Chapter Two, Bombarda / Provokes a small explosion

Breakfast the first morning is always a source of interest, as everyone catches up on the summer's gossip, and moan about their timetables. Lately, there's also always been a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, so everyone tries to find out more about them. Last year's teacher was fired for smuggling alcohol inside, so the bar is pretty low.

Clare hates her roommates. Every breakfast, she tells the group what stupid thing happened the night before. Sometimes it's funny - like, Kathleen Parkinson almost getting disowned because she made out something she shouldn't have (no one knows exactly what). Most of the time, the girls just read in silence and somehow it gets on Clare's nerves.

They all choose to sit at the Ravenclaw table, usually, as two of their group are from that house, so it makes the most sense. Sometimes they sit at the Hufflepuff table, but never at the Slytherin table. The Slytherin table is like the Forbidden Forest, only without anything friendly.

Clare is deep in some rant about one of her roommates again. "- and it's not that I hate her, it's just that her voice makes me want to shove my own head in the toilet and flush, you know what I mean?"

"Not at all," Tara says.

Clare continues like she didn't speak. "And she's a lesbian. I despise lesbians."

Penny frowns. "Clare, you're a lesbian."

"Yeah, and? What, do all lesbians have to like each other?"

Hana looks confused. "Well, no, but surely some lesbians have to like each other at some point. You can't all hate each other all the time." She looks over to Penny for reassurance. "Right?"

"Well, I've never met a lesbian I liked," Clare says. "Well, actually, I met one. Oh, two, if you count that girl in Egypt."

"So you don't despise lesbians, you just despise Parkinson," Tara says.

Clare isn't listening. "Four, if you count people still in the closet."

"Do you think people change when they come out?" Tara asks, eyes wide. "Like, their whole personality changes?"

"I don't know," Clare says. "You should try it and find out."

Tara scowls. "I'm not doing that."

Before they can bicker about this any further, Hana interrupts by handing them all their timetables, courtesy of the Ravenclaw Prefects. Penny examines hers - it's not too bad, but her first period today is with the new Defence teacher.

"You think he's any good?" Clare asks, in the same class.

"Probably not," Penny admits. "Dumbledore would've hired him earlier. He must be running out of candidates now, surely."

"I hope he's hot," Hana says dreamily, like she ever looks up from her textbooks during lessons. She can pretend all she wants, but they all know that Hana is actually there to study. "Defence is so boring."

Penny shoves her arm. "Merlin, what would the musician guy say if he heard you right now?"

"Oh, shove off."

"Hmm, yeah, that's probably what he would say - "

"I hope he's good," Clare interrupts. "We need a good Defence teacher for once. Well, Penny doesn't, but the rest of us do."

Penny grins, proud of her skill at hexing people. "Thank you, Clare. I am brilliant."

"Modest, too."

"What do you have first, Tara?" Hana asks, eagerly checking Tara's timetable. "Divination? Really?"

Tara defensively shields her timetable from their eyes. "It's useful. It has many real world applications, okay?"

"Really?" Hana asks. "Name one."

"Uh..."

"Horoscopes?" Penny offers.

"Making tea?" Clare adds.

"Writing diaries?" Penny continues.

"Shut up, both of you," Tara snaps. "I'll have you know, this summer, I was asked to tell my neighbours fortune with Tarot cards. And I did it, and I was accurate. I clearly have the gift."

Penny gulps down some coffee. "Tarot cards aren't part of Divination in the Wizarding World, only in the Muggle World. We learnt that in Muggle Studies."

"See?" Tara waves her hands. "Muggle Studies. Name a more useless elective."

"Divination," Clare drawls.

Tara rolls her eyes, but forgives them easily as they head their separate ways. Clare, Penny and Hana all have Defence, while Tara has Divination. Defence Against the Dark Arts is one of Penny's favourite subjects - the lessons are terrible, but she has a great knack for it, and it's one of the only subjects she'd willingly study in her free time if she wasn't given homework for it (the other is Charms). Her Potions isn't awful, and Penny is passing Muggle Studies with flying colours, as a Muggleborn. She only picked it so she'd have an easy Outstanding in the subject, which was one of her cleverer moments. However, Penny is terrible at Transfiguration. Terrible is an understatement. Abysmal would be more accurate. She was doing fine in O.W.Ls, but since sixth year began, her grades plummeted.

