Ever since the disastrous Yule Ball in December, James was so concerned with avoiding both Lily and his newly ex-best friend Lysander over the next two months that he completely forgot about the forthcoming second task, and, along with it, the fact that he was supposed to be revising for his NEWT examinations whilst also trying to figure out what the golden basilisk fang meant from the first task.
In fact, as the weeks slipped away and as James began to shun his revision and his friends to an extreme, it took one dismal morning on the 9th of February for Fred and Roxanne to lose their patience and personally sort out their friend for themselves.
"All right, Potter," Roxanne snapped, throwing her rucksack down onto the library table James was sitting at and crossing her arms over her chest. Behind her, Fred glared furiously from behind his long red fringe and mimicked his sister's defiant posture. "You are coming down to breakfast with us and I don't care about any excuses you come up with."
James, his hazel eyes weary and his face pale from having not seen sunlight in weeks, looked up at the twins and managed a faint frown.
"Why?" he asked simply, daring himself not to answer his own question. He knew, inwardly, exactly why the twins were annoyed; exactly why they had sought out his presence and demanded his companionship this morning. He had been so sick and tired of Lily's attitude towards him that when Lysander, half an hour after the headmistress had put a stop to the Yule Ball back in December, dared to suggest that he should accept Lily and Scorpius's relationship and move on, he had lost patience and snapped completely.
Admittedly, James had to give his ex-best friend credit for the way Lysander had refused to rise when he had shouted and screamed at him for his insolence; however, Lysander could be just as stubborn as any Weasley could when he wanted to and had avoided James like the plague ever since their one-sided argument.
Friendless, tired, and completely stressing out about the second task, James had taken to withdrawing to the library with every spare chance he got; he had barely set foot in the Great Hall or Gryffindor common room since December save for the necessary hours of sleep he needed or a solitary lunch, refused to listen to Rose or Hugo's rational words of wisdom about his behaviour and all in all became such an elusive character that many young students were considering calling him a myth and turning his tale into a ghost story to frighten their siblings and friends with.
Needless to say, Fred and Roxanne, both of whom were relatively short-tempered and fierce friends to the end, were not at all impressed when their friend practically vanished off the face of the earth merely days after the Yule Ball came to a close.
It was for that reason they chose to make James see sense before he isolated himself completely from civilisation; after all, Fred had mused a few days before they came to their decision, friends were supposed to look out for each other. True, nobody had been very loyal recently - Lily and James and, more recently, Lysander were unfortunately a standing testimony to this fact.
"It doesn't matter why," Roxanne said scathingly, eyeing James up and down and marvelling at how thin he had become. She then privately wondered whether this was caused by the Triwizard Tournament – since Dominique Weasley was, truth be told, very thin herself – and whether it was contagious. "The point is, people – especially Triwizard champions, who are supposed to be brave – do not abandon life just because their sister and best friend are rightly annoyed by their behaviour."
James took a while to process this; once he had, his eyebrows knitted together and his hazel eyes shone with anger. Roxanne did not care for this - she was so pleased her friend was showing any sign of emotion she probably wouldn't have minded if he'd punched her.
"You think they're right to be annoyed with me?" he cried, standing up so fast the table wobbled on its weak legs and Roxanne's bag almost tipped onto the floor.
Throwing out a hand to stop his sister's rucksack from emptying its contents all over the stone floor, Fred looked up at his friend soulfully from under his long red fringe.
"None of you have a right to be annoyed," he said wisely, "but there are faults on all your part. It's not up to you to decide who your sister dates, nor -" he stressed, as James showed signs of arguing "- is it acceptable for either of you to hold a grudge over something that happened months ago between Scorpius and Rose. Lysander had the right idea when he told you to accept Lily's relationship and move on. He didn't deserve to be yelled at for that."
James stared at Fred for a long moment, as did Roxanne. It was very unusual for either of the Weasley twins to be fazed by something enough to actually offer helpful advice – the last time in James's memory that either of the twins had attempted to guide a fellow student was with a Hufflepuff fifth-year called Mark sometime in November when they had suggested to him and his friends that they help blow up the third-floor corridor. Needless to say, their advice was not well received. Still, James felt very touched that the twins would use their time and effort to seek him out and at least try to make him see sense.
"Fine," he said heavily, picking up his books and inwardly feeling a rush of warmth towards the twins as they cheered loudly, "I'm coming. But I'm not sitting anywhere near Lily, Lysander, or …" he paused, searching for another name to finish his sentence, "Scorpius Malfoy."
