Shooting Stars

The Truth behind the Lies

**JAMES' POV**

~~while Sirius was talking to Amalthea~~

I sat in the gazebo, waiting for Amalthea to return. I had a present for her, a necklace with a golden snitch. Engraved were the words "until the very end". It was a locket, with a picture of us inside. I was going to say the words I meant to say on the train the other day. I was going to tell her I loved her. May snuck up beside me, scaring me.
"Hey, James. Waiting for Amalthea, I see." She smirked at me. I had already told her about the necklace, but not Sirius. I didn't want him to ruin the surprise.
"We were going to dance, but Sirius needed to talk to her about something." I frowned when I thought of her warm hand leaving my own.
"You don't need her to dance, anyway. Why not we dance together, right now? I am your sister, am I not?" I chuckled at her state.
"Are you drunk, little sis?" I asked and she nodded.
"Firstly, it's a one month difference. Secondly, maybe a little." I laughed once more, standing up.
"Well there is no point wasting a good drunken moment." I said, taking her by the hand. "May I?" She stood, putting one arm on my shoulder and his other hand in mine.
"Yes you may." She said, laughing with me. I spun her once and had to wrap both arms around her so she wouldn't fall. I heard a squeak and turned around, finding Amalthea running away. I heard her sobs as I ran after her, only just behind. She started talking to herself, saying things I hoped to never hear.
"I hate James Potter. I hate James Potter. Sirius was right. I was just going to get hurt." She ran up stairs and slammed the door to her room, Sirius close behind.

**AMALTHEA'S POV**

~~the next morning~~

When I woke up, I peeled myself out of Sirius' arms. I needed air. I opened my door, expecting an empty hallway. It was, after all, 6 o'clock in the morning and the night after a party. Instead, I was greeted by a body, leaning against the wall next to my door. A body with askew, round glasses and messy black hair. A body wearing a white shirt with a loose black tie. A body holding a little golden snitch in his hand, attached to a gold chain.
"Amalthea?" James asked groggily, squinting his eyes. "Is that you?" I ignored him, continuing my walk down the stairs. I reached the back door, opening it and walking outside. I sighed in the crisp morning air, walking to a bank of trees. I sat on a stone bench, breathing in. I was vaguely aware of James coming outside and sitting next to me.
"Thea, I know what it must of looked like last night, but it was just-" I turned to him, staring at him, my eyes slicing through him.
"You shouldn't have come out here." I stood up and he stood next to me.
"I need to talk to you. It's important." I looked at him, almost sympathetic that he was so damn thick. "Last chance, Potter. Just go." I kept staring daggers, my voice icy.
"Back to last names, huh? Please, just let me talk." What I did next I did justifiably. Sort of. I had warned him to leave, but he hadn't. My fist swung out from where it had been clenched at my side. I hit him in the chest, knocking the air out of him. I purposefully aimed my punch to the left, making him feel the pain I felt last night. The pain of a million punches. Of someone jumping on me. Of kicks and stabs. All in the heart. All that pain, pushed into one punch. The sobs came from nowhere, like they seemed to be doing lately.
"You don't get it, do you? You broke my heart, James. That's not something forgiven easily. I fell in love with you and I barely knew you. But I knew enough about you to know you might pull something like that. That it was quite likely. But I also never thought the feeling would be mutual, so I never thought about it much. The fact that the feeling never was mutual is fine. I'm used to it. The least thing you can do is not talk about whoever that slut was last night." He seemed speechless, but I guess there really was a first time for everything.
"Good to know how you feel about me, Thea." That voice. It wasn't James'.
"May? What do you mean?" I turned in confusion, ignoring James sitting on the bench, holding his chest.
"That "slut" was me. I got drunk and saw James sad and waiting for you so I asked him to dance. It was all because Sirius needed to talk to you, thus leaving me drunk without a date. As your best friend, I will tell you this, though. I've seen James when he's planning on pulling strings and playing with hearts, and this is different." May left it at that, smirking a little at James' attempts at death stares. "I'll leave you two alone now. Good luck, big brother." With that she disappeared inside to a waiting Sirius, probably to explain last night to him too.

I sat down next to James.
"Sorry for, um, punching you. Really. And I'm sorry for yelling at you and ignoring you and being a pain last night. And for whatever hassles my brother caused. And, well, everything." He turned to me and kissed me.
"Sorry. I've been wanting to that all day." I was surprised, to say the least. I had just punched him, yelled him and insulted him in all the worst ways and he still wanted to kiss me. Wow.
"I...I love you, Thea. Really. I've never loved anyone before but I love you. You're asking for forgiveness, but you're already forgiven. I love you, Amalthea Black. Please, forgive me for how bad I am at...this...and just-" I rested my finger against his lips, shushing him.
"For once, Potter, just shut up. Please?" I kissed him, shutting him up. His hand reached up, slipping something around my neck. When he pulled back, a golden chain rest on my collarbones. A little golden snitch sat at the base of my neck, just above my star.
"Turn it over." He said, gesturing to the locket. I spun it around and saw a beautiful picture of us in the garden, dancing.
"Stole the picture off a house elf. Bloody thing was watching us. Came to some use, I guess." It was a moving picture, constantly repeating him spinning me around and holding my hands and waltzing me around the garden, constantly dipping me down and catching me. When it reached the end of its cycle, the photos shimmered into words. "Until the very end". I snorted, laughing loudly.
"Did I ever say how pathetic this is? Because it is. Very much so." He stared at me with puppy dog eyes.
"You're lucky I love you, James. Oh, that reminds me! I have a gift for you, too! Sort of, not as good as this, though." He smiled at me, encouraging me to continue. "Well, you have basically made May and I into Marauders and we still haven't repaid you, nor have we congratulated you for finding us. May actually has one of these for Sirius too. We were going to do this together, but it seemed better to do it separately. So... Here. I added my own part to it too" I handed him a little messily wrapped parcel. "Merry Christmas, James." He unwrapped it, pulling out two things. A black cord necklace with a silver star in the end and a heart engraved. The other thing, a new Chudley Cannons top, plus two tickets to the game this weekend against Holyhead Harpies.
"You can take who ever you want to the game, the tickets are yours." He beamed at me before kissing my cheek.
"I love it. Also, are you busy this weekend? I want to take you to a quidditch match." He smiled again and I nodded.
"Only if you don't mind my cheering for the Harpies. I'm a major fan." He smirked at me.
"Of course you are." I kissed his cheek, waving as I walked back inside.

The rest of the week was relatively slow. We played quidditch in the garden, boys against girls. May and I went easy on them. We won. On the Friday, we decided to have a day out, going into central London. May and I took Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, so we were the guides. We took them to the London Eye and got a carriage all to ourselves. We slid in, James and I on one side and May and Sirius on the other. I rested my head on James' shoulder as we started the slow rise, until we finally reached the top. I stood up, dragging James up with me. We looked out of the widows, watching all of London stretch before us. James wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into a big hug.
"This is beautiful, Amalthea. Absolutely beautiful." He kissed my forehead, taking my hand and putting it around his neck, before taking my other hand.
"May I have this dance?" He asked and I nodded. He spun me in a circle, dancing the way we did in the garden months ago, the way we would have on Christmas Eve. No music needed to be playing, for we had the music in our heads, synchronising our every move. I had never really believed in fate. I thought it was nonsense, made up for no reason. But standing here, dancing with James in a carriage of the London Eye, I knew that something, maybe not fate, was watching us. Something above was rooting for us. It was a cute thought, to think that something up there was watching. Maybe a little bit mad. But maybe a little bit of madness is okay.