Chapter Text
"Come on mate, pick up your step."
James Potter's brisk footsteps echoed off the stones that paved the sparsely populated corridor as the top of the hour approached. Sirius Black trailed several paces behind, ignoring the slurred admonishments coming from a nearby portrait of a pair of drunken monks, chiding them that they’d soon be running late.
"Dunno why we left so early," Sirius said, catching up with James. "Charms doesn't start for another…" he glanced down at his wristwatch. "... three minutes."
"So?"
"Three minutes. That's three minutes of potential mischief that isn't being managed. What's gotten into you, lately? It's like you're not even trying to be late for class anymore."
James laughed easily and turned to face his friend. "Apologies Mister Padfoot," he said dramatically, placing his hand over his heart as he backed towards the classroom. "I solemnly swear I will start taking my lateness more seriously."
James pushed through the classroom door, bracing himself for the typical fanfare that usually greeted the two boys whenever they entered a room. Girls smiling, teammates waving, teachers wincing, and the like. However, today that fanfare was noticeably absent. Books and wands were already out on the desks and an excited buzz filled the room as their classmates conversed with one another with far more energy than usual.
“Merlin,” Sirius said, dropping into an empty seat. His arms fell lazily at his sides, a disdainful look marring his otherwise handsome face as he surveyed his surroundings. “What’s going on today? You’d think Brigitte Bardot was teaching today instead of old Flitwick.”
"It's Patronus Charms today," came a slightly shrill voice from the seat next to the ones James and Sirius were settling into. The voice belonged to Louise Stebbins, a bespectacled sixth-year Ravenclaw. "Weren't you paying any attention last week?" Sirius raised his hands in mock defense. Louise gave them both a judgmental look, then returned to her conversation with Hufflepuff Davey Gudgeon.
“Right," James recalled with a snap of his fingers. "Flitwick mentioned we'd be starting them in April."
Sirius' expression didn't change. “Dunno why everyone seems so keen though. I doubt half this class could even spell 'Patronus,' let alone make one. I mean, look at Avery, for Christ’s sake.” Sirius gave a discourteous nod toward a small group of Slytherins near the back of the classroom. “There is absolutely no fucking way he passed his O.W.L. Can’t even do a bloody Cheering Charm.”
“Like marks even matter when your dad owns the school board,” James said, his expression darkening. “Remember? He was the nutter lobbying to keep Muggleborns out of N.E.W.T. level classes, because they'd 'hold back the purebloods'. Can you imagine that, making exceptions for his own troll of a son and trying to oust muggleborns like Evans, who can make a teacup tap dance with her eyes closed?”
Sirius gave him a pointed look.
“What?” James asked with an innocent shrug. “I’m just saying. She’s the best in our year in Charms.”
Sirius waved his hand. “I’m better than Evans,” he said carelessly.
Before James could respond, Professor Flitwick took his usual place upon a pile of books at the head of the classroom and waved his wand to get the attention of the class. "Good afternoon, everyone," he said brightly. "As promised, today we will be learning about the Patronus Charm. I'm happy to see we're all very excited! Now, a few things before we begin…"
Flitwick's introductions faded into the background as James turned his head to look in the direction of Lily Evans, trying to disguise it from Sirius as if he was simply scratching the nape of his neck. She was seated a few rows away, next to her friend, Mary MacDonald, near the front. She was as lovely to look at as ever, but her prettiness tended to draw more gazes than his own, such as the one from the Ravenclaw git sitting behind her now.
Once upon a time, back in first year, James sat behind Lily in Charms. He'd fancied her quite a bit then, though he hadn't realized it at the time. All he knew was that he liked getting under her skin, and he was good at it. Sirius was all too happy to join in, and they pranked her mercilessly; prodding her in the back with their wands right as she was about to say an incantation, or dropping the mice they were supposed to be levitating down the back of her robes. Their seats were moved by second year.
Though he had mostly outgrown his days of childish pranking (well, not all were childish, some had been downright brilliant), one thing he hadn't outgrown was his feelings for Lily, nor the need to impress her. Which was why today's class had suddenly become very, very important.
Professor Flitwick rolled up the sleeves of his robes, and flourished his wand to demonstrate his own Patronus. “Expecto Patronum!” he squeaked with a delicate flick of his wrist. Captivated, the class watched as a tiny, shimmering sparrow burst from the professor’s wand. It flitted between the students, leaving radiant streaks in its wake, turning awestruck heads as it flew by. Lily stuck out her hand, and it perched itself on her outstretched finger. She and Mary gasped with delight as its silver reflection sparkled in Lily's remarkably vivid green eyes until it slowly faded away.
