Disclaimer: You know the drill...Anything you recognize is not mine.

Title: Thoughts and Tutoring

Time: January 2022 - February 2022

Dee Collins

It was undoubtedly very late and her dorm was filled with quiet sounds that proved her roommates were all asleep. Having shared a dorm with the same three girls for the past four school years, she had become accustomed to the way they slept. Diana, for one, was a restless sleeper and her sheets constantly rustled. Sometimes, Winnie would talk in her sleep, and Josie was the earliest riser. Dee couldn't fall asleep and was dreading the morning, when Josie would stomp around as an apparently subtle way of waking the rest of them up.

As Dee directed her unfocused gaze to the top of her four-poster bed, she sighed. If Josie was an early bird, she was a night owl. She always did her best thinking at night, and suddenly she found herself reflecting on her time so far at Hogwarts.

She never considered herself the most sociable person, but this year something had changed. Dee was still quiet, but she had branched out. She wasn't relying so much on her brother's company and assertiveness anymore. She had gained close friends in other Houses and other years, and acknowledging that fact wasn't as far out of her comfort zone as she had originally thought. A few years ago, she didn't have half of the friendships as she did now, yet she cherished them all greatly.

The most notable of those friendships were, of course, with Rose and Al and James. They had come out of bloody nowhere, forming out of almost nothing, but that didn't seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. Unarguably, Al was her closest confidant and Rose was the best source of easy distractions. She had had lessons with them in the past, but had never spent time with them outside of that, and now she couldn't imagine being without them. And James—well, he was another matter entirely. She had never spoken to him before her fifth year. Her brother was his biggest competition at Hogwarts, despite the fact that they were in different years, and she supposed he had once held that against her. But even without that fact, their paths never crossed, and now she looked forward to simply spending time with him.

She supposed she fancied him the tiniest bit, if only because his laugh and his grin were enticing and infectious and he had such a laid back disposition. She liked that he cared enough to keep his marks up and to help others when they needed him, but that he found ways to unwind and poke fun all the same. Dee supposed she used to hold his attitude towards her brother against him just as much as he did to her, but they had moved past that and nowadays she really, really enjoyed his company.

She was blossoming, to use her mother's words. She had made so many new memories, she maybe fancied James, and not to mention she was almost sixteen.

Dee sighed again, rubbing her eyes. It was getting exceptionally late and her mind wouldn't shut off because of her revelations. She had drawn the curtains shut around her bed, but a sliver of moonlight still slipped through and managed to bother her. She was too hot under the covers, but taking them off didn't help. She just couldn't get comfortable.

Eventually, Dee gave up. She rummaged through her trunk at the foot of her bed in search of something to read, thinking perhaps it'll lull her to sleep. Her fingers brushed against a leather cover and Dee remembered her aunt's diary with a jolt. She snatched up the book and leaned back against her pillows. She figured there must have been a reason her aunt slipped her the little book and was freshly determined to read it, especially since she felt guilty for forgetting about it after returning to school.

The first entry was dated March 3rd, 2021. Dee realized with a start that this diary wasn't old in the slightest, if the first entry was from less than a year ago.

Things have been weird, lately. Dorothy thinks I should see someone, Dee read. Jude thinks she's quite right, of course, but I think they're being silly. I think I would know if something was wrong with me, and anyways, there's no time for that. I figured writing in this would be sufficiently therapeutic, if that's what they're insinuating, and that should be good enough.

She frowned, wondering what could've been going on to make her parents believe something was wrong with Mattie. Dee didn't understand what her aunt meant when she wrote that she'd know if something was wrong, and she felt a strange sense of foreboding. She pushed the diary to the foot of her bed, still troubled but resigning to go to sleep.

Dee was bent over a bucket of water, dipping her muddy hands in to wash off the dirt. She had gone down to his cabin after History of Magic to help Hagrid tend to the creatures he's been keeping for his lessons. She never took Care of Magical Creatures, but she always liked Hagrid. Since third year, she had taken to visiting him in her free time, helping out every once in a while.

"James!" Hagrid's voice boomed from somewhere behind her. "Good to see yeh!"

Dee wiped her hands dry on her robes as she stood up straight. She turned to see James Potter waving as he walked down the sloping lawns of the school grounds.

"Hi, Hagrid. How are you?" he asked as he reached them.

"Good, James, good. Are you gonna stay fer lunch?" Hagrid asked.

"Can't, sorry, Hagrid. I just came to get Dee. She was supposed to meet me in the Entrance Hall a few minutes ago."

She immediately looked at her watch and realized with a groan that he was right and she was late.

James grinned at her as Hagrid asked, "What for?"

"She's tutoring me in Potions." James looked at her and asked, "You ready?"

Dee nodded, picking up her bag, and began to follow him back up to the castle. "Bye, Hagrid!" she called over her shoulder. Together they set off towards the dungeons, chatting about their day along the way.

James had approached Professor Slughorn earlier in the week to ensure they had access to ingredients, as well as an empty classroom and his permission to use it. As it was no secret that he had a soft spot for talented and influential students, Slughorn had been delighted that one of his best students—Dee—was working with one of his favorites—James.

When they arrived to the classroom, the Potions Master stood behind his desk. "James, m'boy!" he exclaimed. "And Miss Collins, always lovely to see you. Can't say how delighted I was to hear you'd be helping Mr. Potter, here. She's one of the best, you know, James," Slughorn continued, sending Dee a conspiratorial wink that she didn't quite know what to make of. "Now, I'll leave you two be. Just wanted to remind you to log what ingredients you use, so we don't run out. You know where the book is."

"Of course, Professor," she replied with a nod. This wasn't her first time in the Potions classroom outside of lessons, after all. She thanked Slughorn as he left, leaving Dee and James alone in the classroom. "Right," she said, turning to him. "Do you have anything specific in mind? Or should we just pick something and run with it?"

