Rainy Days [James Potter]

Chapter 4

James was having a good day. Although he had come to the conclusion that Robin might not be quite as cruel as he thought, he was sure that she deserved what she got: her views on 'purity of blood' were completely crazy and no amount of dancing or funny jokes could change that. He didn't think twice when his friends tried to embarrass her in front of the school-- though it earned them a detention, he knew it was worth it.

Besides, what was life without a little risk?

But even if she deserved it, he found himself walking absent-mindedly towards the black lake, where they were meant to meet. He wasn't looking forward to it as much as he was curious about the events of the night and how it would unfold, but his reasoning was null and void if she decided not to show up. She would have every reason to. He still didn't regret a thing.

It rained, as per usual, but this time a slight fog clouded his vision. "Robin?" he called out into a misty void. His glasses started gathering raindrops while he waited for a few seconds for her reply.

"I don't know why I came. Your friends are probably planning a new way to embarrass me as we speak." she spoke out blindly, laughing in a bitter kind of anger, but she held herself together.

She wore a tank top and a pair of grey joggings, probably her pyjamas, which were now soaked. He briefly wondered how long she had been there waiting-- or perhaps just trying to clear her mind? She was bound to catch a cold either way. He considered giving her his jacket, but the moment was short-lived.

Don't pity her you twat, he mentally scolded himself, she's a bad person.

James almost replied 'you deserved it', almost screamed at her-- after all the times she stood by, watching the terrible things that were done-- but he held his tongue, just like she always did. He didn't want to upset her any more than he already had, so he simply stood where he was.

"What the fuck was that?" she seethed, and it didn't take a genius to realise that she was referring to Sirius' prank. It was Sirius' idea, but the rest of them had readily went along with it. They all wanted to see her taken off her pedestal just as much as Sirius did.

"Didn't you know it was coming?" he teased, but there was some real anger behind it. She had no right to be mad at him. "We did warn you, after all."

"And a hell of a lot of good that did." she snorted. "I knew you were a little bitch, but maybe you could've been less obvious about it."

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, those being the only words that came to mind, his thoughts blurred by the anger that pulsed through his veins.

"Then beg." she curled her hands into fists, and he saw the way they twitched; he knew she was resisting the urge to resort to physical violence.

He opened his mouth to say something snarky, but nothing came to mind. "You have to let me in if you wanna do this. Don't try and hate me because you think you have to."

"I don't know, you make it pretty easy" she clicked her tongue. "Should we start?" she said, quite desperately trying to change the subject. She didn't like the direction of this conversation. Anything emotional-- actually emotional-- was a definite no from her. If she wanted to talk about her feelings, she would get a therapist. But she didn't because feelings were useless. They made people weak. She didn't like to feel, anyway.

"As soon as I manage to find you..." he muttered awkwardly as he let out a slight chuckle and reached out in front of him, only to find her shoulders, and she laughed melodically.

"Before we start, I would like to inform you that I dance like a dad."

"Lesson number one: throw everything you know out the window. You don't need to know how to dance, or even how to hear or see, just feel the rain fall gently."

"Gently?"

"Yes. It may not feel like it, but this is what calmness feels like."

"There's literally thunder and I can barely even hear you." he argued.

"You always ignore me, but now you want to listen? I'm flattered."

"Well you said to throw everything I know out the window."

"Oh, shove it."