A Disappointing Discovery

About a week before the Christmas holidays, James and the other fourth-year Gryffindors were sitting in Professor Aven's class, listening as the wizard wrapped up his lecture on counter-spells. Yawning, James found himself wishing that Aven would spend less of his class periods lecturing and allow the students to practice their wand-work, but the class had collected so much homework over the last few weeks that he was afraid to even bring it up lest they fall behind indefinitely.

"And you all know how to deal with the effects of an improperly-cast Jelly-Legs Curse by now!" Professor Aven said to the class, turning from the blackboard and pausing for a moment. "And if you don't, you'll get to that in Charms soon enough. Off you go now, class is dismissed! And don't forget about the Hogsmeade trip after the break! It's a wonderful opportunity to get away from your studies and see a real wizarding village! You should all take advantage of it!"

Standing with the rest of his classmates, James gathered his belongings as Professor Aven picked up the essays that the students had turned in. Aven had tied the parchment rolls together with small bits of string to keep them from unraveling, and James briefly admired his ingenuity before heading out of the door with his roommates, exiting just behind Lily and Alice.

Spotting James out of the corner of her eye, Lily turned and stuck her nose into the air; she had not so much as breathed in his direction after the incident with Snape and the Slug-Vomiting Charm, and although James wished that she would at least acknowledge him, he could not suppress a contented sigh as he watched her red hair float over her shoulder.

Distracted, James did not realize that Peter was in the midst of a rant until halfway through his babbling. ". . . and I always thought that the Three Broomsticks was the best place to go for a drink, but Dirk Cresswell—you know him, that freckly Ravenclaw a year behind us, he's in the Slug Club—he says that he's always preferred the Hog's Head Inn. He says that it's quiet, but I think that he's really spying on the different species that come in. He already speaks Gobbledegook nearly fluently you know, and he sounds just like a goblin when he does it! But the Hog's Head still gives me the chills, and I say that Cresswell can keep it for himself. What do you think, James?"

"Sorry, what?" James asked, having drifted off again during Peter's long spiel.

"Wipe that silly grin off of your face, mate!" Sirius chastised him. "We're deciding where we want to visit in Hogsmeade after we get back to Hogwarts."

"I don't need a say," Remus told the group. "I'll be locked up in the Shrieking Shack that day, and I won't be missing you all that much."

"Sure you will!" Sirius disagreed, punching him on the arm. "We're great!" Upon drawing a light laugh from Remus, Sirius turned his lopsided grin on James. "What do you say? The town might still be decorated for Christmas, but Honeydukes might have started preparing for Valentine's Day if we're lucky. I say that we stop by there first before all of the dewy-eyed couples can steal the good stuff."

"All right," James agreed, and he ran his hand through his hair as he continued to stare at the back of Lily's head. Speaking offhandedly before Sirius and Peter could start discussing their options again, he asked, "Were you thinking of going with anyone? For Valentine's Day, I mean."

Turning a sideways look at him, Sirius frowned. "Nah, I thought that we would all go together. Not that I would have any problem roping in an admirer," he added to the others, laughing as he jabbed Peter in the side a little too hard. Grunting, the shorter boy held his stomach as James stared ahead.

"Eh, it was just a thought," James said, and he addressed the others again before he could change his mind. "But out of curiosity, do you think that Evans would go with me if I asked?"

Remus threw his head back to let out a hearty laugh, and James turned a glower on him. After several moments, Remus finally wiped his eyes with a few scattered chuckles and shook his head, but his smile quickly melted into an open gape when he saw his friend's expression.

"That was a gag, right?" Remus asked, almost pleadingly while Sirius eyed James carefully. Removing his glare from Remus, James stuffed his hands into his pockets and kicked at the ground, and Remus took an audible breath of air. "Wait," he said, his jaw dropping even lower, "you don't . . . fancy her, do you?"

"No!" James scoffed, but Remus halted and clutched his head with his hands.

"Oh, James!" he moaned, but Sirius interrupted him.

"What's gotten into you, James?" he demanded. "Evans has had it out for us since when we first arrived at Hogwarts! Of all the girls in the school that you could have picked—"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" James snapped back, stiffening at his roommates' reactions. "And it's not that I fancy her—she's just smart, you know? Good with charms."

"Good with charms?" Sirius repeated, punching every word. "I've seen how you stare at her from across the Great Hall! You definitely fancy her." When James turned away, Sirius narrowed his eyes still further. "Does your stomach twist when you see her?" Refusing to answer, James simply stared at the ground, and Sirius turned away with a hiss. "Oh, he definitely fancies her!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Remus chanted, shaking his head as Peter looked back and forth between his roommates. "This can't be happening! James, you realize how hopeless this is, right? I mean, Lily can't stand you—no offense," he added quickly as James shot him a dirty look. "But look at what you did to Snape the other day! You can't just knock about her friends and expect her to go out with you!"

