It was an early morning in the first week of September, just after school had started in the busy halls of Hogwarts. Student's searching for friends from the past years, Rushing to their next classes hoping not to be late when their professor got to the room and started class when the sudden screech of shoes jolted around a corner and echoed off the high ceilings. That's when James Potter was seen rushing up the hall's to his Transfiguration class, He knew if he wasn't there in the next few moment's that Professor Lutner would have his ears the size of an elephants. He turned another sharp corner grabbing onto the end of a banister to the stair case and swung himself up the flight his book carrier smacking against him leg with a rhythmic 'Thump. thump, thump' to every step he skipped.
Suddenly their was a clatter of books and bodies and he collided with a small blonde who was trying to make her way down the steps to her class, was now sprawled across the third step of the staircase, going up. She let out a small groan when her back hit the step, half out of pain half out of annoyance as she looked at him with harsh eyes.
James fixed himself so he was leaning on his elbow with the other half of his body laid across a few stairs, bruises would be a sure factor to show on his ribs in the next few day's but at this point in time he didn't care. Looking up his eye's met the person who had been the unlucky contestant to have run into him today. Her eye's were set in a harsh, slightly frightening glare when his eyes locked glances with her. "Sorry," he stammered out as he stood to his feet again looking sprinting up the steps that separated him from her "I should have been watching where I -"
"Darn right you should have!" the blonde called at him as she stood to her feet swiftly bending down to pick up her book's and look back up at him "You aren't the only person in these halls!".
"Yes, I am aware of that but I was running late for class, Professor Lutner threatened to make my ears-" James said trying to calm or reason with the girl so she wouldn't be screeching at him and he could rightfully say sorry, Possibly even get to class only a few minutes late. Until he was cut off "Potter! I have passed you everyday in these halls for the past three years! I haven't once seen you on time!"
The girl was right, everyday since the middle of his first year four years ago he had been late. He had a great reason for it but the thing was if he told anyone, They would contact his mother and he would get a howler from everyone of his family members. Another voice filled the air as he broke out from his short thought and a boy who looked similar to the girl, The same pale complexion , pale gray eyes and blonde hair strode up to the stair's his eyes darting between the girl and James. "Is there a problem here?" he asked, as he moved closer to the girl his eye's burning into James as if he would be happy to hex him if he said the wrong thing. James turned to her again about to defend himself and explain when suddenly the girl cut him off mid sentence.
"Scorpius, I'm fine just get to class before flit.." her voice droned on to the boy as she explained what had happened, surprisingly she made it seem not so bad. Her voice had changed from the semi-freighting yell's to a almost quiet whisper. Her voice even made James who had been secretly freaking out over his being tardy to class and his parent's finding out his secret mid-night travels calm down. Her eye's once boring into him with fury were now calm and peaceful compared to before as if she had put a calming charm over all three of them with just her voice.
Scorpius turned to James and away from the girl "My father told me about you're father…How much trouble he had gotten into his first year's here.." he paused not to think of more to say about Harry Potter, The boy who saved the wizarding world but sacrificing his own life, then coming back to re-join the fight, but so that he wouldn't need to add that in to the lecture he was giving his own school mate. "stay away from my sister." the girl let out another sigh "Scorp-" she tried to say but her brother held up his hand almost to silence her. "Cissa, quiet."
Suddenly those calm eyes were gone again as quickly as they had come and she settled her books in her arms and stormed down the staircase to her next class, ignoring them both in the action. She disappeared around the corner at the bottom of the stair case and around the corner and neither boys eye's left her figure as she walked away. James thought about following her, he hadn't quite figured out why he would want to follow a girl who had just screamed his ear off but he took a step down until a hand was gripped halfway around his arm in a hold.
"I believe you're class is up the stair's not down them." Scorpius half hissed at him through a clenched jaw pulling James up a step until a sudden jolt from James' arm made him stumble back, The force of his pull made Scorpius trip and almost fall if he hadn't been so graceful on his feet.
"You have no bloody right to put your hands on me, Malfoy!" James announced.
"I have every damn right when you're following my younger sister!" he yelled at him and walked closer to him staring him down. "If I even catch you near her again," he begin but then stopped himself seeing a new professor in the school open her class room door and look out at the boys "Shouldn't the two of you be in class right now?" She looked at them both, authority coating her voice as Scorpius moved away from the brunette boy he had been hovering over.
"You are correct ma'am." He nodded half sneering at her with hate." We'll be on our way now." he turned giving one last glare to James before turning on his heels and striding swiftly down the hall past the short witch guarding her silent class of second year students. James turned walking away, He had no intention on attending his transfiguration class today, although, He did intend on seeing the short, blonde, feisty witch whom had made him question just how many of his antics the student's off this school would take from him.