Whether it was his crush, or whether it was simply his competitive nature, he decided he would indeed cast a Patronus charm today, before anyone else, no matter how difficult it might be. He imagined himself, standing in front of the class heroically as Lily and Mary fawned over his Patronus… Sirius giving him a hearty thumbs up from his seat and Severus Snape scowling in the corner… nevermind the fact that Snape had dropped Charms that year. He wasn’t exactly sure why. Perhaps he’d found Charms, considered by some to be a rather ‘soft’ subject, to be beneath him.
“Now I must warn you that this is one of the most complex Charms we’ll cover," Professor Flitwick was saying. “It could be several lessons before anyone is able to properly cast a Patronus! We’ll focus on theory today, but we'll give it a go at the end of class for a bit of fun. But first, please take out your books and read pages 543 to 549."
The sound of rustling pages filled the room as the class opened their books, flipping towards the very end of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6 . No one, however, seemed very interested in reading — rather, it seemed Flitwick’s warning had fallen on deaf ears, and students were much more interested in discussing what forms their Patronuses might take.
Over the whines of Davey Gudgeon fretting to Louise Stebbins that his Patronus might be a pig, James could hear Bertram Aubrey loudly boasting to Belinda Weaver about how his father could famously conjure a dragon Patronus. “I expect mine will be the same,” he told her smugly. “These things run in families, you know.”
James couldn't help rolling his eyes. He’d always found Aubrey to be a bit of a two-faced, slimy bloke. "A dragon, Aubrey?" he challenged. "Care to wager on that?"
Aubrey turned in his seat and glared in his direction. "Didn't ask you, Potter."
Sirius lit up like a wolf who'd just had his prey dangled in front of him. “I'd wager," he drawled, "that if you conjure so much as a flea today, Aubrey, I'll jump in the Great Lake naked."
Belinda let out a high-pitched giggle. "Wouldn't that be a sight!" Then she composed herself, adding, "What do you expect your Patronus will be, Sirius?”
"Oh," Sirius replied with a wicked grin. "Something far bigger than Aubrey's little flea, I expect."
"You know what they say, Weaver," added James. "The smaller the Patronus, the smaller–"
"Will you two bugger off?" Aubrey interrupted through gritted teeth, his face flushed. “Or I’ll hex you.”
“Hex us ?” Sirius laughed in disbelief. “Hear that, Potter, Aubrey here claims he’s finally learned a hex.”
“Well, we must alert the Daily Prophet ,” said James. “And to think, it only took six years of magic school.”
Belinda giggled again, which seemed to upset Aubrey further.
"I'll show you —" he started, but as he reached for his own wand, it slipped off his desk and fell to the floor with a clatter, rolling several desks away.
Sirius and James were barely able to contain their laughter. “Hey Aubrey, try learning how to hold a wand first,” Sirius called. "Maybe you could find a first year to give you some lessons!”
Aubrey scurried after his wand and Sirius tilted his seat back and threw his hands behind his head. “Tosser. A dragon, honestly.” With the surrounding students' attention returning to their textbooks, he finally opened the cover of his own, but merely ruffled the pages with his thumb. “Shame Moony’s out today. He’d love this rubbish.”
“Be a bit awkward if he managed to get it done though,” James said in a low voice.
“I can only assume you mean because he’d likely conjure some very unmanly, fluffy, adorable sort of rabbit.”
James chuckled. “But of course… his perpetual furry little problem.” He gave a labored sigh and turned his attention to his open textbook, trying to look as if he was merely bored. If he was going to impress Lily, he’d probably have to absorb a bit of what this text had to say. He skimmed through the pages. Happy memories… he had plenty of those. Warding off dementors… unlikely he'd encounter one of those during today's lesson. How to predict what form one's Patronus might take… he'd already known what his animal counterpart was for over a year now, along with the rest of his mates. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like that'd give him much advantage. He was looking for anything that might be useful when something he read turned his insides in a knot.
"Professor," James called, raising his hand and ignoring Sirius’ arched brow. "Could you explain this bit on ‘mutations’? There's not much detail in the text here.”
"Certainly," replied Professor Flitwick. "As soon as Mr. Black allows Mr. Aubrey to collect his wand, before I have to take points from Gryffindor."
