A week went by and nothing out of the ordinary was going on, much to Albus' luck. It was the first weekend and there was no sign of his dad, uncle, or aunt. As far as he could tell, things were fantastic. Three of his classes, two in the morning and one after lunch, were with his best mate Christopher Jacobs. He also hadn't been bothered by any of the crazy first year girls who thought he was 'Oh So Hot!' Unfortunately, his fantastic week was not going to last much longer.
"You know," said a girl with impeccably straight, black hair and fine-pressed robes as she sat directly between Albus and Chris at breakfast on Saturday morning, "this entire week went by and we didn't have a single class together. I wonder why that is?" Albus didn't know this girl, who crossed her legs and batted her eyelashes at him, but he'd seen her lurking around him.
"Dunno," Chris interrupted, halting the conversation the girl was trying to have in between bites of his waffle. "Maybe its because he's a third year and you're a first year? Just a thought."
The girl glared at him and fixed her hair as if something was wrong with it. She uncrossed her legs and stood. "I suppose I'll have to ask you at a time when the entire world isn't butting in our conversations. See you later, Albus," she said. With that, she turned and walked toward the giant doors of the Great Hall and left.
There was a moment's pause before Albus finally decided to ask, "Chris, who was that?"
"That was Chloe Arndale. She's a first year and if you ask me, she's a bit mental." Chris smirked and added a mountain of strawberries and syrup on a fresh batch of waffles.
"She was pretty, though," Albus noted, not making a grab for the new display of biscuits.
"Yeah, for a stalker. She's been following you around all week and hasn't worked up the nerve to talk to you. I wouldn't be surprised if she was dared to actually talk to you today," he said. Or, at least, that was what Albus thought Chris said with his mouth full of steaming food.
"What do you mean?"
Chris went to explain again but Albus raised a finger, waiting for his friend to finish his current mouthful, before allowing him to speak again. "Just be glad you don't have to have her in any of your classes. I don't like how she acts around you."
Chloe's porcelain face was in Albus' thoughts along with her sweet smile. He didn't see anything stalker-like about the girl. "Maybe we're always at the same places at the same time?" Albus suggested. He stood up from the Slytherin table and began walking without waiting for his friend. As he predicted, Chris begrudgingly left his food heaven and caught up with him.
"Not likely, Al. I think she goes out of her way to be around you." The doors swung open to let them through and they continued straight until the doors to the courtyard swung open as well. "Just you wait, she'll be waiting for us down in the common room."
"Really?" Albus smirked. "I see two things wrong with your theory, mate. For one, I'm sure she has more to do on her first weekend at Hogwarts than hang around in the common room. Second, last I checked, there is no us with her. Seems like she could live the rest of her life without regret if she never saw you again."
"Thanks, mate," Chris said sarcastically and turned just before the bridge. When Albus didn't follow, Chris stopped and asked, "Where are you going? Dungeons are this way."
"I have better things to do on my first weekend back than hang about in the common room," Albus chided. "I'm going to visit Hagrid. Gotta tell him hi for my mum and dad and all."
"Al, you had him in class three times this week! You could've said hi any one of those times he was trying to sick one of his creatures on us."
"He wasn't sicking them on us," Albus defended. Most of the students thought like Chris did. They thought Hagrid wasn't fit to teach, but if he was able to last this long, he was credible enough for Albus. "And those were classes. This is a personal visit. You're welcome to come if you'd like," he offered.
"No way!" Chris exclaimed. "Lesson time is enough danger for me. I'm not going to willingly walk to my death. Let's just say that I hope that Care of Magical Creatures Department comes soon. It's about time that giant oaf is properly fired."
Most of their entire first and second year consisted of Chris talking about Hagrid this way. A lot of those talks involved loud fighting and minimal hexes. Albus couldn't remember what solved most of those fights, but he didn't want to start one today. Especially since every one of those fights resulted in a detention and he didn't want that one week into term.
"Whatever," was all he said as he waved him off. He made his way across the bridge before he could be angered further by anything else that Chris had to say. He took a deep breath and put the argument aside.
