Romeo || James Potter

5 - A Night to Remember

November 6th - In Mommy G's classroom

Aspen has always had a fascination with foxes. They were smart, quick, agile, and adaptable. They're sly little creatures and have such interesting facial structures. They are so, incredibly beautiful and have amazing abilities like: stealthy senses of smell, hearing and night vision. They could even sense animals simply by listening to low frequency sounds of them digging. They could survive in the worst conditions. She liked foxes. 

And that's what she was thinking about while with her mother. Aspen had been in the classroom for a few hours now, just sitting across from her mom at her desk. Professor McGonagall was grading papers and now she's been cleaning. While the elves can or she can with magic, Minerva loves cleaning the muggle way. She thinks it's calming.

"Madam Pomfrey said I'm doing good." Aspen stated out of nowhere. She then turned around to face her mom. "She still won't go down to one visit a month, for safety, but I've been doing okay."

The professor nodded, levitating a piece of parchment to her trash bin. "That's wonderful, sweetheart."

She hummed in response. "I don't think I'll tell anyone else. It's too complicated."

"Well that's up to you and you only. I know Ms. Andino would rather you do something different, yes?"

"She would like me to do many differently, mother." She said while playing with the hem of her shirt. "But I understand she thinks it's what's best for me." She paused for a moment, "Maybe I'll wait for a few months, actually get to know them."

The professor now looked up with a confused face. "I thought you said you were getting along fine with Potter and the others."

Aspen shrugged. "I don't know them as well as I thought. I think I need to establish trust first."

Minerva smiled and continued with her picking up. "This is precisely what happened at Beauxbatons. You didn't trust Ms. Andino at first, now look at you. She's the only friend you've talked to about your condition. Don't go running away so quickly, dear. Not this time."

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Aspen's mother was right. It took months to even tell Sage about her mother. She didn't trust easily, she never had. It's been a problem since she could remember. Though she partially blames this on her father.

Yet, now, she's been even pulling away from these new friendships. She never talked to Marlene unless she absolutely had to. She talked to Lily a little but never that much. Mary, well, she talked her to the most. Though, still, it wasn't much conversation. The lads, well that was a different story. She just didn't talk to them unless they talked to her first. 

All she wanted to do was gossip with her dorm mates, study with her friends in the courtyard, have small food fights during meals, and skip class to just walk through the corridors. But she just couldn't. After her argument with Marlene, she knew it wouldn't be the same. So the girls just had to accept it. 

And after so long, all of them stopped trying to converse with Aspen. That was, until, the Great James Potter came to save the day.

Speaking of the Great James Potter, she couldn't get him out of her mind. It was confusing and aggravating and... mean of herself to do. It just made her sad when she couldn't fall asleep because of him and how much she missed him. She really did miss him. Though when she was constantly with him, surrounded by his spirit, she really didn't miss him as much. But now that she could only sneak glances at him in their shared classes, it just hurt her heart. The thought of him physically hurt her.

Aspen was walking through the corridors just before dinner. She purposefully avoided going to her dorm and changing until 10 minutes before dinner. Then James began walking in line with her. She looked next to her and rolled her eyes at his smiling face. Then he cleared his throat and put his arm over her shoulder.