The Crown Series - A Harry Potter Story

You didn't see that coming

Alyssa POV

We found him sitting by the lake. His position made him look really small, arms pressing his legs against his chest.
Carefully, we approached him, wanting to make sure he was alright.

"Hey Neville, what's wrong?" I sat myself next to him, slowly turning my head in his direction.

James stood behind me, stiff like a statue, observing the surroundings.

"I'm fine, really, nothing to worry about." He even managed to give me a small, painful smile.

"Stop lying please. We may not know you long, but we care about you." I sat up straighter, moving my gaze towards the other end of the lake." It had something to do with the unforgivable curses, right?"

"Yes" his voice trembled." Look, when we chatted about our families in the train, I told you that I was living with my grandmother. I am living with her because my parents are in the hospital. They were tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange." He spat out the last part, wiping his hand over his eyes. "They don't even recognise me anymore." His voice broke.

I wiped my head around, looking at James horrified. He looked down at me with fear and sadness. All I could think of in this moment was, that this was probably my fate, if they would ever get me.
"I am so sorry!" I managed to choke out. "And you had to relive that in DADA, how couldn't he possibly know about that!"

"It's okay, I have to get over it, right?"

"No? No, definitely not! And you definitely don't need to grieve alone, okay?"

"You can come to us whenever you want, we might understand this better than most people." James added, lightly squeezing his shoulder.
He send us a small smile, eyes still filled with sadness.
"It's okay, really. Would you let me alone for a bit? I'll join you later on."

"Sure. Just don't do something dumb."

"I won't, I promise." He looked a bit less sad now.

We turned around and made our way towards the castle. A summery breeze moved the tall grass, as we walked through.

"And what are we going to do now?" James asked.
"Don't know, dinner isn't ready until 7pm." I shrugged my shoulders "we could go inside but then we're going to waste one of the last summer days here."
"The pegasi are still in Ira, Neville wants some alone time at the lake, you need more people for quidditch..."

"How about some training? We can grab Atti and some equipment and search for a nice trainings spot." I raised my head, squinting against the bright sunlight.
"Sounds good to me. Maybe pack some swimming gear, I want to check the lake out."

Laughing I made my way through the castle, stopping in front of the common room entrance.

"Meet up in 15?" I asked, hearing James saying the password.
"Sure." He smiled,making his way towards the staircase.

Fifteen minutes later I stepped down the stairs in a pair of shorts, a tight fitting top and my trainers. My hair was secured in  two French braids. Attilas leash sat tightly in my right hand, while a black bag was slung over my shoulder.
James waited more or less patiently in a seat near the door.
"Finally." He exclaimed, grabbing the bag from my shoulder.
"I met Mione in our room, she said she will join us later at the lake. She's probably bringing Ginny, Dean and hopefully Neville."
"Nice, can't wait to meet the squid..."
"Wait, what?"
"Nothing." He laughed his ass off.

"So what are we practicing today? Weapons, wands, hand to hand?" I asked him, groaning a bit as I was stretching my legs. We found a quiet spot near the lake, secluded by a set of trees. I raised my wand, lifting a few branches of the ground and towards the side.
"How about hand to hand combat? We trained swords a few days before and I'm sure we'll be duelling enough in this school." He replied tossing his hoodie and bag to the side.

Carefully I laid my wand in my bag and tied my braids into a bun.

"Ready?" He asked, sending me a devilish smirk.
"Sure." I smiled back at him.

Throwing a punch in my direction, he forced me to duck. With a spinning motion, I tried to sweep his leg causing him to jump over it. My body reacted instantly, rolling to the side and getting up.

As I was looking around I spotted Atti playing with a big stick, being completely unbothered by our training.
"Pay attention!" James said, kicking my leg. The kick forced me down, where I kneeled holding my bruised leg.
"James..." I said weakly, getting his attention instantly.
"Shit Liss, I am so sorry!" He crouched down beside me, gently touching my leg.
"Where does it.." he wasn't able to finish his sentence, because I pulled him down completely getting him into a headlock.

"You didn't see that coming, didn't you?" I asked laughingly, releasing him.
"Very funny." He replied while rolling his eyes "I really thought you were injured."
"I'm sorry." Extending my hand so he could pull himself off the ground.
"You should be." With these words he grabbed my wrist, held my shoulder and judo flipped me on the grassy ground.
He rolled on top of me, placing his arm over my throat.
"You didn't see that coming."
The air was electrified, I felt tiny sparks flying, connecting us in ways I didn't know were possible. My heart was beating way faster than it should.
Our gazes connected and I realised how much I loved his eyes. His eye colour was my epitome of the perfect shade of blue.

"Seriously?"
"What?"
"You look at me like you look at Atti. Stop it, I'm not a puppy."
"Mmmh I don't know, sometimes you do act like it. Tell me if you need a new stick to play with."
"You're insufferable." Rolling his eyes, he helped me off the ground.

We trained for half an hour before we took a break, realising that we were supposed to meet the others at the lake in 10 minutes.

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"Hey Lissa, James! We're here!" Hermione called us over to a giant tree, with branches hanging in the water. Dean, Neville, Ginny and to my surprise Ron and Harry sat around her. They had positioned their blankets and towels under the roof of leaves, about three meters away from the lake.
In the distance I could hear faint chatter from other students, but due to the low hanging branches it was like we were in a secluded area.
Atti already ran around and greeted everyone by licking their hands and demanding petting.
James had already pulled out another blanket and laid it down next to the others. With a flick of my wand I transformed my athletic clothes to a light blue bikini, shorts and a tee.

"Do you want to go into the water?" I asked and untied my trainers.
"Sure!" Ginny replied standing up.
"Anyone else ?"
"I'm coming, Neville?" Dean said and extended his hand to Neville
"Okay.." he said sounding uncertain and nervous.
"Mione ?"
"We might come in later, okay?" She said softly, her eyes flickering over to the boys next to her." We just want to talk for a minute."
"Alright ,could you babysitting Attila for a bit?" She nodded, turning around to Harry and Ron.

We let them talk things out as the rest changed and stepped with me in the freezing water.