Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 14

*7th Year*

Mariya and James made it through the meeting without further incident, just. Mariya tried to keep herself distracted by repeating all the rules even though she was sure the prefects were well aware of their duties. She had been happy to see, once she had calmed down and looked around the compartment, that Regulus had been made a prefect that year. She knew it would be just the thing he needed to keep his head and enjoy the school year.

When they arrived, Mariya told James that they would go speak to McGonagall first thing the next morning, before moving to sit in a different carriage to him and Remus. She could hear Remus asking James what had happened before the fifth year student had interrupted to make them join the rest of the group, though she didn't catch any of James's reply.

She sat by herself at the feast and was pleased to see Regulus pretending to enjoy the meal with his other friends, though she could tell that his expression was faked. They had not exchanged any letters over the holidays so Mariya had no idea what had happened to him or what his parents had made him do. Even worse, they wouldn't be able to talk the next morning as she was going with James to talk to Professor McGonagall.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to see Regulus to tell him this, Mariya - once back in her own room - sent a patronus to him, informing him that she would not be able to see him but that she should be available the next morning if he wanted to talk.

When Mariya woke the next morning, it took her a moment to remember that she was back at Hogwarts and that she needed to get out of bed and get ready. Thanks to the only window leading onto the Black Lake, it was nigh impossible to determine what time of day it was, so Mariya managed to shower and get dressed, dry and style her hair using magic, and write a short letter to her parents telling them about James, before she glanced at the clock and realised that it was only six o'clock so she had probably woken around five o'clock. She tipped back her head, scrunching her nose in irritation - there was nothing worse than waking early only to find that you didn't need to be awake that early. Better yet, she was now too awake to go back to bed even if she wanted to, so she left her dormitory and started walking to the kitchens in the knowledge that the hall probably wouldn't have food in it for another hour but the house elves were always happy to oblige when it came to food.

She ran a finger through her hair, which was hanging loose around her shoulders, before tickling the pear on the painting before her and waiting as the door swung open. She climbed through, her heeled black clicked gently against the stone floor as she crossed to sit at one of the tables. Her school uniform was elegant as she hadn't put on her robes reckoning that - with the warm weather and the fact that she wasn't yet going to classes - she didn't need them.

A house elf offered her a cup of coffee and a plate, telling her that she could help herself to whatever she wanted. Mariya picked up a few pastries along with a couple of banana pancakes and sat to eat, deciding that she had plenty of time before she needed to find James Potter.

It turned out in the end that she didn't need to go and find him as - after only fifteen minutes of her entering - the door opened again to reveal the boy himself. He did not look quite so put together as Mariya did, with mussed hair and dishevelled clothing; shirt half tucked into his trousers with the top few buttons undone, tie not done up at all, and only one shoe laced up. Mariya realised that she couldn't remember if he always looked this way or if he just took a while to wake up in the morning - her guess was that it didn't get much better than this.

He blinked slowly at the house elf who was offering him steaming mug and an empty plate.

"The polite thing to do, would be to take them." Mariya called sarcastically across the room and Potter turned his gaze to her for a second before taking the items from the house elf, who smiled brightly at him.

"Right... right. Thanks Tassy." Mariya knew then that James Potter was not awake as he did not respond to what she had said with a scowl or a joke. Indeed he hadn't replied at all, just done what she had suggested.

"You all right, Potter?" Mariya raised an eyebrow at the boy.

He yawned, "Not used to being up this early. Remind me why I am again, would you."

"You are awake because we are going to go complain to Minnie about the fact that she partnered us as Head Boy and Head Girl."

"And why are we doing that?" Potter must be completely out of it if he couldn't remember why they wouldn't work well together.

"Because you cursed me in our fifth year and we haven't spoken since."

James had the good grace to look guilty, "I didn't mean to, I was aiming for Snivellus."

"That doesn't make it any better." Mariya said giving him a consoling pat on the shoulder, "And you didn't exactly stop when you realised you had hit the wrong person. Besides, you hate Slytherins and I am a Slytherin so that isn't a great basis for a good partnership."

James nodded his head in understanding before picking up his plate and standing from the table, "Well I suppose we should go then. After all Minnie is already awake."

Mariya frowned in faux confusion - she knew he would have looked at the map to determine this but he didn't know that she knew about the map - before asking, "How do you know that?"

James grinned mischievously, "I have my ways." He said, clearly enjoying knowing something she didn't even if, technically, she did.

Mariya stood too and offered her plate to the house elf who immediately ran up to take it from her, "Well, I suppose we should hope that your ways are correct, otherwise we will have a very angry cat on our hands and I don't really want to know what that woman is like when she is properly angry."

Exiting the room through the painting, they began to make their way towards Professor McGonagall's office hoping that the woman would have some answers to their questions.