"I never said that she would—I was just asking if you thought she might," James defended before scuffing the ground with his toe. "But you've all made your opinions quite clear."

"It's useless, mate," Sirius told him, shaking his head as he walked off. "Forget about her."

Giving James one last sympathetic look, Remus followed suit as Peter jumped after him, nearly tripping over his feet when he ignored the floor in favor of James' downcast face. Remaining still for a few moments longer, James finally trudged after his roommates with his hands in his pockets.

After their conversation, James refrained from bringing up the subject of Lily again, which seemed to please Sirius just fine. The severity of his roommates' reactions had deterred James from so much as using Lily's name, but he was not entirely sure that his friends were right about his supposed infatuation. Ever since his first year, he had never thought of Lily as anything more than an obstinate albeit occasionally humorous classmate, and he hesitated at the idea of fancying her. After all, she was friends with that slime-ball Snape, and James would normally find such a friendship irredeemable—however, after Sirius had called attention to his butterflies in James' stomach, he was beginning to suspect with less and less uncertainty his attraction to her. He still had no one to talk to about it, but he eventually saw an opening at a passing comment from Sirius as the two of them boarded the Hogwarts Express for the journey to Potter Cottage for the holidays.

"I haven't been able to think of anything else all month!" Sirius announced as he and James lugged their suitcases on board, lagging behind Remus and Peter. "Your Christmases are so much better than the ones at my house! You have Christmas cake, decorations, the whole bundle! At my place, we only have a few lanterns out on the front porch. My parents might even forget to bring in a tree if they didn't have Regulus to pamper, but you've seen the kind of presents that they give—really, the whole affair is dreary."

"I'm looking forward to my mum's cooking," James admitted, dragging his suitcase behind him. "Hokart and the other house-elves really know how to whip up a good meal at Hogwarts, but it's not the same as the stuff at home. Besides, Winthrop makes the best treacle tart!"

"As long as your father doesn't start dancing with your mum in the kitchen again, I'll help her make the fudge," Sirius offered, grinning. "But after the last time, I'd prefer the bowl to stay on the counter."

"The walls really were a mess," James laughed. "At least my dad didn't have any hair to wash!"

Shaking his head, Sirius commented, "I swear, if my father was as big a fool as yours around my mum, she would left him years ago for that git Rookwood at the Ministry. I've never seen two people as much head-over-heels for each other as your parents. How do you stand it?"

"Eh, they don't embarrass me in public so much," James replied, but he felt a smile creep across his face as a thought struck him. Grinning, he threw a spring into his step as he and Sirius approached their roommates' compartment, but the two of them stopped as Regulus appeared from a nearby doorway and blocked their path. Not entirely pleased to see him after the last Quidditch match, James waited for Regulus to walk past them as Sirius crossed his arms.

"Move, Regulus. I haven't got all day."

Jolting with surprise as if just noticing the two of them, Regulus narrowed his eyes and glanced between James and his brother before addressing the latter. "You're coming back home with me, aren't you?"

"I'm staying at James' place for the holidays," Sirius corrected him shortly.

His face darkening, Regulus narrowed his eyes. "You aren't even coming back for Christmas?" Not waiting for an answer, he straightened and crossed his arms in an exact replica of Sirius, each of them staring down the other. "Don't you even want to be around our family anymore?"

"Oh, come off it, you know that no one will miss me, anyway," Sirius snapped. "Just tell our mum to save her tears, all right?"

Stepping forward, he tried to push past Regulus, but the third-year moved to the side to block him. "You don't get to talk about our mother like that!" he growled, his threat slightly undermined by his thin frame and waxy face.

"I'll talk about her however I bloody well please!" Sirius retorted, giving Regulus a small shove that sent the smaller boy stumbling back into the wall. "Now move, before I do something that you'll regret!"

Stepping around him, Sirius set off down the hallway while Regulus straightened and brushed off his robes. As James passed, Regulus locked eyes with him and gave him a stare that sent chills down James' spine. Hurrying to catch up to Sirius, James slid into the compartment with his roommates and slid the door shut, locking Regulus out.

When the train reached King's Cross Station several hours later, Remus and Peter waved their friends goodbye before joining their families. Spotting his parents a little ways ahead, James started jogging with Sirius towards the other end of the platform, and Sirius picked up his speed when Regulus stepped off the Hogwarts Express a few doors down. Spotting his brother, Regulus turned up his nose and headed in the opposite direction while James hurried to catch up with Sirius.

