#i just haven’t had the brainpower to draw & finish something big with the three of them

[thelem0npie]

Libraries, Quidditch and Detention

A rewrite of the first fic I ever posted.

Y/N and Remus were studying together for their history of magic O.W.L in the library and they weren't alone. It might have been nearly a month until exams but the library was already filling up with fifth years who occupied in every chair in the place, some had even taken up camp in the middle of the floor with pillows and blankets and everything.  

The library was full of the sounds of pages turning, quills scratching against parchment and the occasional outburst from a student who was failing to understand what they were supposed to study. Y/N was pretty sure a few sixth years had made some galleons selling 'brainpower snack boxes' and 'thought enhancing remedies' to these poor desperate souls.

But she wasn't ready to judge, if it wasn't for Remus Lupin she would probably be one of those desperate souls selling their life for a bottle of brain power.

"That literally makes no sense." Y/N stated, her eyes fixed on her close friend. "Like, at all."

"It makes perfect sense, Y/N." Remus sighed, shaking his head slightly in amusement.

"But how!?" She cried in frustration.

Remus, somehow remaining calm in the stressful atmosphere that seemed to hang around every single fifth year student at Hogwarts, patiently explained the parts that Y/N was struggling with.

Almost an hour later and the crease between Y/N's eyebrows had vanished and she was grinning happily, eyes lit up the way they always were when she'd accomplished something. "I get it now! Thank you so much Rems." The girl threw her arms around her friend. "You should take over from Binns, people might actually stay awake for an entire lesson for once." She chuckled and poked Remus' cheeks when a blush crept up on him.

"MOONY!" A voice called through the library, immediately followed by the hushings and the stern voice of Ms Pince telling the owner of the voice to "Be quiet or I'll drag you from my library by the ear."

"I take it your friends have found you." Y/N chuckled, slightly amazed that they'd been uninterrupted for so long.

"Not yet, maybe they'll bugger off. We haven't even gotten started on the Goblin Rebellions." Remus sighed, getting up to put away the book on Giant wars.

Y/N cleared up her notes and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, playing absentmindedly with her quill while she awaited her friend's return.

When he did reappear, a large volume tucked under his arm, he wasn't alone.

James Potter seemed to have been the one to call for him and was now following the poor lad, hounding him for something no doubt. Y/N gritted her teeth, why did it have to be him. Any of Remus’ other friends she could have dealt with; Peter, with his quiet nature, was easy to get along with. Black, although he was a horrid flirt, could often be great company. But James freaking Potter was, without a doubt, the most irritating, big-headed arse to walk the halls of Hogwarts.

And the feeling was mutual, as soon as Remus had returned to his seat and James had noticed Y/N's presence the energetic grin faded from his lips, replaced by a flat look of annoyance.

"James."

"Y/N."

"Can we help you with something?"

"You can't, my friend can," James said childishly and turned his full attention to Remus. "Moony, I need your help with something."

"Yes, Prongs?" Remus smiled in his usual sweet and patient manner.

"Word is Ravenclaw have a new seeker but no one is saying who. I figured, seeing as you obviously have connections in Ravenclaw," James shot a quick, accusatory glance at Y/N as if it was her fault his friend was talking to people outside his own house. "Maybe you can do some digging and find out for me before the match this weekend. Pads and I have a little…. Initiation planned for him."

"What makes you think it's a him?" Y/N interjected, eyebrow raised as she glared at James.

"Hah, yeah, that's cute Y/N. Hilarious, really."

"Excuse you? What's so funny about a girl being on the Quidditch team?"

"Girls don’t like Quidditch as much as boys! They don't even know the rules!"

Y/N's eyes narrowed angrily. "Rule 1. Players may not cross the boundary lines of the pitch but are permitted to fly as high as they want. The Quaffle must be turned over to the opposing team if a member of said team breaks this rule. Rule 2. Timeout can be called by the team captain and can be as long as two hours only if the match has gone for more than twelve hours. Rule 3. Penalties are taken by a single chaser flying from the central circle toward the scoring area. Only the Keeper may try to prevent a penalty shot. Shall I continue or are you satisfied?"

