Janga that I actually finished. WHO WOULDA THUNK IT?
After seven years she was done, completely and totally done. It felt odd to walk through the halls, knowing that this was going to be her last time here, last time seeing the portraits and being tricked by the staircases. She knew most of the nooks and crannies, and could easily remember specific moments for each one that made it special. Her friends had had a late night get together in that one, over there she had gotten her first detention, completely by accident mind you, and the various places that she had gotten to know some boys particularly well. She laughed as she felt a few tears were starting to well up in her eyes, causing her to hastily blink them back. There was going to be plenty of crying tomorrow on the train and she didn’t need any more of it at the moment thank you very much.
She smiled at a portrait that gazed at her knowingly, before looking away, wanting to complete her last full walk through the castle. There wasn’t so much of a worry of being caught, what could they do to her anyways? She had graduated, taken her NEWTs, and was leaving Hogwarts tomorrow. If anyone came upon her, she was sure that they would understand completely. Hopefully.
Unfortunately the peace and quiet of the walk that she had been cherishing was interrupted by a loud bang and some unusual hissing noises. “What the bleeding-?” She got out her wand, hoping it was just some unnecessary kid doing a prank thinking that he could get away with detention for all of next year. Not, you know, another attack or anything.
She didn’t even turn the corner, and if she did she wouldn’t have seen much, just a lot of smoke of different colors flashing around and little flickering pops going off. No she was stopped from investigating by a certain teenage boy, slightly covered in the different colors, coming at a sprint from around the turn, causing her to jump back and let out a shriek. The only thing that made it seem like he actually saw her was the fact that he grinned a little wider…and then grabbed her by the hand and was pulling her along after him.
Anya could only thank Quidditch for keeping her in shape; otherwise the sprint through the next few corridors would have been very tiring, especially since she was practically being dragged there. If he wanted to take her with him then maybe he should have just carried her and then he’d think twice about pulling a stupid prank. Yes, she did know the mystery bloke and right about now wanted to laugh at his stupidity while hitting him upside the head a few times. Boys never grew up and J.J. was a perfect example of it, because really? Pulling a prank on the last night that they were in Hogwarts was exactly what he would think was a smart thing to do. The prat.
Now, J.J. thought it was a brilliant plan, he could pull one last little prank as a farewell to Filch and still not get in trouble for it! It wasn’t him being immature, in fact it was a well thought out plan. Besides it wasn’t that harmful, just a little smoke, giddy gas, and some well placed dung bombs. He had even let the portraits go and warn Filch before hand, thinking that he might as well let the man get a head start. It was only when J.J. was an idiot that he ever got caught, and even then it was usually due to someone ratting him out.
That wasn’t here or there at the moment though, because he was focusing on getting to the safety line that he had mapped out in his mind, the one where he could stop running and just walk a bit. Then he could actually talk with Anya and not actually drag her around.
She let out a sigh of relief when he finally slowed down as they turned some corner, where she couldn’t remember, but they had turned it and now the sprint was over. Leaning against a nearby wall, she caught her breath, staring at J.J. before walking up to him and starting to hit him on the chest, arms and anywhere that she could.
“You. Messed. Up. My. Night. You idiot! What were you doing? You are such a prat sometimes!” She lectured him, smacking with as much strength she could muster while still keeping down a smile and eye roll at his being a juvenile. Ugh. Why did boys never seem to grow up? Seriously?
“Hey! Ow-bloody-Anya-ow-bloody hell stop,” he said while backing up from her smacks, not having to catch his breath that much but quite surprised by her onslaught. What the bloody hell? He hadn’t done anything wrong! There were sometimes where he wondered how he had lasted with Anya as a best mate, not because of her tendency to use violence, but because she was completely off her rocker. One minute she would be teary eyed and the next…well the next she would be smacking him for not getting her in trouble? Merlin. “Anya! ANYA!” He grabbed her wrists and held them away from him so that she was left trying to get out of his grasp.
Of course just as she was going to open her mouth they heard a little twinkling down the hall and turned their heads, both seeing Mrs. Norris at the same moment and momentarily freezing in place. Oh hell. Without a word being spoken her eyes glanced around, seeing the door to a classroom and then pulling him towards it harshly, pushing him through the door and then shutting it as fast as she could with her back.
