Disclaimer: I'm don't own ANYTHING. Please don't sue me.
Chapter Two:
Girl all the bad guys want.
***
James Remus Peter Delacour-Black stared in shock.
Harry told him not to open the curtain, but he had to anyway. Now he had met his grandmother.
"SPAWN OF THAT ACCURSED TRAITOR!" she screamed.
"Help!" Harry yelled. James rushed forward to the curtains and pushed them closed.
"God what a bitch," James leaned against the wall. "No wonder my dad left home so damn early."
"Wait until you meet Kreacher. He's worse," Harry assured him with more than a hint of venom in his voice.
"Who's Kreacher?" James asked him.
"Black family house elf." Harry looked up the stairs. Hermione and Ginny were standing there looking slightly worried.
"Everything okay?" Ginny asked them.
"Yeah. James met his grandmother."
"Well, we guessed that," Ginny walked down the stairs and put her arms around Harry.
"Real bitch, eh?" James asked Hermione.
"It's just her picture," Hermione told him.
"Pictures are just a reflection," he retorted.
Hermione looked as if she might say something for a second. She opened her mouth then closed it. "Good point." She walked into the kitchen. James followed. She sat down at the big wooden table. James sat across from her. Harry sat next to him. Ginny took her favorite spot on Harry's lap.
"Where's Ron?" Harry asked Hermione after a second.
"I think he went to Lavender and Parvati's or something," She told him a slight hint of disdain in her voice. "Did you enjoy your coffee?"
"We ended up going to Florean's," he told her.
"Good ice-cream," James commented.
"Where'd Remus go?" Ginny asked.
"Out with Tonks," Harry told her.
"Who's Tonks?" James asked, looking at Hermione.
"An Auror that we know," she told him. "She's your cousin, I think. Is that right Harry?"
Harry pulled his lips from Ginny's neck. "Second, I think."
"Interesting. Is there a family tree around?" James asked.
"Drawing room. Second floor," Harry said.
"Only has Dark wizards on it though," Ginny added with contempt.
"Remus mentioned that the Blacks weren't exactly the nicest wizards. Kinda dark." James seemed to be in deep thought.
"That's understating it," Harry said. "Your uncle was a Death Eater, and your grandparents were proud."
"What's a Death Eater?" James asked.
"Voldemort's closest supporters," Hermione told him.
"Hmm," James said, looking at the table. "Interesting family."
Everyone was silent for a moment. Well, nearly silent. Harry and Ginny had begun making out again, and that was fairly noisy.
"Really into it," James commented, watching them.
Hermione didn't say anything.
"Are you single?" he asked.
"What?" she asked, slightly shocked at his forwardness.
"No one will give me a straight answer," James put his head down on the table and looked up into her eyes, resembling a lost puppy. "I asked everyone besides you and Ron," he told her.
"What about Lavender?" she asked, evading the question.
"I'd rather not speak to her. She seems annoying."
They sat in silence for a minute or two. Harry and Ginny continued kissing.
"So are you?" he asked.
"Am I what?"
"Single?"
"Single?"
"You know not dating anyone, unmarried and fancy free," he pressed.
"Yes," she told him.
"Yes, you're single, or yes, you're dating someone?" he asked.
"I'm single," she clarified.
"Cool. Wanna go out?" he asked.
"No," she stated bluntly.
"Why not?"
"I hardly know you."
"So get to know me," he smiled.
"Yeah, 'Mione get to know him," Ginny encouraged.
"Keep kissing and let me make my own decisions," she retorted. "I think I'll go take a shower." She started for the door. James got up and followed her.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Following you."
"Why?"
"What better way to get to know someone than to share a shower?"
***
Fifteen or so minutes later, James was sitting at the table holding an ice pack to the side of his head. She had slapped him rather harder than necessary, and now he was sporting a red handprint on his cheek.
"You didn't expect that to work, did you?" Ginny asked.
"Not particularly. I was just trying to make her laugh. Bad joke, I guess."
"Very," she told him.
"When should Harry be back?" he asked, wanting to get the subject off of Hermione. Harry had needed to run some sort of errand.
"Soon, I hope." Ginny checked her watch.
"I was gonna make some dinner," James looked at the ceiling.
"It's only two," she told him.
"Yeah, but I wanted him to go to the store with me," he leaned back in his chair until the front legs were off the ground. "There's not much here to work with."
"Hermione will be glad to go," Ginny lied.
"I seriously doubt that."
"No you just need to calm down and not come on so hard," Ginny advised.
"Flowers and candy?" he suggested while leaning back even farther in his chair.
"Something more original," she told him.
"Me covered in chocolate syrup and a thong?" he joked.
"Too messy," Hermione said from the kitchen door. "Are you okay?" James had jumped, causing him to lose balance in his chair and fall to the floor.
"Peachy," he answered.
"I'm sorry I hit you. You were only joking, and I overreacted."
"No problem. It's nothing compared to my back anyway," he told her.
"What's wrong with your back?"
