How's that for speed, eh?

I've had the basic outlines for every chapter since before I started, so if I really get going I can finish them in but a day. Literally, I started this chapter this afternoon...

I have read it through and corrected all typos and such that I've found, but as usual, if you find any, please do tell me and I'll rectify them.

Almost the end now, too... Three more chapters, and possibly an epilogue. Out of interest, is anyone interested in one of these for Albus and Lily as well? I've had a few people request it, but I'm not sure yet.

I hope you enjoy it!

M. Sunshine

The milk slowly dripped off the spoon, plinking onto James' black uniform trousers. He noticed nothing of it, though. The spoon was held somewhere in front of his face, and his mouth was half open. He had completely forgotten about his breakfast, and his cereal was getting soggier by the second. His eyes were trained on something at the Ravenclaw table. Or someone rather.

It was Thursday morning, and it had been exactly seven days, eighteen hours and twenty two minutes since he had first noticed her. She was in his Transfiguration and Ancient Runes classes. Transfiguration was nicer in that case, because she sat in front of him, one jump to the left. Her name was Felicity Alder, and James was completely taken by her. It was quite strange, he thought, that he had never noticed her until now, in his fourth year. The way she regularly tucked a few shorter strands of her long, light brown hair behind her ear, or pulled it into a loose plait. Her amber eyes, clear cheekbones and always smiling lips. To James, she was perfection. Of course, he didn't tell anyone this.

"Are you staring at Alder again?" He jumped as Michael's voice pulled him out of his daydream and effectively spilt the milk down the front of his robe. "Seriously, mate, get over it. She'd never go for someone like you." Muttering a quick tergeo, James scowled at his friend.

"Oh, because it's been going so well with Charlotte?"

"Come on, you know I'm waiting for the right moment," Michael huffed.

"Which is when? 2050?"

"Hey, give it a rest!"

"You started it, you twit." Michael snorted indignantly.

"At least I can go through a meal without dribbling at the sight of her." James flicked his wand, and with a skill inherited from his father, muttered;

"Rictusempra." Michael burst out laughing uncontrollably, writhing in his seat as invisible fingers tickled him.

"S-s-stop it!" he wailed, tears running down his cheeks. He managed to knock over a jug of juice and it splattered across the table. An older student pursed her lips at it and with a flick of her wand made it clear itself up. People had begun staring in bewilderment at them, and of course Professor Cooper chose that moment to walk past.

"Mr Potter!" he barked. James whipped around. "Cancel that spell this instant." James did so, and noticed with horror that Felicity was looking strangely at him. Great, she chooses this moment to look at me, he grumbled inwardly. "Five points from Gryffindor. It is prohibited to cast spells like that at a fellow student." With those words of admonishment, he walked briskly away. James risked grimacing at his back before turning back to Michael, whose face had regained its normal colour.

"Prat," James muttered and pushed his bowl away from him, the contents now looking quite revolting. Slurping down the rest of his pumpkin juice and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he stood. "I'm all done. Shall we go?"

"Nah, I'll stay for a bit," Michael replied, biting into yet another piece of toast. "See you in Defence."

"Yeah, sure." James turned and walked hastily out of the Great Hall. He'd always hated walking through the place alone, as it felt as if everyone stared at you that way. Soon he was out in the corridor, heading for the stairs that led to the Gryffindor Common room. He was lost in thought as he walked. He'd been thinking for ages (i.e. the past seven days) that he really should work up the courage and talk to Felicity. She was, according to most of her peers, a very nice and funny person, and James hoped she wouldn't be completely disgusted by him. After all, she was a Ravenclaw, with top marks and a spotless record. James was… well, not that. He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, giving the Fat Lady the password and entering through the hole when she swung open for him. Walking past the students lingering in the Common room, he headed straight for his dorm to fetch his book bag. Hoisting the heavy thing up on his shoulder, he walked back the same way he'd come. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he almost bumped into his sister.

"James!" she cried and hugged his waist tightly. James groaned silently. He really wished eleven-year-old Lily would be a bit more discreet. "Hi!"

"Hey, Lils," he replied quietly, carefully prying her arms off her. "You having fun?" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Hannah and I are really good friends now!" she told him eagerly, beaming up at him.

"That's great. Listen, I have to go…" She pouted.

