Chapter II: re·gret
Song: One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead) by Stars
--
One more night, that was a good one
One more night, I dreamed it was good one (one more)
One more night, that was a good one
One more night, the end should be a good one
A good one
He watched her and couldn't help but reminisce. It had been two years since he had last seen her, and suddenly *poof* she was there. It was odd, he thought to himself, how regardless of the fact that they shared so many of the same friends, tended to go to the same places, and worked in partnering professions, they still managed to avoid one another without ever even trying.
He'd recently heard that she was dating a new bloke from Sirius. Apparently she and Diggory were giving it another go despite the fact that it had failed so miserably back at Hogwarts. When he heard the news he tried to reassure himself that it was merely temporary…
He didn't know why, but it bothered him. Well, that wasn't entirely true, he amended, he did know why, but he liked to ignore the fact. Besides, he had been the one to end things. He should have expected that she move on, right?
He took another swig of his fire whiskey as he watched her standing there, talking to some bloke he didn't know, but he wasn't particularly interested in that anyway. No, what truly had his attention was that short little black dress she was wearing. Fuck it was amazing on her. He watched her legs, looked at how long they seemed in those red pumps of hers. He remembered she had always had this God awful taste for wearing ridiculously sexy high heals even though she had a penchant for tripping in them, but when she didn't she did have a mouth-water inducing worthy swagger - that was when she wasn't tripping, a rare occurrence in itself.
"You're staring mate. I think a puddle of drool may even start collecting on the table soon if you don't close that trap," Sirius quipped, nudging his shoulder to pull him out of his reverie.
"She looks good," James stated pointlessly.
"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "But I don't see why that'd matter. You ended things; you know the rule, mate, don't try to sleep where you've already taken a dump. Especially if the girl is one Lily Evans. She'll crucify your balls and then chop them up to feed the pigeons… and that's on a good day."
"She looks good."
"I think you've already stated that, mate," Sirius clapped him on the back, eyeing him curiously as James's eyes took on that always troublesome, when in the presence of Lily at least, glazed look. "Don't go for it, she hates you."
James turned to him. "Why would she hate me, we ended it on decent terms, didn't we?" he asked as he brought his glass up for another drink, only to realize it was empty. Damn.
"Yeah," Sirius scoffed. "If you're a delusional prat… which, come to think of it, you are. Come on, Prongs, be serious. You broke up with her. Suddenly, one day you just ended it."
"I needed to, it was time," he defended, a weak defence, he admitted to himself-an admission that he'd never vocalize unless under Veritaserum-but a defense all the same.
"Yeah, for you maybe it was, but she was still holding on… There's always that residual bitterness. Let it go, Prongs, you did once, you can do it again."
He sighed as he waved over the bartender and signaled for another drink, he was going to need it. "I miss her."
Sirius nodded. "I figured as much."
"I want her back."
"As I said, you're delusional," Sirius repeated.
He glared at his mate before turning to the bartender, sending him a nod in thanks of the drink that had been placed in front of him. Thank Merlin. "It was good, Sirius, we were good."
"And then you ended it, she's moved on, James, let her be. You weren't there after you ended it, I was… she was a wreck, and she's finally managed to move on with a bloke that's she's genuinely happy with. If she means so much to you let her have some peace, don't come trampling into her life just as she's finally managed to get over you."
He opened his mouth, as if to say something, and what Sirius would never know as he only closed his mouth and clenched his jaw as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a couple of galleons and throwing them onto the table. "I'm going to head back home… I'll see you around the ministry tomorrow, I suppose," he gruffly told him before storming out the pub.
He'd been happy, indisputably content, at peace, and happy… and it was odd, he'd never really expected it to happen. In truth his mum and dad were kind and they were loving and attentive parents, but as a couple they were never close or anything, more so just accepting of the fate that they'd been dealt and the expectations thrust upon them. Those were the expectations he'd had, admittedly dim, but it was the world he'd grown up in nonetheless; there was an image to uphold, after all. With her, however, he'd had something different and it scared the shit out of him as he realized that he'd be more than happy spending the rest of his life with her.
All those years of chasing her, and that sureness in the fact that they were meant to be had suddenly disappeared with the realization that he not only loved her, but could imagine a forever with her. How could he just settle down like that without experiencing everything else that the world had to offer, without shagging all of those other delectable women that so readily threw themselves at him?
No, peace was not good for the soul. In fact, in an odd way, it brought on terror and, no matter how oxymoronic, acted as a catalyst for an unprecedented state of turmoil.
So he had ended it, moved on, and shagged every model and sexy woman he came across. Far from an honorable time, but Merlin was it an enjoyable epoch… What was scary, however, was the realization that, nevertheless, the grass wasn't greener on the other side and the idea that he'd let go of perfection was a bitch, that much he could admit.
And then there she was, looking so sexy and so utterly fuckable… it wasn't fair or just that some other bloke had just swooped in and taken her from him. And now, to add insult to injury, his best friend forbade him to go and try to get her back.
What the hell was he going to do now?
He drops to his knees
Says please my love, please
I'll kill who you hate
Take off that dress, you won't freeze
--
Author's Note: a short chapter, but they do get longer with time, first need to get through the preliminary stuff, like explaining what it was that happened. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, I wasn't too sure about how I pulled this off, I tend to work better with dialogue then explaining history, so feedback on that would be good.
A special thank you to my two betas gitgit and LunaBella 006
-->