The Defence classroom is nearly full, with all four Marauders lounging in the corner, with Remus and Sirius sitting together, Peter alone, and James for some reason sitting with an empty chair beside him. As soon as they see Penny, Clare and Tara enter, Sirius waves and loudly yells their names, drawing the attention of the rest of the classroom, who quickly dismiss them realising it's just Sirius again.

"Does Peter not like you anymore, Potter?" Clare says coolly, gesturing to the empty space.

James flushes. "No, it's just - "

"We wanted to sit with you guys," Sirius says randomly.

Hana eyes him suspiciously. "Why? Is there some kind of prank going on? Are you guys planning something? If there's something untoward going on, I want no part in it, you hear me? My record is squeaky clean and I'd like to keep it that way. Leave me out of it."

"Relax, Sato," Sirius says. "James is Head Boy. We're upstanding students now."

Nothing has ever sounded less upstanding.

Before they can escape whatever chaos the four guys are planning, the new Defence teacher walks in, and they all leap into the closest seats - Clare beside James, with Penny and Hana on the table in front. From the corner of her eye, Penny can see Remus and Sirius cackling with laughter, seemingly directed at James.

Everything dies down when they see the new Defence Professor. It seems like Hana got her wish, because hot is an understatement. He has medium-length shiny blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a chiselled, angular face as he stares down at all of them. He can't be many years older than them - he looks about seventeen, but Penny figures he's probably older. She hopes so.

"Wow," Hana whispers. "He is hot."

"He looks our age," Clare leans forward to whisper to them. "Aren't N.E.W.T Professors supposed to legally have a certain amount of teaching experience?"

Hana frowns. She may act shallow, but really all she cares about it getting good grades. "You think? You should say something."

Clare scoffs. "No, I don't actually care."

"Good morning, class. My name is Professor Beaufoy," Professor Beaufoy says. He has a faint European accent - French, Penny thinks. "I am going to be your Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for this year, until you graduate. I understand that your last Professor was ... unique, but rest assured, we will soon catch up with the parts of the course you're behind on, and your grades shall be fine. As long as you're willing to work hard, pay attention, do extra homework and come to catch up practical sessions I will be holding once a week."

"He's French," Clare whispers, sounding horrified. 

Penny frowns. "And?"

"French."

"The fuck is wrong with you?"

"Girls at the back," he says snappily. "Do you have anything you'd like to share with the rest of us? In my classroom, people will raise their hand before interrupting and rudely disrupting the rest of the class."

Penny raises her hand.

"What's your name?"

"Penny Taylor, sir."

"And your question?"

"What if we're not, you know, willing to do all that? Sir."

He frowns. "What?"

"You know, all that stuff," she waves her hand around in the air. "Like extra homework, and paying attention, and working hard. What if we don't do that?"

"Then you will fail. Any other questions?"

Hana raises her own hand. "I'm Hana Sato, sir. Don't N.E.W.T Professors have to have at least five years of teaching or practical experience before being qualified enough to teach the N.E.W.T syllabus without an assistant?"

"Merlin," Penny hears Sirius mumble from behind them. "Are her parents lawyers or something?"

The Professor's lips press together in a thin line. "Usually, yes. However, in this case, that's not necessary."

"Why not, sir?"

"Because I am an exceptional teacher, as I proved to Professor Dumbledore when I applied for this job and beat out all the other applicants."

"Were there any?" Clare interrupts.

"Were there any what?"

"Other applicants? Did anyone else apply?"

He shoots her a dirty look before turning to the rest of the class, a hard shadow falling over his eyes. "Before we begin, I want everyone to introduce themselves."

"Oh, for fucks sakes." Clare mutters.

"With your name, I'd like you to state something from the syllabus that you're excited to learn." He narrows his eyes. "If you don't know what's on the syllabus, just give us another... fun fact." He spits out the word "fun" like it pains him.

"There's a syllabus?" Sirius says. Then there's a thud, like someone (Remus) has punched him in the arm.

They start at the front of the class. Penny kind of zones out, not really listening to what most people are saying. Lily says she's excited to practice Concealment Charms, Parkinson says her favourite animal is a cat, Marlene says she likes baking. It's all boring.

A few people later, Snape stands up, scowling like he can't believe he's being made to do this, and says "I want to learn the Unforg - I want to learn how to resist the Unforgiveable Curses."