Since the latter was in a completely different house to James, the twins were not altogether too worried about the two boys sharing breakfast. As it was, Fred happened to know for a fact that Scorpius Malfoy was going to be spending the morning shut up in the hospital wing with two fellow Slytherin fifth-years, all of them sporting rather fetching hairstyles made out of octopi tentacles, something for which Fred, Roxanne and Lysander all claimed credit.
Fred, of course, saw no reason to trouble James with the twins' early-morning escapades; with an unusual bout of empathy Fred had previously sworn to his two comrades that none of them should speak of the incident in the near future. After all, he had explained, Lily would not be too happy at all, finding out her boyfriend had been the target of a Weasley-Scamander prank. She would then blame James, and all of them agreed on the fact that James simply had quite enough on his plate to be getting on with at the moment.
"I can't believe I'm crazy enough to do this," James hissed under his breath as the twins led him into the Great Hall seven minutes later. Roxanne turned around to scoff at him, her eyebrows raised and her hands on her hips.
"Oh, for the love of Voldemort," Roxanne then muttered, getting side-tracked as a group of first-years halted right in their tracks to stare open-mouthed at James. "Jamie, you've eaten breakfast in the Great Hall pretty much every day for seven years. And stop your staring!" she added to the first-years, causing them all to scurry away with fright.
Fred and James smirked together as Roxanne stomped away to the Gryffindor table, her expression so irritated that she scared away a quartet of third-years without even saying anything, leaving a nicely-sized gap ready and waiting for James and the twins to sit at.
"Bet you've missed eating a proper breakfast, eh?" Fred said with relish, grabbing a huge stack of toast and spreading butter and jam liberally on each slice. James, his mouth already full of fried mushrooms and bacon, murmured his assent before tucking into a large plate of scrambled egg. Out of the corners of his hazel eyes he noticed Lily and Hugo both sitting together, their heads close and their faces tense. Hugo's arm was around Lily's shoulder.
James felt an unexplainable rush of jealousy towards Hugo; after all, he had always thought of himself as the one who was there for his little sister, but now that both of their worlds had been shaken up, it appeared that Lily was now confiding more than ever in her childhood friend and cousin. This he accepted - after all, he was in no position to talk to his little sister about whatever it was that was bothering the pair of fourth-years - but it still pained him.
As for Lysander, who the twins claimed had been hanging around with a large gang of Hufflepuff seventh-years ever since James has shunned him, he was sitting ten feet away from Lily and Hugo on the Gryffindor house table next to a sixth-year called Jack Newton. As James eyed the two boys Lysander looked up and caught his gaze.
Eyebrow raised and grey eyes calculating, Lysander stared at his ex-best friend for a long while before sighing heavily and getting back to his breakfast.
James was hit with a sudden, inexplicable rush of fury.
"He's such a loser," he muttered, and the twins even stopped eating to look up at James.
"Who is?" Roxanne asked him, staring around before her brown eyes settled on Lysander's slightly pink face. "Oh. I see."
The twins then shared an identical look of amusement before Roxanne, throwing her layered red hair over her shoulder, picked up a reasonably sized boiled egg and threw it right at Lysander.
The egg bounced directly off Lysander's head before it came to a rest at his elbow. Lysander looked up. James and Fred both tried to pretend as though they hadn't seen what had happened, but Roxanne swung a leg over the bench and faced Lysander full on.
"Come on, Scamander," she said, softness creeping into her playful tone. "Come and join us."
Lysander Scamander, however, did not appreciate being hit by boiled eggs.
With the eyes of half of the Gryffindor table upon him now (he refused to look anywhere near Lily), Lysander picked up a slice of buttered toast from his neighbour's plate, took aim, and lobbed it through the air.
Fred shrieked as the toast hit him in the eye – unlike Roxanne, Lysander did not have a very good aim. Lysander ducked, blushing right to the roots of his sandy blonde hair; Fred, however, threw a fried tomato back in his direction and accidentally hit Jack Newton. The tomato splattered all over Jack's robes; the Gryffindor sixth-year stood up, shaking tomato juice off his body, and hurled an entire plate of bacon back at the twins.
Chaos ensued.
