James' POV

Growing up I was always so jealous of Albus and Lily. At first it was because I was the only child until I wasn't and I suddenly had to share everything. But I soon left that phase but the jealousy of my siblings remained. I wasn't jealous over anything material or anything physical.

Instead I was jealous of the fact that Lily took after Mum and Albus took after Dad. They both looked like them and, for the most part, they acted like them as well. So who did that leave me to look after?

The answer to that was my grandfather, James Potter. Except I hadn't realised that until grandma had pointed it out to be. But looking back at it now it was uncanny how similar we were. I had inherited Mum's brown eyes but my other facial features were the copy of my Dad's. But I had been told, more than once, that with my brown eyes and my facial features I was almost one hundred percent like my grandad.

Maybe that was why I found it easier to go to him for advice even though he wasn't around? Except he was – in spirit at least. It was like his spirit was around me whenever I felt the need to ask him any questions and he went out of his way to make sure that I got an answer in any way possible.

But I was probably wrong. I was overthinking everything.

Sitting cross legged on the grass I stared up into the night sky. Looking at the brightest star in the sky I let out a breath.

"Hey grandad," I said quietly. "I always say this but I don't know if you can hear me now or at all, but I could really use some advice. You see, there's this girl – the same one that I always talk to you about and I need some advice. I've been doing some thinking about her and I'm one hundred percent sure that she doesn't like me back or at all. At least not yet. But I'm going to change that, just like you did with Grandma Lily.
"Anyway I need some help because, well if I end up telling Fred this story one more time then I just know he'll kill me using one of Uncle George's inventions – I'm getting side tracked. So basically, it started in my third year when she told me off for pranking a first year. I know that it's an insane way to fall for someone but I just did. Until that point no one had ever told me off for doing something because of who Dad is but she didn't care at all about that.
"At first I thought that it was just a crush. I mean, she didn't have read hair and everyone knows that Potter's marry redheads. So I started asking her out. All the time. Just so that I could have her attention. It obviously irritated her but I was fine with that because at least she noticed me.
"The problem came in my fourth year when the other boys started to notice her as well. Anyway I guess that I want your advice. Should I give up on her and forget five years' worth of feelings?"

I looked around for any sort of sign but there was none. Sighing, I returned to staring at the single star and continued, "Should I keep trying?"

It might have just been my wishful thinking but I could have sworn that the star that I had been staring at had suddenly become much brighter. Well I guess I had my answer.

"James," Albus called from behind me. Looking back over my shoulder I saw him standing at the entrance of our tent with Lily standing beside him. "Mum said you need to come and sleep or else you'll be too tired to watch the match."

Rising to my feet I waked into the tent. There was no way that I would let myself miss even a second of the final of the Quidditch world cup. When I made it into the tent, Lily brushed past me and Al. When we were alone, Albus turned to look at me, lowering his voice.

"Guess who's coming tomorrow?"

He didn't need to even say her name, from the tone of his voice I instantly knew who it was that he was talking about. "Really?"

He nodded, grinning knowingly at me, "She owled Rose and Rose told me."

I nodded, taking in the information before heading into bed. Why was it that she seemed to get along so well with the rest of my family, but not me?

Normal POV

I hadn't expected it to be so crowded at the Quidditch world cup and maybe that was a stupid assumption to make. If there was one thing that I had learnt when I was introduced to the wizarding world at eleven years old, it was that quidditch was a big deal. So it made sense for the final to be so completely crowded. But that didn't mean that I wasn't having fun.

Alice held onto my arm as we both weaved through the crowds of people, having somehow lost Mr Longbottom in the crowd. Letting out a slight huff Alice looked through the crowd for her father and saw him waving a hand at her to tell her where he was. Pulling me in that direction, Alice finally led us out of the crowd and I got a look at the group of people standing by Mr Longbottom.

Why did Mr Longbottom have to be so close to the Weasleys and Potters?

When we walked closer to the group, Alice spotted someone. "Fred!" She called out and ran towards him leaving me alone.

