James opened the door with barely a greeting, his mouth a flat line.

"Hey," I said tentatively. I didn't know if I should bring up the quidditch game, but it seemed rude not to thank him. "The seats you got us were really great. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime." His tone was clipped.

"You were right," I said with a nervous laugh. "It was a lot more exciting than I remembered."

"Oh yes. So exciting to see me completely mess up at the last minute."

"It was really smart of you actually—"

"Timid was the word used, I believe," he said bitterly.

"No, smart," I said firmly. James finally looked at me, surprised at my vehemence. "That was a really dangerous move. You had to make the decision on potentially hurting yourself and the risk calculus wasn't going to come out in your favor if he was making a Wrambly feint—

"Wronski feint," he corrected automatically, looking a bit more at ease as I rambled.

"So you did what was best for both yourself and the team. Isn't it someone else's job to handle the seeker anyway?" I finally finished.

"Armsby and Johnston were supposed to be on him as the beaters," he agreed then sighed. "It's just that ever since my accident—" He cut himself off with a snort. "I forgot, you probably haven't heard about that either."

"Um, actually…" I winced. He stared at me then scoffed.

"Of course," he muttered. "You don't even know what a bludger is, but even you heard about it."

"Only because I looked you up." I rushed to reassure him. "I hadn't heard anything until then."

James glanced back at me with a slight smirk. That look was never good news for me but I was glad a bit of his bitterness had ebbed.

"What?"

"You looked me up?"

"I had to know what I was getting myself into," I said defensively. My blush grew as his grin did. "Not like that!"

He dodged the pen I threw at him with ease. "Mind in the gutters," I mumbled. We exchanged tight smiles, but he fell silent again.

"You don't have to talk about it," I ventured. "I also don't actually know that much of what happened, only that your shoulder was hurt—"

James tensed up when I mentioned his shoulder.

"Or we could just talk about the Potions work you have for today," I finished quickly.

"Anything but Potions," he groaned. He heaved a sigh but continued. "I was in a pretty bad accident last year. A bludger hit me in my right shoulder and then when I fell from my broom, I landed on that side too."

I bit my lip, trying not to gasp out loud.

"That happened only two games in and I was out for the whole season. For like the first month, they told me I might not play again at all. I only just got cleared over the summer and when I had to dive after Danfrey yesterday, it was like…I can't—I don't want—" He stuttered for a moment then clenched his jaw. I put a hand lightly on his shoulder, then realized what I was doing and moved to pat him on the back instead.

"Sorry," I breathed out. James snickered.

"You can touch my shoulder, it's not that bad."

"I didn't know what was appropriate," I protested but also laughed. "Can I ask… what happened to the guy who hurt you?"

James's expression turned dark.

"Lucas Jones on the Tutshill Tornados. We were in the same year at Hogwarts but I got drafted before he did and he's never been over it. Then I dated one of his exes like two years ago and that probably sent him over the edge."

"That's awful! And he's still playing in the league?"

"He was only suspended for two games. I could never prove it was on purpose." James looked at my indignant expression and nudged my shoulder. "Don't worry too much about me, MacPherson. At least not for quidditch."

"You're right. You've been trying to just distract me this whole time from your real problems, haven't you?"

I tossed his Potions textbook in front of him. He rolled his eyes goodnaturedly but gave me a small smile. My heart gave a lurch.

Quidditch Star James Potter was nice to look at, but Sweet James Potter? Give me him any day.

By Wednesday, James was no longer headlining the news and we were back to our regular programming with our lessons.

He read over his corrected essay with a furrowed brow.

"Why'd you say this was wrong? I thought it was Woodward's Enchantment."

"The correct phrasing is the Enchantment of Woodward."

James rolled his eyes. "Like that makes a difference."

"If you want to get the highest score you can on the Charms NEWT-"

"Does it matter? I just need to do well enough to pass," he said lazily. At my astonished gape, he added, "I don't think I need to know much about Charms when I'm playing for Puddlemere United. Even if I have to get a job somewhere else, I'm pretty sure my dad can get me in more than any grades will. I'm just saying it's not very important to me like it is for others."

For you normal people seemed to be implied at the end.

"Of course it matters!" I was indignant. James simply raised an amused eyebrow over my appall. "Do you like people thinking that you're only a professional player because you're Harry Potter's son?"

"You don't get to be a professional player just by being famous."

"How could I know for sure?" I fired back. "Maybe Puddlemere wanted to bring you on because they wanted to make money off of having a celebrity already."

James gawked at me wordlessly. I was used to seeing him disinterested but his anger was new. "I'm the best chaser on the team. Do you even know how many goals I've scored already this season?" he demanded. "How dare you—"

"So it doesn't feel good to have people doubt your abilities, right?" I interrupted. "Wouldn't you want to be able to prove yourself in any job?"

He narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "Well played, MacPherson," he said begrudgingly. "I see your point. Now, shall we?" He gestured to the textbook in between us still waiting to be perused.

