James was enthusiastically eating dinner. It was a thick stew made of rabbit and sweet Mexican corn, sopped up with a thick bit of bread that Maria and Dora had baked together that morning. Sirius was finished, but James was deep on his third bowl. "Blimey, I swear, mum, you ought to get the recipe for this!" he exclaimed as he licked his lips and sloshed his bread about the dregs.
Dora looked at Maria with a smirk.
"Slow down, Jamesie," Charlus chuckled, "You'd think you'd never eaten in your life." He turned to Alma, who was giggling beside him, "Just packed away six enchiladas this afternoon in San Jose."
"Its all the fresh air," James said.
Sirius said knowingly, "James has been known to pack away food like this on our camping trips as well. Staggering appetite, you've got, eh, Prongs?"
James smirked. "Asthoundingly staggering."
"Ohhhhh." Sirius grinned.
The others 'round the table - not understanding the puns - laughed at the base value of the conversation, but there was a knowing twinkle in Sirius's eye.
"Well, I'm going for a walk," Alma announced, standing up and stretching her shoulders as she pulled her hair up.
"Alone?" James asked, looking up. A bit of stew and bread fell off his lip and over his chin. He hurriedly wiped them off. "At night?"
Alma shrugged, "Just through the orange grove." She patted the wand pocket of the flowing woven poncho she wore over her just-tight-enough jeans. "I'll be plenty alright."
James shoved the last of the bread into his mouth and stood up, so fast he knocked Sirius's drink over. "I fancy a walk too."
Sirius looked up at him as he drew his wand to clean it up. James was oblivious to the havoc his motion had wrecked on the table below.
"I'll walk with you Alma." James quickly squared off his shoulders to make his chest appear more broad. More manly.
She smiled and murmured, "What a gentleman," with a slight laugh to her voice. James wiped his mouth again, afraid he might have something more stuck to his chin, but he'd gotten it all the first go. Alma looked about the table, "Well. I suppose we'll both be back in a little bit."
"Have fun!" Ignatus called, "Show James all around. Have an orange or two! Fresh off the tree!"
"If James can fit anything in his belly," laughed Charlus.
James pushed his chair in hurriedly.
Sirius was scrambling to get up, too, "I'll just need to get my boots and then --"
"But you were saying earlier how ruddy tired you are, weren't you Padfoot?" James asked, emphasizing the words meaningfully.
Sirius shook his head, "Wide awake."
"And how your - your legs were hurting?"
"My legs?"
"From... walking around all day barefoot."
Sirius stared at James. James stared at Sirius. There was a battle between their eyes. Sirius insisting to come along, James insisting that he did not.
Finally Sirius saw he wasn't going to win the argument. He let out a hesitant sigh, "Just... be careful. And don't forget your wand."
"Yes mum," James said. Then pointed at Dora, "Look. My actual Mum isn't even being as much of a worrier as you."
"To be fair, love, I would've said it if he hadn't," Dora replied, smiling.
James rolled his eyes. "Bye you lot." He scurried after Alma, out the front door and into the warm evening air.
It was beautiful outside. The chickens pecked the ground in the driveway, their heads bobbling, scattering as James and Alma walked past them, their wings flapping. The moon hung in the sky, framed by the dots of a zillion stars, and the slightly white-pink haze of the Milky Way. James wasn't seeing much of it, though, he was busy reminding himself how to walk without stepping on his own toes or tripping over his legs. He felt his throat tighten and his hands were beginning to sweat. The air smelled like citrus but also like a vanilla perfume and he breathed it in.
"Have you got a scent on?" he asked.
Alma looked over, "Excuse me?"
"It's just that... you smell... very... good," James answered lamely.
Alma laughed, "Thank you. I suppose."
"You're welcome." James was aware that his voice was a couple octaves too high, and he balled his fists at his sides, digging his nails into his palms. "I mean to say that it smells of vanilla."
"That's my soap," Alma nodded. "I make it myself. Goat's milk soap with a bit of oatmeal to exfoliate."
"That sounds bloody wonderful," James said thickly, and just a bit too enthusiastically.
Alma was smirking. "I could make you some to bring home."
"Yespleasethatwouldbemarvelous," James said all in one go.