I looked over the group as well, feeling ultimate relief that Rose was the first person that I made eye contact with rather than James. Immediately I walked over to Rose who was stood beside Albus and Lily. When they saw me, the three of them hugged me instantly and I smiled hugging each of them back. I had been in my third year when Rose and Albus arrived at Hogwarts and I had taken them immediately under my wing – regardless of their relationship to Potter. The same thing happened with Lily who had joined in my fifth year.

When I pulled myself back from Lily's hug, out of the corner of my eye I caught James' eyes fixed onto me as he walked over towards me. Seeing his movement I instantly moved away from him and headed over to Victoire whilst simultaneously ignoring James' crestfallen expression.

"Come on guys," Mr Longbottom said as the adults began to usher us into our seats. "The game's about to begin."

All of our seats were next to each other so I turned my attention onto the match and pulled Alice and Rose on either side of me.

The match gradually drew to a close with an exciting finish that had England winning the entire world cup. As the night grew deeper the Weasleys or rather one branch of the Weasley had invited everyone to their tent to have dinner together. When we reached the tent, the adults split away from us to cook and fix the tent in order to be able to fit the sheer number of people inside of it.

I saw sitting on the grass talking to Albus when he glanced over his shoulder. He nodded his head slightly and I narrowed my eyes at the movement, looking over my shoulder. I groaned internally when I saw his brother striding towards us. Albus rose to his feet before I could stop him and he left me sitting on the grass on my own. Before James could settle himself down onto the grass next to me, I stood up, prepared to walk away from him. But his voice stopped me from moving any further.

"I didn't know that you liked quidditch." I closed my eyes momentarily; I'd managed to avoid him all day.

"Yeah I do," I said turning to face him as he came to a stop in front of me, his hands tucked into the front pockets of his trousers. I suddenly became acutely aware of his family's eyes on us although they had tried to act nonchalant.

"I guess that I thought you didn't like it because you rarely go to a match at Hogwarts." He locked his eyes onto mine and I struggled not to look away. They were always so intense. His eyes whenever they were looking at me were full of something that I couldn't I couldn't identify or rather that I didn't want to identify. "Why don't you go to the matches at Hogwarts and show your house spirit?"

I muttered my answer before I had any chance of stopping myself, "Well maybe I would if a certain chaser didn't dedicate every goal he scored to me."

I reflected back to the stupid ceremony James conducted whenever he scored a goal. He'd fly from the goal post and straight over to wherever it was that I was sitting in the stands. Then it would depend on how he was feeling; he'd either blow me a kiss, wink at me or simply lock his eyes onto mine before he flew off again.

My answer was clearly the opening that he had been looking for as he untucked his hands from his pocket and leaned closer towards me, his shoulder brushing slightly against mine. I moved to stand across from him.

"Maybe it's a certain chaser's way of showing you that he cares."

"I think I've had enough of him showing me he cares." I muttered turning to leave and I made it no more than four steps away from him when he called out to me to stop me again.

"What's your favourite position?" I turned to look at him with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out if that was a thinly veiled innuendo. He added quickly, "In quidditch."

"The keeper."

"Not a seeker?" He asked cocking his head to the side slightly as he inched slowly closer to me. I eyed the ever shrinking gap between us.

"Most seekers like to show off," I said simply. "I mean really, what's with all of the wronski feints? They're too ostentatious."

"Alright then, what about beaters?"

"It's all in the name – they're too violent."

"And chasers?" I caught it then, his tone becoming suddenly too interested in my answer.

"They're too persistent." My answer was instantaneous.

"Some people think that's an endearing quality." He locked his eyes onto mine. The look in his eyes and the mere centimetres of space between us left no doubt in my mind that we weren't talking about quidditch anymore.

"Well I don't." I said shortly. "It irritates me." When I turned to leave his hands caught hold of my shoulder and I stiffened in his hold. He stepped forward pressing his chest against my back. My heart was hammering in my chest, mirroring the heartbeat that I could feel against my back.

"Well," he said quiet, the words no more than a whisper into my hair. "I'm a Potter and Potter's are as persistent as they come."

He stepped away from me and I turned back to see him still standing behind me, waiting for my response. Only this time I had no response. One look into his eyes and the words had died on my lips.

"You made head girl," was the first thing that Alice said when I entered the train carriage. She was looking at the badge pinned to my robes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up," I said pushing her playfully, sitting down across from her, "Why is that the first thing you say to me?"

