𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄
chapter six; The First Suspect List
" I just don't think you're good people, that's all. "

  JAMES POTTER HAD a second wind of daily motivation. January was starting to melt into February, this time constraint a noose slowly tightening around his neck, but it only fueled him further.

  For the first time, he'd not waited to write his note the night of. He'd written in the morning he read the one left for him, and was now forced to carrying his response in his pocket.

  He quite liked the game. Propelling him through day-to-day life. Sadly, Mystery Girl had explicitly excluded James from receiving help from his friends, so it was all up to him. The planning and execution of said plan— he had work to do.

  "We have quidditch practice, mate."

  "Yeah, I know," James mumbled, hunched over a piece of parchment, "Might skip."

  "Prongs, you're the ruddy captain," Sirius said, approaching his best mate frantically, "You've not done that."

  "What?" James asked innocently, peering up at Sirius with a smidge of ink across his cheek.

  "You wrote the name of every Gryffindor girl ever?" Sirius clarified, pointing to the small stack of parchment, "How've you crossed some out already?"

  "Lily and her friends," James said, quickly, "And the ones I've heard hate chess, and then every girl in a relationship."

  Sirius was still hung up on the fact that James had so casually said Lily Evans' name for the first time in months.

  "Some of them don't make sense, but I can't rule them out," James mumbled, twirling his quill between his fingers, "Like, I can't see Fitzgerald being this interesting."

  "That's a bit harsh," Remus yawned, shutting their door behind him and shedding his jumper, trading it for a t-shirt, "Dottie's nice."

  "She's also Gerard's side-kick."

  "You're Prongs' side-kick."

  Sirius's lips formed an 'O' and his face scrunched in offense.

  "Speaking of, you should cross Gerard off," Sirius sighed, straightening out his quidditch jumper, "No way she'd put up with any of us."

  "Isn't the chess set hers?" Remus asked, flopping back on his bed.

  "Think so," James shrugged, "Been there forever— are you taking a nap?"

  "Full moon soon, tired," Remus mumbled, already buried into his pillow.

  "Whatever, leave her on if you're this worried about it," Sirius waved, "But really, Prongs, the team's waiting."

  "Alright, alright, don't get your wand in a knot."

  Sirius grinned, nudging James as he rushed to pull a quidditch jumper on and hurry out of the room. James shoved Sirius back, and soon they were stampeding down the stairs into the well-populated common-room.

  "No."

  "What, why not?"

  "Sal, I'm not writing your essay for you," Dottie sighed for the umpteenth time, continuing her neat work.

  "Just the last paragraph—"

  Fate was a tricky thing. Some believed it so much they'd put their life in its hands, claiming it would take them only when necessary, and Salem wasn't one of those people. James was, not that he put thought into it, he just went along with life.

  Whether it was believed or not, fate was working hard as James' foot caught on the corner of the common room's rug, sending the boy's knee into Salem's back, which sent her jarring forward and spilling ink all across the nearly filled piece of parchment.

  James, who'd caught himself from falling, didn't even realize it until he turned to Sirius whose eyes were blown wide.

  "You're joking," Salem said bitterly, "Potter, you ruined my essay."

  "Shit, sorry, Gerard," James winced once seeing the inky black puddle, "Let me fix it—"

  "No, really—"

  But James was already muttering a spell and moving his wand to pull the ink from the page. This worked and sent the puddle back into the inkwell, but sadly it had also absorbed Salem's writing, leaving her with no evidence of the essay.

  And James met her furious expression with a sheepish one.

  "I didn't— sorry."

  "Can't you ever just leave shit alone?" Salem barked, not even bothering to collect her things as she stormed right out of the dorms, slamming the portrait shut behind her.

  James and Sirius awkwardly stared from the portrait hole, down to Dottie who was attempting to stack the study supplies.

  "D'ya'want help?"

  "I think I've got it, thanks," Dottie said, making Sirius stop in his movements to assist.

  "You hate us, too?"

  "I don't hate you," Dottie sighed, looking up at the boys, "But what you did to Sal was screwed up. I just don't think you're good people, that's all."

  The boys stood in silence as Dottie finally finished grabbing the supplies and fled the common room without another word. Suddenly, quidditch didn't seem so important.

  "We should apologize."

  "She'd run away if we got within 10 meters."

  "Still, we've never said sorry for it," Sirius mumbled, shrugging lightly, "Maybe we are bad people."

  "We're not bad people because of a prank we played when we were 12," James said quickly, "She's the one overreacting, holding a grudge for 5 bloody years."

  "I still think we should say sorry," Sirius disagreed quietly, "The prank wasn't funny, and people still bring it up."

  "No, you're right," James sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, we'll apologize, but not today, alright?"

  "Alright."

  Salem spent the rest of her night re-writing her essay. At some point, Lily Evans had found her in the darkest corner of the library and assisted in this after hearing how James had ruined the first draft. 

  It was the first night Salem didn't write a note to James Potter. She read his as she entered the common room, bidding Lily goodnight and staring into the fire for a while. Then, she did nothing but take her next move, and watch the note curl into itself from the heat of the fire she'd tossed it into.

  It was just chess.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
james just being a wreck>>
also, next chapter is a flashback
and i'm SO PUMPed