A/N: And she's back with Valentine's Day (and less than two weeks after the real Valentine's Day). I don't normally comment on reviews here because then I'd feel compelled to respond to all but I did want to make a quick comment on the reviewer who mentioned that "real friends" don't go and gossip to an entire school about what goes on in someone's personal life. If you knew my family, then you'd think very differently. News travels fast with my friends and family, especially when it's good news. And James and Alice in a relationship is definitely good news. The constant gossip can come off as pushy and overbearing, sure, but it can also be about love. You want to make sure that the people you care most about are happy and when they're not, you want to talk to someone about how to fix it even if you know it can't be fixed. And when they are happy, you want to sing it from the rooftops especially if it takes a while to get there. So maybe the way the Peasleys are acting isn't something that particular reviewer is used to but it's something I've actually come to appreciate in my life because it just means that I have a lot of people in my life that care about me and my well-being.

And if that isn't enough, just remember that teenagers pretty much live off of gossip. If you went to a school that didn't, more power to you.

And with that, let's move on to some romance, shall we?

A WAY WITH WORDS

By ByeByeBirdie

Chapter 26: Love is in the Air

"Love is in the air, everywhere I look around
Love is in the air, every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise
But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes."
-John Paul Young

XOXOXO

I was greeted at breakfast on Saturday morning, the morning of Valentine's Day, by a newspaper shoved into my face.

"Er, thanks, Lils, but I much prefer toast than paper for breakfast," I said, pulling the newspaper away from my face.

"Look at the headlines" was all she said.

When she didn't berate me for the use of her nickname, I knew whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. Frowning, I glanced down at the paper.

Bad Boy James Potter Settles Down with Good Girl

"How is this front page news?" I scoffed.

"That's what you get for being a Potter," Fred chimed in from where he sat beside my sister.

I looked at the two of them. "Do I even want to read it?"

"No" they spoke in unison.

They were probably right.

But I read it anyway.

James Sirius Potter, son of The Chosen One, has suddenly denounced his rather rebellious bachelor ways to date fellow Gryffindor Alice Catherine Longbottom, the daughter of the man who cut off the head of Lord Voldemort's snake, Nagini, in the Second Wizarding World and made the death of Lord Voldemort possible.

James and Alice are no strangers to each other. Their families stayed close with one another after the war so the children grew up together. The friends (correction: couple) are only one month apart in age and have been labeled "inseparable" by friends of the family ever since they were born. They are in the middle of their final year at Hogwarts and Alice Longbottom was named Head Girl, no doubt due to the influence of her father who happens to be the Herbology professor and the Head of Gryffindor at Hogwarts. They are both chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and while James Potter started the year as the team's Captain, inappropriate conduct involving a fist fight with other students had his Captain's badge stripped from him and given to, you guessed it, Alice Longbottom.

According to several other students attending Hogwarts, the couple has been found snogging all over the castle since the start of their relationship and James has even been caught sneaking out of Alice's private Head Dorm after curfew. "It's actually rather nauseating," said Kenley Brown, fellow seventh year Gryffindor and friend of the couple. "I would like to say the two of them have a real chance of lasting but James is known to play the field. A lot."

In fact, earlier this very year James had "played the field" with Kenley Brown herself says a close source.

I began to rip the paper into shreds without bothering to read the rest. I tossed the confetti in the air, letting the various pieces land on several breakfast dishes spread out in front of me. "I fucking hate the Prophet" was all I said.

Fred and Lily exchanged a look but said nothing on the subject. There wasn't exactly a lot to say.

We ate our breakfast in silence as other students trickled in. I tensed up as I noticed Alice wandering through the door and making our way over to us.

She slid in beside me, her brow furrowing at the random pieces of shredded newspaper scattered about. She glanced around at all of us and said, "Do I even want to know?"

"One guess," I muttered.

She looked confused but only for a moment before a sigh escaped her lips. "I'm going to assume the Prophet caught wind of our relationship."

"You would be assuming correctly."

"I'm also going to assume that they had not-so-good things to say."

"I'm fairly certain that they live off of not-so-good things to say," I grumbled, stabbing my fork into my eggs.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

She shot me a look. "What did they have to say about us?"

"You don't want to know," Fred spoke.

"You really don't," Lily agreed.

Alice frowned, meeting the grimace on my face. With a frown, she asked softly, "What did it say?"

She was going to find out from someone so I sighed and said, "Well, apparently I'm nothing but a sleazeball womanizer and you're only Head Girl because of your daddy connections."

Her eyebrow inched upward. "That's the best they could do?" she drawled. "None of that is brand-new information. Everyone has been saying that about us all year. More than a year for you."

I turned to her sharply. "You're not mad?"

She gave me a funny look. "Why would I be mad? The Prophet has always been a total joke when it comes to relaying gossip."

And there was yet another reason why I liked her.

I smiled and leaned over to press a quick kiss to her cheek.

Fred cleared his throat across the table. "So, you two do realize that AliCat's father is going to buy the largest impenetrable lock to put on his daughter's bedroom door, right?"

Alice looked confused but all I could do was wince. "Yeah, it's pretty much a given that he's going to be camping outside her door for the rest of the year."

"Er…dare I ask why?" Alice interrupted.

"Oh, evidently I've been caught sneaking out of your bedroom late at night."

She made a face. "Great, I'll have that interrogation to look forward to from my father."

"Oh, and apparently Kenley Brown is a close friend of ours," I added as an afterthought.

Fred snorted as Alice once again appeared to be confused. "I'd ask what the hell you're talking about but I'm not so sure I want to know."

I smiled. "Smart girl."

A throat cleared behind us and one look over our shoulders had our backs stiffening as Neville peered down at us. "Now, I rarely believe a thing the Daily Prophet has to say, but I happen to know for a fact that James here has spent some time in the Head Dorm in the past," he spoke with an edge.

"Yes, and just like in the past, Dad, we're not doing anything except hanging out," she argued.

Neville snorted. "You forget that I was seventeen once, Alice."

She pouted. "Don't you trust me, Daddy?"

Oh, she was good.

He sent her a rather wary look. "You know I do," he spoke before narrowing his eyes at me. "It's him I don't trust."

Yeah, I couldn't even blame him for that.

"Well, you're going to have to," Alice said with a shrug. "It's not like you can stick a few house elves outside my bedroom door to keep watch on us."

Neville looked at her curiously.

"Dammit, you're totally going to stick a few house elves outside my bedroom door to keep watch on us, aren't you?" she groaned.

He grinned and Fred took that time to chime in. "Don't worry, Neville, I plan to keep a very close eye on these two to keep them in check."

"This is coming from the guy who just lost ten points for being shirtless in a storage closet with a girl."

Alice and I burst into laughter as Fred grew a slight shade of red. "Er…I wasn't aware you knew about that."

"Professors talk, Fred," he drawled before glancing over at his daughter. "You might want to remember that."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, because a professor would totally feel comfortable informing you that your daughter got caught shirtless in a closet."

"You better not be getting shirtless in a closet, young lady!"

She grinned and jumping up from the table, planted a kiss on her father's cheek. "I'm not," she assured him.

She's not?

This morning just keeps getting worse.

Neville glanced over at me with narrowed eyes. "Be warned, Potter, I'm watching you."

And with that, he retreated back to the Professor's table.

I stole a look at Alice who was grinning sheepishly at me. "Isn't it fun having my dad here at school?"

"Yeah, I'm not so sure 'fun' is the word I'd use here."

She laughed and reached over to squeeze my hand. "Don't worry about him. He's an old softie at heart. Wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Something tells me if he ever caught the two of us shirtless in a closet somewhere, he would have no problem hurting me."

She smirked and leaned over, whispering in my ear, "Then I guess we just have to make sure not to get caught."

My eyebrow sprang upward. "So what I'm hearing is there's a chance of us getting shirtless in a closet somewhere?"

She threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, I think there's a really good chance of that."

And now my morning just got ten times better.

XOXOXO

"C'mon, Fred," I groaned an hour later, holding up two different sweaters. "Black or beige?"

He looked at me through the reflection of the mirror where he was running a hand through his hair. "You're asking me for clothes advice?"

"This is my first date with Alice," I said. "I need it to go well."

"And you think it's all hinged on what you wear?"

"I think I need you to choose black or beige."

He smirked and turned around to face me. "You're starting to hyperventilate, mate."

I groaned and tossed the shirts on to my bed, dropping down on to the edge of it myself, careful not to fall on top of Franny. "I don't know how to do this dating crap," I muttered, "Unless you count seducing a girl into sneaking out into the alleyway behind Three Broomsticks for a quick shag, which for the record, I don't."

Fred's eyebrow popped up. "I'd advise you to not suggest that to AliCat."

I threw the black shirt at him. "You are literally no help whatsoever."

Fred laughed, tossing the shirt back at me. "You have gone into Hogsmeade with AliCat a thousand times," he reminded me. "Just do exactly what you've done in the past but hold her freaking hand and steal a few kisses now and then. I assure you, today will only be subtly different from how you acted in the past."

I considered this. "That's not terrible advice," I decided.

Fred shrugged. "Now the real test will be navigating my father's shop without getting bombarded by my dad and Uncle Ron with endless questions about your brand-new relationship."

"And we are right back to you being unhelpful."

He chuckled. "Wear the beige."

"Really?"

"You kinda have to because Franny is currently munching on your black shirt."

I whirled around and sure enough, Franny was nibbling on the edge of my black sweater. I hastily reached for her and pulled her away, to which she growled at me. I grinned at the pygmy puff and kissed the top of her fur before placing her back in her cage. She continued to growl at me.

"You still want to meet up later in the Three Broomsticks?" I asked Fred as I pulled the beige sweater over my white undershirt.

"Sure," he said. "One o'clock?"

"Sounds good," I said as the door opened and Dash wandered in.

He glanced between the two of us and frowned. "Getting ready for your big dates?"

We both nodded. "What's your plan today?" I asked hesitantly.

He plopped on to his bed and dropped his head back against his pillow with a sigh. "You're looking at it."

Fred and I exchanged a look.

"It's fine," Dash lied. "I have no desire to traipse into a village that will be jam-packed with over-the-top lovey-dovey couples making kissing faces at each other and exchanging chocolate hearts and teddy bears all bloody day."

I hesitated. "So what I'm hearing is I should have gotten Alice a chocolate heart and a teddy bear?"

Dash lifted his head to look at me. "Please tell me you got her something."

"Uh, yeah, me. I thought that was enough."