She rolled her eyes at me as an all too familiar mop of hair walked into the carriage followed closely by his cousin.

"What do you want Potter?" I asked in exasperation, looking at the two boys stood in the doorway of the train carriage.

"I just wanted to pay my co-head a visit?"

"Excuse me?" I demanded as I stood up immediately at his words and walked over to him. My eyes were fixed onto the badge pinned to his robes. I looked up into his eyes, "How the hell did you get head boy?"

"I'm offended that you find that so hard to believe," he said as he brushed past me to sit next to my previously occupied space. He patted the space beside him for me to sit down as Fred kept Alice busy.

"Maybe I'd believe it more if you had actually been a prefect," I muttered, sitting down beside him.

The impossible was happening; we were slowly becoming friends. It was inevitable that we would have to be on better terms than we already were given the sheer amount of time that we would be spending with one another. But it helped that he had stopped asking me out constantly and I gave him a lot more leeway.

I was making my way to the head's dorm in preparation for our set of rounds today when I slowed down in front of the portrait, finding him waiting outside of the common room waiting for me. He was leaning against the wall and when he saw me he straightened up.

"You're on time," I said, the surprise evident in my tone.

"Well," he said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his rove. "You did say that I needed to become more mature in order to be a good head boy, didn't you? Besides, how could I leave my lovely co-head to wander around the castle all alone in the middle of the night?"

"Very true," I agreed with a smile as we began our rounds.

Usually when we did our rounds, we would always talk in order to pass the time. If we didn't we would die of boredom. But it was during these talks that we always started talking about the most random of topics and it appeared as though today's topic was cheesy pick up lines.

"That has got to be the worst pick up line I've ever heard," I declared between fits of laughter.

"Nope, that's not even close to the worst one I've ever heard. How about…" He stopped suddenly making me stop beside him. Taking a hold of both of my hands he leaned down to bring his face to the level of mine and my breath hitched. "I've been womping my willow thinking about you." I looked away from him, unable to stop my laughter. The serious look in his eyes paired with that atrocious pick up line were too funny. "Or better yet; I'd let you handle my wand any day!"

"Stop," I said once I was able to control my laughter once again. I took my hands out of his and we continued on with our rounds. "You know James, you're really lucky that you're funny."

"Why's that?" He asked, looking down at me.

"My mum says that the true sign of a good guy is if he can make you laugh and forget any problems that you're having. If he can do that then he's a keeper."

"I'm a chaser actually." He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I'm being serious James," I set a hand on his arm as I beamed up at him. "If a boy can do that then he's very special. And well James, you can do that effortlessly."

He looked a bit stunned at my words but continued to walk until he spoke quietly again. "You can have the port key to my heart." The words were so quiet that I barely managed to pick them up. He then seemed to shake himself out of something and spoke louder. "Or another cheesy one like you must be magical, because I've fallen under your spell. How about your smile is like Expelliarmus. Simple but disarming." He stopped again, wrapping an arm around my waist as the teasing tone fled his voice. "You must be my horcrux, because you complete me."

"They're not cheesy James," I said watching him as we finished our rounds and made our way back to the dorm. "They're sweet."

When we entered the head's dormitory I paused on my way up the stairs. Chewing on my bottom lips slightly I turned to look at James as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. Meeting my gaze, he raised both eyebrows.

"I know we're not in Professor Flitwick's class, but you still are charming?" He cocked his head to the side slightly. "That's the first one that you used on me, isn't it?" I smiled at his shocked expression "Goodnight James."

I was sitting on the sofa in our common room when I decided that something was very wrong. James wasn't being James. He wasn't acting like himself and to a degree he didn't even look like himself. From where I was sitting I could watch him as he sat at one of the tables in the corner of the room doing his homework.

James was sitting with his head bent down to look at the parchment before him, his focus one hundred percent on his homework. His hair looked as if someone had finally introduced him to a comb and that he had listened to it. His top button was done up and his tie was immaculate. He looked the part of the perfect Head Boy but not of James Sirius Potter.

And I couldn't help but wonder how the change could have possibly slipped passed me? Why had it taken the intervention of Fred for me to notice just how un-James James was being?

