Crescent Moons ; J.S. Potter

48. daisy's confession.

After the intense pep talk that Daisy had received from Antheia, the blonde girl was feeling quite worried. Not exactly sure of what ... just worried. She had spent the last night struggling to fall asleep with the conversation repeating in her mind.

Luckily, she had just the thing to get her mind off of it: going sledding with her friends over the snowy hill beside the Potters' home. Unluckily, Antheia had just called her down for hot chocolate, meaning that she would have to awkwardly sit beside James Potter while his mother smirked between the two of them.

There was a knock on her door, and she guessed who it was before they had even opened the door.

"Coming down, Daisy?" asked James. He looked very energized and much less anxious than Daisy.

"Yeah, just needed a second," said Daisy. James looked down at her jumper: the fluffy red one that he had given her at the Astronomy Tower. Daisy winced; she had forgotten to change after last night's gift exchange.

"Nice jumper," he said, grinning widely. Daisy smiled—James could ease her nerves much too easily.

"Thanks!" she replied. "Let's go down. I'm craving hot chocolate."

Once they arrived at the kitchen table, Daisy realized that Gwen was missing. She frowned as she and James sat down beside each other and grabbed a warm cup of hot chocolate. As if on cue, Gwen walked in, looking absolutely terrible.

"What happened to you?" asked Thomas, looking horrified. Gwen flicked his forehead before slumping down beside Daisy.

"I went out to test the snow," she murmured, "and it was way taller than I'd expected. I'm so cold."

"Oh, that's the reason?" chuckled James. "You're such a drama queen. It's not even that cold."

"What if we just stayed in and watched Home Alone?" Gwen proposed. James tutted.

"That's nonsense," he said. "Chug down the cocoa fast, 'cause I can't wait to ride down that hill!"

Chugging down the hot chocolate wasn't difficult, considering just how incredibly delicious it was. Daisy sighed contently—sitting in her warm sweater, watching the snow fall outside of the window, and sipping cocoa was the pinnacle of life.

"I forgot to say," said Antheia, "but we only have three sleds, so you six are going to have to pair up."

She pointed at Daisy, James, Thomas, Benjamin, Gwen, and Marlee. Daisy brought her mug to her lips once more but could've sworn, out of the corner of her eye, that she saw Antheia and Harry discreetly fist-bump one another.

"That won't be a problem," said Harry. "Gwen and Marlee, Thomas and Ben, and, of course, James and Daisy!"

Daisy didn't love the way he said "of course," but at least this secured a victory for Daisy and James.

"Guess that means we'll be beating everyone else," said James, and he and Daisy shared a high-five. "None of you guys stand a chance."

"Oh, please!" laughed Marlee. "It's you who doesn't stand a chance. I bet you'll accidentally swerve, then hit a tree. You'll come in dead last, old man."

"You know what, let's just wait and see," said Daisy, holding her hands up. "Wait and see us win!"

She and James whooped.

─ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─

"OK, now that we're up here, does this look a little ... higher than we expected?"