A Way With Words

by ByeByeBirdie

This is a story about a boy entering into his final year at Hogwarts, determined to make it his best yet. A boy who lived and breathed Quidditch and craved that elusive Quidditch Cup more than anything. A boy who only ever wanted to find his place in the world and had to go through a lot of twists and turns to get there. This is the story of James Sirius Potter.

25. Better

A/N: Well, in the words of Etta James, as reiterated by reviewer soundon, AT LAST. As in, AT LAST James and Alice got together! And AT LAST the next chapter has arrived. What's in store for the duo now?

---

A WAY WITH WORDS

By ByeByeBirdie

Chapter 25: Better

"I came into your picture such a broken fool
A million different pieces looking back at you
Believe me when I say this, I was giving up
But now you come and save me."
-SYML

XOXOXO

---

While I was certain my cousins and my sister were off spreading the gossip to anyone who would listen, Alice and I quickly ditched them and retreated to her bedroom to spend the rest of the evening alone. We barely walked through her door before I said, "Okay, you're going to have to help me."

Her eyebrow peaked upward. "With anything in particular?" she mused as she dropped on to the edge of her bed.

"All of this."

When I said nothing more, she chuckled. "Well, at least you're being specific."

I grinned sheepishly before joining her hesitantly on the bed. It shouldn't have felt awkward, and in a way it didn't, but in a completely different way it did for I didn't know how I was supposed to act now that we were together. Or if I was supposed to act differently at all. I hadn't ever really thought about the aftermath, only ever thinking about finding a way to convince her I was worthy of being the guy who got to date her. I had never expected her to agree and now that she had, I was very aware of how out of my element I was.

"I've never done the relationship thing before, Ace," I spoke softly. "I want to do this right."

She reached for my hand, squeezing it in her usual comforting way. "I told you already, I'm no expert at this myself," she reminded me. "But that's okay because we get to figure it out together."

She sounded so sure of herself that it almost convinced me.

"Look," she said, clearly recognizing the hesitation in my expression, "It's okay to feel weird or nervous about this because I know that the last thing either of us want to do is screw this up but the way I see it, we have the best of both worlds right now. We get to keep our friendship, maybe even make it stronger, and now we have an entirely new world to explore. One that I can't imagine exploring with anyone else."

Well, it was official. She was perfect. And even though I wasn't, even though I still had a while to get there, I knew that my best, and perhaps my only, chance of being the absolute greatest version of myself was with her. And so I did the only thing I could think of, the only thing that seemed to make my nerves disappear, and leaned over to kiss her.

Kissing her seemed to quiet the questions in my head and provide me with the only answer I needed to know that I could make this work. Because I had to do. I had no other option.

Nor did I want one.

We spent the night lounging in her bed, mostly just talking to each other and catching up on all the things we missed in the two weeks we were giving each other the silent treatment. It felt like any other night, any other normal night with my best friend like the millions of nights I have previously spent with her, except that in between those conversations were some very heavy snog sessions. It felt surreal. Every time my lips pressed hers, I was convinced it was a dream. Every time I pulled her close to me, I wondered if this was really happening. And yet, I felt so safe in her arms. I felt calm and at peace, the gnawing concerns in my head and heart dissipating with every minute I spent with her. And the best part was, the truly amazing thing about all of this, was that it was as if nothing had changed. We were still James and Alice. Only now we were James and Alice, boyfriend and girlfriend.

Girlfriend.

I had a girlfriend.

And I didn't hate it.

I didn't hate it at all.

It was well after curfew when Alice lifted her head from my shoulder and said, "You have to go."

I blinked. "Heh?"

She giggled. "You can't stay here overnight."

"I always stay here overnight."

"If my father finds out that you, as the guy I'm seeing, spent the night in my room, he will kill you and feel no remorse for it."

I pouted. "He might feel some remorse. I am the son of his closest friend."

"Daughter trumps closest friend."

I chuckled. "It's not like we'll be doing anything. I'm bloody exhausted after all that snogging," I teased.

She poked me in the ribs with a laugh. "You have to go," she repeated.

I knew she was right. Even though it felt like nothing had changed, the fact of the matter was, something did. The things we used to get away with as friends may no longer pass. And sleeping in her bed all night on the very first night of our relationship was a rather big no-no.

I slowly sat up, turning to her with a hesitant smile. "If I walk out the door, you're not going to change your mind about all of this, are you?"

She blinked in confusion, her eyes meeting mine. "Is that what you're afraid of?" she spoke softly. "That when you leave, I'll spend the rest of the night tossing and turning as I question what the heck we think we're doing here?"

I found myself chewing on the inside of my lips as I considered her question. "I think it is not completely unjustified for you to wonder if being with me is such a good idea."

Her surprised eyes met mine. "You have to stop questioning whether I'm questioning this or not. Because I'm not, Jay."

The comment was expected. "I just want to be the kind of guy you deserve," I said almost pleadingly. "The guy who knows what to do and what to say to make you feel special. The guy who knows how to treat you right. You deserve perfection and we both know that's not really me."

She sat up, too, instinctively leaning over to brush a hair from my forehead. "I don't need you to try to be perfect for me, Jay," she spoke softly, her eyes capturing mine. "You could line up a whole army full of perfect guys in front of me, and I would still choose you. Every single time."

She really knew exactly what to say to make me believe we could overcome anything.

I leaned in towards her with a grateful smile and said, "And there's no point lining up any girl in front of me because the only girl I'd ever look at would be you."

Her eyes softened, appreciation shining from within. "See?" she said, framing my face with her hands. "You do know how to do this."

I smiled and leaned over, to kiss her, my mouth meeting hers with an unexpected tenderness. She kissed me back but only for a moment before she pushed me away again, this time with a groan. "Stop that. You're making it harder for me to kick you out of my room."

I chuckled, my eyes meeting hers with an unforeseen intensity. "I want you to know, Ace, that as much of a screwup as I can be, I'm not looking to screw things up with you," I spoke softly. And maybe there will be times I'll question why you chose me or I'll wonder if this is actually real or I'll make a mistake with us, but I need you to know that I'm in this. This thing between us, you and me? I'm. All. In."

The look on her face was one of shock and appreciation all rolled into one as a slow smile spread across her jawline. She leaned over to press a kiss to my lips. Pressing her forehead to mine, she said, "Good. Because I'm all in, too."

An unexpected relief filled my heart. I knew I probably didn't deserve her but I wanted to show her that this was what I really wanted. I hadn't known I wanted it until I thought it was too late but apparently it wasn't. And now a part of me feared that when the honeymoon period was over, she'd soon realize it was crazy to think we could work. But I knew I couldn't think like that. I knew I had to trust her and trust what we had. I had to believe in us and if that meant finding a way to believe in myself, then that's what I was going to do.

A shy smile filled my expression. "I was really hoping you'd say that," I whispered, leaning over to kiss her again.

Our lips tangled together, our hands clumsily finding their way to various body parts until she finally pushed me away, her nose wrinkling. "Yeah, it's definitely time for you to go."

I pouted.

"Don't give me that face," she laughed and I grinned, reaching over to brush my lips to hers.

"Stop," she chuckled, pushing me away. "You're not going to make me forget that I'm kicking you out of my room just by kissing me."

"Hey, a guy can try!" I teased as I grabbed her hips and rolled her towards me, touching my lips to hers again. She kissed me back but not for long.

"Go," she laughed, pointing towards the door.

I made a face but reluctantly nodded. "Fine, fine, but if I get caught after curfew, I'm telling them it's because I was so busy snogging the shit out of Alice Longbottom that I lost track of time."

She rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

I grinned. "I suppose it's a good thing I never get caught."

XOXOXO

---

When I wandered into the Gryffindor common room, my mind almost completely turned to mush as giddy thoughts of Alice rolled around in my every though, I was aware at how quiet the room suddenly got. One quick glance around told me that I had suddenly become the center of everyone's attention.

With a knowing chuckle, I made my way over to where Fred sat with Dash and Jax. "So I guess it didn't take you long to spread the word," I told my cousin, shoving him over and making room for me on their couch.

"I just told Dash!" he argued.

"And I just told Jax."

"And I pretty much told everyone I saw."

I grabbed a pillow and smothered the sixth year with it but we wound up both laughing so I suppose I hardly minded that my gossip had hit the hallways. They were all bound to find out anyway, whether by Rudy or by my family, so I couldn't be mad at Fred for spreading the unexpected news. Better to get the truth out now than for the biased rumors to start and turn it into something it wasn't.

"For the record, Pruitt is more pissed now about our abolishment of the no-dating rule than he was before," Jax commented.

I groaned. "You told Pruitt?"

"Not me but I'm sure it was one of the people I came across," he said sheepishly.

"Do you think Laikyn would mind if I strangled you in your sleep?" I growled.

"Probably," he said with a casual shrug, "But it would at least get me out of having to get dragged to Puddifoot's on Saturday."

That had us all howling with laughter but Dash's was short-lived as a sudden realization appeared to have hit him. "Shit, how the hell are the three of you off the market and I'm suddenly the single one?"

"Well, when you go and fuck someone who isn't your girlfriend, you are destined for the single life, my dear cheating friend."

I ducked as a pillow came soaring at me. It bounced off the back of the couch and landed on the ground.

