A Change of Heart [James Potter II]

Chapter 10: Not A Date

Not A Date

"IT'S NOT A DATE!" QUINN repeated, rolling her eyes at what a big deal Dominique was making out of Quinn going to Hogsmeade with James.

"If it's not a date then why are you dressed like that?" Dom inquired, raising her eyebrow.

"This?" Quinn asked, looking down at her jeans, shirt and boot combination. "This isn't even fancy!"

"I know," Dominique admitted. "but you're wearing your favourite shirt. And a beanie."

"I'm wearing a beanie because it might be cold." Quinn retorted. "And is there a rule against me wearing my favourite shirt out?" Quinn was getting bored of Dominique trying to find reasons to make this a date between Quinn and James. "Look, he's finally trying to get to know me and not just go out with him. Can we try and accept the fact that he maybe just wants to be my friend?"

"Oh Miss Meredith," Carrie came out of the bathroom, looking ready for Hogsmeade as well. "Even I have to agree with Weasley." She mused, and Carrie never agreed with Dominique. "The day James Sirius Potter starts liking you less than a Queen he's going to marry is the day I go out with... Louis Weasley."

"Hey!" Dom snapped, glaring at Carrie. "Don't talk about my little brother like that." Carrie waved Dominique off, grinning to herself.

"Whatever," she said simply, sounding breezy and casual as usual. "Just make sure that you're ear about your intentions."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Quinn inquired, fixing her dark coloured hat before facing her friends again.

"Just don't lead him on, Quinn." Carrie elaborates.

"There's nothing to lead him on about." Quinn insisted. "We're going as friends! All I know about him is that he's ridiculously arrogant."

"Supposedly, it runs in the family." Dominique said. "Harry Potter had it, so did James Potter I."

Quinn was silent, trying to think of what it'd be like to never know a lot of your family. Of course, she knew the story of Harry Potter, and Lord Voldemort's downfall. Every wizard in the world knew of that story. But she didn't even want to assume what he would have had to go through, and Quinn felt sorry for him.

"This isn't a date." Quinn repeated firmly. "And that's that." And with a roll of her eyes, she grabbed her bag and made her way down to the Gryffindor common room where James was waiting for her. he was dressed simply, wearing a pair of jeans and Converse with a grey Henley shirt and a black zip-up hoodie in hand.

"Good morning." James said, his eyes widening slightly as he saw Quinn. She's actually here. He thought. Quinn Meredith is going to Hogsmeade. With me.

"Good morning, James." Quinn smiled kindly. "Thanks again. For bringing me to my dorm the other night..." Quinn's cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment and she scowled just at the thought of Lysander spiking her drink with alcohol. And he's supposed to be the responsible one. She mused bitterly to herself.

"Of course," James spoke immediately. Quinn merely smiled again before leaving the common room.

"Well?" she turned around and rose an eyebrow at James. "Aren't you coming?"

***

"Where do you want to go first?" James asked Quinn kindly as they stepped off the carriages to Hogsmeade.

"Honeydukes," Quinn admitted. "It's probably my favourite place in Hogsmeade."

"More so than The Three Broomsticks?" James inquired, surprised. Everyone loved The Three Broomsticks. It was always warm and comforting, and they had the best Butterbeers in all of England in there. James usually spent all of his Hogsmeade trips with Lysander and Lorcan in The Three Broomsticks, because it just happened to be where everyone spent their time. And of course, since James was practically the most popular boy in Gryffindor, it's where he needed to be.

"Definitely." Quinn mused. "It's always so loud in there. Every time I try to sit and have a conversation with someone, I end up being interrupted by the person in the table next to me, or I get distracted by the volume of their discussion." James laughed at Quinn's analysis, before nodding.

"You make a fair point." He admitted.

"It's a gift of mine." Quinn teased and they made their way to Honeydukes. Honeydukes was cozy and cheery as usual. There were shelves upon shelves of the must delicious-looking sweets you could imagine. Quinn supposed it had always been that way. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees.

Then there were 'Special Effects' sweets: Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, which filled a room with bluebell-coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days, and tiny black Pepper Imps ('Breathe fire for your friends!'). Quinn loved it. She immediately made her way over to grab a single packet of a Chocolate Frog and smiled at the golden writing on the cover. James however, was going all out and grabbed eight single boxes of Chocolate Frogs.

"Really?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow at her but still smiling.

"I only got eight." James defended himself.

"Of course," Quinn replied sarcastically. "Because getting nine pack would be highly inappropriate."

"I have a theory, you see." James spoke quietly, like he was revealing his biggest secret yet. Quinn leaned in, curious as to what it was and James's heartbeat sped up at the simple action. Stop it! He scolded himself. You're just supposed to befriend her!

"Well...?" Quinn inquired after James stared at her for about three whole minutes without saying anything. "What's the theory?"

"Oh, um the more packets of Chocolate Frogs you buy, the more likely you are to get the same card twice." James stuttered slightly, and Quinn thought over the theory.

"I disagree," she stated, and James only smiled.

"Why is that?"

"Because if you pick them out free-handedly, you could very well be picking out eight Dumbledore cards instead of, let's say two Dumbledore cards and then plenty of other ones." James was gobsmacked. Everyone had only ever agreed with his theory, saying that the Chocolate Frog packages often had the same witch and wizard cards in them so that you buy more packages of them, but Quinn had a fantastic point. One that nobody else had ever bothered to tell James of – or think about. "Besides, buying the pack of nine is less expensive than eight singular ones." Quinn added.

"Well, money isn't the important thing," James said carelessly, causing Quinn to frown.

"Just because somebody has a lot of money doesn't mean it's unimportant." She pointed out.

"Oh!" James exclaimed with wide-eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Quinn plastered a false smile on her face and hoped that James wouldn't keep saying inattentive things like before. "Don't worry about it. You ready to go?" James nodded, although he wasn't really, but he just wanted to please Quinn. "Okay. You can pay for your things and get a Butterbeer if you want." Quinn granted kindly, and James furrowed his brows.

"Why?" James questioned.

"Well, you're done and I'm not." Quinn reasoned. "And since you like The Three Broomsticks, you can go there until I'm done." She said smartly.

"No, I can wait!" James tried to convince her, but Quinn was always so selfless.

"Don't worry." Quinn smiled. "I'll be fine. I'll meet you outside The Three Broomsticks, okay?" a little solemnly, James nodded his head and went to pay for his many Chocolate Frogs before heading to get a Butterbeer.