"You're quiet today," James remarks to me in Transfiguration, the class where, when Professor McLaughlin announced he would allow us to choose partners to sit next to on the first day, I'd grabbed him immediately for fear of getting stuck with Freddy and Louis again after a disastrous Potions class where we'd been seated alphabetically.
That poor Ravenclaw stuck sitting with Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. I'm surprised she hasn't asked to move tables yet.
"Hmm?" I barely look up from the cat I'm supposed to be vanishing. Normally, Transfiguration is one of my better subjects; today it feels like I'm getting nowhere.
James reaches out and removes my wand from my hand, placing it on our table. "Is everything okay, Carson?"
I sigh, shaking my head. "My mom's divorced again."
"Oh," James says, pausing, and opening and closing his mouth a few times.
"Are you speechless?" I grin. "You are; oh my God," He starts to protest. "Wait, stop, I'm memorializing this moment. Wait 'til I tell the team you were actually speechless,"
"Shut up," James mutters, then in a louder tone. "Seriously, though, are you okay?"
I shrug. "I mean, it's not like I expected this one was going to be the one, you know? Like you get to 19 stepfathers and—"
"Nineteen!" James cuts me off.
"Yeah," I scrunch up my face, sure that I'd mentioned to him before my numerous stepfathers. "Did I not mention…?
"Not that there were 19 of them!"
I giggle at his face. "Whoops!"
"Whoops!" He mimics, flicking his finger against my arm, then beaming when my face morphs into a genuine smile and stays there.
"I didn't like expect him to stick around, obviously, but like she could have told me when it was happening, not two months after the fact,"
"Do you think she just forgot you didn't know?" James asks. "What, with you not living with her anymore?" He hesitates. "Not that that excuses it I mean, but-"He trails off.
I shrug. "Maybe, that'd be her style." His brow furrows in confusion. "She's very into her weddings; she makes a big deal about them. They're all a huge fuss. But the divorces are usually much quieter. So she either forgot I didn't know or just plain didn't tell me when it happened because they don't get enough attention."
The look on his face is a little sympathetic mixed with something I can't quite identify. I almost cringe, waiting for his response. "Wow, you guys don't seem anything alike."
"Nope, not at all," It's probably the best response he could have given and I'm so immensely thankful it wasn't remotely sympathetic.
"So when's the next wedding going to be?"
I grin back at him. "I've got 4 months. Do you want to join the pool?"
"Come here," James pulls me away from Maeve and Lizzie after Defense that same afternoon, where we're standing in the hallway chatting about our Arithmancy project prior to dinner that night. "Sorry ladies, stealing her away,"
"Wait!" Maeve calls.
"Please do," Lizzie says, pushing me closer to him. "Catch up tomorrow, C-Dub," She was vehemently against discussing any school work during dinner hour, claiming we could wait until class to decide what we wanted to do. Maeve's overachieving ways glared both of us into submission.
"Where are we going?" I look up at James once he pulls me away. Everyone's moving in the opposite direction of us, toward the Great Hall for dinner, but he's leading me through crowds of people lower and lower in the castle.
He grins at me, that sideways grin he does when he knows something someone else doesn't. He's wearing his glasses today, too lazy to bother with the correction charm this morning, and honestly they only further the "I know something you don't know" look, but he wears it well. Ugh, it's annoying. "You'll see."
"I'm starving," I whine. "And we're walking away from the food,"
He tickles the pear (the pear) on a portrait. "Are we?"
The portrait swings open to reveal my new favorite room at Hogwarts, their kitchen. My jaw drops and I hear him laugh. "I love you and I take back all the mean things I just said about you,"
He frowns. "What mean things?"
I hesitate. "Did I not say them out loud?"
James cracks up. "Come inside; it's a secret place, we can't stay here with the door open all day."
The inside is just as magical. The house elves praise and fawn over him as we enter and compliment and welcome me as well, sending us over to a table in the corner. One brings us fresh butterbeers and says he'll bring us whatever we want to eat whenever we want it. "I love this place,"
James grins. "I figured you would,"
"Thanks,"
He shrugs. "Thought you might need it,"
I nod. "I—I did. Thanks,"
We bounce a few options back and forth about what to eat before it finally hits me and when it does, it smacks me in the face. "Tacos!"
"Tacos?"
"Tacos! It's Taco Tuesday!" At his look of confusion, I explain the significance of the day. He looks more amused than understanding, and I'm sure he still doesn't get it, but nevertheless he puts in the order for taco fixings and follows it up with a round of margs.
Ok, maybe he gets it a little more than I thought.
Mildly tipsy and stuffed with tacos (but still eating anyway, your girl's got no willpower when it comes to food), I don't even care when James starts talking Quidditch tactics to me.
"Since I never got to it on Sunday," He'd claimed, fixing a chicken taco, before he launches into a scheme he's been thinking about.
"What if Scotty goes under?" I interrupt his musings.
He stops abruptly. "Under," He says, like it's never occurred to him, and then repeats the word, like he's watching how it would play out in his head.
"Yeah, instead of left, which we both know is his weakest; his turns aren't smooth enough yet to keep up but if he dives down and follows along and then does the," I make a twirly motion with my hand, to signify the unsaid rest of James' play, but he seems to get it, nodding along.