"Impressive, and where did you read that, little miss bookworm?" James snickered and Remus looked at Y/N, an apologetic look gracing his gentle features.

"Prongs, leave her alone."

James rolled his eyes but obliged. "So will you help me?" He asked Remus impatiently.

"Mate, you just offended my only Ravenclaw friend who might actually know." Remus chuckled and started reading his book. "Ask her yourself." He added with a sneaky smile.

James' head turned to Y/N so fast it surprised her that he didn't get whiplash. "You're on Ravenclaw's team?"

"Don't sound so surprised." Y/N spat, beginning to pack away her things. It was obvious she wasn't going to get much more studying done now.

"B-but… How!?" James spluttered, disbelief written all over his face.

"Remus, I'll see you later yeah?" Y/N, ignoring James, addressed her friend who nodded distractedly, eyes skimming the pages of the book.

"Yeah, laters love." He murmured, not fully aware of his surroundings as he lost himself in his studies, completely ignoring James as he hounded his friend for information.

Many hours later and the interrogation still hadn't ceased. "Moony, c'mon you know her! Just ask her who the new seeker is." James begged his friend, who was finding it increasingly more difficult to enjoy his dinner what with James flicking peas at him and whining every few minutes.

"What's this?" Sirius, having just finished a detention with Peter, plopped into the empty spot beside James and started piling food onto his plate whilst listening to his friend.

"Moony knows someone on the Ravenclaw team but he won't help me find out who the seeker is." James pouted as Peter squeaked a hello and took his usual seat on Remus' side.

"Who?"

"Y/N freaking Y/L/N." James groaned. "Who could believe it right? That bookworm being on any kind of sports team." His eye flickered over to the Ravenclaw table briefly and found her. Hair windswept, her nose and cheeks red from the cold icy winds outside. She'd just come back from Quidditch practice, there was no other explanation for her appearance.

Which meant the new seeker would have been there too! James stood up in his seat, knocking the table and disturbing a goblet of pumpkin juice, and scanned the Ravenclaw table for all the students who looked like they'd just come inside from the cold weather.

"Prongs? Prongs!"

"What?!" James snapped, eyes falling to Sirius who looked amusedly up at him.

"You're obsessed mate. Just go ask her yourself."

"I can't." James sulked, sitting down hard on the bench and pouting. He wasn't used to not getting his way. "She hates everything about me." His arms folded on the table and he buried his head in them.

Sirius threw his head back and let out a loud bark of laughter. "I can't tell what's upsetting you more, the fact that you don't know who the new seeker is or the fact that Y/N doesn't like you."

James' head snapped up indignantly. "Shove off! I don't give a rat's arse about Y/N's emotions. I want to know who that damn seeker is so I can figure out the best way to beat him!"

"Prongs, you really can be so thick sometimes." Remus said with a laugh and continued with his dinner, a sly smile playing on his lips.

"GODRIC, HE KNOWS WHO THE SEEKER IS!" James screeched, drawing the attention of everyone around him.

"Mate, calm down, you look like you're about to shit yourself." Sirius said worriedly.

"Do you? Know who the seeker is?" Peter asked Remus.

"Obviously." He replied in a tone that implied it was rather obvious.

"Why would you say that?" Sirius sighed, glancing at James nervously. The boy was practically vibrating with anticipation, a wild gleam in his hazel eyes as he waited expectantly for Remus to share the news.

"I'm not telling you."

James froze, all the light fading from his eyes. "Why not?" He whined.

"Because I promised not to."

"So? Friends don't keep secrets from their friends!"

"Friends also keep promises to their friends and I promised I wouldn't tell."

"You promised to help me find out who the new seeker was!"

"I never made any such promise."

James sunk down into his seat and resumed his former position of burying his face in his arms. "Life is so unfair." He mumbled, much to the amusement of his friends. "Y/N is somehow a respected member of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Remus is keeping secrets from us. Lads, it's the bloody apocalypse I swear."

Sirius patted James on the shoulder before ignoring his friend completely and chatting away with the other boys at the table. The three of them were used to James' bouts of moping when he didn’t get his way and had decided a long while ago that the best way to deal with it was to simply ignore the problem.