No one dares laugh. Professor Beaufoy only looks mildly uncomfortable as he gestures for the next person to speak. Penny glances behind her to see Remus with his hand over Sirius's mouth, stopping him from shouting out some obscene comment. Fair enough.

They get to Clare. She stands up, sways like she's drunk, before raising a hand and saying confidently, "My name's Clare Quinn and I like .... " she trails off. "What do I like?"

"Us," Hana says.

Clare laughs. Then, catching sight of Hana's face, amends - "Oh, you weren't kidding. Hm, what do I like?"

"Vodka," Penny suggests unquietly.

"Thank you, Miss Quinn," the Professor snaps, before Clare can open her mouth and say that she likes vodka. "You may sit down now."

James stands next. "I'm James and I want to duel people."

"That's not on this year's - oh, nevermind."

"Any specific people?" Clare asks.

"Thank you, Miss Quinn," Beaufoy says, his voice tight. "Next."

It's Hana. She stands, surveys the room, before saying "I'm Hana Sato, and I'm excited to learn how to defeat Nogtails."

"Wonderful, Miss Sato," Beaufoy agrees, looking pleased that at least one person knows the syllabus.

"-I'm also excited to learn the Pimple Jinx."

"Oh, how nice!"

"-and how Bombarda Maxima, and the Patronus Charm, and the Imperturbable Charm, and -"

"Merlin, is she reciting the syllabus?" Clare mutters. "In order?" Penny covers her face, wishing she wasn't sat beside Hana anymore.

"-and the Chameleon Ghoul, and about Manticores, and - "

"Hana, please sit down," Penny whispers, tugging her jumper sleeve. "Please."

Hana stops her listing to take a breath, so Beaufoy jumps in. "Thank you, Miss Sato. Um, next?"

"Yes, thank you, Miss Sato," Clare whispers. "Thank you for that sickening attempt at sucking up to our teacher."

"Shut up, Clare!"

Penny stands awkwardly. Luckily, she now knows what's on the syllabus, thanks for Hana. "I'm Penny Taylor and I'm excited to learn Bombarda Maxima .... a spell I've never used before...that's why I want to learn it."

Clare snorts.

"Thank you, Miss Taylor," Beaufoy nods to her, looking unconvinced. "Next."

They continue until everyone has committed to the humiliating experience.

Finally, Beaufoy moves onto the actual teaching part of the lesson. "Now, today we're going to be covering Nogtails. Can anyone tell me anything about Nogtails?"

Only Lily and Hana raise their hands, but he chooses not to pick on them.

"Right, how wonderful. For our next lesson, I want thirty inches on how to recognise a Nogtail, where to find them, and how to get rid of them. Next lesson I'll bring some in, and we can practice. For the essay, I want all your used sources in on a separate sheet of paper, and I want at least three different eyewitness accounts used as references."

"But Sir," someone says. "Our next lesson is first thing tomorrow."

"Then you'd better get on with it," he says snootily. "I'll let you go early today, so you can use the time from this lesson."

Penny groans, leaning forward to slam her head on the desk. "Do we have to?"

She hadn't meant for him to hear, but apparently she wasn't as quiet as she thought. "Yes, Miss Taylor, you have to. Anyone who doesn't get it to me tomorrow, you can write sixty inches for the day after tomorrow. Any questions?"

Clare raises her hand. "Is it too late to drop this class?"

Over the summer, James and his friends spent their time plotting.

It wasn't evil, Machiavellian plotting, as he imagines Snape and all his snivelling Slytherin friends were doing. The Marauder's plotting mostly consisted of James getting teased by Remus and Sirius, before they got distracted. He understands why they mock him - it is a bit ridiculous, how can he still have a crush on the same girl who rejected him when they were thirteen? The said girl hasn't even shown the slightest bit of interest in him, or anyone else, ever. Honestly, James feels like he's Sisyphus, consumed by a useless task for eternity. But, like Sisyphus, he has to try, at least this year.

There were three things Sirius and Remus (Peter agreed, but he didn't come up with them) figured James would have to remember if he was ever going to succeed in getting Penny's attention. The first was boundaries - forgetting them would get her attention alright, but not in a positive way, as he was aiming for. The second was confidence - James figured he'd have no problem with this one, considering most of the time he's getting scolded for having too much confidence. Unfortunately, every time he tries to talk to her, he seems to make a bit of a fool out of himself. The third, James has forgotten.