"Why? I want to tell you about my classes!"

"I know you do, but later. Right now, I have a class to get to… Don't you?" She shook her head mirthfully.

"Not yet. I start in half an hour."

"Okay, great. Er… Don't be late." In a way, he felt like an arse for saying that. It wasn't as if he paid that much attention to his schedule, so he was being quite the hypocrite. She seemed to notice as she raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah…" He waved half-heartedly and hurried off, leaving her looking slightly forlorn. He made his way through the castle, his legs taking him towards the Defence classroom. Normally, he mightn't have been so eager to be there on time, but after Professor Cooper's rebuke at breakfast, he didn't want to push the man any further. Best to just get there on time, he reasoned with some degree of irritation. He'd always liked Defence, and didn't really have any problem with Cooper. He could be a bit short-tempered, James thought personally, but he was a pretty good teacher. However, Defence was no longer his favourite subject. No, seven days ago, that place had been taken by Transfiguration.

He walked down a flight of stairs slowly, looking at his feet as he walked. Eventually, he saw someone else's feet coming in the opposite direction, and looked up to step out of the way. As coincidences go, this was fairly amazing. He met the gaze of Felicity and blanched.

"Oh, hi," she said, smilingly. "I interrupted your thinking, didn't I?" James stared, but realised he should probably answer, lest he look like a complete fool.

"I… You… No. No, not at all. Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine. I find myself deep in thought when I walk, too," she replied, grimacing a bit. "Well, see you around." She waved a bit and then trotted past him up the stairs. James spun around and stared after her, until the last of her soft hear flicked around a corner. Sighing, he switched the heavy bag over to his other shoulder, shook his head and continued walking. Hopeless, James, you complete dolt.

When lunch break finally arrived, James made a drastic decision. He was going to the library.

He was quite astonished himself at this thought, but even though he might sometimes act like an idiot, he really wasn't stupid. He had Ancient Runes right after lunch (and he was slightly looking forward to it), and still hadn't finished the essay he had to hand in. So despite hating to do schoolwork, he made his way towards the room, determined to get it finished. He had to scrape together at least an Acceptable, or his mum would go through the roof. She kept going on about the fact that he had chosen the subject, so he would just have to apply himself and stop being so lazy.

Stopping outside the entrance, he looked inside. The door was opened widely, framing the extensive library as well as a number of tables and chairs, some of them occupied by students of various ages, though mostly fifth to seventh year, he noted. OWLs and NEWTs, he supposed and walked in, feeling very lost. He'd only been in the library twice before, and they'd been short visits. And only one of them had been for an academic purpose. So naturally, he was a bit nervous. Seeing a long table with a few scattered students, he walked over and sat down by himself, dumping his books on the table. He brought out his quill and a bottle of ink, placing them next to his things and then drew out his half finished essay. He had a text in runes that he had to translate into English and then rewrite in his own words. It wasn't a very long text, but the strange symbols still made his head spin. Opening Spellman's Syllabary at his elbow, he continued to decipher the meaning of the paragraph he'd been given.

Twenty minutes later, he had managed to translate two sentences. He felt rather like just setting fire to the parchment, but restrained himself. As he flipped to the next page in the Syllabary, someone sat down opposite him. He looked up and found himself face to face with Felicity Alder, for the second time that day. She smiled at him.

"Hello again!" she greeted cheerfully, plopping her bag down on the table.

"Hi," he replied, managing to give her something reminiscent of a smile.

"I didn't know you came here," she continued, extracting her own quill and ink and setting them on the table before her. "I haven't seen you here before, I mean." He almost blushed again, but somehow dissuaded his body from embarrassing him.

"Oh… No, I suppose I don't, really." She grimaced.

"I'll be back in two seconds." She left her things and skipped off, perusing a shelf with squinting eyes. James stared at her, as he did so often. She was standing on the tips of her toes to read the name of a volume a bit higher up. Her skirt swung gently as she moved, and the top button of her shirt was undone. Her cardigan was open, letting the blue striped tie move freely as she walked up and down the aisle. Bloody hell, James, he thought, and shook his head to try and concentrate. Mercifully, she soon returned, adding another three books to her pile.

