prompt: "Apparently all our friends have a bet going that we end up together."
word count: 2,150

Hermione was nose-deep in a Charms textbook when James Potter plopped himself down in a chair across from her with no warning. While she raised an eyebrow, she did not lift her eyes from the paragraph she was reading. "Can I help you?"

"I certainly hope so."

"Did you need directions?"

He paused. "Directions?"

"Well, seeing as I can count the amount of times I've seen you in the library on three fingers—" She turned a page. "—I assume you've wandered off course somehow and are looking for a guide back to whatever mischief you and yours are managing."

"Ahh. You'll be excited to know that I don't need directions. I've fortuitously stumbled upon exactly where I need to be."

She glanced up, only to find him grinning at her. "I thought we established clear rules and boundaries."

"No declaring my intentions from the tops of any tables at a decibel that would make dogs cry. I remember." He stacked his hands on his stomach and leaned his chair back. "You'll notice I'm seated at the table, not on top of it, and I've kept an even pitch with our friendly banter."

Drawing a deep breath, Hermione let out a long-suffering sigh. "There was about a month there where you seemed to have lent your attentions elsewhere. I suppose it's my own fault for letting my guard down."

"Twenty-six days," he informed her. "I felt extreme planning was in order. I figured a particularly studious witch such as yourself might appreciate a more scholarly approach."

"And your plan involved informing me that you had a plan?" Her brow furrowed. "Is this because I told you I don't like surprises when you hid an engagement ring in my custard."

"Had I known you would give MacDonald your custard and she would nearly die choking on it, I might've thought that one through a little more."

"I'm not particularly fond of butterscotch." Hermione laid her book down on the table. "Or getting engaged while still in school. Especially to a boy—"

"Man," he corrected.

"—I'm not even dating."

"Easily rectified," he muttered under his breath.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "James, you're very intelligent—"

He smirked. "I've been told."

"—and equally arrogant—"

"For good reason."

"—but you must know a lost cause when you see one."

He hummed, mouth scrunched up stubbornly. "Can't say that I do."

"You were in love with Lily Evans for, what, four years?"

"I started fancying her third year." He nodded. "Nothing came of it though."

"Because she didn't return your affections."

"Because she thought I was an arrogant toerag and repeatedly rejected my advances for four years straight," he admitted glibly.

"And if I were to tell you that she's softened to you?" She stared at him searchingly. "That she noticed you'd grown up since last year and would likely accept if you asked her to Hogsmeade."

James frowned, his brow furrowed. "I'd tell you that it was too bad." He shrugged. "I'm an obnoxiously monogamous person, even if the object of my affection is woefully unappreciative of my imaginative proposals. Lily's great, but I've moved on. We had a good run. Four years is nothing to scoff at. I'll look back fondly on all the times I was loudly rejected for all to hear."

"Didn't you just say you don't give up?"

"I don't." He tilted the chair forward until it was back on even ground. "My feelings changed. It wasn't so much a failure or a retreat or even a white flag of surrender as it was a natural ending. With a whimper rather than a bang."

"Just like that? Four years of dedicated wooing and you've just moved on?" Hermione frowned. "Are you sure it isn't the chase? After all, she did seem to start returning your affections and now your attention is lost."

James shook his head. "Started over the summer, not when I returned to Hogwarts. Had no idea she was starting to like me back."

"What happened over the summer?"

"I grew up."

Hermione stared at him a beat. "Must've been a busy two months."

James' mouth twitched. "Do you know what I thought the first time I met you?"

"That a small family of birds could live happily in my hair?"

"I maintain that I was not the one that spelled your hair into a bird's nest. I merely appreciated the magic that made it happen." He grinned. "To be fair, it looked quite fetching on you."

"You would say a potato sack looked fetching on me."

"I would," he admitted freely. "Anyway, that was not what I thought."

"No?"

"No. I thought I'd never seen a sadder witch in my life."

"Oh, that's much better. I'm glad my resounding grief was such a huge draw."

"I wanted to cheer you up," he explained. "Nobody should ever look that desolate."

Hermione's mouth pinched. "I was grieving. I'm still grieving."

"I know. But at the time, all I knew was that I wanted to make it better. So, I set myself a goal."

"To be utterly obnoxious on a daily basis?"

"To make you smile or laugh as often as humanly possible. Admittedly, you tend to frown and scoff and rant quite a bit more than you smile or laugh. But I do enjoy a good challenge." He smiled to himself. "And I remember the very first time I made you laugh like it was yesterday."

"Given your track record, it might've been."

"You squirted pumpkin juice out your nose, you were caught so off-guard. You nearly choked laughing. And I knew then and there that I was going to do whatever it took to make it happen again."

"Preferably without the pumpkin juice," she mused with a sigh. "It tends to sting the nose."

"So, I have. And you haven't made it easy, but I think I've done a pretty good job." He drummed his fingers against the table. "The proposals weren't a part of that. Mostly that was a habit. I used to propose to Lily because it made her turn red as a tomato. She was pretty when she was angry. Selfish, I know, to think more of what I found fetching rather than her personal comfort. It'll sound stupid, but it wasn't until I realized how uncomfortable you were when I did it to you that I caught on that maybe I was being an arse."

"That long, huh?"

"You didn't get pissed like she did. She tended to shout and attack and didn't care a whit about whether people were laughing. You, on the other hand, shrunk. You didn't want to be seen. That wasn't my intention. For me, I like attention. I like when all eyes are on me. But you shy away from it. You hide yourself in books and studying, keep your head down, try not to catch anyone's eye. Guess I ruined all that for you, forcing you into my spotlight."

