Harry was already half-asleep when he heard a noise outside his bed curtains, followed by a chain of curses. He held out his wand when the curtains were lifted. Instead of some rude intruder, the amused smile of Ginny grace his vision.
"You sure you want to hex me?" Ginny asked, climbing on his bed.
"Ginny? What are you doing here on such an hour?"
"I'm getting comfy," she said, hopping under Harry's comforter. "Now, shove over and make me some place!"
"Why are you here?"
"Your bed is much cosier than mine, obviously."
"We all have the same beds, Gin."
Ginny smiled at him sweetly, "Yes, but only this bed has you."
Harry groaned, "Be careful, or I might puke a rainbow. Are you sure it's safe that you are here?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure no one noticed. One thing I like about this whole time travelling thing is that there is no Ron to interrupt us."
"But there is my bloody father in the bed next to us!"
"Oh, don't exasperate, Harry. He's not your father yet. Anyway, no one heard me sneaking in here."
"You sure? I was almost asleep until you tripped on something."
Ginny only hummed and snuggled deeper into him, trying to absorb as much of his heat as she could. After a few minutes, deciding that she was comfortable enough, she took out her wand and cast Lumos.
"I haven't travelled back in time only to not see you whenever I possibly want." She said, her hand tracing patterns on his cheek. She was staring into his eyes with such intensity that it made Harry's heart melt. "Merlin, I missed you."
Harry turned his head away, biting his lip. "You shouldn't have come."
"Oh, please, not again!"
"It was dangerous, and-"
She interrupted him with a kiss.
But Harry wasn't finished. "- we don't even know how to get back. What if you're stuck here?"
"In that case, you're stuck here as well. And wherever you are, I'm there also."
"You got hurt."
"Not for the first time," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Remember my first year?"
"Ginny-"
"Or the year before?" She gasped dramatically and put her hands on her cheeks, "When I was running after the train? When you entered the bend, I didn't manage to slow down before the platform ended and scrapped my knees pretty badly."
"That's not the same-"
"Oh, but it is! I got hurt then, too, after all." She interrupted him once again when he tried to say something, "You know I love it when you get noble and all; it suits you, but please stop. You have to get used to the fact that there are people in this world who would jump into a fire after you if it was the only solution-"
"That's stupid."
She didn't seem to acknowledge what he had just said, "-And the best thing – you have no say in it."
Harry crossed his arms, "Oh, yeah? Don't you think I should have?"
"Nah," She said, grinning madly, "You don't seem to take other's opinions into account when you jump headfirst to help anyone. It's only fair. Otherwise, it'd be hypocrisy."
"That's not the same thing-"
"How so?"
Harry looked at her for a longer while, searching his mind for a comeback. But she had a point about whether he was being honest. Not that he was happy about it. Deciding that he would come out of this more gracefully if he left the topic, he put his hand on her cheek. The other traced her not-so-long-ago cut brow and still had a small scab.
"Look at you," he said, tracing patterns on her bruised cheekbone, making her lean into his touch, "All battered."
"You should see the other one." She murmured sleepily.
"I can imagine. Maybe you should sleep. It was a long day for you, after all."
"I'm not 'ired." She said, but the loud yawn betrayed her, "Damnit."
"Sure you're not." He gently lowered her head to his chest, and she complied happily. "Night Gin."
Instead of an answer, he heard inherent mumbling. Soon, her breath got steadier as she fell asleep.
The morning came sooner than he hoped, and the time to leave the cosy cocoon of comforter and Ginny was approaching too fast for his liking. The fact that he would have to somehow sneak Ginny out unnoticed by other boys wasn't helping.
He gently shook her awake – or at least as awake as she could get in the mornings, especially by forcibly disrupting her unique Ginny sleep cycle.
She murmured something, something that sounded suspiciously like 'sod off'. He hated waking her up, unsettling the blissful sleep she deserved right now. But it had to be done.
"Wha'da want?" She groaned.
"You have to go back to your dormitory. It's morning already. Normal people start to wake up, you know?"