It was clear and wonderful outside according to Albus, who was wearing his normal Muggle clothing. If it weren't for his dad, his entire family would have no idea how to dress. A few other students were hanging around practicing spells, and a few first years worked on levitating pebbles only to succeed in blowing them up. Albus recognised a few of them and waved as he strolled to Hagrid's, trying to calm down. It wasn't until he heard a very familiar voice calling his name did he stop and groan.
"Albus! Hey!"
Mia Dangers was sprinting to catch up with him. The fourth year had brown, wavy hair and blue eyes, and as she came closer Albus noticed she lost some weight in her face. Admittedly, she was very pretty. So pretty in fact, Chris couldn't help but fall for her. She wasn't exactly Albus' type, but he had a feeling she wasn't exactly catching on to how he felt.
"Hey, Mia," he answered dully once she caught up with him. "You got taller!" he pointed out in an attempt to sound happy to see her. Albus wasn't a tall third year at all, so with Mia in comparison, he looked ridiculously short. Mia came from a very, very tall family.
"Don't remind me," she groaned. "It makes wearing heels pointless. I swear I must have some faint bloodline of giants in me!" she joked and he smirked at the thought of his previous conversation.
"Right," he said and began walking again as she followed. "I'm heading to Hagrid's. What about you?"
"'Oh hey, Mia! How's it going, Mia? How was your summer, Mia?' Hey, Albus! My summer was great! Went to America for a month and saw New York. It was great! I missed you, too. What did you do this summer? Wow, Al, sallow much?" she teased, ruffling his hair. It was this sort of behavior that made Mia utterly undesirable to Albus. He could hardly stand her, let alone start brewing her love potions.
"Nothing really," he answered honestly. "My brother Teddy had a wedding before term. That was fun."
"Wow, you Potters are such a bore. Is Teddy really your brother?" she asked, completely disregarding her first statement.
"God-brother," Albus answered with gritted teeth.
Mia was waving at some boys playing Exploding Snap by a large stone. They looked like a group of seventh years with a lot of free time on their hands. One of them noticed Mia and waved her over.
"I've got to run!" she said, and she was off in an instant. Albus could care less what she did, and he sighed with relief as she left his side. He made his way through the stone circle and he heard another low, familiar voice nearby.
"Why don't you come over here and I'll help you with your practice, first year." The voice was false, and he knew it was never used before by the owner. He watched as Jackson Winters, the owner of the voice, pulled the first year girl he was talking to under his arm. Even though Chris reminded him of her name earlier, and her face had yet to leave his mind, Albus couldn't recall it at the moment.
Albus stopped walking as soon as he was on the other side of the rock they were hidden behind and hid behind it to hear what they were talking about.
"Chloe," That's her name! he thought. "Thank you for meeting me here." Jackson's false act from before was gone now. Albus could hardly hear him and was about to use a sound enhancing charm, but Chloe didn't seem to catch the sense of privacy.
"Well, meeting in the Slytherin common room would have been too much of a hassle," she blurted, beyond slightly annoyed.
Jackson was caught off guard for a moment before he spoke again. "We don't need the whole school to know about our business."
"Right. So why don't we just stand here, where the entire school is? I really don't think this is going to help," Chloe said harshly. Albus would’ve laughed at her sarcasm if he didn't feel, deep down in the pit of his stomach, this conversation was actually going somewhere (not to mention he had to remain quiet so they didn't hear him).
"Listen," Jackson barked, "you didn't have to come if you didn't want to."
"You mean I had a choice?" she asked in mock surprise. "I wasn't aware a threat on my life wasn't important enough. I'll keep it in mind next time, though."
Albus dared to switch rocks and see the quarreling couple. Chloe was trying to walk away but Jackson grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back.
"That threat only sticks if you leave now!" he said, and he cringed, as if he didn't really want to be saying these things.
