Hey guys! This has some "One More Year" in it, but also some new stuff, so I don't think you'll be bored. Enjoy!

The morning after Christmas passed in a flurry of excitement. We told everyone at breakfast about us, and everyone was happy. After breakfast we all went out for a snowball fight, only Al, Rose, Scorpius, and Lorcan weren't there. I thought it was pretty weird, but I didn't care too much at the time. It wasn't until late that afternoon that stuff started to get complicated. Very complicated.

We were all in the living room playing exploding snap (which, if you didn't know, I'm incredibly good at) and I, of course, was winning. Al, always the sore loser left halfway through the game. A few minutes after that was when the shouting started. We could all hear Annabel's voice coming from the kitchen, and all of us (adults and kids alike) ran into the hall. Annabel burst through the kitchen door like a tornado, bellowing at Al.

"She's dating your brother Al! Your brother! I thought everything was fine between us, and then you dump me out of the blue! You've got a lot of nerve Albus Severus Potter, a lot of nerve, to think that after all this time you can just dump me, while I'm staying at your house! It's all because of her! And you!" she pointed at Clarice in fury. She staggered back a few feet before hitting me. Both of us were stunned. "YOU! How could you do this? What's your secret, huh? Slip love potions into their drinks do you?"

"What?" asked Clarice, looking stunned. None of us had been expecting that. I honestly had no idea what Annabel was blathering about, but it was starting to freak me out just a bit.

"Well they're all mad for you, aren't they? James, Albus, Lorcan! Why do you think he bolted so quickly when he found out about you and James? I bet Hugo even has a crush on you!"

Everyone's heads turned to Hugo, including mine, who put his hands up and said "Don't look at me! No offense Clarice, but I wouldn't date you in a million years. Talk about weird!" By now my jaw was dangling open of its own accord. I honestly had no idea what was going on. Clearly Al had broken up with Annabel (a pretty mean thing to do when she's staying with you for Christmas in my opinion--but then again who am I to judge?), but I had no idea what that had to do with Clarice or Lorcan. He had disappeared pretty fast, it was true, but he definitely didn't like Clarice....right?

"Anna..." said Albus softly.

Annabel looked thunderous. Though she normally stood about a head shorter then Albus she towered over him as she said, "You have no right to call me that Albus Severus Potter! I'm leaving! I hope you and James have a fight to the death over Clarice, and I hope none of you survive!" and with that she stormed out the front door. We all stood in complete silence until long after the crack that announced her disapperation.

The silence in the room was louder then any silence in the history of silences. Everyone was looking either at me and Clarice or at Al. The tension was so think you could have cut it with a knife. I wanted an explanation and I wanted it now. What the hell was going on?

"Al," I said, deciding to start with him, "You don't fancy Clarice, do you?"

"Why do you care?" he said angrily. I jumped in shock just a bit. "She chose you, so that's all that matters, isn't it?" and with that he stormed up the stairs. We watched in silence as he stomped up stairs and slammed his bedroom door. I was stunned. Al fancying Clarice? It was absurd! Ludicrous! It was the most shocking thing I'd heard all day...but it was also true.

"Well...." said George, "I fancy a game of exploding snap, don't you? Come on then!" Thankfully, George had decided to be useful and help me out this once, and started shooing all the kids who were uninvolved back into the living room. Most went quietly, but of course Fred and Roxanne made a fuss, but Grandma and Grandpa got them inside. I might have thought the whole thing was funny except that it so wasn't right then.

Soon it was just me, Mum, Dad, Clarice, Rose, Scorpius, Lily, and, to my surprise I must admit, Uncle Ron.

"What's wrong Princess?" Dad asked Lily, who I'd just noticed was crying silently. I couldn't really figure out why, considering my life was the one falling apart.

"First Lysander, now Lorcan! Am I really that disgusting?" cried Lily, before running out towards the door. I tried not to roll my eyes. Really, she was quite dramatic.

"Lysander?" asked Mum.

"We'll explain later," said Rose. Of course, I knew the Lysander story, but what did that have to do with this situation? Or Lorcan for that matter?

"I'll go get her," said Uncle Ron, looking sympathetically at Dad, "And I thought I had it bad when Rose started dating. But, I got the easy end apparently, one boyfriend, whose a decent bloke, and only one daughter to like him," he said, before leaving to find Lily. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Uncle Ron's comment, because, as everyone knew, he hated Scorpius for weeks after they started dating. Talk about a revisionist historian...

