Going Soft | JAMES SIRIUS POTTER HP NEXT GENERATION

xxiii || two couples

Annabella paced back and forth anxiously in her living room, periodically checking the time to see if it was time to leave yet. Although it felt like an eternity since she last checked the clock, it didn't surprise her one bit to see that hardly five minutes had passed.

She only had a few more to go till she was due to travel to James's house via the floo network.

As much as she wished things weren't this way, she couldn't wait to get out of her house, and the reason behind that wasn't just so she could see James.

Granted, she wanted to see him a lot. She missed him a lot more than she wished to admit, as it embarrassed her and made her feel kind of clingy and pathetic. She didn't want to dwell on the fact of what that could mean for too long, but deep down she had a suspicion as to why she couldn't keep him off her mind.

But another large reason she wanted out of the house was because of her parents. She was constantly at odds with them, as they never took the time to understand her.

Before she knew she was a witch, they were always disappointed in her. No matter how well she performed in school, in gymnastics, in anything, she could've always done better, in their eyes. She could've always tried harder because apparently no matter how amazing she was in other's eyes, it was never enough for them.

When she got a knock on the door one day from a witch holding a letter in her hand, she finally felt happy. Maybe her parents could be proud of her, she had finally amounted to something special, something that not everyone had.

Her parents—being non magical folk—seemed to be finally impressed of her, for being different and above the rest at last.

Not that she would ever consider herself so, but they did. Image was important to them.

There were times when they were still harsh, or uncaring, but it wasn't as bad as before.

She just wished her parents could be proud of her for who she is, not because she finally had a leg up in the world, something that made her interesting.

A sharp voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"Annabella!" The voice snapped.

She stopped pacing and looked up at her mother, not having realized she had been completely observed in her thoughts.

"Stop pacing," she chided. "You're wearing holes through the floor and my patience."

She looked down at her feet. "Sorry mother," she apologized.

The older woman shrugged. "Don't you need to get going now anyways? Why are you still here?"

Annabella's haze flicked over to the clock and her eyes widened, it was time to leave!

"Oh, thank you mother! Yes I'll be going now. Merry Christmas, goodbye!" She called as she grabbed her bags and walked over to their fireplace, pretending it didn't bother her when her mother hardly mumbled a "see you."

She annunciated the name of James's house clear enough and felt herself being whisked away from her own, a small smile on her face.

~~~

She stumbled out of the fireplace on the other end, now standing in a completely different living room, and looked around at her surroundings timidly. She had never been over to James's house before.

In fact, she had never been friends with him before this year. She supposed their friendship had moved along rather quickly, but she didn't have much time to think about that as a blond head peaked around the corner, belonging to none other than Scorpius, as he smiled brightly at her.

She smiled back at him with equal enthusiasm as he turned his head back into the room he was standing in and called out.

"James, your Annabella is here!" He yelled presumably upstairs because if James was on the same level of them, he needn't announce it so loud.

Annabella couldn't help the blush that coated her cheeks at the words your Annabella, even though it wasn't the first time she had heard that before.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling above her as she heard someone startle at Scorpius's words, a thud hitting the ground and scrambled footsteps running down the steps short after.

James appeared in the doorway of the living room, his eyes wide and happy at seeing her.

He rushed forward and gathered her into a hug, to which she accepted shyly.

That went on for a couple of moments until a voice interrupted them.

"Are you two going to stand there hugging all day or..." a small but fierce voice drawled.

Annabella went to back away embarrassed and James let her, but he didn't let her get too far as his hand shot out and encircled around her wrist to let her know it was okay.

A small smile crept up onto her face again as she trailed her eyes over to the voice that spoke, belonging to Lily, his little sister.

The red head's gaze dropped down to their almost linked hands, and she raised her eyebrows as if that interested her.

Then realization passed through her and she groaned.

"You're bloody kidding me? I have to spend my christmas break with two couples?" She gasped. "No no no, why did Evelyn have to be sick I'm all by myself," she cried as Scorpius and Albus walked into the room.

Albus furrowed his brow. "Two couples? Who's the second?"

Lily rolled her eyes and gave Albus a long, bored look.

"You're kidding me," she muttered and turned to walk out of the room sulking.

Albus looked to James in confusion. "What? Who was the second couple, did she mean mum and dad?"

Scorpius nudged Albus's arm and the boy turned to him.

Tugging at his collar nervously, he refused to meet Albus's eyes as he spoke up.

"I um, I think she meant u-us." He stumbled over his words nervously, afraid to look up.

Albus turned rather pink at that, and his mouth dropped open in a silent "oh."

Scorpius looked back up hesitantly to meet Albus's gaze.

Annabella looked away from the two, feeling as if she may have been intruding on a moment she shouldn't have been.

As her eyes met James's, she felt a certain warmth run throughout her body.

James hadn't corrected Lily in assuming they were a couple like he had the first time Albus assumed, and Annabella found that she really didn't mind that.

~~~
it's been over twenty days since i last updated, i'm sorry i kept you guys waiting for so long :(
i also hope it doesn't seem like i'm dragging this out too much, i promise it will speed up after christmas break! i hope you will all continue to stick with me until then.
and, thank you all for being lovely readers, i appreciate you all so much <3