living with them, ginny weasley & the marauders

eleven

chapter eleven; hold up a second...he writes, sings and plays the guitar?!

James Potter was sitting in the third row of the Transfiguration classroom, waiting for everyone to arrive. He was the first one to get there (including McGonagall herself) and he was sitting and scribbling away on a bit of parchment. He was usually good with a quill in hand, but something, today, seemed to stump him.

"Hey."

Making him jump, Ginny plonked herself into the seat beside him. James looked up at her curiously, and then abruptly slammed his hand over the parchment so that Ginny couldn't see it.

"What are you doing here so early?" He questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing," Ginny pointed out as she pulled her ink and parchment out of her bag. "But if you must know, Dumbledore wanted to talk to me about my transfer, so I skipped lunch. What's your excuse?"

"Er...I was finishing some homework..." James lied.

"Psssh, yeah right. James I've been here a day, and even I can see that you're not exactly the homework type," Ginny laughed. "Writing a poem for Lily?"

"How did you know?"

"I've been standing behind you for five minutes," Ginny chuckled. "How's the poem coming along?"

"Absolutely awful," James admitted. "I'm usually really good at writing stuff but...Writing is so hard."

"Yeah, whoever invented writers block was a real jerk," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Can I see what you've got?"

"Not much to see." James handed her a piece of parchment that had the words 'Dear Lilyflower'  written on it. Ginny stared at it and then at him with an incredulous look on her face.

"Are you serious?"

"Nope, I'm Ja— Oh I get what you mean," James chuckled. "It's definitely an improvement from early fifth year. In case no one has informed you, I was a down right git back them. Or as Lily called me—,"

"—an arrogant toe rag. Yeah, I've heard."

He pulled a crumpled and ripped piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Ginny to read.
"Roses are red,
and so is your hair.
At words, I'm not very good,
As I could, and I should.
There's a reason chaser's don't write,
Hooch doesn't allow quills in flight
Bet my broom's rather fast,
And is do anything you'd asked.
I think you're quite fit,
And you have really nice — legs.
Please go out with me."

"James, you — you didn't give this to her, di—did you?" Ginny managed between her laughs.

James nodded, "She slapped me."

"If I'm being honest, I can't say I blame her," Ginny handed it back to him, which he stuffed back in his pocket. "No offence or anything, but you're a horrible writer."

"Non taken," James shrugged. "But I evolved by the end of the year. I wrote a damn song for her! It was amazing, by the way."

"If it was that amazing, wouldn't you two be dating?"

"Well, in case you've forgotten, I was dating her," James looked at Ginny sourly for a moment. "But the truth is, I never gave her the song. I was — I was too afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"More rejection," James stated shortly with a sigh. "I'd had enough of it."

"Well, maybe if you sing the song for me now, I could tell you if it was any good," Ginny suggested.

"It's better when I play the guitar though."

"You play the guitar?" Ginny gawked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, my friends know about that. I haven't told them that I sing though — which reminds me," James cut himself short, "Why am I telling you any of this?"

"I don't know, maybe because I'm trustworthy? It's coming out of your mouth, not mine," Ginny shrugged. "Also, it's my fault that you and Lily broke up, and I really want to make it up to you."

"How?"

"By helping you get her back."

"Yeah, good luck with that," James scoffed, obviously taking this as some joke. Ginny couldn't blame him. She would too if a person she had just met offered to help with her complicated love life. What she was doing was certainly weird to anyone who didn't understand her situation. "She's a very stubborn girl."

"Yeah, she is," Ginny mumbled without really thinking. "Just like Harry."

"Harry?" James frowned in confusion. "Who is Harry?"

"My boyfriend," Ginny told him honestly.

She knew that there would come a time where she'd most likely regret the decision she just made, but there was no point hiding that fact from him, because she was bound to let that slip eventually. As long as she didn't tell anyone that he was James and Lily's son, she was pretty safe.

"Oh, does he go to Hogwarts?"

"Uh, no," Ginny replied. "He's — he's dead."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ginny said, cheering up the mood. "Anyway, let me hear this song."

"Maybe another time?" James suggested meekly. Ginny noticed that just at that moment, Remus had walked in through the classroom door and taken a seat. Impeccable timing, Remus.

"Why does everyone always say that?!" Ginny said frustratedly, as Professor McGonagall and a bunch of students began to enter. "Fine, but we have a deal, yeah? I know we only met, but I'd really like to help you get Lily back. Honestly, It's the least I can do for the trouble I've caused."

"Alright, deal."