Someone Great, James S. Potter

XII

WITH DECEMBER CAME blizzards and cancelled classes, snowball fights and holiday decorations, and, most importantly, Hogsmeade dates. Stevie found herself in a familiar position she'd been in only a few weeks before: picking out an outfit for James to impress Sunny. She dug through James' trunk yet again, finding some warm but semi-formal clothes to wear. When she was done, she handed James the outfit for him to change into.

As he changed in the bathroom, Stevie wandered around the room, fixing his pillows, putting his clothes back in his trunk. She noticed how the entire room smelt so familiar; it smelt like him: firewood and the smell of outside, of fresh air almost. She was so carried away by it that she didn't notice James had reentered the room until he spoke.

"Hey, we're kind of matching," he said, pointing to Stevie's jeans and black jacket combination that matched his. The only difference between the two of them was Stevie's green knitted hat, gloves, and scarf and James' red and gold ones.

"Huh, I didn't notice," she said, smiling at him from across the room. "We better go, you don't wanna be late."

"Right, yeah," he said, letting Stevie exit first before closing the door behind him.

Sunny was waiting for them down in the common room. She looked amazing in black trousers and a thick, blue sweater with a thick jacket and scarf. She smiled when she saw James.

"Hey," she said, walking up to him. "Oh, hi," she said, seeing Stevie behind him.

"I was just looking for Freddie," she lied, not wanting Sunny to get suspicious. She knew her friend was quick to jump to conclusions at times and she didn't want to ruin this for James, even if a part of her was telling her to do so.

"He's with Otto," Sunny said, smiling again. "They left early."

"Right, well I'll leave you two alone," Stevie said, avoiding looking at James. She left as soon as she could. Whatever these feelings were that she had for James would have to stop, and it would be best if she just left James to hang out with Sunny and figure things out on her own. She had this sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized she wouldn't be seeing as much of James anymore. Just practices and Potions class.

Instead of moping around all day, Stevie decided to take herself out on a date to Hogsmeade. The first stop was Honeydukes where she got some Chocolate Frogs and Licorice Wands for her dad and a couple of Cauldron Cakes for herself. She went to Zonko's next where she saw Fred and Otto pointing at products and laughing. Only after she bought all of her friends gifts for the holidays, she made her way to Maestro's Music Shop.

The red façade of the building had always brought the curly-haired girl comfort. She glanced at the windows full of records, both Muggle and Wizard, and various instrument. Pushing open the door, she was greeted with the sound of a bell and an old man smiling at her from behind the counter.

"Ah, Ms. Wood, how nice to see you again," the man said, his cheeks red from excitement. Stevie smiled and said she felt the same before taking a look around the store she knew so well.

Instruments lined the walls, floating in midair, playing happy tunes. Bookshelves stood in rows in the middle of the store, containing dozens of bins of records. Stevie went straight to the third shelve in the middle column, looking through the various records. She'd made a promise to herself that she'd make her way through all the records in the store, taking out a few at a time and keeping the ones she liked. Mr. Maestro was more than happy about it. Stevie gave him more business than all the other Hogwarts students combined.

As Stevie was about to checkout, a certain record caught her eye, a record she already had: Solitude by Billie Holiday. She was consumed by this overwhelming feeling that she needed to get it for James, so she bought it before she could change her mind, making her way out of the store with a smile on her face at the thought of James' reaction.

_________

LATER IN THE week, Stevie received a letter from her dad saying that they'd be spending New Years with the Potters. She was a bit torn on if she should be excited or not. She was excited because that meant spending time with James, along with Albus, who she'd been talking to at meals from time to time. But spending time with James meant listening to him talking about Sunny. Stevie settled her nerves with the fact that Fred would be there to talk to if she got sick of James for a little bit.

But in order to get to New Years, Stevie would have to survive the last week before winter break, a week full of studying and writing essays and taking tests. Stevie found it surprising that she'd only failed one test out of the five she'd had to take.

"Good evening," Professor McGonagall said the night before the holiday break. The Great Hall was packed with every student and staff member in the school. Stevie had found her spot with Albus and Scorpius, seriously third-wheeling at they flirted with each other during the duration of McGonagall's speech.

"Aren't you going to eat," Scorpius asked Stevie, snapping her out of whatever trance she was in.

"I've actually lost my appetite watching you two thirst over each other for the past fifteen minutes," she said.

"Oh, shut up," Albus said, rolling his eyes, but he still smiled. He passed Stevie the mashed potatoes he knew she loved so much. "Anyway, I heard you're staying with us for New Years?"

"Staying with you? I thought you were just having a party or something," Stevie said, choking on her potatoes.

"Oh, no," Albus said, smiling, "you've seriously underestimated how hard the Potter-Granger-Weasleys celebrate the holidays. It's a week long event. Everyone stays at our house the entire time—Christmas to New Years."

"Bloody hell," Stevie said, suddenly a bit nervous. "Won't it be a bit awkward. I don't want to like barge in on anything."

"My parents invited you," Albus reminded her. "Besides, there'll be so many people there nobody will even notice you."

"Sweet," Stevie said, rolling her eyes.

"It's the truth," Albus said. "They didn't notice when I snuck Scorpius into my room last year."

"How scandalous," Stevie said.

Albus smiled, shoveling another serving of vegetables onto his plate. "But it's insane. My grandma starts making food two days before and gets up at three am on Christmas Eve to prepare dinner..."

By the time Albus finished explaining all the details about the holidays with the Potter-Granger-Weasleys, Stevie had long lost her appetite and they were already at the Common Room. Stevie said goodnight to Albus and Scorpius before getting a long night's sleep she was sure she would not be getting over the holidays.

________

NOTE.

another double update bc I'm so generous