"La'er"
"You can't. Someone will notice you then, for sure."
"Your cloak?"
"Don't have it here."
"Not g'od"
"Tell me about it," Harry snorted.
Ginny slowly lifted from Harry's chest, acting like it was the hardest thing she had ever done. She looked him in the eyes and smiled softly. She leaned for a kiss, but Harry's hand on her forehead stopped her.
"Brush your teeth first," He said, shoving her away, "You stink."
She huffed, annoyed and gracefully left him there, grinning, without any spare words.
Harry came down to the Common Room, unusually excited. It was finally the day his mother would officially meet his girlfriend – a day he never thought would come.
He was sure the two would get along because how would they not? Both were warm, kind, friendly, and bubbly. The thought of one of them not liking the other never came to his mind.
As usual, he waited in the Common Room for Lily and Ginny to come downstairs; even after ten minutes, they weren't there. He didn't worry about Ginny, as she liked to take her time in the mornings – the thing he learned first about her the hard way.
"Maybe she left early?" Ginny suggested behind him, slipping her arms around his shoulders and kissing his temple.
"Yeah… maybe." But Harry couldn't shake the odd feeling in his chest as they made their way to the Great Hall.
Breakfast was already in full swing when they arrived—the usual hum of conversation mixed with the clinking of plates and mugs.
It all stopped when they stepped into the Great Hall. Their yesterday's 'show' had to leave their house and was already the hottest rumour of the day.
Harry scanned the Gryffindor table immediately, searching for that familiar flash of red hair, but couldn't find anything. Before he could dwell on it, Ginny gave his hand a gentle tug, leading him to sit in the middle of the table.
From a few seats away, he heard the heated conversation the marauders were having, occasionally sending him and Ginny glances.
Professor McGonagall appeared behind them. "Miss…" She started, staring at Ginny judgingly, "…Wazlib. Here is your timetable."
Ginny turned to her with her most innocent smile, "Oh, thank you, professor."
"Miss Wazlib?" Harry asked, observing the now departing transfiguration Professor.
Ginny grinned at him. "Jenny, to be exact. Jenny Wazlib," She offered her hand to him, "Nice to meet you, kind sir."
"After so long, I finally learned your true name," he said, crossing his arms, "What else are you hiding from me?"
She raised her hand to his cheek, tracing it gently, "Now, it wouldn't be fun if I told you all my secrets just like that."
"You know what else isn't fun?" He snorted, "Double potions on Monday morning."
"I don't envy you. What?" She added after he looked at her strangely.
"You don't have potions now?"
"Nah, the fourth year has charms."
"Oh. I thought we would have classes together." The disappointment was visible on his face.
Ginny sighed, putting her hand on his own. "It's not. I didn't want this." She said, her expression matching his, "But Headmaster thought it would be above my level, and I would neglect my studies." She took a deep breath and impersonated Dumbledore's voice, 'Oh, my dear girl, you wouldn't want to fall back with your classes, would you now? I'm sure you and Mister Potter will find some time together anyway'."
"Right," said Harry, looking at his watch, "I think I'll get going."
"Sure. Happy potions," she added with a smirk and leaned for a kiss.
"Thanks. And thanks for brushing your teeth, too," he said from a safe distance. She blew a raspberry after him.
She stayed with her breakfast for a while longer, but instead of eating, she was meddling her scrambled eggs with a fork.
Someone slid onto the bench beside her. His hazel eyes lit up like Christmas lights as he leaned forward, elbow propped casually on the table.
"Well, hello there, beautiful," he said with a grin that could've lit up the entire castle. "Did you miss me?"
"Not one bit," she groaned.
James seemed not to hear her, "I realised we haven't been introduced properly before, Jenny." He offered her his hand to shake, "Name's James. James Potter."
"Seriously?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows. She didn't accept James' hand, and it was stuck awkwardly in this position between them for a few more seconds.
"What? A bloke cannot be friendly?"
"I doubt your intents are any friendly."
