On their first night back at Hogwarts, James had reluctantly parted from his girlfriend to meet Sirius for the first of their newly assigned detentions. Meeting at the edge of the long row of greenhouses on the edge of the castle, they were greeted by Professor Pomona Sprout.
"Good evening, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black," the short woman said curtly.
"Evening Professor. What breed of green terrors shall we help you with tonight?" Sirius asked with a smirk.
"Mr. Black, you are the last student I would trust to do any manner of tending – even to the simplest of specimens," she retorted dryly. "I seem to recall your O.W.L.–"
"Yes, yes, too right, Professor," Sirius cut in.
Professor Sprout scowled briefly at the interruption. "Anyway, the pair of you will be seeing to a necessary, but mundane task. Moving bags of soil from my storage area into each greenhouse."
"I thought we were to work with you all week Professor," James replied. "A bit of magic and I imagine we'd be done in two hours…easily," he boasted.
"Yes well, Mr. Potter, I'm afraid Professor McGonagall was quite insistent that both of you surrender your wands prior to beginning. She mentioned something about Gryffindor needing a bit more strength on the quidditch pitch…"
"More strength?!" Sirius barked, incredulous.
"Regardless of the accuracy of her opinion, you'll be moving the bags by yourselves. Come on. Wands to me and off with the robes," Professor Sprout finished, reaching out her arms toward them.
An hour later, both boys found themselves drenched in sweat and covered in dirt.
"Eighteen kilograms a bag, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed. "Eighteen! And we've got at least a hundred of the things left!"
"Let's just get on with it, Padfoot," James muttered, hefting another bag into the air and planting it on his shoulders before marching off to the farthest greenhouse from them. Upon his return, he noted that Sirius hadn't moved an inch.
"Come on, James! A break! Merlin knows we deserve one!"
"Fine," James groaned, leaning back against the pile of soil bags he was working on.
"So then…how's things with Wallenby?"
"Excellent. Holidays went well. She got me a brilliant book on quidditch. It's called Terrorizing with Tactics. It'll be super once we start practicing again."
Sirius glanced away. "Sounds good, Prongs."
"You're doubting me."
"Just concerned."
"Well you've got nothing to be concerned with," James snapped.
"And that's where we disagree, mate. We're coming right up on three months–"
"And you think I'll muck it up."
"You do always seem to find a way out…"
"Sod off, Padfoot."
"Right then. Just checking. I know how you get when these things take a turn."
"How's that?"
"Publicly moronic and privately morose. Makes you a real hell to be around."
James whacked Sirius on the back of the head. "It's not going that way this time," he said firmly. "Now let's get on with it before Sprout catches us you lazy git."
While her boyfriend suffered through his detention, Katie was spending her evening in the common room trying to stay ahead of her Charms work. While her father had wound up extremely pleased with her mid-year marks, he had still yet to shy away from his threats of meddling in her relationship. Directing her wand at the middle circle in front of her, she uttered the incantation to change it from yellow to red. Nothing happened to the other circles.
"Practicing the Protean Charm?" a bright voice interrupted.
"Yeah…I seem to be failing miserably though," Katie sighed.
"You know…I have the hang of it. I could help you if you want…" Lily offered, taking a seat in one of the armchairs across the table.
Katie remained quiet for a moment.
"It's okay to need help you know," the redhead ventured, leaning forward to look her housemate in the eyes.
"I hate it," Katie said bitterly. "I don't know. I've just never been much good with Charms. Or Defense."
"Well…much as I hate to admit it," Lily started, "you could always ask James. Whatever else he gets up to he's always pressing me at the top of the class. A bit more even this year actually," she finished, cocking her head to the side and biting her lip.
Katie groaned. "James is the last one I need…"
"Oh…I'm sorry…I just assumed, given–"
"No, it's fine. I just want to learn it myself. I don't want to have James solving all my problems."
"I can understand that. I like to do it all on my own too…most of the time. Still, are you sure you don't want me to give you some tips?" Lily asked.
Katie's took a deep breath as she let her tired shoulders droop. "I suppose time is running short," she answered glumly. "I'd appreciate it."
Two hours later, Lily and Katie hugged after the latter had successfully completed the exercise three times in a row.
"Thank you so much!" Katie gushed. "I can't believe it really all came down to those tiny details. That's why I'm always having issues when things don't come naturally. I never see that stuff."
"It's hard to see it in yourself. I get so focused sometimes too," Lily admitted.
At that moment, James and Sirius walked in through the portrait hole, covered almost from head to toe in dirt. The girls immediately burst into laughter.
"Oi!" Sirius shouted. "Think it's funny do you? I'll barely be able to lift a bat at practice tomorrow!"
"A real tragedy," Lily said sarcastically before making for the stairs. "I'll leave that to you, Katie. Have a good night!"
