It had been three days since Rose had deduced James was no longer under the influence of a love potion and during those three days James had become increasingly more and more evasive of the subject of his problems. He was continuously thinking up excuses to not study with Scorpius and when he wasn't doing that, he was avoiding speaking of Scorpius altogether. He simply couldn't come to terms with the fact that he'd been an absolute and had no one to blame but himself.

And in those three days, James had reverted back to his old self.

"Hello, Gina," he said, sitting down at the Hufflepuff table with a grin. Gina's giggling gaggle of girls quickly made room for him at the table, all speaking in excited hushed whispers. James hadn't spoken to Gina since he had told her he was thinking about asking someone else to the Graduation Ball. Of course, now that James was firmly avoiding Scorpius, he had decided it was probably best to make amends. The potion wasn't there to make him say stupid things and besides, Gina couldn't possibly have found someone better than him to go with anyway.

"To what do I owe the honor?" Gina asked, not looking at James at all. Dinner was just finishing up and everyone was now scooping delicious desserts onto their plates.

"Well," James began, pulling an empty plate towards himself and putting a slice of blueberry pie on it. He didn't really want it, however. He hadn't eaten much in the past few days and he found himself often without an appetite. "I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to accompany me to the Graduation Ball?"

It was probably a stupid thing to ask, since he had already told her that he had no intention of going with her. And she didn't seem to approve of the question, since she turned to face him with her chin in the air and her jaw set in a firm look of dislike.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Gina said, looking more than a little miffed at James' audacity. "I am fairly certain you told me you had someone else in mind."

James swallowed. Well, it was true he had said that. But he'd been under the influence of a love potion. Of course, he still had that someone else in mind but he was determined to put that far out of his head. It wasn't as though James had completely lost interest in girls, either, so it wouldn't be so horrible as to attend the Ball with one of them. He still thought Gina was the prettiest girl in their year.

"Aw, Gina, don't be like that," he said, swinging one leg over the bench seat so he was completely facing her. There were titters around the table from the girls and James found himself increasingly annoyed with them. He had never really minded before - and had, in fact, enjoyed causing this sensation around the table. Now he was rather fed up with it. "You know I was just teasing."

Gina turned abruptly, no longer facing James.

"The funny bit of it is, James, is that I don't believe you were," Gina said but she didn't sound very sorry about it. James was a bit surprised by the reaction, since she didn't look at all upset. "In any case, I'm going with someone else."

"Oh," James said. He wasn't entirely sure how to react. If it had been a week ago, he would have been incredibly jealous and would have persisted until Gina agreed to attend with him. However, he didn't feel quite up to the challenge of deducing who Gina would be going with and how to get her to go with him. It just seemed like all too much work for something he didn't really want.

James glanced around the table and his eyes landed on one of Gina's friends, who probably would have been just as pretty as Gina if she hadn't had a ridiculous fondness for wearing far too much makeup.

"What about you, then?" he said, putting on his most flirtatious and handsome smile. Whether or not it was genuine was beside the point. "How would you like to be my date for the Graduation Ball?"

James was slightly gratified when she giggled and nodded excitedly. He glanced at Gina, expecting her to look jealous or, at the very least, angry. But she didn't. She simply shook her head and looked disappointed. She wore that disapproving look that Molly was constantly giving him. He decided it was probably best to get as far away from that look as possible.

"Adieu, ladies," he said, pushing himself out from the Hufflepuff table and bowed before dashing off towards the Gryffindor table. He plopped himself down into his original seat beside Fred. Albus and Rose sat across from him. Albus kept looking between the Hufflepuff table and James, as though trying to deduce what had just transpired, but since he was not nearly as smart as Rose, he couldn't figure it out. Rose, however, looked incredibly upset and condemning.

"What was that about?" Fred asked, speaking through a mouthful of pie.

"I was asking Gina to the Ball," James said with a shrug. He idly thought of the blueberry pie he had abandoned but decided not to take another since he hadn't really wanted it in the first place. And now, especially, he felt a lack of desire for any sort of food. "She said she found someone else to go with."

"What did you expect?" Fred said with a laugh.

James shrugged again.

"So, who are you going to go with?" Albus asked, though he looked a little sour. He probably suspected the answer was to be his mortal enemy.

"Uh, that girl there," James pointed towards the Hufflepuff table and Rose scoffed.

"Do you even know her name?" Rose asked, folding her arms over her chest. James studied the girl at the table. He knew it started with a V. Victoria? Valerie?

Fred laughed at James expression.

"It's Sara, mate," he said with a nudge. Not even close, James thought. What did it matter anyway? "She's only been in love with you since first year."

James looked at Fred curiously. "I never noticed."

"You were too busy chasing after Gina's skirts," Fred answered, but there was a curious look on his face. He seemed a bit put off by this topic of conversation, which James found strange since Fred had never objected to talking about girls before - and he'd never seemed bothered by James deplorable memory, especially when it came to the female student body.

"This isn't right," Rose said suddenly, standing up and pushing her plate away. "You shouldn't play with people's hearts, James."