"It hit the floor real hard," he explained.
"Can you stand up?" she asked him.
"Yeah, just a minute."
"I think I'll go get a quick shower or something," Ginny left.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Hermione asked after a minute or two.
"Just great." He got up off the floor and returned his chair to normal.
"I'm sorry," said Hermione.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have leaned so far back." James sat down in the chair again despite his back's protests.
"That's not what I mean. I'm sorry that I just refused to go out with you point-blank," Hermione elaborated.
"That's fine," he told her. "So do you want to go out with me?"
"I'll think about it," she walked over to the icebox and got two cold bottles of Butterbeer.
"Okay."
"How long are you planning on staying in Britain, or are you still undecided?"
"Not sure. I was thinking of going to France. I have some cousins there," he told her.
"The Delacours?" she asked.
"Yep," he answered.
"Do you know Fleur?" she asked.
"Yeah I met her at some funeral or something when I was sixteen," he admitted. "Doesn't she live around here?"
"Just a couple of blocks that way near Gringotts. She and her husband are curse-breakers, but they're out of town right now. In Egypt again," she informed him.
"Egypt? Cool." He leaned back in his chair again.
"You're going to get hurt again," she warned.
"Is that a threat or a prediction?" he teased.
"Prediction," she told him.
"I'll take the risk," he said and leaned back a bit farther.
"Are you a risk taker?"
"Depends on my blood alcohol level."
"And what is your normal blood alcohol level?"
"It has its highs and lows," he dodged the question. "Do you drink much?"
"Not really," she answered taking a sip of her Butterbeer.
"Smoke, abuse boyfriends, take drugs, eat cookies in bed?"
"No, no, BIG no, and yes." She ticked the answers off her fingers.
"Evil person," he smiled at her.
"For what! Cookies in bed?" she asked indignantly.
"Yeah. Crumbs drive me insane." He downed the last of his butterbeer then began peeling off the label.
"What are your bad habits?"
"I'm cocky, and I'm pretty rebellious."
"That's all?"
"Just the beginning," he smiled.
"You read?"
"I can, but I don't too much." answered James.
"Music?"
"Rock. Almost anything besides Rap-Metal. I hate Rap-Metal," he shook his head.
"I like Badly Drawn Boy. Have you heard of them back in the States?"
"No. What's you're favorite ice-cream flavor?"
"Moose Tracks. How about you?" she asked, enjoying the conversation immensely.
"Mint Chip. Definitely Mint Chip," he told her. He memorized her favorite ice cream for future use.
"That's good too," she agreed.
"What was you're favorite subject in school?"
"I loved everything."
"I wasn't a very good student, but I loved Potions and Charms," James told her.
"Were you good at Potions?"
"Yeah. I enjoyed it a lot." He let his chair fall forward and set his empty butterbeer bottle on the table. He got up to get two more.
"I liked Transfiguration," Hermione admitted.
"Too complicated for me," he admitted.
"Did you have a lot of problems?" she asked.
"Not really. I was just too lazy to enjoy something like that. Charms was much better. I liked blowing things up," He leaned back in his chair again and took a drink of butterbeer.
"It was fun. Did you like Divination?" she asked, hoping the answer was no.
"Didn't even take it. I took Muggle studies instead."
"Did you like it?"
"My mom didn't let me use anything magical until I was ten. It was a real easy A."
"Are you hungry?" she asked. She had missed lunch and wanted something to hold her until dinner.
"Kind of. I'll make something." He hopped up and walked over to the stove.
"No, it's okay. We can have sandwiches," she protested even though she really wanted him to cook something else. The eggs that morning had been fantastic.
"No, it's okay. I'll make pasta." He filled a large pan with water and began cutting up something from the fridge.
"If you really want to," she conceded. "Do you cook a lot?"
"Yeah. Everyone seems to like my cooking." He threw some kind of pasta in to the pot of boiling water.
"What's your best recipe?"
"I'm not sure. I make a lot of pies." He threw some sort of onion into a large sauce. He sure was making a lot.
"What's your best kind?"
"Either apple or cherry," He began draining the pasta. Hermione was sure he must have used magic for the pasta to be done that quickly.
"I can't cook too well, but I like home cooking," she began, wondering what he was making in the saucepan
"It's like potion making. More of an art than a skill," James began throwing ingredients into the saucepan seemingly at random.
"What are you making?" she asked him.
"Just a quick pasta sauce. Nothing fancy." He added in two cans of tomato paste.
"It smells good."
"Thanks." James threw some diced garlic into the pan.
"Something smells delicious," Ginny said, stepping into the kitchen with damp hair.
"Pasta," Hermione pointed to James.
"It smells really good." Ginny sat next to Hermione.
"Thanks," James repeated. He took three plates down and levitated them to the table. He mixed the sauce and the pasta together and then he brought that over to the table with some forks "Dig in."
***
A\N: Another chapter. Another day. Please review.
Special thanks to anyone who reviewed and extra special thanks to Anna Black.