"It has to be Amortentia," Dash deadpanned. "Only way Alice would be stupid enough to date you."

I reached over the back of the couch to grab the pillow and chucked it back at him. He caught it with a laugh. "But on a serious note, how is it you two went from not saying a bloody word to each other to two full weeks to suddenly jumping into a relationship?"

"We didn't jump," I argued. "We wanted to be friends first."

"Yes, and a whole two days that lasted."

I chuckled but it quickly faded. "She's everything to me," I spoke, my voice suddenly quiet. "I couldn't watch her try to be someone else's everything when she was my everything first."

Three pairs of stunned eyes stared back at me, their expressions wild with incredulity, before Fred whimpered. "Bloody hell, one day in a relationship and he's already turned into a mushy romantic," said the latter.

"Shouldn't you be out fucking Carver or something?" I shot back.

"Yeah, probably," he said with a mere shrug, glancing back down at the Quidditch Weekly he was perusing.

Rolling my eyes, I said contemplatively, "I can't believe I decided to land myself a girlfriend just a few days before Valentine's Day. I must be some kind of masochist."

A laugh fell from Jax's lips. "Oh, this should be fun to watch."

"I always used to hate Valentine's Day," Dash spoke up, a sad look darkening his eyes. With a sigh, he said, "You all better make it count."

"Hm, okay, yes, sure," I said, nodding my head. "Now the question is: how the hell do I do that?"

"Well here's a suggestion: you ask your girlfriend to Hogsmeade."

I hesitated. "Hm, okay, yes, sure, and how do I do that?"

Dash stared at me before bursting into laughter. "I don't know, how the hell did you ask her in the past?"

"I never had to ask, it was just implied!" I groaned, putting my face in my hands. "Bloody hell, this girlfriend stuff is complicated."

"Says the guy who has only had a girlfriend for four hours," Fred smirked.

I shot him a look. "You shouldn't be mocking me. This will be your first official Hogsmeade date after your relationship was exposed to the entire school. Have you come up with any plans for it?"

Fred frowned. "Oh, hell, I hope she doesn't want to drag me to Puddifoot's."

I grimaced. "You're telling me."

The guys all looked at me before laughing. "Oh, please, Alice Longbottom is a sleazy dive bar kind of girl, not a froufrou tea shop kind of girl," Fred snorted.

I thought about that. "Who you calling sleazy?"

He rolled his eyes. "That was a compliment, you twat," he drawled. Hesitating, he added, "Though I understand why you wouldn't think so as the word sleazy was used."

I ignored him. "If we go to Three Broomsticks, we'll just be stared at the entire time by other classmates waiting for me to screw it up."

"Well, yeah, we're all waiting for that," Dash teased.

I glared at him.

"It's true," Jax smirked. "There's already a bet going around school."

I turned to him sharply. "What kind of bet?" I snapped.

"How long you and AliCat will last," he said with a sheepish grin. "A lot of people have already lost now that you've made it past the one-hour mark. Congrats."

"Who the hell are these people betting on me?"

"Not us," Fred said a little too quickly.

I narrowed my eyes on us. "How long do you have us lasting?"

"I swear, I'm not betting!" he argued, throwing his hands up in the air.

"How long?"

He looked at me, a sheepish grin appearing on his face. "I have you making it the whole year, mate. I've got some real faith in you."

I shot him a look.

"Alright, I have some real faith in AliCat turning you into a total whipped lapdog."

As Jax and Dash howled with laughter, I slammed a pillow against Fred's face. "Ow!" he said though he followed it up with his own laughter so I couldn't have hurt him that badly.

"You are all prats," I growled.

They didn't seem to hear me over their laughter so I flipped them off and headed towards the stairwell but not before Jax stopped me.

"Hey, James?"

Against my better judgment, I turned around. "Yeah?"

"You know we're happy for you, right?"

Dash nodded though Fred pretended to make a gagging noise.

With my usual goofy smile I got when thinking about Alice, I said to him, "Now who's the mushball?"

"Definitely still you," he smirked and I flipped him off again before disappearing up the stairs.

XOXOXO

---

The next morning, I spotted Alice a few feet in front me as a crowd of exhausted students dragged their feet to breakfast. I broke away from Fred and hastily made my way towards Alice, grabbing her arm before she could enter the Great Hall.

"What the-" she screeched as she was pulled backward. The glare on her face disappeared when she looked up and realized it was me. With a shy smile, she said, "Why, good morning."

I grinned. "Good morning. How are you?"

We got a few curious odd looks from passers-by but the only person I cared about, or even really noticed, was Alice.

"Good," Alice said with that same shy smile. "Excellent actually. And you?"

"Couldn't be better."

"And I'm positively brilliant!" Fred's voice boasted as he came up beside us and draped his arms around both of our shoulders. "Thanks so much for asking, you two. Now go ahead and snog each other. You know you want to."

"The only thing I want to do is punch you in the face," I countered with an innocent grin.

He let out a gasp of protest. "Not the face! Not my beautiful face!"

I shoved him off of me with a laugh. "Good-bye, Fred."

"Aw, no, I want to stick around for the ridicule show," he pleaded.

Alice and I exchanged a look before glancing back up at him. "Alright, I'll bite," Alice sighed. "What ridicule show?"

A grin broke out across his face. "The show where the big, bad professor of Herbology finds out that itty-bitty AliCat here is dating the devil," he smirked. Hesitating, he said, "That's you, James, in case that wasn't clear."

"I'm suddenly back to wanting to punch you in the face," I drawled, glancing over at Alice with a slight grimace whose face suddenly looked pale.

"Shit," she murmured. "I forgot all about him. That should be an interesting conversation."

With a coy grin, I said in jest, "Hey, we could just get the bombshell completely out of the way and snog in front of everyone at breakfast,."

She looked up at me, her eyes hesitating.

My eyebrows popped up. "Oh, my God, you're actually considering it!"

"No!" she laughed, shaking her head. "That would give my father a heart attack and you know it."

"Okay, fine, you tell him this morning and then just have our fun snogging in front of everyone at lunch."

She was clearly trying very hard not to laugh. "Or," she suggested, the edges of her mouth turning upward, "We don't snog in front of everyone at all."

I hesitated. "Hm, yeah, I hear you, but I still feel like snogging needs to be part of the plan."

She smacked me in the shoulder with a laugh. "You're the devil."

"I've been telling him that for years, AliCat," Fred chimed in with a wink.

I pointed to the Great Hall and said, "Good-bye, Fred."

He laughed but with a shrug, obliged.

When he was gone, I turned towards Alice and said with a teasing grin, "Snogging in public might be off the table but what about snogging in the hallway?"

"Stop and help me figure out what to say to my father about this," she laughed, playfully smacking my on the shoulder. The jest in her face slowly turned into unexpected concern.

"What about something along the lines of 'hi Dad, I'm dating the dashingly handsome and charmingly pure James Potter?'"

Her eyebrow slowly made its way upwards. "You must be referring to your grandfather because you're hardly all that charming nor are you very pure."

I pouted. "But we agree I'm dashingly handsome?"

She smacked me again though another crease of worry settled into her forehead. "My dad knows how upset, how hurt I was, these past two weeks during our non-speaking phase and while he doesn't know the exact details, he knows you were to blame for my sudden bout of depression and I'm just afraid that he'll tell me all the reasons why dating you could be construed as a bad idea and I don't want him to be disappointed in me, not when I'm so excited about-"

"Okay, stop," I said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly. "You're hyperventilating."

She took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Sorry, this is just very new for me."

"It's the same amount of newness for me," I pointed out with a lopsided smile.

"Yes, but you have the luxury of having your parents far, far away where they can't lecture you," she groaned.

"Uh, have you ever heard of a howler? My mother is the Queen of them."

She looked at me and smiled, a light laugh quickly following. "I guess this all just feels a bit surreal."

I nodded, reaching over to brush a stray hair from her face. "I couldn't sleep last night," I admitted. "I was too afraid that in doing so, I'd wake up and find out it was all a dream."

She blinked in surprise, awe filling her expression. "That might be the most romantic thing you've ever said to me," she spoke softly.

I chuckled. "Yeah, don't expect too much of that."

She laughed and doing a quick scan of the area, she reached up and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. "You're still all in?" she asked, resting her forehead against mine.

"I'm still all in," I whispered, capturing her lips with mine once again.

She pulled away, reaching for my hand and squeezing it. "I'll talk to my dad," she said with a nervous smile.

"Okay, good. And I won't talk to mine."

She shot me a look.

"What? All of my cousins know – it'll get back to my parents soon enough!" I laughed.

"Don't you think your parents should hear it from you?"

"I don't see why. They don't hear anything else from me."

She placed her hands on her hips and did a very good job at looking like my mother. "You are a stubborn prat, James Potter."

I shrugged and then grinned. "Yeah, but now I'm your stubborn prat."

She smiled. "I kinda like the sound of that."

Grinning mischievously, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "What do you say we skip breakfast and hang out just the two of us?"

She chuckled, pulling back just slightly so she could look up at me. "That sounds like code for let's snog the shit out of each other for the next hour."

"Well, yeah, but I was trying to be polite," I teased, taking her hand in mine and running circles on the inside of her palm.

"You were never polite before," she smirked. "Why start now?"

I made a face while she laughed. "I never knew dating each other would just increase the amount of teasing we do," I contemplated.

