Chapter 19

"Oh, bloody he- you know what!" Bea grumbled, fishing into her pocket and angrily pulling out her wand. She was stopped in an empty hallway of the castle, her wand now pointed at the trunk she was previously talking to whilst she muttered the incantation that allowed the trunk to hover above the ground and follow her on her way out of the castle.

Today was the day that she would be going home to James' for the holidays and to say she was excited was an understatement. Her and Sirius found themselves planning each day and what they would be doing and Sirius was able to get her even more excited than she was before which she thought was impossible, he had planned many activities for the three of them, and James had even forced him to leave a day free so that he could take Bea on a date.

Sirius was not happy in the slightest but he grudgingly obliged.

James' parents were ecstatic to hear the news that Bea would be joining them, his mother had sent him three letters in the space of three days just to make sure she absolutely wanted to go and that she was definitely more than welcome, and that they were so excited to meet her.

Bea couldn't tell you what the fuzzy feeling in her stomach was but she loved it nonetheless, she felt a warmth in her heart whenever a new letter from the Potters arrived because all of them seemed to include a greeting to her and a countdown of excitement of her arrival, she couldn't say she didn't love it.

Her mother was rather upset when she had owl'd her to say she wouldn't be home for Christmas, though that was a given to Hope Lupin, what she was upset about was that her daughter felt so out of place in her own home that the only solace she was able to get was from her friend James, her new friend James who was also Remus' friend.

Bea and Remus were still talking though she knew it was strained from Violet evidently telling him that Bea had snapped, and whilst the pained look on both Violet and Remus' face hurt Bea whenever she passed them in the hall, she didn't let it affect her, instead she would ignore their eyes and walk on with either Bertie beside her or James whilst they pretended that they weren't going to the classroom in order to be with each other without worrying.

Bea didn't exactly know why she was still scared to tell Remus about her and James, she just wished that her brother wasn't so opposed to the idea of her with someone that made her happy. She didn't understand why someone that Remus knew so well was worse than someone he didn't know, in fact, Bea thought it would be better for Remus to be friends with who she ended up with, because at least he knew she was in good arms.

She knew that he didn't want her to grow up but in this instance, it seemed like he was the one that needed to grow up.

She waved at students she knew as she walked the halls, stopping to greet some people who were staying over Christmas and making sure she wished them a merry Christmas even from way across the hall whilst they shouted a quick 'you too!' before they would hurry off down the hall with a smile on their face much like the one Bea wore on her own lips.

She quickly spotted James when she left the castle, seeing him with his hair sweeping about in the wind and a wide grin on his face whilst he laughed with the boys. She was sure his grin widened when he saw her and the mere thought warmed her heart.

"Give up with your trunk then?" asked Sirius when she approached, a laugh soon tumbling from his lips when she glared at him and her trunk fell to the ground when she broke the spell.

"The stupid thing wouldn't do what I wanted!" she exclaimed, looking at James for help who was having a hard time restraining from holding her. It was so casual between them that having to stop himself from touching her or hugging her or kissing her felt like the worst thing he ever had to do, so much to the point that he hadn't heard her words.

He was too busy in his own world, just smiling down at her fondly whilst she complained about her heavy trunk, just hearing her voice was a blessing to him and more than once he found himself wondering if it was even real, if it was truly real that he had her.

And as much as he wished his staring went unnoticed, it seemed as though the oldest Lupin sibling was having a very hard time ignoring the way James looked at his younger sister.

"James, bloody hell!" Bea laughed, waving a furious hand in front of his face and soon wagging her finger at him, "I know I'm hot but come on!"

"I think you're spending too much time with him," Sirius groaned, "he's egotistical enough for the both of you, stop with the tutoring, will you?"

"hey, I'm just trying to get him a good mark in his O.W.Ls," Bea tutted, soon leaning against a now laughing James, "if it wasn't for me he'd be back in the first-year classes."

"That is definitely true," James nodded, "I learned more from her with one lesson than I did in five years!"

"Yes, but that's because he didn't pay attention in lessons," Bea piped in, "I make him listen when I tutor him."

"Bea, you could be talking about Dumbledore's many pairs of socks and he'd listen cause it's you," Sirius scoffed, seeing her glare and subtly nudge to Remus who was rocking on the balls of his feet, his eyes slightly narrowed and his arm around Violet which made Bea roll her eyes.

"Well," Bea finally spoke after the awkward silence in which James had punched Sirius' shoulder and Bea's cheeks had heated, "Dumbledore has a really great sock collection."

-

James couldn't deny his - pleasant - surprise when he was pulled from the hallway of the train and went stumbling into a seemingly empty compartment all in the moment of a second. Though the seemingly empty compartment had one other person in it, and that person, pleasantly, of course, just so happened to be his grinning girlfriend.

