I'll meet you in five minutes."

As if I'm falling for that. I shook my head. Or I tried to turn my head. Once I shook it to the left, I couldn't turn it back.

"I promise you I'll be down in five minutes" she said.

"One. Problem. Can't. Move."

Ali rolled her eyes. "You are such a baby."

She helped me get to my feet, it was hard just to walk but I made it out. I slid to the bottom of the chute and just laid there glad I could breathe properly.

"So how'd it go?"

I looked up to see Rose and Chasity still standing there. People over by the couches were watching too.

"It's a Tuesday, don't you all have classes you should be getting to?"

"It's early, they're still serving breakfast" Chasity pointed out.

"Ali will be down in five minutes" I said.

Both girls scoffed as if they didn't believe me, whatever. I don't care I'd charge back up the stairs if she isn't down in five minutes.

"Don't you have to go to class today too" Rose pointed out.

I scoffed. "No. I don't have to go to class."

"NEWTs coming up" she pointed out.

"You don't need NEWTs to become a professional Quidditch player" I said.

"You can't play Quidditch forever."

"You sound like my dad."

"Great minds and all that" she replied.

Now that I was no longer providing entertainment for my housemates most of them cleared out and headed down to breakfast. There was only about ten minutes left of breakfast time anyway.

I checked my wrist, it was empty, trying to figure out if it had been five minutes left. That's when I realized I was still wearing my Chaser gloves.

I went up to my dorm and stashed away my gloves. I grabbed my watch and snapped it on. I grabbed my invisibility cloak as well, never know when you're going to need it. Al had the map. When I got back downstairs the common room was empty.

"Everyone is gone, you can come down now" I called up the stairs to Ali.

"I have to pee" she called back.

A couple minutes later she came down the stairs. "Do we have to go out? I feel ridiculous, and I keep having to pee every five minutes."

"It's our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, so yes, we're going out. It'll be fun. I promise. You look beautiful, by the way. Absolutely gorgeous."

She rolled her eyes. "I look fat."

"You do not. You look pregnant, because you are. But you're still beautiful. You have that whole glowing thing going on that people talk about when they talk about pregnant women."

Ali pouted as I put my arm around her.

"Are we going to Mia's?" she asked.

"Not today. Next Hogsmeade visit we can go, but I have other plans for today."

"Are you going to tell me what the plans are?"

"That's a surprise" I replied. "You'll have fun, I promise you."

"I hope you plan on feeding me first."

I forgot all about food. So we took a detour to the kitchens.

"Do you have any cheese melted?" Ali asked one of the house elves.

"Sure what kind of cheese?" the elf replied.

"Doesn't matter, a yellow one, no a white one, any cheese, don't matter as long as it's melted."

"Ali, you're eating a chocolate croissant, what do you need cheese for?" I asked.

"I need something to dip my croissant into" she replied as if it were obvious.

"It's covered in chocolate" I pointed out.

"So, I really want some cheese and" she snapped her finger dramatically, "peanut butter. Can I get some warm peanut butter over here?"

Melted cheese, warm peanut butter, and chocolate all on a croissant? My stomach turned just thinking about it. I was glad I hadn't eaten anything.

Twenty minutes later we left the kitchen. I bet the house elves were glad to see the end of us. Ali was carrying a flask of chocolate pumpkin juice. She was about to ruin chocolate for me.

We went into Hogsmeade. We snuck in through the entrance that led to my Uncle George's shop. I told him we'd be stopping by so he was at the store. I thanked him for the birthday present (new prank prototypes). He let us use his floo.

"We're spending the day at your parents' house?" Ali asked as she wiped soot off her clothes.

"Of course not," I scoffed, "this is just another stop, before we get to our final destination."

She snorted at something I said and I placed my arm around her.

We headed into the kitchen.

"Dad, are you-AH MY EYES!"

I threw my arm over my eyes and backed out of the kitchen dragging Ali with me. I didn't want to see my parents going at it I doubt she did either. Now I'm scarred for life.

"James what are you doing here?" Mum called.

I still hadn't removed my arm from my eyes.

"Dad invited us over" I replied. "If I would have known that you two would be…" I shook my head trying to dislodge the image of my mom and dad on the kitchen table, "doing stuff, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Oops, I forgot about that" I heard dad mutter.

I wish my memory was as forgetful as his, then I could forget what I just walked in on.

"I'm never eating at that table again" I told Ali, she just laughed.

I heard the kitchen door opened and I took a peek under my arm. Dad was full dressed, if a little ruffled looking.

"Sorry about that-"

"Let's not mention it" I quickly interrupted him. "I didn't tell Alison where I'm taking her, I wanted it to be a suprise. So can we get going?"

"You're leaving so soon" mum said as she exited the kitchen. She didn't do a much better job than dad in fixing her clothes. "You just got here. How are you doing, Alison?"

Mum pulled Ali into a hug and the two of them began to talk about girly stuff.

"So?" I said to dad.

"It's in Quantocks Hills. My friend is putting it on the market, but not for another two months" dad said. One of his co-workers was being relocated to the United States and wanted to put his place up for sale. According to dad it was a small cottage out in the country.

I wanted to check the place out. I mean sure, most people look for flats when they finish with school but most people weren't already married with a kid on the way.

"Great let's go" I said.

"Hold on," mum spoke up with a hand on Ali's shoulder. "Today is a Tuesday. Aren't you two supposed to be in school. I hope you got permission to be out and about."

McGonagall is nice, but she's not that nice.

"It's Valentine's Day," I pointed out, "a international holiday. Of course we had the day off."

Mum narrowed her eyes. "I don't remember getting Valentine's Day off when I was in school, do you Harry?"

"Come on mum. It's one day. No one is going to find out."

"I promised I'd take them to Burton's place."

"What's at Burton's place?" Ali asked.

"A surprise" I replied. "Can you give us the address, so we can floo?"

"So what do you think?" I asked.

The cottage was a lot bigger than I thought. I don't know why but the word cottage makes me think of one or two bedrooms and small in the middle of nowhere and little talking furry animals like to sing. This place was two floors, with a fireplace in the bedroom as well as the living room. There were three other bedrooms, a decent sized kitchen, and an office. Not to mention that there wasn't another house around for miles, plus we were in the hills so it would be safe to fly around without any muggles noticing.

"I think...it's really cozy. Are we staying here for the day or something? Going to have a picnic?"

"That sounds like a really good idea. But I was thinking more of living here come summertime?"

Ali froze. "You want to move in here?"

I pulled her into my arms.

"I want us to move in here. Do you like it?"

"Um, sure. What's not to like?"

"Then we should get it?"

"It's barely February" she pointed out.

"We have to plan ahead for the future and all of could turn one of the bedrooms into a nursery. I think the place is coming fully furnished so we wouldn't even have to do much shopping. Maybe some painting. We could do that now, so that way the fumes won't get to the baby. Of course dad said the place isn't going to be on the market for another two months. It belongs to a friend of his from work who is moving, so he'll hold it for us."

"This'll still be expensive" Ali said looking around.

"We can afford it." I told her. I could tell she wasn't convinced. "Okay, how about we walk around for a bit. We don't have to decide right this moment."

"Okay."

"Okay."