"Who said I was teasing?"

She yelped when I reached out to tickle her sides, pushing me away with a laugh. "I'm going to have to remember that you know all my weak spots," she groaned.

I smirked, grabbing her hand and pulling her back towards me. "Not all," I whispered in her ear, running a trail of kisses down her jawline towards her neck. "But I look forward to finding out the rest."

She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, arching her back and giving me full access to her exposed neck. "Okay, you win," she whispered. "Let's skip breakfast."

I grinned.

Victory was mine.

XOXOXO

---

"It's intriguing that you and Alice missed breakfast when I could have sworn you two were standing outside the Great Hall together this morning," Fred smirked as he dropped down next to me on the common room couch during our free period.

I looked up from my playbook. "And by 'could have sworn' do you mean that you were quite literally talking to us outside the Great Hall this morning?"

"I was going for discrete."

"I was going for you're a prat."

"Now, now, I wouldn't insult the guy who could run through every corridor in the school announcing all of the gory details behind your back-and-forth relationship with that BFF of yours."

"I'm surprised you haven't done that yet."

"Why, how could you say that? I am a moral man who respect's a mate's right to privacy," he huffed.

I stared at him. "Since when?"

He pretended to think about it. "Good point. I bid you adieu so that I can now go run through every corridor in the school announcing-oof," he groaned as I smacked him with a couch pillow. Rubbing his nose, he said, "Yeah, I might have deserved that."

"Besides, there aren't that many details that the rest of the school doesn't know," I drawled. I started to tick off a list on my hands. "Kissed BFF, slept with someone else, went on a silent treatment binge, lost seeker, gained seeker, had entire school protesting Gryffindor Code in regards to my seeker, made up with BFF, asked BFF out, had entire school protesting Gryffindor Code in regards to me and her."

Glancing over at Fred, whose mouth was slightly agape. "Have I missed anything?"

"No, I think you pretty much got it all," he said, shaking his head in amusement.

I shrugged. "Yeah, so excuse me if Ace and I wanted to get out of the spotlight for a while this morning. I'm already questioning this relationship as it is. I hardly need the rest of the school to chime in."

Fred's brow furrowed almost immediately. "You're already questioning it?" he asked softly.

I winced. "No, I don't mean like that," I quickly clarified. "I just mean, I don't know why she's choosing me. I don't need people like Pruitt and Finch and Jessup telling me she can do better when I'm already plenty aware of that."

Fred grew unnaturally quiet then and when I glanced over at him, I noticed he was looking far more pensive than I was used to seeing out of him. "The thing is, James," he finally spoke, "The questioning why a great girl picked you isn't really going to go away anytime soon. It'll always be there, every time you make a mistake or you say the wrong thing or even just in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. It doesn't go away. So all you can really do is let that motivate you to be as close to the person they deserve as possible."

I saw how uncomfortable Fred was at talking about his own insecurities, ones that clearly matched his, but I appreciated the advice more than he could know. "Y'know, Fred," I said, clapping him on the shoulder, "Carver is incredibly lucky to have you."

He smiled at me. "Y'know, James," he said, clapping me on the shoulder as well before offering me a jesting smirk, "AliCat can do better."

He was not at all surprised by the mouthful of pillow he received.

XOXOXO

---

The rest of the day was anything but entertaining but it was exactly what I expected. I got laughed at, pointed at, whispered about, stared at, leered at, insulted at, and pretty much every other invasive verb. It appeared that my relationship with Alice was suddenly breaking news and everyone had an opinion on it.

Seriously, everyone.

Parker told me it would never last. I hexed him.

Ryleigh congratulated me and told me not to fuck it up. I thanked her and then walked away.

Roxanne wanted all of the details. I told her to get them from her brother.

Callum Finch said he couldn't wait to see this blow up in my face. I shoved him.

Hugo told me that Alice could do better, though I'm pretty sure he was teasing. I punched him in the shoulder just for good measure.

Harley thought "it was the cutest thing ever." I wasn't sure what to say so I just smiled at her.

Kenley laughed at me and said she gave it twenty-four hours before I'd find some other girl to snog. I called her a jealous bint.

Reese asked how Alice got her hands on Amortentia. I glared at her. And then we laughed.

The list just went on and on. By the time the day was coming to a close, all I wanted to do was slink off to Alice's bedroom and hide myself away from the world.

The world, however, had other plans.

I was wandering up the stairwell towards Alice's bedroom when she came thundering down the stairs, grabbing my arm and dragging me behind in the process. "Uh, ouch, there's a man attached to that arm!"

"McGonagall's office. You're coming with me."

We flew through the hallway as I glanced her way. "Abolishment contract?"

"Yep. Brooks insisted on calling a meeting with the Headmistress."

"Remember when Lily said I shouldn't be anywhere near McGonagall's office when this goes down?"

Alice chuckled, shooting me a sideways look. "You proposed the idea, you get to defend it."

We rounded the corner and rushed down the moving stairwell. "Do you think telling McGonagall to fuck off would be anywhere near as effective as telling the other Captains?"

Her eyebrow quirked upward. "How was it effective when they went to the Headmistress next with their complaints?"

"Not 'they,'" I argued with a shrug. "Just Pruitt."

"Something tells me your brother and Kye aren't exactly against this either."

"Yeah, well, I'm not completely against the idea of locking my brother in a high tower somewhere for the rest of the year to shut him up."

She elbowed my side but we both laughed as we skidded outside the gargoyle. Alice spoke the password and the two of us headed up the stairs. She knocked and waited for McGonagall to invite us in.

Walking through the door, I noticed the other three Captains were already there. I shot my brother a dirty look for good measure as McGonagall welcomed us in. She summoned another chair and the two of us sat.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Brooks grumbled.

"Defending my team," I shot back, leaving out the 'asshole' comment I so wanted to add to the end of it.

"Defending your relationship, more like it," he retaliated.

I shrugged. He wasn't entirely wrong. "What is the purpose of you calling this meeting, Pruitt?"

"That's not really any of your business, Potter, seeing as you lost the right to Captain your team last week," he snapped.

I glared at him but it was Alice who spoke up. "He lost the badge," she argued. "That doesn't mean he lost the right to lead our team."

"How is bending the rules to give himself an edge leading?" Brooks snapped.

"And exactly what edge do I have?" I countered.

His eyes narrowed. "The fact of the matter is, Potter, this isn't even about your damned sister anymore."

"Language, Mister Pruitt," McGonagall spoke.

"This is clearly about you and Longbottom," he continued, shooting McGonagall an apologetic look. "And it's clear that instead of leaders, you two are proving to be nothing but manipulative swindlers who would do anything for a win."

"Says the guy who's trying to squash our overturning of a rule that applies to our team only," I spoke coolly.

"It affects all of us and you know it!"

I just rolled my eyes. "Do you want to know why I think you're so against us abolishing the dating rule?"

"No."

"Because I think you're afraid that you have no shot at winning with my sister, myself, and Alice on the team. You are so desperate to make it to the finals that instead of just proving to all of us your skills on the pitch you'd rather find a way to slide into the finals based off Code technicalities. Gryffindor Codetechnicalities. Have I mentioned yet that these rules apply to our team only?"

"If the rest of us have to play by the rules, so do you!" Brooks snapped.

I wondered if McGonagall would look the other way if I punched this git in the face. "We are playing by the rules," I spoke through gritted teeth, keeping my hands clenched at my side. "Fred's on the bench, isn't he? He's the one that broke the schoolwide Code. There's nothing I can do to get him back on our team and you don't see me trying, do you? Even though I'd very much rather him, our star beater, play over a reserve? But what it comes down to is that our team has the right to amend and modify our internal team Code however we see fit."

"You're cheating and you know it."

"Alright, let's all calm down," Professor McGonagall sighed and I had a feeling the last thing she wanted to be doing on a Thursday evening was mediating a Quidditch fight. "Miss Tannehill. Mister Potter—Albus, that is. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

I shot my brother another dirty look just for good measure as Kye spoke up. "I don't like it any more than Brooks does but for slightly different reasons," she admitted. "I don't agree with amending the rules in the middle of the Quidditch season just because the current ones don't fit their needs. If they want to amend the rules for next year, I'm fine with that. But-"

"Of course you're fine with that," I said with a hint of a teasing grin, "None of will be here next year."

"You'd have to actually graduate this place for that to be true," she shot back.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the sound of Brooks' laughter.

"I'm just saying that I think it's a bit underhanded to change up the rules midway through the year," Kye finished with a shrug.

Well, shit. Out of all the things that had been said against our rule-abolishing contract, that was the first one that made some actual sense.

"But," Kye sighed, "It is his team and unfortunately he can do what he wants with it."

I knew I liked her.

"No he can't," Brooks scowled.

Professor McGonagall sighed before glancing over at my brother. "Mister Potter?"

Albus slowly looked up and met the Headmistress' gaze. He said nothing at first as his gaze migrated towards me. Another round of silence followed before he started to speak. "Gryffindor has already played Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff," he pointed out. "So I'm not entirely sure that Kye or Brooks' opinions matter much here."

"They do if Gryffindor makes it to the finals against us!" Brooks snapped.

"It's cute that you think you have a shot at making the finals," I muttered.

"Albus," McGonagall interrupted us with a sigh, her gaze still on my brother. "You still have yet to provide me with your opinion."