"Honestly, I'm just impressed you stopped thinking about yourself long enough to finally learn my last name." I couldn't hide my smug grin and he rolled his eyes at me, but leaned in to read the textbook all the same.

Throughout the lesson, our conversation didn't leave my mind.

James ran a hand through his hair, deep in concentration, when he looked up and caught me staring. He raised an eyebrow.

I turned red and ducked my head back down to pretend like I was writing out his next lesson plan. Once the scratching of his quill resumed, I relaxed, but I couldn't get my question out of my head.

"Can I ask you something kind of…personal?"

James paused, quill hovering over his parchment, but shrugged.

"Why are you doing this at all? Why spend all this time on exams when you're probably not going to use them?"

"It's not a very exciting reason," he admitted. "It's my mum's birthday in June and she and my Aunt Hermione always said I should have finished my NEWTs, especially since I was so close to the end. I figured it'd be a good birthday present. And…" He hesitated, looking down at his paper. "There was a long time when I thought I wasn't going back to quidditch. Didn't really know what I'd do with myself without it, so NEWTs were kind of…"

"Your backup plan." I finished. "But now that you're playing quidditch again, it's hard to give it your full attention?"

"Right. Also, I'm the only one of my siblings and cousins who didn't finish and Al gives me way too much shit for that." He rolled his eyes, but that one somehow was the reason that made me frown.

"You're just as smart as the rest of them, even if you didn't finish your NEWTs. It's not like you were even that far off from graduating; you just had a few months left."

James eyed me skeptically. "You're literally getting a PhD. NEWTs are nothing to you."

"Exactly, so I'm the one that should know more than your brother does. Besides," I muttered. "His imprecise wandwork nearly blew up our Charms project."
James's head whipped towards me with a grin. "He what? Oh, I'm so gonna use this against him." He paused, considering his words. "Well, I'll use this against him once I pass my NEWTs."

Two muffled pops came from James's bedroom.

"Ew, James, honestly you need to clean here more often," Lily Potter's voice came through to where we sat in his living. James turned to me with panicked eyes.

"Fuck, they cannot know what I'm doing."

With a flick of my wand, our materials neatly packed up and flew into my bag just as James's bedroom door opened and Albus and Lily Potter walked out. Speak of the devil.

"Hey," Albus said, giving me a dismissive nod before doing a double take at me. I gave a weak wave, not sure what James wanted me to do.

"This is Jayne," James said when it was clear Albus couldn't place where he knew me from. "You were in the same year at Hogwarts, remember? Had a Charms project or two together?"

He gave me a wink. We smiled at each other until we realized his siblings were staring at us. At me, to be specific.

"Whatever," Lily said, heading towards his kitchen. "I need some food. Do you have any of those biscuits Nana sent over last week?"

"Don't mess up my kitchen again," James groaned and followed her.

Which left me alone with his brother.

"So, Jayne," Albus said, leaning back on the sofa. "You and my brother?"

"We're just friends," I said quickly.

"You just seem to be close," he said casually.

I refrained from rolling my eyes. James Potter infamously only dated redheads. The occasional strawberry blonde or auburn haired girl would sneak through (redheads weren't that populous after all, and about half of them at Hogwarts were Weasleys so he had a limited dating pool based on that criteria), but it was mostly gingers. If I ever thought about it too much (which I didn't), I'd probably think it was kind of weird. Because it was. Why would you want to date a bunch of girls who look like your family members?

"I don't think I'm exactly his type," I hinted, tucking my straight brown hair behind an ear.

"Hm" was all he said, apparently unconvinced. "And how exactly did you two start this friendship? I don't remember you being particularly close at Hogwarts."

Mercifully, James came back so I didn't have to answer.

"Leave her alone, Al. What did you need?"

Albus eyed me warily. The message was clear.

"I should get going anyway," I said, standing up.

"Alright," James said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Of course."

Albus's eyebrows raised.

"I'll walk you out." James put an arm around my shoulders and steered me towards his front door. "Sorry about them," he whispered as he ducked his head close to mine. "Do you want to schedule extra time later this week to finish up?"

"It's fine, we got through what I wanted to do today. You're making really good progress." I beamed up at him.

"Great," he breathed out, more relieved than I expected.

"Not that I'm bothered by them coming, but do you maybe want to try doing tomorrow's lesson somewhere else? Change of scenery?"

"Like your place?"

"I actually usually do my tutoring stuff at a coffee shop. Have you been to Cauldrons and Coffee?"

He shook his head no. "We can meet there. I'll find it."

And then he leaned in and gave me a tight hug. I tensed in surprise but after a moment, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You're my friend, try to look less freaked out hugging me." James subtly tilted his head towards his siblings who were still watching us.

"Right. Sorry," I gave a sheepish smile. "See you tomorrow."

The door closed to the three Potter siblings: James smiling at me, Lily munching unconcernedly on an apple, and Al watching me with interest.