Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 7 - "There May Be Plot Twists"

The eighth of December was a Tuesday. Rose had classes but was in no mood to attend them, so once she had visited the Hospital Wing and 'borrowed' a hangover potion from Madam Pomfrey's store cupboard, she retreated to the Astronomy Tower with a pot of ice cream.

She stabbed at it viciously with her spoon, and heard a chuckle behind her.

"What did the ice cream do to you?"

Rose didn't look up.

"Now this feels rather familiar," James commented as he sat beside her. The exposed sky was streaked with orange and pink as the winter sun set. "Got any for me?" He asked, looking over at her ice cream.

"Get your own Potter." She still didn't look at him, staring down at the pot in her lap. "How did you find me? Besides, shouldn't you be off somewhere pretending not to be in love with my sister?"

James ignored the first question. "Why do that when I could be here not pretending with my newest best friend?" Rose didn't respond, and his voice turned more gentle.

"Hey, look. If any of us said something last night- I'm sorry."

Rose laughed bitterly. "You think this is to do with you? Wow you Gryffindors really are egocentric."

James almost protested at that, but then he looked at Rose. He cupped her face in his hands, and she startled slightly as he gently wiped her tears away.

"Oh." She said quietly. "I- I didn't realise I was- nevermind."

"Look, whatever it is, you can tell me." James offered. "You don't have to, not if you don't want to, but... I'm here."

They sat in silence for a while, side by side, staring out at the darkening sky.

It had been quiet for so long that James almost jumped when Rose began speaking.

"When I was little, in muggle school, I never had many friends. I just had Lily really, and we were so close. Even though Tuney hated us, she hated us together. Then Snape came along and she started spending more time with him - I never liked him, I thought he was a creep - and then she went off to Hogwarts and left me entirely."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"I met Tina and Matthew on the train and they were my first proper friends. I was so happy when we were all sorted into Slytherin together. Lily came home and told me all about Hogwarts, but she never told me about the blood purists and how we were looked down on for something so entirely insignificant, something we had no control over. I guess she just wanted to protect me, or maybe she hadn't been fully exposed to it at that point, but as soon as I was sorted, without me even knowing why, practically my entire house looked down on me for being muggleborn, and the other houses hated me for being a Slytherin."

She looked at James for the first time. "It took two years, for Matthew to stop saying mudblood by accident." James grimaced. Although he himself hadn't been raised to use that word, Sirius had, and he had taken a while to stop using it too.

"I know he never meant it like that, but it hurt. Every time he said it so casually it felt like a small stab in the chest. Sometimes he didn't even realise he'd said it. And that was my friend. My best friend." She paused again.

"They were always there for me though, no matter what. When Lily and I had that gigantic argument in second year, they were the ones I ran to. When I realised I was bisexual in third year, they were the first people I told, and when they each found that label too and embraced it, I was there to celebrate with them both."

Rose swallowed. Her voice was quiet, and a little hoarse, when she began talking again.

"We have this little tradition where on each of our birthdays, we take the day off. We skip lessons, hide in the passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor and eat cake and ice cream all day." She looked down at the half-melted pot in her lap. "We found it in our first year, and we've had some of our best times there..."