Chapter Ten
Overheard

James was eating with Fred at dinner the following day, still hung up over Alyssa's kiss. Sure, it was on the cheek and probably didn't last for more than half a second. But he could have sworn that his cheek tingled afterwards, sending a small shudder of happiness through the rest of his body.

That had been the moment when he realised he'd never been kissed on the cheek before – at least not by anyone who wasn't his family. He'd never had a deep connection with someone to the extent that he felt he had with Alyssa, and he'd definitely never cared for anyone that wasn't in his family as greatly as he did for her, either. There was something so affectionate about a simple kiss on the cheek, and it had James wondering whether she was beginning to like him back or whether it was just a thing that she did to all of her close friends.

"Hey, boys, can I sit with you?" Lily Potter asked after approaching her oldest brother. "I had a small fallout with the girls in my dorm and I don't fancy eating dinner alone."

"Sure, Lils. Do we need to kick anybody's arse?" Fred asked, automatically turning into the overprotective cousin.

"Nah, these things sort themselves out eventually. They're all just annoyed because I didn't want to eat lunch with them."

"That's ridiculous. Why didn't you want to eat with them though?" James asked.

"Because we were recapping mandrakes in Herbology this morning and I got the dodgy ear protectors and fainted. And when I came around, they decided it'd be funny to mock me. So yeah, I had a go at them and apparently now I'm a bitch."

James looked a little angry. "I know they're your friends, but Merlin, what a bunch of twats. Do you want me to talk to them?"

"I'd rather you didn't," Lily replied honestly, "You have mum's temper, remember?"

"How could anyone forget?" Fred muttered.

"Thanks for offering, though, Jamie."

There was a small silence, filled only with chewing and forks hitting plates before Lily spoke again.

"They put up another Hogsmeade trip on the noticeboard in the common room at lunch."

"Yeah, I saw that, it's pretty rare for there to be a Hogsmeade trip two weekends running…" James trailed off.

"I heard that it's because there's some kind of firework display going on nearby which we're allowed to go and watch. Are you going to ask Alyssa to go as your date this time? It'll be dark and romantic," she added suggestively in a sing-song voice.

"I don't think I'm going to ask her to go at all, to be honest. As much as I want to. I feel like I need to just leave her alone for a while."

"What?" Fred asked, looking genuinely shocked.

"Why's that?" Lily added, mirroring Fred's look of shock.

"Don't get me wrong, I really do like her. A lot. I've just had a lot of time to think and I just feel like all I've done since I met her properly is flirt with her and try to get her attention. I've practically been harassing the poor girl to go out with me. So I'm going to just… stop. Just for a little while, and then tone it down after that, because if nothing ever happens between us, I don't want to lose her as a friend."

"What bought this on? Did you have a fight with her or something?" Lily asked.

"Kind of, but that's not why I'm suddenly being like this. I mean… this is going to sound ridiculous, but I only realised how much I really, truly like her last night."

"Oh god, you didn't fu…" Fred started.

"No! Merlin no! That would be completely disrespectful to her. No offence, mate," He added quickly, remembering the Ingrid situation, "But no, we had a little row and made up pretty quickly and she kissed me on the cheek and it was the best feeling in the world, that tiny, little speck of affection. I've never had this feeling before, not about anybody. I think… I think I might be falling for her."

"Then don't fucking give up now, you idiot!" Lily exclaimed, "If she's finally reciprocating your feelings, even a little bit, now's as good a time as any to ask her on a date already. If she's put up with you being a whiny little bitch for this long, then I'm sure she doesn't mind the constant flirting. Maybe she even likes it. But just don't ruin everything now."

"In your own rude way, I suppose you have a point."

"Of course I have a point, I'm smarter than you."

"Since when did you get so… outspoken?" James asked, finally finding the right word to fit the situation.

Lily shrugged. "I just really like Alyssa. I think you two would be cute together."

"Really?"

"Yes! And I'm glad you met her because she's really changed you for the better. I mean, you weren't exactly a dick before, but it kind of really annoyed me that you had a new girlfriend like every week. And I know you didn't waste five minutes getting most of them into bed with you so I'm just glad that you don't do that any more, I guess."

"Why didn't you talk to me about this before?" James asked, frowning a little. "I would have snapped straight out of it if I knew it upset you."

"I don't know. I just thought maybe you'd get mad at me for butting into your life or something."

"Well you don't need to worry about that any more, okay?" James told his sister sincerely, "If Alyssa ever agrees to go out with me, I'll respect the fuck out of her because she's really special and I'd never want to be stupid enough to lose her."

There was a voice from behind him. "Do you mean that?" asked Alyssa, biting her lip.

Lily grinned, obviously knowing Alyssa was right behind him when he was speaking, and stood up. "We'll let you two talk," she said, grabbing Fred's arm and walking away with him, despite his protests.

"I wasn't eavesdropping on purpose," she added quickly, I was just going to ask you and your sister if you wanted to join us at the Ravenclaw table and happened to hear what you were saying."

James turned around in his seat so he was facing her. Ignoring her explanation, he just nodded. "I meant every word," he replied quietly, gesturing to the empty seat beside him.

Alyssa sat down. "How about we make a deal?" she asked.

"Go on," James encouraged, smiling softly at her.

"Let's have five dates, and if by the end either of us feel like it won't work, then we just carry on being friends."

"Are you serious?" James asked, hardly believing his luck, "Because if you aren't, I will literally be crushed."

