In the World of Magic(Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfic)

Chapter 38 - Pause the Worry

Amanda's POV

A smile was on my face as I hurried towards James who stood waiting at the top of the stairs. He immediately started smiling as he saw me coming. After a busy week the two of us were going to have a saturday date. It wasn't Hogsmead weekend which was why we couldn't go there, instead we decided on our own secret place. The Room of Requirement.

"Ready for our date?", James asked me as I reached the top of the stairs. I gave him a peck on his lips and then smiled widely at him. That day was one of the happiest I had, had recently. Instead of feeling worry about my lack of happiness I decided on bathing in the current feelings I was having.

"I'm more than ready", I answered him before taking his hand. I then proceeded with dragging him through the corridor. When I turned around to look at James I saw that he too was smiling and looking at me with slight amusement.

"You are peculiarly happy today", James noted with raised eyebrows. I shrugged simply without losing my smile.

"It's saturday. I get to spend some time with my boyfriend. The sun is out for once. There are many reasons to be happy today", I explained before stopping in front of the wall where I knew that the door would appear in seconds. Which it also did.

"You first, my lady", James said as he held open the door and bowed. Then he took of an imaginary hat and tipped it. The silliness of it all made me laugh. When the sound reached James' ears he looked up at me with a genuine grin on his face.

I turned around and saw that the room looked different from the previous times we had been there. Instead of the fire place and the couch I was now looking at a window that filled the whole wall and a hammock. The whole room looked more open and fitted for a date. I could see the melting snow outside and the sun on the sky. After months of cloudy and cold days I felt overjoyed because the light had finally returned.

"Isn't this a sight", James said as he too stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. It was clear that he hadn't planned on the room turning out the way it did. His face showed clear interest and surprised content.

"It's incredible. Absolutely gorgeous", I commented while I walked up to the hammock. There I sat down and leaned backwards. James was quickly there with me and the two of us slowly started to rock back and forwards as we cuddled. A few drops dripped down the window and created patterns. It was nice that there was a clear sign of spring coming.

"You know it's nice that we have our own little personal space. We can just be us", James murmured into my hair before placing a small kiss on my neck. I agreed with him. It was really nice that we had our own place. That way we could actually be ourselves without that damn stalker watching us.

"Is there something special you want to talk about?", I asked him a bit suggestively. That did not work out the way I had thought it to. James stiffened and straightened a bit in his seat. With a bit of worry in his eyes he turned to me.

"There actually is", he told me before he turned his focus to the ground and frowned. I was a bit scared of whatever it was that was making him feel the way he felt. It was even more bothering when I had been feeling so happy before that. Everything had felt right, but in seconds my emotions had flipped slightly.

"We haven't had the time to actually discuss the whole thing about the thief. I've wanted to talk to you about it for a really long time but there hasn't been any time", he explained before taking in a big gulp of air. I felt like screaming. Of course he wanted to talk about the one thing that I had no desire what so ever to talk about. James tried to look me in the eye, but this time it was I who looked down at the ground. With sadness filling me up I tried coming up with an excuse not to talk about it.

"Sure, let's ruin this perfect date with serious business", I murmured, sounding disappointed. James suddenly took my face in one of his hands. He moved my face so that I was forced to look at him. Gently he caressed my cheek with his free hand. Just how the turn of the moment made me feel vulnerable.

"Let's not. I don't want to ruin any moment with you. We'll talk about that some other time, now we can just have a nice time", he murmured before slowly leaning in and kissing my lips. It was such a tender and careful touch that I gasped in surprise. After the first soft kiss, other more intense ones followed. I put my right hand on his cheek and the other one slowly went up over James' chest. Then both of my hands met in his hair.

There we sat and made out. All thoughts about what we had earlier discussed temporarily disappeared from my mind. It was such a relief. The only thing I could think about was how good it felt to kiss James. How much loved having him there. All of my guilty and regretful feelings vanished. It was the best way to get my mind free from all of the worrying thoughts.

Later on I would realize that the problems hadn't vanished. I would realize that the happiness was only temporary and that I still had my worries. During that kiss I couldn't realize anything though. The only thing I knew was that there was a fire burning in my heart. A sort of energy I hadn't felt in such a long time. It wasn't just happiness. It felt like a million feelings at the same time. Maybe it was just because I felt so loved at that time and the love split up in different sections, making me feel different things. Whatever it was, it made me feel better than I had since the summer.

"I love you", James murmured against my lips as we paused our kissing to catch our breath. I was breathing as if I had run a marathon. James wasn't any better, but he had at least been able to speak. I had to breath in silent for a couple of seconds before I could even answer him.

"I love you too", I breathed and smiled a little while gazing into James' eyes. As he saw the smile on my lips a matching one reached his lips. The light from outside hit my eyes, blinding me. I tried to stay the same and ignore the light, but I had to draw away from James after only a few minutes.

"I love seeing you smile like that. It looks like you're genuinely happy. I don't really feel like either of us have been that happy lately." I knew exactly what he meant, but I was still feeling so filled with emotions that I couldn't make the smile disappear.

"Then maybe we should try relaxing and doing this more often. I like being happy", I told him as I leaned even farther back in the hammock. James smiled down at me and I actually loved him even more in that moment. It was as if just seeing the happiness on his face made me feel at peace. I didn't have to worry about him. He looked happy. In that moment I understood exactly what he had meant when he had spoken about seeing me happy.

"Me too. Happiness is underrated." I silently agreed and closed my eyes to enjoy the sunlight on me. It was nice to finally feel it. I also felt that it was important to savor the feeling, because I had no idea when the sun would return.

"I never thought that this year would turn out so different. It's beyond my wildest imagination", I voiced my random thought aloud. When I opened my eyes I saw that James was looking at me, still smiling.

"I love how it turned out", he told me. I sat up in the hammock and leaned forward. Our lips touched and then I pulled away from him. I stood up and helped James do the same.

"Me too", I told him as I started to drag him out of the Room of Requirement. If I could have, I would have stayed there forever. I knew though that I needed to do homework as did James. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew that I actually wanted to sleep that night.

As James and I reached the stairs leading down to the dungeons we stopped. We had reached the place where we would part. After another sweet kiss and a promise to see each other the next day we walked our own ways. Reality returned to me on the way back to the Slytherin common room. With every step I took away from James I felt the guilt return.