xii. Pranks, Dates, and Problems

Hogwarts Third Year

James' genius plan (prank) was on hold until the second term as he had a pretty tight schedule from Quidditch. Gryffindor won their match against Hufflepuff and Slytherin won against Ravenclaw. James' love life was back to nonexistence.

Before Christmas break, Eunice and James were in the library doing their Ancient Runes homework together. James' thoughts were everywhere as he was planning to perfectly execute his prank. So when Eunice had timidly asked James if he could write to her for Christmas, James had nodded absentmindedly.

She had sent him a few letters throughout the holidays, which James sadly haven't read since the Potters were off to vacation in Bulgaria. He forgot to tell her, so weeks of letters were stacked on his window. As he got back and saw them, he felt really bad and started to read them.

Eunice was more vocal on her writing than her talking, as seen from the multiple pages of the first letters that she had written him. Eunice had written messages almost every day for three weeks. But in the three weeks, the messages had decreased. The final letter even only had eleven words.

I don't think it will ever work out. I'm sorry.

- Eunice

Yes, James Potter was now back to being single.

It was on January when James' plan was set in action with the help of his best mates. The Great Hall was full of confused students as they were in the wrong colors.

To avoid suspicion, James and his friends had gotten their house colors changed as well. Terrence and Fred had gotten Hufflepuff, Danny had gotten Ravenclaw while his twin Diana got Gryffindor. James had gotten Ravenclaw.

Marie Copperfield had gotten green colored robes again to her embarassment again. Eunice had gotten the Ravenclaw blue. Albus had gotten Gryffindor red, and Scorpius had gotten Hufflepuff Yellow.

The Slytherin five then entered the hall. Malfoy's friends Jemma Zhang and Christophe Nott had gotten Ravenclaw blue, while Blaise Zabini II and Sarah Parkinson got Hufflepuff yellow.

What made James' proudly announce his prank was a success was when Lyarra Malfoy, the epitome of Slytherin Pride, the Slytherin Princess, wore Gryffindor red. She had a brilliant smile on her face, still carrying herself with pride even if she was in the wrong house colors as she assessed the chaos that ensued in the Great Hall. While the other students looked confused and annoyed, she had pure happiness radiating from her person.

All in all it was very chaotic, and James with his friends got away free since nobody can proof and pin it on him.

By April, James had gotten a new girl. She was a fourth year Ravenclaw by the name Julia Lancomb. Yes, she was one year above him, but he didn't have a specific type on girls, and this was the perfect time to experience. The two had met on Hogsmeade the month before at Three Broomsticks.

Fred had dared him to ask out the girl on the next table and he did so, successfully. James had gotten a few galleons from a grumpy Fred that lost his bet. Danny rolled his eyes at James' new date while Terrence actually laughed, thinking that the situation was very funny.

James had taken out Julia on a date to Hogsmeade, only to find out that they have literally nothing in common. He likes flying, she doesn't even want to get anywhere near a broom. He likes pranking, she hates it with passion and thinks it was childish. Yet they tried out snogging. It didn't work at all and there was no chemistry, and the two mutually separated after the snogging session.

And so, James wandered around Hogsmeade to find his friends, only to find Lyarra Malfoy in front of the Shrieking Shack yet again, staring at it in awe.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

This made her snap around and sigh. "Hello, Potter. Just admiring the view."

"The Shrieking Shack's a view?" He questioned. "Why? It's just an abandoned old shack."

Lyarra hummed and contemplate her answer. "I don't know. I just feel a little connected to it somehow."

James waited as she continued to elaborate her answer.

"It just feels lonely. I don't know, it's hard to describe it." Lyarra shrugged.

"Oh."

"People stay away from it because it was haunted. They say there used to be sounds like shrieks coming from inside of it. Now, there's no sound at all. Does that mean it's not haunted anymore?" Lyarra turned to James a little bit, asking his opinion.

"What, you're interested in the paranormal?" James smirked. Lyarra rolled her eyes.

"At least it's better than snogging a couple of girls." She shot back. James' smirk fell. Lyarra grinned. "Oh, did you just break up with the new one?"

James sighed. "Why do you always know everything?"

"Simple, you were together with her earlier and now you're not. It's simple just to piece the information together." Lyarra shrugged and walked along, James watching her.

"Oh, and word of advice," Lyarra stopped and turned around, "Ditch the suave schtick."

With that, Lyarra walked away, leaving an annoyed James Potter. Why would he ditch his suaveness? It worked and charmed girls into snogging him. James rolled his eyes grumpily. Lyarra Malfoy was wrong and he won't listen to her advice.

And to prove that his suaveness did work, James had found a new date that day in the form of Lorraine Gilbert from Hufflepuff. He grinned as he was right and Malfoy was wrong.

He knows himself better.

Albus was having a hard time learning. His grades weren't good. He barely passed his classes. It was hard to study, even after Scorpius tried to help him. He didn't know why, but the words that he read came in a jumble, and nothing coud get in his head. And this has been worrying him for a while.

He had spent more time in the library trying to study for weeks to no avail. Dark eyebags even appeared under his green eyes. The first two weeks Scorpius had accompanied him for extended study sessions, but even he got tired. He may not say it out loud, but Albus could see it, so Albus shooed Scorpius away so he can study alone.