"Friendliness is my second name."
"O?" She tilted her head to the side, "And here I thought it was annoying."
James burst out laughing. More than he should. "You're hilarious."
Ginny looked up at him with a frown. James tried to cover her hand with his, but Ginny snatched it away fast, and James ended up spilling the pumpkin juice on the table.
"Right," said Ginny, "I'm gonna get going. Hope not to see you soon."
She left the Great Hall, not looking behind, missing James' hopeless look and Sirius rolling over with laughter.
Ginny didn't know how to feel. Should she be jealous, weirded out or only amused?
If it were any other girl hitting on her boyfriend, she would hex her boobs out, but it wasn't just any other girl. It was Harry's mother who had a crush on him, no matter how strange it sounded. Well, she wasn't precisely his mother yet, but still.
What bothered her most was the fact that Lily seemed to despise her – no surprise here, as she was the girlfriend of the boy the girl seemed to like. She herself had similar reactions – maybe even a bit more drastic – when she was crushing on Harry, and he wanted other girls.
It hurt, though, no matter how much she wanted to deny and act like she didn't care. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet her boyfriend's mother, after all.
She closed her eyes when those intrusive thoughts flooded her mind. She hated to remember those times.
A groan broke her out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes and saw Harry plopped himself down beside her on the couch.
"Hard day?"
"More like annoying."
"What happened? Problems of potions nature?"
"I wish. Problems of girls nature more like."
Ginny raised her eyebrows. Her eyes got a stern look, almost jealous. She cursed the moment Harry chose - with her dilemmas and intrusive thoughts already on her mind, she didn't fancy hearing about what other girls did. She always hated it, and unfortunately, Harry was too popular for his own good, especially among the girls.
"Oh?" She answered half-heartedly.
"Lily's insufferable!"
Oh. So that was it. She suddenly felt stupid that it would be about some other girl.
"What did she do?" She asked gingerly this time, honestly curious what his mother could do to annoy him. She imagined a few situations with her own mother that made her blood boil, though that would be totally inaccurate given that Harry's mother was now his age.
"She's ignoring me! A few times I tried to speak to her, she snapped at me. She was glaring at me from across the room all day. As if we couldn't talk it out, whatever made her mad."
Ginny briefly wondered that maybe if she had glared at him instead of shooting those longing looks she shot whenever she could, and he would have noticed her sooner.
She decided she would hold his hand when she said this. She imagined he would need support as the thing was strange, though part of her told her that he would be used to completely strange stuff by now.
"Harry," She said, covering the back of his hand that he held on the table with hers, "What I will say in a moment may occur to you as something utterly weird and inappropriate-" She stopped to gauge his reactions, but he was only looking at her with this focused, yet tired and adorable look on his face, "- but I think Lily may not think of you exactly as her friend."
Harry frowned, "What do you mean?"
Ginny rolled her eyes dramatically, though she couldn't help but smile. Trust Harry to be absolutely oblivious to the girls and their feelings about him. If it didn't happen to her personally, she wouldn't be complaining.
"Think, Harry. Has something happened that wasn't entirely friendly on her part?"
"Well, most of the time, she was nothing but friendly. Except for the bumpy start, that is."
Ginny closed her eyes and sighed. That's gonna be harder than I thought. "Okay, maybe I didn't use the right words. Was she overly friendly, by any chance?"
Harry screwed his face in thinking, recalling all their recent interactions. His expression changed a few times – there was awkwardness, horror and embarrassment.
"Well," Harry started softly, observing her cautiously, "She was more… touchy recently, I guess-"
Ginny closed her eyes once again, praying for enough patience.
"Though I don't think mood swings count as friendly-"
She clenched her fists. "Did she blush?"
"What? Like you, you mean?" He asked with a light smile. She gave him this look that meant she wasn't in the mood for teasing. "Well, yeah, she did, but not so prettily like you…"
She couldn't help but smile at his lame but cute flattery and attempt to defuse her tension. "Be careful, or I might actually turn into a puddle. But seriously, I think Lily has a," She took another deep breath, probably the biggest that night, "Crush on you."