Well that’s just wonderful they were going to get caught and then something would happen and all because bloody J.J. had to go and play some stupid prank just so he could be a prat. She did not want to get in trouble on her last day! It wasn’t even her fault. Maybe she should just push him out into the hallway to get his rightful punishment. Maybe Filch would make him clean the castle the rest of the night and into the morning, oh that would teach him! She opened her eyes and brushed a piece of hair out of her face, only to see a certain someone right in front of her. Not only right in front of her but just a few inches away. What was with that? Wasn’t he the one that always wanted his privacy or personal space or…whatever?
J.J. unconsciously gulped as she looked up at him, angry that he wasn’t able to get farther away from her. Apparently the ‘classroom’ she had pushed him into was actually a broom closet. A very, very small broom closet. How she seemed to pick the smallest one in the whole castle he had no bloody clue but just chalked it up to that bad karma that was always biting him in the bloody ass. But that wasn’t what he was focusing on now, or at least tried not to, he was focusing on listening for footsteps outside or any noises that could mean that Filch could find him. Yes it was the last night but he was sure that Filch could think of a number of things to keep him occupied till late the next morning, all of which were nasty he would guess.
Anya went to open her mouth to tell him to move the hell away, but he put his hand over her mouth, looking at her and trying to communicate that she should be quiet for once! Well fine! She could be quiet. Extremely quiet, like she wasn’t even there quiet. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, wondering what would happen if she happened to bite his hand. She wouldn’t do it…but it was an interesting idea. Maybe if they weren’t in a frickin’ broom closet she would.
J.J. rolled his eyes at her glaring at him and gave her one of his ‘Oh come on love’ looks. Did she want to get into this when they were here? He really shouldn’t care if she was angry though, just as long as she was quiet right? Right. That would be why he moved closer, so that he could hear what was happening outside. It didn’t hurt that her hair smelled good, just a little perk?
Sure, a perk, what was with him? First he’s trying to pretend like this is nothing and then goes and moves even closer and then goes and sniffs at her hair? Oh yah, she knew he did that, she wasn’t completely daft. While he might say that she missed a lot of things but really she didn’t, she just chose to not pay attention during some of his moods. Besides he was hard to read normally, but now? Now she was all ears and eyes and completely confused.
“Mmmmm mmm mmm…MMM,” she said frustrated, not being able to speak normally. Why wouldn’t he just move his stupid hand so that she could talk, it’s not like he would find them if they whispered. Maybe if J.J. whispered but not her. She knew the meaning of quiet or at least normal whispering. So with a quick pinch on his arm his hand left her mouth and she had to hold back a laugh, it was easy to get to him sometimes.
He just frowned at her, moving that arm out of reach, still keeping the one by her and not moving an inch. She may think that he didn’t know the meaning of silence, but he could assure her that she didn’t either. There were quite a few times that her subtlety had landed her on her bum, like that one time in 3rd year when she tried to listen to a conversation him and Logan were having in class. The one where she fell off her chair and ended up embarrassed, though not half as embarrassed as Logan was, he could assure her of that. In fact it was highly comical for him at the time. Then again he wasn’t the one who almost had his crush/best mate hear about him liking her.
“Why are you sniffing my hair?”
She managed to catch him off guard though, just for a second, before he managed to get back and smile easily at her. Winking, he whispered, “Wanted to make sure none of the bombs came off on you love.”
UGH. She knew he wasn’t telling her something and that it wasn’t just so that he could smell to see if she smelled like his stupid dungbombs. No he has this odd fascination with her hair, that she had no clue about, and was now standing entirely too close for her liking. Couldn’t he take a hint and get away? She just huffed at him, “Sure. Whatever you say J.J.”
He went to reply but heard someone coming and froze, concentrating on the door for any noises that Filch was coming towards the door. All he wanted to do was get out of here, that’s all.
Anya was silent for a bit, still a bit annoyed but after a few moments it started to seep away as she became curious and looked up at him. What he was doing she had no clue, having not heard the noise outside the door. Instead she took the time to study him. She didn’t know if they would stay in contact after school, but a small part of her hoped they wouldn’t. They had a rocky relationship, one that was always between their ever changing moods and relationships. She couldn’t remember the last time that they had gone a few weeks without having some type of drama happening, either internal or external. It was normal for them, just like the tide going in and out. There was nothing they could do about it.
