Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.
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Chapter Three: James Gets a Grip on Reality
A/N: For my beta and best friend, the real Christine – happy wedding!
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Eva Wood, James had noticed, had trouble staying still. They were currently in Charms listening to Professor Flitwick's lecture and she was sitting two rows in front of him with her friends, Christine and Kieran. It was completely distracting, the way she was nearly always moving some part of her body, even if it was in the smallest of ways.
First she had brushed her hair out of her eyes. She had gotten it trimmed over Christmas holiday and he wasn't certain that he liked it. When her hair was longer it was slightly wavier and it caught the light better.
Then she had been taping her foot softly on the floor. One moment she had her feet stretched out in front of her and the next they were tucked back under her chair, ankles crossed. Then she was swinging her legs back and forth, barely letting the tips of her black shoes brush the stone so as not to make any noise. Then she was leaning forward as she wrote her notes. Then she was sitting back in her chair and stretching her arms in front of her ever so slightly.
Taken completely by surprise, James reflexively recoiled as he felt Fred's wickedly sharp elbow digging into his left side.
"What the bleeding hell was that for?" James hissed, rubbing his side. Godric, he had received softer jabs on the Quidditch pitch from the Slytherins.
"Put your eyes back in your head," Fred whispered back out of the side of his mouth.
"What he means to say," Christopher amended without taking his eyes away from the parchment on which he was writing notes, "is that Flitwick is going to notice if you don't stop staring at Eva and start paying attention to the lecture."
James felt righteous indignant flare up inside of him. "I am paying attention!"
Fred snorted, showing that James's words had been believed at all. "Paying attention to Eva Wood, more like."
"Flitwick was talking about the ways to control the water stream from augamenti," James stubbornly defended himself. There. Now his mates would believe him.
Christopher grinned knowingly. "He's been off that topic for five minutes."
James opened his mouth to protest, but in an extremely rare instance, couldn't think of anything to say. Fred grinned widely as he tapped his quill against his desk. Christopher tried to hide his smile as a fake yawn as Professor Flitwick looked in their direction.
"Did you have a question, Mr. Potter?" Flitwick asked, staring at him from across the classroom from his perch on a stack of heavy looking books.
"No, Sir," he said attempting to sound as innocent as possible.
It seemed to have worked, because Professor Flitwick said, "Good, then if everyone will kindly pay attention to this demonstration…this is very important."
But James's mind was already wandering again.
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James hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep until he felt someone poking him in the shoulder. Peeling open his eyes, he gazed blearily around the Gryffindor common room. Fred had apparently left him to finish his essay on his own because his cousin's rucksack and belongings were gone. He saw a spot of drool on his own essay where his face had been resting.
Then his eyes landed on who had prodded him awake, and he had to restrain himself from jumping slightly in his seat. Richard and Gareth Wood, Eva's younger twin brothers stood in front of him wearing very serious expressions. After everything that had happened between him and the Woods lately, well… suffice it to say that James had become slightly wary of any of the members of that family.
"Yeah?" he asked, voice still a tad groggy from sleep.
Richard and Gareth glanced at each other, and then Gareth said earnestly, "We did some thinking and talked about it over Christmas holiday, and we're all right with it."
James merely stared at the pair of them. "All right with what?" he asked, rather feeling as though he was missing a vital piece of information they very clearly expected him to understand. He hated to disappoint them, but he hadn't a clue what they were on about.
"Eva," Gareth supplied.
So…they were all right… with something concerning Eva...Odd. And a bit cryptic. Then all at once something clicked in James's mind.
"Are you – are you talking about – " James started to say but broke off, unsure of how to continue with that statement.
"We know you fancy our sister," Richard supplied in his usual blunt manner.
James rubbed his forehead with the heals of his hands, then ran a hand wearily through his already characteristically untidy hair. He was certain that he was forming a bit of a headache.
"Who told you I fancy her?" James asked, voice sounding a bit surly. Good. Maybe it would give them the hint to leave him alone about Eva Wood.
"So you're admitting it?" Gareth asked eagerly, brown eyes lighting up happily.
"No," James snapped in frustration. "I'm just asking what sod is going around spreading that bleeding rumor."
"Tristan told us about what happened with the mistletoe," Gareth explained, fidgeting a bit at the remembrance of what had happened. "And then Fred told us that you made such a scene because you fancied Eva and didn't want her kissing Al."
"It is kind of wonky," Richard added as he considered it. "Are you jealous?"
"W-what?" James nearly choked on nothing at all. Jealous of his younger brother? Al was great and all – really, spiffing brother – but he wasn't jealous of him in any way, shape, or form. Jealous? Where were they coming up with this complete and utter rubbish?
The twins glanced at each other again. James vaguely wondered if that they were communicating with each other when they did that. Not Legilimency – as fourth years, they were too young to be capable of that. But maybe being twins they could read signs and signals in each other's eyes and expressions that others missed?
"Don't worry," Richard told him, apparently trying to be helpful. "Eva's dead clueless. She'll never know until you want her to."
