J A M E S P O T T E R

He had never regretted anything more than agreeing to run with Ophelia. For one, he had to wake up before the sun was even up. And two, well, it was running.

James groaned as he rolled over in his bed, shoving his face into his pillow. "Keep it down, Prongs," Sirius scolded. "Just because you have to get up at the crack of dawn, doesn't mean we do."

The boy spun back over so he was on his back. He could go back to sleep. When he didn't show up, she would just leave and he could sleep in and all would be well. But he didn't want to lose out on more time he got to spend with her.

He had barely said a word to the girl the past six years and now that they were, well, friends, he wanted to learn everything he could about her. He didn't know if she felt the same about him but she certainly didn't hate him so that was an improvement from prior to their conversation the day before.

James huffed before getting out of bed and changing. He rubbed his eyes as he moved to leave the room, ramming into the door in the process. "Shut up," Sirius hissed.

He quickly shut the door to his room and made his way down the stairs. He left through the portrait just as he saw Ophelia begin to walk away. "Hey," he greeted and she turned around in surprise.

"I didn't think you were actually going to wake up," she informed him.

"Then why'd you come?"

"Figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt," she shrugged. "Have you stretched?" He must have been making a face cause she laughed. She nodded her head in the direction she had been walking, "We can stretch outside."

He nodded, letting out a breath as he followed the girl out of the school. "If you stretch before and after, you won't be as sore later," she explained and his eyes widened slightly.

"I'm going to be sore?" he gaped.

"Most likely, yeah," she answered, laughing a little at his expression. "Depends how long we run for."

"I'm having second thoughts," he announced and she rolled her eyes.

"Feel free to head back then," she suggested. He watched her for a moment, contemplating whether he should go back but then decided against it. He moved and copied her stretches.

"You ready?" she asked him as she stretched her arm across her chest.

"Not at all," he answered honestly and she smiled.

"Come on," she nodded her head toward the woods. "We'll start off slow."

"In the woods?" he inquired.

"Scared, Potter?" she mused and he shook his head. He wasn't scared but he was surprised that she was so willing to go in. Most people would be terrified.

He matched pace with her for a good ten or so minutes until she seemed to start to speed up a little. He slowly started to fall behind so she stopped running and jogged in place.

She turned to face him, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he nodded but his breathing was heavy.

"You want to head back?"

"I do," he nodded eagerly, "I want to head back."

She laughed before she walked to where he was, "Think you can run back or would you rather walk?"

"Walk," he suggested and she bit back a smile as the two made their way back to the castle.

"If I continue to run with you, you have to do something for me," he informed the girl and she narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not forcing you to come with me," she reminded him.

"I know," he nodded as he placed his hands on his hips. She watched in amusement as he tried to regulate his breathing. "It'd be like an incentive."

"You say that and now I'm pretty sure it's going to be an awful idea," she replied.

"Let me teach you how to play Quidditch," he requested.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head, "No, no way."

"Oh, come on," he tried. "It won't kill you."

"Yes, it will," she countered and he raised an eyebrow. She raised her hand above her head, "Me and heights don't get along."

"You're afraid of heights?" he mused and she scowled at his teasing tone.

"Acrophobia is a totally legitimate fear," she told him. "At least my fear isn't having a bad hair day."

He narrowed his eyes but ignored the jab at his hair, "You sit in the bleachers at the games."

"After taking Calming Drought," she explained. "Hence why I don't go to every game."

"What if you only go like two feet above ground?" he suggested. "It's barely height. It's like jumping." She shook her head. He pouted like a child would when trying to get something they want, "Please."

"Don't do that," she told him, her nose wrinkling slightly.

His lip quirked up at this, "Don't do what?"

"Oh, you know what," she huffed.

"I'll make you a deal," he suggested. "If you let me teach you, I won't ever do it again."

She grimaced slightly, "I don't know if it's worth it." He tilted his head slightly and she quickly waved her hand, "Okay, fine. One lesson and I have full rights to back out at any point.

He grinned, "Works for me." He opened the door to the castle, "Does after Defense Against the Dark Arts work for you?"

She frowned, "Do I have a choice?"

"Nope," he replied, popping the 'p' for effect. "See you in class." And then he disappeared.

O P H E L I A L O V E G O O D

"How was your run this morning?" Coralena asked passively and all of her friends looked up at her. Ophelia narrowed her eyes at the girl as her brother questioned her.

"Was there something different from her normal runs?" Xenophilius asked in confusion.

"No, there was-"

"She ran with James Potter," Coralena interjected and Ophelia huffed. She shouldn't have told the girl.

"You did?" Reggie asked with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't say anything."

"Because I knew exactly how you lot would react," she pointed out before gesturing toward Coralena. "I regret saying anything to her."

"If you weren't doing anything wrong, why do you feel the need to hide it?" Coralena asked.

Ophelia narrowed her eyes, "I'm not doing anything wrong. You guys just don't need to know everything I'm doing."

"We're your friends," she reminded her, "You're supposed to tell us everything."

"Okay, fine, since we're playing our 'friends should know everything' card," Ophelia began, leaning forward in her seat, "When were you going to tell us about the boy you've been seeing?"

The color drained from Coralena's face, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't?" she inquired. "I'll just go ask Malfoy then."

"Malfoy?" Reggie gaped. "You've been seeing Malfoy?" His words went unheard by the two girls.