She eyed him a moment, struck a little by his insight. "It wasn't particularly comfortable."

"Sorry for that." He shrugged. "Like I said, took me a while to realize I was being selfish."

"And your sudden self-awareness can be credited to…?"

"Graduation is in two months." He paused. "After that, who knows when we'll see each other. You're only kind of friends with Remus, so I don't know that you'll stay in touch with him. You hardly tolerate me, which means any owls I send could easily be ignored. So, that leaves me with two months to convince you that I'm worth taking a chance on. No overt displays of affection. Nothing that makes you uncomfortable. And no hidden engagement rings."

"I appreciate not having to double check any future desserts, if nothing else." Hermione fiddled with a quill laid out on her desk. "Not that I'm not flattered… I am, somewhat. But—"

He held a hand up to cut her off. "I know, I haven't earned any trust over these last eight months. But I promise to be respectful of your rules and boundaries. I'll be the perfect gentlemen. Walk you to class, carry your books, supply you with snacks in between study sessions. You tell me what you want and I'll do it."

"I don't want a servant. I can carry my own books and I don't need snacks—"

He made a grumbly noise of disagreement. "You missed supper and you frequently forget to eat lunch even in the Great Hall. If you're reading, nothing else seems to penetrate that brilliant brain of yours."

A flush filled her face. "All right, so I'll set my wand to remind myself to eat at appropriate times. I don't need—"

"Sometimes it's nice just to have someone who cares," he interrupted.

Hermione paused, mouth ajar. "I… What?"

"Let's say in two months, nothing changes for you. I'm still the same obnoxious prat you've been putting up with since September. We go our separate ways and you never have to think of me again. At least you'll get a couple months of no-strings attention and affection. And if something does shift and you realize that I'm serious, then all the better."

"You spent twenty-six days coming up with a plan to ply me with snacks and carry my books?"

"I spent twenty-six days unlearning all the ways I used to woo witches so that I don't make the same mistake twice. So, no fireworks, no sonnets, no filling your dorm room with flowers. I'll start small. Books and snacks. And then I'll figure out what you, personally and individually, like."

Hermione shifted in her seat.

"Do we have a deal?"

She stared at him searchingly. "Why me?"

He frowned. "Why not you?"

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Four years is not a drop in the bucket. So, what could have possibly changed so much over the summer that you returned with no interest in Lily but for some reason, decided to like me?"

He hummed. "You wrinkle your nose when you're trying not to laugh at something."

She blinked.

"You scrunch it up like you know you shouldn't but you still find it funny. It's cute." He stared at the tabletop a moment. "And you treat Sirius like your irritating little brother. He acts like he hates it, but I think he likes feeling cared for. And you help Peter study. I'm pretty sure you don't even like him, but that doesn't stop you from helping him anyway. And you bring Remus chocolate, every full moon. You make up stories about buying too much or not liking dark chocolate, but you've always got a bar to help him take the edge off."

Hermione swallowed tightly.

"You care. I can tell you try to keep your distance from us, but you still end up liking us anyway."

"You're terribly likeable," she murmured.

James half-grinned. "We do have our moments."

She stared at him thoughtfully. "So, you liked me because I was kind to your friends?"

"Because you're kind in general. And pretty and wicked smart and utterly terrifying with a wand. Gets me hot under the collar when a witch can kick my arse."

Hermione snorted.

"I know. I have a type. I'm not ashamed to say it. But things are going to be different this time around."

"What makes you say that?"

"I see you." He stared at her seriously. "Not a version of you that I want you to be. Not as a challenge or a conquest or any of that rot. I see a beautiful, brilliant witch that I want a very real chance with, and I know I won't get one unless I prove that I mean it."

Gnawing on her lip, Hermione looked from him to her books. It was a terrible idea. And yet… "I like roses."

His head quirked curiously.

"I know that's cliché as they're the most obvious flower. But I find them beautiful. Not an entire dorm of them, but… a few, or just one, would be nice."

Slowly, a grin bloomed. "You know, apparently, all our friends have a bet going that we'll end up together."

"Do they?"

James nodded. "So, in two months, either I make Sirius an even richer wizard or Remus gets to raid his favourite bookstore."

Hermione squinted. "Which one bet we'll get together?"

"Which one do you want to win?"

"Remus, if only because he'll spend his winnings smartly."

"Good." He stood from the table then. "He thinks we'll get together before graduation." Tucking his hands in his pockets, he said, "Roses, huh? I can do that."

Shaking her head, Hermione watched him go, fighting a losing battle against a smile.

.

Three weeks later, Remus collected his winnings from Sirius when they caught Hermione and James snogging on a picnic blanket, sprawled out by the Black Lake, a basket of goodies and a bouquet of red-tipped yellow roses nearby.

note: red-tipped yellow roses signify 'falling in love'

you know how a Harry Potter marathon airs every Christmas? guess who's been reading/writing Harry Potter fic since I binge-watched the series over break? the amount of James/Hermione fic I've consumed (sometimes twice or three times over, when desperate. there aren't a ton of a fic out there for them) is nuts. the amount i've written... you don't want to see the many WIPs i have for them. needless to say, there are a handful of prompt fills completed and far more longer fics in the works. i don't plan to release those until they're closer to being completed though. so for now, hopefully you enjoy these prompt fills. the next one is far less light hearted, lol

thanks so much for reading. please try to leave a review!
~ Lee | Fina