Tired after the long journey, James and Sirius fell asleep in the former's room shortly after dinner, which Winthrop had prepared for the Potters and their guest. As usual, James was the first to wake shortly before sunrise, and he took care not to disturb Sirius as he slipped out of bed and grabbed a clean shirt. Changing into it on the way downstairs, he padded softly into the drawing room and stretched out his arms, yawning. Only the dim, misty light of the early morning shone on the carpet underfoot, and James, expecting to be alone, started when he heard a tapping sound from the window. Relaxing as he spotted Hardwin through the glass pane, James allowed the owl inside and tickled his tufty head before Hardwin flapped away and landed on a sofa's arm to preen himself.

Glancing at the small table beside the sofa, James spotted his father's wand lying on its surface, and he looked over his shoulders to see if anyone else was awake; deciding that his father had forgotten his wand the night before, he picked it up and waved it experimentally at Hardwin. Uttering a small squawk of protest, the owl tried to soar away, but his wings folded against his body as he dropped to the floor, transforming into a white-and-brown speckled mouse.

"That's pretty good!" a voice from behind spoke up, and James whirled around to spot his father leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. Standing up straight, the aging wizard approached and gestured at the scuttling rodent. "Been practicing Cross-Species Switches in Transfiguration?"

"Kind of," James admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "Our professor hasn't let us try Transfiguring anything bigger than a toad yet."

"If that's what you can do with an owl, I don't think that your professor will be able to teach you much else," his father told him, smiling down at Hardwin as he let out a squeak. "But let's turn your poor bird back, shall we? I don't think that he'll let any of us get within arm's reach if you traumatize him any more."

Grinning, James released his spell with a wave of his father's wand, and Hardwin fluttered off with a passing glare at his owner, quickly disappearing into an adjoining room. Laughing, James' father accepted his wand as James returned it.

"It's a good thing that you're getting older," James' father commented, turning his wand over in his hand before he secured it inside of his pocket. "Soon you'll be able to use your own wand at home instead of borrowing mine. Seventeen is only three years away now, isn't it?" Shaking his head, he stared down at his son with a sad sort of smile. "My, how the time flies! Whenever you come home from Hogwarts, I'm afraid that you'll pass me up in height."

"Actually, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about," James mentioned, glancing over his shoulder to see if his mother or Sirius had woken up yet. Nodding, his father settled down on the sofa and motioned for James to do the same.

"Talk away!" he invited. "I'm all ears!"

Resting on the other end of the sofa, James rubbed his palm as he stared down at his knees. "Do you have any advice about how to talk with witches?"

"I see," his father spoke, failing to hide the smile that instantly spread across his face. Leaning back, he asked, "Any particular girl in mind?"

"Er—just someone in my year," James admitted, glancing away.

"Does she know you?" his father inquired.

"Yeah."

"What's she like?"

"Well . . ." Taking a breath, James looked up at his father's shining eyes. "She's really smart, and great with a wand. She's one of the best in our class, but she can be kind of . . . intense sometimes." Smiling, his father waited as James cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "The problem is, I don't think that she likes me very much."

"Why do you think that?"

"Er . . ." James started, quickly thinking up an answer. "We just don't talk a lot."

Putting his fingers together, James' father held them up to his mouth and thought for a moment before answering. "You know," he finally began, leaning towards James with a small grin, "Euphemia wasn't all that gentle when we first started seeing each other."

"She wasn't?" James asked, starting; he could not imagine his gray-haired mother being anything other than gentle.

"Quite the contrary!" his father replied, laughing. "She asked me out at wand-point, just to keep me from brushing past her in the hallway again! But as it turned out, she was far kinder once you got to know her. Most of the time, I'd say that witches use their ferocity as a sort of weapon, to keep us dafter breed at bay. You just have to give it time."

"But how will I know if she fancies me?" James objected.

"Ask," his father replied, shrugging. "It's the simplest method, and there's no harm in putting out the question. Though," he added with a sparkle in his eye, "some say that you can tell by the way that witches look at you."

Frowning as he called to mind Lily's glaring emerald eyes, James banished the thought from his head and turned to his father again. "When you and Mum started dating, were any of your mates upset about it?"

"Jealous, you mean?" his father questioned, cocking his head.

"No," James clarified as he looked down again. "Just . . . cross, I suppose."

"Trouble with your mates?"

Shrugging, James did not respond, and his father shook his head with a smile. "You can't expect them all to understand, not at your age, anyway. But they're your mates, and they'll likely get over it sooner than you think. If there's anything that I've learned after all my years, it's that your group of truest mates can bounce back from anything."

Encouraged, James spoke up as another question pressed against his mind. "But how am I supposed to get Eva—I mean, how do I get her to talk to me?"

Leaning forward, James' father patted his son's knee. "If she doesn't notice you at first, just keep pushing at it! That's what your mother did, and it worked! Who knows? Maybe she'll turn around."

James nodded, thinking hard. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem!" his father answered, giving James another beam. "Glad to help in any way that I can! And if you ever need any more advice," he added, tapping his forehead, "you know that I'll always be willing to give it."

