Thank you again for all the likes and followers, it's good to know you guys are enjoying the story. Sorry that I am so rubbish at updating!

Detention

James stepped tepidly into the library. It had never been his favourite place, too gloomy and serious, and after a great many detentions there he had come to actively dislike being there. It's only redeeming feature in James' opinion were the huge amount of secret passageways that crisscrossed through it. Unfortunately, teachers had come to sense James' dislike of the place and took a great pleasure in assigning his detentions there.

He stepped up to the desk only to be greeted by a frosty look. Madame Pince, the new librarian had only been at the school since August, yet already treated him with a sense of suspicion that was, in James' opinion, somewhat uncalled for. It was a shame, James reflected, because she might actually have been quite good looking if she only smiled.

"Potter, I see you're back," she greeted him snidely, "and you almost managed a whole week away this time."

"Well Irma, you know how much I enjoy this time we have together," he responded cheekily. The only response the stern librarian afforded him was a raised eyebrow and roll of the eyes.

"Take a seat Potter; you'll be disappointed to know that Black won't be joining you today. Professor McGonagall has requested his presence personally today." Pince said, still unsmiling as she handed him a large book. "Professor Rookwood wants you to write up chapters 1 to 6."

James took the book, smiling as he imagined Sirius' displeasure at being stuck in a classroom with an irate Minerva McGonagall. Positioning himself at the back of the hall James started to prepare for an hour long nap before noticing a new figure entering the hall, Narcissa. As she turned to scan the rows of chairs he caught her eye and beckoned her over.

"What're you doing here Black?" He asked as the Slytherin princess sat in the desk next to him.

"I hexed Snape, so Slughorn gave me detention," she sighed. "He said it was a good curse just that he couldn't let it go unpunished."

"Snape?" James laughed, "Brilliant, what happened…wait are you studying in detention?" He asked as he noticed the textbooks she was starting to open.

"Yes, some of us need to study for the transfiguration test tomorrow. What do you normally do?"

"Sleep…or talk to Sirius," he admitted. "None of the teachers actually care if you write out chapters 1 to 6 of whatever book takes their fancy."

"Professor Slughorn said I should take the opportunity to study."

"Huh…my last detention with Slughorn he made me organise his supply cupboards. Not fun, especially when some of his ingredients had broken out of their jars."

That made her laugh. "Was that the time you turned up to the room of requirement covered in flobberworm mucus?"

"Sadly enough, no, that was your lunatic cousin trying out a new prank." James replied. "So talking about the room of requirement, we still on for tomorrow night?" He smiled, since discovering the room they had been making ample use of it. James still felt a twinge of guilt over the fact that he hadn't shared its existence with his friends, but figured he would tell them about it eventually.

"Yes, of course, it's the last time we'll have a chance to see each other before the Christmas Holidays."

"I thought you were going to try and sneak away and come visit me over Christmas?" James asked, he had been looking forward to seeing Narcissa out of school, away from any pressures or judgemental students.

She rolled her eyes then "I don't know, we're having some massive family thing, the Lestranges are coming over as well, didn't Sirius tell you? It's my Aunt Walburga who's organised the whole thing."

"The only thing Sirius ever says about his family is how much he hates them and can't wait until he's old enough to escape," although it would explain why Sirius had seemed even more depressed than usual over going home over the holidays, James reflected.

That, unexpectedly, caused Narcissa to laugh not the reaction I had expected. "He's going to hate it even more this year if he thinks our family is bad. The Lestranges are a bunch of Voldemort loving nutjobs…and my sisters marrying one of them." The last words came out as almost a whisper.

"Not Rabastan surely? I heard he was kicked out of school for…" He wasn't sure how to finish that sentence, the rumours around Rabastan Lestrange's expulsion two years ago had varied, but all had one thing in common, that he had assaulted a female student. James still wasn't sure how he hadn't ended up in Azkaban.

