This Time, Last Time (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

14.

Well the rain let up

And the sun came out

And we were getting dry

"And It Stoned Me," Van Morrison

---

July 2018

When James stepped out onto Raigan's back porch on Sunday late afternoon, she took one look at him and just started laughing.

"What?" he asked, baffled by this odd behavior.

She just shook her head and shut her eyes to get herself together. When she opened them again, she smiled and said, "I take it it went well then?"

James hesitated. "Yeah," he said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I just haven't seen that 'I've got a new girl' face in a long time," she said. "Brings back memories."

"I don't have a face like that," said James. She just raised an eyebrow. "And anyway," he said, taking a seat in the porch chair. "I don't have a new girl."

"Alright, not a new one then. But she is a girl," said Raigan. "And it's been a long time."

"It has," agreed James, trying to keep the smile off his face. He didn't want to prove Raigan right.

Raigan crossed her legs and put down the document she'd been scanning. More for her upcoming conference attendance. "So," she said. "Tell me all about it. I need details."

James glanced at her and regretted it because she gave him this look like he'd just proven her point after all.

"I don't know," he said, crossing his arms. "I took her to dinner and it was kinda weird, but then we went back to the- to her house and just talked and stuff and it was a lot better."

"You just talked and stuff," she repeated.

"Yeah," said James. "I mean not just talked. But mostly. It was really nice actually."

Raigan's smile this time was a little more genuine, albeit still amused.

James was surprised to find he felt a little embarrassed.

"What'd you talk about?" she asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I don't know," said James. "Just whatever came up. Nothing serious." He chose not to mention the ring, because it was one of many things he had never told Raigan about. His intention to propose to her hadn't really been public knowledge. The only person who had known, actually, had been Dawson, because James had asked him once how he had managed not to make it awkward. James had been dreading the idea of getting down on one knee and he sort of thought Elise would hate it too. Of course, Dawson had been no help at all, because he was full of good old-fashioned American traditionalism. He'd asked Raigan's dad for permission and everything. Planned a whole event of it. James didn't think he could do any of that.

"And you stayed again?" she asked. "Overnight?"

James nodded. "We didn't like- do anything though."

She laughed a little. "I didn't say you did."

"I know," said James. "I'm just- I'm just saying I'm not trying to rush it."

She smiled again in a way that made James irrationally angry. She always knew what he was going to say before he said it. How he'd ever kept any of what happened a secret he did not know. He wondered how much she had guessed at. He would've liked to ask her, but then she would make him confirm or deny everything she had assumed.