I'm Not Who I Used To Be || G. Sanders

AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT

Her head snaps to her friends. They're still celebrating. Greg follows her line of sight staring at the three of them. They stop jumping for joy spinning to the duo.

"Please leave."

"What! Come on I've waited for this moment for over a decade, please let me stay," Ginny pouts.

Rose eyes her darkly. Ginny huffs before leaving with George and Hermione. She turns to Greg who's still overly confused.

She opens her mouth to speak. The only words she can find are, "I'm sorry."

He keeps his hands at his side still unsure of where to go from here. "The secrets, this was it?"

"Would you have believed me if I told you?"

"No... Rose, this is..."

She cuts him off already feeling what he's about to say. "I can be on the first flight back to England, Greg. I know this is a lot and I know it's hard to believe. I'm not about to force anything, but you are the only person I trust enough to know this and I—"

Lips.

His lips are on hers.

She stops breathing tensing up. Her eyes slip close and her hands navigate to the back of his neck. He is gentle with her. The kiss is a slow, passionate, loving romantic one where he slowly slides his hands across her body and then rests one hand on her cheek giving her butterflies. She presses their bodies together deepening the kiss.

He pulls back running the back of his fingers across her cheek. She gets shivers at the contact.

"You kissed me..."

He smiles, "you kissed back."

"I started rambling again, didn't I?"

He nods bringing his hand down to hers. He interlaces their fingers staring down at her. "I'll admit this was all just thrown on me but it's starting to make sense. This is what you've been hiding."

He doesn't say it as a question but as a statement or more of a realization. She bows her head thinking of all the times she could have told him. She sniffles quietly not wanting to look up at him.

He forcefully lifts her chin with his finger, tears threatening to fall down her face. "Why the tears?"

She laughs roughly shaking her head. "For sixteen years I've lived a normal life without magic. In that time I've grown attached to everyone here. I was trying to escape what happened in school but deep down I know I couldn't. I couldn't have a normal life, hell, a family of my own here without talking about what happened. I would have had to expose myself as a witch and that's not taken kindly by most muggles."

He raises a brow, "what's a muggle?"

"Non-magic folks. It upsets me that it took being kidnapped with you and treated at the hospital to realize that I could still have that. I let my fear control my life."

"Your fear. Do you mean magic?"

She turns down that question quickly. "The Phoenix. Phoenix holds all sorts of powers but the one most important thing is when they die they are reborn. A witch or wizard's lifespan is already extended because of our blood, but a Phoenix would mean I'd die naturally and still come back."

"But you aren't a Phoenix now."

"You're right, and I know that now," she pauses, "but I didn't know that then. I found out I was a Phoenix when my anger got out of hand and my body enflamed when I was fourteen. Our Headmaster at the time helped me figure out what it was. There aren't many facts about the Phoenix, just that it was a legacy. It never explained the extent of the legacy or what it all entails. I lived in fear that I would live past all my loved ones..."

He cups her face again. She glances up at him as he wipes a tear with his thumb. "You're not a Phoenix anymore. You don't have to worry about that."

"Except I do. Witches and wizards can live past the average life of a muggle. They can exceed one hundred fifty even. Don't you see?"

He sighs. "Yes, I see what you mean, but there is also one thing I do know." She wraps her hand around his holding his hands to her cheeks. She waits patiently for him to continue. "I've been in love with you for eight years. I'm not about to let you go."

She swallows before going blank in her mind. "Damn, Harry owes me twenty dollars."

He laughs, "why?"

"We got bored when we were sitting at my house. He told me you loved me, of course at the time I was in denial, but he said you loved me longer. I said he was wrong so we made a bet."

"You make bets a lot."

She shrugs, "it's fun and passes time."

He smiles with a small shake of his head. "You're a dork. So, he lost the bet, what does that mean?"

She pulls him in by the waist tilting her head up to meet his warm blue eyes. "It means I've been in love with you for nine years, three months, and twenty-four days."

"You're keeping track?"

"You're not? And you know," she pokes at her head, "eidetic memory and all."

"Right, right, Ms. Top of the Class at Harvard 2002."

"I could say the same about you Mr. Top of the Class at Standford 2000."

He shoves her lightly as she brags about his smarts. He pulls her back against him tightly embracing her. She settles with her nose in the crook of his neck.

He whispers to her, "would you tell me everything about your world?"

She tenses and he feels it. "That's a lot to talk about."

"We have time."

"I know."

They start to walk side by side to her bike, hand in hand. "Let's head back to my house. The others can help fill in the pieces."

She holds her keys out to him. He eyes her warily. "I know you have your license. Do you want to drive?"

He smirks taking the keys from her. He pulls out his sunglasses as she puts on her helmet. He takes a seat on the bike offering a hand to Rose. He turns on the bike with the engine roaring to life. She leans into him wrapping her arms around his torso.

She smiles to herself as the bike starts to move.