Inspired by Olivia Rodrigo's song called Gross ( watch?v=U0zZWzUg650). I suggest listening to the song while reading!

~Not long ago, when I saw you there, with your brown hazel-eyed grin and your messy hair, and every girl at the party was looking at you~

April 1974 – 3rd Year

Gryffindor won another quidditch game and to no one's surprise, the Marauders were hosting a party in their common room to celebrate the win. Every house was invited—except the Slytherins, though they would probably be sulking from the defeat—to the party. Clarissa was helping set up the food and drinks the boys asked the house elves to bring. It only seemed like it was yesterday that she was setting up a different party in the house of lions, one for a certain Gryffindor chaser's birthday.

The party was in full swing, a gramophone loudly playing tunes that alternated between muggle and wizard music. Clarissa was happily observing people from her spot in the corner by the food table, sipping her drink. She found her friends amongst the crowd; Sirius was dancing with a pretty brunette from Hufflepuff that she didn't recognize, Remus was trying to converse with Lily and Cassie, and Peter was playing Exploding Snaps with a bunch of other people by the fireplace. The only one she was having a hard time seeing was the MVP of the team himself.

Clarissa finally found her best friend walking down from the boy's dorms. She realized that she was not the only one keeping her eye on the star chaser. James was wearing still wearing his quidditch uniform and it did wonders for his arms and chest. Clarissa knew how hard he worked out in order to keep up with the demands of his position, but she supposed everyone has noticed it by now. She rolled her eyes at the hungry stares most girls were giving him, swearing one of them drooled when James grinned and ran his hand through his messy hair. Clarissa scoffed and shook her head as she sipped her drink, wondering what they saw in his best friend when deep down, she knew exactly what.

~I wonder what I'd say, if I knew back then, that the brown hazel-eyed boy'd be my best friend, and the one I'd give my heart to.~

Christmas Eve, 1968

The Manor the Nox's floo'd to was decorated beautifully for the holiday. Wreaths and boughs of holly were hung throughout the place, even the house elf that led them to the ballroom was dressed in a little red had with a bell at the end that jingled every time the elf moved its head. The ballroom was even more extravagant than the parlour, a huge Christmas tree was covered in ornaments and a great big twinkling start was on top, snow was magically dusting the tree though it was not causing a mess.

The party was lively, and many people had attended, leaving Clarissa and her older brother Damon intimidated by the guests. They could hardly see any kids their own age, unfortunately. Everyone was dressed beautifully, either in gowns or dress robes. Clarissa was wearing a simple green dress her mother pulled out for her and her hair styled in curls by Della, their house elf. Her brother, on the other hand, looked slightly uncomfortable in the dress robes he was forced to wear. The two siblings followed their parents obediently through the crowd as they sought out the hosts of the event. The hosts were the well-known Potter family, both dressed as well, and perhaps even better than their guests. The Potters were on the older side, a decade older than Clarissa's parents. She knew that her father knew the Potter patriarch through his work as an auror, Fleamont Potter being his mentor.

"Ah, Dorian! I was beginning to wonder where you were," Fleamont greeted him with a firm handshake.

"My apologies, Fleamont, Euphemia. We got lost in your massive manor," Dorian jested.

Fleamont let out a full, boisterous laugh, earning the looks of a few guests.

Dorian pointed to his family, introducing each one. When it came to Clarissa's turn, she did a small curtsey in respect to the hosts.

"We have a son your age as well, Clarissa dear," Euphemia informed her, earning a surprised look from the girl.

Clarissa became excited at the prospect of meeting another kid her age at the party. The Potter matriarch, unfortunately, didn't know where her son was but gave Clarissa free reign over the manor to search for him. Luckily the brunette girl found him in the kitchen, bothering a few of the house elves for treats.

"Please Tinky, just one more slice!" The young boy pleaded to the house elf.

Surprisingly enough, Tinky stood her ground and shook her head, making her ears flop side to slide.

"No. Master has says no more sweets after 10 PM for young Master James or else yous is going to be too hyper."

James pouted which made Clarissa snort, indicating her presence to the two of them. Tinky left her young master alone to pout and scurried over to the young girl.

"Hello little Miss, what can Tinky do for you?"

