See You Again

-𝕏𝕃𝕀𝕍-

Just enjoy her time before the Christmas holidays.... no problem! She could easily do that! ... .... Not counting the minor mixture of fear, panic, worry and pressure of failing that kept rising up within her, it was a completely do-able task! But the only thing now was... what the bloody hell does she do? She's never actually had a proper normal Hogwarts school year. Or free time, what with Quidditch, Hermione and Muffy demanding her to do what they wanted, then dealing with Dumbledore and his mind games... this was all new to her. What does a typical student do on Sundays, when they're not trying to survive two separate madmen? The boys were currently at Quidditch practice, breaking in the new teammates and such... Her dorm mates were at the library because Lily had practically dragged them there. She really wanted to spend time with Barty... but she also didn't want to make things worse! Though she did say she would talk with him today. Pulling out the coin, she quickly sent him a message before she left the common room. It was on her way that she was struck by a sudden thought, he might not carry the coin around with him. Shrugging, she decided to just wait anyways and if he didn't show up after a certain amount of time, she'd deal with it then.

By the time she arrived at the clock tower, Barty was already standing there waiting for her. He was casually leaning against the wall, with his hands in his pockets as he gazed out the window. She couldn't help but admire him, ignoring the heat she felt on her cheeks. 'Were you waiting long?' she asked, surprising him. 'No.' he smiled brightly at her. 'You gonna fill me in on your dangerous adventure?' he asked. 'Of course, can't leave you hanging and all... It's a punishable offense.' she sarcastically announced. 'But first, follow me.' she hesitated for a moment before joining their hands, and leading him away to a secret spot that she found in fourth year. She quickly casted Arresto Momentum on the clock making it come to a sudden stop, the picture frame they were standing next to popped open. They stepped into the hidden little nook with a giant circular window that showed a view of the Black Lake and the clocktower courtyard below. Making sure to close the frame tightly behind them, the clock once again began moving.

'I don't remember this place from your memories..' mumbled Barty, admiring the view through the window. 'It was one of my hiding spots during the whole fourth year nightmare... before I found the Room of Requirement.' she mumbled. 'So what happened at Grimmauld?' he asked amidst the silence. 'Oh. um... I got the locket. Then got caught by Orion -' 'What!?' Barty suddenly panicked, checking her for injuries. She let out a little laugh, 'Relax Barty. I'm fine... he didn't hurt me.' Barty raised a brow at her in disbelief. 'Well, I mean he did try to kill me at first but-' 'WHAT!?' 'It didn't work, obviously... because Voldy has to be the one.' 'Ara, that's still not very reassuring to hear!' Barty mumbled back. 'Then what happened? I doubt he'd just let you walk out of there.' 'Well we... talked. I told him - well I showed him the memories and -' 'You showed him!? Why?' 'Because, he's powerful and I could use his help after I... die.' she mumbled out.

Barty suppressed a flinch at another reminder that she was to die. 'I-I guess that makes sense...' he replied, uncertain. She smiled at him gently before continuing, 'He told me to hold off on getting the diary and cup for now, to just enjoy my time here until the Christmas holidays. Then I'll head to Grimmauld and we'll work on a plan then.' 'You're.... going to Grimmauld for the holidays...?' he asked, making sure he heard her correctly. She nodded as if there was no need to worry at all. 'Grimmauld.' he repeated, 'With... Walburga.' he emphasized, feeling she wasn't getting the point of his internal panic. 'Relax, Barty. It's okay! Orion has a plan.' He wanted to argue otherwise but she looked like a weight had been taken off her, and he didn't have the heart to take that away. He didn't trust Orion at all but... she did, he didn't understand why but he was willing to trust her. Winter holidays are still quite a bit away... he can panic then. Besides he still needed to focus on the search for a way to talk to death, so far it hasn't gotten very far.