I ducked as Fred tossed his comb at me. "You didn't get AliCat anything for Valentine's Day?"

"I don't know how the hell to do Valentine's Day!" I whined.

Fred groaned. "This relationship is so never going to last."

I glared at him. "And once again you prove to be utterly unhelpful."

He grinned sheepishly and Dash spoke next. "Your sister is down there with a hefty bouquet of roses. If you ask nicely, she may spare you a few."

I turned my head sharply towards my roommate. "Who the hell is buying my sister a bouquet of bloody roses?"

My roommates shared a look. "That's not a serious question, is it?" Dash asked Fred hesitantly.

I grabbed my jacket off my bedframe and my wand off my bed and quickly rushed out the door. I took the stairs by two and skidded into the common room. Roses and chocolate boxes and teddy bears appeared to have taken over the room and it took me a few minutes of scouring the place before I spotted Lily in the corner with Rose and Hugo.

"So CJ thinks he can just buy your love with a half dozen roses?" I scoffed at my sister.

Lily stopped her conversation with Hugo midway to glare up at me. "It's a dozen roses actually," she corrected, "And it's the nicest gesture anyone has ever done for me, thank you very much."

"I bought you first row Harpies tickets for Christmas!"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, it's the nicest gesture that any boy has ever done for me."

"Uh, hi, boy standing right here," I scoffed.

"Yeah, well, you're certainly no man," Rose muttered under her breath, pulling herself off the couch. "Hopefully my shower is free by now. I am not traipsing into Hogsmeade with unwashed hair."

I grabbed her arm before she could take off. "Oy, who you going into Hogsmeade with? Harley and Jett?"

"Oh, right, because being a third wheel on Valentine's Day sounds positively electrifying," she snorted, pulling her arm out of my grasp and storming off.

"You didn't answer my question!" I called after her.

I was not at all surprised when she pretended not to hear me.

"Who is she going into Hogsmeade with?" I questioned my sister and cousin.

They both shrugged. "Beats me," Hugo said. "I don't keep track of her dating habits."

"What dating habits?" Lily snorted. "Snogging and shagging habits, more like it."

As expected, Hugo recoiled in disgust. "I so did not need to hear that my sister has shagging habits."

My eyes narrowed curiously at my sister. "What exactly do you know about Rose's shagging habits?"

Hugo's hands sprang to his ears before Lily could respond. "I DON'T WANNA KNOW!" he groaned, ignoring Lily's laughter as he jumped over the back of the couch and took off towards the boys' stairwell.

"Alright, out with it," I said, taking over Hugo's seat. "Who is Rose going into Hogsmeade with and what do you know about her shagging habits?"

She looked at me rather curiously. "I'm assuming Al and why do you not sound as surprised as Hugo to find out that Rose even has shagging habits?"

"Al is currently not speaking to Rose and I may have been informed that Rose isn't nearly as innocent as everyone in this school assumes she is."

"Why isn't Al speaking to Rose and who informed you of her so-called non-innocence?"

"He found out that Rose and Scorpius were still fooling around and why does that matter?"

"Rose and Scorpius are still fooling around?" Lily asked, dropping the second part of our conversation altogether. "That's news to me."

I shrugged. "It was news to me, too."

She frowned. "I don't get it. They don't even like each other. And not in a I'm-pretending-not-to-like-you-because-that's-better-than-admitting-I-have-feelings-for-you kind of way. In a I-really-don't-like-you-even-a-little-bit-so-I-shouldn't-be-snogging-you-at-all kind of way. So why the hell are they still doing it, especially knowing how much it pisses off Al?"

I shrugged again, neglecting to point that the reason Rose was so drawn to Scorpius was to avoid her feelings towards Jax. "Can't answer that," I lied.

She looked up at me with narrowed eyes. "I think you can."

I shook my head. "No, I think the real question here is why the hell does it piss Al off so much?" I deflected. "Rose and Malfoy are two consenting adults who are just having a bit of fun with each other. It's weird and creepy and the very thought makes me want to vomit all over the floor, but that doesn't mean there's any reason to be angry with them."

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "Don't ask me to dissect our brother's thought process. I'm not around him enough to know what goes on in that head of his."

That seemed to end the conversation there so I used that time to change the subject. "So what do you say you lend your older brother one of those roses or, y'know, ten?"

Lily shot me a look and then sighed. "Oh, hell, you didn't think to get Alice anything?"

"We've been dating for all of two days!"

"Flower deliveries can be done overnight, you total twat."

"Oh, right, and I'm supposed to be the expert on flower deliveries?"

Lily's lips twitched upward as she pulled a rose out of the bouquet. "You get one rose and only because I feel bad for your utterly pathetic self right now."

"If I throw on a puppy dog face and pretend to cry into my hands, will that get me another rose?"

She laughed and handed me the single rose. "Don't push your luck."

I grinned and pulled myself off the couch, reaching over to muss up my sister's hair. "Thanks, kid. I owe you."

She swatted my hand away and scowled. "You already owe me for joining your Quidditch team."

My eyebrow slowly peaked upward. "Gee, and here I assumed by suggesting the abolishment of the dating-a-teammate rule, you owed me for life."

She hesitated. "Call it even?"

I looked at her dubiously. "Giving me a rose is supposed to be the same as me giving you a boyfriend?"

"It is when Alice now won't feel the need to dump your arse for being a sorry excuse of a boyfriend."

I hesitated. "Alright, fine, we'll call it even."

She laughed as I disappeared out the portrait hole.

XOXOXO

I skidded to a halt outside the Head Dorm and was getting ready to say the password when the door opened and both Alice and Rudy spilled into the hallway.

"Aw, James, you shouldn't have!" Rudy said in a teasing voice as he pointed to the rose.

I looked at the flower in my hand and up at him. "Yeah, I didn't," I drawled. "And why are you always around?"

He just chuckled and without bothering to answer my question, he glanced over at Alice and said, "Meet you in the Entrance Hall?"

She nodded and he took off down the hallway.

"You're already having a clandestine affair and you're not being bothering to hide it?" I gasped.

Alice smacked me on the shoulder. "We have to help with the student checkout, you prat."

I chuckled and held out the rose. "So I realize I could have gotten you a dozen or two dozen roses but that's what all the guys are going to do for their girls today. And to me a single rose represents the start of our relationship and what's to come. Like this one rose, you're unique and special and beautiful and that's all I need."

She looked up at me, a kind of hesitant awe sparkling in her eyes as her face gave way to a smile. "So basically you didn't get me anything and had to bum a single rose off someone else."

Busted.

I sighed. "Dammit, I forgot how well you know me."

She laughed and took the rose from me, reaching up to press her lips to mine. "I don't need a bunch of fancy gifts or flowers or chocolates today, James. I just need you."

I locked my hands around her waist and drew her towards me. "Could you subtly mention that to Dash and Fred when you next see them? They're convinced I'm not gift enough for you."

There was a dazzling smile in her eyes as she looked at me. "You were taking advice from a guy who cheated on his girlfriend and a guy who spent a good part of his teenager years reveling in bachelorhood?"

I hesitated. "Note to self: next time, write to Teddy for advice."

She laughed and kissed me again before we took off towards the Entrance Hall hand-in-hand.

XOXOXO

"I mean, sure, one rose is a nice gesture, Potter, but I expected more from you."

"And again, I tell you that that rose wasn't meant for you," I spoke to Rudy.

"Chocolates and a singing card. A teddy bear even. Just…something. I thought you appreciated me more."

I glanced at Alice who was finding far too much amusement out of this ridiculous conversation. "Save me."

"I may have to find myself a new love interest," Rudy contemplated, stroking his chin as he continued to ignore me.

"Please do," I encouraged.

Glancing at us, he merely chuckled. "I know I haven't always been your biggest fan, Potter, but I'm happy for you two. You deserve each other."

My eyebrow shot up. Considering everyone else in the school was waiting for us to screw everything up, it was reassuring to think that maybe there was one person on our side. "That sounded like a compliment."

"Don't get used to it," he chuckled, glancing down at the checklist in his hand. "Why don't you two go on ahead to Hogsmeade? I'll finish checking out the last few stragglers."

"Oh, no, we can wait with you," Alice encouraged.

"Shh, I liked his suggestion better," I teased, grabbing Alice from the waist and pulling her towards me.

She swatted at me. "This is what you get when you date the Head Girl. My responsibilities are yours now."

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know the meaning of the word responsibilities. Could you define it for me?"

She almost got me in the side with her elbow but I managed to scoot out of the way just in time, a goofy grin planted on my face. "Think of all the chocolate we could be devouring right now," I suggested to her.

"I don't need you to buy me any chocolate, Jay," she chuckled. "Just because Rudy wasn't convinced that you getting me a single rose wasn't enough doesn't mean I feel the same way."

"He didn't give you a rose. He gave it to me," Rudy huffed.

"Good-bye, Frankel," I laughed, grabbing Alice's hand and trying to pull her away from the archway.

She looked skeptical but Rudy gestured towards the pathway with an encouraging nod. "Go on. I'm fine here on my own."

A hesitant smile broke out and she, too, nodded. "Alright, but I'll pull the late shift on our next Hogsmeade visit."

"Oy, don't I get a say?" I whined.

That time, her elbow made contact with me.

"C'mon, Jokester James, let's go to Hogsmeade."

I laughed and gladly squeezed her hand before leading her down the long winding pathway towards the village.

"So, what do couples do on Hogsmeade dates?" I questioned.

She looked up at me with an amused smile. "This."

My eyebrow popped up. "Er…I'm going to need more than that."

She laughed, a most beautiful laugh that seemed to make me unconsciously smile. "They walk, they walk, they hold hands, and maybe they steal a kiss or two," she explained.

I pondered her words. "So what I'm hearing is I should steal a kiss or two from you?"

She pulled on my hand, stopping the two of us mid-step. "I think perhaps more than two," she whispered, drawing close to me until her lips were touching mine.

The wind was bitter but I barely felt it as our lips grazed one another's in an almost perfect way. I had certainly done my share of kissing in the past but I never knew just how good and comforting it could really feel. I had heard about fireworks and sparks before but never felt them. I never even really came close. But kissing Alice was more than just fireworks and sparks. It was a fire burning in my very soul, lighting my entire body aflame with an explosive kind of lust that only seemed to grow with every kiss we shared.

"Oh, gross. No one wants to see that."

I reluctantly pulled away from Alice to shoot the sixth-year bitch a glare. "Walking alone into Hogsmeade I see," I drawled. "Isn't that a little pathetic, Bishop?"