Smiling, James was about to respond when the floor creaked from behind him, and he turned to see Sirius standing in the doorway with a heavy coat and a silk scarf wrapped up his neck. "You ready?" he asked James, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, yeah!" James said, jumping up from the sofa and turning to his father. "We were going out to town."

"Have fun, you two!" his father replied, waving as the boys crossed to the doorway. "Euphemia and I will see you for breakfast, then?"

"Maybe lunch," James answered, and his father nodded farewell as the boys left the room. Grabbing a coat on the way to the front door, James slipped it on as Sirius led the way outside.

"Ready to start the Animagus Potion?" James questioned as he finished buttoning his coat.

"Let's just get this over with," Sirius replied, yawning as he pulled his scarf closer around him. "I don't want to spend any more time out in the snow than necessary."

Stepping off the frost-kissed porch, James and Sirius kicked up the hard-packed snow strewn across the length of Godric's Hollow. Passing the churchyard just a few blocks away from Potter Cottage, they turned at the cemetery and continued on towards the shopping district, which was nearly empty in the stillness of the fallen snow. When the boys passed Oldeman's Candy Store, the wizard shopkeeper waved out from the entrance, but he disappeared within the warmth of his shop before James and Sirius had passed.

Eventually, the stores began to peter out in favor of private addresses, and the two boys trotted up to the despondent storefront of the local flower shop. Rubbing their arms for warmth upon their bell-announced entrance, they glanced around at the pristine bouquets displayed around the room, and James could not help but feel that the flowers were a little too perfect, almost lonely in their delicate arrangements. As the curtain swished from the back room of the shop, he was grateful to have the quiet disturbed by the arrival of Ms. Xu.

"The holidays already?" the raven-haired witch asked, holding the curtains back with one hand. Before the boys could do anything more than nod, Ms. Xu was already beckoning them into the back room. "Well, come on, then! Are you waiting to choke on the aroma?"

Hurrying forward, James and Sirius ducked beneath the shopkeeper's arm and straightened in the jar-filled back room, the smell instantly changing from floral to herby. Fighting back a cough at the strong odor, James turned to Ms. Xu as she pulled the curtains closed.

"Do you have the leaves ready?" he inquired, and the witch paused.

"What do you mean? I thought that you were here to drop off the Mandrake leaves," she said.

Exchanging a look, James and Sirius froze until the latter turned on the storeowner. "Didn't Mundungus deliver them?"

"He hasn't stopped by since your last visit," Ms. Xu told him, still staring at the two. Glancing between them, she asked, "Didn't he contact you?"

"No!" James exclaimed, now starting to panic. "We haven't heard anything at all! Do you think that something happened to him?"

"It's more likely that he backed out," Sirius growled, and James clenched his fists when he realized that Sirius was probably right.

"But why?" James called into question. "We were going to pay him for the leaves. Why wouldn't he bring them?"

"Maybe he couldn't get them in time," Ms. Xu guessed, shrugging.

"He said that he would have them by now!" Sirius announced, bristling. "That's no excuse! Do you know where he is?"

"Me?" Ms. Xu asked, touching her chest. "I haven't heard a word from him in months, but if you two boys were to look for him, I might be able to suggest a few places to start."

"Where?" James and Sirius asked together.

"Mundungus has a few hangouts in London," she began. "He has a few partners on Brewer Street, though one of my associates saw him on Holloway Road late last year. Do you know the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yes," James answered. "Does he stop by Diagon Alley often?"

"There's another street that branches off from there called Knockturn Alley," Ms. Xu explained. "It's a dirty section of the city, and I don't like going there myself, but Mundungus gets many of his curiosities from there. I might try looking there first if you can."

"Is there anywhere else you can think of?" Sirius questioned.

After thinking for a moment, Ms. Xu raised a bony finger. "You two are old enough to travel to Hogsmeade now, aren't you? He sometimes goes there to catch a drink or meet another poor sap to buy off of him."

"Knockturn Alley, Brewer Street, Hogsmeade," James repeated, engraining the places into his mind. "Got it!"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't have the potion ready for you, lads," Ms. Xu told them as they turned towards the main room. "If I had guessed that Mundungus hadn't spoken with you, I would have tried to reach you earlier."

"That's all right. It isn't your fault," James told her, though he spoke through gritted teeth at the thought of Mundungus. "We'll just have to track him down ourselves."

"If our deal's still on, you just get back to me when you can," she answered, brushing the air away with her hand.

Exiting the back room, James and Sirius walked out onto the street with slumped shoulders. No sooner had a silence settled between the two of them than Sirius hissed and kicked at the ground.

"When I get my hands on Mundungus, that slimy git is going to regret this!" he promised.

Nodding, James clenched his fists. "Just leave enough of him for me when you're through. He won't be crossing us again once we find him."