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chapter twenty-four;
translations and ruin
Amaya Santoro was his girlfriend. Fuck. James could pass out from happiness. What a lucky bastard he was, to have the best girl in the world tolerate him. Now he only needed her to love him and he would've hit the jackpot.
He didn't think a lot would change if they became official, technically they were only labeling something that already existed before, they'd been dating, or acting like it for a long time. But the truth was everything changed: for the better.
It was weird at first after their talk in the kitchen when they'd put everything on the table. He genuinely thought he was doing the right thing by taking things slow with Amaya, showing her his love and appreciation without the need for gratification, because he didn't need any.
It seemed he was, as they often concluded, an idiot.
But after solving that issue in the cellar, with his girl screaming out his name as she came all over his mouth, they went back to normal. Or as normal as they could get.
The truth was they were both acting slightly off. Good. But still off. The moment they composed themselves and left the cellar, Amaya had kissed his cheek and gone off to the Floo shouting she'd be at Marlene's house. What had happened, James didn't have a fucking clue, but he figured it was none of his business, even as curiosity ate away at him.
With Amaya off at Marlene's, James had taken the opportunity to rush over to Sirius' room, bursting in and ignoring his friend's shriek as he let a tool fall on his foot.
James froze in the doorway at the sight of Sirius, with a motorbike in the middle of his room, hand tools strewn around, and his face and t-shirt covered in grease and sweat (most likely).
"You better not stain the floor. Ninny will have a fit."
Sirius rolled his eyes, grabbing the tool again and going back to messing with his bike. It was one of his hobbies, and James was the first to admit Sirius seemed pretty good at it, not that he knew anything about motorbikes. He just never saw his friend bring it over to his room.
"I know, you bastard. Ninny cast a spell on the floor to keep it clean. Also, what the fuck, Potter? Knock."
"I don't know what that means," James said feigning confusion, and before Sirius could say anything else he asked, "Why are you fixing up the bike? I thought it was done. And you do know we have a shed right?"
"I'm making it fly and yes, Prongs, but it's raining and I was waiting for you guys to get back." Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Did you get it?"
"Yeah. We fucking broke into Gringotts, mate," James said with a grin as he went over to Padfoot's bed and threw himself back, staring up at the ceiling.
"Maya is fucking brilliant."
"I know. She's amazing."
"Tell me everything. How did it go? Did you bump into any guards—:"
"Do you know what 'te quiero' means?" James interrupted him. This was a more pressing matter. Besides they'd plan to meet later at the library to debrief the heist to Moony and Pads anyway.
James turned around to see Sirius looking at him with a sly smile on his face. "Why?"
"Do you know what it means?"
"Yes." Sirius let out a laugh. "Has Amaya been whispering sweet nothings to you?"
"It doesn't sound like nothing. It sounds fucking sexy when she says it but it sounds..."
"Where is she?"
"She, uh, she just left. Went to see Marls and Lily."
"Huh."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing. It's interesting that's all." Sirius looked so smug James wanted to deck him. "Was she off by any chance? Freaked out?"
James sat up on the bed, and felt the blood rush up his neck as he spoke, "I uh, we fooled around in the cellar and she was fine—great actually, she sounded perfect—but then when we uh, finished, she just left."
"Alright, first, less information next time. Second, did she say it?" Sirius asked, looking mildly sick. "Did she say te quiero when you were 'fooling around'?"
"Yes. What does that mean?"
"That means the poor witch is probably freaking out right now."
James' shoulders squared. "What why? Do you think I should go talk to her?"
"No." Sirius stood up, grabbing a rag from his desk to clean his hands. "I'll tell you what it means but you can't freak out, Potter. She's probably already stressed as it is, being that it's most likely the first time she ever felt like this. Mind you, I freaked out too when I came to that conclusion with Marls, ignored her for a week until she dragged me out of here by my ear and forced me to talk to her."
"Oh, so that's why you were shrieking." James stopped. "What is it then? Do you think she'll ignore me for a week?"
"Te quiero means I love you, Prongsie. One of the only things I know in Spanish." Sirius grinned, not aware that James' heart had halted completely.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
James' jaw slackened. "A hundred percent sure?"
"Yes. Unless your accent butchered the phrase, then I can't help you."
James wasn't listening anymore. He ran a hand through his hair before letting out a groan. "Fuck. She loves me and I found out through you?"
Sirius let out a laugh. "You asked, moron. Besides, Amaya told you, you're just illiterate."
"Why would she freak out?" James' breathing was getting heavier. "Do you think she doesn't want to feel like that? Is she going to ignore me for a week? Should I tell her I love her too? Fuck, what do I do—"
"First get a fucking grip, Prongs."
James stopped talking, breathing in deeply.
"Second, enjoy the fact that she loves you as much as you love her."
A smile crept up his face and James sighed like a sappy fool.
"Third, you're not doing shit. Let her come around on her feelings alone. Or the next time she says it, say it back."
"You think so?"
"Yup."