His lips pursed as his gaze met mine once again. "It doesn't matter who Gryffindor puts on that pitch. We'll beat them in March and we'll beat them in the finals," he spoke with a shrug. "So I say let them do what they want. The fact of the matter is, we're debating the rules of Gryffindor's Code. It's up to them what to do with it, not us."

To say I was surprised would have been an incredible understatement.

"We were supposed to come in here as a united front," Brooks hissed at my brother.

"You didn't even ask me for my opinion before calling this meeting," Albus pointed out. "You just assumed I felt the same way. And I don't. Whatever they do on their team has no bearing on how my team performs. In fact, I think it's hilarious that my brother decided to put my sister on the team seeing as I know all my sister's tricks and skills on the pitch. This doesn't give them an edge, it gives me an edge."

Well, shit. That thought had not crossed my mind.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin, now you're cheating, too?" Brooks grumbled. "Must run in the Potter family. Then again, of course it does, with all of those articles coming out about your father slutting it up with his employees."

"Mister Pruitt," McGonagall hissed. "I realize you are none too pleased about Gryffindor's recent Quidditch rules changes, but I will not allow you to besmirch their family's name because you're feeling slighted, so I'd suggest you hold your tongue."

McGonagall, 1. Pruitt, 0.

"While I do agree with Miss Tannehill regarding the suspicious timing of these rule changes," McGonagall spoke, glancing around at all of us, "The fact of the matter is, the existing guidelines do not include a timeline on when internal Code amendments can or cannot be made. So the abolishment contract stands."

Brooks looked like he wanted to punch a wall, or me, so I was not at all surprised when he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Kye glanced over at me and shrugged. "I expected this," she admitted. "But word of advice: steer clear of Brooks for a while or he might find a reason to bash your head in."

McGonagall grimaced but I merely laughed. "Noted."

Kye nodded good-bye and disappeared out the door.

I glanced over at Alice with a smile and she smiled back. "Thank you, Professor," Alice spoke to the Headmistress. "I, uh, know this wasn't exactly how you wanted to spend your Thursday evening so I really do appreciate you taking the time to meet with us."

McGonagall nodded. "I'd suggest not trying to change any more rules for the remainder of the year, Miss Longbottom."

Alice chuckled and led us out of the office, Albus dragging his feet behind us.

As we poured into the hallway, Albus barely acknowledged us as he took off in the opposite direction.

"Al," I called out after him.

He stopped towards the end of the hallway and turned around. "What?"

I exchanged a hesitant look with Alice who only shrugged at me. Sighing, I glanced back over at my brother. "Why'd you do it?"

He blinked. "Why'd I do what?"

"You could have sided with Pruitt and Tannehill. Hell, you probably wanted to. So why didn't you?"

He frowned. "This may come as a shock to you, James, but I don't really care what your team does," he drawled. "You know why we're going to beat you next month? Because we know how to focus on the game without focusing on the rest of the crap going on around us. I can barely stand looking at Kat in the hallways or in the common room but I don't let that affect my abilities on the pitch. Even when Hattie was going through all that drama with you, she came to practice ready to play. Malfoy and I aren't speaking to each other but I'll talk to him on the pitch because the game comes first. Maybe your team doesn't know how to do that, but-"

"Yeah, and why exactly aren't you and Malfoy speaking?"

Albus blinked at my interruption. "That's what you're taking away from what I said?"

I shrugged. "Your little speech means shit to me. We'll find out who the better team is come next month," I said. "What's going on with you, Rose, and Malfoy?"

"What's it to you?" he shot back, expectedly so.

Oh, just wondering if you found out that your best friend shagged your cousin.

Right, like I was about to say that out loud.

"So, here's the thing, Al," I murmured, finding myself suddenly treading on dangerous waters. "I know a little thing or two about getting into feuds with my best friend and cousin and all it does it make you angry and bitter and lonely in the end so why don't you let your best friend and cousin be the adults that they are and make their own decisions, no matter how idiotic they may be, so that you don't wind up completely friendless in life. I imagine that's not really what you want."

I noticed Alice cringe beside me and I thought that perhaps I should have worded that better, which was confirmed when Albus glared at me. "Why don't you worry about keeping your relationship alive, Mr. Anti-Commitment, and let me worry about me, alright?"

"How did this become about me?" I groaned.

"It started about you," he seethed. "You want me to go march back into McGonagall's office and tell her to rip up that contract?"

I never knew my quiet, unassuming little brother could be so cutthroat.

"I think it's a little bit late for that," I snapped at him, wondering why I had even considered trying to have anything resembling a civil conversation with him.

He just shot a glare my way and started down the hallway. He didn't get very far before he glanced over his shoulder and said, "Just so you know, I didn't veto your abolishment contract for you. I did that for Lily."

And with that, he was gone.

I let out a sigh. Of course he hadn't done it for me. It had nothing to do with me. I should have seen that coming. Albus didn't give a shit about me and why should he when I never seemed to give a shit about him?

I guess in the end, I had Lily to thank for the contract being approved.

Not that I planned on telling her that.

"You okay?"

I glanced behind me, nearly forgetting that Alice was there. With a nod, I reached for her hand and squeezed it. "C'mon, let's go tell the rest of the team we won our case in court."

She groaned. "McGonagall's office."

XOXOXO

---

"You weren't supposed to be anywhere near the courtroom," Lily reminded me.

"McGonagall's office," Alice muttered.

I shrugged. "Ace dragged me there. Blame her."

"Blame me for what? It worked out, didn't it?" she pointed out. "Not sure how you managed to keep yourself in check but you handled yourself well. I didn't even say anything. You took over."

Thinking back, I realized she was right. "You said one thing."

She smirked, leaning back on the couch opposite me with a smile. "And you said a lot more than one thing."

I shrugged.

"Did he also punch Pruitt in the face?" Fred contemplated. "Because that totally seems like something he'd do."

"Oh, believe me, I wanted to," I muttered. "As if he ever had a say on what goes on with our freaking team. How did he think he'd win that argument?"

"He's just desperate to find a way to disqualify us," Jax spoke with a mere shrug. "To say he hates our team is a slight understatement."

"He doesn't hate the whole team. Mostly just my brother," Lily smirked.

"He's not exactly Fred's biggest fan either," Hugo pointed out.

"Or AliCat's," Jax agreed. "But that's probably because she associates with the troublemaking twins."

"Ooh, troublemaking twins," Fred said, stroking his chin. "I like the sound of that."

As we all laughed, CJ spoke. "So are we done with all of this back-and-forth will-the-rule-stand-or-won't-it crap?"

"Yeah," I said with a grin. "But that doesn't mean you get to snog your girlfriend in public. Or, y'know, ever."

He chuckled, sharing a tender look with Lily who smiled back at him.

Ew.

"So I'm glad the entire team is here because there's something I'd like to say," Alice spoke out, slowly sitting up on the couch with what appeared to be an eager expression as she glanced around at the team.

All eyes turned to her curiously. "Is it more about how Lily and CJ should keep themselves at an arm's length distance apart at all times?" I suggested.

She shot me a look. "No."

"Oh," I said, slowly shaking my head. "Can it be about that?"

I ducked from where I sat perched on the coffee table as Lily attempted to chuck a pillow in my face.

"No, though I'm strongly reconsidering what I'm about to say," Alice drawled, a hint of a smirk on her face.

I grinned sheepishly. "Alright, get on with it. What does our dear Cappy have to say?"

She looked at me, a quiet smile resting on her lips. "Actually," she said with a slight nod, "That's exactly what I want to talk about."

I blinked and I appeared to not be the only one confused. "What is?"

She said nothing at first, her eyes meeting mine with an unexpected hope in her expression. "Quidditch Captain."

I glanced around at the others, all of whom had smiles on their faces so apparently I was the only one not getting it. Turning back towards Alice, I said, "Any chance you could be less vague?"

She chuckled and withdrew the Captain badge out of her pocket, tossing it towards me. I was caught off-guard as I bobbled it in my hand before catching it. "It's yours again, Jay."

I looked down at it and then back up at her. I said nothing at first, staring at her in surprise before the realization of what she was saying settled in. "It shouldn't be," I argued. "I screwed up. That's what I do. You are a far better Captain than me, more levelheaded and honest and less aggressive than I ever was. Keep the badge, Ace. You deserve it."

She shook her head. "I can't keep it. It's not mine."

"Ace-"

"I was only Acting Captain," she cut me off with a knowing smile. "That badge always belonged to you."

I was slightly speechless, which was a rarity for me, as I glanced back down at the badge again, running my finger over the raised C. "I can't imagine your father agrees with this," I murmured.

There was a definite hesitation before she answered. "Not exactly," she admitted. "But he told me it was my decision. Well, our decision. The team's."

I glanced around at the others who I was surprised to see were all smiling. "She's the nice one," I reminded them. "You really want me to go back to being Dictator Potter?"

"We're hoping that you being in a relationship will soften you up," Rose teased.

My eyebrow shot upward. "Do I look like the soft type?"

I yelped as Fred's fingers poked my side. "You are getting a tad pudgy in the stomach area, mate."

I smacked him on the back of the head. "And for that, you're getting laps during our next practice."

He hesitated, rubbing the back of his skull. "Yeah, I vote we keep AliCat as Captain. Who's with me?"