Clarissa gave the elf a warm smile, "If it's not too much trouble could I please get a warm slice of treacle tart and a cup of earl grey tea with one lump of sugar and a splash of milk please?"

James' head shot up from his pout at the request of Clarissa and he saw her subtly nod her head to the side with a cheeky wink. He raised his eyebrows and a smile slowly spread across his face as he snuck out of the kitchen. Clarissa thanked the house elves kindly and made her way out, trying to find where the messy-haired boy went. A quiet call from a room caught her attention and she saw James poke his head out from the door and gestured for her to come there. Once Clarissa entered the room, the messy-haired boy made grabbing motions towards the treacle tart in her hands and she rolled her eyes at him but handed the plate nonetheless.

Clarissa sipped her tea as she watched James eat the tart and made exaggerated noises because of how good it tasted, causing her to giggle. He extended the slice to her, offering her a bite but she politely declined. James shrugged his shoulders and scarfed down the rest of the tart, mumbling something about missing out on Tinky's dessert. When he was done, he gave a big happy sigh and relaxed into the armchair he was sitting on.

"That was the best slice yet," The hazel-eyed boy claimed. "Thanks for getting me one!"

Clarissa gently placed her teacup down and returned the smile he gave her, "Glad I could be of help."

The boy held out his hand, "I'm James Potter by the way."

Taking his hand in hers and shaking it slightly Clarissa introduced herself to him. It seemed like James recognized her name because his smile widened even more.

"Well Clara, I think we'll be the best of friends!"

Something deep down in Clarissa's heart she knew he was right.

~Now everything reminds me of you, your pictures' framed all over my room…~

Summer, 1974

Clarissa wasn't sure just exactly when James Potter started taking up the entirety of her thoughts. When she would go shopping at Diagon Alley she couldn't help but point out pieces of clothing she thought would look good on him, or every time she passed by Gambol and Japes she would buy him their new product or at least tell him about it. Clarissa's mother, Celeste, noticed her daughter's frequent visits to the local developer in the shopping district and made note that most of the pictures she was getting developed were her friends and of course James Potter. She wondered if her daughter has realized her feelings for the Potter boy yet.

Said photographs hardly left Clarissa's room except for two she always brought to Hogwarts with her; a group photo with her friends and one with her family. This year's photo of her friends was one they took at the end of third year, their smiling faces always brightened Clarissa's mood. Her family picture was taken at their villa in Italy just that summer and it's her new favourite just because it caught Damon's disappointment perfectly when his gelato melted on his shorts. A new addition to her collection is one of her and James.

It was during the winter holidays at Nox Manor and Clarissa was attempting to teach James how to skate. As athletic as James was, his talents obviously shine when his feet aren't on the ground. It was an amusing sight to see James barely standing without the support of Clarissa, his legs shaking like a newborn deer. There was an instance in time when he was able to let go of Clarissa and stand by himself which caused the girl to cheer with glee, unbeknownst to her the look of adoration James was giving her. Unfortunately for James, the distraction that came in the form of Clarissa Nox caused him to lose his balance and slip on the ice, leading to a round of laughter from the both of them. Clarissa was grateful to Euphemia who took the photo of the two of them and gifted it to both for Christmas.

As it sits on Clarissa's nightstand in her dormitory, sometimes her friends would catch her looking at the framed photograph fondly with a loving smile on her face, reminiscing the moment she shared with her best friend. Her friends wondered when their usually smart and brilliant friend would finally notice James' feelings for her, or at least her own feelings which, in their point of view, was glaringly obvious. Luckily for everyone, it wouldn't take Clarissa much longer to figure it out.

~As long as I'm your darling angel, I don't need anything in the world cause I feel like the luckiest every second that I'm your girl~

June 1975 – 5th Year

It was almost the end of the year and everyone was freaking out due to it being their OWL year. Though, no one seemed to be more anxious than Clarissa. Ever since May, she was in the library what seemed like 24/7. Sure some of her friends such as Emmeline, Lily, and Remus joined her to study, she was clocking in more hours at the library than any of them. All her friends were concerned for the studious Ravenclaw girl but none as concerned as her boyfriend, James Potter. He has hardly seen his girlfriend since the birthday party he threw for her, Clarissa claiming it her last day before going all out for OWLs. James has always admired Clarissa for her diligence and was tutored by her for certain subjects. It was only two weeks ago when she banned him (and Sirius) from studying with her at the library seeing the ruckus he caused last time for wanting to drag her to Hogsmeade. It was a Saturday, surely she could take a break!

