Wonderwall || James Sirius Potter

27.

"You have to talk to him."

"No I don't." Cassie and Hannah had been having the same argument for the past 10 minutes.

"Cassie just give him a chance to explain." Layla attempted to reason.

"No." Cassie's face was hard. She leaned back in her bed and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"He's miserable." Layla tried again.

"Good."

"You're miserable!" Hannah spluttered. She scowled at her friend in frustration.

She was right of course. Cassie and James hadn't spoken since their fight a week a go. Both of them had been draging themselves to their classes and meals and neither left their dorms for any other reasons. James had attempted to apologise a couple times on Sunday and Monday, but Cassie had continuously refused to see him. In potions she'd sat on the exact opposite side of the room from. He gave up hope of talking to her by Tuesday morning.

Cassie had remained firm in her decision to avoid James. No matter how many times she'd glance over to where he sat during meals or classes. It was impossible not to notice how downtrodden both had been lately.

Cassie still hadn't responded to Hannah, a sure sign she didn't know what to say. Her friends took this to mean that they were closer to breaking her resolve then they had been the whole week.

"You don't have to forgive him quite yet, just let him apologize." Layla pleaded. Cassie was silent for a couple more minutes, until she finally let out a sigh.

"Maybe." She conceded.

"I think you'll feel better if you do." Layla reassured her.

"We'll all feel better if you do." Hannah mumbled grumpily.

"Fine." She responded. Her friends grinned at each other.

"Thank Merlin!" Hannah shouted and began jumping on her bed.

"You have to talk to her."

"She doesn't want to talk." James groaned out for the fifth time that day.

"Make her listen then." Fred said in exasperation.

"It's not that easy!" James exclaimed in frustration.

"I can't stand to see you both so miserable!" Fred shouted back. Alfie nodded his agreement.

James remained silent at that. He missed Cassie unbearably and hated himself for making her cry. He wished he could take back everything he had said. He wished he could just talk to her for ten minutes and apologize. He wished he could talk to her period.

"Just try one more time at least." Fred begged.

"Once more can't hurt." Alfie reasoned.

James disagreed with Alfie. It hurt him every time Cassie refused to talk to him. It hurt every time she purposefully avoided him or sat as far from him as possible. However, Alfie was right about one thing; he had to try again. Cassie would never forgive him if he didn't apologize.

"Okay, okay." He raised his hands in surrender.

"Yes!" Fred jumped up in joy and did a victory dance. James still felt very far from victory himself.

James was lying on his bed instead of eating dinner with everyone else. He was face first in his pillow, wallowing. He may have been a Gryffindor, but his bravery had momentarily escaped him. He knew he should've gone to dinner and tracked down Cassie and asked her to talk to him in private, but he was afraid that she'd outright refuse him. She'd already ignored and avoided him, but having her outright refuse to talk to him would be worse.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The soft knock interrupted James' deprecating thoughts.

He stood slowly and went to open the door.

"Cassie?" He couldn't believe his eyes. Cassie surely couldn't be standing at his door right now, she hated him.

"Yeah it's me." Her voice was very quiet. He felt his heart leap against his chest and he sighed in relief. He prayed that this wasn't a dream.

"Oh. We- uh we should talk." James managed to say. She nodded in agreement. James opened the door more and walked back into his room. Cassie followed, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and waited.

"Right," He began, ruffling his hair uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for saying those things. I got jealous and let my anger speak. I'm especially sorry that I made you cry."

"Thank you.' Cassie murmured. She glanced up at him, making eye contact for the first time. "I haven't completely forgiven you though." She warned him.

James nodded. "I'll make it up to you." He promised.

"I don't want you to make it up to me."

James frowned in confusion. Whenever he made his mother or sister upset with him he'd buy them a gift or help with chores. If he made a cousin upset with him he'd avoid them until they got over it. He had a feeling if he tried any of these things with Cassie it would just make things worse. James family had to forgive him, Cassie didn't.

"Alright."

"I know you get jealous about your friends having other friends or dating, but I promise no one is gonna replace you. Okay?" She stepped forward closer to James and grabbed one of his hands to give it a squeeze. She gave him a small smile.

"Okay." James squeezed her hand back. "Thank you for coming to see me. I missed you."

"I missed you too." She smiled a little bigger.

"Friends still?" He inquired nervously.

"Definitely." She confirmed.

Cassie leaned up and kissed James's cheek. He realized just how much he'd missed her doing that. He wanted her to never stop kissing his cheek as a form of goodbye. It was something only she did and he loved it.

"See you in potions tomorrow." She began to walk over to the door to leave. James groaned.

"Don't remind me."

She giggled and left with one last wave.