Summary: Harry read his mum's diary, a pair of Gryffindors was sneaking off to a romantic rendezvous, and a pair of Ravenclaws got into a mini-dispute over Quidditch.

Pairings: Definitely gonna be R/Hr and a pair of one of my other favorite Gryffindors so far. Suggest some more if you like.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. Love, Actually is written by Richard Curtis. I'm making no profit out of this.

A/N: I pretty much have some idea how this story will go. But do suggest some pairings if you'd like.

Dedication: To Tiffiany-45 who took the time to suggest all those pairings (some very interesting btw) and for telling me about Richard Curtis. 'Glad that you like it.

Chapter 2: Happy Book, Giggles, Defeat

Harry went straight to the Owlery after he left Ron and Hermione at the breakfast table. It was his favourite hiding place because it was quiet and Hedwig was often around to keep him company – sure enough, as soon as he stepped into the room, the snowy owl swooped down and rested on his shoulder. He stroked her neck gently as she offered one leg up to him, expecting to be sent out for post.

"No, no mail for you today, Hedwig. I just came up here to read." He showed Hedwig the book, "It's my mum's diary, see. Lupin sent it to me today."

Hedwig hooted as if she understood and pecked him affectionately in the ear. He fished in his back for a ginger snap and offered it to her.

Harry sat down near the window and settled down to read. The first page was dated October 1977, which, as he quickly calculated, was during his mother's last year in Hogwarts.

Dear Diary,

I am sick and tired of all the depressing things that have been happening around us. So this is my attempt at remaining cheerful. In this diary, I will only write about all the good things that are happening in my life. My mum made me do this when I was little whenever I felt jealous of Petunia's things – it was actually very effective because it made me realised just how much I actually had.

OK, first good thing. Well, I suppose I could write about my first date with James. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought … Surprisingly.

At first, I couldn't believe that I actually agreed to go out with him! James Potter had been such a cocky git for the better part that I knew him. He started to 'take an interest' in me during our fourth or fifth year and had been after me ever since. I didn't reciprocate because he had this stupid, big, inflated head – he would assume that, just because he was a popular Quidditch player, I would immediately swoon over and fall heedlessly in love with him: 'Oh, James, I'm just one of your brainless, twit admirers. Please take me, you dreamy piece of man …' *scoffs* Well, not this bird, Mister!

Oops, I was supposed to be focusing on the good things. Old habits die hard.

So why did I go out with him? Look, to be honest, it wasn't like I wasn't the tiniest bit flattered by his attention – I would never admit it to anyone, of course, but he was rather handsome. And it looked like this year he finally caught on to the fact that I don't appreciate his humungous head. He's not showing off as much as he used to and he's stopped asking me out, just for the sake of it, and actually took time to talk to me – I'd always assumed that James was pursuing me because I was the only girl he couldn't have; that it was more about proving himself to his mates than actually wanting to get to know me. And the fact that Dumbledore had made him Head Boy alongside my Head Girl meant that I would have to work a lot with him – James could make life very difficult for me if I continued to be hostile. So don't read too much into this. I am not suddenly changing my mind and falling stupidly in love with James Potter. He is still a prat, but, I suppose, a somewhat more charming prat lately.

Now, about the date …

Harry went on to read his mother's description of the date – she was especially amazed that he showed up in time, astonished that he acted "gentlemanly", and surprised that he didn't once brag about his amazing Quidditch exploits ("Surprisingly, Mr. Chaser-of-the-year restrained himself from boring me to death with descriptions of his perfect swerves, loops, and wronskis in last week's match"). Harry certainly got the impression that his mother went on the date against her better judgment – though she did admit in the end that she "had fun". Still, the fact that her first entry in the 'happy diary' was about his father delighted him somehow.

As he flipped through her other accounts, Harry was taken aback by the fact his mum sounded like any other teenage girl. She talked about sneaking into the kitchens with her best friends (he found out that their names were 'Marlene', 'Eve', and 'Juliet'), getting praises from the teachers, and – to Harry's utmost delight – his father. It seemed that James had become more "endearing" by her next account.

Harry was particularly curious as to how his parents fell in love, but decided against reading everything at once. He really wanted to cherish every account, to take in every word. This diary was probably the only solid proof that his mother was once happy, in spite of everything else that happened.

He suddenly felt immensely grateful to Lupin for sending this. He decided to quickly scribble a note of thanks before joining Ron and Hermione for his next class.

Dear Remus,

Thank you for sending that to me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

I hope you are not too caught up with work. Everything's quite hectic here with the holidays coming up. I think I'll see you soon in the upcoming break though, so 'til then!

