Up to No Good// James Potter

Chapter 14

When the girls arrived at the village, rosy faces flushed from the cold, they were immediately greeted by the Wells brothers. Sean had a wide grin on his face that made him look a little like an excited golden retriever. Elijah gave the group a polite smile and bid goodbye to his brother before making his way further into Hogsmeade.

"Morning ladies," the Hufflepuff sent the trio a charming smile. "You all alright?"

"Hi Sean," Marlene smiled at him excitedly before turning and grabbing Lily's elbow, "I hate to run off so quick, but Lily promised she'd take me to, uh, a bookstore?"

The redhead laughed at the mess that was her friend, "Right, I did tell her that. You two have fun. We'll see you back at the castle, Nessie."

The pair watched as the girls walked away, arms linked. There bodies where shaking slightly and while someone might have confused that to be shivers from the cold, Vanessa knew they were trying not to laugh or look back. In a bold move, Sean took Vanessa's hand in his. "Is this okay?"

The dark haired girl looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled softly at him before nodding and gently pulling him forward, "Come on, then."

Hogsmeade was a very pretty village. It was quite picturesque and being there just felt right. For a couple of hours, Hogwarts students could forget all about homework and classes and detention.

Hand in hand, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff made their way through the village pointing to different things in the display cases of stores and making small talk as they got to know each other better. Vanessa sighed contentedly, she loved Hogsmeade. The shops reminded her of gingerbread houses or something out of a kids' picture book. So many good memories had been made there and so many more to be made, she thought as she looked at Sean.

"Well now I've got to know," the blond laughed heartily, "Why would you purposefully stain Black's shirt purple in front of McGonagall?"

The girl shook her head as she giggled, "Well, James said I wouldn't dare. And I didn't know McGonagall was behind us."

Sean raised a teasing eyebrow, "Oh yeah, you and Potter, the whole school's wondering which one of you will drive the other to set Hogwarts on fire first."

"Oi!" The brunette mocked offense as she put a hand to her chest. "I'm a model student who would never do such thing, thank you very much."

"Right and my hair is the same shade of purple as Black's shirt."

With a devilish smile, Vanessa raised both eyebrows. "Watch it, Wells, or it just might be."

Sean laughed again and Vanessa smiled brightly. This was nice, he was nice. For the first time since Scarlett, she could see this going somewhere.

Shivering and with red noses, the pair found themselves sitting in a booth at the Three Broomsticks. The cozy pub in the village was a fan favorite for Hogwarts's students. The whole place was filled with teenagers laughing and teasing one another.

Sitting across from Sean Wells with a warm butterbeer in her hands, Vanessa let herself forget about all the deeper problems. As she laughed at something the boy said, she let herself just be a teenager. Her biggest concern as she sat at that table was the charms exam she had next Wednesday and how she hadn't responded to her mother's last letter.

The girl scoffed playfully, dramatically putting a hand to her chest. "That's just Gryffindor slander at this point."

"No, no." The boy laughed before finally relenting. "Oh, fine! Maybe it is. Well, sometimes the truth hurts, sweetheart."

The girl hadn't expected him to call her that and being caught off guard, she blushed. The girl didn't blush a lot, and the Hufflepuff smiled widely as he saw the red tinting her cheeks.