Chapter 21

The Christmas break for Bea was already the best she ever had after three days of spending it at James' with him and Sirius. Sirius wouldn't give the two a break, pulling them along for adventures and making sure the two boys were giving Bea the best Christmas she could possibly hope for and they were very much achieving it.

Last night the three got in so late that Euphemia had started to pace the living room wondering when they would return, and when they did show up the two boys got an earful whilst the woman made sure to reassure Bea that it wasn't her fault in the slightest.

That wasn't entirely true.

In fact, James seemed to be the only responsible one surprisingly when the three had stumbled upon a party in some club in a town over. It was a Christmas party for a group of people who had rented out the venue for their friends and family, but it wasn't hard to sneak in and seem to be a part of the group.

Being half-blood gave Bea the advantage of knowing how to talk to muggles without looking entirely out of place, and as she batted her eyes at the teenage bouncer a few years older than her, a small smile on her lips and repeating how they had stupidly forgotten to confirm that they were going, he finally let them in.

Though James was a bit pissed at her blatant flirting, and when she made sure to reassure him that it was all part of the act, he still wasn't at all convinced. Of course, that was until she pulled him into an isolated corner and made sure he knew perfectly well that it was most certainly part of the act.

Getting home later than usual meant that the three were terribly tired, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night all clearly exhausted meant that falling into bed was the easiest part of their day, and when Euphemia found them in the morning she couldn't help her laughter at the three all piled into James' bed.

Bea had found herself in the middle of the two boys, her hair sprawled out around her and covering Sirius' face in the process. James had a protective arm around her waist, pulling her into him as much as possible with his face buried into the crook of her name whilst her head leaned on his in a slightly awkward position.

She looked comfortable regardless.

Her arm was lazily around Sirius' stomach whose arm was thrown over her face as he slept. His lips where parted and soft snores erupted from his mouth, though not loud enough to wake his sleeping best friends beside him.

It seemed as though Euphemia was able to wake Bea with her laughter when the girl's eyes fluttered open when she heard the sound in her sleep. A yawn escaped her lips followed by a groan as she pushed Sirius' arm off her, running a sleepy hand through her hair and attempting to sit up in the bed with James' arm around her so tightly.

"Morning!" Euphemia laughed softly, her voice quiet so that she wouldn't wake the two boys and soon her smile widened when Bea's eyes drifted to her, brightening the girl's mood with a smile of her own.

Bea had grown greatly fond of James' parents. They were so terribly lovely that any thought of the bad in her life had slipped from her mind enough for her to enjoy her Christmas break with two of her favourite people.

James had told her that his mother absoloutely adored her, as did his father. They had asked a few times as to why Bea wasn't fond of going home at Christmas with her brother but whilst keeping the excuse as minimal as possible, James had finally rid the conversation completely.

As a mother, Euphemia knew there was something wrong with Bea's home life and without even knowing what she had made a vow like many others had to protect the girl whilst she was under her roof. Bea was the sweetest girl she had ever met and the fact that she made James as happy as she did, made both the Potters love her even more than they did already.

"Morning," Bea beamed, her voice quiet and a little hoarse from the previous night's adventures. She soon let out a loud yawn, laughing with Euphemia who was leaning against the door frame.

"Have a nice sleep?"

"It was very...comfortable," Bea giggled, gesturing to the two boys who looked as though they were her bodyguards as she slept in the middle. She ran her hand through James' hair to get it out of his face with a small smile on her lips, almost forgetting that Euphemia was watching her as she admired her boyfriend.

"Well breakfast will soon be ready. You can put yourself up to the challenge of waking up these two or you can spare yourself the trouble, whichever is best," Euphemia grinned, bidding Bea a quick goodbye and leaving her alone to deal with the two.

She knew that James would be easy to wake up, it seemed any time Bea moved too much with his arms around her that he was on high alert to make sure she was alright. But she was rather dreading waking up Sirius who seemed to only really wake up if Remus was involved in the process.

Her brother was the only one to get the boy up without too much hassle, she wasn't sure as to how or why but Sirius was a little less grumpy than usual.

She fell back down onto the bed, moving closer to James so that Sirius' arm couldn't find it's way back onto her face and with her smile quickly returning, she moved her hand to stroke his cheek. Her finger tips danced lightly over the skin of his cheek bone, giggling to herself when his nose scrunched at the tickly feeling that she was providing.

She shuffled closer to him, brushing her lips on his cheek whilst he moved his arm to scratch his face, scrunching up his nose whilst Bea tried her best not to wake him with her giggles. She finally pressed her lips to his softly, her eyes almost closing until his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, finally allowing his eyes to flutter open and a small smile to find his lips.