James waited a few moment's making sure Scorpius' footsteps were gone and done echoing off the wall's before he jolted down the step's again and going in the direction the girl had gone 'Cissa' was her name? He thought that is what Malfoy had called the girl. The name clicked in his mind, Possibly from a story his father had once told him growing up and he knit his eyebrows together in thought, Repeating the name over and over in his head until it was but a mere sound. A sigh of annoyance escaped his lips as he turned into another hall stopping to hide behind the wall to his right as a school of sixth years walked by him discussing what they had done over the summer. Out of the few he children he recognized Lysander and Lorcan Scamander, Luna Lovegood and Ralf Scamander's twin son's going on about some journey to search for some crazy thing he would never bother to find out about, with their parent's they went on over the summer and how daring and adventurous it had been. He waited till they were gone to turn the corner again and continue to search for the girl.
It was about a half hour later when James finally got fed up with the constant switching of the stairs and getting mixed up so much that he found himself standing outside the kitchen being offered lemonade by a nervous house-elf named 'Winky' who wouldn't take no as an answer and started to cry about failing her master again until James finally gave in and took it from her with a heartfelt, 'Thank you'. Which then she ran inside semi-happily and he threw the glass out the winder of the school hearing the shards bounce along the roof as it broke. He reached into his bag pulling out an old worn out piece of parchment, whispering the words to show what it truly hid inside "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" The parchment turned into an old map with the still clear words '"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present, The Marauder's map".
Prong's, Had been his father, Harry's father, and the man he was named after, James Potter. Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot had been three of his grandfather's best friends, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. Although only Moony and Padfoot had truly been his friends till death.
James had stolen the map from his father's desk drawer just before his first year at Hogwarts, He had found it sitting in the middle drawer and he couldn't help himself but to take it. He looked down upon it and grinned seeing names of student's wandering the halls, along with a few professors he would rather not run into. He scanned the map for her name, all he needed was the last name 'Malfoy' to appear and he could find her and clear up this whole mess, Piss off her older brother in the process. James' lips curled into a smirk as he looked over the map, suddenly another pair of old drawn shoes started down one of the upstairs hall's with the name "Narcissa I. Malfoy" traveling in small print right behind them. James smirk turned into a grin as he made his way up the staircase, almost getting caught on it while it started to turn before he took a lucky leap over the last step and onto the platform.
"James Sirius Potter!" a girl called out in a thick Scottish accent as she rushed down a flight of stairs onto the same platform he had just jumped to "Are you out of you're bloody mind?" at this moment in time he wished he had just taken a ride on the stairs. "Answer me will you!" Laine Finnigan, his best friend since first year was standing in front of him now with her hands on her hips and her brown hair pushed back into a messy bun. "Laine I would love to stay and chat but-", "James do you -want- Malfoy to hex you? I know where your going and guess what." she raised her eyebrows now crossing her arms over her chest "I'm not letting you leave my sight.". James knew he couldn't easily get by the girl, they were the same height and she was way to many spells ahead of him. She was definitely a tough person to have an argument with "Laine if you love me then you'll let me by." he raised his eyebrows at his best friend.
"If I love you, I will drag you to potions and we will get on with the day and out lives!" she said "and not get involved with the Slytherins!" she pleaded with him and he looked down at the map not seeing Narcissa's name across it any longer he sighed in defeat and looked up to Laine who's brown eye's had a hopeful look in them. "Fine.." her lips flickered into a small grin and she looked to him about to say something before he cut her off "For now." he agreed and some defeat faltered her smile, but she sighed and rolled her eyes turning to walk with him down the hall as he stopped briefly holding his wand to the map and whispering "Mischief managed" to it, watching the same old parchment reappear in his hand, he folded it neatly the way it was before and tucked it between two of the books in his bag. Making his way down the hall to his stubborn best friend.
