THIRTY TWO

IT WAS ALREADY TWELVE O'CLOCK by the time James woke up. Yesterday's train ride had left him exhausted, and after dinner last night, he immediately went upstairs and crashed.

By the time he finished taking a shower, he could smell lunch from downstairs, more specifically his dad's garlic chicken. His mum was a horrible cook, which meant his dad did most of the cooking in the house.

He hurried down the stairs, his stomach growling with hunger, desperate for some lunch. His mum and dad were busy in the kitchen, dad taking the chicken patties out of the oven, and mum cutting the vegetables. Al and Lily were already seated on the stools which lined the island.

"Well it's about time." His mum snorted, looking up to see James walk into the kitchen.

James frowned taking a seat next to his siblings. "I was tired!" He defended.

"We thought you'd miss lunch too." Al sniggered. James flicked his younger brother in the forehead in annoyance, causing Al to hit him back. "Git." Albus snapped, which only made him laugh at his younger brother's irritation.

"You guys have been back not even a day, and you're already fighting?" Their dad sighed, turning around to face them.

"James started it." Al glared.

"Dude you're the one who said 'we'd thought you'd miss lunch too' " James said in a shrill voice, mocking his younger brother.

"Cut it out!" Their mum said sharply, and him and Al both shut up immediately. "Tell me what's new with you kids." She asked them.

"Nothing." James responded.

"James, I heard you're dating Annalise Wood." His mum said, casually trying to bring it up. "That doesn't sound like nothing." She said slyly, raising her eyebrows.

Janes groaned and his head snapped to Lily, knowing she was the one who told his mum. Lily just shrugged. "What?" She asked unapologetically. "Mum's always asking me what's new with you and Al whenever she writes me so I told her!"

"The point is," His mum said sternly. "I shouldn't have to ask Lily to tell me stuff about your lives. You need to write me and tell me yourselves!"

"We do write you." Al protested, and James nodded in agreement.

"Once a month is barely anything." Their mum snapped. "I brought you into this world, the least you could do is write me more often!"

"I write mum every week." Lily smirked happily in satisfaction and both James and Al rolled their eyes. Lily was mum and dad's 'sweet little girl' even though she wasn't so little anymore, not sweet, and a suck up as well if you asked James.

"There's nothing to write to you about!" James whined. "School's boring."

"You could write to me and tell me about your girlfriend?" His mum countered, raising her eyebrows. "Annalise Wood? Last I heard you hated that girl with a passion."

"Trust me we were all surprised." Lily snorted.

"Didn't I tell you how your grandparents hated each other for most of their time at Hogwarts, but fell in love towards the end." His dad winked. " You said the same thing would never happen."

"Woah, woah, slow down." James said, holding up his hands, and his eyes widening. "Not in love, what the hell? I've been dating her for two months!"

"The point is, I told you so." His dad grinned in satisfaction.

James rolled his eyes. "We just became closer this year and once we put aside our differences we realized we really liked eachother." He lied, feeding them the same story that he had told everyone else at Hogwarts when they asked. It wasn't completely a lie though. They had gotten so much close this year. In fact, he considered Annalise to now be one of his closest friends.

His mum narrowed her eyes. "There's more to it, and I'll get it out of you soon."

"That's it, i swear!" James defended. He gulped nervously, feeling slightly guilty that there was so much more to it.

"Why don't you call her over for dinner?" His mum suggested eagerly.

James groaned. He couldn't bear the thought of sitting through dinner with his parents and Annalise, as they would have to be faking it the entire time since they weren't actually dating. "Mum it's been two months! I'm not inviting her over." He said quickly, begore his mum could press on.

"Ok, ok!" His mum held up her hands. "Just an idea."

"I still don't understand how James manages to get girls to like him." Their dad joked, and everyone started laughing except James of course.

"What can I say." He winked. "I'm very desirable."

Al gagged, pretending to throw up, while Lily muttered "Desirable my ass."

"Language Lily pad." Lily stuck her tongue out in annoyance and James stuck his tongue out back.