"Hey, you came at me with the whole keeping secrets from friends thing, at least I told you about it," Ophelia reminded her. "Clearly this whole friendship thing doesn't go both ways because otherwise I wouldn't have had to figure all of this out on my own."

"Maybe you guys should just take a minute," Reggie suggested warily and Xenophilius nodded in agreement. "Before anyone says something they regret."

It was either that Coralena hadn't heard his suggestion or she didn't care. "At least the guy I'm in a relationship with actually knows who I am," Coralena countered and Ophelia shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm done here," Ophelia announced as she stood up from the table. "I have to get to class."

Ophelia began to walk away and she could hear Reggie speaking as she did so. "Really, Coralena?" he scoffed. "You had to go there."

The door to the Great Hall closed and then opened a moment later. She turned around with a huff, "What do you want Reggie?"

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she shook her head. "But Coralena isn't."

Reggie frowned, "I know. She had been acting strange for awhile now but I had no idea it was because of Malfoy."

"What do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do," he pointed out. "If we tell her not to, she'll just want to do it more."

"This is just wonderful," Ophelia huffed. "I really do have to get to class."

"We can figure something out after your class is over," he suggested.

She opened her mouth to agree but faltered, "I can't." He raised an eyebrow at this, "James is going to try and teach me Quidditch."

Reggie stifled a laugh, "You hate heights."

"I'm aware," she grimaced. "But after." He nodded in agreement before the girl took off to make sure she arrived to class on time.

J A M E S P O T T E R

James and Peter had been stuck in a very unfortunate position in regards to where they stood with Remus and Sirius. Neither of them had any intention of picking sides and while the two could be in the same room together without yelling, it made for some very uncomfortable situations.

They sat in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table in silence. Which in and of itself was odd for the four. James pushed the food around his plate as he glanced between Remus and Sirius. He still had no idea what had happened but it was clearly bad.

He saw Ophelia stand up from the Ravenclaw table, a look of irritation clear on her face. He moved to go after her as she left the Hall but stopped when he saw Reggie get up and go after her.

Sirius seemed to notice this and he followed James' line of sight, "She's probably fine."

He was sure she was but that wasn't what was bothering him. It was the fact that Reggie was going to comfort her and not him. He shook his head. Reggie's known her longer. They're closer. And they're only friends. He huffed. He knew exactly what he sounded like. A jealous boyfriend.

It doesn't matter, he reminded himself. You are just friends. And you prefer it as just friends. He seemed to keep having to tell himself that but it didn't stick.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed as he looked down at his food. "We should probably head to class or we'll be late."

O P H E L I A L O V E G O O D

James' eyes widened slightly as his sight flickered up to see that Ophelia's hair was pitch black. "I take it black is when you're afraid?" She nodded, biting her lip as she looked around the field.

"I told you I don't like heights," she reminded him.

"I know what you said," he pointed out. "I just hadn't realized just how much you were afraid of it."

"And now that you do know, I can go?"

"You haven't even tried it."

"I'm psychic," she informed him. "I know how it'll turn out."

"That's what you're going to go with?"

"I don't see you out here conquering your fears," she pointed out.

"That's because I'm not afraid of anything."

She stood up on her tiptoes and proceeded to mess his hair up. And not in the way he normally kept it but to where it looked like a birds nest. She smiled at her work as she dropped her hands. "Satisfied?" James asked the girl.

"Extremely," she grinned.

"Great," he laughed at the girl, "Let's get started then." He handed his broom over to her.

"What if I fall?" she asked.

He shook his head, "You won't fall."

"What if the broom stops working?"

"Don't insult my broom like that."

"Well, what if-"

"Would it make you feel better if I went up with you?" James asked. "That way you know you'll be fine."

"You want me to go up in the air with you?" she asked the boy. "Where you would be able to push or throw me off and I'd be dead?"

He fought down a laugh, "I don't want you dead, O."

She narrowed her eyes, "I don't buy it."

"Well, you should."

"Why?"

"Because I don't kill my friends," he pointed out. "At least not most of the time."

"I'm not sure that's comforting," she replied, her nose wrinkling slightly. "I'll go with you but if I back out, you have to bring me back to the ground."

"Deal," he nodded. He mounted the broom and gestured for her to join him. She got on behind him and he grabbed her hands gently. She liked the feel of his hands around hers but she ignored the feeling as best as she could. He placed them around his torso. "Hold on."

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on letting go," she informed him and he laughed.

Her arms rested on either side of his waist. "Are you ready?" he asked her.

"Not even a little," she answered honestly and she felt them lift off the ground. She sucked in a breath

She shook her head, her eyes squeezed shut, "I don't like this."

"Really?" he inquired, amusement clear in his tone. "Here I was thinking the nails digging into my stomach meant you were having the time of your life." She dug her nails in deeper and he yelped, "Okay, okay. I was only kidding."

"Hmm," she replied. "How high are we?"

"Don't look down," he suggested and Ophelia remembered what Reggie had said about not telling people what not to do because it made them want to do it more. He was right.

She opened one of her eyes and looked down to see how high up they were, "We're going to die." She tightened her grip on the boy's waist and pressed herself up against his back, her eyes squeezed shut.

"So when I said don't look down-"

"I looked down," she confirmed, pressing her forehead into his back. "I have so many regrets right now."

"Do you want to go back down?" he asked, turning his head slightly so he could look at her.

She opened her mouth to say yes immediately but faltered. Did she want to go back down? "No," she answered and she could tell he was surprised. "I'm fine right where we are."