The rest of second year went on without a hitch. Peter spent most of his time trying to avoid Jason McConnell as much as possible, which was harder than he had hoped, considering they always seemed to be paired up whenever they had class together, and since Jason was a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team and Peter always went to Gryffindor Quidditch games to support the team, he basically saw Jason every single day. And no matter how much he prayed and cried and begged, the feelings weren't going away.

But things weren't all bad. Matt also seemed to dislike Jason. Peter was pretty sure it had something to do with Ivy Robinson constantly hanging over Jason, but she had branched out and flirted with other boys, including Matt, who always came back to the common room in a state of euphoric bliss after being with Ivy. Lucas and Peter both were sure all they ever did was casually chat, but Matt was convinced that deep down she loved him back, she just needed to find it first. Lucas was convinced that Matt was an idiot, and Peter simply raised his hands in defeat and told them to keep him out of it. And they worked that way.

Summer came and went again, and Peter was just as bored as the past summer. He felt weird being at home, like he didn't belong there anymore. He'd stay inside and do his summer work, feeling strange being surrounded by Muggle things after being at Hogwarts for so long. He desperately wished to be back in the wizarding world.

The weirdest part of the summer, however, was his birthday. He got the normal presents from his family, fun gifts from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes sent from Lucas and Matt along with letters from both of them, a sweet, handmade card from Diane Lee, other cards from his other school friends, but there was one envelope that he didn't recognize the handwriting of. It was very neat, as if the person had took their time writing Peter's name, and the owl delivering it was very handsome. Peter cautiously opened the envelope, have no clue what could it in it.

Once he got the letter out, which was on very nice parchment, he quickly skimmed over it to see who it could be from. He practically dropped the letter when he saw the name. Why on earth would Jason McConnell be sending him a birthday letter? Maybe there was some mistake. A thousand different thoughts ran through his head as he read the letter.

Peter,

Happy birthday! It's Jason, you know, the Slytherin from school that you seem to be avoiding at all costs. We rode together on the train on the first day of first year, and I thought that we would be friends...

Something was scribbled out there, but Peter couldn't figure out what it said, so he kept reading.

Sorry. I've wrecked several pieces of parchment writing this. Anyway. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. You're a teenager now, right, so that's pretty cool. I was thinking...

More lines were crossed out. Peter snorted. Jason didn't seem like the kind of guy to mess up when writing. At least, he didn't think he would show it.

Sorry, I'm running out of parchment and I promised this would be my last try.

Well, that explained that. But Peter was still confused as to why Jason would take so many tries to just write him a letter, or even why he was writing him in the first place.

Sorry if this is weird. I've written the word "sorry" too many times, haha. I guess I was just writing you because like I said, I've noticed that every time I try to talk to you outside of class, you leave or something. So I just wanted to apologize if I've ever said or done anything to make you not like me. I definitely wasn't trying to.

You don't have to write me back if you don't want to. I'll see you at school soon! Unless you're going to ignore me again. Which is totally understandable. But I really hope we can be friends. Have a great rest of the summer!

-Jason McConnell

PS: If you were wondering how I knew it was your birthday, let's just say your friend Matt is easily convinced by the feminine wiles of Ivy Robinson. Haha.

Peter stared at the signature in shock for several minutes. Jason wanted to be friends with him? Was this a joke? He rolled his eyes. It probably was. Jason and his Slytherin friends, Zack and Nick and whatever their names were, probably put him up to it. His eyes widened. Could they tell Peter had a crush on Jason? Could Jason tell? He could imagine them all laughing as they wrote this letter. Peter's face turned red. Deep down, he knew he was being stupid, but he couldn't think of a good reason for Jason wanting to write him a letter.

He looked over the letter a few more times before tacking it up on his bulletin board alongside his other birthday cards, smiling slightly. Prank or not, Jason had still written him a letter. And, he thought, admiring his bulletin board, Jason had really nice handwriting. And that was enough of an excuse for him.

"Peter! Hey, Peter!" Peter heard his name being called in all the bustle of the train station and froze, knowing exactly who it was. "Peter, hey, you never wrote me back! You did get my letter, right?" Jason laughed, but there was a hint of anxiety behind it.

Peter drew in a deep breath before putting on a large fake grin and spinning around. "Jason! I did, sorry, I. Um. I was busy," he lied.

Jason nodded. "Well, I meant what I wrote. Do you wanna sit with me on the train?" He looked hopeful.

"Uh, well, I told Lucas and Matt I would find them," that much was true, but there was a part of Peter telling him that becoming Jason's friend would make everything he felt a hundred times worse. The worst part was an even larger part of him saying he should sit with him, but Peter pushed that away.

