The next few days spent in Amalfi, Italy were a blur of beach days, sunburns, amazing food, and narrow cobblestone streets.

Despite the ongoing war, this vacation felt like an escape from the anxiety surrounding the war.

Reg and Jo seemed happy.

They hadn't said anything to any of us, but it wasn't hard to see. It was the little things. It was how Jolie would adjust Regulus's shirt collar, how Regulus would absentmindedly kiss Jolie on the cheek when they saw each other in the morning.

Right now, we were all lounging around the pool, basking in the mid-afternoon sun. James was laying next to me, his head was tilted towards me as he talked while the summer sun shone down on his body, browning his skin and illuminating the dark blue hues in his hazel eyes.

"I wonder how Romeo's doing, do you think he's so okay? We shouldn't have left him home-"

I laughed, "James, our cat is going to be fine. He wouldn't like Italy anyways, your mum will take care of him."

Even though my cat, Romeo, had been a birthday gift from James, he sort of became our cat. Merlin knows that having a child now would be the worst possible thing that could ever happen to me, and I wholeheartedly mean that, anyway, Romeo is good practice. Co-parenting a kitten with James is about as close to being a parent as I want to get for at least a few years down the road.

James sighed, "I guess so."

There was a scream coming from the pool as Jolie was pushed off of Regulus's shoulders by Sirius. They were 'chicken fighting' or something like that.

Sirius slapped his chest, "Wolfstar for the win!"

Remus leaned backward, causing Sirius to fall back into the water just as Jolie's head popped up from underneath the surface of the water.

She and Reg were both laughing as Sirius surfaced and glared daggers at Remus.

"I was having and good hair day! Now I look like a fucking rat-"

Remus stifled a laugh, "Why are you in the pool if you don't want your hair to get wet?"

"He has a point!" I yelled as I stood up from my lounge chair and stretched.

Sirius gave me the finger before returning to his rant about how his hair was wrecked now.

I was standing on the edge of the pool, watching the utter chaos erupt as Regulus dunked Jolie's head underwater.

At that moment, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist as James flung me over his shoulder and jumped into the pool, bringing me with him.

The water enveloped my body as I was sent into the pool, James' arms still wrapped around me.

When my head broke the surface of the water, James was laughing his arse off as I pushed my now soaking wet hair out of my face.

I swam over to him and wrapped my legs around his waist, grinning at him.

James smirked back at me, but the smirk was quickly swept off his face as I proceeded to dunk his head under the water.

Remus was laughing at us as Regulus, Sirius, and Jolie began a full-on water war beside him.

"You're lucky I love you, otherwise I would've held your head underwater." I teased as James ran a hand through his wet hair, sending water droplets every which way.

James pulled me against him and kissed me on the forehead, "You could drown me and I'd say thank you."

"That's kinky!" Sirius yelled as he put Regulus into a headlock in an attempt to dunk him under the water.

I rolled my eyes at Sirius and swam over to him. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled hard, making him yelp and loosen his grip on Regulus.

The youngest Black brother wriggled free from his older brother's grasp and took the opportunity to dunk Sirius's head underneath the water.

"Padfoot is going to kill you." Remus laughed as Sirius's head surfaced from the water.

He had a very angry look on his face.

"You're going to pay for that, Vixen!"

James wrapped his arms around me from behind, "Um-, no you're not. That's my job-"

I reached my hand up and clapped it over James' mouth in an attempt to shut him up. Thankfully, it worked.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, bathing in the sun, having fun like the carefree teenagers that we all wished we could be.

It was an escape.

But it wasn't because we were in Italy. Italy wasn't my escape.

He was.

• • • • •

I softly knocked on Jolie's bedroom door, hearing a set of footsteps shuffling around the room as the door opened.

Jolie cracked open the door, her blonde locks were a complete mess. She saw it was me and her face soften, "Hi Daph, what's up?"

"Wanna talk? I want to hear about your date?"

She tucked her hair behind her ear, "Yeah, of course."

We both stood awkwardly as Jolie kept the door opened only slightly.

"Are you going to let me in?" I teased.

Jolie smirked, "Um-, let's go to the living room or something."

My blue eyes widened, "Bloody hell-, is he in there right now? Did I interrupt-"

"Yes, he is, and no you did not. He's sleeping."

I peered around Jolie and saw the thin figure of Regulus Black sleeping peacefully in her bed. The moonlight shone in through the open window, casting a ray of soft light over his face.

I smiled, "Is his shirt invisible or something?"

"Oh, shove off." Jolie laughed.

She stepped into the hallway with me and softly closed her bedroom door behind her.

Her fluffy white robe was tied tightly around her body as we hurried down the stairs. I lead her into the kitchen and Jolie sat down at one of the barstools while I filled the kettle with water.

"Tea?"

"Sure," Jolie replied, "Is James asleep?"

I put the kettle on and turned around to lean against the kitchen counter. "Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't hear me get up."

"Why were you up? It's three in the morning." Jolie teased as she stole a glance at the clock above the stove.