"Isn't settling for the only girl you haven't slept with a lot pathetic, Potter?" Sadie fired back.

"Fuck you, Bishop."

It surprised both Sadie and myself when it was Alice who said that.

"Do you know why James and I work so well together?" she continued with determination in her eyes.

"I wasn't aware Potter worked well with anyone," she drawled.

"Maybe not with you but that's what you get for always being so pigheaded and self-righteous all the goddamned time," Alice was quick to argue. "You always claimed that James made everything about him but everything he ever did was for the good of the team. Hell, he could have kicked you off the team long ago, probably wanted to, for your attitude and that mouth of yours but he didn't because he recognized that your talent on the pitch was insurmountable. When he values something so greatly, when something is really important to him, when he cares about something like he's never cared before, he goes all in. He puts his heart and soul into it. And that's why I'm not worried about our relationship, why I don't care what everyone else in this school is saying, because I know how much I matter to him. And that's enough to make me trust in us."

I could only stare at Alice in appreciation and awe for it dawned on me just how right she was. I could sit on the sidelines in fear that things would fall apart or I could stand tall with confidence and know that they won't. I had the power to make my relationship what I wanted it to be. And living in an endless cycle of worry and fear could only set us up for failure.

"You forget," Sadie drawled, the irritation heavy on her tongue, "That Quidditch was supposedly important to him and yet he still found a way to screw that all up in the Hufflepuff match."

She had a point.

"I didn't say he was perfect," Alice snapped back at her.

Also true.

"He's pretty far from it," Sadie laughed.

Were they both aware that I was standing right next to them?

"Not to me he isn't," Alice seethed. "I don't expect you to get it, Bishop. I don't expect anyone to get it. But James and I have been an 'us' for an incredibly long time, since the day our parents set up our very first play date together. And just because our definition of 'us' has altered just slightly doesn't change who we are together. And there isn't a damned thing that you or anyone could ever say that will make me think bad of him."

I didn't even care that Sadie was still standing there as I reached an arm around Alice's shoulder and drew her towards me for a kiss.

A disgusted groan slipped out of Sadie's mouth but she went ignored as I kissed the best thing that ever happened to me.

When we pulled apart, Sadie was gone and Alice was smiling at me. "I meant every word."

"I know," I whispered, pressing my forehead to hers. "And that's why I'm definitely buying you all of the chocolate that Honeyduke's has to offer."

XOXOXO

Alice and I stood stationary outside Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes staring at the flashing sign. We didn't move. We didn't go in. Students pushed past us but we stood still.

"We have to go in at some point," Alice eventually said.

"Or, and go with me on this one, we don't."

Alice's lips twitched upwards. "If you don't go in there, you will be on the receiving end of a lot of howlers tomorrow at breakfast."

I hesitated. "Yeah, but how bad can that really be?"

"Uh, hi, have you met your family?"

She unfortunately made an excellent point.

I sighed and turned towards her. "Okay, fine, we go in, we say a quick hi to Uncle George and Uncle Ron, we completely ignore them when they pester us for details, and then we make a beeline for Honeyduke's so I can sell them out of their chocolate stash."

"I already said I didn't need-"

"I'm buying you chocolate."

She smiled sheepishly and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "Alright, let's go."

She took a step towards the shop but I remained stationary. She turned towards me with a roll of the eyes. "You're not moving."

"Wow, it's amazing how perceptive you can be."

She suppressed a laugh. "You can't stand out here forever."

"Sure I can. Don't you know how stubborn I can be?"

She let out a faint chuckle and squeezed my hand. "C'mon, Jay," she spoke softly. "This won't be as bad as you think."

"Uh, hi, have you met my family?"

She laughed and gripped my hand tighter, dragging me towards the front doors. "We're going in, Jay."

"We are so going to regret this," I muttered under my breath but I reluctantly followed her in. I had to admit I was happy when the warmth enveloped me as my toes had grown somewhat numb standing outside for so long.

My happiness didn't last long.

"There you two are!" Uncle George's voice boomed. He called out towards the back. "Ron! James and Alice are here!"

I exchanged a look with Alice who was clearly trying not to laugh.

"Well, would you look at the happy couple," Uncle Ron said as he strode over to us with a smirk on his face. Hesitating, he said, "Actually, you two look no different than usual."

"Gee, what do you want me to do, Uncle Ron, dip Ace back and snog her in front of my two uncles?"

"Yes" was the unanimous response out of both of them.

"Make that two uncles and your cousin," a new voice spoke as Louis stepped out from behind a shelf.

I was startled for all of a second before my eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What the hell are you doing here, Loucifer?"

"Oh, just needed to pick up a few items, that's all," he spoke, waiving his hand dismissively.

My eyes narrowed even further, so much that I could barely see. "How convenient that you chose this particular hour on this particular day to pick up a few items," I drawled.

"Yes, convenient indeed," he said with a grin. "But, hey, now that we're all here, why don't you tell us how in Merlin's name the two of you crazy kiddos got together?"

"I asked, she said yes. End of story," I spoke hastily as I pretended to look at my nonexistent watch. "Well, would you look at the time, we're late for whatever gets us out of here the fastest."

Alice laughed beside me but the other three shook their heads. "Hm, yeah, no, not buying it. There is definitely more to that story."

"And you are not allowed to leave until we get all the details," Uncle Ron said with a shrug. "We're under strict orders."

I groaned. "From who?"

Another familiar voice spoke up. "Your mother."

Whirling around, I groaned as my mother walked into the store.

"But then I thought, why get the details secondhand when I could get them firsthand?" she smirked, reaching over to embrace me. I hugged her back, albeit reluctantly. "So spill. How did this happen? Have you two always had feelings for one another? Was it a recent thing? And why weren't you two talking for so long? And how did you make up? And why did you start out as friends but-"

I decided it was best to cut her off before she started hyperventilating.

"Why aren't you all up in arms about Fred's recent relationship?" I whined. "Shouldn't you be bombarding him for details?"

"Oh, I already knew about that," George said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Yeah, Fred told me about it on New Year's Eve," Louis agreed.

I glanced over at Alice who looked just as surprised as I did. "Oh, sure, he'll tell everyone else in our family but not us," I muttered.

"I didn't know," Mum said with a shrug. "And I'd certainly love the details sometime but right now, I am far more interested in your relationship than his."

"Why?" I groaned. "You all know Alice. You all like Alice! Can't you just be happy for us?"

"Of course we like Alice," Mum said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Hell, we probably like her more than you."

Alice grinned and I pouted. "Thanks for that, Mum."

She just laughed and threw her arm around me. "I kid, I kid!" she teased. "We are all in agreement that Alice is wonderful and I am thrilled that she chose you because maybe, just maybe, she can find a way to keep you in line. If, y'know, you don't find a way to screw this up of course."

I glared at my mother who was grinning playfully. Turning towards Alice, I shook my head in disbelief. "I'm getting the strong sense my mother doesn't think all that highly of me."

"Eh, she thinks highly of me. That's all that really matters," Alice smirked.

"I'm allowed to tease my son," Mum argued. "That is my motherly right in exchange for twenty-seven hours of labor."

As they all laughed, I met Alice's jesting grin and said, "Y'know, this is precisely why we shouldn't have walked in here."

Alice laughed and linked her arm in mine, presumably her way of showing her support. I smiled down at her and with all the confidence in the world, I turned to my mother and said, "I'm not going to screw this up. We aren't going to screw this up. She's the single most important person in my life and I'm going to make sure she knows that every day I'm with her."

Four matching pairs of awe-filled eyes stared back at me before Ron spoke up. "Y'know," he said in a curious tone, "I know what it's like to date your best friend and have not only your family's eyes watching you at all times but the entire world's and I know what that can do to a person, but I also know you and Alice, and I know just how much you two mean to each other. So my advice to you is to ignore everyone else and just let yourself be happy."

Now he was on the receiving end of several stares, most filled with shock and disbelief.

"Yeah, I know, who knew I had profound things to say on top of my endless witticism," Ron said with a wistful sigh and a teasing grin.

"It's weird," George drawled. "Never do it again."

Ron laughed and I used that time to steal a peek towards Alice, who was looking back at me with her own reassuring smile. Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out alright for us just like it had with Ron and Hermione.

"I would like to go on record saying that for once, I agree with my brother," Mum commented, her gaze meeting mine. "I do think you two will make each other very happy."

"If I don't find a way to screw it up, right?" I drawled.

She winced. "I don't really believe you'll screw this up, James," she urged. "It's easy to tease you about all of this because for one, that's what our family seems to love doing. And two, I know how new it is for you. But if it's reassurance and support you want from all of us, you got it."

From 'all of us.'

I wondered then what Dad thought of my relationship with Alice. He had been one of the only members of my entire extended family not to write to me about it.

Then again, we stopped writing to each other years ago so maybe he just assumed I didn't want to hear from him.

Jury was still out on whether I did or not.

"But in exchange for said reassurance and support," my mother continued, a mischievous smirk on her face, "We are going to need answers. Like how one day I received a letter from Lily saying 'yay, my brother and his childhood BFF are friends again' and the very next day, I received a new letter saying 'scratch that, THEY'RE DATING EACH OTHER NOW.' Care to explain?"

"I can explain to you that my sister has a big mouth," I growled.

"At least she writes her dear ol' mother every now and again," she responded.

I walked right into that one.

"So are you two going to start answering our questions or not?" George intervened, looking back and forth between Alice and myself.

"I'm leaning towards the latter."

Mum smirked. "Well, you either tell us how this all started or you can tell me why a certain publication earlier this morning insinuated that you regularly sneak out of Alice's bedroom after curfew."

"It started on a Tuesday evening," I spoke almost immediately and that only launched the entire family into a fit of laughter.

"Whoa, wait for me before giving out all the details!"

I whirled around and groaned as Teddy made his way up to us. "For the love of all things Merlin!" I said, throwing my hands in the air.

"Well, isn't this just a big, fat coincidence," Teddy teased, glancing around at my various family members, "All of us deciding to stop in for a visit to the shop on the exact same day."

"Coincidence my arse," I drawled irritably, shooting my godbrother a less-than-pleased look.

He grinned and threw his arms around both myself and Alice. "C'mon, give your family the details, J-man."

I shot him a look. "Why are you asking, T-bear? You already know all the details."

The rest of my family let out protesting remarks but Teddy just rolled his eyes. "I know all the pre-dating details. I want to know the post-dating details. Better yet, the details of how you were able to convince this angelic girl to date your devilish self."

