Bound to the Heart

You're What?

      James watched as his...fiancée...stormed off. He would be lying if he said he did not feel a little bad about what had happened. But she had started it right? She was the one that wondered why he was talking to her. Fine if she was going to act like that then there was no reason for him to be Mr. Nice Guy. Why should he be the one to try to make things work?

The ministry must be crazy, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Ha, the whole idea was laughable in James's opinion. What made it worse was that since she was a Burke it must have meant that her entire family was Death Eaters.

Great, he could see the tabloids now, "Potter son to marry Death Eater's Daughter". Why was this happening to him? He thought that he at least had to the end of this year to be a happy carefree guy. And now he was being saddled with the very responsibility that he hated.

James looked down at the ground and huffed. And the worst part was is that she seemed like a spoiled brat who always got her way. What a shitty way to start a year.

Before James turned to leave however, something on the grass caught his attention. It was a book. Well, more importantly it was a muggle book, Pride and Prejudice. It couldn't have been hers could it? That made no sense, Slytherin pureblood families where all the same. Well, maybe Scorpius Malfoy, but his mother had been a Ravenclaw and subsequently so was Scorp.

He picked up the book, he might as well give it back to her if it was hers. That was the right thing to do. And as the son of Harry Potter it was his job to do what was right. He loathed the idea of talking to her again. Maybe he would hold onto this book for a while. It couldn't hurt to read it. Lily was constantly going on and on about the author. Jane Austen, whoever that was.

He picked up the book and tossed it in the air, catching it in the other hand. He looked up to the castle, the sun had started to set and dinner would probably be starting soon. He didn't feel much like having dinner. So instead he decided to go back to Gryffindor tower to read some of this book. And if he got hungry he could just go to the kitchens later.

James walked leisurely up to the castle. Reaching the doors in about 5 minutes, good time for a walk from the edge of the lake. He walked twistingly through the corridors taking his time to get back to the tower. His thoughts rattling in his brain. After a while of walking he made it to the portrait hole.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Cassiopeia" He mumbled. And the portrait swung backwards in to the short tunnel to the Gryffindor common room.

He plopped down in one of the squishy chairs by the fire and swung his bag down in between his feet and opened Burke's book.

On the inside cover there was her name in an elegant swoopy cursive. He looked at it for a few moments wondering what her name would look like when her name said Potter instead of Burke. Charlotte Potter, well at least it didn't sound hideous.

He turned to the title page next, where he realized that she had written something down. However, it was too smudged for him to make out. So instead he turned the soft page and began to read.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife..."

Soon he found himself invested in the book, turning each page with heightened interest. He had no idea how much time had passed, but he assumed maybe an hour or so because the portrait door swung open and the happy chitter chatter of Gryffindor House could soon be heard in the common room.