Unrequited

5

The sun had started to reach the horizon, and that's when Asphodel and James decided to call it a day. Beside the broomstick scandal, Asphodel had insisted that she needed more sweets from Honeydukes. Then, James took her to the Three Broomsticks and they could have talked for ages, but when Asphodel started to yawn continuously, they thought it would be a good idea to head back to Hogwarts.

Asphodel would have called this day more than successful, and she was so excited to tell Faun all about it once she got up to the Girl's Dormitory. Faun was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair. She was freshly showered with a pair of new pajamas on. "It took longer than I was expecting." Faun said, but she took it as a note that it had went well.

"Yes, and we could have talked forever, except that I was getting tired." Asphodel laid down on her bed, too tired to take off her sweater and new scarf.

"If you're up for it, you can tell me all the details now." Faun smiled. "But if not, I wouldn't mind waiting til morning."

"No, no, I have to tell you everything now. I didn't know why I always pained myself to see James and Lily interacting, when I could have done stuff with James too. I am his childhood friend after all." Asphodel said.

"That you are." Faun agreed.

"Anyway, I embarrassed myself, of course. Instead of going for a hug, I crashed into him. Other than that, it was good to have the same atmosphere around each other again. Then, I saw the new Nimbus 1000 in a shop window... but seeing as it wasn't supposed... to..."

"Asphodel?" Faun tiptoed over to Asphodel's bed, only to see that she was sound asleep. "Good night." Faun whispered as she turned off the lamp on the bedside table.

Asphodel was fully energized in the morning, waking up Faun first instead of it being the other way around. "Hey, I'm supposed to be sleeping in..." Faun waved her hand carelessly in the air, hoping it would get rid of Asphodel violently shaking her.

"Sorry, but I just thought you would like to know what happened yesterday. I don't remember finishing my story or even starting it." Asphodel's heart started to beat faster just thinking about it.

"I'm fine with waiting. Go bug James or something, but please let me sleep. I don't have flawless skin for nothing." Faun pulled the sheets over her head and that was Asphodel's cue to leave.

She ate breakfast rather quickly in the Dining Hall. All she wanted to do was roam around the Hogwarts grounds seeing if she could find James alone and spend time with him. She didn't want to sound pushy to herself, suddenly wanting to be with James all the time, but she just wanted things to go back the way they used to be. Asphodel always had Faun's words in the back of her mind, "Act normal until you think it's the right time. Or maybe everything will unfold on its own."

She didn't mind waiting for everything to unravel. She was beginning to get used to repressing her feelings for James and acting like they weren't there. She could only wait and see where their relationship took them.

Asphodel entered the Library, hoping to find James and relieve herself of boredom. She passed shelf after shelf after shelf, making sure every spot she had already checked. Asphodel found herself at the last Library table by the end of it. She sighed and was about to turn around when she saw Remus, Sirius, and another shy boy emerge from behind a bookshelf. She hadn't noticed it there before.

"He's waiting." Sirius said as they passed by. It sounded a little creepy if she hadn't known the context of it all. He winked again but Asphodel took no notice.

She started to enter the place where the three boys had come out and found James sitting there, flipping through the pages of a book.

"Good morning." Asphodel said and invited herself to sit on the chair next to him.

"Hi, Asphodel." James said. "You always seem to come at the right time. Sirius said that he had to do something and yanked Remus and Peter with him. I was alone for a good five seconds before you came along."

"Oh." Asphodel replied with simply. She knew what Sirius was doing. Providing them with alone time. And although that's exactly what Asphodel had wanted, she didn't think Sirius had to go out of his way for her.

"I guess it's a special talent." Asphodel said and that seemed to make James laugh. She noticed he was still flipping through the book she had seen him with earlier. "I didn't know you read." Asphodel leaned over to get a closer look.

"It's just a bunch of pictures of where to visit in England. Muggle places." James added. "My mum used to have this book when I was little and I found it again in here, for some odd reason."

"Hey," Asphodel said and pointed her finger on a picture in the book, "it looks like that beach we went to when we were kids."

"You mean the one where you dove into the water and nearly killed yourself because you thought the fish were 'drowning'?" James replied and watched as Asphodel hid her face behind her hands.

"At least I care about wildlife creatures. Unlike you, who would chase squirrels away with a stick, threatening that you would roast them for dinner." Asphodel said and covered her mouth as she started laughing.

"The only reason I did that was because I thought they were making you insane. You were talking to them like they were interviewing for a job at an acorn factory." James retorted.

"Oh. I hadn't realized that." Asphodel's laughter ceased. "I do remember having strange dreams about squirrels as a child, now that I think about it."

"Hm, weird." James replied with simply. He turned around as Asphodel started to grow red in the face. "Was it something I said?"

"N-No. It's just that the other week when we were practicing our patronuses... And this might not be relevant at all!" Asphodel blurted before continuing. "Everyone else had these big, cool patronuses and mine... mine is a squirrel."

"Really? How cute!"