So far, their plotting has been absolutely useless. Actually, James would go as far as to say that it's actually making everything worse. He tried to talk to Penny on the train, as his friends encouraged, and utterly failed. He got them both yelled at by Lily (who only laughed at him when he explained what actually happened, later in their Common Room). When he tried to sit next to her in DADA, her friend Clare took the spot. Oh, and he also completely embarrassed himself when introducing himself. Like - "I want to duel people" - who says that? He doesn't even want to duel anyone. 

Now, not that James has been watching her (he has) but he knows they both have Transfiguration next period, because they do almost the same N.E.W.Ts, only Penny takes Muggle Studies instead of Herbology, and he also takes Arithmancy. Still, when they get into the Transfiguration classroom before everyone else, since Beaufoy let them out early, himself, Sirius and Remus end up sitting beside Penny and Hana. Neither Peter nor Clare take Transfiguration, and James hears Clare mumble something about working on the essay, though everyone knows she's absolutely not going to.

Still, they settle onto a couple of tables at the back, with Hana and Penny sitting in front of them. Both girls immediately dive into their Defence textbooks, and James can see Penny making notes of useful points she'll need for the essay.

Sirius leans back in his chair. "Merlin, you guys are really working hard."

Hana snaps forward, glaring at him. "Some of us have to work hard, Black! We're not all from influential pureblood families with a wealthy fortune." She eyes both James and Sirius.

"Um, Han," Penny says, not looking up from the book. "You are from an influential pureblood family with a wealthy fortune."

"That's not the point, Pen! You're not, you know."

Remus smiles at Penny encouragingly. "I'm not either."

Penny grins at him. James feels incredibly left out. Curse his amazing family, his loving parents, his fortune. Why did he have to be born so perfect?

"I hope Minnie hasn't forgotten me over the summer," Sirius drawls, stretching. "I missed her. My heart longed for her."

"That is so creepy," Penny says.

"Poor McGonagall," Hana agrees, shivering.

"Wow," Sirius scoffs, feigning offence. "I would expect this from Sato, but from you, Taylor? Hurtful, really."

"Speaking of McGonagall," Hana says to Penny. "How did you get on with the stuff she told you to do over the summer?"

James watches in curiosity as Penny flushes, looking a little embarrassed. Part of him feels bad to be a witness to whatever's embarrassing her, but the other part is just glad to know a little more about what's going on inside her bewilderingly confusing brain.

"Well," Penny scratches the back of her neck awkwardly. "I tried."

"Tried what?" James asks.

She rolls her eyes. "Like, everything we learnt last year. I'm so useless."

Oh, right. Penny's never seemed to like Transfiguration - the opposite to James, who loves it. He doesn't even practice most of the time, but it just comes naturally to him.

The class is beginning to fill up now, and naturally McGonagall is early, watching them with eagle eyes as everyone takes their seats. She used to enforce a seating plan, but gave up on it in their sixth year, saying they were mature enough to sit with their friends and still get on with their work. She was actually right - James and Sirius used to be so disruptive she'd place them at opposite ends of the classroom, but last year they stopped disturbing everyone else, only messing around with their friends.

"Morning, Class," McGonagall says briskly. Sirius waves at her - she ignores him. "There's no need to waste time talking about the summer - we have a lot to do before your N.E.W.Ts. For this week, we're going to focus on revising everything we learnt last year, before cracking on with this year's content. Today, I want you to first practice transfiguring Fairy Cakes to Fairies, and then pawns to queens. Later we'll be doing the harder version of the second incantation, so make sure you can do that one perfectly, or you'll struggle."

Nobody moves, all listening to her.

"Well, get on with it," she snaps, and suddenly the whole class springs to life, bustling around.

Sirius and Remus grab a whole bunch of fairy cakes and boxes for holding the fairies, while Penny, Hana and James grab five pawns for their table's work. It's easy - as soon as they've sat down, James completes the task, and then he just kind of sits there staring into space.

Yeah, that lasts all of thirty seconds. Then he gets bored and starts distracting Sirius and Remus, but Remus gives him a deadly glare that's almost scary.

"Moony," James groans, whiney.

"Go distract someone else," Remus snaps. "I'm concentrating."

His fairy cake has morphed into a cake in the shape of a fairy, but it's not exactly what they're supposed to end up with. No wonder he looks stressed.

