USELESS, HOPELESS AND WITLESS SOLUTIONS
"Haaaaaaaaaaary! Haaaaary, wake up! Harry? HARRY?"
"WHAT? God, I'm trying to sleep here! Jeez."
"Harry, please get up. Please?"
"Why?"
"I… want to show you something!"
"No, go away!"
"Why? Don't you love me anymore?"
"Leave me alone!"
"…"
"…"
"Harry?"
"ARGH! Right, that's it!"
Sirius laughed maniacally as he scrambled out of the room, whilst Harry struggled irritably through the other boy's many bed covers.
"Sirius!" he yelled.
"Sirius, get your arse back here RIGHT NOW!"
"You'll never catch me, Harry! NEVER!" Harry heard from the common room. He also heard gasps and bouts of laughter. He hurried to pull clothes on and sped out of the dormitory.
Sirius was going to pay.
An hour later, Harry stood looking both ruffled and annoyed in the doorway to McGonagall's classroom. He glared daggers at Sirius, who sat smirking at him from the front.
"Mr. James! You are twenty minutes late! If you were not already in a one week detention, you would surely be in another!"
Harry kept his glare on Sirius, ignoring the sniggers around the room, and watched with satisfaction as the smirk on the other boy's face disappeared and was replaced by a gulp.
Harry uttered an apology before settling in at the back, next to Lily. McGonagall resumed her lecture as Harry dumped his books on the table.
"Harry?" Lily whispered.
Harry turned to her with interest. Maybe she could help him plan his revenge on Sirius? Sure, being chased around the common room by the Animagus twenty times had been fun, but being locked in a cupboard with a groping fifth year girl afterwards? Now, that deserved revenge. However, before he could begin any discussions concerning Sirius – "Hi."
"Did Black get you into trouble again? Why do you put up with him?"
Harry frowned. Sirius wasn't that bad.
"What's wrong with Sirius?" he asked.
"He's just like Potter!" Lily insisted. "He never uses his brain; I'm surprised to know he even has one!"
"But he's nice when he hasn't got a large crowd around him."
Lily gave him a surprised look.
Harry sighed. "Maybe, he's just like that on the outside, but once you get to know him…"
"Well…"
"Look, Sirius is probably the best friend I've ever had, as is James. They prank people and taunt people for attention, and even then, it's mostly the smartasses they bother. It may be stupid of them, but they are still nice people. Maybe you should just get to know them properly."
Lily stared at him, wonder in her eyes. Then she smiled. "I don't think I have ever met such a caring person."
Despite his serious ramble, Harry blushed. "Um…" he managed.
Lily laughed as McGonagall finished speaking and the lesson began.
After it had ended, Harry waited for his favourite Animagus outside the room.
"Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "How nice it is to see you!" he yelled before attempting to rush down the corridor.
"Where do you think you're going, Black!" Harry yelled triumphantly after him. "Prepare to die!"
James and Remus laughed as Harry sped after the hysterical teenager. "Sirius, come back!"
After two floors and five corridors, Harry shouted breathlessly, "Okay, okay! I give up."
"Ha!" Sirius' disembodied voice floated from around the corner. "Pathetic!"
"Oh, shut up and get over here. Lesson starts in five."
Sirius sauntered around the corner with a smirk on his face, before yelling aloud as Harry leaped at him.
It was at lunch that Harry realised he still had Tom Riddle's diary in his pocket, but he decided not to take it out, as he noticed out of the corner of his eye a ruffled Sirius stagger towards him.
"Now, who's pathetic?" Harry asked with a smirk of his own. He figured he must have got the habit from Draco Malfoy, because he certainly never used to smirk, and now it seemed to be becoming a habit.
"Shut up and kiss me," Sirius grumbled. Harry laughed, but generously complied.
The rest of the day went rather well. None of their lessons were with Slytherins, so Harry did not have to worry about any awkward conversations with Snape. That was before he remembered his detention that night with the Slytherin.
He noticed that the older Slytherins – Lestrange and co – had not bothered him since that day outside McGonagall's office. In fact, they seemed to be avoiding him. Good, he thought. No more stupid Slytherins to deal with. Except Snape.
Also, Pettigrew had been missing for a couple of days; apparently off to see his sick grandfather this time. James didn't expect him to be back for a while, Harry had heard. And just how many sick grandparents did the rat have?
