Every Little Thing, James Potter.

00. Prologue

"Would you get your bloody foot off of mine?"

Potter blinked, looking quite startled as though somebody had poked him on the back. He furrowed his brow, and Gwen felt the bottom of his shoe slowly slide off of hers.

     "Apologies, mate," he said, and flashed her that charming grin that had gotten him out of hundreds of detentions. "Didn't even know that was you."

"I find that hard to believe," Gwen muttered as she turned her head back away from him. Her elbow rested on the table, her chin against her palm, as she stared up at Dumbledore. Ready still to move on from this little spout with James.

His speech was, to put it plainly, incredibly dry, and even though Gwen was one of the "star players" he'd been acknowledging, she still found it difficult to fight her eyelids open. She couldn't help it; old Dumbledore just had one of the dullest voices she'd ever heard.

After a short moment, James leaned back in towards her. "What d'you mean?"

It was her turn to blink, nonplussed. "What?"

James didn't seem to care about Dumbledore's speech, either. His lips twitched into their arguably more infuriating resting place of a mischievous smirk, the very same he'd never been able to hide whilst pulling a prank, which always gave away the fact that he'd been messing with someone.

"'I find that hard to believe'." He repeated her words, his voice in a low whisper as to not distract the rest of the Quidditch stars seated around them. "What's that mean?"

Gwen's lips tightened into a thin, unamused line. "Can't you just let something drop?"

     Again, the smirk danced across his face. He shut his eyes and lifted his shoulders, feigning innocence. "I get the feeling you have a problem with me."

     "Damn right," she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. "Will you just shut your mouth and listen to Dumbledore's speech? Which just so happens to be about us, mate."

     Not that she'd been paying much attention to his dull acknowledgment in the first place, but anything was better than talking to James Potter.

     "Ah, right." He still wasn't giving up. Why did she have to be seated next to him, anyway? "And I'd almost forgotten. Yeah, you fumble a snitch once or twice, but your marks in class are too good to ignore, and they'll still put you down as star player. I call rubbish."

     "Jealous, Potter?" Gwen couldn't stop the tease from leaving her lips. "Didn't take you for the type. Though we all saw how you reacted when Snape asked Evans out to Hogsmeade. By the way, has the burn mark on Pettigrew's bum ever gone away?"

James's cheeks stained red. "That was an accident," he said, ignoring her simpering. "And I'm not the jealous type, anyways. It was all just... bad timing. And why would I be jealous? We got the same title."

"Sure, Potter," she said, laughing to herself, turning her head back to Dumbledore's speech.

"...the House of Ravenclaw," he was saying (in the nick of time, she'd tuned back in), and his eyes suddenly bore into Gwen's own. "Ms. Graham, if you please."

He gestured for her to stand up, and she acquiesced. All of the Quidditch players offered her a pattering of polite applause. She could feel the jealousy radiating off of some of her own House members, but couldn't find it within herself to care. For once in all her years at Hogwarts, she'd achieved something impressive. Something her dad couldn't say he'd done. And that was enough.

'Course, James Potter also won the title. Two players from the whole school, and of course Potter had to have been chosen. He was too bloody proud of it, too; much more of an arrogant prat, waving the badge around to everyone who'd look his way, unable to stop himself from grinning when Dumbledore also announced his name.

"Mr. Potter," he called, and James wasted no time in shooting off the bench. He was grinning practically ear-to-ear.

Gwen fought an eye roll as the applause increased.

     "Evans isn't out there, Potter," she told him through her smile, as she'd noticed his eyes scanning the entire Great Hall of faces. "You can wipe that stupid look off your face."

     "I know she isn't out there, thank you very much," he responded. He wasn't as good at speaking through his teeth; his smile fell from his face. "I have friends other than Lily, y'know? Remus, Sirius, Marlene, they're all involv—"

     "I didn't realize Lily was a friend," Gwen said, raising her eyebrows sarcastically. She'd now fully dropped her own smile and forgotten all about pretending to be interested in Dumbledore's speech. "If I went right now, found Evans, asked her what she thought of you—what d'you think she'd say, mate?"

     "You know I have a personality outside of fancying Lily, right?"

     Gwen laughed, dryly. "You don't do a good job of showing it."

     He stiffened next to her. "Why do you care, anyways?"

     "I don't," she responded, lifting her shoulders defensively. "I just think you've made a fool of yourself, stumbling around her, acting like you have any sort of a chance. And I'll laugh at you if I feel like it."

     "Don't laugh at me."

     "If I bloody feel like it."

     From the front of the Great Hall, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "If I could get back to acknowledging the exceptional performances the both of you put on this year?"

     Both James and Gwen pursed their lips and looked straight ahead.

     Dumbledore nodded. "Splendid. As I was saying..."

VIA'S CORNER :D

Right sorry for the short chapter,
but this is just the prologue!! Things
get more evolved from here, trust.
Just wanted to show off JamesGwen
anyways
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! :))