Which would be never, thought James, considering he didn't fancy her. Godric Gryffindor – what did he have to do to make someone in this castle believe him?
"She might start hyperventilating, though," Gareth mused. "I mean…She's disliked you for years. Though Mum reckons that she secretly likes having you as a rival."
Well. That was…that was interesting.
"Okay," James said for lack of anything else better to say.
His life had become so incredibly awkward since December. He wished it would just go back to normal – a life in which his cousins didn't bring up Eva Wood every time they saw him, in which Fred minded his own business a little more, in which his Mum didn't send him awkward letters inquiring about the rumors she'd been hearing from the family.
"She's not so bad," Richard said. "She's a bit stubborn and judgmental and isn't always very social, but she's funny and very loyal and a good Gryffindor and knows her Quidditch."
James couldn't really argue with that assessment of Eva Wood. As far as James was concerned, everything Richard had said was spot on. Wood knew her Quidditch - just not as well as he did, of course.
"You forgot know-it-all," James smirked.
"Just towards you," Richard informed him.
Surprise flitted through James's mind at this new information. "Really?"
Richard and Gareth both nodded.
"Tell me something," James demanded when he couldn't think of any other way to dispel their preconceived ideas about his feelings.
"Anything," Richard replied in an even tone.
James felt his mouth quirk up in a smirk as he momentarily toyed with the idea of asking Richard how he felt about Lily just to give the younger boy a taste of his own medicine. But instead he asked, "Why are you all so keen on me fancying your sister?"
"I don't need glasses, you know," Gareth answered with a roll of his brown eyes.
James wasn't even sure what that was supposed to mean.
"Look," Richard said firmly. "You're a good sort, and our Eva could do a lot worse."
"Also," Gareth added after the pair had shared another meaningful glance, "we've seen the way you look at her when you forget that you're supposed to dislike her."
James found that he didn't have an answer for that. That had been happening far too often for him lately. He didn't much care for it.
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It was ridiculous, James thought. If Fred hadn't given Al that sodding dare in the first place, none of this would have happened. Weeks later, James still couldn't get Eva completely out of his mind. It was maddening, really. Richard's words kept coming back to him – "are you jealous?"
Was he jealous? Jealous that Al had been the one to give Eva her first kiss? That his brother had had the opportunity to kiss her at all? James's hand started tingling strangely, and he released the tightly clenched fist he had been unaware he was making. Feeling rushed back into his hand and he flexed his fingers a bit.
Eva Wood was saying something to him, and judging by her raised eyebrow and the tilt of her mouth, it wasn't a pleasant something. He just stared, lost in his own realm of inexplicable thoughts, entirely forgetting that he was at the Gryffindor team practice.
With a quickness honed by her Quidditch training, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers loudly, directly in front of his face.
"Potter! Did Fred accidentally hit you with a confundus charm again?"
Her eyes were searching his face suspiciously, as though searching for traces of a spell. Wood's eyes were a bright blue color and were highly expressive. With a flicker or glance of her eyes, it was possible to discern a great deal about her emotions. At this particular moment, she was cross, but also confused.
"Potter!" she snapped her fingers again, and he was harshly jolted out of his musings.
"Huh?" he answered not very intelligently.
Eva rolled her eyes. "Pay attention, would you? The final is in one week. You need to be focused. This can't happen on the pitch."
"You're not my captain," he told her, feeling very defensive all of a sudden. "Stop bossing me around."
"I'm not bossing you around, you looked as though you'd been hit with a particularly strong confundus charm. I wanted to make sure that you were capable of flying."
"Thanks for your concern," James replied drily, "but I'm fine."
She rolled her eyes as she mounted her broom. She kicked hard off the ground, and James watched as she soared overhead.
"James, you going to join us or what?" Tristan asked as he flew by.
"Coming!" he yelled at Tristan's retreating back.
Mounting his own broom, James joined the rest of the team in the air. The Chasers practiced drills for a while, focusing on accuracy and force. James was set to practicing dodging Bludgers and weaving in and out of the Chasers as they executed their own plays.
As Eva went into a steep dive, her hair fluttered out behind her and she grinned widely as the wind rushed past her face. She twirled in a spiral, and then pulled out of the dive. She was laughing and her eyes were alight with excitement.
She was breathtaking. James felt stunned. More than stunned, really.
He fancied Eva Wood.
He fancied Eva Wood.
In his shock, he forgot to pay attention to steering his own broom and very nearly flew into one of the golden hoops of the goal post.
"Potter!" O'Mara barked angrily. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your head on straight or get off my pitch!"
James ignored O'Mara and took off after the Golden Snitch, which he had just spotted hovering close to the ground. The cool air rushed past his face. It felt good against his suddenly very warm skin.
Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell.
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"You were right."
Fred looked up from his carefully constructed tower of chocolate frog cards. "'Course I was. What about?"
James swallowed with some difficult and forced her name past his lips. "Eva Wood."
