not as brave as you were at the start

“James!” she shouted, hoping he could hear her through the door. “Open up.” she shouted as she beat her fist on the door. Even though she could hear footsteps on the other side, she couldn’t wait any longer and she opened up the door. She wrapped her arms tightly around him. “They found him. They found dad.”

Victoire appeared in front of James’ flat, banging on the door to wake him up. It was mid morning but he was probably asleep still and hadn’t seen the news. He needed to see this. “James, get your lazy arse up! This is important!”

Nibbling nervously on her lip, Alice nodded. She could see why Harry might worry; she worried about James and his antics, even though Alice was completely supportive of the anti-magi movement and what her future involvement might be. She wanted to help secure herself and her family a safe future and that meant taking risks, just like her father had done. “Oh, and that’s not a depressing matter or awkward conversation either?” she questioned, slowly lowering herself to sit beside James. Leaning into his side, Ally blew at her tea. Her head nodded once. “I knew, yes, but I only found out just before he went and spoke to you – I’m assuming he did?”

Running his free hand through his hair, James was unsure what to say in regards to the matter, so he simply nodded. “Yeah..” he muttered, his speech trailing off as he become felt himself recluse further into himself. “I didn’t know, I honestly had no clue and I don’t think he did either.” Chewing down on his lip, his gaze shifted to Alice, searching her for some form of judgement or disappointment. He couldn’t help but blame himself a bit, wonder if he’d ever given Frank the wrong idea with how comfortable he was with their friendship. Gently running his fingers along her side, his next few words tumbled from his lips without thought. “Do you think it’s my fault?”

The water was boiled and Ally slowly decanted it into her tea pot to brew for a moment. She left the sugar on the side in case James wanted it; she never encouraged him to have sugar. “So, you have me to lose?” she pointed out, raising a brow in his direction. “Unfortunately for you I don’t plan on walking away any time soon. Sorry!” As the conversation grew a little more serious, Alice turned to provide James her full attention. She had seen the newspapers and read the news regarding Mr Potter; she was thrilled, of course, for James and his family but still a little worried. “Give it time and it’ll settled down. And I doubt he’ll care too much as long as he’s happy that you’re happy with what you’re doing, helping Teddy.” She returned to the tea making, pouring the hot liquid over the milk; Ally gathered the jug of milk once more to make sure the balance was just right before pushing a mug towards James.

His gaze wandered down to stare at the counter as the topic shifted entirely to Harry and he did his best to avoid her eyes. “Yeah, well,” he started, “I don’t think he’ll be entirely pleased to find me doing what got him kidnapped in the first place.” With a sigh, he finally looked back up at her. “But it’s depressing, I don’t want to talk about it.” Forcing a smile onto his features, he moved his mug to the coffee table before falling back into the sofa, patting the spot beside him. “C’mere,” he urged, opening his arms for her to come and cuddle up to him. “As much as I don’t really want to discuss this either, we probably need to talk about Frank. You knew, didn’t you?”

Pulling away from the boy, Ally wondered over to her kitchen. In the process, she pulled a rubber band from around her wrist and tied her hair up into a loose, messy bun. With a flick of her wrist, the kettle that was sat on top of an iron coaster started to boil on her counter top. Fishing out two mugs and her tea pot, Alice made herself busy whilst she spoke. “Uni’s good; busy and tiring but good. It’s a new kinda challenge which I’m slowly starting to believe I can do,” she answered, splashing some milk into the mugs. “As for people, well, one of the professor’s is rather dashing,” there was an obvious tone to her voice that showed James she was merely teasing him. “But the people on the course seem nice enough; a little boring though. But how’s things with you? Been up to much?”

James watched her intently as she moved about the kitchen, sometimes he wasn’t even aware he was doing it, but as of late he always seemed to be watching her, appreciating her and the little things she did. “You’ll get used to it soon enough,” he mused, frowning slightly as he watched her put the milk in first, he didn’t object though, Alice always made the best tea. “Is that so? I always knew I’d lose you to an older bloke.” His amusement faded at her question and a sigh slipped his lips. “Admittedly not too much, all of this anti-magi shit seems to go on at silly o’clock, so I’m either sleeping or going out of my mind with boredom during the day. I’m just a tad worried that dad is going to prod me towards uni as soon as he’s back in action, if he’s ever back in action that is.. they still haven’t let me see him, you know.” Realising he was beginning to ramble, James merely rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “But he’s home and that’s what matters, I suppose.”

Of James Potter and Alice Longbottom, second of their kind;

“It has made me better, loving you.”

Moving over towards the boy, Ally took his hand and allowed him to pull her body into his arms. “You seem to make it a little brighter in here; it’s very nice indeed,” she replied with a soft smile, snaking her arms up and around his neck. Pushing herself up onto her toes, Alice pressed a light kiss to James’ lips before dropped back into her original position. “Tea?” she asked just like she had done many times before. “There’s probably cake, too; mum made me some for a congratulation on your new home thing.”

Unwinding his arms from her, he ambled towards the kitchen area, he eyes still taking in the new surroundings. It was strange to think Alice lived here now, he was awfully fond of the Leaky Cauldron, but he figured he could certainly get used to the freedom here. Leaning on the counter, he ran a hand through his hair. “So how’s uni? Meet anyone you fancy?” James teased, amusement creeping onto his features as he raised an eyebrow at her. It was nice to be able to joke about it and know that really she only had eyes for him, it was a nice contrast to his usual experiences with girls.

Hearing the knock at the door, a frown creased her brow. She wasn’t expecting anyone though she had a feeling who it might have been. Pulling the door open, Ally smiled upon seeing the male stood before her; his voice was like music to her ears. “Not too bad, but all the better now you’re here,” she beamed up at him. “Come on, come see what it’s like in here!”

“Alright, alright,” he teased as he weaved past her, wearing an expression of feigned boredom as he stepped further into the room. Turning back for a moment to take in the look on her face, a smile returned to his features as his eyes wandered around the flat. Digging his hands into his pockets, he peered into the rooms as he passed them, seemingly impressed. Unlike his flat, Alice’s actually looked like it belonged to her, it looked homely rather than a place to just sleep and eat. “It’s nice,” he admitted, reaching out to take her hand and pull her to him, his arm draping around her waist. “But like you said, it’s better now that I’m here.”