Harry was looking at her for a minute, completely unreactive. Then, his expression changed to one of utter madness, looking at her as if she had lost her mind. He burst out laughing, making her scowl.
"I'm serious, Harry," She said, crossing her arms.
"Sure, sure. That's completely ridiculous. How did you even come to that conclusion?"
"By observation and analysis. It's obvious, can't you see?"
"What's so obvious?"
"First of all, she seems to hate me! And we didn't even exchange one word!"
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you," Harry dismissed with a flick of his hand. Too quick for her liking.
"Oh, yeah? She was glaring at me the whole time! And-" She looked around the common room, "-Look, right over there. She's glaring at me again!"
Indeed, deep into one of the Common Room's corners sat Lily with crossed arms, sending daggers in Ginny's direction.
"Maybe that's a coincidence?"
"A bloody coincidence wouldn't happen forty times one day!"
"Anyway," Harry chose to ignore her, "What are your other arguments?"
"Her behaviour?" Ginny looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I acted similarly when I had a crush on you." She looked down at her hands intertwined with Harry's, and a light blush appeared on her cheeks, making Harry grin. He earned a light hit on his arms and a simile from her.
"You did? I haven't noticed." His grin didn't falter one bit.
"Nothing new. But anyway, I know it's hard to believe. It sounds utterly absurd. But observe it for a few days, and you will know."
"Fine."
"Good." Ginny gave him a teasing nudge. "And in the meantime, try not to accidentally make your mum fall even harder for you, alright?"
Ginny was on her way to the library, where she and Harry had agreed to meet the previous night. She was near the moving staircase when she felt a tug on her shoulder.
"Wow… did you feel that? That spark? I think we just had a moment."
Ginny groaned aloud and yanked her shoulder away, shrugging off his palm. "Yeah, it felt like mild annoyance."
"Isn't that what the true love feels like?"
Ginny stared with an emotionless face right above his shoulder, purposely not looking straight at him to not give him any ideas and praying for patience. However, she doubted that any entity could provide it. Oh, how she was glad Harry didn't take after his father. James Potter was simply a pain in the arse.
James sighed dramatically when she didn't answer, "You're staring, Jenny, love. If you wanted to admire me, you could at least be subtle about it."
"I wasn't even looking at you."
James grinned dashingly, or at least what he thought looked dashing. "Yet."
"Yet, you probably haven't had your arse kicked."
"Nah," James dismissed nonchalantly, "It's me kicking arses around. If you need tutoring, I'm sure I'll find a while for you, just the two of us." He tried to drape his hand over Ginny's shoulder casually but failed when she moved away. It ended with him losing his balance and staggering a few feet away.
Ginny looked at him up and down in a judging manner. "If you fight the same way you keep yourself on your feet or flirt, you're rather lame."
"Ouch, Red," he said, clutching his chest in mock pain. "Wounding a man's pride like that. But don't worry, I like my girls feisty."
Ginny crossed her arms. "Then you must love rejection."
James' smirk widened. "Or maybe I just like a challenge." He leaned in slightly. "Tell me, Jenny, do you play hard to get, or are you just pretending you don't find me irresistible?"
Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I'm not pretending. You are absolutely resistible."
James clutched his chest again, stumbling back like she had hexed him. "Merlin's beard, this one's dangerous! I love it!"
Ginny groaned. "You're unbelievable."
James winked. "Unbelievably handsome, I know."
That was it.
Ginny's face was flushed in annoyance and anger. She turned around, closing her eyes and taking many deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.
"Ha, stop this nonsense, Jenny. I see how you react to me." James whispered, with a voice he probably thought was seductive but made Ginny only want to puke.
Enough was enough.
She didn't even think before she reached for her wand. The fact that the git was Harry's father be damned, no matter that it all made the matter worse.
She turned around fast, drawing her wand out from her pocket. Before James could register what was happening, its tip was already pointed between and a little below his eyes, just right where his nose was.