The next few days passed by agonizingly slow for James' liking and it was spent with him constantly jumping Remus with questions about the Ravenclaw seeker in an attempt to catch him off guard.

But he was annoyingly stubborn, wouldn't let any information slip.

No one knew who the seeker was, Ravenclaw's team had somehow managed to keep it a secret for the entire week, it seemed like Remus was the only non-Ravenclaw who knew the big secret. James and Sirius had snuck down to the pitch under cover of the invisibility cloak a few times to watch the practice but the horrible weather had obscured their vision, it was impossible to tell whether the dark shapes flying around were people or birds.

Friday dragged on slowly until it was the night before the match and the four Marauders were sprawled out on their favourite couches in the deserted Gryffindor common room with bottles of fire whiskey each. It was tradition to get James drunk the night before a match or he would never get any sleep what with his mess of nerves and excitement.

"I jus- I don't see why you can't t-tell me." James bumbled, hiccupping slightly in his intoxicated state and stretching out in his armchair, swinging his legs over the armrest and head lolling over the other side.

"Even if I told you now I'm not so sure you'd remember it." Remus said in amusement, watching James attempt to take another sip of his drink and end up pouring half of what was left on his face.

He blinked in confusion, wondering why his face was cold and his bottle was empty, as Sirius fell off his couch in fits of loud drunken laughter. Peter, the soberest one of them all, rolled over on the floor to face Remus. His feet swinging wildly in the air as he rested on his front, cupping his chin in his palms and looking up at the boy.

"Hey Moony, I've been thinking…. About who Ravenclaw's seeker is."

"Mmmm?"

"Is it-"

"SHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell Prongs." Sirius snickered, crawling back onto his couch and slopping some of his drink onto the floor.

Peter got up and loudly whispered something into Remus' ear which Sirius, being seated beside Remus, managed to hear.

"NO! THERE IS NO WAY IT'S-"

"Yes, it is." Remus interrupted Sirius' rant. "And you're not going to tell anyone, are you?

"Holy…"

"I knew it." Peter grinned triumphantly.

"Ok, n-now you guys are just being mmmean."

"Oh hush up Prongsie." Sirius hiccuped and downed the rest of his firewhiskey. "You'll find out in the morning."

"Can you tell me now?" James begged his friends as they walked down to the pitch. Three out of four of the Marauders were in their usual Gryffindor robes and the other was in his scarlet red Quidditch gear.

"You're going to find out in exactly twelve minutes." Peter pointed out.

"That's twelve minutes of not knowing!"

"You've survived an entire week, you can go a bit longer." Remus reasoned.

The group split up when James left them to go to the Gryffindor change room where the rest of his team was, all of them in an uproar about Ravenclaw's new seeker.

"Who is it? Did anyone get a look at Ravenclaw's team?"  

"Potter! Did you find out who the seeker is?"

James glowered and said that he had no clue who the seeker was.

"The match starts soon so I guess we'll find out on the pitch. We've practised for this, it doesn't matter who their seeker is, we're still going to destroy them!" The captain's voice sounded loud and clear, soothing the team's worries.

The captain, Royce King, was part Veela, which helped when he was named captain. James would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of the attention Royce got so effortlessly but he couldn’t deny that the guy was a phenomenal chaser who had certainly earned his position.

The team grabbed their broomsticks and headed out onto the pitch. The Ravenclaw team was already out there and in the place where the seeker should be….

"No… You're kidding me," James exclaimed. "Y/N freaking Y/L/N?!" And in that moment, James finally understood every single one of the subtle hints Remus had been dropping all week. Finally understood how much of an idiot he really was.

Of course it was her! She met his infuriated glare with a wave and a dazzling smile that stunned him. How dare she add to his humiliation by even managing to make the horrible Quidditch gear look less horrible when she was smiling at him like that. His distraction made him miss the whistle by a second and by the time he had risen to the air, everyone else was already in motion and Y/N... She flew beautifully. It no longer shocked James that she had been chosen as seeker, the only shock was that it hadn't happened sooner.

A Bludger flew right past his face, barely brushing his nose and reminding James that he was floating hundreds of feet in the air because he was here to win. With his mind half on the game and half on Y/N as she darted past in a blur of blue and silver, James flew into the fray.

