The white and brick townhouse loomed over us as the world stopped spinning and we land on the sidewalk outside the door. Beatrice and Henry were already up the steps, opening the black door to the house.
I took a long look at the house. There were tulips in pots on the second-floor balcony, and there were small flower boxes on the tiny balconies of the third floor. It felt weird to be here.
James squeezed my hand, "Ready to go in?"
I nodded back, and we stepped up the stairs and into the foyer.
Everything looked the same as it had in the summer, except the flowers were different.
"I'll let you both get settled." My mum said as she looked at James and me.
"Thank you." James smiled.
There was a CRACK, as our house-elf, Jilly, apparated into the foyer.
"Oh, Mistress Daphne, Jilly is most excited to see you!" Jilly squealed in excitement. Her wide eyes turned to James, and she gave a small curtesy, "Hello, I am Jilly."
James smiled and shook her small hand, "Hello Jilly, I'm James, James Potter."
"Jilly is excited to have guests."
My mum and dad had left the foyer, leaving James and me with Jilly.
"Would Mistress Daphne and Mister James like Jilly to take their trunks upstairs?"
I gave her a small smile, "No thank you, Jilly, we can take them, you can go relax."
Jilly smiled widely at me, "Jilly will be here if you need anything."
"Thank you, Jilly." James grinned in returned.
There was another CRACK, and Jilly disappeared.
"I like her." James admitted with a smile.
I laughed, "Me too, Jilly's the best."
I led James up the stairs to the third floor, where my room was.
My legs ached with every step I took up the stairs, but it was worth it because that was the best train ride ever.
James snickered as he watched me struggle to take the few steps up to the third floor.
"Oh-, shove off!" I teased as I turned down the third-floor corridor.
He laughed, "I guess we have a thing for third floors."
I grinned, "I guess so."
The third floor held my bedroom, Sebastian's, and two guest rooms. It was always quiet up here, especially without Sebastian.
As I walked down the corridor, I opened the first down on the right, my room.
The walls of my bedroom were white, with yellow curtains hanging by the windows and the door to the balcony. My queen-sized bed was in the middle of the wall, with a dark oak nightstand on each side. I have a matching dresser and wardrobe, along with an attached bathroom. My comforter was a light grey, with matching yellow sheets. To top it off, my room was filled with green plants, all basking in the sunlight shining in through my arched windows.
"Nice room." James mumbled as he sat our trunks down off the side.
I smiled, "Yeah, well I'm rarely home so it's always clean."
James cupped my face and leaned in to kiss me.
My lips met his, and the anxiety immediately disappeared. As much as I didn't want to be home, I was glad that James was here with me.
"House tour?" I mumbled against James' lips.
James smiled, "Sure, love."
I gave James one last kiss, before grabbing his hand and pulling him back into the corridor.
I led James through the house, showing him Sebastian's room-, which was exactly the same as it had been for the past year, then the two, rarely used, guest rooms. They were only ever filled when Beatrice or Henry had friends staying over.
We walked down the stairs to the second floor, making James laugh as he watched me struggled to go down the steps as the aching in my legs flared up.
"I'm proud of myself." James joked.
I rolled my eyes, "Fuck off."
As we reached the second floor, Henry and Beatrice were arguing with each other in the middle of the hallway.
"What's going on?" James whispered to me as we stared at the twins who were screaming at each other.
"No idea," I cleared my throat, getting Bea and Henry's attention, "Why are you screaming?"
"Because Henry's a little bi-"
"Shut the fuck up, Bea!"
James stifled a laugh, "This is the shit I missed being an only child."
"You have Sirius." I teased.
"I do have Padfoot."
I rolled my eyes at my younger siblings as they retreated to their own rooms.
"Shall we continue?" James laughed.
I grinned, "Of course."
The second floor contained Henry's bedroom, and Bea's room, both of which had attached bathrooms. There was also a guest bedroom, and my parents' room was also on this floor, but they never slept in the same bed anymore. They haven't for the past few years.
My mum usually slept in the guest bedroom.
But, we don't talk about that.
I held James down to the main floor, which contained the living room, kitchen, dining room, foyer, laundry room, and bathroom.
As we walked into the kitchen, our house elf rushed over to James and me.
"What would Mistress Daphne and Mister Potter like Jilly to make for dinner?" Jilly asked, fiddling with her dress.
We had insisted on buying Jilly proper clothes, but she refused to accept any of them except for a dress made out of a floral tea towel.
James looked at me, "Anything sounds good to me, what about you, love?"
"I'll be happy with anything you make, Jilly."
She smiled at me, "Jilly will start making dinner."
James and I chimed our thank you's and made our way to the living room, where we sat lazily on the couch, as we waited for dinner.
• • • • •
The six of us were sitting around the dining room table as platters of food appeared on the dark oak table.
My mum and dad were each at a different head of the table, Henry and Beatrice were sitting next to each other, and James and I were sitting across from them.
James didn't seem nervous to have a sit-down kind of talk with my parents, but I was.