"Sir, I haven't done anything!" said Sirius with convincing indignation. To the amusement of several onlookers, Aubrey was still chasing after his wand, which was rolling inches away from his fingertips every time he got close enough to pick it up. It continued to roll until it stopped under the foot of Lily Evans. With a flick of her own wand, Aubrey's wand jumped back into his hand.
“Cheers,” he said, giving her an unabashed smile. James made a face. Lily had a near saint-like tendency to be kind to everybody, even great giant prats like Aubrey.
"Thank you, Miss Evans," said Professor Flitwick, as Aubrey went back to his seat. "Now, as for Mr. Potter’s question on — mutations, was it?”
James cleared his throat. “Yes, sir,” he replied.
“Now, you won’t find much detail on the subject in the text, because there is still much we don’t know about this phenomenon. But throughout history, some witches and wizards have observed that their own Patronus can potentially be influenced by those who they care very deeply for. Now it doesn't always happen, there are many perfectly happy couples with unique Patronuses. There are a few theories out there, such as the absurd ones that were published in 1769 when Prime Minister Hesphaestus Hire accidentally revealed to his wife that his Patronus had mutated to match that of his assistant's pet puffskein! But no one knows quite exactly how it occurs."
“So if your Patronus turns out to be a warthog or summat, you’ve got a shot at another?” Davey Gudgeon asked.
“Well, yes, in a manner of speaking,” replied Professor Flitwick. “Love can be a very powerful sort of magic. I wouldn't trouble yourselves too much about that though, I don't expect it to be on your N.E.W.T exams.”
N.E.W.T.s? N.E.W.T.s were the least of James’ concerns. Who could possibly be concerned about exams when Professor Flitwick just revealed that today's lesson could potentially expose one's… romantic feelings in front of the entire class? The charm might as well be a bloody truth serum!
James preferred keeping his feelings about Lily to himself, particularly after their disastrous post OWLs encounter at the end of last year, and he was content to believe everyone else had moved on or forgotten about the matter. And while his mates knew he still fancied Lily terribly, James' feelings ran deeper than he'd ever admit to anyone. James was in love with Lily Evans. He was absolutely mad for her. The way she moved, the way she smiled, the way she looked when she was cross with him. The way she argued politics over breakfast until the color of her face matched her hair, the way she could kick his arse in almost any subject, and they way she'd help anyone, no matter who they were or what they needed. And she was beautiful, and he was hopeless. It was all rather pathetic. James Potter, the cool and popular Quidditch captain, head over heels for a girl who didn't fancy him back.
“Shall we give it a go?” Professor Flitwick was asking. He demonstrated the wrist movements.
James stood up along with the rest of the class, but stared blankly at the wand in his hand.
Could his feelings for Lily change the form of his Patronus? What might Lily’s Patronus be, anyway? Different animals danced through James’ head. A vixen? A lioness? What would Sirius say if an elegant swan dove out of the end of his wand instead of his mighty stag?
As the class began practicing and silvery wisps of light began to fill the room, James realized he'd better make up his mind as to what he was going to do, or he'd fall behind. And why should he be so concerned? They weren't a couple. If there was anyone who should be certain of their Patronus, it was him. He was an Animagus, for Merlin's sake. He'd focus on that. And he'd better hurry, before Lily or Sirius beat him to it. He glanced at Sirius to check his progress, but Sirius did not seem interested in attempting to cast the charm and looked rather bored with the whole affair. He shrugged this off, and began to concentrate.
The silver wisps came easily. It felt pleasant and wonderful, like soaking in a hot bath or flying on a broomstick. But he needed more power.
A happy memory, a happy memory . His father buying him his first, top-of-the-line broomstick. His first successful Animagus transformation. Winning the Quidditch Cup last year on a penalty throw. Snape getting sneezed on by a troll…. Hang on, that was a pleasant dream, not a memory…
Another memory was surfacing… that memory. Yes, that memory would certainly work. He wasn’t even sure if he should use it… but once it came to him, James couldn’t sweep the memory from his brain...
It was as if the warm happy memory slipped down from his brain into his chest. This was it… he was ready. He waved his wand and shouted, “ Expecto Patronum !” The warm feeling surged in his chest and traversed his arm into the tips of his fingers... he could feel a small weight at the end of his wand… and then he saw it.
An enormous silver stag burst from the tip of his wand. It charged straight ahead to the front of the room, startling Professor Flitwick, who tumbled off his pile of books. Gasps of surprise and awe echoed from the class as the stag gallivanted around the room. When it had reached the front once more, it stood magnificently still, glowing and radiant, fixing its gaze on James. He stared back with a disbelieving smile. He'd done it. It felt better than he could've imagined.