Finally, when everyone was away studying or busy snogging in the Astronomy Tower, and after his awkwardly silent detention with Snape, Harry had time to sneak into his four-poster in the peace and quiet of the empty dormitory, and put as many locking charms on the curtains as he knew.
Hurriedly, he took the diary out of his bag, set up an inkpot and retrieved a quill. He paused. What to write? Or should he write at all? It could possibly mess up the future. No, this Tom Riddle was just a memory.
In the end, Harry decided to try to chat with the Dark Lord at the same time avoiding writing his own name. So, turning the old, rumpled pages, he wrote a quick, hello? Harry watched as the word slowly sunk into the aged pages. Just when he thought there would be no answer –
Harry Potter? was the reply.
Harry immediately snapped the diary shut and threw it under the bedcovers, feeling shaken. How had Riddle known?
"Harry?" He heard, before hurrying to remove all the locking charms and leaping out of the four-poster and onto the floor with a grunt.
Sirius emerged from the doorway with a frown. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry muttered as Sirius helped him up.
"You sure? You don't look so good."
"Don't worry about me."
"But I like worrying about you."
"Suit yourself, but I'd rather you didn't worry about me."
"And I'd rather I did. Shall we go down to dinner? I'm starving."
Harry laughed and followed him towards the Hall. As they made their way through the common room, Harry's thoughts trailed back to the diary.
He would never write in it again.
Harry groaned. He hated mornings. He just wanted to sleep… and sleep… and…
"HARRY! SIRIUS!"
Harry suddenly attempted to jump up and instead, fell out of bed with a thump. He groaned again.
"Come on! We've all slept in! Lessons start in TWO MINUTES!"
"What?"
"TWO MINUTES! COME ON!' And with that, a half dressed James sped out of the room.
Harry managed a snicker as he thought of the reactions of the rest of the school when James turned up in his shirt and underwear, before groaning once more and dragging himself into his uniform.
Ten minutes and a detention from Professor Stevens later, Harry and Sirius slouched in their assigned seats in the dungeons. To everyone's disappointment, the professor had not only decided to set a project for the rest of the term, but had also assigned each of them to a partner; a partner who usually tended to be of the opposite house, attitude and level of skills in potion making. Whether it was a coincidence or not that Harry was put with Snape, he didn't know. What Harry did know, was that James was shooting glares at him from the opposite side of the room, whilst Sirius attempted to ignore everyone completely.
Harry sighed.
"What is wrong?" Snape asked as the lesson began.
Harry glanced at him before training his attention back to the task at hand for once. "Nothing," he muttered.
"Liar," Snape retorted. "You keep sighing. It is not that hard."
Harry shook his head irritably and watched as Snape began to chop up different ingredients. "It looks confusing enough to me," he said finally.
"That is because you do not concentrate."
"What, and you do? How can anyone possibly concentrate when Mister Evil-Potions-Master-From-Hell attempts to bore them to death? Because I certainly can't."
Amusement flashed in the other boy's eyes. "You really ought to get private tutoring, then," he replied curtly.
Harry glared at him. "Is that a hint?" he muttered.
Snape smirked at him. "If I even attempted to tutor you, Black would probably result to chaos and anarchy."
Harry snorted, but silently had to agree. James would probably never speak to Harry again…
"Would you do it?" Snape asked abruptly.
"Do what?"
"Let me teach you? If it meant Black and Potter trying to kill you."
"Sirius would never try to kill me," Harry said quietly.
"Of course not," was the sharp reply.
Harry glared at him, before sighing. "If I was completely desperate," he began, "I probably would. But seeing as I don't really give a damn about Potions…"
"In that case, Mr. James, I suggest you receive private tutoring from Mr. Snape here twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays in the back classroom from seven 'til nine in the evening. If that won't increase your love for potions, then I don't know what will." Professor Stevens took time to give them a smug smirk before sauntering off to find someone else to torture.
"…"
"…"
"WHAT?" Harry finally spluttered after at least one minute. Snape rolled his eyes.
"Clever," he murmured amusedly, although Harry saw a gleam in his eye that had not been there before.
"Shut up," he muttered back, before packing his things up and leaving the classroom five minutes early.
"WHAT? NO WAY!"
"It's not like I have a choice, Sirius! It's not as if I ASKED to get lessons from him!"
"But – but its Snape, Harry! SNAPE!"
"I know who it bloody well is." Harry attempted to control the anger in his voice. When he was calm he said, "There's nothing I can do about it."