"Listen!" Chloe said hastily, "I've got homework I should be getting done now. The next time I catch you smuggling in love potions, don't threaten my life not to tell, and I'll be more willing. I won't tell, and now I've got to go!" With that, she pulled her arm from his grip and stormed off for the dungeons. Jackson stood there stupidly for a moment before realising he was ditched and made his way down the hill.
Albus, who was still confused by Chloe's sudden change of mind (and it seemed as though Jackson was, too) left his hiding place and followed him quietly so he wouldn't gain suspicion. He was glad the conversation had nothing to do with what he thought it would (the conversation behind the door), but he was sure Jackson wouldn't appreciate eavesdropping on any of his conversations.
Finally he saw the targeted hut and bolted past Jackson to get inside. Catching his breath for a moment, he knocked on the door and danced with anticipation until Hagrid opened the door to allow him in just as Jackson caught sight of him entering the hut. Albus slammed the door shut and smiled as though he hadn't been up to mischief and said, "Hey, Hagrid!" before he found an empty seat nearby and sat down.
"Well 'ello yerself, Albus!" Hagrid beamed and picked the small boy up in his arms for a greeting hug. Just before Albus passed out from lack of air, Hagrid put him back down in the chair and, he too, ruffled his hair. "So, 'ow yeh been?"
~~~
Not believing how stupid someone like Jackson Winters could be, Chloe made her way down the dungeon staircase and shouted out, "Fortune is fame!" before the bricks in front of her collapsed and allowed her passage. She was sure if it was possible for steam to blow through one's ears, hers would be steaming.
The common room was practically empty, except for a fifth year helping a second year with an essay. She ran upstairs to the girls' dormitory to grab her bag and books. Her excuse to get away from Jackson wasn't a lie. She really did have homework, but the urgency of it came suddenly due to Albus Potter eavesdropping on their conversation.
What provoked Jackson to meet her at the stone circle was beyond her. She knew exactly what the meeting was for because she wasn't stupid like Jackson. The day was clear and beautiful, no one would be in the common room today, and he decided to have a meeting outside! Chloe stomped down the spiral staircase and threw her bag onto a small table nearby.
"Not a surprise," a man in the portrait above commented as he sighed and strolled out of his portrait. She grunted and pulled out parchment, ink, and a quill. She had an essay for Charms on how a wand's core helps in charm-work.
The most simplistic moron I've ever met! Chloe started insulting Jackson in her head as she wrote down the beginning of her essay. Was he wanting someone to hear? Not that we couldn't use Potter, but what about everyone else? Then he had the audacity to threaten me no less! I've known what this plan was for ages, and he threatens me? The nerve!
The ink splattered on the parchment. She cursed and pulled out her wand to suck all of the ink in her wand and produce it back into the tiny vial.
If I can do a spell like that, I can most certainly understand his precious plan. She smirked and dared to have a go with her quill again. Not like they've necessarily kept things quiet about it. I'm going to have to do something about that. Idiots! Can't even run things right!
She must have been mumbling and making strange noises while she wrote because the two students working before she came in were now staring at her. The fifth year cleared his throat and gave her a concerned look. She grimaced and shrugged them off, getting back to her essay and scrawling away.
When they hear about this, Jackson is sure-
"What are you working on there, dove?"
Chloe nearly jumped out of her seat. She was dipping her quill into her ink just as she was startled, so her ink dumped all over her essay and the table. She looked up and cringed at the owner of the voice.
"You are the last person I want to see right now, Winters!" she spat.
"Oh, come on now," Jackson said smugly and he sat on the table to watch her clean up the mess. "It wasn't all that bad. If you ask me, Potter bought it."
Chloe, who was hunched over her parchment in hopes to ignore his presence, looked up with annoyance.
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't think I'm that much of an idiot, do you?"
"Actually, I-"
"You know what I meant!" he snapped, losing his cool for a moment. Chloe smirked then continued with her writing. "Either way, Potter bought our little act."
"What act?" she asked and her writing slowed. "What are you on about, Winters?"
He placed a hand over her parchment and forced her to look up. When she saw him smiling with the fire illuminating his face, he looked like he actually knew what he was talking about (in an evil genius sort of way).