"Mucus ad nauseam." She whispered those sweet words that always managed to draw the tension out of her.
From James' nose, bogeys flew out, taking the shape of terrifying bats and attacking him mercilessly. He took off screaming, leaving Ginny alone, as intended. She smiled in satisfaction and turned on her heel, continuing her way.
As it turned out, Ginny was right. Harry cursed mentally, not wanting to admit it to her.
It all started with a sudden change of behaviour. Lily was no longer cold and aloof but overly friendly and clingy. After he hadn't seen her at breakfast, she found herself next to him as soon as he and Ginny parted ways. She chatted him up as if nothing had happened and she hadn't talked to him for a few days. At first, it annoyed Harry, but he was glad his friend was back.
Then he remembered Ginny's word and his promise.
And slowly, it started to make sense.
He mentioned Ginny a few times throughout the day, which he noticed made Lily irritated. She either quickly changed the topic or compared herself to her. Not to mention how overly critical she was and all those passive-aggressive remarks.
At potions, they were partnering, as usual, but this time, she kept herself a little too close to himself for his liking. He barely had a place to do any movement.
"So… what are you doing this afternoon?" Asked Lily, a little bit shyly.
"I'm meeting with Gin-Jenny at the library."
Lily made a face that if he had any doubts before, now was almost certain. "Oh. Of course." There was an edge to her voice that was hard to mistake for anything else than jealousy. "Of course, you'd be with her."
That was his chance to confront Lily about Ginny. The timing, as well as the place they were, could be better – he didn't feel comfortable speaking about a jealous girl's feelings in front of a boiling cauldron, not to mention the whole class was there also. This should be a conversation between only two of them, as he imagined it was a rather vulnerable topic.
Harry took a deep breath and turned around to her. "Do you have a problem with it?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
Lily stared at him, "No. Not at all," she said, though her voice was telling something entirely different.
"What's your problem exactly?"
Lily returned to cutting the Sopophorous Bean, to which she used way too much force than needed. "I don't know what you mean." Her tone shifted slightly. Although Harry couldn't see her face, he could imagine she rolled her eyes with a scowl.
"You sure?"
Lily huffed, shoving the sliced beans to him. Harry sighed but complied nonetheless – he threw it into a mortar and started to mush.
After a while, Lily herself brought back the topic. "You and… her seem to be close."
Harry blinked. That came out of nowhere. "Well, yeah. We—we've been through a lot together."
Lily scoffed. "I bet you have."
Harry's furrowed his brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Lily kept her eyes on the cauldron, stirring it a little too aggressively. "Oh, nothing. Just that she's been clinging to you ever since she got here. You'd think she doesn't even know how to function without you around. And yet she always finds an excuse to sit next to you, walk with you, talk to you. To-" She cut off suddenly and didn't dare to finish, though Harry had an idea what she was about to say. Lily sighed, frustrated, throwing in the next set of ingredients. "Whatever."
Harry folded his arms. "All right, what's your problem with Ginny?"
Lily's stirring faltered. "Like I said, I don't have a problem with her."
Harry tilted his head. "You glare at her every time she speaks to me."
Lily stiffened. "I do not."
"You definitely do."
Lily's grip tightened on the stirring spoon. Her voice was quieter now but still tense. "It's just… annoying."
Harry narrowed his eyes but sighted with relief internally. Finally, they were getting somewhere. "What is?"
Lily exhaled sharply. "That she acts like she knows you better than anyone else. Like she has some sort of claim on you."
"She does know me better than anyone here. And definitely, she has a claim on me."
Lily's lips pressed into a thin line, her green eyes flashing. "Oh, so I suppose none of us matter, then? Not me, not Remus, not even—"
"That's not what I meant," Harry interrupted, exasperated. "Ginny and I have a history. Of course, she knows me well."
Lily let out a humourless laugh, drawing attention from a few students sitting nearby. "History. Right. How convenient."
Harry gave her a bewildered look. "Why do you care so much?"