"But…"
"Sirius…"
The Animagus sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "Look, come to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday, we can get a break from all this."
Harry smiled, relieved. "Okay," he said. He cheered up as he remembered the last time they had gone together, when he was supposedly going with James instead of Sirius. Harry smiled. It had been one of the best days of his life. They had explored Hogsmeade, drank a bit, bought dinner, and drank a bit more…
Sirius interrupted his thoughts by kissing him. He wrapped his arms around the other boy's neck. The kiss seemed to go on forever, and Harry so wanted it to, but nothing ever lasts. They stood there, gasping for breath, heads together, for a while.
"Harry?" Sirius murmured.
"Hmm?" was the reply.
"I was thinking… you don't have to if you don't want to but… But I was thinking, since you know about us being Animagi and all, well… maybe you'd want to become one?"
Harry, completely taken by surprise, pulled back and stared at the other boy as if he had never seen him before.
"I would help, of course," Sirius rushed. "And James, he'll get over the Snape thing soon, and when he does…"
Harry smiled. Become an Animagus? Be like Sirius? Who wouldn't?
"Do you expect me to say no?" he asked incredulously.
Sirius laughed and kissed him. He contemplated Harry for a moment, before saying, "I reckon you'll be a bird," he said.
Harry looked up in surprise. "You do?"
Sirius grinned at him. "Come on, let's get started!"
Harry and Sirius spent the rest of that evening in the library, attempting to retrieve the books on Animagi Sirius had dumped there beforehand. Sirius explained that it had taken him, Peter and James at least half a year to become Animagi because they had spent a lot of the time looking for the right information. He reckoned it would take Harry around a couple of months to become one. He also explained that there were only a few different spells involved, and that most of the process was done with the mind. Harry could not have been more excited. He was going to become an Animagus! Forgetting the fact that it was illegal, they planned it and began the next day.
Meanwhile, Harry noticed that Lily seemed to be hanging around him a lot. Although he did not know why, he had his suspicions. He liked Lily and enjoyed talking to her; she was kind, smart, and funny – when she wasn't complaining about James. But when she started to talk to him at every available opportunity, he decided things were getting out of hand. What if she was falling for him? She was his mother! She couldn't like him like that! Harry decided to ignore it for now. There wasn't a lot he could do it about it, and ignoring her wouldn't be very nice, so he chose to cope with it for a while. James would go potty if he ever found out…
"Harry?"
Harry looked up from his seat in the library. "Hmm?" was his reply.
Sirius looked down at him with a frown on his face.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore was asking to see you after dinner. He said you would know what about."
Harry frowned. Had Dumbledore found a way of getting him back already? He didn't want to leave so soon…
"Yeah," he said finally. "Shall we go to dinner now, then?" He got up and began to pack his things away, when he noticed Sirius was still watching him. "What?" he asked, knowing exactly what. He didn't want to tell Sirius that he would have to leave; it would most likely break him, not to mention Harry himself. Sirius was having the same sort of suspicions as to why Dumbledore would want to speak to Harry.
"Why does he want to see you?" Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged. "Dunno," he lied.
Sirius' eyes narrowed. He took a step closer so that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. "I think you do know," he said, annoyed.
Harry sighed and closed his eyes wearily. He had only been there a few weeks; he didn't want to go…
"I have to return to my time eventually, Sirius. You know that."
"No, you don't," Sirius growled. "You can stay here, where You-Know-Who isn't trying to kill you all the time."
Harry winced. They rarely talked about his future, and when they did, it was usually about his friends, not Voldemort.
"I have to, they need me there –" he began.
"No, Harry. It's your life, not theirs. From what I've heard everyone in your time seems to be living your life for you," he said irritably. "It's up to you what you do!"
Harry sighed. "I still need to go and see him." Sirius seemed about to protest, but Harry interrupted him. "He might even just tell me how he can't find a way for me to get back, Sirius. Come on, let's go to dinner."
An hour or so later, Harry sat stiffly in one of the high backed guest chairs in Dumbledore's office. Was the man mad? Harry definitely thought so.
Dumbledore's idea consisted of using a certain dark, ancient potion, which, if made correctly, copies an image of oneself and materializes it in a certain time in the future or past, depending on how much so-and-so one used in the potion. There was a lot more information, and many side affects that Harry wasn't too keen on. Especially the "liable to growing extra body parts due to excessive amounts of certain ingredients contained in the potion", and to sum it all up, Dumbledore had decided that it would be too dangerous an idea anyway and that he would rather not risk it.