Amidst various yelled phrases of "Food fight!", James and the twins all leapt up, grabbing cereal bowls to protect themselves from the oncoming rain of breakfast from a large gang of brutal-looking fourth-year boys who had chosen that opportunity to stand next to them; Lysander and Jack Newton teamed up with Molly Weasley and the trio threw large oranges to the Ravenclaw table, the oranges bruising a few Ravenclaws heavily whilst Rose and Helena Davies flung cornflakes at jeering Beauxbatons boys; Lily and Hugo jumped onto the table and were using their wands to levitate a large steaming vat of porridge all the way down to the Slytherin side of the Great Hall; and Albus, his raven black hair pushed back from his face, had taken this opportunity to show off his juggling skills with three bananas, a medium-sized apple, and a jug of pumpkin juice. Unfortunately, Albus was not getting the attention his actions desired: even first-year Hufflepuff girls were paying more attention to the food fight than they were to the middle Potter child.
"Heads up!" Fred yelled, pitching a dish of scrambled egg across the Hall. It landed with a splat over a huddle of Durmstrang students, who let out strangled lines of swear words after their blood red robes got covered in egg.
"You'll pay for that one, Weasley!" one Durmstrang boy roared, lunging towards the Gryffindor table and accidentally knocking a string of students onto the floor in the process.
"I don't think so!" Lily sang, grabbing Hugo's hand and racing towards the Durmstrang boy. Knocking him flat with a simple blow, Lily turned back to Fred and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Thanks, Lily!" Fred cheered, picking up a ladle and using it to ward off oncoming baked beans with the apt aim that only a Beater could muster up. Roxanne hastened to do the same as the onslaught grew; James, on the other hand, momentarily forgot his dispute with his sister as he clapped Lily on the back and punched a fist into the air.
"Beating up a Durmstrang boy! I'm proud of you, Lee!"
There was a moment's awkward silence as both Lily and Hugo stared at James, both clearly unimpressed.
Hoping to avoid another row, Hugo threw an arm around his cousin and dragged her away, but not before Lily could hiss a few curses and insults under her breath to her eldest brother.
Meanwhile, Lucy Weasley screamed as she got covered in fried egg; Jack Newton crawled to safety under the Hufflepuff table; and Lysander chose that moment to pick up a bowl of cornflakes and throw it with such force that it flew across the Hall and landed on the Ravenclaw table, covering a gaggle of Beauxbatons girls – amongst them Dominique Weasley – with soggy cereal.
"Watch out!" he then warned, as a yell came from a Beauxbatons student and a dish of butter came whizzing in the air towards the Gryffindors, which James caught blindly with the precision of a Seeker. Jack Newton, still under the Hufflepuff table, was using Molly Weasley's eyes to commentate loudly on the state of the distress.
"And a direct hit from the Beauxbatons champion, Roxanne screams, Lysander starts defending Lily … tense stuff this, folks, very tense – oh wait! There's a late arrival into this battle of food and willpower … yes, it's much-loved Durmstrang headmaster Pyotr Vulchanov swooping down the Great Hall … ooh, he doesn't look happy!"
Pyotr Vulchanov, indeed, did not look at all impressed with the state that the Hall was in as he swept towards the empty High Table and faced the students. His black eyes glittered with malice as a piece of toast landed in the open hood of his robes, thrown by a Hufflepuff fifth-year called Mark.
A few of the younger and older students turned obediently to face him, but the fourth- and fifth-years, by a majority, battled on.
"All of you stop fighting now!" Pyotr Vulchanov roared, removing the toast from his hood, but his words had next to no effect on the students.
An accumulation of sixth-year girls were trying and failing to repel the flying food using Shield Charms; James, his red hair dangling over his glasses, recklessly sent a pitcher of pumpkin juice soaring through the air – it hit a small boy in the head who was immediately knocked out cold; Lily, Lysander and Hugo were laughing breathlessly as they sat out and watched the display; Jack Newton, however, was still under the table commentating.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Pyotr Vulchanov bellowed, throwing silence over the students as quickly and easily as if it were a cloak.
"Oh boy," the Weasley twins murmured together, as the Durmstrang headmaster marched down to the centre of the Great Hall and surveyed the mess. Vulchanov's thin lips curled into a sneer as he observed a Slytherin boy in a headlock.
"When I find out who did this …" he began, his unspoken threat lingering in the air. Almost unconsciously, all eyes turned to James, who let out a splutter of indignation.
"It wasn't even me!" he yelled, his voice piercing the silence like a knife. But Pyotr Vulchanov didn't care. Any confession – silent or otherwise – was enough for the Durmstrang headmaster to punish the Hogwarts champion.