"Yes, I'm serious," she smiled, "The only rules are that you do the planning, because I'm really indecisive and therefore suck at it, and you have to at least try to be my friend afterwards in the event of it not working out, because I don't want this to ruin anything."

"Deal. Definitely. You won't regret this, Lyssa, I promise," James rushed, impulsively pulling her into a hug.

Alyssa smiled and hugged him back. "I don't doubt that for a second, Jamie."

At lunch the next day, after James had finally told Lily and Fred what had happened after they left because they wouldn't stop pestering him for details, James found himself sitting with Caroline at the Ravenclaw table to make up for not eating with her and her friends when she'd invited him to – which obviously he couldn't do because of his small row with Alyssa.

"Where is everybody?" he asked her, searching the table as though Caroline was purposely sitting away from them.

"Professor Franks mentioned something in passing during Muggle Studies this morning about the topic we're covering after the project's over, so they're all in the library doing research."

"I obviously wasn't paying attention during that part, then."

"Do you pay attention at all?" she asked, laughing a little. "There was Franks on day one rolling off all that shit about zero tolerance and then all I hear behind me every lesson is you and James chatting! That bloke's all bark and no bite, I'm telling you. Although I think Maya might castrate the two of you if she misses a single detail because she can't hear his monotone over your talking."

"I'll remember that for next lesson. We'll whisper. Anyway, I thought of a plan of action to get Iris to talk to me. I have Defence after lunch with the Hufflepuffs and then Transfiguration with them too, so I have two chances to get my plan right."

"Please do tell me your excellent idea," she said, genuinely seeming interested in what the Gryffindor had thought up.

"Well, when I'm leaving Defence, I'll make sure to leave the room as the person directly in front of her and then trip and fall over. Then she'll help me up and/or check that I'm all right which is when she's very likely to strike up a conversation."

"That's actually a do-able plan. But won't it look suspicious if you fall over in front of her twice?"

"It's okay, I've thought this through thoroughly. Yes, I will be tripping over again, but not until well after leaving the class. It'll have to be in front of her, though, or she of course won't see and I'll just look completely stupid. But after she sees and once again checks I'm okay, I can then joke about having a clumsy day and she'll sure to strike up a conversation that time if she didn't before."

"I'm actually pleasantly surprised, Potter, well done," she said, smiling. "Report back to me at dinner?"

"I will do."

The poor girl was sure to be sick of him by the time the day was over. They'd had double Muggle Studies together that morning, they were eating lunch together and planning dinner, too. There was more than likely going to be some James overload.

Lunch continued, and the duo were soon joined by Alyssa and Maya, who'd entered the hall with some of the Ravenclaw boys.

"James! I didn't know you were eating with Caroline today or I'd have come sooner," Alyssa said, sitting next to him and grabbing a sandwich to eat. "We were just doing some pre-studying studying."

"As in studying for future studying?" James asked, looking confused. "Where do you find the motivation?!"

Alyssa just laughed and ruffled his hair. That's new, James thought to himself, she's never done that before, has she? "So what have we missed?" she asked.

"Oh, not much," Caroline replied, "James was just telling me his plan to find out what Iris-"

Maya quickly silenced them all. "Don't look around, but the aforementioned Iris Moore is headed this way right now," she said quietly, her mouth hardly moving.

"Shit," Caroline muttered, "Why right now? I'm having the worst hair day today."

When Iris reached them, they were all still silent, having forgotten to not look suspicious as she walked towards them.

At the exact same moment, the three Ravenclaw girls and James expressed individual greetings to her as though they'd only just seen she was standing there. That didn't look suspicious at all.

"Hey," she said in return, a little uncomfortably. "Could I possibly steal you away from your friends for a second, Caroline?"

"Uh, yeah… sure," Caroline replied, getting up and following Iris from the hall, the remaining three students watching after them.

"Merlin, she sounded serious," James muttered.

"Yeah," Maya agreed, "I hope she doesn't say anything to upset her."

"Me neither," Alyssa joined in. "I hate seeing Caroline upset. It's just so unlike her that it's heart-breaking."

"I know, she deserves some happiness after the last couple of years," Maya said quietly. "Ouch! Did you just kick me under the table, Lyssa?"

"What's going on?" James asked, "What do you mean after the last couple of years? What happened?"

"That is exactly why I kicked you under the table, Maya. It's up to Caroline to decide who knows what about her life."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know! She and James have become pretty good friends recently, I assumed he knew." Maya looked completely mortified at the situation.

Despite how much James wanted to know what was going on, he just shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll forget you said anything."

"Forget what who said about what?" Caroline asked perkily as she rejoined them.

"Doesn't matter," Alyssa said casually. "Tell us everything?"

"It was definitely a date, she is definitely a lesbian, which you have to swear not to tell anyone else, and we definitely just kissed a little bit."

Alyssa and Maya both made hushed squealing noises of excitement, and James just smiled at her. "That's great, and hey, now I don't have to fake fall over later!"

"What did we miss here?" Alyssa asked.

"I'll catch you up later," Caroline said to Alyssa and Maya's confused glances about James' comment before turning back to the boy in question. "It was a good plan, it's a shame you won't get to use it."

"I'm sure I can recycle it for use someday. We'll have to scheme together again, though, I actually enjoyed coming up with that plan."

Caroline laughed a little. "We will definitely scheme again," she said with a mischievous grin, "Don't you worry."