Alma led the way through the line of the orange trees and James followed. The moon made the leaves and heavy orange fruit shine silver-blue and Alma's black hair looked indigo in the dark.
"So what are ancient charms like?" James asked. "We only study the regular sort at Hogwarts."
Alma smiled, "You remember what I study."
"Yes of course," James replied.
She was walking backwards now, looking at him as she spoke, "Ancient charms are very interesting. It's sort of a cross between your regular sort of Charms and a specialized kind of potions and divination. We examine old texts and extract the knowledge and magic that our ancestors used everyday. The practices - how they've changed - it's spectacularly fascinating."
James was nodding enthusiastically.
"How about you, what's your favorite subject at school?"
James answered, "Transfiguration."
"Really? Interesting." Alma looked impressed. "You don't hear that a lot."
James shrugged, "It's fascinating to me the way charms are to you, I s'pose. The way atoms are just sort of building blocks to be broken down and fit back together in different ways, and how they form everything in the whole world..." He shook his head, "It's beautiful, really. You're a big thing that smaller things are a part of, the same way that we're the small things for other, bigger things."
Alma turned to walk forward again, "Well, the way you describe it does sound rather beautiful," she admitted.
James looked at the way her hand was swinging closest to him and he wondered if he ought to reach out and take a hold on it... what she'd say if he did... if she'd let him hold her hand... if he might end up with a kiss... or a good snog... And bloody hell, just like that James was borderline panicking. He swallowed back the anxiety and took a deep breath, rubbing his palms as discreetly as possible on his robes.
Get yourself together Potter, he told himself. But he could feel his heart picking up speed with every step they took.
"Funny thing is," Alma said as she walked, not even aware of all the anxiety James was feeling, "When I was at Ilvermorny, I didn't really like Charms much."
James perked up. "Hang on, you went to Ilvermorny?"
"Yeah," Alma said.
"Did you know Jack Scout or Meg Johnson?"
"The International Quidditch Team!" she smacked her forehead, laughing, "They played at Hogwarts, didn't they? Yeah, yeah -- I remember that. It was in my fourth year. Were you at Hogwarts yet when they came?"
Suddenly James felt very small doing the math. It'd been his second year. "I played in the game," he said, instead of directly answering what year he was in.
"Really!" Alma was grinning, "Jack was my girlfriend's brother."
James felt his cheeks go pink. "Your --"
Alma stopped walking and turned to look at James. "My girlfriend, yeah."
And just like that James's palms had gone quite dry.
"You're not homophobic," she said, raising an eyebrow, practically challenging him.
"Sirius is gay as fuck." He wanted to slap his forehead -- what an idiot thing to say! It had come out automatically, and he could hear Sirius snickering in his head already.
Alma laughed. "Well then. I s'pose you're not."
James shook his head.
Suddenly, above them, there came a shrieking cry of an owl and they both looked up as a tired looking brown bird swept low and dropped a letter on James's head before landing a few feet away in a tree, panting. James picked the letter up from the ground and turned it over, looking at the writing on the front.
James Potter
Somewhere in Costa Rica
Mexico
He recognized those letters, the loop of the P...
"Evans?" James murmured and he turned it back over and slid his thumb under the envelope's flap. He extracted the letter and his eyes roved over the loopy script of Lily Evans's handwriting, his lips moving as he read the words. He got to the end -- Yours, Evans -- and looked up at Alma. "Do you know where there's a muggle phone box?" he asked.
Alma looked surprised, "Probably in San Jose would be the closest one."
James looked at the letter, then at his watch - which he'd kept on London time - and back up at Alma. "Do you know how to apparate to it?"
Alma looked at the letter, a knowing smirk on her face. "So... who's the girl?"
James stammered, "Just - just a friend. From school."
Alma smiled, "You're willing to go apparating off to the city in the middle of the night for... just a friend from school?"
James looked at her with a blank expression.
Alma nodded, realizing he was thick as the stew they'd had for dinner and didn't understand what she was hinting at. "Alright. I'll take you to San Jose to call your friend from school." She held out her hand for his. "But if we get in trouble for this -- it's entirely on you."
James swept his palm again over his shirt to get rid of the last of the sweat before putting his hand on hers. "Of course."
CRACK!