As a ripple of laughter surged through the group, Alice merely shook her head. "I deal with you yahoos enough without having to lead you, too," she teased.

"Oh, is that all we are to you? Yahoos?" Fred teased, jumping off the coffee table and lunging at her, tickling her sides playfully.

Alice let out a shriek, struggling against Fred's grasp. "Argh, stop it! Give him more laps, Jay!"

I laughed, grabbing the back of my cousin's shirt and dragging him away from my girlfriend. "We play Slytherin in six weeks and I'll be damned if we don't beat the shit out of them," I said. "Practice resumes Sunday night and our priority is making Lily inconspicuous to my brother or he'll find a way to blow up our entire game. Come prepared."

I was not surprised to be on the receiving end of various eyes rolls. "Is anyone else thinking that James cares more about beating his brother than actually winning?" Jax snorted.

"Laps, Bloch."

"For making an observation?"

I shrugged. "For being you."

He opened his mouth to retort but Rose beat him to it. "Seems like a good reason to give someone laps to me," she drawled.

Jax glared at her. "On that note, I'm going to go find my girlfriend and pin down Valentine's Day plans with her," he snapped, clearly rubbing his relationship in her face as he pulled himself off the couch and took off towards the portrait.

"Valentine's Day is in less than two days," Fred commented curiously. "Shouldn't he already have plans pinned down?"

"What plans?" Rose drawled irritably. "Seems to me snogging in public shouldn't take much to plan."

I desperately searched for a quick and easy subject change but before I could think of something, Rose was swiftly pulling herself off the couch. "I have homework," she announced before disappearing up the stairs.

Fred's brow furrowed as he watched her go before turning back to the rest of us. "What's with her?"

I decided to pretend not to know the answer to that.

XOXOXO

---

"So," I said to Alice when it was just me and her left on the couch, "You talked to your dad about the badge, hm?"

She glanced up from her Potions notes. "That I did."

"Does that mean you might have talked to him about other things?" I suggested.

"Yeah," she said with a slow nod, "We talked a lot about the weather. The temperatures have been dropping steadily all week. Nearly feels like Antarctica out there."

I looked at her, unamused. "Really? The weather?" I drawled. "That's it?"

She stifled a laugh. "You might have come up, too."

My eyebrow peaked upward. "And how'd that go?"

She looked at me and slowly, a smirk began to form. A smirk I didn't like one bit. "He wants to talk to you in his office tomorrow after lunch. One o'clock. He said don't be late."

I blinked. "Uh, I'm sorry, what now?"

"It went fine," she chuckled, tossing her quill down in front of her. "He was a tad surprised at the timing, considering we had just decided to become friends again after two very silent weeks of not being friends, but he told me that if I was happy, he was happy. He also said he saw it coming a mile away."

My eyebrow shot up. "Seriously? We didn't even see it coming."

"Apparently, he's smarter than the both of us."

Well, I suppose he didn't become a professor for being dumb.

Shrugging, I narrowed my eyes at her. "Okay, now back to this whole I have to meet with up him thing."

She grinned sheepishly. "He said he needed to have a little chat with you."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"He's not going to murder you if that's what you think."

"That's exactly what I think."

"He just wants to make sure you take care of his daughter, Jay," she chuckled.

"No, he just wants to rip my head off my body and feed it to the lake squid."

She laughed again and it reminded me just how infectious her laughter was. "You're being dramatic."

I made a face. "For the record, the proper response to 'hey, daughter, I want to talk to this boyfriend of yours' would have been 'no way in hell.'"

Another laugh. I loved it. "You've known my dad your entire life, Jay. You'll be fine."

"He's known me as the best friend of his daughter, not the guy who's currently snogging said daughter. Believe me when I say, there is a huge bloody difference."

She looked up at me, amusement tugging at the end of her lips. "And believe me when I say, you'll be fine."

"I'm fairly certain you don't know the meaning of the word 'fine.'"

She leaned over to press a quick kiss before saying, "If there's someone we should be worried about, it would be the press."

I let out a quiet groan at that very thought. "Fuck, I didn't even think about the press."

She smiled up at me. "The press loves to paint you as the rebellious bad boy. This may not actually be so bad for you."

"You say that now but I guarantee whatever the Daily Prophet has to say, they'll make sure to include my many past escapades," I muttered.

"All of which I am very much aware of already."

I hesitated. "And you still want to date me? Should we be worried about your sanity level?"

I ducked as she attempted to swat me in the back of the head, both of us laughing in unison. "You may have been a piece of shit to pretty much every other girl you've ever been with but you're not one to me."

I glanced down at her curiously. "Except when I slept with someone else the day after I kissed you."

She glared up at me.

"Maybe that's something I shouldn't ever bring up again."

Her upper lip twitched. "Yeah, maybe when the Daily Prophet reaches out for a quote, you don't mention that part."

I snorted. "The only thing I'll ever be mentioning to the Daily Prophet is 'no comment.'"

She smiled up at me, her fingers intertwining with mine. "We knew this wouldn't be easy," she reminded me.

I leaned back against the couch with a heavy sigh. "Nothing in my life has ever been easy," I pointed out, running my fingers haggardly through my hair as a sudden air of defeat overtook me. I felt Alice's hand squeeze mine and I looked down at her with a lopsided smile. "But I've gotten through it all alright mostly thanks to you."

She removed her hand from mine and wrapped both arms around my shoulders, drawing herself close to me. "Then it's a good thing I'm not going anywhere, Jay," she whispered, her eyes meeting mine with a hopeful intensity.

I smiled down at her and nodded, brushing a stair hair from her face. "You say that now but wait until the press latches onto you," I teased.

"I've gotten plenty of grief today from our peers and yet I'm still here, aren't I?"

I hesitated, realizing only then that I wasn't the only one being leered at by the general population. "Who was giving you grief?" I scoffed. "I'll kill them."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't need you to be my knight in shining armor, Jay. I just need you to be you."

I growled. "Yes, but part of me is that guy who strangles anybody who dares to say anything bad to you."

"I don't care what they think or what they have to say," she was quick to argue, resting her chin against my shoulder as her gaze held mine. "I just care about me and you. The rest of the world may have their own opinion but my opinion is that you're the only guy for me."

She really did have a way with words, didn't she?

"I'm pretty sure I don't deserve you," I said with a small smile.

"Probably not," she teased.

I laughed before pressing my lips to hers, finding such comfort in the tender kiss. I drew her into my body tightly as our lips molded together, a brief kiss but passionate nonetheless. As she pulled away, I smiled down at her and said, "I think I could get used to this."

Her lips tugged upward. "I would just like to go on record saying that if someone had told me at this time last week that you and I would be snogging in the middle of the common room, I would have laughed in their face and sent them to Madam Clearwater for a much-needed psych evaluation."

My laughter filled the air as I gripped her closer to me. "This should feel weird," I agreed with a simple nod, "But it just feels as if we should have been doing it all along."

She nodded and smiled. "Feels right."

"Feels good."

She nodded again but broke the rather tender moment by glancing at the clock. "Curfew is in ten minutes. I need to head back."

"I'll walk you back."

She snorted. "That sounds an awful lot like code for 'I'll walk you back so we can make out in every broom cupboard we come across.'"

"You have it all wrong," I huffed. "I was thinking we could just make out in your room."

She shoved me playfully, a laugh at the end of her lips. "I'm going back to my room and you're staying here because if you don't, you will be breaking curfew."

She pulled herself off the couch, all while I pouted. "See, this is why I never dated the rule-following type in the past," I said with an overdramatic sigh.

She shot me a look. "You never dated any type in the past."

"Eh, technicalities."

She just grinned and kissed me one last time before heading out.

XOXOXO

---

We had a short morning practice that Friday but the weather was more grueling than ever, the wind making it near impossible to do any straight flying. It helped us work on our dexterity in the face of unexpected wind patterns but by the end of the first hour, none of us could feel our toes. So being the nice Captain I was, I dismissed practice early.

After much-needed hot showers, all of us found ourselves wandering off to the Great Hall together and I couldn't remember the last time I was so happy to see a pot of hot oatmeal in my life.

"Valentine's Day isn't even really a holiday," Cass was arguing with Hugo as she filled her plate full of carbohydrates.

"Tell that to all the starry-eyed hopeless romantics of the female persuasion that roam this school," my cousin snorted.

"Not all of us live in a fictional fantasy world," Cass huffed, flipping her blonde hair over her head.

"Cheers to that," Rose snorted into her pumpkin juice.

Ignoring her, I asked my keeper, "You going into Hogsmeade with that Miles kid, Cass?"

Cass nodded. "Yeah. And for the record, he's the one that wants to go to Puddifoot's, not me."

As the predictable gender we were, all of the guys grimaced. Okay, well, all the guys except for CJ. "I guarantee you he does not want to go to Puddifoot's," Jax snorted. "No guy wants to go there. They do it because their girls want them to."

"Or, and here's a thought, you cynical prat, he wants to go because he likes the idea of making his girl happy," Rose shot back.

"And what would you know about being happy, Miss Cynical?"

Oh, Merlin, I smelled another fight coming on.

Rose opened her mouth and I had a feeling it was going to be some insult of some sort, so I cut her off. "Well, what do you say, Ace? Join me in Hogsmeade for an off-the-cuff, romantic, starry-eyed date?"