"Merlin, I swear I will die under this workload soon," she sighed. James noted that all the books (an impressing eight) were on Arithmancy. He'd thought of taking it at first, but had ran screaming away when his godmother and Aunt Hermione had said she'd taken it and found it challenging. It'd been difficult enough to force himself to pick Ancient Runes. After all, he'd rather kiss a goblin than take Divination.

"Are you sure you need eight books?" James couldn't help but ask, looking with badly hidden astonishment at the stack. She laughed.

"Well… Yes. Okay, maybe not. But I just want to make sure I get it all right." James nodded, but he still couldn't understand why she'd need eight books for that. It was insane. Then again, she was a Ravenclaw. And a girl. It explained a lot. "What are you working on?" James couldn't understand why she would be interested in what he was doing, but he would hardly turn down this opportunity to talk to her. He had another hour until Runes started, and besides, he would be taking the class with her. Best day ever, so far, he concluded.

"Ancient Runes," he said, feeling more like himself as he grimaced.

"You're not done yet?" she asked in surprise.

"Er, no. Barely got half way…"

"James! You have to hand it in in an hour!"

"I know that," he responded with the exasperation evident in his voice. "But it's bloody difficult, okay?" She pursed her lips.

"Here, let me help you." He raised his eyebrows. "Come on, hand it over." Complying, he gave her his poorly executed assignment and her eyes sped across the words. "But this is fine," she said. "Though you've translated this wrong." She pointed at the rune. "It means paradise, not cherry tree." He looked at it. Yes, it did make more sense that the wizards had been looking for a paradise rather than a cherry tree. She grinned at him.

"Thanks…" he muttered. "But it's not as if I'll ever get this done on time anyway."

"Sure you will. Just do it. Now. Ignore me." Not possible. "And tell me if you need help with anything, yeah?" Will you go out with me?

"Okay, yeah. Thanks." She opened a couple of books and began working with such concentration that James could pretty much feel it radiate off her. Forcing his eyes down to his work, he tried very hard to do the same. It wasn't working. He managed to translate another sentence, and huffed at the end of it. Why is this so hard? And why the hell did I leave it until now? Scowling at the innocent parchment he dipped his quill in the ink again and started scratching out the beginning of the next sentence, huffing and sighing every now and then. Five words in and he lost his concentration, plopping the quill into the ink bottle and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, give it here." He looked up to see Felicity holding her hand out expectantly.

"What?"

"Hand it over. It's obvious you can't do it now, and I know for a fact that Professor Manning is already annoyed with your late hand-ins. So, give it to me."

"Felicity, you can't…" It was the first time he'd said her name to her face, and it felt oddly alien.

"I can and I will. Now give it to me, you broomhead." Huffing again, he picked it up and gave it to her for the second time. She immediately pushed her books out of the way, grabbed his Syllabary and started writing. It took her fifteen minutes to translate the rest of the text as well as correct the other few mistakes he'd made. When she was done, he was about to take it, but was stopped by her waving her hand. "One moment." She pulled out her wand, saying an incantation softly and waving the wand over the essay. James watched in wonder as her neat handwriting turned into his scrawled type before she gave it back. "You'll have to write it in your own words yourself. I can't do that for you." She handed him his book back and then continued working. Gobsmacked, James looked down at the text and checked his watch. He had just over half an hour left. Dipping his quill, he quickly scribbled out the same paragraph but using his own way of writing. Once finished he looked down at it, feeling immense relief.

"Thanks a million," he said genuinely to the girl opposite him, who was packing up her things. She rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

"No problem." She was just turning to leave when James said:

"Hey, Felicity?" She turned around, and looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah?" No time to be a coward, he braced himself.

"I was wondering if you'd maybe like to… go for a walk. After classes. In the grounds. You know…" He was stumbling on the words and it irritated him. He didn't normally have any trouble speaking properly, to girls or otherwise. But this was Felicity, and her perfection made him look like a hapless flobberworm. She looked surprised at the request and didn't answer at first. "It's okay, you don't have to, never mind…" She broke into a smile.

"No, of course I'll go! It sounds like fun." He gawked. "Now come on. We have to go or we'll be late." Like in a trance he picked up his things, stuffed them into his bag and walked beside her towards the Runes classroom. "So, I'll have to ask: What's it like being the son of famed Harry Potter?" She grinned jokingly at him.

"Oh don't get me started…"