Lily froze for a fraction of a second, then returned to the cauldron. "I don't," she muttered quietly.
"Right."
After the potions ended, he left the classroom as soon as possible. He went to the library as agreed. There, by one of the tables, lay Ginny.
Instead of waking her up the normal way, he went to the shelves and grabbed one particular thick book. He dropped the hefty tome down on a table straight before Ginny's nose. It collided with the table, making a noise that woke Ginny up.
"That's a nice way to greet your girlfriend."
"That's what you get for lazing around instead of researching."
"You, my dear, are without a doubt spending too much time with Hermione – she imprinted herself on you in rather an annoying way."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Don't even scare me."
Ginny put her hand on her heart, "But that's true!" She grinned, "Before I notice, you'll have me studying for my NEWTS, no matter that I haven't had my OWLs yet!"
"Nah, Ron's genes are too apparent in you. You'd flip over if you ever touch a textbook."
She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "What does that supposed to mean?"
Harry shoved the book he brought a little closer to her, "That we need to do our research so I can entrust your education into Hermione's very capable hands."
Ginny groaned and threw herself across the table dramatically. "That's treason," she murmured against the tabletop.
Her red hair splattered all over the place. When she didn't move for a while, Harry started to gather it gently and comb through it with his fingers.
"I've missed my personal hairbrush," she smiled up at him when he cleared her hair out of her eyes, "You get handy at times."
"Glad to hear I'm useful for something." He said, with one hand removing the green hair band from the other's hand wrist. It slid onto the ready-to-be-tamed hair.
"You still have it?"
Harry grinned at her. "Never took it off. You know, in case of emergency."
"Sure, keep persuading yourself. Just admit that's because it smells like me."
"True."
She stared into his eyes for a longer time, resting her head on her hand. The smile was not leaving her face. Only Harry's amused look and raised eyebrows brought her back to reality.
"Where were we?" She asked nonchalantly, suddenly finding all the books interesting. Her cheeks graced rosiness.
"At our research. Trust me, I'd rather do… more interesting things with you," He said, smiling suggestively, "But it'd be better back in our time."
Ginny's shoulder slumped, and she shot him a dirty look. "Mood killer."
It was the fourth Quaffle Harry dodged in the span of fifteen minutes. Either James had bad form today, or he was aiming straight at him purposely, which Harry was ready to bet was the case.
From afar, he heard Ginny's indignant cry. Because of the swish of the wind, he didn't exactly hear what she had shouted, though he had an idea it wasn't the kindest of things. An upbringing with six older brothers gave her an extensive and creative arsenal of curses – those verbal as well as magical.
Harry barely had time to process before another Quaffle came hurtling straight toward his head.
With years of Seeker reflexes kicking in, he dodged at the last second, and the ball went whizzing past his ear. "What the hell, James?"
James laughed, circling back. "What? It's called defence training! You should be grateful."
Harry scowled. "Defence training? I'm not even a Keeper!"
James shrugged, already grabbing another Quaffle. "You are when I say you are." Then, with way too much enthusiasm, he hurled it at Harry again.
Harry rolled his eyes but caught it this time, barely stopping himself from chucking it back at James's head.
James scoffed, dramatically tossing his hair back. He threw another Quaffle, which Harry deflected effortlessly. "See? I'm helping you stay in shape."
"You're trying to take my head off!"
"Same thing!"
It was only when Roose ordered a break that James' shooting range stopped. He got pretty telling off. Even students observing the practice from the stands came around, two of them being a disapproving Remus and furious Ginny.
James was lucky that Harry managed to catch her in time. Her face was red, and her hands were clenched into fists. "What the hell was that?"
James blinked, looking mildly surprised—then smug. "Which part? The brilliant Quaffle shots or my superior flying?"
Ginny let out a sharp, frustrated breath. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the part where you nearly took Harry's head off!"
James scoffed, crossing his arms. "He dodged, didn't he? Seems like he can handle himself. I, personally, would do it smoother, though."
