Crescent Moons ; J.S. Potter

40. the burrow.

By the time Daisy and James returned to the Potters' home, Daisy was red from anger and James looked green in the face. The bike ride back had been an uncomfortable one, to say the least. After Daisy had watched James get yelled at by Summer, she was extremely angry and confused at the boy's behavior.

"Daisy, I promise it wasn't as horrible as Summer made it out to be!" yelled James, following Daisy as she stormed up the stairs.

"What you did was so cruel and inconsiderate!" she snapped back. James grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into his room. Unfortunately, Benjamin and Thomas were lounging on James' bed when they walked in.

"Oh, hey, guys!" said Benjamin cheerfully, clearly not noticing the glare that Daisy was giving James. "I didn't know you guys came back! Did you guys bring me some ice cream—"

"Look, I said I was sorry countless times!" groaned James. "Can't I make mistakes? I was sixteen and if you forgot, you hadn't replied to any of my letters in weeks!"

Daisy was fuming. Benjamin and Thomas sat up. Thomas stood up and grabbed Benjamin's hand.

"Alright, we should leave," he said, but Benjamin didn't budge.

"Wait, I wanna watch this little lovers' quarrel—"

"Come ON!" shouted Thomas, dragging Benjamin out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

"Yeah, I didn't reply to your letters," said Daisy, in a forced calm tone, "so you go off and break some poor girl's heart?"

"That's overdramatic," said James. "We were talking for maybe two weeks, and 'dated' for literally five days!"

"Duration doesn't matter, James!" spat Daisy. "What matters is how you knew what you were doing, but did it anyway, and now some girl is scarred and I lost a potential Muggle friend, just because your big fat ego couldn't take a mere two weeks of no replies from me!"

"Oh, don't act like I was the only one who did any wrong!" snapped back James. "Don't you think it was petty to practically ignore me for months? Don't you think you should've at least replied, even once? You just let me sit in my own self-pity! Besides, the way I broke it off with Summer wasn't as bad as you all make it out to be."

"How can you—"

"I told her the truth and apologized without making excuses!" said James. "I was sixteen! Sue me! You see what it's like getting ignored for weeks."

"C'mon, James, you sent me maybe three letters that I didn't reply to," said Daisy angrily. James raised his eyebrows and walked over to his desk drawer, pulling out a very thick stack of parchment paper. He shoved it into her arms.

"Only three, right?" he said. "After three, I knew you wouldn't reply, so, I just kept the rest to myself so that you wouldn't have to think all summer about what happened, though I didn't really get that luxury, did I? All I wanted was a few days' worth of distraction from the worst summer of my life! I was never going to show you these, to protect my 'big fat ego,' but why don't you read those stupid letters and then yell at me some more?"

Daisy didn't reply as he opened the door to his bedroom and gently pushed her out.

"Come back when you're done and tell me what you think about not replying," he said harshly, before slamming the door in her face. She was very taken aback, even more so when she realized that Benjamin and Thomas were standing a few metres away from the door that she had just stepped out of. Daisy rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up," she told them before either of the boys could speak. She then went into her guest bedroom, which was luckily empty, jumped onto her bed, and began reading the twelve letters that James had scribbled over last summer: