Keep Breathing ♢ James Potter

33 | Entry 23 - Tea and Honey

"Once again, I shall ask too much of you."

Those are the last words Dumbledore leaves Harry with after the ending of their session in his office. Harry had succeeded in retrieving the memory from Slughorn, which proved to be more valuable than both Dumbledore and Harry could have expected.

Harry was shocked, to put it lightly. A Horcrux. Before today he had never even heard of the word. And now? The thought of it made his stomach weak. How much of a monster did you have to split your soul into not one but seven pieces, all for immortality?

Harry felt himself dragged his feet away from the Gryffindor corridor, not ready to have to explain to Hermione and Ron the information he just learned. Instead, he soon found himself at the Room of Requirement. Where once was a safe haven for James soon becomes one for his son.

-

August 13, 1978

Dear Diary,

Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if you weren't? If out of all the possibilities you were born into a different body, in a different family, in a different world. I love my magic. I am my magic.

But the past few weeks I couldn't help but wonder, what if I wasn't Astrid Nova Black? What if I never had magic? If I got to choose, I think I would choose a different life.

Maybe I would have enjoyed living in the countryside of France. A small family with a whole library to read on Tuesday Mornings in our own flower garden with more barn animals than I'd care to admit.

Or maybe I would have chosen to stay in the center of London, maybe in a small-town apartment with more roommates than I can count. But we would go to concerts every Friday night, and travel across Europe on our weekends until our feet dropped.

Maybe I wouldn't have noticed the war, maybe I would have had another chance. Just one more chance to make it right.

A.B.

-

Harry found himself somewhere he had never seen before. A small cabin, one that seemed to be isolated out in the woods. When he walked in, the cabin seemed a bit larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside. It had a small common area, with a fireplace to keep warm during the winter. Along with the common room was the kitchen area, before diving off into the bedroom.

Astrid stood by the kitchen, heating up a kettle to make what seemed to be tea. She was softly humming to herself, seeming relatively at ease until you took a closer look at the circles and lines that decorated her face.

Soon after, the scruffy Gryffindor came through the front door, grabbing his feet until he reached Astrid. He pressed his chest against her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and stuffing his head into the side of her neck before taking a deep breath.

"Are you trying to smell me? What are you, an animal?" chuckled Astrid lightly as she leaned back into his embrace.

A slight glint of laughter showed in his eyes, "I don't need to be this close to knowing you probably smell like dung."

Astrid rolled her eyes, trying to shove him off, "You prat." This in return only made him laugh harder as he tightened his grip around his waist.

"How was work?" asked Astrid hesitantly, her body stiffened lightly against his hold as she mixed honey into one teacup. Harry just then took hold of his father's disheveled look, almost as if he had just been running around in dust and debris.

"The usual, nothing new." That's all James said, leaving them both silent, knowing better than to get into specifics of James's "work" for both of their sakes.

"How's it been at home? How's Regulus?" James changed the subject silently, swaying his body silently, and turned her to face him.

"You know Regulus, being the prissy boy, he is. He isn't exactly thrilled to be going back to Hogwarts so soon," explained Astrid as she picked up one of the teacups to sip on.

"That or is he not thrilled that he is leaving you all alone?"

James cast a knowing look on the girl in front of him, leaning his head towards her as she avoided eye contact, finding her teacup a lot more interesting during the conversation.

"I told him I'll be all right," stated Astrid softly. "The house has been quiet, and Rasbatan has been too busy to have stopped by as of recently. I doubt much excitement will occur while he is away. I'll most likely spend most of my time here, thank merlin for Uncle Alphard for living one thing in his will for Regulus and me."

"Has there been much talk on the wedding?" asked James hesitantly, rubbing one of her knuckles from her hand that leaned itself on the counter.

"No, I've been able to convince them to put it off for now, until at least after the war. They hope I could be of use elsewhere for the time being."

The pair stood in silence; a bit more relaxed knowing that they still had time to figure out Astrid's courtship to Lestrange for the time being. One thing at a time.

James studied her face, relaxing his arms around her before reaching for his hand to cup her jaw.

"Where is this from?" asked James curiously as he rubbed his thumb on the top of her eyebrow, where there was a small, shallow cut at the edge of her brow.

Astrid eyes flew down as she went to touch the cut James pointed out. "Oh um, knocked my head on one of the open cabinets. Didn't even notice it."

A heavy look was exchanged between them, but the conversation was ultimately dropped.

"Ok," breathed out James before grabbing the cups of tea from the counter and leading them to the bedroom. "Come on, I've got to tell you about the prank that Peter did on Sirius yesterday. Blimey was great! I had never seen..."

Harry watched as the couple walked out of sight, trying to enjoy a bit more of their last months together before the brewing storm finally reaches them.