I was in the library, finishing off my essay before I needed leave to go and join James for our rounds. Finishing off the sentence I was only slightly aware of someone sitting down in the seat across from him.

"What have you done to him?" A voice demanded.

"Well hello to you too," I said, looking across the table at Fred.

"I'm being serious here," He said firmly. His face was set and his eyes were glaring at me. My eyes widened slightly in shock and I put my quill down. "What the hell have you done to him?"

"To who?"

"James, who else?"

I raised an eyebrow, "And what am I supposed to have done to James?"

"He's not acting like himself – he hasn't been to practice in a while and Merlin knows the word prank doesn't even leave his mouth anymore. All he cares about know is being mature and setting a good example as the Head Boy."

"I don't understand how any of that's my fault."

"Of course it's your fault," He said as if I was being stupid. "You were the one who told him to be mature, weren't you?"

"Wait." I raised a hand to stop him from speaking. "You can't honestly be blaming me, can you? James didn't have to listen to any of what I said."

"Of course he would listen to what you say. You're, we'll you're you," He exclaimed, using his hands to gesture wildly at me.

Once the change in James had been pointed out to me it became all I could see. And when I did look at him all I wanted was for the old James to come back. The real James.

Rising from my seat I walked over to James and pulled out the chair opposite him to sit down. He looked up briefly at the sound of the chair legs against the floor, shot me a smile and turned his attention back onto his work. Putting my hands on the table, I played with my fingers.

"James," I said looking down at my hands, "Something's very wrong."

He looked up at me, the concern evident on his face. I pulled my eyes away from my hands and onto his face. "What's the matter?"

"This," I said motioning to him with my hand. His eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "This is what's wrong."

"I don't understand." He rubbed the bridge of his nose slightly. "What do you mean?"

How was I supposed to explain it in a way that would make him see? Rising to stand form the chair I leaned across the table to take his tie in my hand. Pulling the tie towards me I made James lean towards me and I caught sight of the red that streaked across his cheeks. Making his tie crooked before I let go of it, I leaned up to run my fingers through his hair to mess it up.

When I was satisfied with how he looked I sat back down in my seat, only to see that my actions had made him even more confused. With a sigh I reached across the table to take a hold of his hand and held it palm up.

"Where are the blisters from endless hours of quidditch practice? James your hands are covered in ink." Curling his hand into a fist as if to hide his palm from me, he pulled his hand away. "Don't try and change yourself for a girl James because you'll just end up becoming someone that you're not. If she does end up liking you because you're acting like someone you're not well then that's not fair to you. Most of the time the girl would have preferred you the way that you originally were."

The next time Fred had approached me was during breakfast. Everyone had made sure to come down early in order to catch the quidditch team before they left for their pregame warm up. I was helping myself to some scrambled eggs when Fred slid into the seat beside me.

"Good morning." He said, helping himself to a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Good morning." After a few minutes I felt his eyes on the side of my face and turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just – I wanted to thank you for whatever you did. It's good to have him back to normal and I'm not just saying that as his teammate but as his cousin."

"I didn't really do anything," I insisted.

"Well you did something."

We continued to sit in silence until I saw James, from the corner of my eye, as he walked towards us. Setting a hand onto Fred's shoulder James sat down on the other side of Fred.

"So cousin," James said, "You ready for the match?"

"The better question," Fred said turning to look at James. "Is are you ready for the match?"

"Of course I am! I'm going to have the quaffle so often that you might not even be able to score a goal."

"Does it really matter who scores the goals?" I asked making them both turn to look at me. "You're both on the same team aren't you?"

James as if just realising that I was present, sent me a contemplative look, "What about you then? Are you going to come to the match?"

I bit my bottom lip, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, sure."

The grin he gave me in response was blinding.

Both teams took to the sky, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle. As they waited I watched as Fred whispered something to James who after listening to Fred scanned the stands. His eyes stopped on me. I gave him a small wave and he grinned before turning his attention back to the game. Alice, who was standing beside me, had caught the entire exchange and let out a squeal in response.

Watching James fly was... indescribable. He was born to be on a broom that much was evident as he arced effortlessly between the opposing chasers and swerved the bludgers heading his way. A cheer rang out through the crowd as James scored the first goal and almost instantly turned and looked at me. His eyes swept across my cheering figure before he flew back.