"We had Albus on the back of that rock the entire time, didn't we?"
"You noticed and you didn't do anything? You idiot!" she said, looking directly into his eyes (which was easy to do since he was leaning on the table.)
"Shhhh!" the fifth year interrupted rudely since she ignored him earlier. She shot him a nasty glare and he nudged at the second year to relocate elsewhere.
Jackson laughed and positioned himself more comfortably onto the table before answering.
"Winters!"
"Now now. No need for last names, Chloe. We're all friends in this little organisation. You are the best of those friends after all. I'm sure a little thing like a first name shouldn't be that hard to say?"
He waited for a moment, and when he didn't say anything else, Chloe rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Jackson, tell me what the hell you are talking about. Now."
"That's a good dove," he winked and stroked her hair with one hand.
"Urgh! Don't touch me!" she grimaced and pulled back, running her fingers through her hair as quickly as possible.
He chuckled once
more and raised his hands in surrender before crossing them again and continuing his story.
"Either way, I called you out there in hopes Potter may show up. If he came, all the better, if not, well, we would have tried again some other time. He came and heard, you ended it when you noticed him, which was good since we were getting a little further than I thought we would, and he ran to that giant oaf. With a little luck, we should have him spying on us more often."
Chloe looked at him as if she couldn't believe her eyes. In many ways she couldn't. However, she kept reminding herself that he was in charge of several things in this plan for a reason.
"So you went off on chance and your stupidity?" she asked at last when she could find the words.
"Chance, maybe, but I wouldn't exactly say stupidity..."
"The plan is to tell Albus eventually anyway! Why get his suspicions rising in rumours when we can just tell him and do something about it if he tells!?" she fumed, knocking a book off the desk without care. His smirk was wiped off his face almost immediately. "And the next time you want to make some high and mighty plan that might work, let me know about it so I can tell you just how stupid you really are!"
"You're doing a fine enough job at that already," he mumbled. If she wasn’t so angry at him, she might have laughed in his face, but she wasn't calm enough yet. She let out a cry of aggravation and turned sharply on her heel before she ran up the staircase once again to the girls' dormitory.
~~~
To Rose, the library was the only place one could study. That may be a habit that she picked up from her mother, but she knew for sure the Gryffindor common room was too full with fifth and seventh years doing their own studying. No one, of course, was in the library. As far as she could see at least.
Madam Pince nodded her head as a welcome gesture as Rose walked in with an armful of books. Rose smiled at her in return then found her usual seat towards the back of the library. When she arrived, she spread the books out evenly and opened each to the pages she would need to start on. She had both History of Magic and Transfiguration homework so she safely assumed she would be in there for the next few hours.
She was just beginning to get the rest of her things out when a voice from behind spooked her.
"Perfect way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning, isn't it?" Scorpius Malfoy mocked her, looking over her shoulder. "Why do you have so much homework anyway?"
"Scorpius? What are you doing here?" Rose asked, disregarding his questions. Her face was flushed and she wasn't sure if she should be angry or pleased. Scorpius had been making her feel that way recently and she wasn't sure if it was good or not. He seemed to have enjoyed her surprise and sat down next to her with a simple grin on his pale, pointed face.
"Nothing much. Decided to get some homework done." he said while looking over to see what books she brought. The butterflies in her stomach appeared just as they always did when he made her feel good like this. "Besides, if I get it out of the way now then I have plenty of time to hang out with you tomorrow." There was a moment before Rose understood what he meant and her face flushed as bright as her red, wild hair that she didn't even bother to tame before coming to the library.
"Are you asking me out on a date, Scorpius?" She felt like a young school girl for having to ask; well, a younger school girl. He arched his eyebrows and leaned in closer to her.
"What do you say, Miss Rose?" he asked, eyeing her books then her. The same smile he wore from before was still planted on his face.
Rose didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she could say anything. Her grin stretched from ear-to-ear and goosebumps rose on her pale, freckled arms as soon as Scorpius reached out to run a hand through her hair. His actions made her immediately aware of her hair and she pulled back to frantically brush at it with her fingers.
