Under the Virgo Moon | James Potter

Chapter Six- October 19, 1977: Halloween Costumes

"We've been living on a fault line, And for a while, you were all mine, I've spent a lifetime giving you my heart, I swear that I'll be yours forever, 'Til forever falls apart"

•••

Cass never said anything about the letter to James, she waited for him to bring it up. So the Thursday after she received the letter and James said those three words Cass played it cool and said, "I'm nuts about you too."

It wasn't a lie, she was nuts about him. James didn't even bat an eye when she said it. Cass didn't say the three words for weeks, kept saying phrases like, "Me too." or, "I am mental about you."

That's were we find the couple now. Three weeks later, in the Room of Requirement. Cass is reading a book with James laying on her lap.  It's been like this for hours, complete silence. But this was normal, the silence was very comfortable. Based on the look James had on his face he was contemplating something. Then suddenly he sat up and asked Cass a question.

"Why don't you like people calling you Cassiopeia?"

"Well I-" James cut her off, he wasn't finished with his question.

"It's such a beautiful name, but you don't like it.  If my name was 'Cassiopeia', I'd make sure people called me that. So why don't you like it?"

Cass was silent for a few moments. Would James even understand?

"It sounds so Black family-ish. "

James wasn't satisfied with her answer, "I don't think so, it reminds me of the stars.  And before you start, yes I know the Black family has a thing with the stars and names, but when I think of the stars I think of you. And the little specks of gold in your eyes when they hit the right light. And how the day I stop loving you will be the day that I count all the stars."

Cass was very stubborn and was planning on saying some like, "The only way people can call me Cassiopeia is if I become a death eater." or something like that, but James Potter changed this girl in too many ways to count. Even though he said the L word again, he used it all the time. Cass is running out of things to say back after he says those three silly words.

"Only you."

"Come again? Only me?...Only me what?" James was genuinely confused.

"Only you can call me Cassiopeia. You make me like it only when it comes out of your mouth. "

"Okay, Cassiopeia." He said with a grin.

They went back to the comfortable silence.

Cassiopeia's hand ended up running through James's hair while she read. This was the perfect moment. This image will run through Cass's mind all the time on bad days. But  what you can't see in this picture is how bad Cassiopeia feels about not saying I love you back. Maybe she really was like the rest of her family,, a heartless, bad excuse for a person. She didn't want to say it and not mean it but she doesn't know what it feels like, to actually love someone.

James would also have this photo flash in his head time to time in the future. At first glance it is a lovely picture, but his mind is also clouded. James Potter did in fact notice that Cassiopeia hasn't said I love you back. He doesn't want to push her but, unlike her, he was raised in a house where it was said multiple times a day and, from what he has heard from Sirius, the house they grew up in, they almost never heard it. James Potter was taught to tell people you love them.

Cassiopeia was taught that love was earned, and that she never earned it. She was scared that once she felt it, and once she said it, it would be too late.