"Twenty minutes into the match and this is the third time Potter has crashed into another player. Folks, I think it's safe to say that Gryffindor's golden boy is turning silver after this performance." The commentator's voice boomed across the pitch

Y/N smiled to herself, eyes scanning the pitch for 'Gryffindor's golden boy' and spotted him across the field looking dazed as if he couldn't quite figure out where he was.

A very distinctive difference from his usual attitude on the field. "Who knew I could have this kind of effect on you, Potter." Y/N called as she flew past him.

"Shove o-" His words were cut off with a low grunt of pain.

"AND POTTER IS KNOCKED OFF HIS BROOM BY A WELL AIMED BLUDGER FROM RAVENCLAW'S BEATER! NICE SHOT HUDGENS!"

Y/N spun her broom around and dove after James without a second thought. Other players had also flown after the falling boy but none had been as close as Y/N. She reached out her hand and grabbed his, slowing their descent until they his feet touched the ground.

The second James' toes hit solid ground he released Y/N's hand and stumbled away from her. "Don't do that!" He said angrily.

"Do what? Save your life? Are you too proud to admit that you were saved by a girl?" And before he could form any kind of response she kicked off the ground and flew back into the game.

"I'll show you 'too proud'. Accio broomstick!" The fallen broom flew into his outstretched hand and he was off, this time flying with a newfound determination. Their brief interaction reminded James that no matter how angelic Y/N might appear to be, she was still the most annoying, stuck-up brat in the entire school.

And he was determined to beat her.

"James Potter is back in action! It seems like all Potter needed was a good life-threatening situation to find his talent and boy is he using it! King passes the Quaffle to Potter who- WHAT A GOAL! POTTER IS BACK PEOPLE!"

Y/N listened to the match play-by-play while she scanned the pitch for any sign of the gold flash that came with the Snitch. She watched James Potter fly around with the usual confidence he held when playing Quidditch, catching the Quaffle and darting past players and Bludgers with ease – one of the very few things she admired him for. And then there it was, flitting past the Gryffindor goals. The Golden Snitch.

The Gryffindor seeker was watching Y/N closely so she didn't let on that she'd found the snitch. Instead, she began a straight downward dive.

"IT LOOKS LIKE Y/L/N HAS SEEN THE GOLDEN SNITCH AND PATRICK IS HOT ON HER TAIL!"

The ground flew toward the girl, closer by the second. At the last minute, she pulled up and shot along the grass toward where she could still see the snitch still flittering about. A crash and a scream signified that Patrick had hit the ground, hard. "MERLIN'S BEARD, Y/N PULLS OFF A PERFECT WRONSKI FEINT AND, IS THAT? IT IS! SHE HAS CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH! THE MATCH IS OVER! RAVENCLAW WINS 230 TO 90!"

"I hate her," James growled, his hand clutching his broomstick so tightly that his knuckles were turning white as he watched the cheering crowd of Ravenclaws carry Y/N back up to the castle. The other Marauders were trailing behind their leader, quietly laughing, while he stormed through the change rooms in a rage. "Gryffindor hasn’t lost a match since I joined the team. And now this…. Bookworm is somehow allowed to play and the entire order of things is lost."

"You mean the order where you always come out on top?" Peter asked with a silent laugh.

"YES!"

"I think Y/N was allowed to play because she's good." Remus remarked, thoroughly enjoying his friend's distress. "Did you see how she was flying?"

"That… wasn’t good that was luck." His voice raised a few octaves higher than his normal tone. "Pure. Beginners. Luck." He muttered, walking faster. He threw his broomstick in with the others and changed his clothes furiously.

"You seem tense." Sirius commented when James ripped his undershirt in his rush to change.

James went on as if he hadn't heard Sirius' remark, clearly meant to upset him further. "She cheated. It's the only explanation. I don't know how but she did and I'm going straight to Dumbledore with this. She must've enchanted her broom or-or conjured up a fake Golden Snitch to pretend to catch. I'll bet she even bewitched that Bludger that knocked me off my broom!"

"You're being an idiot," Remus said. "You know she won fair and square now hurry up and change, you need to go straight to the hospital wing."