"You're a pain in the arse" James looked over at her "You know that right?" his eyebrows raised at her questioningly. "If I wasn't one Malfoy's dress shoes would be somewhere unpleasant right now" she said looking over at him with raised eyebrows and a smirk. James took a few minutes to respond unable to think of a playful comeback "Shut up Laine..". bursts of giggles escaped from her lips as she shook her head, her brown locks bouncing around her head she walked into the classroom taking a seat at the right side of the room putting her books down as James sat next to her with his bag, taking out a piece of parchment like everyday and his quill. This was how they continued their hallway conversations, Laine stole the parchment before he could start writing and dipped her quill into the ink and begin to write "You do know, It isn't polite to tell someone to shut up.". "It isn't polite to keep someone from giving an apology," he replied as her ink faded from the page and his reappeared sliding it to her as the lecturing potion's professor turned around to the other side of the class. "You want to apologize?" she scoffed while writing which made him turn and glare to her before trying to peek at the note she continued writing "To a Malfoy? When do you ever chase down a girl to say sorry, better yet a -Malfoy- girl" the note grazed the table and he stared at it for a few minutes before replying with four simple words "I think she's different." Laine looked over once the note was in her hand, the ink fading into nothing as she gave him a look of confusion mixed with some slight shock and looked to her book, not responding the rest of the class. She didn't know what to say to her best friend who never stuck with one girl more than a week. She'd known James for four years now and never had he ever said a girl was 'Different' what the hell did that even mean. She thought to herself as she looked to the professor who was standing at the head of the room droning on about something she had taught herself in the beginning of the week when James had been out doing, whatever he does at night these days and no-one else was around. She was more than happy when the class ended with a short homework assignment on two and half pages of parchment on the subject. She stood up walking towards the exit of the class with James following behind her practically nipping at her heels until they were down the corridor and he walked by her side looking over. "Why didn't you answer me?" he questioned, confused at the lack of her normal wise words, or even her telling him he's crazy. "I truly don't have a response James…" she shook her head scrunching up her face in a sigh as she looked over at him "I think you've gone stark raving, mad" her voice emphasized at the last few words and she looked over at him while walking into the library going to a shelve of books and running her fingers over the old bindings. "Or, you could only have a fascination in her because she is Malfoy's sister and you're father had a rivalry with his father and you two are both to barmy to try and make a truce so you just need more reasons to argue." she looked over at him. "I don't want to make a truce with the prat, I just want to get to know his sister.." He furrowed his eyebrows together while speaking trying to make sense of the words coming out of his mouth, Had he gone mad?. "Maybe you should think about getting him to be able to tolerate you..and I don't think trying to snog or shag his sister is the best plan." Laine made a face of disgust and let out a deep sigh after she spoke.
"I don't want to shag her, Laine!" he let out and exasperated sigh "I already told you she's different from the other girls..". Laine raised her eyebrows "Do I hear the great James Potter the second, eye candy for every girl in Hogwarts to be after." she smirked playfully at him, using a baby voice to finish off her teasing words "Falling for a girl?" leaning on a bookshelf she was grinning wildly at the fact her best friend would ever feel the way she had felt for Lysander last year before they had started dating, and he had constantly mocked her whenever she smiled to him. "Laine if you tell anyone I will personally make you eat slugs." he pointed a finger while he spoke, He should have just kept this all to himself, He sounded like a Hufflepuff saying all this. Laine was right, he was always with another girl by the week why would he want just this one? "Just..forget it." he spat out storming out of the library and towards the Gryffindor common room.
"James, wait!" Laine turned toward him as he ran out going against her better judgment she didn't follow him, If he got more annoyed with her both their temper's could get the best of them. Laine let out a deep sigh pushing off the table she had been leaning, picking up her books and walking out of the grand hall.
It wasn't until she was half-way to the Gryffindor tower when she heard two girls arguing on a lower set of the stairs making her stop on the steps and go silent listening to the two voices the names of the girls automatically filled her mind, Narcissa Malfoy and Zella Zabaini where walking down the steps across from her going down. Her eyes set into a narrow glare as Zella, turned towards Narcissa, her charcoal black hair framing around her mocha skin as she spoke in that harsh whisper she always had while taunting the younger students, never when she was speaking to her best friend. "Narcissa, He's a Potter." her lips turned into a sneer as she formed the name 'Potter' making Laine eyes harden into a glare and quietly wander back down the steps after them. "Maybe he isn't so bad.." Narcissa spoke in a sincere tone "Just because my brother hates him doesn't mean I have to…We could be friends." Narcissa had a sick smile on her face, the kind that when she spoke it made Laine's skin almost crawl, questioning herself if the words she spoke were true or just another sick game. Suddenly Zella stopped walking and looked to her friend almost dumb founded, "Friends?" her mouth formed into a look of disgust "Are you doing this to anger your brother or just give me a heart attack.". Narcissa spun around on her heel and looked to Zella giving her a joking tone only her friend would have understood and smirked a playful smirk "You've figured out my plan, I'm going to use him to piss off my brother and send you to the infirmary. Possibly let Potter think he has a chance with me," both girls started walking again and Zella looked over un-amused with her best friend but unable to hold back a slight chuckle that urged behind her lips.
