Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter, I merely play in the sandbox.


Chapter Two – James

Entering my sixth year filled me with more excitement than any other year. There was something special about sixth year. I felt more like a man going into this year.

Everyone told me I was like my Grandfather, James Potter, though I never knew him and can't be sure that I'm really like him at all. Dad always called me a troublemaker, but he'd always said it in a loving way, so I'd never really thought to change my ways.

I'd discovered girls in year four and taken to chasing them like a duck to water. Dad says I must have got my natural charm from Mum. It was always about the chase, never the capture.

Then I met Harmony and it changed. She'd been so sweet and shy when I met her. I felt like a complete dunce when I asked her out, stunned beyond belief that I had never noticed her before. A lot of girls value me for my name of for my parents, but Harmony had seemed different. She wanted to get to know me and not all that extra stuff. Admittedly, the relationship had progressed faster than any other I'd been in but if it feels right, it is right…right?

I moved slowly as Harmony pulled me along in search of a compartment. My mind was still going over what had just happened, and I walked with zombie-like stiffness and I tried to sort through everything.

My sister's outrage I could believe, she didn't exactly like Harmony. They were like chalk and cheese and she'd expressed her dislike over the summer…but I hadn't expected Kaitlin's response. Sweet, kind, Kaitlin who kept her head down and followed others. Why did it shock me so that she had stood up for herself? It wasn't just that she'd insulted Harmony, no, it was more than that. I felt an urge in my body that willed me to smash something, to shout in anger and I'd never got that feeling from Kaitlin before, just as I'd never seen her act that way before.

She had almost looked in pain as she spoke to me and it was an image I couldn't erase from my mind. I couldn't help but think for a moment that I'd done something wrong, but I brushed that feeling away. Kaitlin was just a friend, and really, she was more Lily's friend than mine. I hadn't even noticed her till second year, when I realised she'd attached herself to our group like a limpet. I mean, we were good friends from second to fourth year, but we'd drifted since then. Friends came and went, it wasn't the end of the world.

I'm not going to lie, Kaitlin grew up A LOT during her fourth summer, she came back in fifth year looking like a woman which wasn't hard to notice. Kaitlin had been a good friend, but she wasn't someone I was going to spend my life with and she should be happy that I'd found someone as wonderful as Harmony.

Kaitlin had always been a bit quiet but had been fun to hang around with and was always up for some pranking or general mischief. She used to take it from everybody, but that outburst earlier told me that she wasn't going to take it anymore. I don't know why it bothered me so much when it shouldn't. Kaitlin wasn't anyone special, not really. Besides, I had Harmony, gorgeous, sweet and kind Harmony.

Recently though, if I was being honest with myself, I was starting to see a side of Harmony that I didn't know existed. Our relationship thus far had been full of wonder and amazing make-out sessions, but I couldn't deny that she wasn't mean. I refused to believe that she was bullying Kaitlin though, to be honest I think that was just Lily trying to lie in order to get me to break up with Harmony. It didn't work of course, because I saw through Lily's eyes and Kaitlin would have told me if she was being bullied. Not by Harmony of course, but by someone else.

It was hard to believe that Kaitlin would lie about something like that, but I knew she was. Maybe our friendship had meant more to Kaitlin than it had to me or maybe she was jealous that she no longer had my full attention. Whatever the reason, I found her behaviour to be very petty.

I do sometimes see Kaitlin crying in the common room, which she really shouldn't be doing at 16. She seems so alone in those moments, half of me wants to go and comfort her while the other half stays to the side and watches.

Lily says she has a secret. Lily has always believed that Kaitlin had a secret and she's been trying to uncover it for years, but Kaitlin never budges. It makes me wonder what she's hiding. I also wonder what makes her cry at night and why she never mentions her family. She's a hard nut to crack and I don't understand why I want to find out what's underneath her thick exterior. I don't understand why I want answers now, five years on, when I haven't once cared to ask before. Something about he is puzzling me, and I find myself wanting to know more and yet at the same time I know I shouldn't.

It's maddening. I'm a Quidditch star. I have a hot girlfriend and good grades. I shouldn't be bothering with this stuff but why was I?

"Jamesy, you haven't listened to a word I've said, have you?" moaned Harmony.

Shit, I realised I'd zoned out. If there was one thing I'd learned from being a boyfriend, it was that you should never get caught zoning out when your girlfriend was talking.

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About me I hope," she said with twinkling eyes.

"Yeah," I lied.

"We really need to get you some new friends."

"Excuse me?"

"Your friends are horrid, and you deserve better ones. Why should you slum with them when they don't treat you right? Why should you put up with them when they're mean to me? Especially that Kaitlin girl, she hates me, and I have no idea why…I'm always so kind to her."

Lately, I'd noticed that a lot of our conversations included Kaitlin. I didn't get it, yeah Katlin and I had been close friends at one point, but we rarely hung out nowadays. Surely Harmony couldn't see Kaitlin as a threat, could she? Kaitlin was just Kaitlin. We were just friends.

"Kaitlin's just a friend Harmony."

"But you were always so close, and she looks at you like a lovesick puppy. Are you sure you weren't more?"

I stared confusedly at Harmony, Kaitlin didn't stare at me like that. Mostly she just stared at me with disappointment and that was when she did look at me. Mostly she just avoided eye contact.

"No. There is nothing to it. Kaitlin means nothing to me. She's just a friend. In fact, she's more Lily's friend than mine. I don't really know her anymore."

"Then why do you always hang out with her?"

"I use her for getting homework answers, that's all. It's not my fault she's so blind and stuck in the past. I don't like her at all really."

I heard a distinct thump from outside and couldn't help but think I'd just committed a scandalous atrocity, but as I stared into Harmony's eyes, my world shrunk back to her.