"Oh, how I've missed you kids." Their dad laughed.

Annalise awoke the next morning to the sweet smell of homemade waffles, the Wood children's favorite food. Her mother always cooked a big breakfast for them the day they came home from holidays. After four months away from home, she missed her mum's cooking very much.

It had been late by the time they arrived home last night. She ate her dinner quickly, took a nice, hot shower, and headed straight to bed. She missed the comfort of her plush mattress, the warmth of her quilt and most of all the feeling of sleeping in her room.

However, before she could fall asleep, her older brother Theo cornered her in her room, and demanded she explain 'how the rutting hell' her and James Potter were dating.

Knowing she couldn't lie to Theo (and the fact that she wanted to tell him the truth) she immediately explained to him the entire story, starting with what had happened with William, to her bargain with James, and lastly to how she was confused about her feelings now.

Thankfully, Theo had understood the situation, and didn't judge her or make fun of her for it. "Make sure you figure out your feelings, and let him know, before things get to complicated, or before it's too late."  He had told her.

She nodded, knowing he was one hundred percent correct. "I know Theo, I'm trying, but I'm so confused." She sighed. "I just don't want to make up my mind too quickly without thinking about it, and end up hurting him or myself in the process."

Theo nodded reassuringly. "I understand completely. I just don't want you to get hurt. Which is why I think you need to sort this out soon." And she promised she would.

Annalise decided it was time to get out of bed and she headed straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face before she made her way downstairs to splurge on some delicious breakfast. She threw on a gray jumper with a pair of black joggers and sprinted down the stairs. Asher and Cal were busy watching something on the TV, while Kaden and her father sat at the dining table, reading the news and discussing Puddlemere United's quidditch season. Theo was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed he was still sleeping. Theo slept more then anyone she knew, laying in bed till almost five in the evening sometimes.

She walked into the kitchen to see her mother still cooking, finishing up breakfast before she called the rest of the family up. Eliza Wood was busy cutting up strawberries, Annalise's favorite fruit to go along with her waffles.

"Good morning honey." Her mum smiled, looking up from the cutting board.

"Hey mum." Annalise said back, taking a seat next to the kitchen island. "Need any help?" She offered.

Her mum shook her head. "Nope, I'm almost done. I just need to cut up some fruit for the waffles." She said, gesturing her head to the stack of waffles on the plate next to her. "I just have a few more waffles cooking and then once those are out you can go call the boys."

"Dad and Kaden are on about quidditch again." Annalise laughed, nodding at her dad and Kaden behind them who were now yelling about the Ballycastle Bat's beater. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's all they talk about during breakfast."

Her mum rolled her eyes, sighing. "If I hear another word about quidditch I'm going to lose it. When you kids are here it isn't bad, but the last four months.... oh boy. Your dad doesn't shut up about it."

Annalise threw her head back laughing. "I love quidditch with all my heart, but god forbid if I ever turn out like dad!"

"Don't worry, I'll never let that happen." Her mum chuckled, shaking her head.

"Did you miss us?" Annalise asked.

"More than anything." Her mum sighed, with a sad smile on her face. "But at least I have two weeks with you now." Her face brightened up. "And you can tell me everything about your school and what's going on with you!"

"There's nothing going on mum." Annalise replied. "School's the same. It sucks like always."

"You go to a magic school!" Her mum said dreamily. "There has to be something going on." Her mother was a muggle, and had only been introduced to the wizarding world through her father who was a wizard. She knew a lot about magic, but she always wondered how Hogwarts was like.

Annalise narrowed her eyes. "Speaking of school actually, when I was scheduling my classes Professor Longbottom told me you wrote him to tell him I had to take potions!" She grumbled. "I told you I didn't want to take the wretched awful class."

Her mum shrugged, a small smirk on her face. "I did my research. I may not be a witch, but I know it's required for many careers in the wizarding world. It's a good backup to have in the future!" She insisted.

Annalise opened her mouth to argue about how bad the class was, but her mum spoke instead. "I didn't mean tell me about your classes, I meant tell me what's the gossip, the drama!" Her mum sighed dramatically. "Like when were you going to tell me you and William broke up?"

