Déjà Vu

Chapter 10

Now ~ Evelyn

It's cold outside while she waits for him, now that it's officially October, but she doesn't go inside. She knows that it wouldn't even take her a minute to go get a sweater if she walks fast enough, but she doesn't want to miss his arrival. The excitement-induced fidgeting helps warm her up a bit.

Nick isn't allowed to floo to the actual school—rules and whatnot—but he's able to floo to somewhere in Hogsmeade, where he should have arrived about ten minutes ago. This means he should be close by now, and she can't keep the smile off of her face as she watches for him to walk into her line of sight, her eyes hungry as they search the premises for him.

Her smile grows impossibly wide when she does see him, his robe-heavy figure that she would be able to recognize anywhere turning a corner to walk the path to Hogwarts. She doesn't wait for him to get to her, she just takes off running to him, squealing a little bit as she does.

His smile is just as wide as hers when she's close enough to make out his expression, and this only makes her feel even giddier that he's here. They run for each other across the grounds, just like in the movies, and embrace when they reach each other.

He definitely should topple over onto the stone ground with the force that she carries when she leaps into his arms, but he doesn't. He just takes on her weight and swings her around in a circle, both of their giggles filling the air as he does. They don't separate when he sets her back down, they just hold each other as tight as they can, breathing each other in.

She laughs when she pulls away, shocked that she has him right here in front of her again. "Hi."

His smile stretches wide across his face like he can't control it. "Hi."

She looks into his smiling eyes, not having to crane her neck to do so like she does with some people, and just enjoys getting to look at him again. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," he says and surges forward to kiss her.

His lips are cold but the kiss is warm. It's so familiar; comforting in a way that only exists when something is a practiced action, one that is only ever used for good things: happiness, love, desire, reassurance, comfort. She's feeling all of these things right now as his lips move against hers at an unrushed pace, his lips familiar and settling a homesick ache that had been taking over her chest for a while now. It's a kiss that makes it seem like they hadn't been missing from each other's lives for four months with the casual, practiced motion of it.

She had expected that they would be all over each other, that their kiss would be so searing and passionate that she wouldn't be able to breathe, but this is good too. She doesn't need excitement or something that makes adrenaline rush through her veins; what she's been craving is comfort and familiarity. And that is what Nick is.

She pulls away, still smiling when she does and takes his hand in hers. "You ready to go in?"

He nods and squeezes her hand as they begin to walk, their old silent way of communicating their love for each other. She blushes and squeezes back twice.

"It's so beautiful here," he says while craning his neck to look up at the castle.

"Isn't it?" she asks and cranes her neck too, marveling at the way the towers seem to stretch on forever to the sky.

As they walk side by side, she can't help feeling silly for ever worrying about if getting back together with him was the right choice. There had been a time that she had second-guessed herself, had wondered if she was only getting back with him so that she could have something familiar in her life again, but she was wrong. Even having him next to her has already taken off such a huge weight that she'd been feeling on her chest. She hadn't noticed how much her mood lightens just by being in his presence, but maybe that's just because she'd never been without it for too long.