Alice had her fork halfway to her mouth when she hesitated, looking at me with clear disbelief. "That's how you're going to ask me out on a Valentine's Day date? Just because you want to shut Jax and Rose up?"

Damn, she caught on to that, did she.

"Erm…"

She grinned. "I'm kidding. I'm in."

And this is why I liked her.

"Hogsmeade is tomorrow and you're only now asking her out?" Rose drawled with a slight shake of the head.

"At least she got asked out," Jax muttered under his breath and as Rose sent another scathing look towards the sixth year, I once again swooped in to stop a fight from happening.

"I'm thinking we should go anywhere but Puddifoot's, Ace," I suggested. "Please tell me you don't disagree."

"Aw, you don't want to shove our three-day old relationship in all of the kissing couples faces who will be camped out at that lovey-dovey establishment all afternoon?"

"I'm much prefer to shove our three-day old relationship in all of the single, bitter folks' faces who will be camped out at Three Broomsticks all afternoon."

"Deal."

We all laughed before Fred chimed in. "Ryleigh and I plan to hit up Three Broomsticks in the afternoon. You two want to meet up?"

"Aw, that's adorable, you can't stand the idea of spending Valentine's Day without your bromantic partner," Alice teased him, nudging me in jest.

Fred glared at her. "I take it back. I don't want to meet up with you."

"If I recall, last year you two spent Valentine's Day holed up in the Three Broomsticks hitting on all the lonely, pathetic girls who walked through the door whining about being dateless," Rose drawled.

"Speaking of lonely, pathetic girls," Jax muttered.

Did he have to get in a dig every time Rose spoke?

"Don't know what you're talking about, Rose," Fred huffed, ignoring Jax completely. "We have always been perfect gentlemen."

That earned an entire table of laughs.

I glanced at Fred and shrugged. "Yeah, there was no chance anyone was going to buy that."

He merely grinned and shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"So, tell me," I said, turning my narrowed gaze on to CJ across the table, "What are your Valentine's Day intentions with my sister, Colton Jackass?"

He glanced over at Lily, but she was too busy glaring at me. "None of your business, James Not-so-Sirius."

"Doesn't he seem like the type who would like Puddifoot's, Jameso?" Fred chimed in with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, totally the type, Freddo," I commented with a nod.

"Not much of a manly man, Jameso."

"Not at all, Freddo."

"Lily clearly wears the pants in that relationship, Jameso."

"Clearly, Freddo."

We were silenced by a pair of scones hitting our faces. "You two are insufferable berks, y'know that?" she drawled. "And now that I know you two are avoiding Puddifoot's, guess what twosome will be turning into one of those kissing couples camped out at the tea shop all afternoon?"

Well, that totally backfired.

"No kissing allowed," Fred barked.

"You keep your hands off her, Colton Jell-O," I warned.

CJ shot Lily a look. "Thank you for that."

Lily grinned triumphantly. "Are you really complaining though?"

He hesitated before shrugging. "Nope, seems like a good way to spend an afternoon to me."

"NO KISSING ALLOWED."

"YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER, COLTON JAMES WOOD."

CJ grimaced but it was Hugo who spoke next. "Well, would you look at that," he said with a small shake of the head, "James does know CJ's real middle name."

I shot my cousin a look but didn't have time to respond as the Great Hall suddenly became flooded with owls. Glancing up, I found myself immediately groaning as a flock of owls made their way in my direction, all of which I recognized as owls belonging to various members of my family. My family who almost definitely knew about my change in relationship status.

"Holy Hufflepuff, what owl army did you recently piss off?" Jax snorted as six owls dropped off letters in front of me and immediately began pecking at the closest person's plates. "Oy, off my bacon!"

Alice chuckled from where she sat opposite me. "Well, go on. Open them."

"I don't wanna."

"Why not?" she questioned with a mere shrug. "They're going to be far better than their usual invasive 'what did you do to Fred' and 'what did you do to Alice' owls you've been receiving these past few weeks."

She had a point.

I started opening them one by one. The first one was from Mum who, in all caps, said she was thrilled I finally had the guts to ask my best friend out (apparently she had seen this coming just like Neville had). Next was from Uncle George who insisted I stop by the shop on Saturday with Alice (I was thinking that not showing up was a far better option). I received another one from Grandmum who essentially told me I couldn't possible find a better girl than Alice Longbottom (this one I couldn't argue with). The next letter was from Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione who basically called Alice an angel and a saint and then warned me not to screw it up like I always do (thanks for the vote of confidence). Another letter was from Louis and it just said DETAILS PLEASE (I tossed that one to Fred who would be more than happy to give Louis the details). And the last letter was from Teddy, the only letter that actually made me smile.

J,

Lily told me something every interesting about you. About you and Alice in particular. Tell me, why am I learning that you are officially off the market from your sister and not say, oh I don't know, YOU?

As insulted as I am, I'm really happy for you. For the both of you. I know what it's like to start dating your best friend. I know that you probably have about eighteen other letters from your various family members throwing in their two cents. I know that that might make you nervous because now there really is no coming back. I know you're afraid of screwing things up but I also know that you've probably never been happier. So my advice to you is, ignore everything else. Ignore your family. Ignore your nerves. Just be the you and Alice you've always been and I guarantee things will turn out okay.

Oh, and snog the hell out of her every moment you get because I swear to you there will be no other feeling in the world that will top that.

(But also remember that her father is probably watching so just be smart about it.)

Take care of yourself and take care of her and I assure you that everything else will fall into place.

Love,

T

P.S. It's a boy.

P.P.S. No, we are not naming him James Jr.

"What did Teddy have to say?" Alice asked when I finally lifted my head out of the letter.

I smiled and shrugged. "He says he's having a boy."

Alice was confused but she was cut off from responding by Lily's squeal next to her. "He's having a boy?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" I chuckled.

"Apparently Teddy isn't calling his baby James Jr. though," Fred spoke from next to me.

I swatted at him. "Are you reading my letters over my shoulder?"

"Of course," he said with a dismissive snort. "And you know why he's not calling his baby James Jr.?"

"He's not calling him Fred Jr. either!" I shot back.

Fred smirked. "Oh, we'll see."

"Guys, we've been over this," Hugo spoke with a shake of the head. "You two are already juniors. The kid would be James the Third or Fred the Third."

"I don't think I can be called a junior when it skipped a generation," I argued.

"No, but you would be James the Second," Rose chimed in. "Meaning that Teddy's child would still be James the Third."

"He's not naming his son James," Fred groaned.

"James isn't technically a Second at all," Alice added to the ridiculousness of the conversation we were currently having. "Because he and his grandfather have different middle names."

"Well, if we're using that logic than Teddy's son wouldn't be James Junior or James the Second or James the Third because his last name is not Potter," Lily pointed out.

"Teddy isn't naming his son James!" Fred repeated.

"Ah, so what I'm hearing is we should suggest Teddy naming him Just James," I contemplated with a curious nod.

"He's not naming his son James."

"Now, would Just be his first name and James be his middle name?" Jax questioned. "Or would Just-James be his hyphenated first name and Jackson be his middle name?"

We all turned towards him. "Dude, why would a member of our family name their son after you?" Fred drawled.

"Uh, alliteration purposes, duh."

We all stared at him for just a brief moment before bursting into laughter.

"For the record," Cass spoke up with the slightest shake of the head, "This conversation might be the most idiotic conversation I have ever been privy to."

"If you stick around long enough, you'll realize that all the Peasley family is good for is idiotic conversations," Jax smirked.

Biscuits and bacon went flying at the beater from all kinds of directions.

"Who's the idiot now, insulting a family that makes up more than half the Quidditch team?" Rose drawled.

He peeled a piece of bacon from his shirt and tossed it into his mouth. "Still you," he shot back.

She flipped him off. "Your girlfriend is down at the other end of the table," Rose drawled. "If we're such idiots, then why don't you go join her and leave us alone?"

"Why don't you go join that boyfriend of yours? No, wait, you don't have one because even Malfoy isn't interested in you for anything more than a sleazy snog in a closet somewhere."

For just a few minutes in time, it was almost as if I had forgotten about their little war.

Almost.

"Quit it, you two," I pleaded. "You are giving us all a blinding headache."

"It's a good thing that's all I'm interested from him, too, then, isn't it," Rose shot back at Jax, ignoring me completely.

I wondered if I should use my newfound invisibility for good or evil.

"Of course it is!" he laughed. "Because there is not a single other guy in this entire school who has or would have any interest in being with or ever dating the Queen Bitch of Gryffindor in all her intolerable glory! Enjoy being alone for the rest of your pathetic life, Weasley."

She didn't even bother flipping him off that time. Instead, she stood up abruptly from the table and stormed out of the Great Hall completely.

The irritation in Jax's expression gave way to guilt very quickly as he watched her go, though he tried to pass it off as he found a sudden interest in his scrambled eggs.

"You've really got to learn to watch that mouth of yours around my cousin, Bloch," I spoke, perhaps a tad too harshly, as I swiftly pulled myself off the bench.

"Tell that to her!" he shot back.

I sent him a scathing glare before grabbing my schoolbag and rushing towards the exit, ignoring Fred as he asked me where I was going. I saw Rose's red hair disappearing around a corridor at the top of the stairwell so I quickly took the stairs by twos and rushed after her.