"I'm fine." James snapped, yanking on his shirt and storming out, leaving his friends behind.  

Three days later found James Potter roaming the night darkened halls of Hogwarts under the safety of his invisibility cloak. He usually preferred to leave his studying to the unnoticed hours so he could be alone but recently he'd taken to doing nearly everything after hours. Everywhere he went people were talking about the 'incredible' match on Saturday and how Y/N had pulled off the perfect Wronski Feint on her incredibly lax school issued broomstick.

James was sick of it. Every time he saw her she was practically glowing from the praise and the attention. Remus had chalked it down to jealousy and ignored any other conversation about his new BFF.

Sirius and Peter had suggested humiliating her with a surprise hex to turn her teeth blue 'In honour of Ravenclaw spirit' as Sirius had put it but James wanted nothing more than to ignore her very existence.

Something that proved to be very difficult, she was EVERYWHERE. On the posters people had hung up around school, apparently someone had gotten pictures of her catching the Snitch, of her pulling out of the Wronski Feint and letting Patrick hit the ground (an injury he was still recovering from) and some idiot had thought it would be brilliant to plaster pictures of her 'saving' James' life, as if he couldn't have gotten back on his broomstick if he wanted to.

Her face was everywhere he went.

Even, it seemed, in the very back corner of the library where James had intended to hide in at the dead of night. He'd been hoping for some time alone to study in peace without having to hear about stupid Y/N and yet there she lay, sprawled out on a pile of pillows, reading a thick book by wandlight.

"Are you serious!" James snapped, forgetting that she couldn't see him.

"Stupefy!" The spell hit its mark and sent James crashing into the wall and the cloak sliding to the floor. Pain rippled through his back, setting off his bruised ribs from where he'd been hit by that stupid Bludger during the match.

"BLOODY HELL! STOP ATTACKING ME!"

"Oh, Merlin I am so sorry!" Y/N rushed over to him and tried to help him up only to be shoved back.

"And stop helping me!" The girl stood back and watched him struggle to his feet, wincing each time he did.

"I'm really sorry, you just came out of nowhere and I'm usually alone when I come here and I couldn't see you so it was like a reflex in case you had bad intentions and I am so, so sorry." Y/N rambled on, fading to a whisper when she noticed the dirty look he was giving her.

"If I didn't come here with bad intentions I certainly have them now." He spat, moving to pick up his cloak and wincing again in pain. Stupid Y/N with her stupid timing and her stupid face.

"Sweet Rowena, I really hurt you didn't I?" Y/N watched his progress, regret written all over her face.

"No. I'm fine." James stated, too proud to admit how much pain he was really in but Y/N was having none of it.

"You're lying, come sit down until you feel better." She helped him over to her pile of pillows and settled him in carefully, ignoring his angry refusals.

"Can't you just leave me be!" James snapped.

"You're the one that snuck up on me!"

"And you shot me!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't fix my bloody ribs now does it!"

Y/N winced. "Are you badly hurt? Do you want me to get a healer?"

"I'm fine." James snapped then immediately regretted being so harsh. "It's not your fault." He admitted in a quiet voice, despite not wanting to believe a single word it.

"It's at least 20% my fault."

"Only 20! It's 80% your fault!"

"You really do complain a lot, don't you?" Y/N sighed. "And would you mind being a little quieter, I've no intentions of being caught out of bed at these hours."

"Why are you out of bed so late? I'd have thought that goody-two-shoes Y/N was too afraid to break any kind of rule."

"What I'm doing here is none of your business."

James raised an eyebrow and gave her a charming smile. "I'll tell if you do?"

She pondered this for a moment, before agreeing. "Only if you go first."

"I asked first!"

"If you don't tell, I won't either so what'll it be, Potter?"

James sighed in defeat. "I came here to study. Now spill."

"Promise you won't laugh."

"Heavens woman, what more do you want from me."

"Promise!"

"Alright, alright, I promise not to laugh now tell me."

Y/N took a deep breath as if she was about to tell him some horrendously embarrassing secret. "I come out here after hours to read."

"You're joking? That's the big secret?"

Y/N nodded once. "That's it."

"What are you reading?"  

