Someone Great, James S. Potter

V

SEPTEMBER HAD COME and gone, as had the days of sun and warmth, replaced by the crisp chill of the October wind. The first weekend that second month at Hogwarts had welcomed in a storm, mud replacing the luscious green grounds.

"That's check," said Otto, his hands folded on the table. The Great Hall was always crowded on rainy days like those, what with the lack of Quidditch and sunshine to keep everyone busy.

Sunny huffed, leaning her cheek in her hand, thin brows furrowed. "King to E4," she said, moving her hand to bite her knuckles.

Stevie watched as Sunny's King moved forward by itself, escaping the clutches of Otto's Knight. "I still don't understand. Why'd you only move that piece one space?"

"That's all it's allowed to do," said Otto, his eyes focused on the board.

"Seems a bit sad, doesn't it. Only being able to move one step at a time," said Stevie, sighing.

"Please, spare the philosophical questions until after I'm done kicking Otto's ass," said Sunny, sparing a glance over at the entrance at the hall. She grimaced. "Potter alert."

Stevie looked up to see James striding in her direction, looking extremely comfortable in a forest green sweater with a white J in the middle. Stevie pulled the sleeves of her own sweater down to clutch them in her fists.

"Hey," James said, stopping just a foot away from where Otto sat next to Stevie. Sunny was squinting at him from across the table. He gave her a quick, weak smile before focusing his gaze on Stevie, whose brows were furrowed in feigned confusion. "I was wondering if you'd like to work on that Muggle Studies project now—to just get it out of the way, y'know."

"Right," said Stevie," yeah. I'll see you guys later?"

Both Sunny and Otto gave hesitant nods before returning to their game, though James still had one more thing to say.

"Sunny," he started, his voice starting off an octave to high,"practice is, uh, cancelled, by the way."

"I figured," said Sunny, her finger playing with the top of her Queen.

"Cool," he said, pursing his lips. "I like your hair, by the way...the braids are nice."

Sunny's eyes widened a bit before nodding, her eyes focusing back on the board. Stevie had to kick James' heel to get him to turn around and walk.

"Smooth," she said, smiling. "Y'know, I think you're fine without my help. You're practically a professional!"

"Funny," said James, rolling his eyes.

"I'm just surprised you know what a braid is," said Stevie, "Otto used to call them trists—like a twist but with three strands."

"Ah," he said, "My mum taught me how to braid Luna's hair so I could help her get ready for school when she was out of the country for games—my Dad was hopeless at it." He laughed, remembering how Lily would have to go to school with her hair in knotted twists.

"Hm," said Stevie, "where are we going, anyway? There's no way we can practice with the rain."

"Maybe not, but we can read."

__________

THE ONLY OCCASIONS at which one could find Stevie in the Library were when there was a Potions exam coming up, when there was a Divination exam coming up, or when she was retrieving a sleeping Otto to get back to the Hufflepuff Dorms. Needless to say, it was quite the surprise to Stevie that she found herself not only reading in the library, but studying the game of Quidditch with James Potter on a day she could be spending in bed. Don't get her wrong, there was nothing wrong with reading, but Quidditch Through The Ages was not the most fascinating book.

"This is torture, absolute torture," said Stevie, tossing her head back dramatically.

"You can't get better if you don't know the history of the game," James said, pushing her head back down and pointing at the book.

"That sounded like a line from one of those corny high school sport movies we had to watch in Muggle Studies," said Stevie, propping her legs up on the table. She scooted her chair directly next to James' leaning sideways to balance herself on his shoulder.  "Why would I need to know the radius of a Snitch?"

"Just shut up and read," said James.

"Make me," she said, shutting the book and scooting her chair back to get up.

"Stevie, sit back down," said James, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't want to," she said.

James sighed and stood up, causing Stevie to take a few steps back. "You've left me no choice," he said, lunging forward. Stevie shrieked and ran, grabbing the blank page of paper James attempted to make her write notes on and crushing it into the ball.

"Woods has the Quaffle," she said, ducking under James' arm. "And she ducks Potter's pitiful attempt at a steal, and she's going, going, going..." Stevie ran forward, pulling her arm and aiming at a small gap between some of the books on the shelf in front of her. "And she shoots...!"

James ran after her, but it was too late: the wad of paper passed through the gap. Stevie threw her hands up in celebration, blowing raspberries at James.

"Ms. Wood, Mr. Potter..." James turned around to face Madam Pince, her deeply lined face set in a furious expression. "Out of my library, now!"

"Yes, Madam," said James, his head bowed. Stevie stifled a laugh as she hung her head. "Well, that was very productive."

"Yes, I've proved that I have spectacular aim," said Stevie, scooping up the book and catching up with James. "And you proved that you can act like a human being instead of a robot when talking to a person of the opposite sex."

"I did not act like a robot," James said, crossing his arms."

"Hi, Sunny. I. Like. Your. Hair," Stevie said flatly, miming a robot.

"I hate you," said James.

"Ah," she replied, "I'm not that bad."

_________

NOTE.

short & sweet

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