The sun was shining on the little play park on Oakmoor Lane. It was seldom used, to be honest, now everyone on the road was grown up, but today, there was one person inside it.

He wasn't playing on the swings or the roundabout, however, he was sitting on a bench, annoyed at himself because he had failed to knock on the girl of his dreams' door earlier.

He'd been so close. He'd actually been right up at it, but then, just as he was seconds away from knocking, he'd chickened out.

And James Sirius Potter never chickened out.

Yet he had, when knocking on Azalea Edwards' door today.

After a considerable amount of blackmailing from Alice (of which he didn't want to talk about) he'd managed to find out Lea's address, and had apparated to her road instantly, making good use of his new being-able-to-use-magic-outside-school
privilege.

But he hadn't managed to knock on her door, because he was scared.

There, he admitted it. Albus had been teasing him more than usual this summer, because he and Lea had danced at a celebration party in the common room and he didn't even remember it, because he'd drank a little too much firewhiskey.

He wished he could. Rose had told him that Azalea had actually put her hands on his shoulders, round his neck, and danced with him. He wanted to know what that felt like.

But he knew that Azalea would probably just  reject him, because she was probably drunk that night too or something. She hated him. He knew this, but he didn't care. He loved h-

His thoughts were interrupted by a high pitched giggle coming from the other side of the park. Instinctively, James looked up, and almost immediately wished he didn't.

Across the park were two girls, one blonde, one dark haired. They were looking straight at him, giggling furiously, and he instantly felt self conscious.

Now, these girls may be strangers to James, but they were very familiar to Azalea. In fact, the black haired girl was Daisy, Azalea's older sister. Daisy, who had once been very close with Lea, was now a completely different person, the past six years having molded her into a jealous, petty girl.

Her friend, Rachel, was the blonde haired girl, and she was also joining in with the giggling.

"That guy's hot," Daisy said, giggling slightly as she did.

"What g-? Oh my god, he is!" Rachel said, eyes wide, also giggling rather loudly. "Let's go and talk to him, he's just sitting alone on that bench!"

"We can't just go and talk to him, I haven't done my hair or anything-" Daisy began.

"Oh fine, Dais, we can go and do our hair and makeup first," Rachel rolled her eyes. "Come on, otherwise he'll be gone when we come back."

And off they ran down the street, giggling loudly, cheeks flushed.

Phew, James thought, as he watched them run off. Hope I don't see them again.

✾✾✾

Azalea was sat upside down on the couch, legs up in the air and book in her hands, reading rather boredly as she listened to her mother bashing about the kitchen, attempting to make a cheesecake for her father. Daisy was out with one of her fancy private school friends today, and Lea was glad. It was just awkward around her now, their whole relationship had been ruined.

Then the front door crashed open.

Speak of the devil, Lea thought, as Daisy and her friend - Rachel, she thought her name was - came running in, almost screaming with giggles.

"What's all this racket?" Annabelle Edwards didn't take much shit, and this was an example of that as she came out the kitchen wielding a spatula, apron on and dusted with icing sugar.

"We saw this hot guy," Rachel giggled.

"Yeah, and Rach really wants to speak to h-"

"No! Daisy does, but she's too vain to do it without makeu-"

"Shut up, Rach-"

"N-"

"Alright, alright!" Annabelle silenced them. "What does this boy look like?"

"He's gorgeous," giggled Daisy. "He's got black hair, and bright blue eyes, and his jawline... and he's so tall..."

"He was sitting down," chuckled Rachel. "How'd you know if he's tall?"

"He looked it," shrugged Daisy.

Azalea, who had been listening to all this, rolled her eyes. Great, now Daisy was mooning over a random ass guy she didn't know anything about. She'd sunk lower than Lea had thought.

"Lea," her mother saying her name made her jerk to life. "Could you go with your sister and Rachel to see this boy? I want to know if he's actually as handsome as they say."

Azalea did not want to go, but she also knew there was no point of arguing with her mother.

So, she swung herself the right way up, throwing a bookmark into her most recent read and standing up, sighing. "Fine."

"Good," Annabelle smiled. "Go on then, girls, go make yourselves up or whatever..."

"Mum..."

Five minutes later, Daisy, Rachel and Azalea were walking in the hot sun towards the park. Daisy and Rachel were talking in hushed tones about this boy, except for the odd snide comment.