"That's not the point, you arrogant git! You weren't training, just taking it out on Harry!"
James's smirk faltered for half a second. "I was just—"
"No!" Ginny cut him off. "You were throwing a bloody tantrum because something didn't go how you wanted!" She threw her hands in the air. "Merlin, it's like dealing with a child!"
James scowled. "Oh, come on, Red, you're overreacting—"
"Overreacting?" Ginny let out a bitter laugh. "Overreacting would be hexing you off your broom, which, believe me, I seriously considered!"
James opened his mouth, but Ginny wasn't done.
"You strut around like you're the king of the pitch, but the second someone else gets attention, you act like a spoiled brat! Maybe instead of trying to knock him out, you could try—oh, I don't know—being a decent human being instead of a dog shit?"
James bristled. "Excuse me—"
"No!" Ginny cut him off again, "You can dish it out, but you sure as hell can't take it! Grow up!"
James looked like he might say something to her, though once he opened his mouth, it stayed like that. Instead, he turned to Harry.
"I challenge you to a duel for this fine maiden's heart!"
Ginny snorted and raised her eyebrows at Harry.
But Harry wasn't looking back at her. No, instead, he was staring emotionlessly at James. Emotionlessly, at least for all the people gathered. It took her mare second and a look into his eyes to know he was now living through the swing of emotions he wasn't letting out for anybody to see.
Anybody than her.
It was one of her proudest abilities to almost immediately know Harry's feelings and understand his moods. It was simply an understanding on a different level between them, something other people rarely understood. She liked to think that it was because Harry was her soulmate, no matter how many times Hermione scolded her for it.
She was by his side in a few steps while everyone awaited his answer. "Come on, Harry, let's not bother. He's not worth it," she said, taking his hand in hers.
But Harry was having none of it. He didn't even spare her a glance.
"As you wish." Harry's voice was cold and tense. His gaze was fixed on James, who was now starting to look nervous.
"When?"
"Now."
James looked around his friend, uncertain. Remus was whispering something vividly to him, and even Sirius wasn't looking entirely convinced. "Fine." He said with face confidence. Harry's lack of second thoughts had to get into his mind, and he started to doubt himself.
He led to the middle of the Quidditch pitch. When Harry started to follow, Ginny got in his way.
"Harry, please." She tried to change his mind. For her, it was completely pointless and not worth a second thought. But one look from Harry told her that it was something more for him. She nodded slowly, grimaced, and let him pass.
She didn't like it at all. It wasn't that she was afraid of the outcome of this duel. From what she had gathered from Sirius and Remus's stories, James Potter had been a freshly baked auror when he died, and now he was years younger, lacking experience and knowledge. On the other hand, Harry had experience with life-threatening situations and even stood up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself.
No, as far as she was concerned, James didn't stand a chance against her Harry.
What she was worried about was how Harry would be affected after beating up his father – James, or whatever he could be called at the moment. Merlin forbid if something went wrong and James would end up seriously hurt – it would mess Harry up. Especially looking at how Harry was focused right now – James had stumped over his pride, and Harry wasn't going to let it go.
They stood against each other, separated only by about seven meters. They were observing each other, each waiting for the other's first move – a sign that they didn't trust each other as it was Sirius' job to give them the sign to start.
When the words finally rang, each boy drew his wand.
"Impedimenta!" Shouted James, who drew his wand first.
A turquoise beam of light flew from the tip of his wand straight in Harry's direction. The jinx travelled fast, and Ginny doubted she could do anything in Harry's situation.
But Harry was Harry.
"Protego!" Rang Harry's voice and James' jinx, which was already mere centimetres from Harry's chest, collided with the magical shield. There was a bright bluish-greenish flash of light, and hundreds of sparks of the same colour surrounded Harry.
James immediately continued his attack, sending another curses at the boy. Harry, though, was having none of it. He dodged one of them – it flew through one of the Quidditch Posts – and deflected the other to the side – it hit the ground near Peter's feet. Ginny briefly wondered if it was a deliberate action.