James' concern grew even more when she started skipping dinner in favour of studying. He knew he had to put a stop to it when he caught her sleeping (unintentionally on her part probably) at her usual desk in the library after not showing up for supper. James could see the darkness under her eyes from not getting enough sleep and her cheekbones more prominent due to skipping meals and the stress of exams. He let out a quiet but exasperated sigh, annoyed at himself for not doing more to convince her to rest. Giving her a light kiss on her forehead, James called Sirius through their mirror and asked him to find Remus so he could keep watch of Clarissa as she slept, not trusting Sirius to keep quiet. When Remus arrived with his books to do some studying himself, James cast a cushioning charm on the desk to provide some comfort for his sleeping beauty, as well as a silencing charm on Remus' items to ensure complete silence. He instructed his werewolf friend to wake Clarissa up in an hour and to tell her he needed to see her at the Astronomy Tower. With that, he bid his friend thanks and got started.

Clarissa was shocked to find out she had fallen asleep for a good two hours when Remus woke her. She was still a little disoriented from her unplanned nap, but the minute Remus told her James needed to see her at the Astronomy Tower because of an emergency she bolted from her spot. A million thoughts were running through her mind as she ran through the corridors on what the emergency could be. Only then had she realized that she hadn't seen James in what seems like weeks. A nervous pit grew in her stomach at the thought of him breaking up with her because of her neglect towards him. Imagine the brunette's surprise when she showed up at the top of the Tower panting and ready to cry, only to see a beautiful candle-lit picnic set up in front of her with James holding a bouquet of camellias, her favourite.

"Wh-what is this? I thought..? But Remus said.." Clarissa stammered out.

James walked towards her and grabbed her hand to let her sit on the blanket he transfigured out of his bed sheet and added a cushioning charm to make it more comfortable. The food the house elves prepared for them was under a warming charm and bluebell flames in jars surrounded them, creating a cool glow along with the moonlight.

Before James could even get a word out, Clarissa blurted out, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"What? Why would I ever break up with you? Where did you even get that idea from?" James asked her, bewildered by her question.

"I don't know! Remus said it was an emergency and that you wanted to see me. Then while I was running up here I realized that I hadn't seen you in so long which made me feel like a terrible girlfriend because I've been so focused on studying so much and I even banned you from being in the library with me, but let's face it hon, you are a nightmare when you're forced to be quiet, especially with Sirius. But it's OWLs this year and I'm so nervous for it so all I could think of was studying and I'm so sorry that I haven't seen you or spent time with you—"

As much as James loved seeing Clarissa ramble, this was probably the most he's spent with his girlfriend and he was not going to waste it by hearing her apologize. He kissed her full on the mouth, effectively stopping her rant and she melted into his embrace. Merlin, it's been forever.

"I'm not breaking up with you, love; not now, not ever so you can take that thought out of your head permanently," James told her once they pulled away.

"Okay, good because I wouldn't let you anyway," Clarissa pecked him on the lips once more.

"What's all this then?" She gestured to the picnic he's set up for them.

"Well, as you said, since you've been holed up in the library for weeks now and haven't taken care of yourself properly—" James playfully glared at her which caused a light blush to appear on Clarissa's cheeks, "I took it upon myself to give you a little intervention about your horrid study habits."

James set out her meal in front of her and gestured for her to start eating as he spoke. By the end of the night, Clarissa agreed to only study until curfew and to not skip meals. Fridays and Saturdays were reserved for their friends and themselves and no studying is to be done on those days until the week before exams. Most importantly, a one hour mandatory break in between her study sessions is scheduled for James and most likely Sirius to allow her to rest and get her daily dose of annoyance from the two.

They were already having dessert by the time he finished, feeding him the treacle tart he got for himself after every other rule. Clarissa looked at James affectionately after he made his rules for her.

"How did I get so lucky to have you?" She asked him, caressing his cheek.

James tilted his face into her hand and kissed her palm, "I should be saying that to you, Clar."

"I love you, you know that right?" Clarissa told him tenderly.

James leaned forward and kissed her softly, "I know. I love you too."