Scorpius stood up and leaned in to give her a kiss. She was stunned and at a loss of what to do. She decided her hair was a lost cause and sat there awkwardly, waiting for him to complete the kiss. When he was nose-to-nose with her, her body froze and her lips automatically puckered as they both closed their eyes. He was moving slowly, but Rose couldn't tell if time itself had stopped or not. Everything was going by too fast. Too fast to be true, in fact.
When Scorpius was just close enough Rose could feel his hot breath on her lips, he opened his eyes and frowned. He then proceeded to pull back and sit back down in his chair.
–I don't believe it,†he said, pounding a fist onto the table. "I just don't believe it! Rose, why didn't you tell me?"
Rose, who was confused and wasn't sure what was going on, found herself searching for words. –I- Well, I didn't- You know that I- Wait, what?â€
Scorpius groaned then put his head in his hands and Rose noticed his pale blonde hair stuck up at odd ends for doing so.
"They told me at the end of last year and I didn't believe them. I told them, 'No way! Rose and I are just friends. Of course she doesn't like me!' Now here it is, obvious to the world, and you never told me!" Scorpius rambled on without stopping and Rose wasn't sure what to do. It was true that Scorpius and Rose's relationship had been progressing over the last two years, and she worked hard at keeping her true feeling locked inside, but they were best friends.
In their first year they could hardly stand one another and Rose lived with her father's words playing in her head, 'Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains.' In fact, those words not only led to a long year of perfectly marked tests, but to everything in her life that year.
In their second year, however, they gained a little shred of sense and started talking to one another. In other words, they were forced to be partners in Herbology lessons. Professor Longbottom never heard the end of that from her father either.
"What are you talking about?" Rose finally found the words to say after a long pause. Her face was flushing again, but this time it was out of anger.
Scorpius hardly looked up at her before he resigned his head again and shook it in his hands. "I was so sure you didn't like me."
"Of course I like you, Scorpius. You're one of my best friends!" Rose argued, still confused about what he was going on about.
"Not like that, Rose. I meant that I didn't think you liked me that way!"
There was another elongated silence once she realised what he meant.
"Oh." She uttered and slumped into her chair. Finally, he looked up at her with a sour face.
"Listen, I'm sorry, Rose but I had to-"
"Is that the way you made sure?" Rose asked suddenly. Her eyes were shut as she was trying to hold back tears.
Scorpius realised this and made to wipe away any tears that would fall, but she sensed the movement and stood up before he could touch her.
"Is that the way you made sure?" she repeated. "By toying with my emotions and making it some sort of game so you could make sure?"
"I was going to ask you but I thought it'd be too weird. I figured that if I pretended to have feelings for you like you do for me, it would be less awkward..."
"Pretended?" Rose spat. The word was too simple and she almost didn't know what it meant at first.
–Yeah,†Scorpius said slowly. He stood too to give her a hug but she pulled back again. "I didn't think you'd react this way, Rosie. I'm sorry."
"Just leave me alone," she snapped, turning to pick up the things she unpacked only moments ago and made to pass him.
"Where are you going?" he asked desperately.
"Far away from you, Malfoy!" she hissed and then turned the corner bookshelf.
"Oh, come on! There is no need for that!" he shouted out to her. Rose stopped in her tracks and wiped away a stray tear. She turned around and peeked her head around the corner.
"Just so you know, I do like you. Thanks for asking!" she added and then stomped off to the seventh floor. As she passed the library doors her cousin James and the Prefect girl he was best friends with walked right by her. They tried to greet her, but she was too busy sobbing and ran on.
~~~
If there was one thing about girls Addie understood, it was boy trouble. Addie never tried to get herself mixed in with other girls' troubles, but lately she was able to easily relate with them.
"What do you suppose was up with her?" she asked James, having to look up as she strolled beside him. His cousin Rose just ran right by them without saying a word. Not that she could have said anything with the amount of tears and choked up sobs she had.