With every blocked strike, Harry was a step closer to his father-to-be one day in the future. The fast attacks were draining James very quickly – his face started to get sweaty, and his movements noticeably got slower and clumsier, less natural and more forced. When Harry decided it was taking too long, he cursed James' eyes with the Conjunctivitus Curse, irritating them. James was forced to shut his swollen lids, giving Harry the ultimate advantage.
Harry followed with a bludgeoning hex that hit James straight in the chest. The boy fell a few feet backwards with a yelp in pain. The people closer to him could even hear the cracking of his ribs.
"James!" Sirius cried when he saw him falling. He immediately went to his best friend and gasped in horror when he saw the blood in his mouth. "Find help!" He shouted to the crowd, though everyone was frozen.
"And you want me to believe, Mr Potter, that you fell from your own broom? You of every people?" McGonagall asked for the third time this morning.
"Yes."
"You realise you are one of the best flyers at school?"
James touched his heart, "You flatter me, Professor. But yes, I have been underperforming for some time now; there are enough witnesses in the school, I'm sure," He said with a grimace.
No matter how much he didn't like Harry at the moment, he wasn't going to turn him in. He, after all, challenged Harry to a duel – he should have expected that it could end like that one way or another. He made his bed and now had to lay in it. Pity that it was a hospital one.
McGonagall hummed thoughtfully, "And you are sure that no one helped you to fall from your broom?"
James almost rolled his eyes but stopped himself just in time. He didn't want another letter from his parents about his misbehaving. "Not at all, Professor."
"Very well then. Get back to health, Potter."
"Thank you, Professor."
When McGonagall exited the infirmary, James threw himself back on the bed and immediately regretted it. Even though most main injuries were healed, there was still soreness that would stay for a few more days. That was to be expected, however. Broken ribs and one that pierced his lung weren't going to be restored overnight.
He wondered how many guests he would have. Truth be told, he wasn't in the mood to deal with too many people. That's what lack of sleep is doing to the mind – Sirius came to him in the middle of the night under his invisibility cloak and kept him company almost until morning.
He heard the door opening and sighed. He was currently the only patient at the infirmary, so it was most probably someone to him.
Imagine his surprise when he turned around and noticed who it was.
Lily bloody Evans.
He tilted his head, observing how she slowly and timidly made her way to his bed.
She raised her hand awkwardly in greeting. "I heard about your accident."
James snorted. "Yeah, accident." He rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here? I imagine you didn't come to see me."
Lily looked down ashamedly and shuffled her feet. "No. I came to ask you for help."
James' eyebrows rose. He was sure that it would blend into his hair at any moment. He leaned back and crossed his arms. "Lily Evans is asking me for help. Someone should be here to witness this historical moment!"
"Shut up." Said Lily with a small smile. Who would have suspected that Miss Stiff could take a joke?
"Okay. I'm listening."
"So," She took a big sigh, preparing herself, "as you may have noticed, Harry and Jenny are spending way too much time with each other than desirable-"
James snorted and raised his eyebrows at her. "Not to mention all the other activities they are partaking in."
Lily made a face, "Yes, well, that too." She closed her eyes and shook her head to shake the mental image off her head. "Don't you have enough of it?"
"Oh, trust me, I do. But nothing I have done worked." His shoulder sunk. "It seems that they're pretty happy with each other.
He probably shouldn't like that, as it meant trouble, but such a smile from Lily was unthinkable. It was a smile of I'm-up-to-no-good such, one that before now he could never imagine Lily to wear.
"What if we could make them the opposite? That they would start to despise each other?
James grinned at her. "I would never expect something like this from someone like you."
Lily put her arms on her hips and tapped her foot. "What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, and James finally thought that all the illusion was gone, and she went back to her older self. Imagine his surprise when he saw this slight curve of her lips.
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?"
She smiled at him innocently instead of answering. "So," She said breathlessly, "Are you in?" She held her hand to him.
"You can bet!" He said, shaking her hand and sealing their deal