(A/N: Yes. This is the real chapter.)
James' POV:
We still have an extra hour before the classes finish. Which means we have all the castle -except for the classes- to ourselves.
And I had a great idea about how to spend that hour!
"This might be the worst idea you ever had in your entire life." Lily looked down to the Black Lake, before looking back at me.
"What?!" I looked down with a smile and tried to prove my obvious point to her. "Let me explain it again. And it will all make sense."
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited for me to continue.
"We will cast the spell. Jump down. Avoid the deadly mermaids. And find the necklace. Nothing can go wrong." I smiled at her.
She was trying to stay serious but I could see she was hiding her big smile. "That is so not true." She looked down once again. "And wrong."
I shrugged and took out my wand. "Just because it's deadly dangerous and forbidden to jump in that lake, doesn't mean it's wrong."
"It is wrong!" She sighed and closed her eyes. "Godric. James, is there anything right about you at all? Don't think so." Her last words were like a whisper but I still heard it.
I want to kiss her.
I sighed and put on a (fake) sad face. "You're my only right." I winked and she burst out laughing.
"That was the worst pick up line I have ever heard! Did you make that up?" She wiped off the fake tears from her eyes.
"Oh come on! I know you liked it."
She let out another small laugh. "No I didn't."
I was about to say "yes you did" but she cut me off.
"Alright. Let's do this." She made a high ponytail with her hair while looking down at the lake.
Her obsession with high ponytails are so strange...
"What did that necklace look like, again?"
I closed my eyes and tried to remember one of the pictures Aunt Hermione had with the necklace.
"Uhm... it's small, golden, heart shaped, and it opens."
"How did she lost it?"
"During the Triwizard Tournament."
She nodded and took out her wand. "Ready?"
I want to kiss her.
I looked around where we were standing.
My dad told me that this place -exactly where we are standing- was where the Gryffindors were chearing him during the tournament.
It is a bit old now, and most of the wooden parts are broken. Probably why no one ever comes here anymore. It looks like it could break into million peaces any second.
And we are standing on top of it.
Nice.
We were so high up that it could take us six or seven seconds to land.
"Let's jump on the count of three." She said taking a step forward to the end.
I stood next to her, slightly moving closer until our shoulders -well, her shoulder and my arm- almost touch. "You count."
She looked really concentrated and serious, just to jump down from high up into the lake.
She nodded and took another step closer to the end with me. "One,"
I looked down and looked back up at her.
"Two," she hesitated and I held her wrist with my right hand.
"Three."
We jumped down at the same time.
The second our feet were no longer on the wood, with the hand I held her wrist, I pulled her closer and kissed her.
We slowly turned upside down, our faces able to see the sky when we look down. But I didn't look down. Too busy with kissing.
After we landed on the water, she pulled away and took out her wand.
******
Lily's POV:
I played with a few seaweeds while swimming past them.
There were no signs of the necklace, nor the scary mermaids.
After passing a few more giant rocks, I felt like I was back in the same place again.
I swam deeper and touched the sand with my hand.
Something moved next to me that made me snap my neck so fast that I can swear I heard it crack. Then something moved behind me again and I turned around.
My fast moves made the sand go up, and a small object caught my eye.
The necklace.
I quickly swam deeper and reached out for the necklace when someone else's hand got the necklace.
I looked up to see a mermaid looking at me hungrily.
"I saw it first." My voice was thicker under the water.
She hissed at me and her nails scratched my arm.
"Ow! I didn't even touch you!"
She hissed as an answer and her hiss sounded like something very mean in her language.
"What did you say?"
"Ahsuah! Kah!"
Fine. We will do this your way.
*****
James' POV:
It has been thirty minutes since I stopped searching for the stupid necklace and got back out to the surface.
I got back to the old wooden place but Lily wasn't there.
I thought she was still searching and decided to wait, but it has been 30 minutes now. And she is still not out.
"Lily?"
I got back to the sand and waited for her head to come back up to the surface.
And people still think I am the one that keeps putting myself in trouble.
At least I came back up to the surface without getting parts of my body bitten.
I put my -now wet- shoes in the water and looked at the water carefully.
Bubbles started going up right in the middle of the lake, and wet curly hair appeared on top of the water.
I looked more closely while swimming towards there.
"Wood?"
Finally, her head came up to the surface-
Wait, is that a... mermaid?
