he's the reason | james potter. remus lupin.

muggle studies

By dinner time, Shannon had cleaned herself up and no one would be able to tell that she had been crying over James Potter. She walked down the steps into the common room, surprised to see Lily and Marlene waiting for her.

"There you are, we've been waiting for you!" Marlene jumped up from the couch at the sight of her friend.

"You were asleep for a long time. Are you feeling okay?" Lily asked, looking at her friend in concern.

They must have come looking for her in the dorm after she had cried herself to sleep. She was relieved that they hadn't shown up earlier.

"Just tired after the practice." Shannon explained, walking out of the common room with them.

"Probably dreaming of Sirius Black." Marlene giggled, making Shannon stop in her tracks. She couldn't comprehend what her friend had just said.

"What?" She asked, looking at Lily to see if she was just as confused as her. Lily did not look confused, she just scoffed at Marlene.

"I told you, the rumors can't be true! Leave her alone." Lily shook her head.

This confused Shannon even more, but the three girls had slowly continued walking to the Great Hall. "There are rumors? About me and Sirius Black?" She questioned, wondering how this could have happened. Her and Sirius hardly ever talked.

"These Hufflepuff girls - I think Elizabeth was one of them. Anyway, they're going around telling people they saw you and Sirius together today. Apparently he threw his arms around you and kissed you after Quidditch practice was over. It's all very romantic, i hear." Marlene said, laughing when she saw the horrified look on Shannon's face.

"That's just - that's not true!" Shannon said, face reddening when she realized everyone would have heard this rumor by now. "He did put his arm around me after Quidditch practice." She added, looking even more horrified at Marlene's excited squeal. "It wasn't like that! I don't know why he does that. I think he's just making fun of me." She said, desperate for her friends to believe her.

"Everyone will move on to the next thing tomorrow." Lily said as they entered the Great Hall. Shannon knew it was probably in her head, but she felt the eyes of the whole school on her as they walked to their seats at the Gryffindor table. Shannon pointedly picked the seat beside Remus as it was the seat farthest from Sirius.

"Too shy to sit next to your new boyfriend?" Sirius called down to her, nearby students snickering.

"I can't believe this." Shannon said under her breath, but Remus heard her.

"I've told everyone who has asked me that it's not true. He just likes attention." Remus told her softly.

"Thanks." Shannon smiled at Remus, feeling slightly better. Lily was probably right, and this would all be forgotten very soon.

"I've been thinking. I'm going to ask Professor Dumbledore if I can pick up Muggle Studies." James announced to the group, looking very proud of himself.

Shannon immediately regretted showing up for dinner tonight. Sure, she might be hungry if she skipped dinner, but it might be worth it to not have to witness this. James remembered the wrong part of their conversation.

Sirius was the first one to react. "Mate, we're in Sixth Year. You should've started Muggle Studies with me years ago."

"It's an easy class." Peter agreed.

"What makes you think you can just pick up a class over a month into the year?" Remus interjected. "Has anyone ever done that?"

"No, they haven't." Lily said in agreement with Remus.

The group fell into a debate on whether this would even be possible for James. Most agreed that it was too late, but James made the argument that Dumbledore was always talking about how they should all know more about Muggles.

"Even if it were possible, you're too far behind on the material. You didn't even know what a movie was called." Shannon added to the conversation.

"Exactly why I should take it!" James said cheerfully, as if Shannon had been on his side. "Or maybe I can just learn about Muggles from a very pretty Muggle-born." He smirked at Lily.

"Girls, I'm about done with dinner." Lily said and stood up, Shannon and Marlene quickly getting up to follow her.

"Please Evans, I have so much to learn!" James called dramatically as the three left the Hall.

"He's so stupid." Shannon said angrily, mostly to herself. Lily and Marlene looked at her in shock.

"I'm inclined to agree, but I thought he was your friend?" Lily asked.

Shannon shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "He is." She sighed. "He's just trying to get your attention with this whole Muggle Studies thing. I doubt he's even going to ask Dumbledore."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's nothing new. I'm sure he'll get over it eventually."

~

Shannon was in the library by herself. It was not a Wednesday, but she had a lot of homework to catch up on. She didn't see anyone approaching her, but heard someone take the seat beside her. She expected to see Remus, but when she looked up it was James.

"Hi." Shannon said and then returned to her work. He eyes were glued to the page of her textbook, but she was hyper aware of the boy next to her.

"I messed up your advice." James said to her in a hushed tone. "She wasn't impressed with my interest in Muggle Studies."

Shannon resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She kept her eyes on the textbook as she answered. "I didn't advise you to take Muggle Studies."

"Yes, you did." He said simply back.

Shannon closed her textbook. She clearly would not be getting any more work done. "I think you misunderstood me. I told you she doesn't like being the center of attention. You asked her out, yet again, in front of all her friends."

"Ah." James said thoughtfully and leaned back in his chair. "I guess I did."

"Anyway..." Shannon said, finger tracing along her textbook as if she was going to get back to work.

"I have to talk to you about something else." James said in a hushed tone. Shannon knew not to get excited this time. She flipped her textbook open and found the page she had been on. She flicked her eyes back up to James for a moment to signal to him that she was still listening.

"One of my friends really likes you. He would kill me if he knew I was telling you this." Shanon was in the middle of writing a sentence and her hand stopped, hovering over the page.

"You're not going to say who?" She asked, carefully putting the quill down.

James grinned. "I think it's obvious. But just be nice to him, please?" He asked before leaving the library.

Shannon didn't have room in her head to think about who might like her. The only person she wanted to like her was James. Maybe, she tried to convince herself, James was actually the 'friend' he was referring to. Maybe he was too shy to tell her his feelings. She could only hope. She hoped so hard that she never even considered who else it might be.