Just You Wait | James Sirius Potter (On Hiatus)

Chapter 14: Stay Alive

(A/N): Hi guys! Before the chapter begins, I'm SO EXCITED to announce that Just You Wait has reached 1k reads!!!!! Honestly, I'm still so shocked that the story made it this far, especially this soon in the story. A huge thanks to my lovely beta littlesoli and to everyone who's read the story!  Actually, this is the perfect celebration chapter, so enjoy my 1k reads present to y'all! Love you guys, 

~Kira

 The Lupin family's arrival anywhere has never been subtle. A family of four including a werewolf, two metamorphmagus, and Remus Lupin's female clone never is. Of course, that means that our floo to the Burrow would be just as attention-grabbing.

As soon as we step out of the green flames, mum and I immediately trip over a stray corner of the rug, prompting dad and Teddy to catch us in sync with a resigned expression on their faces.

Before mum and I can go through our usual speech, letting everyone know that we would have survived perfectly fine on our own, mum is immediately taken into the embrace of the one and only Grandma Weasley.

"Tonks, dear! How are you?"

Before she can respond, Grandma Weasley turns to me.

"And Maia! James will be so glad you're here!"

I laugh under my breath at her antics as she hurries me into the kitchen.

The entire Potter-Weasley clan seems to have squeezed themselves into the kitchen and living room area, leaving barely enough room for me to walk through and say hi to everyone.

I spot James a minute before Grandma Weasley does.

"James, dear! Look who's here!"

James turns and a grin flashes across his face before his mouth twitches back into a smaller, more reserved smile.

"Hey Maia."

"Hey James."

The conversation ends as quickly as it began. What's going on? Normally, James would be talking my ear off about the newest prank idea he's had, or the insanity of his family, or even how annoying Albus is being, talking about Scorpius all the time because he had a Malfoy party to go to instead of coming here today. This time, however he won't even meet my eyes.

Luckily, the awkward moment is broken by Grandma Weasley calling us all in for dinner.

The stampede to the table is enough chaos for James to slip away and sit between Albus and Teddy. I stubbornly sit directly across from him, next to Rose, who raises her eyebrow at me. I wave her off. We're sharing a room, anyway. She'll hear about what she needs to know later.

At multiple points in the dinner, I try to make conversation with James, but every time his answers are no more than a word or two long. Eventually, I give up and I talk with Rose for the rest of the meal.

Two hours later, when everyone is getting ready to go to bed, I finally snap. I run up the stairs and turn left into the room James is splitting with Hugo and Albus. At the sight on the furious expression on my face, the boys recoil slightly. I gesture towards Hugo and Albus.

"Get out." I snap at the two boys.

They waste no time in sprinting out of the room, throwing expressions conveying good luck over their shoulders at James, which I pretend I don't see. I throw myself onto James' bed in the space next to him and place my hands on his shoulders, looking directly in his eyes.

"Talk to me."

His expression is frantic, his eyes looking for any possible escape.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Sure there is. You've been ignoring me."

"No I haven't," he shakes his head, vehemently denying my accusation. He runs his fingers through his hair.

"You can't lie to me, James Potter," I seeth, "You run your fingers through your hair when you're bored or nervous, and I'm pretty sure you're not bored right now."

He looks up at me in shocked silence. I continue ranting anyway.

"And another thing, James. I don't give a damn about what happened at the Yule Ball to make you act differently, but the fact that you think it's entirely okay to act like you barely know me even though you've been one of my best friends for YEARS."

He flinched at the word "friends" and visibly shifted away from me.

"Maia, I-"

"You think it's easy for me that no matter how hard I try, I feel like I'm losing you? And not even to someone else! You're retreating into yourself, James. You and I used to tell eachother everything. What happened to us, James?"

He is silent for a moment, and when he finally looks me in the eye, there's a mix of pure hurt and that same unreadable expression that I've seen in him for years.

"James, I'm sorry, I-"

And then he presses his lips to mine and every thought is thrown out of my head.