that way | james potter

005

Weeks passed and nothing really happened, it was just that somehow, me and James grew pretty close. Even McGonagall seemed to notice that and asked me to stay after Transfiguration Class, to have a little chat with her.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, as I walked to the front of the room.

"Miss Barnes, I noticed that you and Mister Potter grew pretty close, is that right?" She asked.

I was confused, since when do teachers care about such things?

"Yes, that's right professor. Why are you asking, I may ask?" I answered.

"Mister Potters grades aren't the best and it would really help him to get better in class if he wants to continue playing quidditch." She explained.

"So you mean, if his grades stay like that, they will kick him out of the quidditch team?"

"Yes."

"Oh shit." I said to myself.

"How am I important then?" I asked.

"I wanted to ask you, if you could maybe be his tutor and explain the things to him again, he doesn't understand. You and Mister Lupin are top of the class and I think it would help if you would try to take your time to help him." She continued explaining.

"Oh okey. I can do that."

"Great, I will have to talk to Mister Potter tomorrow about the grades and I would like you to start tutoring him after that then." She said.

"Okey, I will." I didn't knew what else to say.

"You may leave now." She dismissed me.

As I walked out of the classroom, the four boys were standing there, leaning against the wall, waiting for me.

"You good?" James asked as he saw me.

"Sure, I'm fine." I answered.

"Why were you in there then?" Sirius asked.

"Because of my grades and she wants me to start tutor someone and asked me if I was okey with it." I explained, I'll let McGonagall tell James that it is him.

"Who is it?" James asked.

"Don't know yet." I shrugged.

"Let's head to our dorm, I gotta copy off some of your homework." James grinned at me and I rolled my eyes.

***

"Mister Potter, I would like to talk to you." McGonagall said after class was over on the next day. I grinned but hid it so he couldn't see it.

"I'll go and wait outside for you." I said to him and he nodded.

"What do you thing she wants to talk about?" Peter asked me.

"Don't know." I shrugged.

"Should we wait for him?" Sirius asked, as we were all walking out of the classroom.

"Emma should wait for him, come on, let's grab something to eat." Remus said winking at me before walking off with Peter and Sirius.

I sat down on the floor staring at the ceiling. The castle was beyond beautiful. The little details in the ceiling made it look magical, not because it was a magic school, because it looked magically beautiful.

As James walked out of the classroom after about five minutes he looked stressed. He stormed out and sat down on the other side of the door, covering his face with his hands.

"James, are you okey?" I asked.

He looked over, he looked surprised to see me there.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Waiting for you, obviously."

"They're going to kick me out of the quidditch team." He said almost tears filling his eyes.

"No they won't. Didn't McGonagall tell you about the tutor thing?" I said, getting up walking over to him.

"She did, but she didn't say who it was and I can't really concentrate while studying, I've tried." He whined.

"You're really stupid." I said getting down on my knees to be on an eye level with him. "I'm going to be your tutor and I promise I will help you as much as I can."

"You?"

"Of course me, why did you think McGonagall wanted to talk to me after class yesterday?" I said.

"I don't know, I thought you were going to help someone else. But that's amazing that you're helping me!" He said happily, giving me a hug.

"Yeah I know, and I swear, if you don't pay attention when I'm helping you, I will help them to kick you out of the quidditch team! I'm a good teacher." I said threateningly.

"Oh okey, I got it. Let's go grab something to eat." He said getting up, grabbing my hand, dragging me with him.

***
That afternoon, we went to my dorm to study. We had an exam coming up next week and I wanted to study for it anyways, so it was a great chance to start helping James.
We sat down on my bed and the floor, our school stuff infront of us. As I started explaining the topic to him, he was paying attention, but that only lasted for one minute. His eyes started drifting off into several directions in the dorm room.

"James!"

"Hm?"

"You're supposed to listen what I'm talking about!" I said looking at him, laying on my bed.

"Well, I was listening, it's just not really interesting." He said.

"Well, when you're talking about quidditch, I'm listening even though I don't think it's interesting." I said, before turning to my books again. "Plus, im doing this here for you, I already know everything about it."

"I'm sorry okey, it's just boring. I can't concentrate." He said.

"Yeah, I can see that. You're looking everywhere but at the books."

He sighed, his eyes drifting away again. Suddenly he grinned, staring at the wall above my bed.

"What's so funny?"

"I just remembered how fun that day was." He said pointing at an old Polaroid picture of our group hanging there.

"Yeah, that really was fun. We could do that again, but it's freezing outside and I'm really not good at flying." I said.

On the picture you could see all of us flying on brooms, chasing birds over the lake. I was sat on the back of Sirius' broom. James was flying infront of us, next to Remus and Peter.

"We can still do that, just put in something warm, I will take you with me onto my broom." James said looking down at me, who was sat on the floor.

"You're forgetting the reason we're here James, I'm supposed to help you!" I said, pointing at the books.

"Okey, what if we make a deal?" He suggested.

"What deal?"

"I will pay attention and try to understand the topic. We have five hours until it gets dark outside and if I got it within the next two hours, you're going outside with me on a broom ride." He explained.

"Deal."

"Deal." He grinned.