I rested my head on my hands, "I could ask you the same thing. Reg was fast asleep."

"I couldn't sleep, so I was writing." Jolie admitted. "What about you?"

I sighed, "Couldn't sleep. My brain wouldn't turn off."

The kettle began to whistle, so I tended to it while I grabbed two mugs and tea bags from the cabinets. Jolie spoke softly, "What were you thinking about?"

I poured the steaming water into the two mugs and handed one to Jolie before taking a seat next to her at the island.

"Do you think Alice and Frank are getting married too young?"

Jolie steeped her tea as she spoke, "They're young, sure, but they love each other deeply. I don't think that you can get married too young these days, you know because we don't know what the world's going to be like in say-, five years? As much as I hate to say it, we could be dead before we reach the 'proper age' to get married." She took a deep breath before turning to look at me, her eyes watery, "Why do you ask?"

"James wants to get married as soon as we're done with school-, well, that winter after we graduate."

My best friend smiled softly, "I see nothing wrong with that, you and James love each other. You have for the longest time, even if it wasn't always romantic. He's your best friend just as much as he's your boyfriend."

I sighed in relief, "When did you get so wise?"

"Oh please, I've always been wise."

We both laughed softly for a second before we fell into a comfortable silence.

The house was quiet, and the only sounds that could be heard were the occasional car driving by and the waves crashing against the sandy beach as the tide came in.

"How'd it go with Reg? I assume good based on the state that I saw him in." I teased.

Jolie rolled her eyes, "It was-, it was really good."

"The sex or-"

She playfully hit me in the arm, "I was talking about the date, but the sex was good too."

I took a sip of my tea as she kept talking.

"He took me to the cute restaurant for dinner, then we walked around for a bit." Jolie's hand moved to her neck. She pulled out a fine gold chain with an angel wings pendant. "He bought me this necklace, and asked me to be his girlfriend."

I pulled my eyes up from her necklace and grinned at her, "Please tell me you said yes?"

"I did."

I smiled at Jolie, "Good, he's a good one."

"You bet he is." Jolie admitted with a teasing voice.

"So I need to know what happened after the date was over."

Jolie laughed, "We came back here, and everyone was in their rooms. He walked me to my room and kissed me goodnight, but after I closed my door he came back in and kissed me."

I clapped my hand over my mouth, "Atta boy, Reggie."

"Then things escalated, and yeah."

"Did you use protection?" I asked in all seriousness, lifting my mug to my lips.

Jolie looked at me like I was stupid, "Of course I did-, I have a love-hate relationship with children so I refuse to have one now."

"Valid point," I joked, "Can't say that I could say the same thing."

"Idiots," Jolie shook her head, "The both of you."

I rolled my eyes, "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world-"

"Don't even think about it, you're seventeen. Please wait a year, I can't be a godmother yet!"

"I can wait a year, at least." I muttered. "Children are sticky and they cry."

"Then why do you want one?"

I held my hands up in surrender, "Just imagine a mini James or mini Daphne, they'd be so cute!"

"They would be batshit crazy." Jolie insisted.

I nodded, "You're not wrong."

Jolie laughed at this as I took the final sip of my tea. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost four in the morning already.

"His birthday's tomorrow." Jolie said as she followed my gaze to the clock. "Now I won't be as much as a cougar anymore."

I snickered, "It's just over a year difference, this means that you hold the power."

"Damn right, I do."

The two of us fell back into a comfortable silence. I turned my gaze over to the French doors and tried to peer outside into the darkness. The sun would be coming up in just over an hour.

Jolie grabbed my empty mug with hers and brought them to the sink. She reached for her wand but ended up with empty pockets.

"Shit-, can you-"

I flicked my hand and the dishes began washing and drying themselves before floating back up to their home in the cupboard.

Jolie looked at me, "Show off."

I laughed, "Practice."

"I don't have the patience to learn and work on nonverbal spells. I can barely sit down long enough to study, let alone learn a nonverbal."

I stood up from my stool, "I think it's about time that we go to bed."

Jolie looked at the clock.

4:03 am.

"Sirius and Remus will probably be up for longer than we sleep."

I quietly walked up the stairs, "Bloody morning birds."

Jolie laughed quietly from behind me as we reached the landing. She pulled me into a quick hug, "Goodnight, Daph. I'm glad we got to talk."

I smiled as we parted, "Me too, now go on, I know that you're just dying to crawl into bed with Reg."

She jokingly flipped me off as she entered her. Jolie turned around and blew me a kiss before closing the door behind her.

I grinned to myself as I quietly opened the bedroom door.

James was sprawled out on our bed, his messy hair hanging against his brow bone.

I crawled into bed next to James, and he immediately wrapped his arm around my waist as if he sensed my presence.

Curling up close to James, I pressed a kiss against his forehead before letting my tired body and tired mind fall asleep.

• • • • •

Surprise, I'm recasting Jolie! I started imagining her as Jo March aka Saoirse Ronan because it'd be perfect.

Therefore,

Jolie Chance portrayed by Saoirse Ronan