Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 20 - "An Absolutely Fabulous Idea"

The one thing Rose shared with her family was her love of music. She had grown up listening to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys (Lily's favourite), and more recently Abba and Queen. It was an unspoken rule that if there was somebody home, there would always be music playing.

Almost a month had passed since she and Lily had come home for the holidays, and it had been almost unbearable. Lily and Rose shared a room (even though Petunia had now moved out after marrying her boyfriend Vernon,) so Rose spent most of her time in the garden, usually reading or writing letters to friends, in order to avoid Lily and their parents.

It was a particularly warm morning at the end of July, when Rose heard a loud crack nearby, followed by a thud. Her head snapped up and she quickly slid her wand from the pocket in her cardigan. At sixteen, she wasn't yet allowed to use magic outside of school but she knew that was the sound of apparition, and with the war everybody knew was brewing, she would much rather risk expulsion than death.

She placed her book on the bench beside her and stood up, careful not to make a sound. Rose looked towards the small copse of trees as rustling noises emerged. Soon she saw a figure pushing his way out, a little disheveled but easily recognisable.

"James!" She shouted, and started towards him, then paused, holding her wand up again. "Wait a minute, I have to be sure it's you. Where were we when we decided to pretend to date?"

"The Astronomy Tower." He replied without hesitating.

As soon as he did, Rose ran to him and he lifted her up in his hug, both of them laughing with joy. When he put her down, he bent his head to kiss her and Rose smiled against his lips. Merlin, she had missed him.

They separated, breathing hard, and James pressed his forehead against hers.

"I missed you," he whispered, and Rose gently kissed him again.

"I missed you too," she murmured. "Have you got even taller? And there's dirt in your hair."

Rose stood on her tiptoes to brush it out as James turned red. "I might have fallen over after I apparated," he admitted sheepishly.

"So much for your Quidditch training helping your coordination," she teased.

They stood there for a moment, enjoying the presence of one another, before the sound of the door bursting open interrupted them.

"Rose are you ok? I heard- oh, James it's just you. Hi!" Came Lily's voice from behind Rose, who sighed in annoyance and pulled away from James slightly. His arm stayed around her waist and she pressed against his side as they turned to face her sister.

"You passed your apparition test then?" Lily asked.

"Yeah I did. Peter can't take his yet but Remus, Sirius and I all passed - took me and Sirius a couple of tries though." He grinned a little. "I'm guessing you passed too?"

"I did it on the first try," she said proudly.

James turned to Rose. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in by the way. I just remembered that it was today last year when we got our O.W.L results, and I thought I'd come for... well, moral support I suppose. Though from what you told me yours will probably be a sight better than mine were."

"Oh Merlin, I almost forgot. I was wondering when those would come," Rose said. "I'm sure I flunked History of Magic and Arithmancy didn't go so well either."

"I'm sure they went ok," said Lily.

Rose didn't acknowledge the comment. "Mum and Dad went out earlier, right?" She asked Lily, who nodded.