I dished some corned beef onto my shiny white plate before passing it over to James as I added more food to my plate.
Corned beef, salad, green beans, and rolls.
The food at Hogwarts was amazing, but I didn't realize how much I missed the meals that Jilly kindly makes for all of us. She's an angel.
"So," My dad cleared his throat, "James, I hear that you're the captain of the quidditch team, how's that going?"
James grinned, he was always ready to talk about quidditch.
"Yes, I am. The seasons going really good so far, we qualified for the Quidditch Cup, so our last game is against Ravenclaw."
My dad smiled, "Ah-, Ravenclaw. They've always been a tuff team to beat."
"Yes, sir."
Beatrice cleared her throat, "You did really well in the match against Slytherin, I was playing."
"That's right, you're a beater."
She smiled, "The better of the two."
Henry rolled his eyes, "Mum always told us not to lie, Bea."
My dad gave the twins a look, cutting them off being they got into a full-blown fight like earlier.
He took a bite of his food and turned to James, "I was the Slytherin captain, way back when."
"That's right-," James exclaimed, "I saw your name on one of the trophies."
I looked over at my mum, who looked bored as she refilled her wine glass.
When she set her glass back down, she turned to James and me.
"How long have you two been together?" My mum asked as she pursed her lips.
I coughed, "Christmas."
"Oh-, interesting." She replied, dropping the subject as she finished off her wine.
"Are you in love?"
Bea kicked Henry under the table, "Idiot-, you can't just ask that!"
James chuckled, "No-, it's alright."
He grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly, giving me a quick smile. "Yeah, we are."
"Well, that's delightful." My mum exclaimed, sarcasm dripping from her cold voice. "Now if you'll excuse me."
She pushed back her chair and swiftly left the dining room.
James shot me a nervous glance, and I squeezed his hand. "It's not you, darling."
My dad cleared his throat, "Daphne's right, it isn't you James, you're delightful."
"T-, thank you."
Henry stabbed his fork into his salad and shoved it in his mouth. "You can always count on mum to make a scene." He said, with a roll of his blue eyes.
I let out a laugh, "That's the only thing you can ever count on her for-, no sorry, that and being a borderline alcoholic."
Thankfully, Jilly walked into the dining room, her hands intertwined together.
"Can Jilly get anything for the Beaufort's and Mister Potter?"
My dad smiled at her, "No, thank you, Jilly. Dinner is wonderful."
"Jilly will clear off Missus Beaufort's spot."
The dishes from my mum's place at the table disappeared, along with Jilly, as she apparated to the kitchen.
"How's Jolie?" My dad asked, trying to tease the tension that was filling the room."
"She's good, she's in Barcelona right now."
Up until James, Jolie was the only person that I had ever brought home for any type of holiday. She was the only person who saw the way that my mum is, the way that my dad tries to be there for all of us, but is constantly called into work. Jolie saw that Sebastian and I were left to practically raise Henry and Beatrice, with no help from mum.
She knows all about it, but we don't talk about it much.
My dad continued to ask about how our friends were, and how they were spending the holiday.
"Remus and Sirius are doing great," James explained, "But they decided to spend the holidays at Hogwarts."
My dad smiled, "That's a shame, we have two guest bedrooms for them."
I stifled a laugh at this.
It wasn't funny, but there was no way that my dad would even be able to articulate that Remus and Sirius are very good friends. I mean it's the 70s for Merlin's sake, and even though it's being normalized more in the muggle world, the whole concept is foreign to most wizards.
The girl that I met during the summer, Amelie, my parents thought we were just really good friends and didn't even ask questions of why there would be a silencing spell placed over my room when she would sleepover.
We never did anything other than make out, but I didn't want to risk my mum hearing. I would've gotten quite the beating.
Henry and Bea seemed to like James, though it was always hard to tell with them.
One of the many reasons why I miss Sebastian.
He and I were attached at the hip, just like Bea and Henry, but the only issue is that Seb lives with his girlfriend, is never home, and is constantly busy with auror training.
After dinner was finished, James and I excused ourselves from the table, and I immediately made a break for our bedroom.
James followed close behind me and closed the bedroom door as I flopped down onto the bed.
He walked over and took a seat next to me, pulling me into his arms as he placed a kiss on my head.
I sighed, "Still love me now? Even after you've seen my alcoholic mother and my distant father."
James tilted my chin up to look at him, "Hey-, I will always love you. I love you even more now, because of how strong you are, and how you're still an amazingly kind person, even if you grew up not having the best influences."
I smiled softly, "Sometimes I just hate my family."
"They might be your given family," James mumbled, "But me, Remus, Sirius, Jolie, Lily-, the list goes on-, we are your real family."
I pressed a kiss against James' lips.
"I can't wait to be married to you one day."
James grinned widely at this. "Then we'll have our own family, and we'll raise our kids right."
"What if I end up like my mum?"
James hugged me tightly and whispered into my hair, "You won't, I promise."