“Well done, Potter, well done!" said Professor Flitwick, getting to his feet. “Now this is a corporeal Patronus! On the first lesson! Take fifty points to Gryffindor!”
James could feel adrenaline pumping through his veins. It was a stag. Thank Merlin .
“Yes, well done, Mister Prongs ,” Sirius said, keeping his voice low. James shot him a look, but Sirius didn't say anything further.
James looked over at Lily. She was indeed looking at his Patronus — unfortunately, not with the fawning admiration he’d hoped for, but with a bit of a mad expression. Her cheeks were bright red and she was holding her wand out towards it… why was she doing that? And then he realized. The witch was still trying to cast her own Patronus.
Unnoticed by all but him, Lily closed her eyes. She lifted her wand, the same way James had, and cried, "Expecto Patronum !"
Something graceful bounded out of the tip of Lily’s wand. She stumbled slightly, backward — Mary grabbed her shoulder, steadying her, squealing with excitement.
“Another!” cried Professor Flitwick.
The initial rousing reaction garnered by the appearance of a second Patronus faded at once when the realization dawned on them all. A hush fell over the classroom as the ethereal doe began taking dainty steps towards where James’ stag was still standing.
“They’re the same!” James heard someone whisper. Bewildered, James looked at Sirius, gesturing with his thumb towards the two Patronuses. Sirius eyed them with an arched brow, looking more amused than he had before.
The doe passed along the front of the stag, circled him, then stood along his side. Then, lifting her beautiful head, she gently nuzzled the stag’s neck.
Lily’s eyes went wide and her mouth opened in horror.
Sirius broke the silence with a wolf whistle, which was followed by shouts and laughter from the rest of the class.
“How wonderful!” said Professor Flitwick, trying to speak over the noise. “How fortunate we are to see two corporeal Patronuses in our classroom today —”
“They’re matching Professor,” said Louise Stebbins excitedly. “Didn’t you say —”
“Evans, since when have you fancied Potter?” Davey Gudgeon interrupted bluntly.
"They're not matching!" Lily cried. "There's no… no…" She flailed her hands wildly above her head, presumably to indicate a pair of antlers.
“No antlers ,” Mary finished for her. “You can see that, can’t you, Gudgeon? Or is your eyesight still damaged from your date with the Whomping Willow?” said Mary. Lily looked at her appreciatively.
“But the Patronuses look like they fancy each other,” Davey said, pointing his finger at the pair.
“How does it work, then, Professor?” Louise continued. “Does it have to be the exact same Patronus, or does this mean Evans fancies Potter?”
“Louise!” Lily said, her face flushing. "I do NOT–"
“There are nuances involved that most certainly won't be covered on your N.E.W.T.s,” replied Flitwick, the color in his cheeks rising and looking a bit flustered at the line of questioning that had arisen. “I’m sure we are just observing a marvelous coincidence —”
“Professor, are we going to be forced to study the love lives of all muggle-born students, or will our N.E.W.T. questions be exclusively on Evans?” Avery drawled from the back of the classroom.
James saw Lily’s face flush deeper.
"Oi Avery," James said loudly. "If you're so worried about exam questions, you can just cry to Daddy to fix your marks like you did last year. Now shut up and stop being such a c–"
“That’s enough, Avery, Potter!” Professor Flitwick said sharply. “Class, please, please settle down! There are only so many creatures in the Animal Kingdom… It’s perfectly likely that two students could share the same Patronus. There’s no need to go making presumptions about your classmates.”
James’ stag had begun fading away… Lily’s doe walked back towards her. She eyed it, unblinking, as if it was a pet that badly misbehaved.
“So they’re not soulmates?” Louise asked. “They’re not destined to be together?”
“I don't think I'm quite ready for that kind of commitment anyway,” James said loudly, which was met with scattered laughter. Hopefully none of them could tell his heart was nearly pounding out of his chest.
Lily whipped around, facing him for the first time. “Oh, you’re not —!?”
“I think that will be all for today, class… Miss Evans, fifty points to you; well done to both you and Mr. Potter,” said Professor Flitwick, who looked a bit weary. "You are dismissed."
“Thank you, Professor,” Lily mumbled. She hastily grabbed her things, not waiting for Mary, and marched past James’ and Sirius’ desk in a huff. Sirius made kissing noises as she strode past.
“That's helpful,” said James, his eyes following her as she disappeared through the threshold.
Sirius shrugged. “It’s funny.”