"Fabulous," Vulchanov drawled, although it really was anything but fabulous. James gulped as Vulchanov's dark eyes scanned the Hall, picking up on Lysander's messy robes, the twins' humorous smirks and Lily and Hugo's porridge-splattered shirts. "All of you with a surname of Potter or Weasley or …" he eyed Lysander, "Scampy, stay behind. The rest of you – get rid."
The students moved as one to the oak doors, pleased and relieved to be off the hook, all of them looking forward to a hot shower to get the mess off their robes and faces, but a few were causing a little more of a complication than was absolutely necessary.
Helena Davies, for example, was standing loyally by Rose Weasley's side; the latter of whom was loudly ranting Albus about how they were Prefects and should not be incriminated for something that was not their fault; Lucy Weasley was close to tears, leaving a Hufflepuff fifth-year named Mark (whose surname was certainly not 'Potter', 'Weasley', or 'Scampy' and therefore should not even have been there) to stay and comfort her; and Jack Newton had remained behind to argue Lysander's case, who was audibly protesting to Pyotr Vulchanov that his surname was not, by any means, 'Scampy' and was, in fact, Scamander.
Lily and Hugo, on the other hand, were sitting quietly in a corner of the Great Hall, their heads bent together as they talked about something that was of clear importance. Dominique Weasley was muttering darkly with a group of Beauxbatons friends, who patted her on the arm comfortingly before leaving her to suffer through talking to the Weasley twins about serious matters. She was not having much success.
"This is ridiculous!" Lysander was saying in outrage, as Pyotr Vulchanov insisted for the twentieth time that his surname was 'Scampy'.
"Quite right," the latter sneered, turning away with a swish of his robes and noticing the mass of students that had remained behind. With a look of contempt to each of them in turn, he sorted them all out into three groups, innocent bystanders included.
Lily and Hugo were not impressed when they were split up, nor was the former especially when she was put in a group with James. Hugo, however, was placed in a reasonably sized group with Mark-the-Hufflepuff, Lysander and Molly Weasley.
Lily threw him a glance as she stood between James and Jack Newton, looking thoroughly miserable and not as though she would enjoy whatever Pyotr Vulchanov had in mind.
Admittedly, Hugo mused, as his bright blue eyes darted from his sister Rose to Albus, from Lily to Lysander and Dominique to Molly, neither did anybody else.
The only two who seemed to be enjoying the drama were Fred and Roxanne, who had taken it upon themselves to stand behind Vulchanov and mimic his words with large, raucous movements that made many students laugh.
"All of the students in this room," Pyotr Vulchanov began, ignoring the Weasley twins and instead surveying James and Dominique frostily, "are to clear up this mess. Any complaining –" he added quickly, as James started to protest "– and I will personally escort all of you up to Professor McGonagall's office."
There was a collective groan, but the students began to move as one to the edges of the Great Hall, pulling out their wands and half-heartedly repairing broken plates or Vanishing spilt eggs.
Hugo and Lysander set to work with cleaning the walls, all of which were splattered with a strange mixture of tomatoes, milk and baked beans. The former hummed as he worked, secretly pleased that he could be alone with Lysander – he knew full well it was an opportunity to quiz the seventh-year boy, and Hugo was not the kind of person to miss an opportunity.
Lily, Dominique and Rose had all teamed together to get rid of the majority of the rubble that littered the Great Hall's floor, but every time they cleaned one section of the Hall, Fred, Roxanne and, surprisingly, Albus 'accidentally' spilt some more mess from the mountains of dirty dishes they were carrying out of the Hall and down to the kitchens.
"Oops-a-daisy," Albus said cheerily, as a platter of toast came crashing to the floor at Rose's feet. "My, I am clumsy today."
Rose glared at her cousin, her bushy red hair hanging over her eyes as she knelt down and began to scrub the cold stone floor.
"Watch it, Al," she said through gritted teeth, privately feeling that her favourite cousin was having a lot more fun than he ought to – after all, he was supposed to be a Prefect. "Or I'll tell your girlfriend Helena about that time when you were three years old, in the bath, and you single-handedly caused your ceiling to explode."
Albus's vivid green eyes widened from behind his glasses; pushing them up his nose, he skittered away, muttering to Fred and Roxanne to stop their fooling around before they got into more trouble.
Smirking and feeling a strong sense of accomplishment, Rose turned back to her work; almost subconsciously humming the exact same tune that her younger brother was just moments before.