"Nothing you'd be interested in." She said too quickly, sliding the book out of James' reach.

James reached for his wand. "Acc-" Y/N's hands flew to cover his mouth, accidentally punching him in the face.

"OW!"

"I'M SORRY! It's just, do you even realize how stupid that spell would have been? You were going to summon a random book you don't know the name of in a library. Can you imagine the disaster that would cause?"

"You punched me in the face!"

"It was an accident!"

"Stop injuring me!"

"I can't help it!"

A thud echoed through the library, making both of them fall silent. James pulled a piece of parchment covered in a map from his pocket, a new creation he and his friends had recently made, and scanned it quickly before putting it away. When he looked up at Y/N to assure her that it was nothing his mind seemed to blank when he looked into those Y/E/C eyes. How could one girl do that to him? Instead of saying anything he found himself taking in every detail.

"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain."

James blinked and the spell was broken. "Probably because someone threw me into a wall not ten minutes ago."

"You said you were fine!"

"I'm not!"

"Oh I'm sorry, did I damage your delicate ego or something?"

"Now that you mention it, yes!"

While he ranted, James leaned toward Y/N who seemed to be too annoyed to even manage to look at him. His fingers ran along the cold floor searching for…. Got it!

He whipped the book from behind Y/N and held it out of reach as she tried to grab it. "James! James give it back!"

"Not until you tell me why you're reading..." He paused when he tried to read the title of the book, an opportunity for Y/N to snatch the book from his hands and hold it securely against her chest, glaring at him as if daring the boy to try and steal her book again. "That's from the restricted section, no wonder you're reading it in the middle of the night." He laughed and dodged Y/N's attempt to clobber him over the head with the thick volume.

"You promised not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry but, Godric, what a joke, leave it to you to risk expulsion for a damn book." James said amid his constant giggles, Y/N tried to look angry which lasted for only a few seconds before her own musical laughter joined his. It occurred to James that it was the first time he'd made her laugh, and even worse, he was actually beginning to enjoy her company.

Boring old bookworm, Y/N was proving to be more exciting than she let on.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Y/N asked when she'd stopped giggling like a small child.

"Only if you promise not to tell anyone about my secret."

"I don't even know any of your secrets."

James' lips spread into a soft smile without his noticing. "Okay, I'll tell you one so that we're even."

Y/N tilted her head, matching his smile with her own. Her actions only brought James' attention back to how stunning she truly was. "Yeah? It better be good."

"Oh, it is." He leaned in closer to her, heart racing in his chest. "My secret... is that I'm dying to kiss you right now."

Her breath hitched and those mesmerizing eyes darted down to his lips for just a second. "That's... an interesting secret." She whispered.

"May I?" He whispered, thoroughly enjoying the effect his words had on the girl as she visibly shivered. She leaned toward him slightly before gathering up her things and speaking rapidly again.

"You know it's getting really late and I-" James grabbed Y/N's wrist as she was about to stand, pulling her back down beside him and grabbing her chin gently so that she faced him, effectively cutting off her by kissing her.

The moment their lips connected James felt as if he'd left his body behind and he floated in and out of this newfound euphoria that came with kissing Y/N. The feeling of her lips moving against his could only be described as every single great moment of his life all compiled into one touch.

His hand moved up to tangle itself in her soft hair, wanting nothing more than to feel her against him.

Then it was over, far too soon, as Y/N pulled away from their embrace. Her eyes were widened in shock. She squeaked out something about being tired before practically running off.

"Shi- Y/N! Wait!" His pain long forgotten, James picked up his cloak and bolted after her.

He ran out of the library and collided with someone in the hall who definitely was not Y/N.

The someone let out a triumphant laugh and grabbed James by the arm when he tried to dart off the other direction. "ANOTHER ONE!" Filch's voice cried out gleefully. "I hope you two enjoy detention."

"I can't believe the nerve of that boy! We hate each other, I mean I'd literally just stunned him and then he- he just…" Y/N trailed off mid-rant, suddenly caught up in the memories of that night. The softness of his lips… The feeling of his hands on her… Even the memory of how he'd looked was causing butterflies to wreak havoc on her appetite. Those brilliant eyes... His hair and the way it seemed so perfectly messy and how she had been aching to run her fingers through it...  

