Moments

I don't own any of the characters you may recognize

Chapter 5:

I blew my whistle. Everyone froze in mid air. "Good practice guys"

"And girls" Roxy added.

"And girls" I amended. "I got the new Slytherin line-up. I've added changes to the playbook so be sure to grab a copy after you hit the showers."

There was a collection of groans.

"No complaining" I called and they snickered.

I headed to the showers. By the time I got out the rest of the team were in the locker room. Why some people don't change after practice I'll never understand.

"James, put a shirt on you're going to make Sansa faint" Roxy said.

I looked at the blushing Sansa, "Sorry."

I'm used to walking around with just a towel on in the locker room because it's mostly guys, and the only girls who were on the team are girls I was related to. I guess that changed now. I grabbed a shirt from my locker and pulled it over my head..

I pulled the playbooks out of my locker. I had different ones for each position and I was the only person with a copy of them all.

"Next practice is Friday at eight. That's AM not PM."

"James"

"It's a strategic practice. If you all arrive on time there should still be some breakfast left when I get through with you."

I finished getting dressed and headed up to the Gryffindor tower. There was only ten minutes until curfew, guess I kind of cut it close this time.

The common room was full. I glanced around and found Alison doing homework with Rose by the fireplace.

"Hey!" Ali complained as I pulled her out of her seat.

I sat down in her couch and pulled her on top of me.

"Don't distract me, I have to finish this transfiguration essay" she told me with a stern face.

"I promise I won't distract you" I said, "much."

I kept true to my word about not distracting her for all of three minutes. Her hair smelled like strawberries again and it was driving me wild.

I let my hand travel up her thigh. She visibly jumped when I reached her knickers.

"James"

"What?" I asked innocently.

"I'm almost finished. No touching until then" she moved my hand out from under her skirt.

"No touching" I repeated wrapping my arms around her waist.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Rose rolling hers.

Gentle lips pressed against mine. I parted my lips and opened my eyes as Ali kissed me.

"You feel asleep on me" she muttered.

"Sorry, Quidditch practice must've taken more out of me than I thought" I muttered still half sleep.

Ali was straddling me, her arms around my neck. "How about I help wake you up" she whispered just before she kissed me.

As we kissed I pulled her closer to me, she gripped my hair tightly. Merlin's pants the sound she made when I bit her lip; I was ready to ravish her on the right then and there.

"Ew. I'm going to bed" Rose suddenly said.

Ali pulled away, "I'll be up there in a few"

"Hours" I whispered against her neck as I began to kiss a trail down her throat.

"Minutes. Just until I finish saying goodnight so don't go to sleep."

"Go to sleep, you two can talk in the morning" I said but I doubt either of them heard me.

After five minutes of perfect snogging Ali climbed off of me.

"Goodnight" she said.

"Dream of me" I called after her as she walked away.

"You are so sappy."

I cut my eyes to Fred who just took Rose's abandoned seat.

"Shove off."

"Laney Daniels has been glaring daggers into your bird all afternoon."

"So" I shrugged.

"She's also on her way over."

"What?" I turned around and caught the eyes of a petite blonde who was heading my way. "Damn, I got to go."

I got up quickly and headed towards the dorms.

"Goodnight Jamie!" I heard an overly feminine voice call.

I flopped down on my bed only to groan when I smelled strawberries. I had invited Ali up earlier during lunch. We only had thirty minutes together before we were interrupted by Brendan.

My dorm probably isn't the best place for a quick shag, but I doubt Alison is the kind of girl who'd do it in a broom closet. She was embarrassed as hell when Brendan walked in. I'll find a better place for us to be alone.

I got a letter from my parents at breakfast. I think they were shocked that they had yet to receive a letter home written about me. Now that I think about it we are in our third week of school and I hadn't pulled a prank since the train ride.

I pulled out a quill and parchment and wrote back to my parents that I was alive and well, Lily looked alive, well and hopefully boyfriendless, and as far as I could tell Al was alive but maybe not well, but I have yet to learn of a cure that'll save him from being a Slytherin.