"What?" James was surprised by Rose's reaction. She glared angrily at him. "I'm genuinely interested."

"You shouldn't mistreat people just because you're having some difficulty," Rose spat at him. Both Albus and Fred seemed equally stunned. "Least of all yourself."

And with that said, she stalked away.

James had taken to the library with his Transfiguration homework, dreading any sort of run in with Rose. He was thinking about what she had said and about the girl he had asked to the Ball. He hadn't even known her name and had never looked at her twice. He'd only asked her because she'd been there. If some other girl had sat across from Gina, he'd probably be taking her. It hadn't mattered to him who he'd asked, as long as they had been female.

He groaned and set his forehead against the open pages of his textbook.

"Having some problems there, Potter?" came an unfamiliar voice and James looked up. "I hear you're dreadful at Transfiguration."

James was more than a little surprised to see that dark-skinned friend of Scorpius standing before him, along with Viola at his side. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What on earth would they want with James? He'd only officially met Viola once and he didn't even know who this other boy was.

"Of course, you might be less dreadful if you actually went to the tutoring sessions Professor Harrow set up for you," Viola said, her head tilted as she looked down her nose at him. He felt as though he were a bug being placed under a magnifying glass. The boy and Viola took the empty seats across from James. "Scorpius was quite willing to help you out, but I doubt you care much about that."

"Look," James said, sitting up a tad straighter. "Scorpius is a nice fellow, but..."

"So the potion wore off, did it?" Viola snapped suddenly. "And now you're back to being an enormous ponce, is that it?"

James blanched at Viola's accusations. Scorpius had obviously told Viola, and probably this other fellow, about James' situation. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or not, though he found that he didn't care as much as he thought he should. Viola was Scorpius' best friend, after all. Why wouldn't he tell her? Fred and Rose and Albus knew and this involved Scorpius just as much as it involved him.

"Yes, I suppose that's it," James said, unable to say much of anything else. Why would Viola care anyway? He couldn't see why they would be bothered that he wasn't haranguing Scorpius anymore. Viola's tiny hands turned into fists.

"Don't bother, Vi," the Slytherin boy said, with a roll of his eyes. "He's not worth it."

James wasn't actually as annoyed by this comment as he should have been. He actually agreed with it.

"That's not it at all, Eddie," Viola barked before turning on James. He vaguely felt as though someone had unleashed an angry pomeranian on him. "He may not be worth it, but Scorpius doesn't deserve to be treated like this."

Viola's words pulled at James' heart.

"Why would he care?" James asked, genuinely curious about their behavior.

"You really are an idiot," Viola grumbled.

"Gryffindors for you," Eddie said with a shrug.

"Look you enormous git," Viola slammed her hands on the table and stood up to lean forward. James was vaguely aware of the looks they were receiving from the rest of the library's inhabitants. "Scorpius was nice enough to put up with your idiocy and this is how you repay him after everything is said and done? He helped you when he could have ignored you and now you're doing exactly that."

James sat in silence. He wasn't exactly sure how to go about after getting told off by a girl a year younger than himself. He certainly wasn't used to getting yelled at by girls who weren't related to him (or girls he'd dated and crossed).

"Scorpius - well, even I thought you were at least somewhat of a decent guy," Viola continued with a snap. "He liked you. But I guess we were both wrong."

"I guess you were," James said at once angrily, but he was having trouble comprehending everything she said. Granted, Scorpius had never made James seem an annoyance but somehow he had come up with the impression that he must have been incredibly annoying to deal with. At least, he would have thought so. But Scorpius wasn't like him at all. James hadn't actually thought about that.

A book suddenly struck James in the head.

"Ow!"

Eddie was standing up now, too. Why had they even bothered to sit down? His hand was on another book and he looked ready to throw it at James' head, too.

"Stop being such an incredible moron," Eddie said and though he seemed just as irate as Viola, he didn't seem prone to yelling. "Rose says you're in love with him, so what exactly is your problem?"

James blanched. Well, he might have worried that word would never get out about him being in the closet if it weren't for Rose.

"Since when do you people talk?" James asked, feeling quite a bit betrayed.

"Since you started being an absolute pillock again," Viola answered, her arms folded across her chest. "And Scorpius started acting like a love-sick puppy going to the potions lab every night hoping you'll show up to study."

"What?"

"You heard me," Viola snapped. "And now since you asked some little Hufflepuff bint to the Ball, it's even worse."

"I don't understand," James said, ignoring when Eddie mumbled 'Of course you don't' under his breath. "Why would he be acting like that? He doesn't love me."

"No, but he likes you," Eddie explained, looking entirely bored with the conversation and somewhat frustrated. "Things don't always start with love, Potter."

And James realized Eddie was very right. Things didn't always start with love. In fact, they most often did not. James only had a kick-start on the fact when he'd been doused with love potion. He thought back to the way Scorpius had smiled when he'd told James he'd liked him. Not love, not yet. But like, at the time, had been good enough.

"I'm such a moron," James moaned.

"Yes, you bloody well are," Viola said, before grabbing Eddie's arm and stalking off in very much the same fashion as Rose had earlier in the morning.