Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER EIGHT. five points to ravenclaw. ( paper crane no. 796. )
MUCH TO HER SURPRISE, James stuck to his word and left Mint alone for the rest of the week.
At first, she was grateful for the space. She had desperately needed it — especially after the little escapade he had pulled just days before, leaving her mind cloudy and confused. With her emotions tangled in a tight knot her nimble hands could not undo, the last thing she needed was him near. She needed time to sort herself out. Pull herself together and figure out where she and James Potter stood in terms of forgiveness. Whether she did forgive him, honestly and truthfully.
The crane didn't help either. It just jumbled up her thoughts and made her question herself even more. The thing was, nobody had ever gifted her a crane before. Ever. Nobody had the gall to teach themselves how to construct a treasure of such complicity and bravely hand it to the face of the Crane Crafter; everyone just assumed she was the only one who made them and that was it. No ifs, no buts.
So by James' offering — should we say — she felt rather dumbfounded and taken back by such a daring gift.
Impressed, too.
It was one hundred percent a James thing to do. Everything he did felt so out of the box and so... James. If he was to apologise to her, of course he'd do it in the most ballsy, shameless way possible. Even if that meant gifting her back one of her own treasures she'd been dishing out for other people since fourth year.
But that's exactly what made her doubt. Why? Why did he care so much about her feelings? Why had he taken it upon himself to learn and craft a paper crane — when anybody else wouldn't even of dared to think such a treacherous thought? Perhaps it was because she could give him something and that made her worthy of his attention, or perhaps it was because he thought she was the only one who stood with the power between the fate of him and the so-called love of his life. All these questions and Mint couldn't answer any of them. She just couldn't decipher James Potter and his mysterious ways. Why, why, why, why? It just couldn't fathom out.
Yet, that didn't stop Mint from being curious.
Twirling the small blue crane between her fingers — given to her by the same boy who'd made up eighty percent of her thoughts over the past week — she waited anxiously for the arrival of the four Gryffindor boys.
It was the first period of a dreary Friday morning where the houses of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw shared a Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the classroom usually roaring with more chatter than what was normal for a nine o'clock start. However, this particular morning, it was oddly quiet. Mint had set off from breakfast early in order to beat the crowds of students rushing to their lessons, preferring to enjoy her stroll - which pleased her heart too, as it didn't have to work as hard.