I scowled at him but before I could say anything, my mother cut me off. "Whoa, exactly what details does Teddy know? And more importantly, why doesn't your own mother know?"

"Sorry, Gin," Teddy said with a curt shrug, "But I promised your little rugrat here that I'd keep those details private."

"Did you just call me a rugrat?" I groaned.

I was amazed that Alice was still able to hold in her laughter.

"Well, as fun as this mini family reunion is," I drawled, "I've got to be anywhere but here."

I grabbed Alice's hand and dashed off towards the door.

I would have made it out, too, if Fred hadn't chosen that exact moment to walk through the door with Ryleigh. "Hey, mate!" he said, blocking the door before I could escape.

"I beg you to get out of the way," I whimpered.

He laughed and glanced over my head, doing a quick double-take. "Looks like you managed to round up half the family, Jameso." With a smirk, he met my pleading gaze. "Yeah, there's no way I'm letting you leave now."

Alice and I shared with him matching glares. "Sounds like someone is asking for a whole month's worth of detention," she drawled.

"I don't think you can give someone detention for blocking a doorway."

"Is that a challenge?"

"C'mon back here," Mum said as she wandered over to me, grabbing my shoulders and steering me back towards the gossip pack as I stared wistfully towards the door. "Now all we want are a few details of how this came to be. How did you go from friends to something more?"

"Things changed," I said vaguely.

When I said nothing more, the others all let out snorts of protest. "Yeah, we're going to need more than that," Uncle Ron argued.

"There's nothing more to it!" I groaned.

Looks of strong disbelief followed and Fred chimed in. "Hey, did you guys know that he almost kissed her on New Year's Eve?"

I whirled around and slammed my elbow into Fred's stomach, who doubled over with a groan. "Yeah, alright, I deserved that," he wheezed.

"So this has been going on for a while?" Uncle Ron said in surprise. "I thought this was very recent."

"No," I groaned, "I mean, yes. It is recent! New Year's Eve was nothing."

I glanced over at Alice with a shake of my head but stopped when I noticed the confused look on her face. I frowned. "What?" I asked cautiously.

"You almost kissed me on New Year's Eve?" she asked softly.

Oh, shit. Forgot that she didn't know about that.

I met her stunned gaze. "I-I chalked it up to the heat of the moment at the time," I admitted, wishing that my family wasn't there listening on. "Apparently, it was more than that."

The confusion on her face gave way to a smile. "You almost kissed me on New Year's Eve."

This time, it wasn't a question.

I smiled at her. "Yeah, I did," I said, instinctively leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek.

Clearly I forgot where I was as a resounding "Aww!" fell from the lips of my family members.

I turned to glare at all of them. "Alright, have you guys sufficiently embarrassed me enough? Can I please escape here before my face turns a permanent shade of red?"

"You still haven't given us any information," Louis argued. "And you know you aren't leaving until you do."

Alice and I shared a look, not even sure where to begin. But I knew I had to start somewhere or we'd be barricaded in that store forever.

"Short version?" I said hesitantly, "I kissed her one night, she assumed I thought it was a mistake which was a fair assessment since I couldn't find a way to tell her why I did it at the time, she stopped speaking to me and that messed with my head so yeah, I played like crap at the match but hey, we won, so that's all that really matters, and then Sadie quit so Lily volunteered to fill in but I told her she couldn't because she was dating CJ so I decided the no-dating-a-teammate rule was stupid and suggested overturning it and the rest of the team agreed—oh yeah, including Rose who decided to tell the whole school that I snogged my best friend so she owed me a favor bigtime which is the only reason she agreed to join the team—and then Alice was telling me things were done with us and I couldn't just let that happen so I finally told her all the things I had been holding back and she did, too, and then we were friends but then other people kept asking her out to Hogsmeade and I really didn't like that so I realized that friends just didn't seem like enough so I'm pouring out my heart to her and then she just cuts me off with a kiss and voila, here we are."

Eight pairs of incredulous eyes stared back at me until Uncle George broke the silence. "That's the short version?"

I grinned sheepishly. "Pretty much."

"What does the long version contain that's not included in the short version?" Uncle Ron snorted.

"Probably the part where he snogged another girl twelve hours after snogging AliCat," Fred commented.

I elbowed him in the stomach again.

"Yep, deserved that one too," he groaned.

"Can I just say how completely overbearing and nosy this family is?" I drawled. "Don't you all have lives outside little ol' me?"

"Our family pretty much is our life, James," George chuckled with a shrug. "You'll eventually get used to the overbearing, nosy part of us."

"Really?" Ron questioned, stroking his chin. "Hm. I wonder when that will happen for me."

George grabbed his younger brother and put him into a headlock, which only had the rest of us erupting into amused laughter. The two of them were in their forties and yet still found a way to act like children.

Made me think I didn't have to be in any hurry to grow up.

"Well, on that note," I drawled, "You all have the details so feel free to pass them on to the rest of the meddlesome family. Meanwhile, Ace and I are so out of here."

I grabbed Alice's hand but before I could make a dash for it, a new and yet familiar voice chimed in. "Meddlesome family, reporting for duty!"

Whirling around, I gaped as my cousin, Dominique, strolled into the shop. "Oh, for the love of Godric Gryffindor!" I groaned, tugging on Alice's hand and hastily running towards the door. "This family is officially mad!"

Behind me, I heard Dominique say right before the door shut on us, "Yeah, well, can't really argue with him there, now can we?"

XOXOXO

After Honeyduke's where I did in fact buy Alice a whole bagful of chocolate, we ventured off towards the Three Broomsticks.

"I swear if we walk in there and any of my family is there, we are turning back and going to Puddifoot's," I said stubbornly.

Alice snorted. "You would never be caught dead inside that place."

"If it means being left alone by my crazy family, I'd strongly consider it."

There was a small smile on Alice's face that didn't reach her eyes. Even with the wind blowing her hair in her face, I saw the forceful nature of the smile. I reached over and brushed the hair from her face. "What is it?"

She looked up at me, slightly surprised. "What is what?"

"There's something you want to say that you aren't. I can tell."

She frowned and looked up at me. "I know all you see sometimes when you look at your family are a bunch of people intruding on your personal life. But all I see is a family that loves you."

I was taken aback by the comment as I met her gaze, one that held much sadness. I knew my rather large family could get on my nerves but I could see in Alice's eyes that she considered me to be very lucky. It was just her, her sister, and her father left in the Longbottom family. Her mother had passed and so too did her grandmother and I knew it left a void in her heart that she feared might never fully be healed.

I reached over and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, drawing her to my side. She looked surprised for a second before smiling. This time, it reached her eyes. "My family may be bonkers," I said with a shrug, "But there's one thing they got right."

She looked up at me curiously. "Oh? And what's that?"

I smiled down at her. "You really are wonderful."

A pink tint appeared in her cheeks and I knew it had nothing to do with the cold. I leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, which just so happened to be the worst thing I could do at that moment for a sudden flash went off in our faces.

We both jumped back in surprise. "What the-" I said, turning my head in confusion towards the bright light. What I found was a reporter with a press pass around her neck and a camera in her hands. "Oh, hell."

The woman grinned. "You two make an adorable couple."

"I'd walk away before I grab your camera and smash it to pieces," I snarled at her.

She ignored me of course. "So, everyone wants to know, how did this golden couple end up together? Care to comment?"

"Here's a comment," I hissed. "Fuck off."

I grabbed Alice's hand and disappeared into the Three Broomsticks before the woman could ask another question.

I was still fuming as I glanced down at Alice. I was surprised to see her laughing. "What is so funny about this?"

"Who gives up their Saturday to follow around a bunch of teenagers for a story that's already been written?" she chuckled.

I thought about it and while it still annoyed me, for the press finding any interest in my life was annoying, I couldn't help the laugh that escaped. "It's like they don't realize just how uninteresting I am," I teased.

Alice smiled up at me and captured my lips with hers. "You're not uninteresting to me," she whispered.

Smiling at her, I grabbed her hand and we weaved our way through the crowd before finding an empty booth in the back of the room. She and I settled into one side of the booth, leaving the other side empty for whenever Fred and Ryleigh showed up.

"So here's the plan," I said as I stripped my Gryffindor scarf off my neck. "I'll grab us some butterbeer and some chips and when Fred gets here, I'll punch him in the face and call it a day. What do you think?"

Alice laughed at me. "Oh, please, you are so not that mad at him for anything he said in the Weasley shop."

"He told everyone I kissed another girl hours after kissing you!"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, true, but he could have told everyone you shagged another girl hours after kissing me."

"I'm pretty sure they all inferred that."

She chuckled. "You still got me in the end so who cares what Fred said?"

I shot her a look.

"Er, okay, maybe I do a little," she clarified, "But I'd really much rather not have to end this date with me throwing you into detention."

I let out a rather overdramatic gasp. "The whole point of me dating the Head Girl is to get me out of doing detention!"

She elbowed me in the side with a laugh. "Go get us butterbeer, Funny Boy."

I grinned and obliged. When I returned to the table, Brooks was standing there with his arm draped around Lena Cattermole.

"Well, gee, you move on fast," I drawled as I slid into the booth beside Alice. "And with your ex's best friend, hm? How honorable of you."

"I wouldn't be questioning my honor at the moment considering the cause of my breakup with said ex," he scoffed.

I rolled my eyes. "Is that why you came over here for a chat? To remind Ace what a horrible guy I am?"

"I shouldn't have to remind anyone of that. Everyone already knows."

I met his smirk with a shake of the head. "And yet here I am with a girlfriend while you stand there trying to make your ex jealous by hanging all over her best friend."

He let out a barking laugh. "Wow, so you really are using the term 'girlfriend' hm? Oh, I can't wait to see this one end badly. Because let's face it, we all know it will."

With a waggle of his fingers, he disappeared into the crowd with Lena as I glared after them, wondering if chucking a full pint of butterbeer at his head would get me kicked out or not.

"Don't," Alice said as if she were reading my mind. "He's not worth it."

I turned my gaze on to her as I took a sip of the foamy liquid. "He's an ass."

"Tell me something I don't know."

I paused. "Dragon blood is supposed to be an efficient oven cleaner."

She blinked. "What?"

I grinned. "You asked me to tell you something you didn't know."

She looked at me and burst into laughter. "You are all sorts of crazy, James Potter."

"Yeah, well, I hear it runs in the family," I grinned, clinking my glass against hers.