"No Rudophus…he's better looking and not quite so crazy," Narcissa muttered. "It's all about family alliances now; my parents think it's important for us to align with the more powerful families so that at the end of this war we are in an appropriate position of power," she said rolling her eyes at that last part.

That gave James a pause, although he was as pure blooded as Narcissa, he was sure his family would never be considered acceptable to the Blacks. His parents had made their anti-Voldemort sentiments more than clear over the past few years and they had many links to muggle born wizards and witches in the community.

"Would they disown you as well, if they knew about me?" James asked. He had never really considered it before, perhaps having been too caught up in the whirlwind of the romance.

"No, I don't think so. They wouldn't like it, but they wouldn't disown me." She said it with a confidence that surprised James, suggesting she had given it some thought, which he realised with a jolt, she probably had.

The end of detention was signalled when an irate Madame Pince slammed a large spell book on his desk, breaking James out of the daydream he had been having about winning the quidditch world cup. "Potter have you done any of the work Professor Rookwood assigned?" She screeched. No James thought to himself, the new defence against the dark arts teacher had failed to check any of his previous detentions, why would she start now.

"Isn't that it on the floor over there?" the voice of Narcissa Black interjected, pointing to a pile of parchment on the floor between them.

"Eh….yeah….it must have fallen off my desk when I was thinking about something else." James replied scanning quickly over the documents as he lifted them onto his desk. "Do you want to read them?" He asked the prickly librarian, holding out a large bundle of parchment."

"No that will be fine Potter," the older woman retorted before moving on to another victim.

As they slowly walked out of the study hall James handed the notes back, "thanks Narcissa, what is this anyway?"

"It's my notes from defence against the dark arts; I dragged them out my satchel when you started drooling over your book. I didn't want you getting detention tomorrow as well and ruining our date."

"I wasn't drooling, but thanks anyways you had my back." James said as he grabbed Narcissa and pulled her into an empty aisle.

"Well it was for somewhat selfish reasons," she replied before he kissed her thoroughly.

Until a polite cough broke through the silence.

Startled the pair of them broke apart, spinning around to face an amused looking Remus Lupin.

"Very subtle…aren't you two trying to keep this a secret?" He asked, still smiling.

James could feel himself shifting around, trying not to look quite as guilty as he felt, "Got…caught up in the moment I guess."

"Who knew detention could be so…romantic?"

"He's right," Narcissa interrupted, "We should try and be more careful."

"We are careful 'Cissa, don't worry so much."

"You asked about Snape, why I hexed him? I think he knows something's going on. He kept making jokes about me being a Gryffindor lover and not belonging in Slytherin. He was bugging me, I told I belonged there more than a half blood like him. Slughorn got there just in time to see me hex Severus, but didn't see him try and hex me minutes before that."

James paused; he had always known things would be difficult if more people knew about their relationship, events like this only reminded him of it.

"I hope it was a good curse then," Lupin interjected, "Snape deserves it."

And with that the topic suddenly lightened, shifting to Severus Snape's many flaws.

"Moony, were you looking for me earlier on, or did you just happen to interrupt us by chance?" James asked as the three of them started to walk out of the library

"I was looking for you, you idiot, remember you promised to quiz me before this transfiguration test tomorrow."

"…Oh…right."

"Have you studied for this test at all James?" Narcissa asked him, suddenly sounding far too much like Professor McGonagall for his liking.

"Didn't you know, James never studies for anything." Remus responded whilst James was beginning to feel somewhat uneasy.

"I do study, I just don't make such a big deal about exams."

"And yet you consistently get 'Oustandings' in all our exams, so annoying," Narcissa teased.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Remus agreed.

James didn't know quite what to make of it, but he couldn't help but be glad that Narcissa was able to get on with his friends so well.

"Anyways, I should go, I'll see you tomorrow for our transfiguration test," Narcissa said, a knowing smile on her face before she turned to walk into the crowd of students milling around outside the library.

"Still cannot believe you're dating her," Remus said.

"Neither can I," James agreed, "now, we need to figure out what to do about Snape…"