I swam my way towards Lily as the mermaid kept trying to pull away.
What the hell is going on?!
"Lily!"
Slowly, with a lot of struggle, I managed to pull her towards the shore with the mermaid.
Lily stared saying things I didn't understand while the mermaid was pulling herself back.
"For the love of Godric! Lily hold my hand!" I stood up and gave her a hand to get up too while she was also trying to... kick... the mermaid?
Mermaid finally pulled away and I was able to her face.
Wow-
I know mermaids are not actually beautiful, but this one looks extra... damaged? Is that a right word?
Left side of her hair was gone -literally. Half of her hair was completely bald. And her lip was bleeding blue. Her arms and neck also had a few scratches.
She didn't even look at me, and with one jump, she was back in the deep water.
"Yeah!" Lily yelled. "Ahsuah! Kah! To you!"
The water was ending on our knees so I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the sand. She was muttering a few things I didn't understand, but still followed me behind.
I let myself fall on the sand and she did the same, finally pushing the hair out of her face.
"What happened to your face?!" I took a closer look at her nose and under her eye.
"Yeah, but she looks worse! I won!"
There was a big scar that started from under her eye, towards her nose, and ended on her cheek. It wasn't bleeding that much, probably because she was under water.
"Why did you think you have to fight a mermaid?"
We were both out of breath, so it took a few seconds for her to answer.
"To get this." She took off her jacket and reached to her chest, and I looked away.
She laughed at my reaction and showed me her hand.
The necklace.
"I won." She smiled proudly and sat closer.
I took the necklace from her hand and opened to look what was inside.
The heart shaped necklace opened and inside was a damaged orange photo.
"Is that... a cat?"
"Crookshanks. She died last year." I looked at the photo closely and smiled.
"You should give this to her. I think she would like that present."
I nodded and put the necklace in my pocket.
"Well," she looked at her watch. "We have fifteen minutes before the lessons finish. And twenty minutes till dinner time."
She took out her wand and dried herself.
"What did the poor mermaid do to you?"
"Do you have any idea of what she called me?"
I sat straight and cleared my voice. "No. You do?"
She paused and looked up to the sky. "Well, n-no, but I am sure it was a mermaid slur.
I laughed and laid on the sand, and she laid down next to me.
She stood on her elbow and looked down at me.
"We should get that cleaned you know?" I pointed her scar with my index finger and she pushed my hand away.
"I will once I get back to the castle."
"Doesn't it hurt? At all?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, but I like the feeling."
I gave her a questioning look and she shrugged for the second time. "What? It feels like burning. But in a nice way."
"There's a nice way of.... pain and burning- of a bleeding scar?"
"You make it sound worse than it is."
She layed down again. "But I think it looks cool. And it won't bleed forever. I can handle it." She laughed. "Then I will look cooler than Teddy. He might be able to change his hair and look, but I have a giant scar on my face." She smiled. "Winning."
She's a freaking psychopath...
I closed my eyes and relaxed with the warm sand under me.
Suddenly the sun disappeared and I opened my eyes to see Lily blocking the sun and looking down at me.
*****
Lily's POV:
I quickly looked away and acted like I was looking at the lake.
"Were you watching me?"
"No?"
I could hear him moving but I didn't look.
"Why?"
"I'm checking if that ugly mermaid is back." I looked at him as if I was talking about something obvious.
He raised his eyebrows. "Sure..."
I stared at him and he stared back.
"We really need to see Madam Pomfrey." He chuckled, looking at the scar on my face.
Yeah, it started hurting for real.
"It's fine."
He was looking under my eye, and I followed his eyes until they got to my nose, my cheek, and back up to my eyes.
I slowly leaned in to give him a small kiss, and he didn't pull back.
(A/n: I hate giving details abt kissing. It's so hard😩)
One of his hands held my face as the other one held my back to pull me closer. I smiled into the kiss and he pulled away to kiss my cheek.
He was about to pull away when I held his face for a second kiss.
His both hands were on my back now and I realized I have moved to his lap.
I have no idea when that happened. But I guess I will just go with it.
We continued the kiss and he slowly laid down on the sand, making sure I don't lose my balance.
I ended the kiss and laid down next to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him.
His hugs are the best.
We stayed like that a little longer -with my head on his shoulder and his on my mine- untill there was five minutes left, and we got up to walk towards the castle.