We chatted for a while, sipping our butterbeers and eventually snacking on the chips that were delivered to our table, and there was somewhere in the back of my mind that told me that today was going far better than I thought before I quickly suppressed the thought in fear that even thinking it would somehow bring bad luck to me.

Fred and Ryleigh eventually joined us and I greeted the former by saying, "You're a fucking prat, Fred Arthur Weasley."

He grinned as he slid into the bench opposite us. "You love me, James Sirius Potter."

"Not right now I don't."

"Your middle name is Sirius?" Ryleigh spoke, her eyebrow arched. "How completely opposite of what you are."

"Oh, and what's your middle name? Not Funny?" I teased.

"That would be two middle names," she teased right back and I found myself laughing.

Fred chimed in. "So how is the happy couple doing on this fine Valentine's Day?"

"Just peachy," I drawled. "We were just debating whether to try and push those two lonely third years in the corner together and call ourselves Cupid's matchmakers."

Fred and Ryleigh turned around and glanced at the pair we were referring to who were sitting a few tables apart, both of them on their own. "The boy is a fourth year not a third year," Ryleigh argued. "Friends with Lionel."

I shrugged. "Okay, so we were just debating whether to try and push the lonely third year and the lonely fourth year together and call ourselves Cupid's matchmakers."

"Hm, let me guess," Fred drawled, "James is all for this idea and AliCat is very much against it."

"I hardly think trying to matchmake a pair of students we don't even know on Valentine's Day of all days is a brilliant idea," Alice spoke.

"Maybe those two are meant to be!" I argued. "Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are made for each other. They deserve to-"

"Uh, Idina isn't a Ravenclaw, she's a Slytherin," Ryleigh interrupted.

I blinked. "Oh," I said hesitantly.

"Like I said, a pair of students that we don't even know," Alice groaned. "Find something else to keep you busy, Jay."

I considered this for only a mere second before a smirk broke out across my face. "So Ryleigh, tell us all your dirty little secrets."

She blinked in confusion while Fred glared at me. "Yeah, you can go back to matchmaking now."

I waved my hand dismissively at him. "Nope, I've moved on to playing talk host," I said. "So out with it, tell us all about yourself."

Ryleigh looked at me with a small shake of the head. "Well, I like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. I'm not into yoga and you have half a brain."

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the laughs coming from Alice and Fred at Ryleigh's use of The Pina Colada song lyrics. "Well, she got the 'half a brain' part right," Fred smirked.

I chucked a handful of chips at him but my attention was still on the Hufflepuff. "That wasn't exactly the response I was looking for, Ryleigh Not Funny Carver."

"Invasive questions get witty responses, James Not Sirius Potter," Ryleigh shot back with a grin.

"Y'know, I'm still very much on the fence of whether I like you or not," I said in a joking manner. That earned me a smack to the shoulder by Alice and a chip thrown at my face by Fred.

"I only need one person at this table to like me and it ain't you, Potter," Ryleigh said with a glib smirk.

"You probably want Ace on your good side, too, or she can saddle you with Saturday morning detention for the rest of the year," I pointed out.

"She is on my good side," Alice pointed out. Smirking she added, "You're the one straying to my bad one."

As Fred roared with laughter and Ryleigh chuckled, I turned to her with a pout. "What if I get you a refill on that drink?"

She smiled. "That'll keep you on my good side for a while."

I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek before grabbing her empty mug and heading back up to the bar. As I ventured back towards the table, my eye caught sight of something I really hadn't wanted to see. With a frown, I finished my trek back to my table and slid back into the booth. "You will never guess who is here together," I drawled, a slight edge to my voice.

The three of them exchanged a curious look before Fred spoke. "Dare I ask who?"

"Winters and Jessup," I growled.

Alice cringed as Fred's eyebrows popped way into his forehead. "The bloody nerve of that girl!" he scoffed. "If she's trying to make Dash jealous, she's doing a poor job of it considering Dash isn't even here."

"Maybe she actually likes him," Ryleigh considered.

Fred and I both recoiled in utter disgust. "No. No way," I said.

"Not a chance," Fred agreed.

"He's a tool."

"An utter twat."

"Whiny Know-it-All."

"Pretentious stick in the mud."

"Total Mama's Boy."

"Smug kiss-ass."

"Teacher's p-"

"Okay, I think we get it," Alice interrupted with the roll of her eyes. "And don't look now, but they're totally snogging in the corner."

Ryleigh turned to look out of curiosity but both Fred and my hands flew to our eyes as if we desperately needed to shield them. "Ew, no, don't want to see that!" Fred groaned.

Alice and Ryleigh chuckled in unison. "You two are acting ridiculous," Alice drawled.

I pouted. "I think Ace just called us ridiculous, Freddo."

"Why yes, I think she did, Jameso."

"What are we going to do about it, Freddo?"

"I'm thinking we're going to ignore her and come up with all the ways we can mess with Jessup."

"No," Alice groaned but I cut her off by saying, "I'm thinking laxative in his drink or we tie his shoelaces together and watch as he trips when he gets up from the table."

"You always suggest the first one and yet you never actually have laxatives on you," Fred sighed.

"So then we'll go with the latter?"

"This probably doesn't come as a shock but you're straying to my bad side again," Alice drawled.

I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You totally knew what you were getting into when you agreed to date me."

She chuckled. "That I did," she said with a smile before returning her attention on to the couple opposite us. "Y'know, we never actually got the story of how you two got together."

"Yeah, I'm assuming Carver had to convince you she was worth your time," I teased at my cousin. "Can't imagine you were the one jumping at the opportunity to be someone's boyfriend."

The two of them shared a look and smiled. It was only slightly nauseating. "Neither one of us really asked each other out," he said hesitantly. "It just kinda…happened. We were being casual about the whole thing and then suddenly, it wasn't so casual. I told her I wanted to be with her."

"I told him I didn't believe him," Ryleigh chuckled, a flicker of nostalgia flashing across her eyes. "I figured someone had to be daring him to ask me out. Why else would the King of One-Night Stands want a girlfriend?"

"A girlfriend that went against the Code," I reminded them.

Fred rolled his eyes. "That stupid, fucking Code."

"Tell us how you really feel," Alice laughed.

He let out a quiet chuckle, glancing over at Ryleigh who was already staring over at him. "But y'know…" he trailed off curiously, "I wouldn't change a thing. Well, no, actually I would change a lot in how it all came out. But I wouldn't change a thing with Ryleigh. I'd still choose her every time."

And now we were at full-blown nauseating.

"You two might want to move aside because I'm about to puke all over this table," I drawled.

The two of them laughed as Fred's fingers curled in hers. "This is pretty weird, isn't it," Fred said, looking at me.

"What is?"

He shrugged, his lip curling upward in a small smile. "You and me dating."

I shrugged, too, but didn't get to respond as Alice distracted me by laughing. "That sounds like you two are dating each other."

I made a face but Fred merely shrugged and, "Hey, he could do worse."

That earned him a chip to the face.

We dove into a conversation about the upcoming Quidditch playoffs. I was obviously rooting for the Cannons who were at the top of their division, but the real conversation centered around whether the Harpies' win against the Macaws was a fluke or if the all-girl team had a real shot of making it to the next round. It wasn't long before the door to the pub opened up and I noticed my brother walking in on his own. Frowning, I saw him sidle up to the bar and order a butterbeer, taking occupancy of one of the empty bar stools.

"I'll be right back," I murmured, abandoning the conversation as I made my way through the crowd towards the bar. I came up beside my brother and said, "Meeting someone?"

He glanced at me sideways, his eyes immediately narrowing. "What do you want, James?"

I slid into the empty stool next to him. "You're either meeting someone and they haven't shown up yet or you really are the saddest motherfucker in the bar. So which one is it?"

He went back to drinking his butterbeer. "Leave me alone."

Guess that answered that question. "Why do you hate the idea of Rose and Malfoy fooling around so much?"

He shot me a dirty look. "This coming from the guy who can't stand the idea of any of the female members of our family fooling around with anyone."

I shrugged. "Believe me, the idea of Rose and Malfoy snogging makes me want to vomit," I muttered, "But to be perfectly honest, I much prefer that over the alternative."

"Not snogging?" Albus snorted.

I rolled my eyes. "Dating."

He made a face. "They would never."

I glanced at him curiously. "Yeah, I know that. I was just beginning to wonder if maybe you didn't."

He scowled. "I know them better than you, James. Give me some credit."

"Then why the hell does them fooling around like a pair of horny teenagers bother you so damned much?" I scoffed. "What, are you just against casual flings? Do you disapprove of anything less than a relationship? Because, seriously, it's not like being in a long-term relationship worked for you all that well."

Albus slammed his butterbeer down on the counter and glared at me. "Thank you for being your usual arsehole self to me right now," he growled. "How about you go be an arsehole to that so-called girlfriend of yours instead and prove to her just how much of an idiot she is for going out with you?"

"Go ahead and badmouth me all you want," I seethed, leaning into him in a rather threatening way, "But don't you dare ever badmouth Ace."

"That wasn't me badmouthing her," he drawled. "She'll figure out sooner rather than later that your bad qualities far outweigh your good and she'll be dumping you in no time."

Okay, I was getting incredibly tired of everyone commenting that my relationship was doomed to fail.

And if he had said that a few hours earlier, I might have actually socked him in the face. But that was then. I had enough confidence in myself and in my relationship now that there wasn't any insecurities pushing me to resort to defensive violence.

This isn't what people called maturity, was it?

"I never considered you a jealous or insecure person before but maybe that's exactly what you are," I scoffed, picking myself off the barstool. "But don't go hating the rest of us just because we have options while the only girl in the school who ever showed an ounce of interest in you got bored and entertained herself with someone else."

I turned to walk away but apparently Albus wasn't done with the conversation. "But that's just it, isn't it," he murmured, taking a large gulp of the butterbeer. "I don't have Kat anymore. And I'm finally okay with that. I am. But I'm not like you, James. I don't have a horde of friends on my tail everywhere I go. And the only two friends I have left are choosing each other over me."

I slowly turned around to face my clearly dejected brother. "Only because you're making them choose," I said, picking my words carefully.

He said nothing as he stared longingly into his half-empty butterbeer. Looking at him now, seeing the lack of confidence in his face and his posture made me think that I was right to think that perhaps he was far more insecure than I ever realized. It was clear in his words that he suddenly felt second-best to both his friends, much like Kat made him feel at the demise of their relationship, and I knew all too well that being second best was not an ideal situation to be in.