In more time than they could have blinked the tall, brunette girl was in front of them with her eyes burning into them almost if as she could have melted them into thick puddles on the floor. Quickly as she had come her eye's were strictly burning into Narcissa and she gripped her wand in her hand, pointed at her in fury. Narcissa stumbled back from surprise and the laughter subsided, into the deadly silence of the three girls. "You posh little prick!" she waved her wand at the blonde feeling Zella's eyes glaring at her, Laine could see the wand pointed at her neck and Narcissa had finally pulled her wand out. "Now that you have stated the obvious of what I am, What in Merlin is your problem!" she exclaimed in her normal hateful tone. "Narcissa let's get o-" Zella started until Laine looked at her and called out "Shut your gob, Zabaini!". Zella let an annoyed growl echo out her throat as she fixed her wand straight getting ready to call out 'stupify' towards the brunette when suddenly Narcissa barked out "Zella! Stay out of this!".
Laine looked from Zella to the pale blonde once more "I head what you said about James, If you dare even go near him I won't hold back on trying to feed you to Hagrid's hippogriffs." Laine said protectively of her naive best friend who thought this girl was so different.
"Listen Half-blood, If you weren't butting into conversations you would have never known what I was joking about." Narcissa snapped at her lowering her wand to place her hand on her hip annoyed. "Joking we're yeh?" Laine questioned accusingly at the girl shaking her head "I saw that look on your face." she sent a jab with her wand at her until she felt Zella edge closer to her. "Slytherin's don't know the meaning of joking." with a quick spin of her heel she was turned at Zella "Expelliarmus!" she yelled as Zella's wand flew onto an upper stair case, Laine looked at her "Look's like you dropped something." Zella knew better than to throw a punch at the girl, waiting for Narcissa to send a curse at the brunette until her voice spoke "Zella, go get your bloody wand and learn how to stay out of things will you." her eye's were narrowed as the two shared a glare that would have scared the bravest of Gryffindor before the wandless witch set off with a glare never leaving the back of Laine's head until she was out of sight.
"I wasn't going to use-" Narcissa started her voice was still in a harsh tone but it had lowered slightly almost as if she was ashamed she had said it, more likely ashamed she was caught. "I don't care what you say," Laine snapped at her, at the moment Laine's true colors we're showing and she wasn't that sweet Gryffindor girl that she always was to everyone, she was the girl who hid under the shadow of that one, waiting for the day she would need to surface. "I won't believe you either way, If I just so happen see you even pass James, I will make sure you regret it." before Narcissa could defend herself, the Brunette's hair whipped around her head and she was storming back up from where she had come, her black robes trailing behind her in the action leaving Narcissa alone in the lower hall way's of the school while her best friend was searching for the wand that had been snatched from her grasp. No one had ever spoke to Narcissa in such a challenging tone, not even leaving time for her blood to boil into her own fury and yell how much she didn't care what she said she would do as she pleased. She hadn't been given the time to do that, all she had been given the time to do was stare at a messy bunch of curls as the stormed away from her to tell the boy she had planed on never actually speaking to again every idiotic word that had slipped from her lips. She started to walk down the lonely corrider to the Slytherin dungeons as she thought about how she had watched this boy for the past three years since she had came here run up and down the hall ways to class with or without Laine with a panicked look from being late, or a laugh as an explosion went off with his best friend, the girl who just screamed her ear off, running after him away from the mess and realized she had over looked the feeling of what could have been small butterflies forming in her stomach this whole time. Whenever she had seen him. Was she even supposed to feel like this? Towards any one other than whom her parent's approved? Towards a Gryffindor half-blood? Better yet towards a Potter so much like his father that sometime the teacher's that survived through the year's from Harry's time to theirs, Would call him 'Harry' instead of 'James' only to be corrected by their student's laughs and the realization that this was indeed his son. Narcissa shook her head and sighed hearing the bell for dinner go off, She kept walking to the dungeons as her house mates passed her talking to one another. She was almost to the door when suddenly her brother was at her side "Cissa, It's dinner." He gave her a puzzled look "weren't you and Zella supposed to be headed towards the dinner hall earlier?" he questioned, and she looked at him giving him a weak smile. "I'm not very hungry, I might just head to bed early." Narcissa spoke in a quiet tone she didn't realize she was using until after the fact her brother got a concerned look on his face. Shaking her head she moved past him ignoring his footsteps following her up the hall again and into the common room until she made her way into the girls dormitory and sat on her bed. She truly didn't want to listen to her brothers mouth right now.