"They could sit too, I don't mind," Jason grinned, and if Peter thought he saw him look nervous before, he must've been fooling himself, because Jason looked as confident and collected as ever. That was something Peter admired in him; he never looked afraid of anything.

"Okay," Peter said, against his better judgment, and Jason smiled more.

"Cool. I'll go save us a car," Jason raised his hand in a wave and sped off. Peter smiled faintly at his retreating figure.

"He seemed like a nice young man," Peter's mom said, startling him. He had forgotten she was there. She wrapped him in a hug. "Oh, I'm going to miss you so much."

Peter squirmed out of her grasp. "Mom, I'm 13. I'll be fine. You'll be fine."

His mom wiped at her eyes. "I know. I'll just miss you. Stay safe!" They said their goodbyes and Peter left to find Lucas and Matt.

When he explained the situation, Lucas was all for it, but Matt was reluctant.

"Come on Matt, Jason just wants to be friends," Peter begged.

"With you," Matt rolled his eyes, but agreed to it.

"Peter! You guys, in here!" Jason was standing at the door of a car, grinning. "Told you I'd save us a spot," he moved aside to let them in. Nadia was already in there, rolling her eyes.

"Looks like the party has begun," she remarked dryly as the boys sat down.

Matt looked slightly uncomfortable. "Have you seen Ivy?" It made enough sense to Peter that he asked, considering wherever Jason was, Ivy was usually there too.

"She's hanging out with her Slytherin sluts," Nadia informed him. "Don't worry, as soon as she finds out Jason's here, she'll be here too."

Jason laughed at that one and said "Nadia, stop,". She just smirked in response.

"So how was your summer?" Peter asked, surprising himself, and the conversation went on from there.

They made it to school with only one visit from Ivy, and Peter was beginning to think that he and Jason could be able to be friends. It was obvious Jason was into girls (even though he never committed himself to a relationship, "Too many to choose from" he had said, "plus it's more fun this way") and even if it wasn't completely what Peter wanted, he would still be able to spend more time with him, which was nice.

"Won't you Slytherin friends mind, though?" Peter had asked, trying to make it sound like he was joking, even though he legitimately wanted to know.

Jason had shrugged. "Then they're not real friends of mine, now are they?" He had replied in a teasing tone, causing Lucas, Peter, and Nadia to laugh and Matt even cracked a tiny smile. "But seriously, I don't care. I've got plenty to spare," his usual cocky smirk had appeared on his face, and they all laughed more.

When they got to Hogwarts, they had to part ways, with Jason promising to hang out more, his smile seeming to be directed straight at Peter. Peter grinned back, thinking that maybe being friends with Jason wouldn't be so bad.

Third year went by normally, not changing much from previous years except Jason hung around Peter's friend group more, which was nice, but Peter secretly wished they could be alone. Peter knew it was wrong, but that part had faded, being mostly replaced with the urge to kiss Jason constantly. But he never acted on his thoughts.

Jason being around, of course, meant Peter saw more of Ivy and Nadia, but mostly Ivy, which didn't seem to upset Matt too much. Except when Ivy ignored Matt to flirt with Jason. Then Lucas and Peter would have to comfort Matt and try to think of nice things to say. Well, Peter tried to comfort Matt. Lucas just made fun of him. But Peter liked Ivy. She was nice to him, and had a better chance with Jason than he did. Although she did constantly flirt with Jason, and he flirted back, but never showed any interest in dating her. Peter had heard rumors (from Matt) about Jason making out with random girls all the time, and rumors (from Nadia) about Ivy doing the same with random boys. Peter didn't know who to believe. Besides, it wasn't his business what they did with their free time. Even if Peter really wanted to know if Jason really did that. He didn't seem like that kind of guy.

Peter was happy being Jason's friend, though. They ended up in a lot of classes together, because Jason had tried to take as many electives as he could, as did Matt. Lucas just copied whatever classes Peter had because he didn't care, but Peter didn't mind. He liked being with his friends. More than that, he loved being able to say he actually had friends, to write home to his mom and sister telling about what they got up to at school, saying things like "Matt made it on the Quidditch team!" or "Diane lost her cat again and it took five of us to find her, she was hiding in the boy's bathroom" or even "I ran out of money during a visit to Hogsmeade, but Jason bought me some candy with his extra money". Just the fact that things like that happened to him made him so happy. He was where he belonged, learning about magic with people he loved.

Even when Peter struggled with long, sleepless nights, wishing desperately that his feelings would leave, he thought of the friends that loved him and he loved back, and he would smile a little and think that no matter how bad things got, he still had his friends.