Hesitating, I reclaimed the empty barstool. "They're not together," I reminded him. "Nor do they want to be. They're just having a bit of fun. I'm not saying it's a good idea because frankly Rose deserves a hell of a lot better than some random snogmate who she doesn't even like, but they're not hurting anyone. You just have to let them make their mistakes, Al. You can't stop them and the more you try, the more they're going to keep doing it just to spite you."

He remained quiet, fingering the rim of his glass with a thoughtful frown. "They could have anyone else in the school," he muttered. "Why each other?"

Because the one person Rose wanted didn't want her back.

Or at least wouldn't admit it.

"Because with each other, they know it'll never mean anything," I said with a mere shrug. "And I know you might not get this, but sometimes you just need to get away from your own thoughts and feelings and the hollow sounds of your own heart. And using a broom cupboard and someone who will never want anything more from you sometimes feels like the only way to escape."

Albus turned to me and met my gaze, the sudden intensity between us unexpected and uncomfortable.

So I added with a teasing grin, "Alcohol helps, too."

Albus frowned and looked away. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that sex and alcohol aren't always the answers to your problems?" he spoke bitterly.

I shrugged. "I never said it was the answer. I just said it was an escape."

He shot me a glare. "So because I don't hide from the world by shagging some bimbo in a broom cupboard, that makes me the abnormal one here?"

"No, the fact that you're you makes you the abnormal one here," I teased.

He didn't seem to appreciate that.

"Hey, remember when I told you to leave me alone?" he snapped.

I shrugged. "Let me just say one last thing before I go," I suggested. "You were just saying how without Kat, the only two people you feel you have left are Rose and Malfoy. But you don't exactly have them if you're fighting with them, do you?"

He shook his head. "You don't get it," he muttered.

No, I really didn't.

"Then help me get it."

He let out a snort of protest. "Because you care so much about me?" he accused, his voice suddenly laced with disgust. "Or is this just about Rose?"

I gaped at him. "What?"

"I know that the two of you are suddenly all buddy-buddy."

My mouth parted. "We're not buddy-buddy," I huffed. "We're…friends. Friendly? Cousins who are going through a nice phase? Oh, hell, I haven't a clue what we are but I'm not her best friend, Al, you are. She's only been coming to me recently because you're being a pill."

It wasn't completely the truth for I knew that the reason Rose had come to me in the first place about Scorpius was because she knew Albus would never understand but he needed to know I wasn't looking to take his place in her life.

"Whatever," he drawled. "You can have her. I'm done."

"I can have her?" I groaned. "That is quite possibly the most chauvinistic thing ever to come out of your mouth."

"You must be rubbing off on me then."

I was getting increasingly frustrated with my brother and he seemed to not mind. It was rather irritating. "I am not trying to take her from you and neither is Malfoy, Al," I snapped. "Maybe she doesn't always show it, hell she never shows it, but she needs you. So please just stop being so stubborn and let yourself need her back."

There was a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes and I suddenly wondered if I had just stumbled across the real reason he was pushing his friends away.

Because he was afraid of being pushed away first.

And the one thing I could easily understand was doing everything you possibly could to protect your own heart from ever getting hurt.

"Al-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," he pleaded, shaking his head vulnerably. "Especially not with you."

I was all ready to tell him that it seemed he had limited options of people to talk to but before I could respond, we were interrupted. "You're sitting in my seat, Potter."

Both Albus and I turned towards Reese as she came up behind us. I glanced at my brother curiously before turning back to the keeper. "Throwing the name 'Potter' out there to two Potters is a bit confusing, don't you think?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed at me before pointing to my table. "You. Go."

"Are you above speaking in full sentences?"

As if on cue, she rolled her eyes again. "Good-bye, Potter."

I chuckled and climbed off the barstool but not before asking, "So it's okay for you to fool around with Malfoy's cousin, Al, but it's not okay for him to fool around with yours?"

"We're not fooling around," Albus snapped at me. "We're friends. Though I understand why that concept is beyond your realm of understanding."

"Oy, I was friends with Greengrass first!"

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Reese muttered under her breath as she took over my barstool. "I'm friends with the both of you. Just because you two have it out for each other doesn't mean I have to pick a side. Now, I believe your table is over there, James."

I shot both the Slytherins a nasty look before reluctantly heading back to my own table.

"Dammit," Fred said upon my return, tossing a galleon towards Alice who grinned smugly. "Your brother was supposed to throw his butterbeer in your face, Jameso."

I blinked, glancing between the two of them. "You two bet on whether my brother would throw a drink in my face?"

"Yes" they both said in unison.

I scowled and turned my gaze on Ryleigh. "Did you have in on this bet?"

"No, I told them betting against their friend is trivial and cruel and I wanted no part of it."

My eyebrow popped upward.

"Or I was in the bathroom when they came up with the bet so I wasn't aware of it at all."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Y'know what, Carver?" I said, grabbing my near-empty drink and holding it up in her direction. "I think I've decided I might like you."

XOXOXO

The pub got more crowded as the day went on though I noticed my brother and Reese trickled out shortly after our conversation. Roxanne and Zig had shown up at one point and Fred hexed him and got an earful from Roxanne before they retreated to a table on the other side of the room. Hattie and Rudy wandered in together which intrigued me as I wasn't aware they were all that friendly. Jax and Laikyn came through the door and after Fred gestured them over, they ended up joining us at our table. Kenley walked in hand-in-hand with Landon Pritchett and I couldn't help but think that the two of them were perfect for each other. Eventually, Lily and CJ walked in with Rayne and Hugo and I waved them over.

"Staying away from Puddifoot's, hm?" I questioned my sister and her boyfriend. "Good call."

"It's a madhouse in there," Lily drawled. "We walked in and then right back out. We wanted nothing to do with it."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "The correct response would have been 'yes, of course I haven't gone anywhere near that mushy establishment today.'"

She rolled her eyes at me. "In case I haven't said it recently, you're a prat, James."

I shrugged and turned my attention on to the other twosome beside them. "And what's going on here?" I questioned, pointing between Hugo and Rayne. "Friends or date?"

The red hue against both of their cheeks answered that question for me.

"Ah, guess this means you're not gay, hm?" Fred said to Hugo with a shrug. "Louis owes me a galleon."

Hugo glared at him. "You were betting with Louis on whether or not I was straight?"

He grinned. "Hey, I'm the one who said you were!" he said sheepishly.

Hugo glanced at Rayne who appeared to be holding back her laughter. "I promise you that all of my cousins have been dropped on their heads as babies. Multiples times. Severe brain injuries. Very little sign of intelligence."

She giggled. "I think we both know how aware I am of how not gay you are by now," she spoke with a sly grin.

My eyebrow shot up in slight amusement as Hugo's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Nice going, Hugo," I teased, holding up my hand for a high-five.

Hugo rolled his eyes but high-fived me anyway while Lily responded. "That is such a double standard!" she drawled. "Him, you high-five when you find out he's snogging some girl. Me, you scold!"

"Oy, no snogging allowed for you!" I scoffed.

She threw her hands in the air with a scowl. "You are just proving my point."

I only shrugged for she wasn't wrong.

"Remember how in the beginning of the year I said I liked it better when our team members remained single?" I muttered with a slow shake of the head.

"Remember how I called you a pig when you said that?" Alice drawled.

"No."

She hesitated. "Oh, then I must have just been thinking it."

Laughter erupted around us but I just rolled my eyes and said, "Well, I officially declare Rose my favorite as she is apparently the only single one on the team left."

"Uh," Ryleigh spoke up, clearing her throat as she gazed over my head towards the entrance of the pub, "You may want to hold that thought."

A flurry of heads swiveled towards the entrance, including mine, and my heart nearly stopped in utter irritation when I watched a laughing Rose and Scorpius wander through the door together. "What in Merlin's name are they playing at?" I muttered to myself.

Stealing a glance towards Jax, I became aware of how stiff he had gone as Laikyn said in an incredulous tone, "What is he doing with her? Scorpius can do so much better."

"The guy's a douchebag," Jax muttered. "And you think he's the one that can do better?"

Laikyn turned to him sharply. "Are you actually defending Rose?"

He sighed and shook his head. "No, they can do whatever the hell they want," he grumbled.

With a quick curious glance towards him, I said a quick, "I'll be right back" and headed over to the duo who had just settled into a table together.

"Are you two trying to get rumors spread about you?" I drawled with folded arms.

Rose glanced up at me. "Come again?"

"You are wandering through Hogsmeade together on Valentine's Day," I hissed. "Do you really want people to assume you're dating?"

"Who says we aren't?" she retaliated.

My eyes grew wide in irritation. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

She grinned. "Of course I am," she laughed. "Malfoy is still very much an insufferable toerag."

"And Weasley's a stubborn stick in the mud," Scorpius added.

I glared at the both of them before settling my gaze back on to my cousin. "So is this your plan?" I scoffed. "Pretend to be something you're not in an attempt to spark up some jealousy?"

Rose glared at me. "There is no plan, James," she snapped. "I just had no desire to be a third wheel on Harley's date and considering my best friend has decided to completely shut me out, I had little reason to say no when Malfoy suggested we wander through Hogsmeade together so as not to look like two very lonely and pathetic boneheads."

I frowned. "Has he seen you?"

"What?"

"Has Al seen you two together?"

"I don't know nor do I particularly care," she grunted.

I sighed. "You might when I tell you he feels as if you two are choosing each other over him."

Scorpius appeared to be surprised by that statement but Rose merely rolled her eyes. "If he knew me at all, he'd know I'd never chose this cretin over my own cousin."

"You always talk so sweet to me, babe," Scorpius drawled.

"Yeah, if you could refrain from calling my cousin 'babe' in my presence, that would be much appreciated," I drawled.

He rolled his eyes. "Your brother knows nothing is going on between me and Weasley," he spoke. "So I don't think it's fair that he's even putting us in the position of having to choose between each other and him."

"Seems to me the choice is obvious," I hissed at him.

"There shouldn't have to be a choice at all," Rose chimed in with an edge to her tone.

I rolled my eyes. "The three of you may be the most stubborn human beings on the planet. You really were made for each other, that's for sure," I groaned before turning on my heel and heading back to my own table.

My sister and Hugo had disappeared with their dates when I returned. Sliding back into the bench beside Alice, I said, "Sometimes I wish my mother had been an only child like Dad. Cousins are a right pain in my arse."

As the girls burst into laughter, Fred huffed. "Oy, then there wouldn't be me!"