"Bumble can I ask what you're doing?" she could practically hear the smirk in his voice before she saw his features, but she definitely wasn't wrong in saying that the smirk was plastered across his lips as he spoke.

She didn't speak, instead she flicked her wand and the curtains of the compartment had shut suddenly, as well as the one on the door which she slowly pushed him up against. Her lips trailed up his neck and over his jaw until she kissed his lips, slowly and shortly whilst his hands gripped each side of her waist and he was entirely flustered by the whole ordeal.

"As much as I am enjoying this," James choked out whilst she giggled, "can I please ask again what you are doing?"

"Go ahead." She nodded, slowly moving her hands along his shoulders until she wrapped her arms around his neck with a smirk wide on her own lips.

He coughed slightly, his confidence slightly dampened by her boldness that although made him terribly flustered, he couldn't deny that he loved it, "alright...what are you doing?"

"Well do you honestly expect me to sit in a compartment for hours upon end with you also there and not have the sudden urge to flat out kiss you?" she exclaimed, "come on, Potter, you have to be realistic in these situations, I mean, I'm not even allowed to sit beside you without it being somewhat suspici-"

Her voice was muffled when he pushed his lips onto hers, and her arms around his neck tightened when the train started to move. Her talking turned into laughter whilst their lips moved in sync and his hands rubbed her back whilst they both begged not to fall.

"That was a pleasant surprise," she giggled, "but I think we have to go find our friends before they get suspicious."

"Well maybe they'll not notice," James trailed off and soon did he duck his head to her neck to press his lips to her skin whilst her eyes fell shut and her hums of pleasure rang through the compartment.

"I think they would notice," she choked out, her eyes fluttering open when his lips moved from her neck, "if you left a mark, James, I swear-"

"Oops." James smirked, seeing her eyes narrow and the red sweep over her cheeks whilst she shook her head.

She pulled her hair from behind her back, fixing it so that it fell over her shoulder and covered her neck and opened the compartment. There was a few students she knew down the hallway who would clearly see the two of them, so she quickly nudged him and spoke, "I thought this was the compartment they were talking about, I don't know. I'll need to ask Sirius if he has still lost his comb - oh hey Jess!"

"Hi, Bea!" the girl waved when she saw the two exit the compartment, completely unsuspecting to the fact that the two were a couple, she waved happily, bidding a quick goodbye when they turned the other way.

"Where did you go?!" Sirius exclaimed when Bea opened the door to their compartment.

"James dropped his glasses when the train started, I was helping him look for them," Bea waved him off, watching James take a seat. Violet was in the compartment too and Sirius made sure to take up more space than he needed.

So, there was no room for Bea to sit.

Remus was eying his sister as she stood there, eyeing the lack of seats. Violet was too busy reading to notice her best friend and Peter was happily munching on a chocolate frog that Sirius had given him to help out.

Sirius was trying to wind her up by nudging his head towards James every chance he got, but what he didn't realise was that Bea didn't exactly mind his teasing, it was pissing Remus off more and more.

"Hmm where can I sit?" she mumbled, clicking her tongue and soon turning to close the compartment door.

"Got any suggestions, Sirius?" she asked, her arms folded over her chest and her eyebrow raised.

"Well the floor is free."

She gasped, furiously shaking her head and spoke, "well that would mean I'd be in everyone's way, and the journey is terribly long, I'd much rather be comfortable."

"Oh yeah," Sirius sighed, smirking all the same, "I think I only see one very obvious option."

"I think I have the same idea, actually," Bea grinned widely, seeing from the corner of her eyes, a very curious and rather annoyed Remus.

Bea moved closer to James who was trying not to laugh, and with an innocent smile on her lips she asked, "is this seat taken?" before sitting on his lap. Sirius, in the quiet compartment was having a very hard time keeping his laughter in as he watched Bea slowly wrap her arm around her - secret - boyfriends neck, her legs soon sprawling over Sirius who was subtly hiding his face in his hands.

"I think I have the most comfortable seat in the entire compartment," Bea announced, quickly glancing at Remus and Violet, and to say their reactions were opposite was an understatement. Remus knew that Bea would go crazy if he said anything so he was silently fuming, trying not to get too angry, whilst Bea noticed Violet was trying her best to keep her laughter in.

She was doing a good job of not showing her amusement, but Bea was her best friend and she knew exactly what was going on.

"Oh yeah?" James whispered in her ear, "y'know this seat is never taken for you, it's reserved actually."

"Well that's good news," she smirked, leaning her head on his shoulder whilst he wrapped his arms around her as innocently as possible, "i'll definitely be sitting here more often."