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

27.

Darlin' hold me in your arms

The way you did last night

And we'll lie inside

For a little while here oh

I could look into your eyes

Until the sun comes up

And we're wrapped in light and life and love.

-"Afire Love," Ed Sheeran

August 2018

James and Elise kept to themselves that afternoon, hoping not to make Anniston suspicious if he saw them again. They stayed in their room and Elise sent a message by patronus to Carston who found them the incantation to disable the Caterwauling Charm.

With their minds slightly more at ease, they set to discussing how and when to return the dagger to Maria to ensure that she was not in further danger. James updated Elise about his encounter with her daughters and the enchantments he'd left on the house to make sure Anniston couldn't get back in, and Elise was very gracious, but also seemed a little embarrassed.

He wanted to tell her he understood why she hadn't wanted to stay, that it was good she had gone after Anniston and kept tabs on him. But he also knew she felt that she had been unkind and that talking about it would feel like a confirmation that she had messed up, so he kept his thoughts to himself and changed the subject.

They finally decided to bring the dagger back to the ministry the next morning to return it, and then planned to keep an eye on the Anniston's for the final day of their vacation, just on the off chance Anniston was feeling angry.

With that plan in place, however, and so much excitement that morning, the rest of the day dragged on. James felt antsy and bored. It had been much easier to sit around doing next to nothing when they were enjoying the warm sunshine and the sand and the ocean.

Elise was still on edge, constantly looking out the window on the off chance she could catch a glimpse of Anniston. It was driving her crazy that she didn't know what he was up to, if he had realized the dagger was missing. She said as much about fifty thousand times, almost always followed by her regret that they had not borrowed Potter's invisibility cloak again.

James, meanwhile, couldn't stop thinking about how moody Elise had been lately. He wanted very much to discuss it with Raigan, but he knew that conversation would have to wait until he got home. He settled for trying (and failing miserably) to decipher it all on his own. She had been so irritable, and yet, everything he had ever known about her told him that Elise was exceptionally even-tempered. Always so cool and collected. She did not let on to her emotions.

Lately she had been letting on. Teary one moment and giggly the next and then, probably at the same time, she'd get mad at him for something he hadn't even realized he was doing. That afternoon she'd gotten annoyed with him when he asked if she wanted a drink of water, snapping that she would have gotten one herself if she was thirsty.

He wanted to explain it away by the stress of their job, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that.

By the time it had gone dark outside, James still hadn't figured it out, but he had come up with an idea. When Raigan, who was as stubborn as she was even-tempered, got upset about something, James did much better by distracting her than by trying to fix the problem. Raigan was a strong independent woman. She fixed her own damn problems, and she'd let you know it too. The one thing James had always done to help her get there was to whip out the chess board and let her calm down by redirecting her attentions elsewhere.