Unforeseen Consequences ☞︎ A James Potter Fan Fic

{26} Getting To Understand The Plan

Holly and James were in a potions lesson, waiting for it to begin with every other Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. James had been sitting with Holly every time they had potions together since his birthday. Holly didn't understand it but she also didn't question it. She was enjoying be near him too much.

As one would gather, her crush was alive and roaring...

But Holly couldn't think about that right now! She needed to focus! For. Once. In. Her. Life. She needed to focus. Holly was not a potions master. Not a potions master by far. It was probably her worst subject out of all of them. So before class started, Holly had to make sure she studied to really understand Slughorns lesson to the full extent. But James on the other hand, got amazing marks in all his classes. Somehow, seeing as he never paid attention. Whilst Holly was trying to study, James went into a full fledged story about some harmless prank he and the Marauders pulled on a seventh year.

That had caught Holly's attention. She looked up at him, her hand waiting to turn the page as she raised a brow.

"Harmless?" She asked, effectively stopping James' rambling. He looked at her, mouth half-open when his expressed morphed into one of a prideful grin.

"Completely harmless. You proud?" He asks hopefully. Holly laughed lightly, not being able to not melt at the sparkle in his eyes.

"You should've already known to only do harmless parks, but yeah, I'm proud." Holly teases. James smiles and throws himself back into his story. Holly chuckles under her breath as she looks back down to the textbook, turning her page.

Holly keeps turning the pages as she massages her temple. How is she suppose to memorize all this?! Work had been piling up. It was sixth year after all. Next year were N.E.W.T.S. And Holly did not feel ready. Not even close. Along with all of Holly's school work, her stress had been piling up. Holly felt herself about to crack and she wished she had James's brain.... she didn't mean that.

The stress was definitely getting to her. She spent most of her time studying now-a-days. Her fear of failing and her fear of her mother and what she would do if Holly failed kept her up at night and haunted her when she did sleep.

Holly closed the book, almost slamming it before rubbing her hands over her face. She groaned in annoyance as lowly as she could as to not interrupt James' story. Brushing her fingers through her hair and opening up her eyes, she caught sight of Evans walking up to the front of the class and right towards Slughorn. Holly peered over to look at James. She was surprised to see him still talking. She looks back over to Lily and sees her carrying a fish to the Professor.

"We travels all the way to hogsmead to get it." Holly hears James faintly say.

With a renewed sense of interest, Holly watched intently. Partially using this as an excuse not to study. Maybe this was why she was stressed? Lily walked up and handed the fish to Slughorn. His face brightened as he smiled largely. Lily explained something Holly couldn't hear and her eyes widened as she saw the Professor her choked up. He placed a hand on his heart and thanked her. That much Holly couldn't tell.

'What a strange gift for a teacher.' Holly thought to herself. Like, a fish? Strange... Holly narrowed her eyes, trying to get a good look at the fish.

"The lad fell right on the disgusting concoction! It was absolutely mad!" Holly heard James rave, though her mind wasn't focused on what he was saying.

The longer she stared at it, the longer she realized how pretty it was. It was sort of a fish version of Evans. It was a fiery red with specks of orange. A sort of beta fish, Holly presumed. Evans and Slughorn talked for another minute before Lily turned around and started walking back to her desk.