So again today he's in the library, trying to study for the final term. And it still didn't work. So Albus was stressed. He held his head in frustration.

"What am I going to do?" He sighed, "I don't understand a thing..."

"You need some help, Albus?" A familiar voice was heard from behind him, making him turn around. It was Lyarra. She was dressing casually, hugging her books. She was also carrying her backpack.

"Oh, hi, Lyarra. I'm... I'm okay. Just studying..." Albus tried to dismiss it. Lyarra raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"I've been standing behind you for almost 10 minutes, Albus. I know that you aren't really studying..."

Albus' face went red at that. Before he could counter again, Lyarra sighed.

"I can help you, but only if you want it. I won't force anything on you if you don't want it," Lyarra gave him an assuring smile, patting his shoulder. Albus looked back to his books and seemed to contemplate. Previously Lyarra had tutored him before and it turned out fine, so what's the harm of letting her help him just for this time? Plus she was also patient and detailed in explaining things.

"Sure. Yeah... I would like it if you helped me. Thank you so much, Lyarra." He smiled slightly, grateful.

"No problem, Albus." She grinned and pulled out a chair next to him, "You can call me Lya, if you want."

"You can call me Al too."

The two then chuckled before Lyarra took out her quill from her backpack.

"Now, what seemed to be your problem?"

Lyarra thinks Albus is having trouble reading. He's quite okay with his own writing or short notes, but longer texts from books are a complication for him. She tried different solutions, and one of them was reading to him. He was okay with listening though, and processed information easier that way. So, Lyarra had used a silencing charm around them and read for Albus his curriculum material, so he could catch up his studies.

As they got back to the Slytherin dungeons, they separated and each went to their dorms. Lyarra had taken a bath, and the whole time just thinking about Al's current complication. It was on her mind so much that even Jemma had asked what was going on. So Lyarra explained it to her and Sarah.

After hearing, Jemma seemed to know something about his setback.

"I think he might have dyslexia. Or some part of it, regarding reading... I don't know much." Jemma concluded.

"We might have to do some research to it so we can help him!" Sarah eagerly announced.

"That's the problem. From what I've read, it's uncureable." Jemma sighed, and Sarah deflated.

"Well, we are wizards, right?" Lyarra smiled, being positive.

"Witches," Sarah corrected, which made Jemma elbow her.

"It was a rethorical question. Go on, Lya."

"We can use magic. Maybe we can create a spell or something that can help him," Lyarra thought.

"Maybe next term though. We're busy with finals as it is, and we can't do much since it's nearing the end of term. And there's no library during the Summer." Jemma sighed as she checked the calendar. A lightbulb since to appear in Lyarra's head.

"We can do research in Malfoy Manor's extensive library!"

"Oh! Christophe had praised it a lot!" Jemma clapped in excitement. "Can your parents let me come though?"

"You can. Mother and Father don't discriminate. Come visit along the Summer, Christophe and Blaise could visit as well."

"Sadly I'm going to Italy this Summer." Sarah sighed.

"Well, we still have the next Summers to come?" Jemma said positively.

"Well, I can't join you all in the researching part, but maybe I can come back early to maybe visit." Sarah smiled.

"I was about to ask you girls if you want to come visit the muggle world and have some fun!" Jemma offered. "But since we're going to the Malfoys..."

"We can all go together when Sarah comes back." Lyarra nodded.

"Great! It's going to be an amazing Summer then!"

Slytherin won the Quidditch cup, to James' dismay and Lyarra's happiness. She was the rising star and MVP as she had caught all of the Snitches and won the games. It irked James as they almost won against Slytherin if he just scored more points.

As they got out from the Hogwarts Express for Summer, his family was waiting for him and Al. Lily had hugged him and both Ginny and Harry had asked how his year went while they waited for Albus to arrive.

Albus had went out of the train around 10 minutes after James, and had bags underneath his eyes. James had reconciled with him but both of them rarely saw each other as they were busy with their own things and both were on different years. And his sullen figure surprised him, and both his parents.

Behind Al was Scorpius Malfoy who was smiling while talking to Al who wasn't in the mood to answer. James knew that the two were friends, but his parents were suprised at the sight. Ginny looked like she was fuming while Harry looked disappointed.

Lyarra then came up to them with her friends. They said their hellos and went to a waiting Draco and a thin looking Astoria Malfoy. The lot talked for a while. Scorpius even introduced Albus who looked like he was out of place, but the latter did gave a polite smile. Nott, Zabini, and Parkinson soon separated from the group, while Zhang stayed. Not long, Albus said his goodbyes and the Malfoy family along with Jemma Zhang apparated.

Albus sighed and finally walked to his family that had several frowns on their faces. James patted him in the back.

"How was your first year, Albus?" Harry asked his son with a slightly concerned smile.

"It was... Alright." Albus shrugged, dismissing Harry's question.

Ginny was about to say something before Harry held her hand and put the attention on him. "Let's just come back home, shall we? We can talk about it all on dinner."

Everyone agrees and with that, they apparated back home for the Summer.

A/N

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