The game was thrilling and a big part of me was annoyed that I hadn't let myself come to many of the other quidditch matches because I was annoyed by James constantly singling me out after each of his goals. Except, he was still doing that now and I certainly wasn't annoyed by it.

In fact it made me sort of happy. I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and let out a disappointed sigh when I realised that I had missed the end of the match. We had won but I had wanted to see the end of the match.

I might not have attended all of the quidditch matches but I had attended all of the after game parties and this one was no exception. I was standing, talking to Alice, when a hand slid around my shoulder and Alice, taking one look at whoever's arms were around me, smiled and left. Looking at the boy beside me I laughed at the look of pure excitement in James' eyes.

"Did you have fun then?"

I nodded, "It makes me kind of regret not going to the other ones."

"Well I certainly missed you at the other ones." He lifted his arm away from me and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Listen, I wanted to thank you-"

"Seriously, what is it with boys and thanking me today?"

James ignored my words and carried on, "I forgot how much fun it was – being the captain and just playing quidditch. Your shove in the right direction helped me to remember that."

"You know what? I think I'm willing to look past some pranks here and there, especially because they make you so happy."

"Really?" His disbelief was obvious.

"Really – just don't pull any pranks on the first years."

I stormed my way through the castle, my anger tangible in the air. Letting out a slight hiss of breath when I approached the Gryffindor common room I announced the password and entered the room. Scanning the crowd for James I walked straight over to him. Catching sight of me, he looked up and smiled at me. The smile didn't disappear at the sight of my glare.

"How could you do that?" I hissed, ignoring all of the curious eyes that were fixed onto us.

"What did I do now?" He actually had the nerve to sound amused.

"You pranked a first year," I said throwing my hands up in frustration. "I especially told you not to pull a prank on first years and to think that I actually thought that you might have matured even just a little bit this year."

He stood up from his seat, towering over me. "I didn't do that."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "So I guess my eyes were playing up then?"

"I set a prank up, I'll admit to that. But it wasn't targeted at the first year." He clenched his hands into fists at his side. "Something must have made it set off so it accidentally hit the first year."

"Because I completely believe that."

"Well you should because I set the prank up to hit Zabini."

"And why would you do that?" I crossed my arms and levelled him a flat look.

"He thinks you're easy. I overheard him talking to some of his friends."

I gaped at him. "What – what's wrong with you?" I hissed at him, noticing the way that people seemed to quieten down.

"SHUT UP!" I jumped at the volume of his voice. James Potter didn't shout. Well of course he did but I had just never heard him shout at me. "Do you know what? I hate the way you make so many assumptions about me!"

"I hate how you're so arrogant!" The words left my throat almost instantaneously.

"I hate how you think you know everything!"

"I do not! I hate how you're so immature!"

"I hate how after everything, after seven years you still look at me like I'm some ignorant douche bag!" The moment the words left his throat, I knew that he meant them. His tone was too sincere for him not to have meant them.

"And I hate the way that you say things like that and make me hate myself." The words were quiet, my mouth moving without my control. "But do you know what I hate the most about you? The fact that you make me love you."

I slapped a hand over my mouth and turned to run up the stairs to the girl's dorm room. I could hide up there and avoid him for however long I wanted to. But before I could move away hands clutched my waist and turned me back round to face James. Fingers gripped my chin and forced me to look up into James' eyes.

"Where the hell is your Gryffindor courage?" He asked his grip on me tightening as I tried to pull away from him. "You don't get to run away all the time." I looked away from him until he forced me to look him in the eye. "Did you mean it?" He asked quietly almost as if he was afraid that he'd heard me wrong.

"Yes," I muttered quietly looking down at my feet.

A hand moved into my hair before he pressed a kiss to my temple. I turned to face him in shock.

His other hand came up to cup my face before he kissed the side of my mouth. I sighed leaning into him but jumped away as I heard Fred give a shout of "Finally!"

He laughed quietly as I flushed. I moved to walk away, trying to hide my embarrassment. James threaded his fingers through mine, pulling me to his side. "No more running away, love."