James' head was spinning as they packed their things. He didn't really know what to make of what had just happened, but he couldn't help finding the coincidence rather… delightful.
"How weird is that?" Belinda said to them, clutching her books. "I do wonder what yours will be, Sirius?" she said with a touch of hopefulness in her voice. "Maybe we'll see next class?"
"Dunno," said Sirius without looking at her, seemingly less interested in flirting without it being at Aubrey's expense. "See you."
As they trudged out of the room, James could hear Aubrey talking to Belinda once more. "Maybe you’ll have a dragon like mine. You'll see, a dragon's much cooler than some old deer…"
James reached for his wand, tempted to put him in his place. Evans had gone, he could hex him without getting told off. But he thought better of it, and pocketed his wand in his robes.
Once outside the classroom, James immediately scanned the corridor for Lily. She hadn’t gotten far. She was standing near a large tapestry, thumbing through the pages of her textbook.
"Well, you must be pretty pleased with yourself,” Sirius said.
“It wasn’t as hard as I thought,” said James. “Why didn’t you try it yourself? You could’ve done… could’ve got us some extra points…”
Sirius stopped walking and gave him a pained look. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me you’re going to start giving a fuck about house points to impress Evans, too.”
“I'm not! I was only curious —”
“Think of all the points we’ll have lost in vain! What’s next, a Head Boy badge? A Minister for Magic campaign? Oh, yes, I think I’ll run for Minister for Magic, so I can decree that Evans must go on a date with me!”
“Maybe I will run for Minister, so I can throw your sorry arse in Azkaban, on account of being an annoying git.”
“All the illegal things we've done, and that's what you decide to pin on me? You wouldn't last a week” said Sirius. “And speaking of illegal things we've done, it occurred to me that broadcasting my you-know-what in front of a room full of people may not be the most brilliant idea in the world. We just got Snivellus to stop following us around… last thing we need is him stalking around at night again... but someone couldn’t resist showing off a bit —”
“All right, all right,” James said. “Don’t go getting a big head because you thought something through for the first time in your life. Snape’s not in class with us anyway...”
“He’ll hear about it, though. You, Evans, your matching frisky Patronuses. He’ll hear.”
James smirked at the thought. "I'd kill to see the look on his face when he finds out."
"He'll probably look a bit like Evans does over there," Sirius pointed out.
James glanced up the corridor toward Lily, whose nose was still buried in her textbook, looking rather distressed. The smirk left James' face. "Yeah, she doesn't look too chuffed, does she? Shit, I really did fuck up, didn’t I?”
Sirius gave a hearty, genuine laugh, the kind that instantly put James at ease. “Don't worry about it, mate," Sirius said. "On the bright side, it gave us the most hilarious moment we've had in class all year."
James smiled. He stretched a bit, and ran his hand through his hair. "Be as that may, I should probably… I’d like a word —” He looked down the corridor toward Lily once again. “I’ll be right back.”
“All right," said Sirius, giving him a pat on the back. "Go make things worse while you’ve still got the chance."
James flipped him, and made his way towards Lily.
Lily did not notice him approaching. Or she did, and she was ignoring him.
“All right, Evans?” James asked casually, speaking to the flaps of the textbook that were held in front of her face.
Silence.
“Er, Evans?” He hooked his finger over the top of the book and pulled it downward, revealing a cold stare from a pair of very bright green eyes.
“Weird class, yeah?” he said lightly.
“It was weird because you and your stupid mate made it weird,” Lily said, snapping her book shut.
James laughed and shifted to her side, leisurely leaning his shoulder against the wall. “Yes, we tend to do that,” he said. “Better weird than boring, I always say. Well, I just came over to say, well done. I knew you were going to get it. You’re really ace at Charms… thought you’d get it before me.”
Lily didn’t respond.
“And, you know — it obviously doesn't mean anything that we had the same–"
"Obviously."
"I reckon we just got what suits us, yeah? A stag and a doe? Sounds all right to me.”
“Funny, I was going to say a dung beetle suits you.”
James laughed. “That could explain my fondness for dungbombs. And why I constantly feel the need to plant them in the Slytherin changing rooms during their practices… other than the lot of them being massive pricks, of course.”
The corners of Lily’s mouth twitched. “I could give you detention for confessing to that,” said Lily. “But it's probably an improvement on what they smell like normally.”
James laughed again. “So, 100 points to the two of us; that’s pretty good, yeah? How’d you manage it, anyway? What memory did you use?”