Christopher smiled at this news, but Fred was positively beaming.
"I can't believe he figured it out already!" Fred cried with a distinct air of glee.
"I thought it might take longer," Christopher agreed. "He was in massive denial from the start."
"Cheers, you're both fantastic mates," James told them sarcastically. He threw himself down onto his four-poster with a heavy sigh.
"So, are you going to ask her to Hogsmeade?"
James shot into a sitting position once more and stared incredulously at his cousin. "Ask Eva Wood to Hogsmeade? Are you mad?"
"Not that I'm aware, why?"
James made a face. "She hates me! She'd probably rather go with the Slytherin Quidditch captain!"
"Nah, I don't reckon she does," Fred replied easily. "Warrington resembles a troll."
When that was all he said, James looked to Christopher for a further explanation. In response, Christopher shrugged. "I don't think she hates you. When I talk with her in Herbology, she doesn't talk about you much. I mean, she has said that you're a prat, but she's also said that you're talented."
Well, that was something.
He should have seen it. He really should have done. All of the signs were there – physical attraction, riling her up just to see her eyes blaze, admiring her Quidditch knowledge and her spirit and drive. Good Godric, how had he missed it? It had always been easy for him to read the signs in others – how had he completely missed it in himself? It was pathetic.
"So…what are you going to do about it?" Christopher prompted him out of his reverie.
James thought for a moment. It was a question that he'd been pondering since his feelings toward Eva Wood had first become apparent to him a few hours ago.
"Haven't a clue," he decided with a shrug. "But…I need time to adjust to his. Bloody hell…fancying Eva Wood…" he ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the black strands in frustration.
"Never thought I'd see that happen," Fred commented lightly.
A thought occurred to James, and he suddenly moved towards the door, intent on following out his plan.
"Where're you off to?" Christopher asked with a barely concealed smile.
"To row with Wood," James answered as he reached out and pulled the dormitory door forcibly open.
As he did so, Al, Richard, and Gareth toppled in through the doorway in a heap of limbs. Apparently, there had been standing outside the door listening to every word that had been said in the sixth year boys' dormitory.
"At least buy some extendable ears," James told them as he marched past the three boys who were currently struggling to sort themselves out and stand up. "Your espionage skills are embarrassing."
"Don't mind him," he heard Fred say as he rounded a bend in the staircase, "He's only just realized he fancies the pants off of Eva."
From the staircase landing, James could see Wood sitting with her best friend, Christine, at a circular table at the far side of the common room. She was laughing at something that Christine had said. She looked genuinely happy and carefree. He also couldn't help but notice that she looked very pretty when she laughed. He wished that she would laugh like that at something he had said.
"Wood!" he said loudly as he rapidly approached her.
She glanced up from the book and parchment spread out in front of her and surveyed him with slightly curious eyes.
"What?"
"You should talk to O'Mara and tell him that we need to be practicing more before the final."
"I agree," she said immediately. "We should be practicing every day and doing more endurance training, but I'm not the captain. Yet. I'll make sure to change that when I am," she added with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
"We'll see about that," he told her, his mouth pulling into a smirk. He couldn't help it – he always smirked when he wanted to start a row with her. "You really need to work on keeping the Quaffle tucked under your arm properly. Last match, the Hufflepuff Chasers had it out from under your arm twice."
Her eyes were immaterially ablaze with icy blue fire. His stomach clenched excitedly at the sight and he felt a thrill of satisfaction. He loved it. Godric, she had expressively marvelous eyes. She just had such….gumption.
"Yes, because that move where you almost flew into the goal posts today was perfectly executed," she replied, voice fairly dripping with sarcasm.
His felt his ears grown warm with heat. Bleeding Weasley family trait. All right, so that hadn't been the best display of his Quidditch abilities. He folded his arms across his chest defensively.
"James, was there something you wanted?" Christine asked, speaking up for the first time. She glanced between him and Eva for a brief moment with a curious expression. "Only we're trying to study for the Potions final."
James shrugged. "Just talk to O'Mara, would you, Wood? You're the only one he remotely listens to."
Thinking of why it was that O'Mara listened to Eva made James clench his jaw slightly. Bleeding tosser.
"Fine, I'll talk to him," Wood replied easily. "That all?"
"Yeah," he answered before striding away.
He headed towards the portrait hole, not wanting to face his friends and relatives again just yet. In fact, he felt greatly in need of a long, stress-relieving fly on his broomstick.
Bloody hell. Fancying Eva Wood…what in the name of Merlin was he going to do about that?
The End
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So what did James do about it? That's another story. Literally!
For anyone who may not have read it, Game On picks up at the very beginning of James and Eva's seventh year with Eva as the main character and narrator. What James did about fancying Eva is all explained in Game On, and in particular James describes his thoughts on the matter in chapter twenty-three.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!
Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and story alerts! I appreciate everyone who reads my story and everyone who has let me know how much they enjoy it! And thanks to my fantastic best friend for her editing skills.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my wonderful readers!