"What a way to wake up," he whispered, his voice deeper than usual and a yawn tumbling from his lips that he couldn't help. Bea couldn't help the giggles that poured from her own lips, her hand still stroking his cheek softly as she lay close next to him, leaning up to kiss his nose whilst he sported a sleepy smile.

"You're too cute," she mumbled, "you look odd without your glasses though, can you even see me?"

"I only know it's you cause your voice is higher than Sirius'," James joked, earning a laugh from Bea who leaned over him to grab his glasses off the bedside table.

"Much better," she grinned, pushing his glasses onto his face. He moved his hands in order to fix them, sitting up in the bed with Bea following his lead, "so I woke up you which means you have to wake up the beast."

"That is not a fair deal are you kidding?!" James exclaimed, turning to glare at her whilst she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"I'll wake him tomorrow," she shrugged, "I wish Remus was here."

"Why?"

"He can wake him without hassle," she scoffed, "course he can go back home once he's awake but I mean what other options do we have?"

"You know it won't be like this forever, love," James sighed, reaching for her hand. It felt like a dream to be able to touch her and hold her without having to look over his shoulder or keep himself aware that anyone could catch them. It was lovely, actually, to be able to have his girlfriend with him and act like the couple that they were.

They were completely casual when it came to their relationship in the sense that they were touching almost always. James loved his arm around her shoulder and she loved to trace her fingertips over his hand whilst it rested on her leg. Or just simply leaning against each other, or her arm wrapped around his waist whilst he talked, so when they were back at the castle and they couldn't do that it just felt annoying to have to keep themselves aware.

She wondered why she still cared that Remus knew of them even though they had fallen out over it. It was staring the boy right in the face and yet he didn't seem to notice that the strain on their relationship was his lack of thoughts for her happiness and his concern of being a protective brother, which was making him become a bad one.

What hurt Bea more was that she knew Remus would never intentionally hurt her, that the reason he was being like this was for a good cause and yet he wasn't exactly doing their relationship any favours. Regardless of what Remus thought, she was going to live her life without anyone stopping her anymore, she had shied away from confrontation too many times for it to control her for the rest of her life so she wasn't going to let her brother get in the way of her happiness.

And James was her happiness.

He wasn't just her boyfriend or a silly boy she had a crush on. He was her best friend, too and just helping him with herbology was such an unexpected way for her to realise that he was actually a nice person. That he was actually a good person regardless of pranks, and regardless of what she once thought of him.

He had helped her come out of her shell, he didn't change her nor did he wish to change her but she wasn't as shy as she was before. She realised that sometimes bullies wouldn't stop unless you told them too, and even just casting a glare in the direction of a snide remark would stop it all together.

She didn't need Violet fighting her battles for her. She didn't need Remus seeing her as a child who couldn't defend herself. She was strong and powerful on her own and she had been through quite a lot of pain, emotionally and physically and yet she was still able to pick herself up with a smile.

And just because she was kind and happy and a bubbly person didn't diminish the fact that she was strong.

"What are you thinking about, love?" asked James when he saw her stare into the distance, her mind very evidently somewhere else. Her head was resting on his shoulder, hand in his and her body mostly leaning into him.

"This year," she mumbled softly, eyes fluttering as she lifted them to meet his stare, "It's just weird that it's only been a few months since we started - four months or so and it's just changed so much. But it's good change, I know not everything is going to work out the way I want it and even though I'm mad at Vi and Remus now, I wont be forever."

"Everything that happens is out of your control," James spoke after a few minutes of staring at her, she was just so distracting at times that even with her hair all over the place and her eyes drooping with sleepiness she was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen, "but you can control what you do next."

"Wise words, Jamesy," she giggled, guiding his face to look at her and softly connecting their lips, "now I'm going to go speak to your lovely mother and eat a wonderful breakfast and you are going to wake up our dear friend."

"How about we trade?"

"How about I kiss you again and we don't trade?"

He thought for a second before slowly nodding his head, "alright. I suppose that's a good deal."

She let a smile fall onto her lips as she pushed herself forward once more, connecting their lips for a second time whilst his hands moved to her hair. She was almost about to pull away when he attempted to deepen the kiss, hearing her muffled giggles with her lips on his, though she wasn't in the slightest protesting.

It was only when they heard a groan from beside them that the two - reluctantly - pulled away, hearing a tired voice grumble, "bloody hell do you two ever stop?"

And with a look in James' direction, the couple
both having amused smirks on their lips, she couldn't help but giggle as she spoke, "it looks like we both got out of waking the beast."