He’d said the wrong thing . The trace of amusement disappeared from Lily’s face . “ That’s none of your business,” snapped Lily. “How would you like it if I asked you what memory you used, and you had to tell me you imagined yourself admiring your own reflection in the mirror?”
She stormed off, leaving James standing alone in the corridor, scratching the back of his head. Was that too personal of a question? Come to think of it, he didn't plan on sharing the memory he used with anyone. He replayed the conversation in his head. Idiot , he thought. ‘ You’re really ace at Charms’ … brilliant, right out of Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches…
----
“I got a ‘Dreadful’ on my Bowtruckle drawing,” Peter said one afternoon at lunch. “Mum will go mental if I fail my final exams again. Why do Bowtruckles have to have so many bits, anyway?” he sighed.
James was hardly listening to Peter's Care of Magical Creatures woes. Lily was sitting nearby, but he might as well have been wearing his invisibility cloak for all the attention she was paying him. A week had passed since the fateful Charms lesson, and she hadn't looked him in the eye since then. Any kind of strides he'd made in their relationship this year seemed to have been undone. Who knew that sharing a soul-reflecting animal counterpart with the girl he fancied could be such a bad thing?
Lily quickly finished eating, announced to Mary she was off to the library, and hurried away from the table without so much as a glance in their direction.
“What’s with her?” James asked, trying to sound indifferent. He then realized he’d been forming his mashed potatoes into the shape of an ‘L’, which he quickly undid with his fork.
“Exams are probably just getting to her,” Remus replied. “Ancient Runes is driving us both mad — hundreds to memorize, and half of them look the bloody same…”
“I thought maybe she was still put out by all that Patronus business,” James said casually. “Seemed to think it was all my fault.”
“The only one who seems to still be talking about that is you,” Sirius pointed out.
“You’ve been talking about it,” James said crossly. “Wanking over it in your sleep. Thinking about our ‘frisky Patronuses’.” Sirius flicked a bit of potato at him.
“I’m sorry I missed it,” said Remus.
“The wanking?” Peter asked, his eyes wide.
“The Patronus ,” Remus corrected. "It’s fascinating defensive magic. And no one else has gotten it yet. Only Lily and our Prongs here."
"Bloody brilliant you are, Prongs," sighed Peter. "Wish I was half as good at spellcasting as you are."
"Would you two like to get a room? A broom cupboard somewhere, perhaps?" said Sirius.
"Afraid not," replied James. "As I will be remaining loyal to Evans, as she is my soulmate, apparently, or something."
"Prongs, if there are any fit birds who cast a rat Patronus, you'll tell me, won't you?"
"Absolutely I will, mate."
"Bet we’ll spot a couple of shaggy silver dogs too,” said Remus, nudging Sirius with his elbow. “Being that half the student population is in love with this stupid git.”
"Another good reason why I will not be revealing my Patronus and taking a 'Dreadful' on the practical," said Sirius, while ungraciously chewing a bite of a turkey leg.
"I appreciate the restraint," said Remus. "You should try it more often."
"What are you doing for your practical, Moony?" James asked.
"Flitwick suggested we do some one-on-one lessons, so I can give it a go in private.”
“That’s kind of him,” smiled James, feeling a pang of appreciation for their professor.
“I should be getting extra lessons,” Peter said. “Mum says if I don't pass my exams again, I’ll be grounded for a month.”
Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Don’t be a prat; you can’t be grounded,” he said. “We’ve got the Darkmoon concert on the first Saturday of summer holiday; you’d miss it.”
“I know,” Peter said glumly.
“Well, I don’t see what choice you have; you’ll have to simply run away from home,” Sirius said dramatically.
“He could just revise for his exams,” Remus said practically.
“Be serious, Moony,” Peter pleaded. “I don’t want to miss it. Prongs, do you think your parents would have me, too?”
“We’ll get you through your exams, Wormy,” James said, patting him on the back. “Now quit hogging the ketchup.”
The conversation drifted away from Patronuses, regrettably, and James couldn't naturally steer the conversation back. He was a bit fixated on the whole thing if he was honest with himself, what with people gossiping about Lily being in love with him and all, even though he doubted anyone really believed it was true. And even if the idea that he and Evans were cosmically destined to be together was a silly one, he couldn't get rid of the pressing feeling that it was something more than coincidence. He'd even gone to the library to check out some more advanced reading on the subject, but all books related to the topic had been checked out. He supposed it didn't matter. None of this really mattered at all if he couldn’t get Evans to speak to him again.