Part One Summer Romance

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine. I would be a lot richer if it was…

At Hogwarts I was never the smartest or the prettiest girl. I didn't have a lot of boy friends, or even a lot of girl friends for that matter. But all of that changed one summer.

My parents had always been friends with the Potters. I had been to their house a number of times but I never really talked to James. He was t0… even as a young boy he was always loud, liked to be the center of attention, and caused trouble just by walking into a room.

I wasn't like that.

The two of us barely spoke, even though my home was like his second home and his was mine. When we were at Hogwarts we didn't acknowledge each other. It was like we didn't know each other. We were in the same house and the same year, but it didn't change the fact that we didn't even speak. Actually, the only people who did speak to me were the three girls who shared a room with me. They were my best friends. Lily Evans, Andra Blake, and Laurie Mans.

But then, the summer after our fourth year, things changed. Kind of.

Like usual, my parents and James parents decided to "get the family together." We did this every summer. Either we would spend a week at their house, or they would come to ours. This year, we went to theirs.

I side apparated with mom as she arrived in front of the Potters…house. Very big house. My mom rang the doorbell, and then waited.

The door was flown open only a moment later and Mrs. Potter hugged my mom like they hadn't seen each other in years. In reality, it was about two days.

"Hello Kassie," Mrs. Potter said, smiling down at me for a moment before pulling me against her. I hugged her back softly with a small smile. She pulled away and smiled at me again, before grabbing my mother's arm and pulling her into the house.

I looked at my father, who shrugged and rolled his eyes, and we followed them inside.

As soon as we walked inside my dad wandered back towards the back of the house where Mr. Potter would most likely be found. My mom and Mrs. Potter wandered towards the kitchen and I sighed as I grabbed my bags and walked up the stairs.

I was here so often I actually had my own room. It was on the second floor, two doors down from James room. The room in between the two was a guest room. I walked into "my" room and threw the bags on my bed. The room was exactly like I had left it the summer before. I think the only person in here had been a house elf to dust.

There was still the picture of me and Lily on the dresser and a mass of letters on the desk. When I slid open the closet door, I saw the dress I had worn to a ball a few years ago.

I opened my bags and slowly began to unpack. We were only supposed to be here for a week, but that usually doesn't happen. Most of the time we stay here for half of the summer then we go home and the Potters go with us. Then about a week before school starts, they go home. Then James and I see each other a week later.

I was humming a song to myself as I was unpacking. I was halfway done when I heard the door open. I turned around quickly in surprise and saw James leaning against the wall inside my room. His dark hair was a mess, as usual, and his hazel eyes stared at me behind his glasses. He was handsome, I knew it and so did he. And so did every other girl in Hogwarts.

"Kassie," James greeted.

I nodded to him, wondering why he was here. We usually had one or two conversations during the summer at most. Which was actually more than we spoke during the school year.

"So, how did your school year go?" James asked, moving into my room and sitting on the desk chair.

I felt my eyebrows raise as I looked at his relaxed position."Shouldn't you know? You were there."

James looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment as his hazel eyes flickered around my room. "Yeah well…we don't really…aren't really…"

"Friends?" I put in helpfully.

He glanced at me and frowned, his eyebrows furrowed, before he let a familiar smirk slide across his face. "Yeah."

I let out a small smile, not offended in the slightest, before slowly sinking onto my bed. "The school year was fine. How was yours?"

James smirked and his hand went up to run through his hair, making it messier than it already was. "You don't know?" he questioned, his voice slightly mocking.

I laughed in response. "Of course. Who at Hogwarts doesn't know everything that's running through a Marauders head? Who you're dating, who you hate, who you like… it's all public knowledge," I declared dramatically, still grinning. "But that doesn't tell me how your school year went."

James smirk fell and his eyes studied me for a moment, making me shift on the bed uncomfortably, before he started laughing. "The school year was good," he chuckled. "Had some…interesting times."

I laughed along with him, wondering where this was all coming from. "So," James said, after a moment. I just looked at him, one of my eyebrows raised. He sighed and looked around my room once again. "This is awkward." he said, finally.

I smiled and giggled behind my hand. "I agree with that," I muttered. We sat in silence a few minutes more before James stood and nodded to me once. "Okay, well, good talk," James uttered, walking towards the door. "Talk to you at dinner."

I stared after him, looking at the door as it closed soflty. Then I started laughing in wonder. What was that?

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We all sat at the dining room table that night, my mom and Mrs. Potter laughing over some story, my dad and Mr. Potter talking about work or something, and me and James sitting across from each other at the end of the table. Neither of us said anything, just sat in silence.

Then my mom decided to get involved.

"I don't know what to do about Kassie most of the time," my mom said to Mrs. Potter, thinking I couldn't hear her. "She doesn't talk to anyone. I mean, look at her and James! They're just sitting there. James isn't shy in the slightest, but he isn't even trying to talk to her. I just don't know what to do most of the time. The only people she talks to are those girls, and that Andra isn't the type of girl mothers like their daughters to hang out with."

My jaw tightened. I knew mother didn't like Andra but did she really have to announce it? I shot a quick glance at James and saw him looking from my mother, to me, and back again, his brow furrowed.

I looked back at my mother as she started talking once again, completely oblivious to the fact I was listening to her every word.

"And she won't talk to me," my mother started ranting, "she hasn't told me anything about school. I have no idea about her love life," she began to whisper, "she won't talk to me. I just worry about her. She's in her forth year. This was the year I started dating Richard," she looked at her husband, "but it doesn't look like anything like that is going to happen to her. Not for a long time."

I had had enough.

I stood quickly, the chair making a screeching noise as it scraped across the floor. "Excuse me," I muttered. My mom and dad looked at me, a little shocked, but I ignored it and made my way out of the dining room.

Instead of going upstairs I went outside and sat on the grass, looking at the stars. Why couldn't my mom understand that I wasn't her? I didn't want to be her. I wanted to live my life. So what if I wasn't going to get married right after I graduated? Why would I want to?

"You okay?" A voice asked softly, as a body sat down next to me.

I nodded, not wanting to discuss this. Not now. "Fine."

James smirked slightly. "Sure you are." We sat in silence for a moment, neither knowing exactly what to say, before James let out a deep sigh. "Kassie, your mom is right."

I looked at him, outraged, but James continued anyway. "You don't have a lot of friends. You don't talk to anyone. But she's wrong about one thing," he looked up and our eyes met. "You're that way because you want to be. If you want someone to be around you, they will be." I stared at him, not sure how to respond. His hazel eyes stared into my own and I felt something happen in my chest. It was like my heart had decided to stop beating for a moment. I gasped lightly and pressed my hand against my chest as I shivered. What the hell was that?

James moved closer to me and put his arm around my shoulders, probably thinking I was cold. We just sat in silence, staring up at the stars.