Best,

Harry

"Hedwig, come down here," he called to his owl. "I want you to take this to Remus. Be careful and get back soon, OK?"

He watched as she soared through the window and into the distance before climbing down the steps of the Owlery.

The bell rang as Harry emerged in the corridors. He joined the flow of students coming out of lesson and walked in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom. On his way, he passed Seamus and Lavender, who were heading to the opposite direction. Thinking that it was very odd, Harry called out to them, "Where are you two going? Transfiguration's this way."

Seamus, who had just noticed Harry in the crowd, suddenly looked as if Filch had sprung on him doing something terribly incriminating. "Ha-Harry, mate, uh, yeah … Me and Lav need to, er, to do some extra work in the library. Some last minute research before the holidays, you know?" His face was turning a shade of red that even Ron could be proud of.

He was also earnestly trying to hide his left hand behind him – but not before Harry, quick Seeker's reflex and all, noticed that the aforementioned hand was entwined with one belonging to Miss Brown.

Lavender gave Harry a cheeky grin that told him that studying in the library was the last thing that she and Seamus had planned on doing.

Deciding very wisely that he really did not want to know what those plans were, Harry replied, "Oh, OK then. Want me to cover for you for McGonagall?"

"Er, no, that's alright. I think Dean's got it."

As he continued on his way, Harry made a mental note to question Dean about those two. There was only one possible explanation that he could think of and, frankly, he did not see it coming. Sure, he knew that Seamus had gone with Lavender to the Yule Ball, but he, Harry, had also gone with Parvati – and he wasn't very likely to hold her­ hand and skive off lessons with her now, was he?

But, Harry had also asked Parvati out of desperation. Perhaps, Seamus had actually wanted to go with Lavender. All the same, Harry never would have thought that the two of them would get together. Seamus just didn't seem … 'loopy' enough to go for silly, Divination-loving Lavender.

Then again, if his dad could make his mum fall in love with him, Harry supposed that anything could happen. He had always thought that romance was puzzling. He wondered if Ron and Hermione knew about Seamus and Lavender though. He decided that he would ask them as soon as he saw them in class.

***

Sneaking off in the opposite direction to Harry, Seamus and Lavender finally settled down in an empty classroom. Lavender was doing a lot of giggling, but Seamus found that he did not mind at all. Remarkably, it wasn't that long ago when he'd thought the sound of giggling girls – much less Lavender – terribly annoying. A surge of your normal adolescent hormones had since remedied that situation, however, and now, he actually thought that she was rather cute. Not many people knew about it, but he and Lavender had actually been seeing each other since the start of the year.

It all began with the Yule Ball. Dean had made Seamus ask Lavender so that he could ask Parvati – his best mate had always thought that Parvati was one of the prettiest girls in Hogwarts. As it happened, Seamus turned out to have more guts than Dean, because he managed to ask Lavender before the other could ask Parvati – unfortunately for Dean of course, when he finally did ask her, he found that Harry had already beaten him to it. Regardless, Seamus still had to go with Lavender. He didn't dread it, really – he just felt that it was rather worthless, having asked her to go, when he could have just gone with Dean.

To his great surprise, he thoroughly enjoyed his time with Lavender that night. She was easy to talk to and seemed to share the same sense of humour as him. But nothing came to it because, at the time, Seamus hadn't felt the need to, well, give a toss about girls, really.

It wasn't long before the hormones kicked in, but what with all the tension with Harry last year, he didn't really think much about asking out Lavender – he was grateful that she was among the few who initially shared his doubts about Harry though.

Once he had smoothed his rough patches with Harry, he was free to focus on 'other things'. He and Lavender started becoming close at the end of last year and kept it up during the holidays through posts – he found himself really missing her. At the start of the year, he wasted no time in asking her out and they'd been dating ever since.

It wasn't long until they began sneaking off during lessons, or at nights - they weren't Gryffindors if they didn't like the rush. Today was another example of a typical 'escapade'. Sure, they would incite the ire of McGonagall if she ever found out, but both of them felt that it was worth it.

Back to the present situation, Lavender did not seem satisfied that she was the only one giggling. So she began tickling him. Having since found his 'weak spots', she was successful in making him wriggle and squirm like mad. Gasping out chuckles, Seamus quickly retaliated. Before the two lovebirds could engage in an all-out war of 'tickles', however, they heard two voices approaching the classroom.

Seamus quickly pulled Lavender into the nearest hiding place, which just happened to be the cupboard at the back of the room. Closing the door just in time, they got a glance of Cho Chang entering the classroom with a boy. Suspecting that Cho and the boy were also planning on a romantic interlude like them, and hoping very earnestly that they weren't, Seamus and Lavender pressed their ears to the door to listen.