"Who knows," James shrugged.
Madam Pince came strolling from behind a shelf and didn't look too friendly.
"Make sure you stay quiet!" she snapped before charging off to some shelves to replace books students either misplaced or returned.
James led Addie to the shelf the angry librarian came from and to their surprise, they saw Scorpius Malfoy packing his things up. He too, was very angry looking and shoving books into his bag. If Madam Pince came back right now, Addie knew she would suspend him from ever walking into the library again.
"Malfoy?" James asked, his fists clenched. When Addie noticed the motion she wished to take hold of one of those fists so she could calm him down. It took all of her inner strength to restrain herself from doing so.
Scorpius glared up at them and sneered at the sight of James. "What do you want, Potter? Come to jinx me for that cousin of yours?"
"That explains Rose's crying," Addie whispered to James, standing on the very tips of her toes just so he could hear her. To the best of Addie's knowledge, Rose and Scorpius actually tried to make a friendship work (despite their parents' wishes). She thought they were doing a really good job at it, too, but today said otherwise.
"As much as I'd love to jinx you just for the hell of it, that's not why I came here. I'm here to study. As for Rose, what did you do to her?" James asked curtly. She'd seen him serious before, but the hate he had for Scorpius was growing stronger by the second.
"Look, the way things are with our parents, we can't be friends. You and I both know that. Blimey, even she knows it! She's just too stubborn to admit it!" Scorpius exploded, dropping his bag to the ground and gesturing to where they entered. The books he dropped started to hover from the ground and went out to find their proper spots within the library. The bag, however, continued to float out of the library.
James, who looked about ready to kill, was held back as Addie grabbed hold of his arm and directed her gaze to Scorpius.
"You best get out of here before Madam Pince realises one of her spells has taken effect and traces it to you." Addie’s blue eyes bore into his grey ones until he took her hint and huffed past them. James fidgeted under her grip, but she didn't let go.
They made their way to the table and he threw his bag onto the table. Addie set hers in the chair next to where she would be sitting and glanced up at him. "Careful, or else your bag will do the same thing," she mused and tried her best to infect her smile onto him.
"I don't have any books in there," he barked and then shoved himself into his seat.
Addie, who was not accustomed to quiet, started pulling her own books out and then started up a conversation.
"I can't believe it's fifth year already. Can you believe how much homework they're piling on us for OWLs?" James wasn't into conversation at the moment. He didn't pull anything out of his bag or get up to get any books. "Something on your mind?" Addie asked, giving up and plopping her elbow onto the table to rest her head on her hand.
His fists were clenched again. "Its what he said!" he boomed.
"Shh!" Addie warned, perking up and looking around for Madam Pince before she let him continue.
"Sorry," he rolled his eyes and continued. "Rose and him can't be friends because of their parents? I like their friendship as much as my Uncle Ron does, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go around and end perfectly good friendships because of it."
Addie thought about previous conversations the two of them have had about Scorpius and Rose and bit her lip before she hesitantly spoke.
"In some ways, this is what you sort of wanted isn't it?" James looked at her, his face hard at first, but then he took one look at her innocent blue eyes and calmed down at once. His face relaxed and his fists became flattened palms on the surface of the table.
"Yeah," he admitted. "But you saw Rose! She wasn't crying, she was sobbing! Whatever he did, he didn't let her down lightly."
"Well, to look at his side, she's always been hard to deal with- not that I'm on his side!" she said quickly as James arched an eyebrow at her. He grinned and laughed a little. Feeling the tension breezing past them, she laughed too. "Maybe she just didn't want to take it the light way."
"That's Rose for you," James admitted and then stood to reach for a book he found on the shelf before him.
Addie started writing something about human Animagi when James sat down next to her again and said, "It is weird, huh?"
"Sorry, what?" she asked, looking up from the three words she had written down so far.
"One week into term and they're working us as if we were stepping out into the big wizarding world by ourselves tomorrow!" he laughed, sliding her ink cartridge over to the middle so they could share. He shared a look with her that also told her he would need to borrow a quill as well.