"Yes, quite the added bonus."

I ducked as a chip came flying at my face.

"What did they say?" Jax asked in a clipped tone.

I glanced over at him and with a hesitant shrug, I said, "I don't know what's going on between them but I think we all know that by the time we traipse back to Hogwarts, those two will be the talk of the school."

I could feel Alice's eyes on me and I was certain she knew I was being evasive on purpose.

"They wouldn't be in Hogsmeade together if they didn't want people to talk," Jax spoke and I could have sworn I detected some faint irritation in his voice.

I was compelled to agree with him despite Rose's insistence that her friendship with Scorpius, if one could even call it that, was overwhelmingly innocent.

Well, as innocent as it could possibly be when two people had shagged.

And for the record, I really hoped that stayed in the past tense.

"Y'know, suddenly I've lost my appetite," Jax said as he finished off his butterbeer and pulled himself off the chair he had dragged over. Glancing down at Laikyn, he extended his hand and said, "What do you say we get out of here?"

She shrugged and took his hand, waving at us before the two of them disappeared out the door.

"He's got a point," Alice spoke once they were gone. "Rose and Scorpius are not dumb enough to think they could venture into Hogsmeade together without people speculating."

I met her gaze. "It's totally innocent between them. With Al not speaking to either one of them, they felt it made wandering around Hogsmeade together inevitable," I spoke hesitantly for I suspected that the only reason Rose was wandering Hogsmeade with Scorpius was because the idea of being alone sounded far worse.

Then again, when did Rose ever care about being alone?

"Oh, yeah," Fred snorted sarcastically, "Two people who can't stand each other deciding to spend the day together. Totally inevitable."

I bit back a smirk as Alice rolled her eyes beside me. "Let's talk about Albus and Reese instead. What's with them?" she questioned.

"Friends apparently," I said.

"Who are hanging out alone together on Valentine's Day," she mused.

"So are Rose and Scorpius and they're just friends…or whatever you call two people who can't stand each other but snog for the fun of it," I retaliated.

"You know what you call it?" Fred spoke up with a quiet snort. "Gossip."

I met Fred's knowing gaze before meeting Alice's. One thing that we all knew the school loved to do was gossip.

Especially when it came to my family.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I could totally take a page out of Jax's book and get out of here," Alice sighed, looking at me somewhat expectantly.

I finished off my butterbeer and stood up from the table. "I suppose that's my cue to get this little lady back to the castle," I said, winking at Alice.

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her bag of Honeyduke's chocolate and slid across the bench. I handed her jacket to her and she put it on, tossing her scarf tightly around her shoulders. "We'll see you two crazy kids later," I spoke to Fred and Ryleigh who appeared to be fine sticking around Three Broomsticks for a while. "Don't do anything I would do."

"Doesn't leave us with much, does it," Fred deadpanned.

I threw one last chip at him before walking out.

XOXOXO

We opted to walk back to the castle despite the chill in the air. Alice was talking to me but I was being a bad boyfriend and barely listening, thinking back over what I would ultimately call a successful Valentine's Day, especially considering I had had little expectations for the day going into it. I had started out as the guy who knew very little about relationships and while I still knew very little, it no longer deterred me. Alice was still Alice and I was still me and maybe we'd have to navigate a few uncharted waters but at least we got to do it together.

"Jay."

I broke out of my revelry and glanced down at her. "Er…sorry. What did you say?"

"Oh, how I love it when my boyfriend tunes me out," she said with a teasing smile.

"Sorry," I said again. "Just thinking."

"Uh-oh, no good can ever come of you thinking."

I poked her in the side and she scooted away with a laugh. "Talk to me," she said, nudging me with her shoulder. "What's running through your mind?"

I shrugged and went with a slight version of the truth. "Considering I haven't a clue how this boyfriend stuff is supposed to work, I thought today went rather well."

She seemed to be surprised by my comment but a slow smile appeared on her face as she placed her glove-filled hand in mine. "I think you're picking up on how this boyfriend stuff is supposed to work pretty quickly if you ask me."

I smiled because it was impossible not to around her. "I'm starting to catch on," I said with a chuckle, instinctively leaning over and capturing her lips with mine.

"For the record," she whispered when we parted, "I don't need you to buy me chocolates and flowers all the time. I don't need anything from you except you."

"Well, you've got me," I encouraged, intertwining my fingers in hers as a wistful smile broke out across my face. "For the rest of our lives, you've got me, Ace."

She grinned up at me. "One Valentine's Day and you're already planning the rest of our lives."

I was quick to shake my head. "Sorry to say but I've been planning our entire lives since the day we met, Ace."

Awe filled her gaze. "For someone who claims to be bad at this boyfriend stuff, you seem to know exactly what to say to make a girl feel special."

I took a step towards her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her towards me so our bodies were flesh up against each other. "That's because you are special, Ace," I whispered, dipping my head so my lips were just underneath her ear. "I know people say that there's no such thing as the perfect woman, but I'm pretty sure those people never met you."

Her cheeks flushed and I knew it wasn't because of the cold as the gratitude and the awe flickered in her blue eyes. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a real way with words?" she whispered.

I locked hands behind her, planting a tender kiss against her cheek. "Only around you, Alice Longbottom," I spoke and I didn't bother to finish the rest of that statement as I pressed my cracked lips to hers, the heat of the kiss supplying me with a surprising amount of warmth.

"Oy, I can't believe you're cheating on me with Longbottom!"

I broke the kiss off with Alice and turned around as Rudy came up behind us wearing an expression of feigned horror with Hattie traipsing behind him. "Okay, but seriously, why are you always around?" I groaned.

"Why are you always cheating on me?" he huffed playfully. "I am so snapping that rose you gave me into two."

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, Frankel, my heart has always belonged to Ace."

He chuckled while Hattie made a gagging noise. "That might be the sappiest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth, Potter."

I shrugged, glancing between the two of them. "So," I said with a smirk, "You two an item now?"

Hattie rolled her eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that a guy and a girl canbe friends without it being anything more?"

I glanced over at Alice and found myself smiling. "Last month, I might have agreed with you," I said, glancing back over at the pair. "Today, I don't."

She wrinkled her nose. "Ew, more sappiness."

Both Alice and I laughed. "You two heading back to the castle?" Alice asked them.

"Well, we are wandering down the cobblestone pathway that leads back to the castle," Rudy spoke contemplatively, "So clearly the answer to your question is no."

Alice shoved his shoulder as I stifled a laugh. "No one likes a wise-ass, Frankel," she huffed.

Hattie burst into laughter almost immediately. "Says the girl dating Mr. King of the Wiseasses."

Alice grinned sheepishly while I wondered if I should take that as an insult or a compliment. I went with the latter. "Thank you, Hattie. It's nice to be recognized even when I'm not wearing my crown and sash."

She groaned and rolled her eyes as we all found ourselves heading back to the castle together. Hattie evidently seemed to think it was hilarious that Fred Weasley and James Potter not only had dates for Valentine's Day but that they had also double-dated. I couldn't get her to stop laughing no matter how many times I glared at her.

"I really don't see what's so funny here," I huffed as we made our way through the wrought-iron doors into the castle. All of us let out sighs of relief at the much-needed warmth. "It's not like I haven't dated before. I took you to Hogsmeade back in October if you recall."

Hattie rolled her eyes. "That was not a date."

"Yeah, the only two here that dated during that Hogsmeade visit was me and Alice," Rudy smirked.

Alice's cheeks flushed as I glared at the Head Boy. "And look how well that turned out for you."

He shrugged. "Ten minutes into the date, I knew it was you she wanted to be with."

Those words surprised me as I turned to face Alice. "If that was true, why did you go with this git to Hogsmeade?"

"Uh, hi, said git standing right here," Rudy drawled.

Alice ignored him. "Because he asked and I was trying not to fancy you," she said to me with a sheepish shrug.

I offered her a smile. "I'm glad it didn't work," I said, reaching over and curling my arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Ew," Hattie muttered.

"Ew is right," Rudy agreed.

"Speaking of couples," I said, glancing over at Hattie. "What is going on with your two teammates.?"

Hattie's eyebrow popped up. She glanced over at Alice, seemingly for more information, but she merely shrugged. "You're going to need to be more specific, James, seeing as I have several teammates," Hattie drawled.

"Al and Greengrass," I shot back as we rounded the corner towards the Head Dorm.

Hattie let out a frustrated grunt, followed by a roll of the eyes. "Why is that everyone just assumes two people are a couple if they hang out in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day?"

"Because couples hang out in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day."

Alice and Rudy both bit back a laugh but Hattie shot me a look. "Alright, I don't know why I'm feeding into your gossip requests, but I'll indulge you just this once," she sighed. "Ever since Al and Kat broke up and ever since Rose and Scorpius have been playing their little games with one another, it seems as if Al has been turning to Reese for companionship. And before you ask, no, they aren't anything but friends."

I didn't know why but it bugged me that Albus seemed to be befriending Reese all of a sudden. I never liked when his and my paths crossed and as unbelievably selfish and childish as it sounded, Reese had always been a friend to me and a teammate to Albus and that was the way I liked it.

"Good to know," I muttered, storing the new information in the back of my mind as Rudy muttered the password to the Head Dorm.

As we all tumbled into the common room, we looked at each other in slight awkwardness. "We're, uh, going to listen to some music in my room," Rudy said with an innocent smile.

"Yeah, okay," I snorted. "Us, too."

That earned me an elbow to the stomach from Alice and a glare from the other two. "Don't be crass, Jay, or you may never get the chance to listen to music in my room ever again," she said with her own smirk.

While the other two burst into laughter, I opted for my classic pout. "You play dirty, Alice Longbottom."

She chuckled and grabbed my hand. "C'mon, Jay, let's go," she said, nodding towards her stairwell.

"You crazy kids have fun listening to music," Rudy smirked, winking at us.

"You crazy kids remember to use the contraception charm," I fired back.

"James!"

I grinned and quickly fled up the stairwell before Alice had the chance to kick me out.

She joined me a few seconds later, amusement sparkling in her eyes. She tossed the bag of chocolate on to her desk beside the quill holder that now held the single rose I gave her earlier before joining me on the bed. "Today was great," Alice murmured, dropping her head on to her pillow with a yawn. "Thank you, Jay."

I smiled down at her with a small shake of the head. "Today would have been even greater had we never walked into the Weasley Joke Shop," I teased, curling my arm under her and pulling her towards me.

She laughed, shoving my shoulder lightly. "You do not hate your family as much as you pretend to," she argued.