And that was why now everything was weird.
Now that James knew, he could see Amaya acting strangely every time they had a moment where it would be perfect for one of them to just come out and confess to the other that they were positively and madly in love with each other. And since he knew, and didn't want to freak her out further, James was also acting weird.
The self-imposed celibacy he'd had from before was gone and instead, they were using sex as a way to avoid saying anything they might want to keep to themselves. And it worked. For the most part. James still whispered the words to her though—when she was fast asleep and curled up against him, her face serene and her lips tugged into a small smile.
It was the day before the attack on Peter, when they were shagging on top of one of the tables in the library, that he thought she'd finally say it. She'd looked at him like she would, breathing heavily as he moved against her.
"James, I..." Instead of finishing whatever she was going to say, though, she'd pulled him closer and kissed him like she never had before.
James wished he'd just come out and say it. Alas, neither of them did, and the next day came quicker than expected, throughout the day, James' head could only focus on the little rat he once called a friend, and what had happened to him.
The test to prove Peter's loyalty was a bust. The warehouse had erupted into chaos, and they were outnumbered by the Death Eaters, thankfully though, they were hardly good and talented Death Eaters. They must've been the ones sitting on the bench until Lord What's-His-Name decided he needed more numbers than actually good soldiers.
James had managed to skiv off this one bastard who was then paralyzed by Lily. As he did he spotted Peter, like a fucking rat, slipping into one of the doorways of the warehouse. Charging after him, James noticed Amaya following too, just before he was cornered by two other Death Eaters. Not having time to think as he threw a shield up to defend himself, James shouted at Amaya to catch the rat.
He saw her hesitate for a moment, saw sparks flying around her hands, her eyes, from where he stood, glowing slightly, and then she left running after Peter.
It took him some time to be able to round up the two Death Eaters and help with the others. Bellatrix was out, and the others were barely fighting anymore, trying to apparate even through the wards, but the building wasn't letting them. And then James saw one of them slip out the way Amaya had gone.
Without a second thought, he ran after them, Sirius in his wake. He saw the man throw a Stupefy at Amaya who had her back turned, wind billowing around her despite the lack of windows, sparks of magic flying around her and Peter stuck between bricks on the wall.
The second the curse hit Amaya she collapsed and the Death Eater that hit her had been blasted back simply by the air. And then James physically felt the magic in the building evaporate. Peter must've assumed so too as he saw Amaya fall. The little bastard shifted into a rat the second the wards collapsed and ran. Before James could even take a step towards him, Sirius shifted into Padfoot and ran after him, allowing James to run towards Amaya.
He kneeled beside her, tilting her face with his hands. Her lips were parted, her skin pale but she was breathing. He gently kissed her forehead as he raised her body, tucking her against him as the building rumbled around them.
"Darling, everything will be alright," he told her. Her eyes were moving frantically beneath her eyelids, and he saw swirls of light around her fingers, flickering. But she wasn't waking up. "Just stay with me, Amaya. Just... I love you. Stay with me—"
Her body fell limp in his arms, even more so than before, and her eyes stopped moving, the lights dancing on her fingers disappeared. James' heart stopped for a second and a sigh of relief left his lips when he saw she was still breathing.
And then the building shook, again. Only this time it wasn't stopping.
Standing up, with Amaya in his arms, James ran back into the warehouse as he avoided parts of the ceiling falling. Most of the Death Eaters were gone and his friends were all looking around.
"The building is going to collapse," said Fabian, or Gideon, James couldn't stop to care at the moment about which one was which. "Everyone back to Headquarters."
The twins apparated out and Remus exchanged a look with James. "Is she alive?" Moony asked shakily, his eyes worried as they landed on Amaya's body.
James nodded, and the second Remus saw that he sighed, grabbed Lily's arm—the latter whose wand had broken during the battle, and apparated them out.
Marlene was the only one who stayed looking around in panic before her eyes landed on James. "Where's Sirius?"
"He's not inside, Marls," James said as everything rumbled. "We need to get out, he'll be alright."
"Are you sure, James? I can't leave—"
"I'm sure. He went after Peter."
The ceiling gave in.
Suddenly time moved slowly, and James saw the building collapse in slow motion as he rushed towards Marlene the fastest he could while keeping Amaya tucked against him. The moment he got to her, he grabbed Marlene's arm and apparated them out.
The landing in Longbottom Hall wasn't a pretty sight. They fell on the ground and brought dust and stone along with them as they apparated. James could only turn at the last second so he took the brunt from the floor and Amaya landed on top of him instead.
Though the moment he landed he was already standing up, shouting for someone to help Amaya who was still motionless. So still if it wasn't for the fact James could hear her heart as he put his ear to her chest and felt her breathing too, he would've thought her dead.
Dead. James swallowed a lump in his throat as Lily rushed to check on Amaya, ushering him away. He hadn't even told her he loved her.
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author's note:
Not the best. But oh well. The next chapter is the last of Act 2!
Thanks for reading xxx