Harry wondered if there had been any point in him visiting at all.
He left silently for the Gryffindor common room on, "I'm quite sure we will find a way soon enough, Mr. James, meanwhile enjoy yourself while you can." And that damned twinkle. Luckily, Harry had managed to persuade Dumbledore to let him off detention for the night.
The next morning, Harry found himself under not only numerous pillows, quilts, the odd empty bed sheet and a random assortment of clothes, but a surprisingly heavy Sirius slumped on top of him. Unfortunately, the other boy had his arms tightly wrapped around Harry's waist, leaving poor, but not quite so poor, Harry no chance of escape. Well, at least he had an excuse for being late for lessons this time.
The entire morning was rather boring in Harry's opinion. Throughout breakfast he had to put up with Sirius' everlasting joy that Harry wasn't leaving, which he supposed he didn't mind, but then James began to make irritating comments on his disappointment about Harry's staying, which annoyed Harry to no end.
Why was James being so stupid? Harry had decided to speak to James later; he didn't want his dad mad at him.
After that, Harry sat through an hour of tiresome History of Magic lectures. Seriously, he decided, Binns needed to get a life.
What followed was not quite as dull, but would still hit boring on the level-of-excitement-meter, if there were one. When that lesson was over, Harry couldn't find Sirius, so he decided to return to the library and considered looking up time travel.
On the way there, he determined that finding a way to get back would only make him have to leave Sirius sooner, which he certainly didn't want. He then thought that it would be a good idea to find a way and just keep it a secret until he chose it was time to return. This got him thinking about not returning at all, and soon enough, Harry gave himself a painful, throbbing headache.
Irritated with himself, he slumped into a seat at the back of the library.
"Harry?" Someone was shaking him, but he didn't want to move; he was too tired…
"Harry? Harry, please wake up, you've been sleeping for ages."
"Huh?" Harry muttered tiredly. He then realised that he had his head wrapped in his arms on one of the library tables and had probably fallen asleep out of frustration. "Oh, sorry," he muttered, and looked bleary eyed into the kind, smiling face of Lily Evans.
"You okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Damn, he thought. What time was it? Checking his watch, he groaned.
"What?" Lily asked.
"I've missed Potions. I'm bound to get a detention now."
"But it's not your fault! If you were tired…"
"Nah, it doesn't matter." He stood up and stretched, before looking down at Lily. Standing up, she was only an inch or two shorter than he was. Compared to Sirius, they were both midgets. Then again, compared to Sirius, everyone was.
Harry realised that now was the time to talk to Lily about James. "Lily…" he began, not quite knowing what to say.
"Yes?" she asked, looking hopeful.
"Would you… Would you do me a favour?" Where is this going, he wondered.
"Of course, Harry. What is it?"
"Well, James seems really depressed lately and… well, I think it's because of you." Lily opened her mouth to protest but Harry quieted her with a gesture of his hand. He then said, "The favour I'm asking is, well…" Harry scratched his head irritably. How to say this? "I want you to go with him to the next Hogsmeade weekend."
"WHAT?" Lily exclaimed, looking shocked, but not disgusted, Harry noted.
He nodded incorrigibly. "I know, terrible isn't it? Sorry about my choice of words…"
She looked speechless, so Harry uttered, "It's up to you, y'know, but I think it would be a good shot, and I know James would love to." With that he left the library once again, leaving Lily shocked and speechless.
He supposed he had a reputation now for leaving people shocked and speechless. Shrugging it away, he headed for the broom shed.
Detention with Snape in the disastrous classroom was most likely the more exciting part of Harry's day.
Around quarter of an hour later, Harry calmed himself in the tranquillity of flight. The Hogwarts' grounds looked magnificent from above, especially at night. The tall black castle towered into a black, starry sky and a giant white moon loomed over the dark, jagged forest.
Harry flew down to the nearest clumps of trees, and noticed not too far away Hagrid's cabin. If there was one thing he missed from the future, it was Hagrid. It seemed odd that the half giant lacked his usual casualness with Harry, instead giving him polite nods in passing or ignoring him completely. Harry realised then that he might not be seeing his Hagrid anytime soon.
Sighing, he jumped off his broom and skirted the edge of the forest. He should have bought his invisibility cloak, he thought, before remembering that the cloak currently belonged to James, who still wasn't speaking to him.