They spent the rest of the day together in that little nook, Mimzy would bring them snacks and they sat next to one another, talking about anything and everything. At some point they ended up falling asleep. It was when the clock struck twelve that he was awakened by the sound. Ara was wrapped in his arms as they laid face to face. He felt his face heat up and his heart start to race due to their proximity. Despite his nervousness he couldn't help but study her face as she slept peacefully. A small smile pulled, she was so imperfectly beautiful. She snuggled closer and for a moment he worried that the sound of his beating heart would wake her. He tightened his hold and tucked her head under his chin, staring out the window at the stars while she slept on. Though his peaceful bliss was interrupted when Mimzy popped in suddenly. 'Mimzy?' he whispered, trying not to wake Ara. 'Mimzy is sorry, but Mimzy came to tells you that Mister James be panicking. Says he cant's find his Ara.' 'Well, tell him to calm down and that she's -'

'Mimzy?' questioned Ara suddenly, coming out of her slumber. 'Mister James bes worried about you!' Mimzy quickly jumbled out. Ara looked puzzled as she rubbed her eyes before she suddenly bolted up with wide eyes, 'We fell asleep! Oh no! Mimzy, can you tell him I'm on my way back to the common room now, please!' 'Yes, Misses Ara, Mimzy will do so!' and she popped away, leaving Barty and Ara alone once again. Now that she wasn't panicking, she suddenly felt embarrassed.... She had fallen asleep and woke up in Barty's arms. 'I'll walk you back.' Barty spoke amidst the silence. She didn't trust her voice at the moment so she nodded back shyly, red faced. If she had looked up she would see that Barty too, was blushing.

They walked side by side slowly through the corridors, their hands lingering next to one another. He took a breath and without hesitating slid her hand in his, unable to resist the smile as he felt her return the hold. Coming to a stop at some portrait of a lady, they stood in place not wanting to let go. 'I like you.' he suddenly croaked out. 'Barty, I -' 'I know. You're gonna die but... I don't care - I mean I do! Wait, I'm not doing this right...' He took a deep breath to calm himself before starting again. 'I like you Ara, unlike I've ever liked anyone else ever before. I know that if I don't at least try I'll forever regret it. I know that we may not have a future, but I just want to spend the time we do have now, not for the future, not for the past but for the present, with you.' He gently took her other hand, 'It'll hurt but it'll hurt way more if I didn't try, because to me you're worth it! Ara, to me you're -'

Whatever he was gonna say didn't matter because suddenly, Ara had grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him into a kiss. For a moment his brain stopped working... then he finally processed what was happening and kissed her back. It was with her arms wrapped around his neck and his hand wrapped around the small of her back and another in her long wavy hair, kissing one another passionately, that James walked out of the Gryffindor common room to see in his horror. 'Ara!?' he squealed out, immediately a blushing Ara and Barty broke apart. 'Da- ! James!' she cleared her throat, trying to gather her wits. 'You -' James spluttered out pointing at her, before shifting his attention to Barty 'YOU!' Barty just stood there blushing with a mad goofy grin on his face. 'Time to call it a night!' Ara spoke up, cutting James off, 'Goodnight Barty!' She quickly grabbed James by the wrist, whispered the password and pulled him back into the common room.

Barty slowly made his way back to his dorm, still with his wide goofy smile, blushing and a racing heart. She kissed him! They kissed! It was amazing and so much better than he imagined. He kept replaying it over and over in his head, trying to memorize her soft lips on his. He didn't even realize he'd made it back to the common room, until he was brought out of his stupor by Regulus. 'Where the bloody hell have you been?' Regulus immediately questioned, stopping himself from going on a rant the moment he saw the look on Barty's face. 'What's a matter with you?' 'She kissed me!' Barty stated joyously. 'Wh-what?' questioned an incredulous Regulus. 'I told her how I felt and then she kissed me!' He quickly threw his arm around Regulus, 'We kissed! It was amazing! It was... she was... there are no words to describe it!' Barty continued in a gleeful state. Regulus rolled his eyes and let out a small snort, 'Come on loverboy, there's something more important waiting for us in the dorm!'