“I don’t care if you’re hung upside down from the ceiling with your wand tied behind your back---James Sirius Potter, we are leaving right now!”

“I’m coming, mum!” The dark haired teen hastily shoved last-minute additions into his trunk, making sure his wand was in the back pocket of his jeans. It was September first and as per usual, the Potters were scrambling to get to King’s Cross Station and the Hogwart’s Express on time. James heaved his trunk painfully down the stairs, his muscles shaking with the effort. Back to the gym for you, Potter, he thought. He was halfway to the first floor when his trunk became very suddenly light; he gave his father a grateful smile.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Not a problem.” Harry sent the trunk out the door to where the other two sat in the courtyard, his wand disappearing into his robes. “How many more days?”

“One hundred and fifty-seven,” James replied, excited at even the thought of his seventeenth birthday, even if it was over four months away. “Then I can do all the magic I want!”

Harry ruffled his eldest son’s hair fondly. “Come on. Your mum’s waiting, and she hates to be late!” He flinched at his wife’s voice echoing into the house.

“Harry! The kids are going to miss the train again if we don’t get a bloody move on!”

With one shared look of knowing, the Potter men went to meet the rest of their family in front of their countryside home. Ginny’s red hair positively glowed in the early morning sun as she tapped her foot impatiently, with her darker-haired daughter Lily sulking a good foot away from her, arms crossed angrily. Older Albus, hair shaggy enough to match his father’s, couldn’t seem to stand still as he bounced on his tiptoes like the second year he wasn’t.

“All set, Ginny?” Harry asked, planting a kiss on her cheek. Her stern face melted into a smile.

“We are now. Lily?” The twelve year old glanced sidelong at her mother. “You’re side-a-long Apparating with me. Albus, you’re with your father…James.” She looked towards her eldest son with fond eyes. “We’ll be back for you. Okay?”

James nodded, watching his parents and siblings disappearing in a crack of smoke. One hundred and fifty seven, he thought to himself. One hundred and fifty seven…
**

Molly Woodruff sighed heavily, staring out the window with half closed eyes. She listened to her friend’s incessant chatter, watching the countryside fly by. This was it�”her second last year at Hogwarts. It was always worth the jetlag!

“Don’t fall asleep, Molly!” Forcing her green eyes more open, she looked over at one of her best friends. Anna Cheyburn gave her a grin, showing off crooked teeth. “At least make it through dinner, sleepyhead.”

“I’m trying, believe me.” She stifled a yawn that had all three girls giggling. Laura Bancroft, on the other seat, had her head on Sally Heyward’s lap, looking like she was about to drop off herself.

“Come on, Moll. Stay awake!” Sally said, tugging at her strawberry blonde braids subconsciously. “Tell us about your summer.”

Molly shrugged, trying to sit up. “I don’t know. It was pretty boring, actually. Played a lot of guitar, worked a bit of the summer…did my first legal Apparition to my aunt’s house in Toronto!” Her friends gave her matching looks of disbelief, and she corrected herself with a grumble, “Fine, side-a-long with my dad…still counts!”

Anna rolled her eyes. Molly couldn’t fool them. “Any letters from someone special? Besides me, of course!” she said with a wink. Molly tried to avoid the question but couldn’t; she ended up nodding, much to their delight.

“James and Molly, sitting in a tree,” Laura rhymed. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Speaking of which…” She sat up and planted a kiss on Sally’s lips, which the other girl happily returned. “I missed you!”

Molly had to smile�”they were awfully cute together. “Get a room, slags,” she teased. “Really, it’s no big deal. It’s only James Potter.”

“Only James Potter?” Anna gasped. “Oh, no. It isn’t only James Potter! Out of all the girls he could’ve owled, he owled the one in America for the summer! You go there every year--that’s gotta mean something!”

“I’d become straight for a boy like that!” agreed Laura. “Except…well…”

Molly rolled her eyes. They were on this for the third year in a row. Ever since she and James had become friends, there’d been rumours flying about that they should get together. She did like him…but he couldn’t like her. She wasn’t Gryffindor enough for him; she was way too shy around anyone but the others in her House, really, and he liked girls with spark. He’d certainly dated enough of them. “James and I are just friends, nothing more,” she said.

Her friends all shared knowing looks. They knew otherwise. “You’re lying,” Sally pointed out as she stroked Laura’s curly auburn hair.

“He would never go out with me! He could have anyone!”

“And he wants you,” Laura argued.

Molly shook her head vehemently. “This is my cue to fall asleep until we get to Hogwarts. Someone wake me up, okay?”

Anna nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, we will.” She leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Face it, love. You like James, and he likes you. Go find a room and shag already!”

Molly ignored her and closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat. She was lying. He wasn’t just James Potter.

He’d never been ‘just James Potter.’

**

James shook his head disbelievingly as his best friend puffed out his chest in his Hogwarts robes. “Hogwarts, here we come!” Lucas Wood exclaimed, spreading himself out luxuriously on the compartment seat. The Hogwarts Express chugged along at a good speed, the landscape zipping by. “Good to be back, eh, Potter?”

“Sometimes, I swear, I do not know you, Luke…”

“Ah, but Mr Potter, you do. Best mates since first year! Can’t deny that!” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “Now, we really got to up our game this year. Get us some girls, have us some fun, you know? You’re a Quidditch star, I’m your sidekick�”it’s gotta get us something!”

James rolled his eyes. Lucas was absolutely mental sometimes. “What, that slag from last year doesn’t want you anymore, Wood?”

“Penelope Johnson is not a slag!” Lucas shot back. “Besides, what about you and Woodruff, eh? You’ve had your eye on her for what, three years?”

James glanced away from him, evading the question. Lucas groaned and reached over to smack him upside the head. He barely had time to dodge, shouting, “Oi! What was that for!”

“You’re a stupid git, that’s what! You’re blind, Potter.”

“To what, exactly?”

“How much that sexy Ravenclaw bird actually wants you!”

James blew it off. “Molly Woodruff does not want me, Luke. We’re friends. That’s it. And could you be more sexist?”

“Did she write you?” Lucas pried, ignoring James’ annoyance.

“Yeah.”

“Did you reply?”

“Yes!”

“Did she say anything along the lines of, ‘miss you bunches’?” he asked, using his best high girl voice.

James just crossed his arms, choosing not to answer. “Ahha!” Lucas shouted triumphantly. “She did, didn’t she?”

“Shut up! It doesn’t mean anything!”

Luke smirked. “Face it, Potter. You’re a gutless Gryffindor. There’s nothing hard about getting her to like you, she’s only a girl!”

James ignored him, gazing out the window instead. Molly Woodruff, with her dark brown waves and high intelligence, was not ‘just a girl.’

She was so, so far from it.

He managed to get Lucas’ mind off of him and Molly�”or the lack thereof�”by asking him about his summer, and as he recounted all the stories of the hot Irish girls he’d snogged, James let his thoughts wonder.

Molly. He didn’t know what made her so special. Yeah, they’d mailed each other two summers in a row now. So they hung out pretty much every Hogsmeade weekend last year, and she had the prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen. Sure, he’d wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to kiss any girl he’d ever gone out with. It was a well-known fact that she was the smartest girl he knew.

And what was he, compared to all that?

Maybe this was his year, though. If it was so obvious that she liked him (which he highly doubted), then it could be like Lucas was saying�”it couldn’t be too hard to get things started.

He was going to snag Molly Woodruff�”no matter what.