Annalise's jaw dropped. She hadn't told her mother about it, and she was certainly dreading that conversation. The last thing she wanted to talk about was how he had cheated on her.

"Before you ask how I know, Cal spilled the beans last night." Her mum admitted. Annalise made a mental note to kill her younger brother later. "Why didn't you write to me and tell me what happened?" Her mother asked, with concern in her voice.

Annalise sighed. "I guess I didn't want to talk about." She said honestly. "He was cheating on me with another student at Hogwarts for the past couple of months." She heard her mum gasp. "I found out about it in October when I caught him with another girl."

"I'm so sorry." Her mum said softly, dropping her knife on the cutting board and quickly walking around the island to give her a hug. Annalise wrapped her arms around her mum hugging her back tightly. They embraced each other for a couple moments before she pulled away, and now her mum's face was filled with anger.

"How dare he!" She spat, grabbing the knife once more and aggressively chopping a banana.

Annalise had to hold back a laugh. "Uh mom." She said hesitantly. "Chill on the banana." She didn't think her mum even heard her, with the rage that was coursing through her.

"If I run into that boy I'm going to kill him." She seethed, slamming the knife onto the cutting board repeatedly.

Annalise chuckled. "I appreciate it mum, but I'm over it. It took a while for me to get over it, but I'm fully past it. It also helped me realize how horrible our relationship was from the start." She explained, while her mum listened intently. "I'm sorry, I should have told you. I was planning on it, I promise!" She stuttered, now feeling guilty she hadn't written and had informed her mum sooner.

"It's ok sweetie." Her mum smiled slightly, her voice sincere. "I understand. But so you know, you can always talk to me about this. I'm here for you."

Annalise smiled graciously. "I know mum, thank you."

They sat in silence for a couple moments before her mum opened her mouth hesitantly. "Cal might have also let it slip that you're now dating James Potter?"

Annalise groaned. She made another mental note to give her little shit of a brother a piece of her mind for blabbing about her business. "What, did Cal tell you everything last night?"

"Only a little bit." Her mum chuckled. "I'm still disappointed you didn't tell me that either. I thought you hated the boy!"

Annalise bit her lip, not knowing how to explain this to her mother. Did she really want to explain the whole fake dating thing and how recently those feelings may or may not be real?  No, she didn't want to get into that whole complicated mess now. She decided to just explain the same story they had fed the rest of the school when they asked. "He was there for me, especially with the breakup and everything. Through all that, we slowly became friends, and I realized I really liked him." She lied, although part of it was true.

Her mum nodded. "He's a good kid Annalise." She said. "I know you both never used to get along, but he's also Asher's best friend. He was always the most charming young man whenever he came over."

Annalise chuckled. That definitely sounded like James. All the parents always loved him. "He really is a good guy." She agreed, and this time she didn't even have to lie. It was the whole truth.

"Call the boys over. Breakfast is ready." Her mum said, walking over to the sink the wash out the knife and cutting board.

"Breakfast is ready!" Annalise shouted, not wanting to get out of her seat. No one responded. Her mum turned and glared at her.

"Get up and go tell them." She said, shooing her away. "I doubt they can hear you over the sound of the TV and their loud conversation."

Annalise groaned, grudgingly jumping out of her seat and dragging herself out of the kitchen. She walked into the living room where Cal and Asher were staring intently at the screen.

"Get up." She said, standing behind them, leaning on the back of the couch. "Breakfast is ready."

Asher waved his hand, shooing her. "In a minute, it's just getting good!"

"Mum's going to be mad." She warned. Neither Asher or Cal responded, their eyes still glue to the screen.

"Cal!" She narrowed her way eyes, glaring at her younger brother. "Looks like you blabbed to mum about my relationships last night?" She snapped. She could see Cal immediately snap his head away form the TV,  his eyes widening in fear.

"Coming mum!" He yelled, before jumping off the couch, and sprinting into the kitchen.