"Y/N?" Claire, a fellow Ravenclaw waved her hand in front of her friend's face in an attempt to snap her from her trance. "Y/N?"  

"What?" Y/N fell back from the memory and looked around frantically.

"Where did you go just now?" Claire asked. No one knew about the kiss, or at least Y/N hadn't told anyone.

She wasn't so sure if the same could be said for James because every time she walked past him and his friends they'd all start elbowing him and whispering things that were surely about her, a thought that set her anger off in flares, she was so annoyed at his very existence that she'd even been avoiding Remus on the off chance of running into James.

"Daydreaming, sorry, I didn't get much sleep." Which wasn't completely false, Y/N had had a hard time getting sleep lately.

"Stress?" Claire said sympathetically.

"Something like that…" In truth, her dreams had consisted of nothing but James freaking Potter for the last two nights since their kiss. Dreams that always left her breathless when she woke up and thanking every deity she didn't talk in her sleep.

"Well, I would suggest we go study tonight but you have your detention." Claire sighed, her sympathy so obviously fake this time. Y/N knew very well how amusing the whole event was for her friend.

Y/N's first detention, Claire was treating it as if it was some kind of rite of passage. Claire's humoured expression was wiped away with one of barely hidden annoyance. "Potter alert." She hummed, nodding her head in the direction of the hall's entrance where, indeed, the Marauders had just walked in.

Three of the boys made their ways to their seats while one of them stopped to scan the hall. James was searching the place for someone, and Y/N had a sneaky feeling she knew who. Her suspicions were confirmed when Claire squeaked in surprise. "Why is he coming over here?!" She hissed.

"Merlin knows." Y/N muttered, suddenly finding her half-eaten dinner very interesting.

"Hey, Y/N. Claire." James sidled into the seat beside Y/N, effectively drawing the attention of the students sitting around them.

Barely hushed whisperings spread through the crowd like fiendfyre and soon enough the small trio had attracted the prying eyes of nearly everyone in the hall.

Brilliant. Y/N ground her teeth together in annoyance. If there was one thing she hated it was being the centre of false rumours, which was bound to happen after this meeting.

"Can I help you with something, Potter?" Y/N tried her best to keep her sight fixed on the plate before her but her eyes betrayed her and latched onto him like magnets, drinking in the sight before her. And boy was it a sight.

He had obviously just come inside from the rain because small droplets of water clung to his perfectly messy black hair – Y/N had to physically restrain herself from reaching over and smoothing it down – and a stray droplet of water was slowly making its way down his cheek. His cheeks were flushed and his hazel eyes were alight with an excited gleam. His clothes were ruffled like he'd thrown them on in a rush that morning.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that thing that we have." He replied in a cheery tone and helped himself to a chicken drumstick. He pointed his drumstick toward the door, an unspoken sign for her to follow him. There was no way in hell she was going anywhere alone with him, it'd just be another chance for him to besmooch her.

"Can't, sorry. I've got to go see Professor Slughorn about the potions O.W.L." She grabbed her bag and walked away as fast as possible, the second she was away from the prying eyes of her fellow classmates she broke out into a run.

In her rush to escape the great hall, Y/N had run to the other side of the castle before nearly collapsing from the aching stitch in her side. A glance at her watch had determined where she would go next, detention started in ten minutes. A whole hour she would get to spend in a classroom with Professor McGonagall and James and, hopefully, some other people would be there so she could place them between herself and the boy who seemed so desperate for her attention.

She reached the classroom with plenty of time to spare. As she walked in her heart dropped down to her stomach, not only were there no other students in the room but McGonagall herself wasn't present yet.

Y/N sat in her usual seat in the front of the class, right by the teacher's desk, and settled in for what was, no doubt, going to be a mind-numbingly boring hour. The door opened and Y/N didn't even have to look to know who it was.

"I'll see you after detention! Let ya know how it goes." James called to someone outside the room before the audible sound of the door swinging open marked his arrival.

Curse you, James Potter. The one time you arrive before the professor.

The door shut with the usual dull thud and then James was dumping his bag onto the desk and slouching into the empty seat beside Y/N.