"I'm fine, James."

Not surprised that she knew it was me, I slowed my pace as I made my way beside her. "It's okay if you're not."

She shot me a sideways glare. "No. No way. I refuse to let a few words from some jackass bother me in any way."

I hesitated before saying, "But they do bother you."

She opened her mouth to retaliate but no words came out. She shut her mouth and swiftly turned away from me with a frown. Silence fell around us as we wandered the hallways. I didn't know where we were going as Rose led the way and a few minutes had passed before she finally spoke. "I really hate him," she muttered.

All I could do was offer her a lopsided smile. "No, you don't."

There was a flicker of overwhelming despair in her eyes before it was once again replaced with her usual stone-faced look. "No," she muttered. "I don't. But things would be so much easier if I did."

"When has anything in our lives ever been easy?" I pointed out, nudging her with my shoulder.

She only shrugged, clearly not up for any kind of banter.

"Can I ask you something?" I questioned hesitantly.

She glanced at me curiously. "Depends what it is."

Typical Rose response, never agreeing to do anything unless she knew what she was getting out of it.

"Why do you like him?"

Her lips pursed as she shrugged. "I don't know."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you know. You always have an answer to everything."

She stopped abruptly in the hallway and I followed suit. Turning towards me, there was an unexpected softness in her eyes. She said nothing at first, clearly mulling the question over. Not because she didn't know the answer but because she didn't know how to say it.

She began to speak. "I think all of us in our family had to grow up rather headstrong, what with dealing with the ongoing gossip and the press and then there's the whole living-in-the-shadows-of-our-parents situation," she spoke softly, her gaze faltering towards the ground. "And I think it's safe to say I might have become just a tad more headstrong than others in our family, and by that I mean I'm a total bitch, but I own that. I have no problem being a bitch. If being a bitch means no one dares to even try and walk all over me or talk badly about me and my family to my face, I am happy to be a bitch. I am happy to play that role. I've gotten pretty good at being rude to others and yelling at those who cross my path and being blunt and honest and I've gotten really good at not caring about anything or anyone. And most people have learned to just stay out of my way. And I'm okay with that. If that means being my own person and not the person everyone had always expected me to be, I'm okay with that."

It dawned on me where she was going with this. "But Jax didn't stay out of your way."

She glanced back up at me and slowly nodded. "The first time I had a real conversation with him, we were paired up in Potions class a few months into our first year. He screwed something up and I yelled at him because let's face it, that's what I do. He looked at me and he just…he laughed. He laughed and said, 'don't worry, your highness, I don't think they hand out Ts on your very first assignment,'" she said, her words soft against her tongue. Her lip twitched upward into a nostalgic smile before it faded once again. "He was and is one of the very few people in my life who has never taken my bullshit. He fights back. He challenges me. He's as blunt with me as I am with him. He doesn't see me as a bitch. He might be the only person in the world who just sees me for me. Or at least he used to."

Rose and I had a rather complicated relationship. There were times we got along incredibly well and other times where we wanted to rip each other's throats out. We were never best friends as she bided her time with my brother and I bided my time with Fred and Alice. This was the type of conversation she normally wouldn't save for me but as I was the only one who knew her predicament, it made sense that she felt compelled to share with me. I knew all too well what it was like to keep things bottled in and I knew how much it could hurt. And as I stared at my cousin, a girl who was not only headstrong but who always came off tough and resilient, I saw instead a broken heart that hadn't even known it was broken until it was too late.

"Why is it always the good ones who find a way to hurt us the most?" I murmured sadly.

She met my gaze and I saw the slightest trace of tears stinging the side of her eyes. "And why is it that they don't even know they're doing it most of the time?"

I thought back to when Alice wasn't speaking to me. I thought of all the times she refused to look at me. How every time a quiet ache in my heart just grew until it took over my bloodstream and rendered me completely immobile. It hadn't just hurt. It nearly killed me, the pain so remarkably unbearable, and as I glanced down at my younger cousin, it saddened me to know exactly what she was feeling. A feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone, not even my worst enemy and especially not my own flesh and blood.

"Call me crazy, and yes I realize how hypocritical this might make me sound," I spoke slowly, Alice's smile flashing through my mind, "But have you ever considered telling him how you feel?"

Rose let out a derisive laugh, the sadness in her eyes suddenly replaced with her usual guardedness. "He has a girlfriend," she reminded me. "A bubbly blonde who isn't a bitch."

"You didn't answer my question."

She shot me a look. "He'd laugh in my face and you know it."

"Or, and here's where the plot thickens, he may actually feel the same way about you."

She shook her head. "No, he doesn't," she muttered.

"You're not even going to consider that he might-"

"I don't have to consider it," she spoke softly. "I already know."

She sounded so much like me just a few days earlier when the very possibility of me and Alice getting together was laughable. It saddened me because I knew how much those thoughts could ache.

With a sigh, I just said, "In my experience, Rosie, guys don't go out of their way to have a conversation with a girl the way Jax does with you, even if those conversations have grown to be rather antagonistic, unless there's a reason for it."

"There is a reason for it. He finds me annoying."

"Oh, he does not," I drawled. "Remember when the two of you were actually on friendly terms? Before you both turned yourselves into sixteen-year-old hotheaded enemies?"

"Yeah, and didn't you ever wonder why we went from being on friendly terms to being hotheaded enemies?" she snapped at me.

"All the time," I spoke. "Any chance you're about to tell me why?"

She said nothing.

I took that as a no.

Sighing, I said, "I know you always like to come off as tough and impenetrable but you're allowed to feel something, Rose."

She took a long time to respond. "If this is what it's like to feel something," she whispered, "Count me out."

Her voice shook as she spoke and it tugged on my heartstrings. "I know sometimes it can feel horrible and overwhelming and devastating, but take it from someone who knows: it gets much better."

She frowned. "I think this whole you-having-a-girlfriend thing is making you way too sappy."

I noticed that she avoided responding to my comment. "Or maybe it's just given me a new perspective on relationships, especially those worth having."

She rolled her eyes. "Another sappy comment by the sappy one himself."

I shrugged. "I think you're mixing up sappy with happy, which is understandable as they're only one letter off—oof," I groaned as Rose elbowed me in the stomach before taking off down the hallway. I quickly jogged after her.

"I'm fine, James," she said for a second time that morning.

I glanced at her warily. "Rose…"

She frowned. "Okay, I will be fine."

I offered her a small smile and reached for her arm, stopping her from ascending the stairwell. "Alright, be prepared, I'm about to make the ultimate sap move and hug you, dear cousin."

"Oh, no you won't!" she groaned, trying to push me away but I just laughed and grabbed a hold of her, drawing her into me. She let out another groan, being the least touchy-feely person I knew, but I didn't let up, crushing her against me with a grin.

She eventually stopped struggling and I felt her arms coming around me. With a slow shake of the head, she said, "AliCat really has made you into a total mushball."

I reluctantly let Rose go with a smile. "Y'know, I think I'm okay with that."

Rose met my gaze and offered me her own smile. "Happiness suits you, James."

I couldn't help but agree.

XOXOXO

---

"Rose likes Jax, doesn't she."

I nearly stumbled over my feet, turning towards Alice with my mouth open as we walked out of Potions together.

"Er…" was my very eloquent response.

"She and Jax have been acting almost hostile towards each other since he announced he was dating Laikyn," she explained. "There's really only one reason for that."

"That she's a bitch and he's the only person that doesn't stand for it?" I said in jest.

Alice chuckled. "In a way, the fact that he's the only person that doesn't stand for it is exactly why I think she might have feelings for him."

Well, color me shocked that Alice picked up on that.

Or maybe not. Alice did always have a habit of being right.

"You have a real way of reading people, didya know that?" I chuckled nervously.

She smiled, seemingly taking that as a compliment. "For what it's worth," she spoke hesitantly as we rounded the corner towards the Great Hall for lunch, "I think he might like her, too."

I wasn't in disagreement with her but I was curious what gave her that impression. "Seriously? You really think he might have feelings for her?"

She hesitated. "I really think he's afraid to admit he has feelings for her."

Well, that certainly wouldn't be farfetched. Look how long it took me to admit I had feelings.

That very thought only made me groan. "Bloody hell, what is with all of us males being so afraid of our bloody feelings?"

Alice let out a boisterous laugh. "You came around eventually," she reminded me. "Maybe Jax will, too."

"He has a girlfriend," I pointed out.

She hesitated. "Or maybe Jax won't come around at all."

I made a face. "I hate being a teenager. Let's fast forward ten years, shall we?"

"And become adults living in the Real World?"

I paused. "Let's rewind ten years, shall we?"

She laughed and reached for my hand, taking a step closer to me as a suggestive look twinkled in her eye. "But if we rewind ten years, we don't get to do this," she whispered before pressing her lips to mine hungrily. The kiss was unexpectedly aggressive as she pushed her body into mine, her one hand still in mine. I let my free hand grip her waist, our tongues intertwining as our hearts raced as one.

As our consciences got the best of us, both of us realizing we were currently snogging like two horny teenagers right outside the Great Hall, we pulled apart. "Okay, you win," I spoke breathlessly, "Let's stay teenagers."