"That means you can cut left for the shot then!" James beams, looking thrilled.
"Do all of your plays involve me shooting?"
"You're unfamiliar, with a technique none of us have seen before. Slytherin's not going to know what hit them!"
When Louis and I finally arrive to Herbology, late from our group's disastrous Potions class, we are, for lack of a better term, grumbly, and it's easy to tell. It's by the grace of Lou's family's close relationship with Professor Longbottom (and his friendly, understanding personality) that he dismisses us to our table with little explanation, where James is waiting expectantly, and Maeve looks nervous.
"What happened?" Maeve begs immediately, looking between the two of us.
"Ugh," I say.
"Don't get her started," Lou cuts in.
"James, would you kindly shut your brother-in-law up?"
"We're not brother-in-laws!" Louis cries, as James laughs.
"Well, who's being dramatic now?" I mutter.
"Don't you use my own words against me!" Louis says.
"Are you going to wag your finger at her next, Gramps?" James snickers.
"Shut up," Lou responds.
"What happened?" Maeve asks again. Stuck at the front of the room, she'd heard the commotion, and given me a look as she'd left the room, but she'd definitely been too far away to hear the whole thing go down.
"We had a slight misunderstanding—"
"Slight? I hate her!"
"You don't hate her," Lou says patronizingly.
"Fuck you I don't!"
"Carson!" Maeve cries.
"Sorry, Maeve," I sigh. "Screw you I don't!"
She huffs. "That was not what I was referring to but thank you!" I fight back a smile. So classic Maeve, happy I took back my curse word. "I was referring to the fact that you barely know her!"
"She sabotaged our potion because she didn't like how I got beetle juice!"
"What?" Maeve frowns.
"No!" James cries, looking equal parts scandalized and delighted.
Louis shakes his head. "She started flipping out when C-Dub—"
"Stop, you're not even telling it right!" I shove his arm. "You skipped the whole beginning! So I was supposed to prepare the beetle juice and at Ilvermorny we learned a trick that if you crush them you get more juice than if you cut them. So I'm at my station crushing beetles, talking to Freddy," That gets a smile from Maeve and a snicker from James. "And then she starts flipping out! Nothing was good enough, she stopped stirring!"
"It exploded because of that!" Lou cried. "She caused the explosion."
"I thought you didn't hate her!" I cry.
"I can't help it; talking about it is making me mad again!"
"See, she's the worst!"
"Ah screw it, I agree, she's awful," Lou agrees.
"Louis!" Maeve scolds. "You can't be mean to other students,"
"I wasn't to her face!"
Maeve buries her face in her hands as Lou, James, and I laugh. "I don't know if I can hear about this anymore." She admits. "Because I don't want to know about whatever revenge you're planning."
"That's fair," James says pleasantly. "What would you like to discuss instead?"
A sly grin spreads over Lou's face but things don't click in my brain until a minute too late. "How about we talk about Carson's Hogsmeade date?"
Maeve gasps excitedly and James frowns. "What?"
"JJ asked me to Hogsmeade, but you're telling it wrong again," I shove Lou's shoulder again. "But I didn't want to say yes and then have things go downhill, especially now that you guys are getting along so well with them, so I told him I would only go as friends with a group."
"Carson!" Maeve scolds. "What were you thinking?"
"What?" I cry. "No! I am in the right here! I'm bad at relationships and panic at commitment!" My friends burst into laughter. "I was trying to prevent us from splitting up when I broke his heart. Obviously Tim and Dave would side with JJ and Meg would have to side with Tim. Freddy would be stuck siding with me because our families are too close and Maeve, I'm calling dibs on you, Lizzie, and Vero, because let's be honest here, you three weren't this close with us until I came along," She laughs, but nods. "So that means I get Lou because you two have Head stuff together still. And if I get Freddy and Lou, James will have to choose me too because Merlin knows they can't be separated,"
"Hey!" James protests. "It's not our fault we were raised co-dependently!"
I ignore him. "So that's 6 for me and 3 for Meg, so you give her Liam and Dan and then we're split 5 friends for her and 6 with me and we're a broken unit, houses divided, next thing you know you guys are sneaking holidays behind my back to go see her and then BOOM you're all crying on the floor during spring break because you left your toothpaste at my house!"
The three of them exchange looks. "So this divorce thing really didn't affect you at all huh?" James says.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Maeve asks, worriedly.
"I'm fine it's fine we're good," I brush them off. They look unconvinced. "I just—I told him I would consider it more if we went with a group and got to know each other a little better," Even though, I'm pretty sure, I'm sticking with my original answer. JJ is a great guy and I do like hanging out with him, but I really don't think he's a date for me. "So please, come hang with us?"
"I'll come," Maeve agrees. "And I don't think Vero will be going out with anyone anytime soon so I'm sure she'll go and if Lizzie doesn't have a date she will too but…" She trails off, leaving with words about Lizzie's potential date unspoken
"I don't have a date," Lou says, too casually, definitely excited to have an excuse to hang with Maeve for the day.
I look at James. "Fine," He agrees.
I beam at them all. "You're the best."
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and would love to hear what you think!