"Yeah, but it's so much more fun pretending that I do," I whined and she smacked me playfully on the shoulder. "Okay, fine, maybe they're not all so bad. Most of them, yes. But not all."

She looked up at me with a smile and while I tried to match her smile, I couldn't because for the second time that day, I found myself thinking about my father. I knew I was the big family disappointment, the guy who made far more bad decisions than good ones, and I would have thought that my father would have appreciated the very idea of his big womanizing son finally finding a reason to settle down and yet a letter of praise had never come from him.

"What are you thinking about?"

I glanced down at the curious concern in her blue eyes. I was all ready to blow off the question, but I found my usual dismissiveness suddenly unattainable. And so I said, "I can't help but wonder what my dad thinks about all of this. You and me, I mean."

Her eyebrow popped up but only for a moment before a thick layer of hesitance flashed across her face. "You really want to know?"

I turned to her sharply. "You know?"

She bit down on her bottom lip, a habit she only often did when feeling uncomfortable about something. "Yeah."

I gaped at her. "But...how?"

There was something resembling that of panic in her eyes but it was gone before I could analyze it. "He, uh, he's had a conversation with my father about it," she spoke hastily.

Oh, right.

"Hm. Okay," I spoke slowly.

I could feel her eyes on me. "So..." she trailed off, "Do you want to know what he thinks or not?"

"Depends what it is," I muttered, shaking my head in defeat. "I'm not looking for any further disappointment from him."

She rested her chin against my shoulder. "Now, why would you think he'd be disappointed?" she whispered.

Because when it comes to me, that was his usual go-to sentiment.

I didn't say that for I knew that would just spark a whole other conversation that I was really not looking to have at the moment. "My father loves you so I want to believe he'd love us, but you just never know with him."

"He does," she reassured and when I looked down at her I saw sincerity in her pleading eyes. "He thinks it's great. He's been rooting for us all along and is thrilled that we have figured out that each other is what we want. He's proud of you, James. Of us."

I wasn't sure what to make of that because pride wasn't something I was accustomed to receiving from my father. But Alice's reassurance that my father was on board with this relationship did seem to lighten my heart a little bit so I was thankful for that.

"He's been rooting for us all along?" I questioned.

She nodded. "Evidently, he's been shipping us for years. Your father's words, not mine."

"Probably because he was hoping you'd be able to tame my wild ways," I blurted out.

She shot me a look. "Don't turn this isn't something it doesn't have to be. Just let your father be happy for us."

She was right because duh, she was always right.

I could question why my father was proud of me and why he was rooting for us this whole time, wondering if it was even about my relationship or just me in general, but instead I was choosing to accept his support because it wasn't as if I had his support in other areas of my life. I might as well enjoy what little support I was getting.

"Well, okay," I said with a dramatic sigh. "But I reserve the right to change my mind in the future."

"Does everything have to come with a caveat for you?" she whined.

I looked down at her, a smile breaking out across my jawline. "You don't," I whispered, leaning over to press my lips to hers.

She smiled against my lips, her hand moving upward to frame my face. "Keep talking," she whispered and I kissed her again.

"No," I spoke, leaving a trail of kisses down her jawline. "No more talking."

I continued running my lips down her jaw and her neck and her collarbone, listening to the sounds of her heavy breathing as she finally said, "Yeah, okay. No more talking."

I grinned wickedly as I brought my lips back to hers, sliding my tongue into her mouth and tasting the subtle hint of butterbeer. The kiss grew desperate as she ran her fingers up my neck and into my hair, rolling her hips against me until she was flush up against my side with me nearly hovering over her. I twisted my body just slightly, never letting our lips part, until my body was practically crushing hers, a wild yearning exploding within my chest. I heard a slight moan fall from her lips and I caught the alluring noise with a kiss as the sudden thought that this was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had sprang to the forefront of my mind.

Her legs suddenly wrapped around me as she pressed her pelvis against mine, our lips frantically exploring each other's in a ferocious manner. Everything about this moment felt right and as I pulled my lips off of hers, just for a moment to catch my breath, I was struck by just how beautiful Alice really was. Smiling at her, I pressed my lips to hers once again before they made their way towards her bare neck. She arched her back as her eyes fluttered close, her hands making their way back into my hair as she let my mouth take over.

When she tore off her shirt, I found myself in very dangerous territory as I stared at the girl I had known my entire life now only wearing a very lacy bra. My heart began to race at the unexpectedly intimate moment and our eyes met in quiet yearning.

She smiled at me, her arms wrapping tightly around my shoulders. "Why are you staring at me like that?" she said shyly. "It's not like you haven't seen me in a bikini before."

I met her gaze, noticing the slightest bit of nerves in her eyes. "A bra seems much sexier for some reason," I said with an impish grin.

She smirked and leaned in towards me. "You know what's even sexier than a bra?" she whispered and all I could do was shake my head. She moved her lips just below my ear and whispered, "No bra at all."

My mouth went dry. "And, uh, what might that look like?"

A flirtatious giggle fell from her lips and she brought her lips to mine, kissing them just slightly before whispering, "I think there's a really good chance of you finding out tonight."

Well, it was official.

I loved Valentine's Day.

XOXOXO

Alice kicked me out of her room a half hour before curfew. I knew I had to go but that didn't mean I wanted to as I stole a few more kisses before she pulled the sheet over her head and pointed to the door.

Laughing, I kissed the sheet that was covering her forehead and then reluctantly searched the room for my sweater and undershirt. I found them half-buried under the bed and threw them on, kissing the bedsheet again for she was still hiding underneath it and heading out with a sad sigh.

I took a step into her common room at the same time that Hattie appeared from the other stairwell. We both froze, looking at each other with identical sheepish looks.

"I didn't sleep with her," I blurted out.

Hattie shrugged. "I didn't sleep with him."

I glanced at her curiously, noticing the very disheveled hair and wrinkled clothing, and smirked. "Well, at least one of is us telling the truth," I teased.

Hattie tried glaring at me but even she couldn't help but laugh, her cheeks suddenly turning a very dark shade of red. "I say we walk out that door, go our separate ways, and pretty much never speak of this moment ever again," she said with a sheepish grin.

Chuckling I said, "Deal," and made my way out the door with Hattie right behind me. "See ya around."

I turned left and headed down the hallway, only stopping when I heard her call my name out. "James."

Turning around, I quirked my eyebrow. "Yeah?"

A small smile appeared on her face. "You seem really happy."

The comment threw me for a moment before my own smile settled into my expression, thoughts of Alice overtaking my mind. "I am."

"I'm glad," she said with a curt nod.

I nodded back. "So," I smirked, "What's going on with you and Frankel?"

She rolled her eyes. "Good-bye, James," she said, turning on her heel and heading down the hallway.

"Have fun doing the walk of shame back to your common room!"

"At least I'm not the one whose sweater is on backwards," she called over her shoulder before waving at me and rounding the corner.

Gaping at her, I quickly glanced down at my beige sweater. Sure enough, it was on inside out.

XOXOXO

When I got back to my room, I wasn't surprised that it was empty except for Dash who appeared bored by the essay he was currently scribbling.

He barely glanced up as I walked through the door and I only nodded at him as I peeled off my clothes to throw on a pair of sweatpants and a raggedy T-shirt.

"Franny chewed up the bottom of Jessup's hangings today."

I looked over at Dash, my brow furrowed. "What was she doing out of her cage?"

He shrugged. "She seemed a little rattled so I pulled her out."

There had to be more to that story but I didn't press it. "Well," I muttered, clearing my throat nervously, "You might want her to chew up all of his hangings with what I'm about to tell you."

Dash picked his head out of his essay with a frown. "What?" he sighed.

Grimacing, I said, "Jessup was with Shayne today in Hogsmeade."

There was the faintest sliver of grief in Dash's eyes, though he hid it well with irritation. "Good for them," he muttered through gritted teeth.

"You don't mean that."

"She's a high-maintenance priss and he's a pompous arse," he snapped at me. "Seems to me those two are made for each other."

"Maybe, but hardly seems fair that they spent the day in Hogsmeade while you were up here sulking all day," I shot back at him.

"Who says I was sulking?"

"You hate Franny," I pointed out.

"No, I don't."

"She's always chewing on your stuff."

He scoffed. "What's your point?"

"That I have to think you only pulled her out of her cage because you were feeling lonely and were desperate for any kind of company."

He frowned. "What was I supposed to do?" he snapped at me. "Ask some random girl I didn't even like on a date just to try and rub my ex-girlfriend's nose in it?"

"Yes."

Dash glared at me.

"Okay, no," I said sheepishly. "But how long are you going to punish yourself, Dash?"

Dash blinked, the irritation giving way to confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You cheated on her," I spoke bluntly, shrugging curtly. "It was a shitty thing to do and a lot of people got hurt but hiding from the world isn't going to suddenly make everything okay again. Believe me, I would know."

Dash slowly sat up, his eyes never straying from mine. "Yeah, and you got the girl in the end," he reminded me. "I didn't."

I hesitated. "Do you even want the girl? Shayne, I mean. I know you loved her and all but I can't help but think you cheated on her for a reason."

Dash winced but carefully considered the question. Glancing towards me out of the corner of his eye, he eventually shook his head. "I don't know if Shayne and I were right for each other," he murmured. "I thought she was cute, she thought I was funny and before we knew it, we were together for almost two years. For a while, things were really good but then they just got comfortable. Easy. Too easy. We started fighting because we grew apart and I think that was beginning to scare us a little because we were so used to being with each other that the idea of not being with each other seemed improbable. But that doesn't mean I should have cheated on her to break things off."

As he spoke, I found myself thinking about Alice. We had been best friends for seventeen years, almost eighteen, that it would be easy for us to fall into some sort of easy comfort zone, one that could ultimately tear us apart. It made things even scarier than they already were before I scolded myself for being concerned about something that hadn't even happened. "No, you shouldn't have," I said with a shrug, "But she's apparently with Jessup now and even though that makes me severely question her taste, if she can move on, so can you. But in order to do so, you have to leave the room."

Dash met my gaze, the silence overtaking him as I watched the wheels in his head turn. "Fine," he eventually said.

Success!

"Starting tomorrow," he grumbled.

Or not.

I sighed. "Why tomorrow?"

He shrugged. "Because tomorrow won't be Valentine's Day."

Good point.

With a chuckle, I nodded. "Alright then. Tomorrow it is."

XOXOXO

A/N: Next up: who winds up in the hospital wing?