James looks around for someone else to distract. Sirius, like Remus, is concentrating, except his Transfiguration looks to be going even worse, so James lets him be. Lily, like him, has finished, only instead of distracting others, she's helping her friends with the charm.

The table in front of him is total chaos, though. Hana's completed the first task and is now squinting at the pawn, as if trying to remember the incantation. She's also eating one of the fairy cakes with the hand that her wands not in, which James applauds her for. He's always worried that the cakes might be reused every year, so he might end up eating parts of a badly transfigured fairy by accident.

Penny, on the other hand, looks to have given up. She's not even got her wand out, she's just staring at the cake with a miserable expression on her face. James leans forward to tap her on the shoulder. "You alright, Taylor?"

She turns to face him, green eyes swimming with irritation. She doesn't say anything for a second, before suddenly bursting out with, "I need to talk to McGonagall." Then she gestures over to her friend, who's still scouring their Transfiguration textbook. "Watch Hana, will you?"

"I'm not a dog," Hana mutters from the corner of her mouth, in a reminder that she can hear them.

Penny silently mouths Watch her! to James, before slipping out of her seat to walk up to the front of the classroom. James watches her, having nothing better to do (and even if he did, his eyes would still somehow find her). She gets a couple bewildered looks as she goes up to McGonagall's desk, but either she doesn't notice or she doesn't care, only tossing her braid over her shoulder haughtily as she goes past the row of Slytherins.

From where he's sitting, James can't tell what they're talking about, only that Penny looks miserable and Minnie concerned. Minnie suggests something, to which Penny looks vehemently offended, shaking her head. Minnie must suggest something else, because Penny then nods, looking relieved.

James has spent a lot of time observing Penny. He's quite an expert on her antics by this point.

Suddenly Minnie nods over to him. James freezes, caught watching them, but isn't quick enough at pretending to be busy with something else, so when Penny turns around, they're just left staring at each other.

She raises her eyebrows and waves at him, before turning back to McGonagall.

Urgh. James groans. Why can't I just act normal?

There's snickers from someone in front of him. He looks down to see Hana openly grinning at his torture, still nibbling on a fairy cake. "How long have you been crushing on my friend, Potter?"

He rolls his eyes, turning defensive. "Why, are you jealous?"

Hana snickers, only turning back to her work, not even bothering to reply.

He looks around to check if any of his other friends are listening, before leaning forward. "Okay fine. Help me. Please."

Before Hana can reply, Penny appears, slumping back into her chair like a depressed sack of potatoes. Then, she whirls around to stare at James. He freezes.

"You okay, Potter?" she asks. "You look like a deer caught in headlights."

Sirius laughs loudly, before pausing. "Wait, what are headlights?"

James, a little concerned that apparently he reminds her of a deer, only nods, also wondering what headlights are. Penny only waves her hand. "Muggle thing. Anyway, Potter," he nods, hanging on her every word. "McGonagall says you're the best in the class - "

"Aw, she said that?" James crows, looking over to see the Professor watching him with a raised eyebrow. "She really said that? I'm better than Padfoot and Moony?"

Penny looks unimpressed. "Yes, she said that. Anyway, since I'm the worst - "

"You're not the worst," he lies unconvincingly.

"Yes, I am. Anyway, she thinks I should get a tutor."

"Oh, right."

Penny seems to be waiting for something, but James just nods.

"She thinks I should get someone in this class to tutor me," Penny amends. "Someone good at Transfiguration."

He nods again. "Who're you thinking?"

Remus puts his head in his hands. Sirius leans across his desk to say only - "Ignore him, Penny. He'd love to tutor you. Hopefully his brain will be working then."

With a jolt, James realises what she's trying to ask. "Oh. Oh, are you asking me?"

"Mate, this is self-sabotage," Sirius mutters, too quiet for the others to hear, for James's ears only. "You're beyond help."

Penny rolls her eyes, turning away. "It's fine, I'll ask Lily. You don't have to, don't worry."

"No, I'll do it!" He panics, maybe a little over-enthusiastically. "Really, I'd love to help you."

"Really?" she asks, smiling at him. James can't help but smile back - she has this super infectious smile that makes him feel like he's the only person in the room, the only one holding her attention. "You would?"

"Of course," James says. It's not like he'd ever say no to her, anyway. Even if he hated Transfiguration, he might spend hours trying to learn it to help her. As it stands, he's totally awesome so it's kind of a win-win. Helping Penny while spending time with her, and showing her that he's actually not an idiot, as she might think, based on how he acts around her. "Should we start now?"