What a surprise.

"You do realize there's an entire classroom of empty seats, right?"

James stared at her as if not understanding her point. "But none of them are next to you." He replied in that same damn cheery tone.

"That's kind of the point." Y/N muttered grouchily as Professor McGonagall finally arrived.

YN had never been so happy to see the woman.

"There will be no talking, no whispering, no humming, complete silence. You will write the following lines," A long paragraph appeared on the chalkboard at the wave of her wand. "Any complaining or tomfoolery," Her piercing gaze was fixed on James when she said this who simply smiled back sweetly. Sweet Rowena, it was cute. "And I will add another hour onto your detention. Understood?"

The pair nodded and so began Y/N's first detention ever. 

Only fifteen minutes of silence and the door burst open. "Professor! Come quick! Sirius Black and his friends have released the owls into the library and they need all the professors to help round them up!" She was up and out of the room the moment the student had mentioned Black's name.

"And she is McGonegall." Y/N muttered without thinking and was surprised when someone laughed loudly.

The boy beside her had been so quiet she'd completely forgotten he was there. "I'm going to kill Pads, that owl trick was my idea."

"If they ruin the library I'm killing you both."

"Relax, your precious library is safe." James snorted. "Remus would never let us do anything to harm his beloved books."

"At least one of you has some culture."

Instead of shutting up at the harshness in Y/N's voice, as she'd hoped, James simply smiled adorably again and shook his head out of amusement. "I can't believe I used to find you annoying, you're just too damn cute." Y/N blinked, completely at a loss for words. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that oh Godric." James ran a hand through his still damp hair. "I wanted to start this by saying I'm sorry for kissing you, I should have waited until you said it was okay or something. I completely misread the signs and I'm sorry."

His apology stunned her more than the compliment. "It's okay. You're surprisingly good at kissing anyway." She shrugged, turning her attention back to the lines they were supposed to be writing and hoping he would drop it.

"You liked kissing me?" A huge grin graced his features and Y/N hated the fact that when their eyes met he made her nervous. Of all the emotions she was used to feeling around James Potter (annoyance, anger, pure hatred and more along those lines) she had never felt nervous around him.

"I didn't say that." She said quickly. "Just that you're a good kisser."

"That's basically the same thing."

"Hardly."

"Will you go on a date with me?" Smash. Y/N had been dipping her quill in ink when James had blurted out the question, shocking her so much that her hand jolted and knocked the inkwell to the floor. Ink splattered their shoes and glass flew everywhere but all Y/N could think about was the words that had just come from James Potter's lips and he still wasn't finished. "I don't know how but in three days I've gone from hating you to something completely different and I really don't understand what the hell is happening. All I know is that I really enjoy being around you and arguing with you about silly little things and if you give me a chance I'm completely certain that you'll feel the same way."

"Are you… being serious?"

"No, I'm being James and I guess I'm asking the girl I like if she likes me too."

Y/N dropped her quill, moving on instinct, she grabbed James by the tie and kissed him. Once more his touch sparked fireworks behind her eyes, her entire body felt the way his lips moved against hers, felt the warmth of his hands as they pulled her closer. And this time she wasn't holding back, she finally ran her fingers through his hair just as she'd been dying to do for so long. James was the one to pull back this time, he had to, no longer being able to keep the huge smile off his face long enough to kiss her.

"That's a yes, by the way." Y/N whispered.

"Did it work?" Was the first thing Sirius said when James exited the classroom with Y/N following closely behind, the boy frantically signalled for his friend to shut up but it was too late.

"Did what work?" Y/N asked suspiciously, eyes darting between the two.

"Good luck." Sirius whispered to his friend before darting off like the amazing friend that he was.

"James?" Y/N crossed her arms, staring him down inquisitively.

James breathed out slowly and messed up his hair absentmindedly while he spoke. "Don't get mad… But theguysmayhavereleasedtheowlstogetMcGonagalloutofdetentionsothatwecouldbealonepleasedon'thurtme."

"In English, please?"

"The guys released the owls to get McGonagall out of detention so that we could be alone... Please don't hurt me." He winced as if preparing for Y/N to punch him but, to his absolute surprise, she laughed.

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