"Cho, this is only going to take a second." said the boy's voice.

"Can't it wait, Terry? I've really got to rush to Muggle Studies," said Cho's voice.

Lavender looked at Seamus. "Terry? I thought she was going out with Michael-mphm …"

For Seamus had just covered her mouth with his hand, quickly stopping her from exposing them both. He pressed his ear back to the door – it didn't seem that Cho and her companion had heard anything. He was about to listen some more, but found that he was suddenly distracted.

Lavender was planting small kisses on the inside of his hand and had this mischievous look in her eyes. Seamus soon decided that he couldn't give a toad's bum what Cho was up to. He quickly replaced his hand with his lips and used his other hand to pull Lavender closer.

While the two Gryffindors were becoming absorbed in their own 'activities', on the other side of the door and completely unaware of the aforementioned cupboard 'activities', Cho was still dealing with her male companion, who, as we had since found, was Terry Boot.

Terry had become the new Quidditch Captain after Roger Davies left last year and, to Cho's great annoyance, was not giving her a break. She suspected that he pulled her in today to discuss some more Quidditch tactics.

"Look, Terry, I'm really going to be late for class. Why don't we have a chat during lunch?"

"This can't wait. I've been trying to find you since breakfast, Cho, but you weren't around."

"Yes, well, I woke up late," she lied. Truth was, she skipped breakfast to avoid a situation exactly like this. Ever since she devastatingly lost the snitch to Malfoy at that match two weeks ago, Terry had been hounding her to give tips.

"In any case, this is really important."

"Terry, if this is another advice session …"

"It's not." He paused, "Cho, I've registered you for a Quidditch Intensive Training Programme in the holidays."

Cho blinked. "You what?!"

He handed her a piece of paper. "They've just sent the acceptance notice today. I have to confirm back immediately, which is why I had to find you."

Cho scanned the parchment. The words "Quidditch Intensive Training Programme" were written across the top and, underneath it, were the programme details and the list of some claimed benefits.

"It's an intensive course over four weeks. You'll get day-to-day theoretical lessons and practical course, aimed to fine-tune your Quidditch skills. It's run by this bloke who used to coach the Prides during their heyday, so I'm pretty sure it's well-established. They're supposed to have excellent field and equipments – all you need to bring is your broom, really. And anyway, it's a bit hard to get accepted into the programme, so I'm highly recommending that you take it."

Cho looked at him incredulously. "How can you just sign me up for something without telling me? What if I have plans for the holidays?"

"I asked around. You were just going home to your parents," he shrugged. "Besides, you get a ten-day break between Christmas and New Years. So you'll still have time to relax."

"But, I'd rather not spend the better part of my break practicing Quidditch, Terry." She forced herself to be calm, "Look, I know that I haven't been playing very well … "

"Cho, to be honest, you've been performing very poor lately – your speed is off and your dives are messy. There are several people who would love to replace you, but I – and not to mention Michael – still believe that you can seek. You just need to regain your focus. I'm sure this programme will really help you." he paused. "So I think it's best that you accept this offer."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I would seriously consider sitting you down for our next match, Cho. I'm sorry, but we need to win to stay on the competition."

"So basically, I'm stuffed if I don't go?"

"I don't want to give you an ultimatum, but yeah, pretty much. Just think hard about it, OK?"

He gave her a sympathetic look before walking to the door.

Cho stared at the paper in her hand, feeling particularly frustrated. Terry knew that she would never give up her Seeker position. She had gotten it after much struggle and, despite what anyone would say, she wasn't about to step down without a fight. Still, she couldn't help but resent Terry for forcing her to give up her holidays. And she wasn't feeling particularly fond of Michael either, who was supposed to be her 'boyfriend', for she was certain that Terry would not have made a move without consulting him.

With a defeated sigh, Cho left the classroom. She slowly set off to Muggle studies, knowing that she was already late and feeling like she couldn't care less.

A/N: I've never read a Lily/James fic. So it was really interesting for me to try to come up with what Lily might have thought about James. I don't know, what do you think of the pairing?

I got two requests for Seamus/Lavender so I thought I'd put them in. What do you all think? I've always kind of liked them as characters and wished that JKR would write more on them.

What do you all think about Cho? She's kinda lost the plot after Cedric died, hasn't she? What do you think about sending her to Quidditch camp for the holidays? I'm not sure about the Cho/Michael thing, but we'll just see how it goes.

So, anymore ideas, suggestions, pairings?