It's the right thing to say. Penny, as much as she may pretend otherwise, does want to pass. She's a Ravenclaw, after all. Sometimes she's known to just be a little lazy, but maybe the thought of failing this class humiliatingly badly is enough to force her into enthusiasm. At James's suggestion, her eyes light up as she nods, grabbing her failed pawn and bringing it over to James's desk, sitting beside him.

"Okay, let's see then," James says encouragingly, as Penny stares down at her pawn miserably.

"It's no use," she mutters. "I always fail. Either nothing happens or the pawn just breaks in half or explodes. How do I explode things when I'm not even trying to?"

James scratches the back of his head. His first instinct is to make her try again, but he also doesn't want to annoy her. He is supposed to be getting her to like him, after all. "Uh..."

She eyes him suspiciously. "What is it?"

"What's what?" he says as casually as he can. "You don't have to try if you don't want to, I guess."

"It's not that I don't want to," she says. "It's just embarrassing to keep failing over and over again."

James bites his tongue, nodding amicably.

Penny, clearly knowing he's holding back, glares at him. "Okay, spit it out. Whatever you're thinking."

"Oh, no, I'm not thinking anything ...."

"Potter," she hisses. "Why are you making that weird face then?"

James swallows, before deciding it's better to be honest. "It's just... I don't know how to help you if you won't even try."

She stares at him, silently. He figures, since she's not trying to hex him, he's not fucked up too badly.

"But it's fine if you don't want to," he adds quickly. "I won't make you."

Penny looks back at the pawn, then back to him. Then she punches him on the arm gently.

"Ow!" He exclaims, rubbing it. "What was that for? I'm sorry!"

"Don't be," she says. "You're right. My attitude is terrible. I'm sorry."

"Oh," he says. "Why'd ... why did you punch me then?"

Penny raises her eyebrows. "Okay, first, that was not a punch. That was a gentle tap. Second, because you didn't tell me straight away. I mean, what did you think I was going to do to you? You should tell me when I'm being an idiot."

"Oh. I should?" He thought girls liked being told they're right.

She nods. "Of course you should. You're my tutor, and you're right. I can't expect you to help if I won't even try. I don't know what I was expecting - like, for you to wave your wand and suddenly bestow me with talent at Transfiguration or something." She pauses, eyeing him. "Unless... is that something you can do?"

He grins. "You've overestimated my talents slightly. Only slightly, though."

"Right," Penny nods. "Anyway, point is, you should tell me if my attitude sucks. Which it does a lot."

"Yeah," James agrees. "I didn't want to tell you, but if one of my Quidditch players had that attitude, I probably would kick them off the team."

Penny shrugs. "Yeah, but that's Quidditch."

His jaw drops. "I don't know if I can teach you if you're going to be like this."

"Be like what?"

"Er - Quidditch-hating. It's sacrilege."

Penny laughs, throwing her head back. "Okay, okay, I take it back. Quidditch is my religion, I love Quidditch. Please teach me."

"You'll need to personally apologise to Quidditch," James says. "I don't know if I can forgive you otherwise."

"Merlin, you're dramatic," Penny snickers.

"I am not, how could you even say that? My heart is breaking." He holds a hand over where his heart ought to be.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a heart?" Penny grins.

Hana turns around. "Are you two actually going to do any Transfiguration, or are you going to waste time flirting for the rest of the lesson?"

James blinks a couple times. "We weren't - I'm not - I don't - "

Penny just shrugs. "Flirting could never be a waste of time, Han. You taught me that."

"That was before I learnt about N.E.W.Ts," Hana says. "And standardised testing." She thinks about it for a moment. "Actually, maybe you shouldn't do any work. Hopefully you'll pull the grade boundaries down with your abysmal score." Then she turns back around to her own work.

Penny's jaw drops. "I can't believe she just said that."

I can't believe Penny thought we were flirting, James thinks. Wait - were they flirting? Maybe Penny was just kidding because she's that oblivious.

"Okay," Penny grabs her wand, glaring at the pawn with an intense expression of concentration on her face. Then she thinks of something and turns back to him. "But you have to promise to be honest with me. Tell me if I'm shit."

"You won't be," James says. "You're good at Charms, and Transfiguration is just Charms but more complicated. It's probably just lots of tiny mistakes you're making."