"Hogsmeade weekend, next weekend, are you going to spend it with the guys or with your bird in Madam Puddifoot's?" Fred asked.

"I booked the Quidditch pitch for Saturday" I informed him.

"Un-book it. Dad's going to be at the shop, he has a new prototype for us to look at. Do you realize—"

"That we haven't pulled off a prank since the train, yes. I was just thinking about that."

"Good because I want to target that prat who's snogging my sister"

"Miles Cartwright" the other beater on the team.

"Yeah, that slimy git. My sister is too young to be dating. She's only fifteen."

That's true, she's the same age as Lily and I'd probably kill a guy if I caught him snogging with my sister.

"I've already been giving him detentions whenever he has free time but I think Longbottom is catching onto me."

"We wouldn't want you to lose that head boy's badge before we could actually get something useful out of it."

"Damn right."

I stood in the Charms corridor waiting for class to let out. Best thing about being a seventh year is all the free periods. I currently have the next two hours free. Okay, yeah, I know I'm supposed to be using that time to study, but honestly the workload hasn't even begun to get heavy. It usually doesn't until after Halloween. Teachers spend all of November trying to shove as much information at us as they can before the winter hols when we'll forget everything for a month.

The door to the Charms classroom opened up. Students were leaving the classroom in twos and threes. I saw Ali standing in between Rose and a girl with short black hair.

"Sorry ladies, hope you don't mind if I borrow Miss Leighton for a bit" I said standing in front of the trio.

"What if I had plans?" Ali asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It's your free period. The first of two today" I pointed out.

"Excuse my boyfriend, he can be a jerk sometimes" Ali said.

I wanted to be offended but this was the first time she called me her boyfriend.

"I'll catch up with you two later."

"We'll be in the library" the short haired girl said.

"How was class?" I asked as we headed towards the nearest stair case.

My arm was over her shoulders and she had an arm around my waist.

"Fine. I think I finally got the hang of aguamenti and I'm ready to move on to something new. How was defense?"

"Boring. We were working on patronuses"

Ali slapped my chest. "Patronuses aren't boring"

"I learned how to make them in my fourth year" I replied.

"Cool. I hear they're really advanced. What shape does yours take?"

"Guess."

We continued up the stairs until we reached the sixth floor.

"A peacock. I hear they're really cocky."

"No."

"A lion would be too cliché."

"Nope, not a lion."

"A stag like your fathers?"

"Surprisingly no."

"Okay give me a hint. Does it fly, swim, or crawl?"

"Crawl."

"Mammal?"

"Yes."

"Furry?"

"Yes."

"Feline or Canine?"

"Canine."

Just as I replied we reached our destination. I stopped in front of a painting of a hunter in the woods.

"Ever notice how this school has seven floors but we really only use the first, second, third, and fifth floors?" I asked as I poked the hunter's cowboy hat making it fall off his head.

"Hey!" he yelled in anger.

"No, I never really thought about it"

"Fred and I did in our first year. So we used the map in order to find abandoned classrooms like the one we threw a party in on the first week of class." I was able to reach into the portrait and pull a gold key out of the hat. "This classroom not even Fred knows about."

I turned the key into the hidden lock and the portrait swung open.

"This is so cool" Ali said looking amazed.

There were no windows in the classroom and that was a good thing. I had asked a house elf to clear out the room and set up a picnic for around three o'clock. They did better than I expected. There were no desks or chairs. There was a large blanket in the middle of the floor, along with a picnic basket, and two candles.

"You set this up?" she asked.

"I have friends in the right places. This will be our hang out spot for when we want to make-out, study, or just chill without having to worry about people busting in on us or glaring evilly from across the room."

"This is perfect. You are the best boyfriend ever."

There it was again, the boyfriend word. Before I could register my surprise she threw her arms around me and began to snog me senseless.