Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 40 - "They Never Really Leave Us"

James woke up to an empty bed and panicked.

Rose not being there didn't mean that she was in trouble of course, but it worried him, because she was always there. It had been weeks now that they'd been sleeping in the same bed, and every day he had woken to find her next to him.

He quickly put his glasses on, changed, and hurried out into the common room. Rose wasn't there either, and the feeling in the pit of his stomach only grew. It seemed innocent - she could simply have gone down to breakfast - but somehow he knew that something wasn't right.

Barging into the Marauders' room, he looked around wildly for the map. He spotted it on top of Peter's trunk, and grabbed it, quickly muttering the words he knew so well and scanning for her name as soon as the ink appeared.

She was on the tower.

The other three only started waking as he rushed out of the room, running from Gryffindor Tower through the corridors and up the winding staircase that led to the Astronomy Tower.

He was breathing hard when he emerged at the top to find Rose sitting on the floor, knees curled into her chest, wearing thin pyjamas and not seeming to notice how cold she was.

James walked around to crouch in front of her. She was staring out at the lightening sky, but her gaze was empty as it she wasn't really seeing it.

Her hand was so cold it felt like it was burning him when he took it. He quickly shed his jumper and pulled it over her head. She pushed her arms through the sleeves, and blinked a few times as pink crept back into her skin, and her eyes focused on him.

"It's her birthday," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, as if she'd been screaming, and hollow, empty of the emotion she must have poured out.

"I'm sorry love," James said quietly, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her. The jumper enveloped her small frame, but she was still shivering slightly as he pulled her closer, offering his warmth.

"We promised," she said. "Tina and I. We promised her we'd throw her a party because she couldn't come to the dance."

James didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent and subtly cast a few warming charms around them. They weren't his specialty, but he could feel their effect on the surrounding air. Soon, Rose stopped shivering.

"I can understand if you don't want to go to breakfast, but you should eat something," he said eventually. "We could go to the kitchens, or I could bring something up?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure I could stomach anything right now."

He frowned, looking out at the sky. "Well I also have an idea for... something. But you'll need to dress warmer than this."

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Intrigued, Rose went along with him, and soon James was leading her outside.

"The Quidditch pitch? What are we doing out here?"

James ducked into the broomshed, and emerged holding two brooms. "I don't know what you tend to do at Quidditch pitches, but I was thinking we could go for a fly." He held out his broom, and she took it gingerly.

He mounted the other, (which he knew Sirius wouldn't mind him borrowing,) and kicked off the frost-hardened ground, soaring up into the air. The ground dropped away beneath him, and it felt like his troubles did too.

He hovered and looked down to see Rose flying up to join him.

"James, I really don't know what-"