"You won't like him, Azalea, he's a bit old for you," Daisy told her sister, before collapsing into a giggling fit.

"Yeah, and hot people only like other hot people, so..." Rachel added, causing the two of them to descend louder screams of laughter.

When they finally got to the park, Azalea was ready to punch someone or something. She sighed, walking behind Daisy and Rachel as they almost ran over to the boy, who's back was turned to them.

But they were giggling, and being loud, and before they even get in front of him, the boy turned round.

"Oh hell no," Azalea said loudly.

James, meanwhile, didn't even register the two girls coming towards him. He was too busy looking at the redhead behind them, sour look on her face, green eyes rolled to the back of her head, hands crossed over the white summer vest she had on, showing off her tanned shoulders.

"Hey..." the black haired girl tried to say to him, but he walked past her to Azalea, who rolled her eyes.

She was annoyed, pissed, and other synonyms for angry. "Go away, Potter. Why are you even here?"

"To see you," James said honestly, shrugging.

"What?!" Daisy, behind them, spluttered. "You're here for- for her?"

"Yeah, but you can have him, dear sister," Azalea said scathingly. "James, this is Daisy, my sister. Daisy, this is James Potter, an ignorant and idiotic asshole. You should be very happy together."

Two birds with one stone, she thought with a thrill. This was great, she was pissing off Daisy and insulting James.

On the Daisy end, it worked. Her face went redder than Lea had ever seen it, and steam practically came out her ears. "You ugly bitch," she spat at her sister. "You're such a fucking freak, Azale-"

"I don't want your sister, Edwards," James said with an exasperated chuckle, making Azalea turn round to face him. "I want you."

"Well, I don't want him anymore, not if he's a freak like you," Daisy said loudly, dragging Rachel away with her. "Come on, Rach. Let's go."

James watched as they left, frowning heavily. Then he turned back to Azalea. "You're not ugly."

"Yeah, I know," Azalea rolled her eyes.

"That's your sister?" James frowned. "She's-"

"I don't need you to defend me, Potter, I've lived with her my whole life," Azalea said, pausing for a second before disclosing. "Only started acting like that when I got into Hogwarts, though."

James took a step back, frowning even heavier. Azalea took his silence as her cue to leave, turning round and heading out the park.

However, when she reached the gate, she turned back, raising her voice so he would hear her.

"Oh, and tell Alice I love her, but she better have blackmailed you hard for giving you my address, and I better be getting some of the produce she gains from it."

And then off she went, tanned skin glowing in the sunlight, red hair billowing behind her.

✾✾✾

Tensions in the Edwards house increased exponentially after the whole James incident, and explaining it to Annabelle was absolutely mortifying.

But regardless, it was August 31st today, meaning it was only one day until Azalea went back to school. Daisy went back to her posh private school yesterday, meaning that the house was considerably less tense without her, and Lea was glad for it.

She was laying on the couch in her pyjamas, watching TV, when a man none other than her father came up and kneeled beside her.

"Hey, m'girl," he said, giving her a small pat on the shoulder and letting Azalea turn the TV off. "What's this I've been hearing about James Potter coming here, then?"

"Dad, please don't," Azalea said, pressing her hands to her face. She'd spoken with her mum and dad many a time about James over the years, starting way back in the summer between first and second year, so of course they knew who he was. 

Her father chuckled, and Azalea just shook her quickly burning face before removing her hands. "It's just... he's the biggest asshole you'll ever meet- sorry," she said quickly, knowing her mother's strict rules on swearing.

"Ah, it's fine, kid," shrugged her dad. "You're seventeen, you're going to swear, especially in James' case."

Azalea chuckled. "Thanks, dad."

"And who knows?" Christopher chuckled. "Maybe you'll get a boyfriend this year, and James won't be able to go after you anymore. I, for one, hope that happens-"

"Dad!" Azalea said, giggling openly.

"Sorry, Azzie," he said. "But to be honest, I think any boy would be lucky to have you, Azalea."

Lea smiled gently. "Thanks, dad."

And, just from that simple conversation, she knew she was ready for her last year at Hogwarts.

She was going to take this year by the horns and squeeze as much fun out of it as possible. She was going to make it an amazing last hurrah, and it was going to be so good.

And if James Potter was involved?

Well, for once in her life, she really, really didn't care.

(Well, that's what she originally thought).