As she studied him, she did recognize that they had both grown up since they had met seven years ago. They weren’t innocent little first years, wandering around looking to have some fun. They were now adults, somewhat mature, and going out into the world to take charge of their lives. Over the years they had grown, physically and mentally, and had transformed the other into who they were today. They knew secrets about the other that hadn’t been told. They knew each others faults and how to deal with them on the day to day basis, the fact that when they walked in they could gauge each others moods. It was almost reassuring for Anya to know that there were times she didn’t want to talk and he would automatically know. There were times when she really wished that he would stop reading her like a book, but there were those days when it was nice. She couldn’t read him, but there were things that you picked up after so many years that she become good at knowing what he was doing. Whether it was avoiding a subject, angry or what not, most of the time she was right on about how he was feeling.
But right now she wasn’t looking at him to try and figure out what he was feeling at the moment. No, right now she was just studying his face, memorizing it and taking in exactly how much he had grown and matured. He still had that same frustrating immaturity that he had as a third year, but overall he had grown. There were times that he was still wary of physical contact, but he had grown used to it, at least able to give hugs and show some affection. He was able to shoulder the responsibility of the war and often got in fights with people about their beliefs. He still held those stupid double standards for people and was insanely protective of his little sisters, but she knew that they had him around their fingers. He actually had studied for his NEWTs, not as much as her and Logan but he had tried, and was somewhat taking his future seriously. He was still secretive about his emotions. Overall, he was still one of her best friends.
J.J. was oblivious to any emotions going through Anya, only focusing on the noises outside. It was a few minutes before he was positive that no one was there and went to look down at Anya…only to find her nearly in tears? What the bloody hell started that? He tried to think of something that would make her go loony on him, but he really couldn’t. This was bloody insane.
“Are you okay love?”
She looked at him and wondered if he would be ok with her doing this, if maybe she should just get out of the closet and stop crying. It was just hormones and leaving tomorrow. That was all. Oh fuck him, she needed to do this and he better be ready to give her some hugging/cuddling or else! So she just put her arms around him, and hugged him, not caring about how he froze up momentarily and just said, “I’m going to miss you J.J.”
Of course this took him for quite a loop. Oh hell if he knew that by dragging her along she was going to turn into this whole emotional mess, maybe he WOULDN’T have dragged her with him. He didn’t mean to almost get her in trouble or…whatever it was that set her off. Oh bloody hell.
When he heard her words, he did momentarily stop, remembering that they were leaving tomorrow. He thought about that. He had no doubt in his mind that he was still going to be friends with Anya and Logan. Sure there was a tiny part of him that was scared they were just going to up and leave him, getting some other best friends that were better but he tried not to think about that.
In all actuality he would tell anyone that he really didn’t like Anya mothering him, but he did. It wouldn’t be the same without her sitting there and poking him or going completely mental with her emotions. He could gripe all he wanted and pretend to be mad, but she was already one of those girls that had him wrapped around their finger. After Hogwarts he really would miss their competitive flying games and always talking with her. She had grown up and he knew that in every sense of the word. She was mature, in control and still the loving innocent girl that he knew as a younger year. He would do just about anything for her, which was slightly pathetic on his part, but at least he knew it. It was good to have a close friend like her that he could share some secrets with when he was tired and then still have her yell at him for being an ass on a regular basis. It would just be different without her.
That’s why he hugged her back while sighing to get the bravery to say a few words that he really should say. Not just some little funny one liner that would ruin the moment and distract her, but what they both wanted to hear.
“I’ll miss you too love,” he whispered, not voicing that they would see each other tomorrow and over the summer. Not mentioning that it wasn’t like they were disappearing from each others lives. Just saying a few words to show that he really did care for her, even when he was being a bit of an idiot.
When she looked up at him, he grinned, thinking about pushing back her hair or saying something. Something that would probably get him in more trouble and make him bash his head into a wall the next day. Unfortunately, or fortunately, for both of them, he closed his mouth, and looked down at her thoughtfully before moving in and kissing her.
It was soft and sweet, showing her everything that he was too scared to say and she was too scared to acknowledge. She pulled herself closer and deepened it, still keeping the slow and horrible pace that was there. They don’t know how long they kissed, if anyone walked by, if Hogwarts was on fire, but they finally knew that their tension was over with. They let their tongues seek out the other, their hands moving over their clothes slowly.
When they stopped kissing and when they just stood there holding each other, neither of them could remember. They couldn’t remember how they got back or what time it was, but they both remembered her parting words that she whispered into his ear before slipping out.
“Goodbye J.J.”