"Will someone please explain this to me?" said Dad as Uncle Ron left. I had to agree that this was getting pretty annoying for someone who didn't know the whole story.

"Well," said Rose, "It all really started at the beginning of the year," she started by telling the Lysander story, which of course I already knew, but then she told me some stuff that I didn't know. Annabel had liked me? Weird...Even weirder: Al and Lorcan both liked Clarice! I didn't even know about it! I was still in shock. Pure shock. The entire situation was just ridiculous.

"I'm so sorry!" said Clarice once the story was over, she was crying now. "This is all my fault! I ruined everything! I always do!"

"No you didn't," I said. How could she even think that? Before I could stop myself I added. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." I blushed. As everyone knows I'm not one for PDA, and I was so shocked at the totally sappy thing that had just come out of my mouth--even if it was true...

"No one blames you dear," said Mum to Clarice, "This isn't anyone's fault." Finally someone is going to inject sanity into this conversation.

"Maybe," said Clarice, "Maybe, this is wrong. Us, I mean. I really want to be with you, but I can't make you fight with Al, it just isn't right. I'm not really worth it."

"No!" I said, almost panicking. I'd worked so hard to make this work, I wasn't going to let Al ruin it. Before I could stop myself another sappy thing came out of my mouth that I was, again, pretty embarrassed about. "Don't you dare say you're not worth it!"

"For what it's worth," said Harry, "I'm okay with it. I'm just worried about Albus."

"You should go talk to him," said Mum, looking at me. For the third time in my life I was choking on air. I thought Mum was the sane one but apparently not.

"Are you mental?" I said after a moment, "He'll kill me!"

"No he won't," said Mum. Honestly, it was like she didn't get what was going on at all..."Anyway, your dad will go with you."

"He will?" I asked, feeling marginally better, until I realized what Dad was saying at the same time.

"I will?" God Dad, thanks for the support...

"Yes," Mum continued, "You three men need to sort this out." It was almost like she thought it was going to help. Unbelievable...maybe women can sort this stuff out by talking, but guys? Please.

Dad and I both sighed in defeat and went upstairs wearily. When we got to Al's room Dad made to open the door, but I motioned for him to stop, and put my ear to it. There weren't any sounds, which suggested that Al wasn't in the 'I'm going to hit everything in sight' mood he sometimes got into when he was upset. That was definitely a good thing. I opened the door to find that the cause of the silence was a lack of Al. I looked around as Dad came in behind me.

"He's gone," said Dad, picking up a slip of parchment from the bed.

"Really?" I said sarcastically, "I hadn't noticed." I took the note from him and read it:

I'm back at Hogwarts.

Wow. Really wordy...

"HE'S GONE!" shouted Dad as he walked to the door, clearly talking to the others downstairs, "He left a note. He went back to Hogwarts! All his stuff's gone, and everything!"

He and I went back downstairs to find the group looking at us in disbelief.

"Well," said Mum, looking exhausted, "I guess we'll talk about it later."

"I'd better go make sure Lily's okay," said Dad. I was glad someone was going to.

"And I'm going to Luna's," said Mum. Good. Maybe she'd get so fired up she'd hex Lysander and Lorcan into a billion pieces...

"Well," said Rose, looking at Scorpius, "You want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," he said, and the two left hand in hand. That left just me and Clarice.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's not you're fault," I said, "Wanna go upstairs?"

"Sure," she said. The night ended on a somewhat relaxing note...though we knew it couldn't last long.

After that the rest of break seemed extremely uneventful, but in a nice way. I was enjoying spending time with Clarice so much that I hadn't seen Steven since before Christmas, and decided that the day the Hogwarts lot left I'd go see him. The day for their departure on the Hogwarts Express was truly depressing. I went to Platform 9 3/4 with them to see them all off.

Right before Clarice left I asked the question that had been eating away at me, despite the fact that I was extremely embarrassed to ask it. "You won't forget about me will you. Go out with Al, just cause he's closer?"

Clarice rolled her eyes, making me feel even more embarrassed and said, "No I will not go out with Al. You're so cute when you're insecure. I don't reckon you can visit anymore, cause Al will tell on us, but I want you to write every day."

"Twice a day," I said, feeling much better. I gave her a kiss when...

"James, she'll still be the same when she comes for Easter. She'll miss the train!" Ugh. Mum.

"Bye," I said with a grin as she gave me a kiss on the cheek, before heading onto the train.

