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A FULL WEEK HAD PASSED, and James Potter was no closer to ending the Ice Age that Aisling Burke had brought about. Try as he did to talk to her, she was relentless. When the week of Halloween had arrived, with Sirius' birthday party planned for the coming Saturday, James had just about given up.
Giving up was not something Amos was steadfastly going to allow.
James was accosted by the Hufflepuff in the hallway, and had he not been against causing a scene the Potter boy would have laid Amos out for the way in which he was practically shoved into the boy's bathroom. Letting out a sigh as he noticed the frustration upon Amos' expression, James rolled his eyes and prepared for whatever litany he was about to receive.
"What the fuck, lad?" Amos huffed. "Erin is after telling me she's not going to Sirius' birthday with me because of what happened between you and her sister! She's refusing to go near you lot because of it! Why the hell have you not fixed things yet?!"
James ground his teeth to keep his temper at bay. As the weeks had passed, his indifference to the Diggory boy had now become full-fledged dislike. Not for the first time, he was beginning to regret ever getting involved in their deal.
Exhaling through his nose, James threw his hands up before letting them smack back down against his thighs. "You know what? I'm sick of this little game. Go to the party or don't go, I don't give a fuck. Our first Quidditch match is next week, I'm still playing on a shit broom and frankly I can't be bothered any longer, she's the most stubborn girl I've ever met."
Amos' eyes flashed with terror, the idea of actually losing out on James' cooperation would completely shatter his entire game plan with Erin. They had one date. One magnificent day spent together and it hadn't been enough. Erin wouldn't be convinced to go against her father's wishes for a boy she still barely knew!
Scrambling in his pockets frantically, he unveiled a velvet pouch of coins and offered it in James' direction. "Not even for fifty galleons?"
James' eyes practically bulged out of his head. Fifty galleons! He would be a quarter of the way closer to the price of a brand new broomstick, all for one single date. Images of brandishing a shiny new flying instrument and whizzing through the air to bring his team to glory passed through his mind, James easily slipping into a daydream. He imagined how the Quidditch cup would feel in his hands, not having felt it since they had won in his fourth year. And even then it hadn't been under his captainship, this victory would taste all the more sweet.
His rising grin soon fell as he was snapped from his thoughts at the realisation of what it would mean to accept the money. It would mean trying to get Aisling back in his good books to take her as a date to the party, and suffering from the same guilt he had been consumed by in Hogsmeade. James felt tortured.
It was as if the two sides of his brain warred with the other - the more rational side warned against such a decision, because deep down James knew what he was doing was wrong. Then there was the selfish side, the one that seemed a little louder than the other. It reminded him of the state his current broom was in, how it would only be one night - he could figure out how to make up the rest of the cost later. It also reminded him of the fact that all in all, despite his later guilt, James had actually enjoyed his time with Aisling and it hadn't felt like a chore.
