Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 43

By the time the beginning of the holidays arrived, Mariya was unable to believe that she was about to forever leave the school in which so much had happened to her. On the final morning, after eating breakfast and making sure that every sock which had been lost down the back of their four-poster beds at any point within the last seven years, the group of students was ready for the end. Mariya's hair was pulled back in the two French plaits she had always favoured in her first year. Once they had all deposited their trunks in the main hall, ready for collection by whatever magical force transported them to the train, they made their way down to the steps where they had first met Professor McGonagall on their first day, and smiled as they saw Hagrid already waiting for them.

"Two to a boat!" He shouted and the seventh years quickly divided themselves into pairs. Mariya and Sirius fought for a moment over who got to sit with James, before Mariya decided to take the higher ground and sit with Remus, which made more sense as she had been in his boat in first year. None of them noticed that Peter had chosen a seat with a Slytherin who was from a well-known Pureblood Supremacist family and had always showed an interest in the Dark Arts whatever Mariya did to try and help.

Settling down into the wooden craft, which all felt a lot smaller than they had when the students had been tiny little eleven year olds. Leaning against Remus's shoulder, Mariya watched as Hogwarts got steadily further away, she had never realised how much the castle had meant to her before that moment and she suddenly felt rather melancholy at the idea of leaving it. Her fellow students clearly felt the same way as many of them were tried to stifle sniffles and Mariya could see the tears running down the face of a pale haired ravenclaw girl. This was the closing of a chapter in their lives but also the point at which they had to recognise that they were adults and that they were now part of this war.

Mariya was pulled out of her darkening thoughts by a loud splash and looked to her left to find out what was wrong, only to see Sirius and James now bobbing in the water whilst their boat continued on without them.

"Hagrid!" She shouted over to the giant man at the front of the group. "You need to stop the bo-" She was rather unfortunately cut off at this point as she felt her own boat sway and tip beneath her as she grasped the edges for dear life. A large tentacle emerged from the water, only to pull both Mariya and Remus down into the freezing cold water of the lake.

Spluttering for breath, Mariya rose to the surface, suddenly glad that her hair was pulled back out of her face and she was wearing glasses not contact lenses - at least they could be easily cleaned. Her heavy robes weighed her down as she tried to stay afloat before remembering that she could cast the bubble-head charm. Sinking beneath the water, she pulled her wand out of its holster and cast the spell wordlessly, immediately glad of the oxygen supply as she began to swim towards the shore. The giant squid twisted and swam beneath her until she reached shallower waters and it disappeared off into the depths of the lake once more. Apparently it was not willing to let Hogwarts finest pranksters yet disappear without a proper farewell.

As she reached the shore, Mariya was glad to see Jasper, Severus, and Lily waiting for her and offering her hands to get out of the water. Allowing Jasper to pull her up, Mariya shook herself off like a wet dog before stripping of her robes and beginning to squeeze the ends of the material in an attempt to remove any water. Whilst she did this, Lily and Severus cast hot air charms on the rest of her clothing and Jasper went to check on James, whose short hair was making cold water stream down his face.

Eventually deciding that she was probably dry enough for the moment, Mariya pushed her glasses back up her nose and shrugged on her outer robe once more. Sliding her wand back into its holster at her waist, she began to make her way along the trail she knew led to the train and was quickly joined by James, Remus, and Sirius who were grinning despite their sodden state.

The train ride passed so quickly that the students were almost sad to see Kings Cross Station approaching. Mariya and Jasper had persuaded James and Sirius to let Severus sit with them and keep the snide comments to a minimum around him, and so it took a while to retrieve all seven trunks from the rack and determine which one belonged to each person. By the time they had done this - having changed into their robes earlier in the journey - they were ready to enter the stream of younger students rushing off the train to tell their family members what a brilliant year it had been.

James snaked an arm around Mariya's waist as they descended the few steps and began to walk towards his parents, who just happened to be standing next to her parents. Quickly levitating both trunks, Mariya prepared herself for the onslaught of hugs that would no doubt come from Euphemia and her father if not the other two.

As anticipated, both parents threw their arms around their children - separating the two for the moment - and squeezed them as tight as they could whilst Fleamont and Jacinta watched on in amusement, thankful that it was no longer them who had to deal with this sort of behaviour from their own parents but still quite willing to let their spouses embarrass their children. Sirius was standing not far behind them and was pulled into a tight embrace from Euphemia almost immediately after she released James, whilst her son complained as his father ruffled his hair.

Mariya realised with a jolt as she watched the two, that she could so easily picture James doing the same with his own child... with their child. She found it all too easy to imagine them standing in the very same train station surrounded by children, some their own and some their friends' offspring. Perhaps it was this moment that made Mariya realise how much she wanted a future with James, however this war went. Maybe it was this realisation that caused her to pull him away from the adults just before they had to say farewell.

"I love you, James Potter." She said, a gentle but nervous smile crossing her face. James froze for a moment before sweeping her into his arms and pressing his lips to hers.

Pulling back after a few moments, he grinned down at the woman in his arms, "I love you too, Mariya Seratova." He smiled sweetly at her for a minute before adding, "And you can rest assured that in a day or two Sirius will send you a letter complaining about how I'm being all mopey thanks to you not being there."

"If it's any consolation, we might be working together in two weeks, especially if my parents have anything to do with who is in each group."

"I suppose that might help a bit, but I might need another kiss to make it all better." James pouted for a moment before grinning as she leaned in to oblige.

"You are absolutely ridiculous, James Potter." She shook her head in disbelief as she pulled away.

"But you love me." James grinned, now knowing that he could use the statement truthfully.

"That I do." Mariya smiled, kissing him once more before they began to make their way back towards where their parents were waiting. Mariya couldn't help but suspect that some of them had been eavesdropping as there were a combination of satisfied and teasing smiles resting on the faces of the other adults.

"Well, I suppose we should really be leaving." Jacinta addressed Euphemia and Fleamont before turning to James. "I expect to see you at work bright and early on Monday morning Mr Potter, especially if you want me to sway the decision as to whether or not you two should be allowed on the same team."

"Yes Ma'am." James grinned, saluting the older woman, who merely frowned back at him.

"Señora, if you wouldn't mind, Mr Potter. I am Spanish."

"Sí, Señora Rivera Sánchez."

"Better." Jacinta judged before smiling once more and turning to leave the station, her husband and daughter following close on her heel in the knowledge of how unimpressed she would be if she had to pause and wait for them. Mariya turned for a single beat to wave at James before she crossed through the barrier into the Muggle world.

"So, when are you going to propose?" Sirius asked, and it didn't take James even a second to respond.

"I have no idea." He answered in all seriousness, before actually considering the question and blushing bright red as all three of the people standing with him started to laugh. "Oh, shut up." He groaned as he lifted his trunk once more and began to stride across the now nearly empty platform towards the fireplaces where they were meant to be flooing back to the manor.

Looking back over his shoulder, James was unimpressed to see his parents and Sirius still standing where he had left them, bright red and gasping for breath as they considered his response. "It was not that funny!" He shouted back at them, which of course only made them laugh harder.