"Honestly," she chided, "what is in that bag you brought?"
"Oh, the usual. The Marauder's Map, the invisibility cloak, my pointed hat, just in case they actually ever make us wear those things again, and a tub of my mum's delicious brownies to share," he winked. Addie beamed and grabbed the bag herself, reaching right over him and his work to get it.
"You should have told me before!" she demanded while she was pulling the Muggle Tupperware container from the brown bag.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he responded, laughing even more as he pushed her away. She knew all too well if they didn't quiet down soon Madam Pince would come over and confiscate the brownies. Food wasn't allowed in here, but his mum made the best brownies ever! She would know, because he had shared them with her many times before. "Who said you could have any?" he teased, pulling the tub away from her.
Addie made a pouting face and placed her hands underneath her chin as if she were a puppy and began to make whimpering noises.
"You know? That's not very productive. You're never going to get your homework done in time if you keep this up!" said James, and he stuffed a brownie into his mouth and closed his eyes as he entered the chocolatey heaven his mum discovered some time ago.
"James Sirius Potter! As Prefect, I am confiscating those brownies from you!" Addie reached over and took the tub from him and stuffed one into her own mouth.
"Five points from Gryffindor for thievery!" he objected.
"Five points for Gryffindor for having a mother that's brilliant in the kitchen!" she said quickly.
"You know," James chuckled, "you just made a woman's rights joke."
Addie's eyes went wide and the brownie she was about to take a chunk out of was frozen inches away from her mouth.
"James, how could you say such a thing!" she cried before throwing the soft, moist brownie in his face. One day, the two would learn to put a silencing charm near them whenever they entered the library. Then maybe they wouldn't be kicked out for having a very messy, but very delicious, food fight by an infuriated Madam Pince.
The dynamic duo were still laughing in the hall once they finished cleaning one another up with flicks of their wands.
"Did you see her face?" James asked and mimicked the librarian by wagging a finger at her as if she were a household pet.
"No, ‘cause I wasn't right there or anything," Addie said as she rolled her eyes and shouldered her bag. "I really needed those books, too," she sighed, the dying laughter still in her voice. "S'pose I'll have to check them out again next week when the essays are already due."
"I'd say sorry if you hadn't started it," James said, nudging her shoulder with his elbow and looking down at her.
"Shut up."
Once they made their way back to the common room, and Rose was nowhere in sight to blubber about the events from downstairs, they relaxed in front of the fireplace. They completely neglected the fact they were even trying to study for their OWLs. When Addie suggested it, James just shrugged it off.
"Eh," he said, "I don't need OWLs to become a Herbologist, do I?"
"You want to be a Herbologist?" She was surprised. James never said what he planned on doing outside of school before, and a Herbologist was not what she expected. "Well, perhaps an O in Herbology would help, but what do I know?"
"Oh, hush up," he pushed her before placing his hands behind his head and relaxing with his feet up. "What do you want to be anyway? Journalist? Auror? High Inquisitor?"
Addie laughed at all of his ridiculous guesses and shook her head. "No. I want to be a Healer."
"Really?" he asked in complete shock. She nodded her head and propped her feet on top him while leaning against the armrest. "Huh, I never would have thought you would be the healing type. Maybe you should be studying for those OWLs now."
"Nah. It's not like I'm going to be stepping out to St. Mungo's tomorrow or anything," she teased.
"Hey, guys!" Will, their other best friend, fumbled in from the portrait and stood behind the red, tattered sofa. "Miss out on anything fun?"
James and Addie shared a look.
"Just studying," Addie said, and then made room for Will to sit in between them.
Seven Years and Counting by ginnypotter19
Chapter Notes: James Sirius Potter! As Prefect, I am confiscating those brownies from you!
Chapter Endnotes: There we go! Honestly, I've never really been terribly happy with this chapter, but I can never find a way to change it to anything better. So I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much. Leave a review to let me know? Perhaps you have better ideas? Can't wait to hear from you!
Gin