"Thanks…" she replied with equal enthusiasm. "But honestly, I really appreciate your help tonight!"
"Any time," Lily said, waving as she ascended the staircase.
"I've had it for tonight," Sirius grumbled. "And we've got to do it all week! McGonagall's gone mad! Absolutely mad!"
As Sirius exited the common room, Katie quickly found herself alone with James.
"Laughing at my suffering are you?" he asked.
Katie gave her boyfriend a full once over. "Well, you are a right mess. Couldn't even be troubled to clean yourself up for me?" she asked, raising her wand to performing a cleansing spell.
Before she could, James surprised her with an enormous hug and a hard kiss on the mouth.
"Couldn't let you miss out. After all, I learned this holiday how much more you like me after a bit of manual labor…" he smirked, placing his dirt-covered hands on both sides of her face and pulling Katie into what quickly became a series of kisses.
"Hey!" she shouted, pulling away in mock protest. "Just because we had a delightful snogging session after you helped my mum with the planting–"
"You look stunning with dirt on your cheeks," James interrupted.
Katie smiled brightly, the light from the fireplace dancing across her freckles and illuminating some of the varied hues in her pale blue eyes. "Thanks?"
James straightened himself up in front of her. "Go on and set me straight," he said, shutting his eyes.
Rolling hers, Katie cast a cleansing charm on James and then herself.
"So what were you and Evans up to?"
"Oh…she was just helping me with our assignment for Charms."
"Well you know I would've helped you," James insisted.
"I do," Katie replied, looking down and slightly to the side. "It's just…I think it was better she helped me. Sometimes around you I feel…pressure."
"Pressure?"
"Sure. I mean…to keep up with you. I get nervous sometimes about it."
"But why?"
"I don't know. I guess I just want to keep impressing you…"
"You've already impressed me, Katie. And you don't have anything to prove to me anyway," James said.
"And I do know that. It's just…sometimes I let my mind wander and…I don't know."
"Oh. Right," James said coolly.
"James–"
"Don't. Just don't say it, Katie. You and Sirius, both in one night…" he grumbled, his face flashing with irritation.
"Don't you get cross with me," Katie shot back, her temper rising. "I'm just being honest with you."
"Yeah, well, the last thing I need is you joining everybody else watching the clock," James said hotly, his voice rising.
"It's not just about you!" Katie shouted. "I believe you're different. But sometimes when I'm in a weak moment, your past scares me. The last thing I need is you getting upset with me when I admit I have negative feelings."
As he watched Katie cross her arms and look away, James softened.
"Hey," he said tentatively, reaching toward her.
She remained silent.
"Hey," he repeated. "Don't stop talking to me."
Katie turned back toward him, her arms still crossed. "Are you going to bark at me?"
"I'm not," he said solemnly. "I'm sorry…it's just detention turned out to be a nightmare and Sirius had to go and bring it up…" James trailed off as he saw his girlfriend's hands move to her hips, a put-out expression beginning to cross her face.
"Well, I accept your apology," Katie started. "I don't want to row. I just…I know we've sort of talked about this before, but it's hard for me. Before we dated, the only way people really knew me was from the quidditch stands. I was under the radar. It's been an adjustment. All this."
"And I want you to talk to me about all that. Like last time. We talked and it was better."
"That was different. Those were mean things people said. They weren't just my own feelings. I need to be able to talk to you about how I'm feeling."
"And you can," James insisted.
"I need to be able to do it without you getting bent out of shape or making it about you."
James looked away.
"And you need to talk to me about how you're feeling," she said firmly, turning his chin so their eyes met once more. "It was one thing I appreciated a lot when you listened to me before. You opened up a little. Shared something important with me. I wish you'd do that more."
"Sounds like I have plenty to keep me occupied for well over three months…" James offered.
Katie reached out and smacked him as one corner of her mouth crept into a smile. "Very clever. I can think of some other things too…" she teased.
James leaned forward to give her another kiss, but found his lips met her index finger instead.
"Not tonight," she said. "Maybe after practice tomorrow if you behave yourself."
James pouted, while Katie laughed.
"I guess this is good night then," he started. "Forgive me for being a prat?"
"This time," she giggled, adding a little extra sway to her hips as she walked away towards her dormitory.
A/N: I figured it was about time for the honeymoon to wear off a bit and give James and Katie their first fight. Admittedly it's fairly short-lived, but it raises some issues which will be important for the future of their relationship. While I wrote the chapter with that in mind, it also proved to be an opportunity to provide a little more detail on James's past and Katie's character. Next up should be some long-awaited James and Lily interaction, which will build throughout the second half of sixth year.
As always, thanks for reading! If you're enjoying the story, please leave a like if you haven't already and review below!