"Bye!" she called from one of the windows as the train sped away.

"So, she's really worth it?" asked Dad, turning to me once the train sped away. I won't deny that I was slightly insulted by the question.

"Would I risk it all for someone who isn't worth it?" I said coolly before dissapperating to Steven and Em's.

It was a Sunday, so both Steven and Em were home from their various jobs and were in their living room when I apparated into it.

"Holy hell James!" said Steven, who'd dropped his cup of coffee on himself at the sound of my crack.

"Sorry," I said, without really meaning it.

"What're you doing here?" asked Em, who had managed to keep her coffee in its cup, but still looked startled.

"Yeah," said Steven, "We haven't seen or heard from you in weeks. We thought you'd died."

"Don't be so melodramatic," I said with an eye-roll, "I told you I was gonna be at the Burrow for the holidays."

"With your mystery girl?" he checked.

"What mystery girl?" asked Em.

"Thanks Steven," I said sarcastically, "This is why I didn't tell you her name."

"Whose name?" asked Em impatiently.

"So she was there!" said Steven in triumph.

"Who was there?" asked Em.

"His mystery girl of course," replied Steven.

"I don't have a mystery girl!" I shouted, which was technically true, because it wasn't a mystery anymore.

"You do too!" he said indignantly, "You told me about her before the holidays."

"And you didn't tell me?" asked Em.

"He told me not to," explained Steven.

"Not like that really stopped you," I muttered.

"I said it was an accident," said Steven.

"No you didn't," I reminded him.

"Well I thought you could infer as much but apparently not."

I opened my mouth to reply but Em cut in, saying, "Who the hell is she?"

"I'll tell you," I said, "On one condition."

"What?" asked Steven.

"You have to promise not to take the micky out of me for it, and not to have a laugh about it behind my back."

"Who is this girl?" asked Em, "You make her sound awful."

"Wait--" said Steven, who'd clearly just had a brainwave, "What about Valarie?"

"Valarie?" asked Em, "There's no way she's the mystery girl. She's dull as a post."

"Don't worry, it's not her," I said to Em before turning to Steven and saying, "Don't worry, I dumped her."

"You dated her?" asked Em in incredulity, "Why?"

"He wanted to forget about the mystery girl. Which clearly didn't work, as I predicted might I point out," said Steven.

"Is there anything else about your life you'd conveniently forgotten to tell me?" asked Em, before continuing sarcastically, "Like the fact that you're a superhero, or maybe that you're secretly a vampire?"

I rolled my eyes, and was about to reply when I was interrupted by Steven, who nearly shouted, "JUST TELL ME WHO SHE IS!"

"I will," I sighed, because this was getting old, "But you still haven't promised me."

"But--"

"Oh just promise him!" cut in Em.

"But if it's really funny--"

"He promises," said Em.

"Really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He sighed before saying, "Yes."

"Good," I said with a grin, before continuing, "It's Clarice Longbottom."

Em's eyebrow's shot into her hair, and Steven, despite his promise, began to snicker.

"What?" asked Em, as Steven started to laugh, "Clarice Longbottom? As in Professor Longbottom's son? As in the Ravenclaw seventh year?"

"Yeah," I said, before turning to Steven angrily and saying, "What's so funny?"

"It's just that it's so ironic," said Steven through his laughter, "She's the exact person you said you'd never fall for. Straight As in Ravenclaw, can't fly to save her life, a teacher's daughter, quiet, rule-following!" by now he was laughing hysterically.

"Not true!" I said, though, I was perfectly aware that what Steven said was true.

"Yes it is," said Em, who was smiling slightly, "And you know it. But I think it's a good thing."

"You do?" I asked, while Steven just looked at her.

"Yes I do," she said, "I think it's great that you didn't fall for your typical girl, cause maybe that means this one will stick around."

"Fair enough," I said, because I hoped she was right.

"So you guys are officially going out?" confirmed Steven.

"Yep," I said.

"How are you dealing with her still being at Hogwarts?" asked Em.

"With difficulty."

I hoped you all liked that chapter! The Steven/Em/James scene was really fun to write because I love that friendship, and I feel like I wasn't doing a lot on it lately. I'm gonna finish up anything from "One More Year" (not including the many epilogues) next chapter, and then it will be all new stuff for a long time, so those of you that were bored because you already know how all of this ends fear not, you will soon be reading brand new material. Tell me your thoughts on this one.

XOXO

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