Penny raises her eyebrows. "You have no idea. But you'll be honest? This won't work if you're worried about hurting my feelings. Really. I need the help."

"I'll be honest," James promises.

She prepares to do the spell again, opening her mouth - and then she thinks of something else and turns back to James. "Don't laugh at me, though. I might actually cry."

"I would never," he swears. "But stop procrastinating and try the spell."

She smiles guiltily, eyes wide. "Okay."

James watches in anticipation, as Penny raises her wand, glaring at the little pawn. She says the incantation loudly and waves her wand, and the pawn gives a little tremble, like it can sense the magic but isn't sure what it's supposed to be doing, and doesn't change at all.

She looks up miserably. "I think it's mocking me."

James almost laughs, but manages to stifle it. "Okay, first, you're moving your wand all wrong. It needs to be more like this - " he demonstrates, "-here, and you need to make a bit more of a queen shape with it."

Penny watches him closely as he demonstrates the movement, nodding. "Okay." Then she tries again. This time, the pawn grows a bit taller.

James explains again. "And the loop here needs to be a bit bigger."

Penny nods and repeats it. The pawn actually morphs into a queen this time, only it has a bit of a misshapen head, but it's a huge improvement from the monstrosities from before. She looks up, grinning. "It worked! James!"

He can't help but grin back. "You sound surprised."

"I am," she assures. "I wasn't expecting this. You're a good teacher."

He nods. "It's the Quidditch Captaining."

"Modest," she notes. "Okay, okay, I'll try again."

Now that it's actually worked, she looks eager to try again, and to practice. Maybe failing constantly has just been a blow to her confidence, James thinks. Maybe she just needed to succeed a little bit to actually believe she could do it.

He transfigures her queen back to the pawn again, pushing it over for her to try, and she does. They repeat the motion until the end of the lesson, each of Penny's queens getting closer to perfect the more she tries. Each time, she seems more and more excited, grinning up at him with shining eyes.

When it's time for them to leave, Penny turns to him, looking elated. "Thank you." She says earnestly.

He blushes. Him. James Potter. Fucking embarrassing. "Oh - uh, it's nothing."

"I know you probably felt like you had to," Penny says, completely wrong as she often seems to be. "Being Head Boy and all. I hope it's not too much of a chore. If you don't want to tutor me I understand, really."

"No, it's fine," James promises. "I enjoyed it, if I'm honest."

She grins. "Hm, me too. So when are you free?"

He blinks. "What?"

"When are you free? You know, for tutoring?"

"Oh," he realises, even more embarrassed now. "Sorry. Uh, I don't know. I have patrol Friday evening, and I haven't worked out Quidditch try-outs and practice yet. When are you free?" (Because he will absolutely schedule Gryffindor Quidditch practice around his and Penny's tutoring sessions. Who's going to stop him?)

Penny shrugs. "I do Ghoul Studies on Thursday nights, so not then. Though I don't mind skipping that, if that time works for you. It's kind of boring. I mostly just go because Tara likes it, she says it makes her feel safe, and Clare doesn't take it seriously and Hana thinks it's dumb. Tara's really worried about poltergeists for some reason, I think there are some haunting her parent's shop. I don't know, she wants me to get rid of them. I think it's like a human-shield sort of a thing - " perhaps realising she's going off track, she changes the subject. "-but whatever works for you. There's nothing I can't move or skip."

James nods. "Okay, I'll let you know, then. You're in most of my classes, anyway, so I'll see you."

"Oh, yeah?" she looks surprised. "That's cool. Alright, see you around, then, James."

She leaves him there with Sirius and Remus, in the Transfiguration classroom, buzzing over the fact that she's started calling him James. 

ok so i was trying to find a name for a parkinson and came up with kathleen parkinson

then i was like "swear i've heard that name before" 

turns out she's one of the critics i learnt for a level english lit and now she's pansy parkinson's aunt so congrats her !

what a fun story im sure you all were interested in 

james is kinda a dick in canon so i didn't want to remove that but also i was also a horrible person when i was 15 and when i was younger so i fully believe that people can change, as i think he probably did and as he did in this fic 

someone stop me from rereading chapters after writing them cause it causes me actual pain but i can't be bothered to fix them 

also im working on a playlist x

lyra

* I thought this was true but it's actually not, 6th year divination students actually do cartomancy so i just lied but i kept it because who cares? so, sorry ab the inaccuracy