Harry abruptly stopped and turned. All was quiet. He moved on before suddenly coming to a halt. There it was again. Hissing. Harry hesitated. What could a harmless snake possibly do to him? He moved slowly towards the sound. Then it stopped. Harry stood completely still, before he heard, Stupid, foolish humans. What have I ever done to them? They deserve to be bitten. Oh, if only I had done it…
Hello, Harry greeted. He was rewarded with more ferocious hissing.
Leave, leave me, human! More humans here to ruin my home!
No, no. Wait! I'm not here to hurt you, or your home, Harry explained as the snake began to slither quietly away. Please come back.
What does this human want? It speaks of no harm, but how can I trust it? A human that can speak is suspicious….
When Harry realised that the snake had stopped to listen, he said, I just want to talk. Who ruined your home?
Pathetic, foolish humans! I did nothing to them and they poke their magic sticks into my home.
I'm sorry to hear that, Harry said. Is your home all right now?
No, it is ruined. I must make a new one away from prying humans.
You could stay with me, if you like, Harry offered, before realising what he was doing. Well, why not? The snake would probably refuse anyway; it didn't seem too fond of Harry's species. I'd look after you, and no one could ruin your home.
Lies! This human wants to rid of me! Flee snakes! The humans want us no more!
No, no, wait…
Lies… And the snake was gone.
If snakes could shout, that's just what Harry did in Parseltongue. I'll talk to you again tomorrow!
Harry laughed as he made his way back to the castle. Make friends with a snake? The idea seemed very Slytherin of him….
"Where were you?" Sirius exclaimed as Harry wandered into the dormitory. Sirius sat, looking rather distressed, in his four-poster, glaring at Harry from the other side of the room. "Do you know how bloody worried I was? Do you?"
Harry smiled. Trust Sirius to worry about Harry being out late. "Sorry." He shrugged.
"Sorry? Sorry isn't good enough! I –"
He shut up when Harry kissed him. Five minutes later, Harry lay on Sirius' bed with said Animagus on top of him, driving his tongue into Harry's mouth and making him moan continuously. Sirius pulled away and glared at him. "Don't ever do that again," he ordered.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll never do it again," he promised.
"Good," Sirius said, before returning his tongue to Harry's mouth. "You missed your detention, you know."
Harry groaned.
Just then, an owl flew straight in through the window and landed on Sirius' bed. Both Harry and Sirius jumped up at the disturbance. The owl hooted importantly, before making its way towards Harry and sticking its leg out.
Harry scratched his head. Who would send him a letter? No one knew him here. And at this time of night?
"Open it," Sirius urged, most likely desperate to return to their previous positions. Harry laughed at him, before untying the letter from the owl's leg. The owl immediately sped out of the window, without bothering to wait for a reply. Harry shrugged inwardly and ripped open the letter. To his great surprise, it was from the Ministry of Magic. He quickly skimmed the letter, before passing it onto Sirius, who took it with a curious expression plastered over his face.
Overall, the letter was to do with Harry's "most unfortunate situation". It contained numerous apologies, mostly from the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. They were sorry that they were unable to send him back to his own time, as the one means of returning Harry, consisted of using one of the forbidden pieces of equipment from – Harry could only guess – one of the dark, complicated rooms deep in the department. All in all, Harry was completely unable to go back to the future. Well, that was their opinion. Dumbledore was still working on it.
Harry hoped.
The next morning found Harry and Sirius skipping History of Magic and excitedly rummaging around amongst piles of books in the Room of Requirement. Sirius was ecstatic; they had already done the spells needed for the transformations and all Harry needed to do now, was learn how to use his mind to become a certain animal. The problem was, they didn't know what animal.
"This is the hard bit," Sirius explained. "You need to know what animal you're going to transform into before you transform into it, and from there it's all easy."
"How did you and James do it, then?" Harry asked.
"Well, we sort of cheated…." Sirius said sheepishly. "We found this book in the library that matches people's characters to the animal they would supposedly be in the afterlife… And, well, we just figured it out soon enough."
"Where's the book now?" Harry asked eagerly. "Shall we look for it?"
"Um, there's a problem," Sirius said. "I sort of… lost it."
"You lost it?"
"Yeah… if lost means rotting away in one of Filch's many drawers in his office."
Harry groaned. "Can't we just sneak in there and get it?"