James grinned at that, but his expression quickly changed to a sheepish one. "Well," he replied, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows, "I've been having trouble with the Draught of Living Death."

She nodded in understanding. "We'd better get started then. You have your book, yeah?"

He dug through his bag and produced his Potions textbook. Since the Draught of Living Death was N.E.W.T. level, the brewing instructions would only be found in his textbook, and not hers.

James turned to the page with the list of ingredients and they headed to gather the ingredients. Dee sometimes felt uncomfortable tutoring, if you could call it that, an older student, but she was particularly adept at Potions—it was her best subject, apart from Charms—and it wasn't so awkward with James.

The Draught was a difficult one, and Dee didn't have much experience with it. It was N.E.W.T. standard, after all, and she hadn't even taken her O.W.L.'s yet. But James was doing pretty well so far, only needing light corrections, like reducing the speed he was stirring so that none of his potion would splash out of the cauldron. If there was one thing she'd learned from their sessions, it was that James Potter was an impatient individual. He wanted to get things done.

Other than that, he was pleasant company. She never felt like there were other things she'd rather be doing, even though all it seemed they did together was study. How terribly Ravenclaw of her, she thought, to only spend time with him while doing schoolwork. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the time she spent with James more and more with each tutoring session. They worked well together, at the very least.

They were about halfway done, both covered in a light sheen of sweat from the warmth of the room, when James groaned in irritation. He loosened the knot in his tie and shook his head. "This is where it always goes wrong," he said, tapping his finger on the table agitatedly. The corners of his mouth were tugged down in a frown and his brow was creased in frustration. "I can't get the bleeding color right."

Dee frowned at him and held out her hand for the Potions book. She studied the instructions again, before turning a critical eye to his cauldron. She chewed on her lip as she assessed what he was doing wrong. James watched her, curious when her eyes widened and her face split into a grin.

"Want to know a handy trick?" she asked, smiling almost devilishly. He tipped his head to the side, confused but definitely interested. "You cut up the sopophorous bean, didn't you?"

"Well, yes. It's what the book said, wasn't it?" He went to take the book back from her hands to double check, concerned that he had read the instructions wrong all this time.

She didn't let him take it. "Yes, that's what the book said. But James, you should know that technically the book is wrong." He narrowed his eyes, sending her a skeptical look. She still had that smile on her face. "You'll get juice from the beans by cutting them, sure, but the trick is to crush them." She took his knife and a bean, setting them in front of her to demonstrate. "Use the flat side of your knife. You get more juice that way, and that'll change the potion's color to what it should be." She did just that, adding the bean juice to the cauldron, and the potion turned to the shade described in the book. "And I know it says to stir anticlockwise six times, but if that doesn't prove right, make it seven and add a clockwise one for good measure."

Sure enough, when James stirred six times, it wasn't quite right. So, after a nod of encouragement from Dee, he gave it one more, and then went clockwise. Her face split into a grin when the potion turned out exactly the way it was described. James' brow was furrowed as he stared into his cauldron. He didn't turn to look at her and he didn't say anything for a few moments, and Dee was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"How'd you figure that out?" he asked finally, his voice sounding strangled.

Still wary, Dee replied, "My family has a knack for Potions. Granddad's a healer, and he'd teach me and Lee things like that during the summer. He's got tons of little tips like that."

James stayed quiet, just looking at her. She'd seen him tense when she mentioned her brother, but that seemed to pass. She wished he'd say something, though, because she was starting to feel rather self-conscious.

Then his mouth quirked into a wide smile, bordering on a smirk, and her heart skipped as he teased, "So, a Ravenclaw said the textbook was wrong. Never thought I'd hear that, if I'm honest."

"Oh, shut up," Dee laughed. "You wouldn't have succeeded if you hadn't listened to me, anyways."

Satisfied with their results, they packed their things. Dee cleaned the table with a wave of her wand as James put the ingredients back in the storeroom. She double-checked the logbook to make certain she hadn't missed anything. Their smiles hadn't yet faded from their faces as, side by side, they exited the classroom.

James Potter

He had hardly stepped through the portrait hole when his brother and cousin accosted him.

"Just wanted to let you know," Al said, sounding short of breath, "that we're throwing a small party for Dee's birthday."

"It's in the Room of Requirement, in case you wanted to come," added Rose. "We know you've become friends."

He perked up at the thought of a party. "Does she know?"

"No, and we'd like to keep it that way," replied Al, shooting a meaningful look his way.

James let out a chuckle and nodded. "Right, well, thanks for letting me know." He made to walk away, but paused, and turned back to ask, "Have you gotten her presents? Only, I don't know what to get."

Rose nodded. "I got her a few books and a new pair of gloves, since hers are so worn." She shrugged at Albus, continuing, "You know her differently than we do, James. I'm sure you'll think of something."

He nodded as they left to sit by the fire. James headed up to his dormitory, trying to think of something suitable to give Dee for her birthday as he prepared for bed. The way he saw it, this gift had to be good enough to show how much he appreciated all the help she'd given him, how much he'd grown to enjoy her company.

A/N: Just a note, Dee's birthday is February 7th. The way I've figured it, her 16th birthday is in the year 2022, which means February 7th is a Tuesday. Keep that in mind when you read the next chapter, whenever I post it, because it'll mean the party won't be all that crazy. They'll have lessons the next day, after all. Also, since Valentine's Day is literally a week from her birthday and there hasn't been much progress on the love-life front, don't expect much. But I will say I've placed a Hogsmeade Day on the Saturday after her birthday, which is the Saturday before Valentine's Day... hint hint. Anyways, thanks for reading and stuff and I love you!