XOXOXO

---

I was grateful that the week was finally winding down and I had a Hogsmeade trip to look forward to until Alice reminded me at lunch of my meeting with her father.

I would have gladly taken another week of classes and no Hogsmeade visit at all over a one-on-one with her father but apparently this meeting was not optional.

So there I stood outside Neville's door as the clock struck one, wondering if it was too late to transfer to Beauxbatons for the year.

Eventually, I knocked and heard him tell me to come in. Creaking open the door, I wandered into the office and glanced up at Neville who appeared to be grading papers behind his desk. He finished up what he was doing and then looked up, gesturing towards the chair in front of him. I took it, albeit very warily.

"So," Neville said, tossing his quill down on to his desk and leaning back in his chair, "You're dating my little girl."

All I could do was nod.

"And what makes you think you're good enough for her?"

I stared up at Neville, only then realizing just how intimidating he could be. "I don't think I'm good enough for her," I spoke softly. "I don't think anyone is."

Neville peered at me, the silence between us incredibly unnerving. "Well, would you look at that, sounds like we're in agreement over something."

I winced.

"My daughter is very special to me, James," he spoke softly. "I know I don't have to tell you that. You've seen it firsthand all these years. Because you've been there. You've been there for her for seventeen years, almost eighteen years. You've been there through it all. And I have, too. I was there to see your friendship blossom. I saw both of you grow up into the people you are today. I've been there through every obstacle and challenge you've both overcome, usually with each other. I'm not going to lie, there were times I thought you were a bad influence on my daughter. You've struggled a lot, specifically in your teenage years, and I sometimes feared that you were dragging Alice down. And the one thing I don't want is for her to lose herself by becoming the person you want her to be, James."

I gaped at him, the guilt and shame rushing through my every emotion as I replayed his words in my head. Some of them felt gracious, others felt cutting. But he didn't say anything I hadn't already known.

"I know that I've made a lot of mistakes in my life," I admitted, my voice soft with remorse. "I haven't let myself live an easy life. And the funny thing is, sir, there was once a time I thought I had been dragging Alice down, too. I feared I was holding her back from being who she deserved to be. Sometimes I still fear that. I know she can do so much better than me. I know she deserves so much better than me. I know that I might find a way to screw this up like I've screwed everything else up in my life. But I need you to know that the only person I ever want her to be is her. Because if I'm being frank, the person she is, is pretty fucking great."

He said nothing, just staring at me with those scrutinizing eyes as if he was trying to find a way to break me. I sat there with my hands in my lap staring back at him, acting as if he couldn't break me but knowing that in that moment, if anybody could, it could probably be him.

"Another thing we're in agreement over then," he finally said. "Of course, I might have said it without the colorful language."

I winced. "I never said I was perfect," I muttered.

He shook his head. "No, you certainly aren't."

He didn't elaborate which made me think this was going downhill very quickly.

"I know your reputation, James," he spoke softly.

Fuck.

"Professors have eyes and ears, too. We see what's going on with our students. We know what's happening in your off time. We hear the gossip just as much as the rest of you do. So I'm not going to sit here and pretend to like the guy you might have been to other females in this school."

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"But I consider my daughter very wise and if she chose you, she must have her reasons," he sighed. "And I didn't ask you here today to try and put an end to this relationship. That was never my intention. I see the way she looks at you and yes, I've seen the way you look at her and I thought for years now that this could one day happen. I can't say I was hoping it would happen but here we are."

Yes, here we were.

Which was where exactly?

"Sir, if you didn't ask me here today to try and stop me from dating your daughter then why did you?"

He looked at me, his upper lip twitching. "Isn't it obvious?" he spoke, a twinkle in his eye. "Killing you off seems to be the only answer."

I stared up at him with my mouth hanging open, scowling when he immediately broke out into laughter. "Or at least that's what my daughter tells me you seem to think."

I shrugged. "I certainly thought it was a possibility."

Neville chuckled lightly before fading into a frown. "You've always looked out for her, James," he spoke softly. "You've always been there for her. You might know more about her than I do. Does this relationship make me nervous? Yes. But I know how much you care about her. I've seen it firsthand."

"There isn't a single person in this entire world I care about more than her," I blurted out.

He studied me before offering me a single nod. "I know."

I could only nod back.

He leaned forward, clasping his hands together and placing them hesitantly on the desk. "But I am begging you, James," he whispered, "Please don't break my little girl's heart."

Ah, and the truth of why I had been asked there comes out.

He didn't want to break us up or scare me away or tell me what he really thought. He wanted to know that if she let me into her heart, I wouldn't find a way to turn around and destroy it.

So I looked up at Neville and did the only thing I could. I told him the truth. "If that request had come from a father of any other girl, I don't know if I'd be able to guarantee that," I spoke softly, sitting up in the chair and tipping forward. "But I can promise you, Neville, that I will never hurt your daughter."

He locked eyes with me, the silence between us palpable, before he slowly sat back in his chair with a small smile tugging at his lips. "You know what, James?" he spoke with a curt nod, "I might actually believe you."

An unexpected relief filled my heart as I met the understanding gaze of man who only cared about the same thing I did.

Or should I say, the same person.

XOXOXO

---

I was surprised to find myself leaving Neville's office with a smile on my face, but it slowly faded when I ran into Hattie just outside the library.

We both froze, staring at each other as the awkward tension swam around us.

"Hi," I eventually said.

She shifted the books in her arms to the other arm with a nod. "Hi."

"So," I said, making my way towards her with a hesitant smile, "I guess this is the part where you say 'I told you so.'"

She looked at me before slowly shaking her head. "There's no need for me to say that, James. I'm happy for you."

I grimaced as an unexpected guilt passed through my emotions. "I feel like I screwed you over or something."

She chuckled. "No," she argued, shaking her head at me. "I saw this coming, remember?"

I nodded slowly. "I did like you, Hattie."

A frown creased into her jawline. "She was always the one you were meant to be with," she spoke softly. "I was just the girl you were fooling around with before you realized it."

"No," I said, taking a step towards her with a swift shake of the head, "You were more than that. I never want you to think that I didn't care about you."

She offered me a small smile. "I really do appreciate that," she said with a curt nod. "But you don't owe me anything."

"Hattie," I spoke crisply, "I jerked you around all year and then decided to do the stupidest thing possible and ask you out forgetting that it could never actually happen. Maybe you don't think I owe you anything, but in my mind, I owe you a shit ton more than a simple 'yes, I cared about you.' I owe you an apology. A big one. I never pretended anything with you but sometimes it feels as if maybe I did. But I hope that I never made you feel that way because above all else, you deserve someone great and looking back, that certainly wasn't me."

Her smile grew as her eyes locked with mine. "Well, I'll be damned," she spoke with a chuckle, "I think you might actually be growing up, James Potter."

I looked at her with narrowed eyes before shaking my head. "That can't possibly be true."

She chuckled. "Promise me something, James."

"Oh, good, more promises," I muttered to myself, but I merely shrugged and said to her, "What is it?"

She looked at me with pleading eyes and said, "Promise me you won't make the same mistakes with her that you made with me."

I stared at her in slight shock at the unexpected request.

"She deserves that," she pointed out. "And frankly, just because you can be a bit of a prat most of the time doesn't mean you don't deserve that, too."

I can't recall a time I appreciated Hattie Wilkes more than in that moment.

I smiled at her. "I promise."

Hattie smiled back and with a simple nod, she took off down the hallway and disappeared. I watched her go, hoping that she one day found the kind of happiness that I had never been able to give her.

With a shrug, I turned and headed into the library, weaving my way through the tables of students and dropping into a small round table in the back across from Alice.

She looked up from the essay she was writing and smiled. It lasted only a brief second before concern passed across her expression. "How'd it go?" she asked softly.

I leaned back in my chair with a shrug. "Well, I'm still alive so that has to count for something."

She let out a faint chuckle. "I told you he wouldn't murder you."

"He suggested it."

"He did not."

"Well, not seriously," I chuckled. "But he did consider the option."

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, just tell me. How'd it go?"

I looked at my beautiful girlfriend and simply said, "As it turns out, we have a lot in common."

Her eyebrow popped. "Such as?"

"Well, for one, we both think I'm a huge, fucking idiot."

She blinked before shrugging. "I hope you don't expect me to argue with that," she said with a teasing smirk.

I made a face at her but she just laughed. "And two?" she questioned me further.

I looked at her and said, "We both care about his daughter more than anything else in the world."

Her cheeks flushed a faint pink color. "Good answer," she whispered, leaning over the table and pressing her lips to mine.

Kissing her was something I could definitely get used to.

XOXOXO

---

A/N: I hope this chapter met all of your expectations. Can't get enough of the James and Alice cutesy moments (and more of those to come!) and time will only tell if James will start to feel as confident in his relationship as Alice is trying to be. And let's not forget to mention the whole Jax-Rose fiasco, who are slowly becoming two of my favorite side characters. And to that point, I want to say thank you to all of those who recognize that I'm putting more into this story than just James and Alice. I have a habit of investing a lot of time (maybe too much time) in carving out an entire character arch for each character, big or small, giving them an extensive background with distinctive personality traits that are unique to them. As much as this story is about Alice and James, it's also about the people around them and how they've made Alice and James (and each of their own individual selves) who they are today. So thanks for those who are noticing those little details.

Up next: Valentine's Day!