"Nah, he's had everything charmed shut. But don't worry; we can still do it without the book. And anyway, we're getting through this way faster than I thought we would. It'll just take a bit more thinking than it did for me…"
"Sirius?"
"Hmm?"
"I really think I should start talking to James."
"How? He keeps ignoring you."
"I know, but… I kind of spoke to Lily…"
"What about?"
"Well, to keep it short, I asked her to go with James on the next Hogsmeade weekend."
"You're kidding, right? I bet she said no."
"Actually, I think she was considering it. But at the time I just asked her to think about it, and then I walked off. She hasn't given me an answer yet."
"Don't get your hopes up. Evans can't stand James."
"She fancies him."
"She does not."
"Seriously, she does. But you can't tell James."
"…"
"Sirius!"
"Okay, okay, I won't tell Jamsie that Evans is secretly drooling over him, but I think he ought to know."
"I don't."
"Why not?"
"I just don't. He'll find out soon enough. Sirius?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think… Do you think if I can them to go to Hogsmeade together…"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe James'll start talking to me again?"
"Probably. You'd be like… his saviour, or something."
"Hmm… I'll talk to Lily about it… see if she says yes."
"You do that."
"I will."
"Good."
"Thanks for your overly helpful advice."
"Yes, yes. Flattery in the morning. Sleep, now."
"Is that all you think about? Sleep?"
"And you. And food. And myself, of course."
"Surprise, surprise."
"Sleep."
"Okay, okay… Oh, damn…"
"What?"
"DAMN!"
"WHAT!"
"I missed detention! AGAIN!"
"Oh dear."
"What do you mean, 'oh dear'? McGonagall will kill me."
"So? You're not the only one."
"Yeah, but this is the second time I've missed it. This is only your first."
"I'm surprised McGonagall hasn't confronted you about it…"
"Yeah… She probably will tomorrow."
"Oh well. Time for sleep."
"Yeah…"
"Night, Harry…"
"Sweet dreams, Sirius…"
"SIRIUS!"
"WHAT?"
"COME ON! We're gonna be late! AGAIN!"
"OKAY, OKAY – I'M COMIN'!"
"Jeez. What took you so long?"
Sirius muttered and grumbled as they made their way down to the Hall. Suddenly, Harry spotted Lily. He quickly muttered to Sirius to save him a seat and headed towards Lily. When nobody was watching, he pulled her to the side.
"Hi," she said breathlessly.
"Hi," Harry said. "So what do you say? Will you go with him?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I tried to tell you before but you just rushed out of there…"
But Harry wasn't listening. "YES!" he yelled. "Finally! Thanks, Lily," he said, before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and rushing towards the Gryffindor table.
When he noticed Sirius looking at him from the other side, he mouthed, "SHE SAID YES." Sirius' jaw dropped, and Harry grinned. He watched as Sirius poked James in the side and asked him something. James' jaw dropped. Harry's grin grew wider. He watched as James suddenly jumped up and ran out of the hall, most likely in search of Lily.
Harry laughed, and made his way towards Sirius.
"I can't believe Evans is finally going out with Prongs," Sirius said between mouthfuls of bacon.
"Neither can I," Harry replied. "But call her Lily, Sirius. She's like, your best friend's girlfriend now."
Sirius managed to make a face around all the food. "Damn," he muttered. "Have you ever witnessed Evan's –" Harry glared. "Lily's, temper problem?"
"No, and I don't plan to."
"Well, I'm warning you now, she can get scary…"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, we're gonna be late for Potions, again…"
"Hey – HARRY! Wait up." James ran breathlessly and caught up with Harry after Potions. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, if Harry wasn't mistaken, nervously?
"Um, sure," Harry replied.
"In here," James said, and directed him to the nearest empty classroom.
"Erm…" Harry began, but James interrupted him.
"Look, I'm really really sorry about lately, I was just being stupid. About this Snape thing…"
Harry shook his head and smiled. "It doesn't matter." He shrugged it off.
James' shoulders dropped in relief. "Phew," he said. "Sirius told me what you did, with Lily, and I just wanted to thank –"
He was interrupted when Harry laughed at him. "Don't worry about it; I was sort of getting sick of you two staring longingly at each other all the time."
James grinned at him. "Well, thanks," he said.
Harry shrugged again. "No problem," he said. "Shall we?" And they made their way chatting and laughing to the next lesson. Overall, Harry thought, life wasn't so bad.