Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 25

~ You've got to trust your instinct and let go of regret

You've got to bet on yourself now star 'cause that's your best bet. ~

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Felicity was waiting in the library on the scheduled time. James had already told her that he would be holding the Quidditch tryouts so he could possibly get a little late. But at the moment, she didn't mind. She had just found an interesting book on Potions so she could while her time away quite easily. 

Not long had passed in her waiting, when James dashed in quite disheveled from the Quidditch practice and came straight up to their former tutoring spot. "I'm not late today, am I?"

She looked up from the book and shook her head, "you are, but not that late for me to actually get annoyed."

"Ah that's a relief," he dumped his books on the table noisily, much to the irritation of the librarian, and finally settled down.

"James, how many times do I have to tell you that you must stop thinking of me as a banshee," she remarked, internally a bit amused at the reaction he had given earlier.

He shrugged, "who said that I just think of you as a banshee?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, what he meant to say was that he doesn't think of you as a banshee because he believes you are one." Hearing the smooth careless drawl she had now become so accustomed to made her turn around in surprise. Sirius seemed to have emerged out of nowhere and was lounging comfortably on the chair beside her.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "you can't apparate inside Hogwarts... So how did you come here without me knowing?"

Sirius was about to say something but James slapped his hand on his mouth, preventing him to speak, "well, Felicity, we shouldn't be wasting time, right?"

"Sure but ask him to get lost first," she replied still eyeing both of them dubiously as if she knew there was something they were hiding from her. She knew they had a secret to just pop up out of nowhere without using apparition.

James nodded and turning over to Sirius with a mischievous spark in his eyes, he spoke, "Mr Black, would you kindly get lost from here?"

She couldn't help but smile at their act, both of them treating each other like prestigious gentlemen.

"Sure would, Mr Potter, but only if you accompany me," Sirius held out his hand to him.

Felicity made James sit back down then addressing Sirius, she remarked, "perché non te ne vai prima che il bibliotecario ti butta fuori per aver causato così tanto rumore?"

[Translation: Why don't you leave before the librarian throws you out for causing so much noise?]

He swept up a flamboyant bow before exiting the library, "arrivederci e a presto."

[Translation: Goodbye and see you soon.]

"You know what, Fel, at times I'm annoyed by this secret way of communication," James spoke, "sometimes I wish I could understand Italian too."

"If you could then you would only be surprised on the average of titles I serenade your friend with every single day," she placed the potion book back on the shelf, gesturing him to take out his course books, "besides you don't have enough stamina to learn an entire new language."

"That I do agree with," he nodded in affirmation.

When she was sure that Sirius was out of earshot, she turned to James, "well you know what, James, I decided to alter my teaching methods a little. Contrary to the previous year, this time if you score good marks in all your tests, I'll give you a present."

"A present?" he widened his eyes pretending to be surprised, "like a chocolate frog for each O?"

She felt an immediate urge to facepalm herself but resisted, "nope, it's even better."

James was intrigued at her remark and sat up listening to her attentively, "and what is that, may I ask?"

"I will help you to woo Lily Evans," she replied, "and if you really pass with good grades on each test of yours, I will make sure she goes on a date with you."

His jaw dropped open as if it was all a bit too much for him to take in, "I'm sorry what? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

"Absolutely not," she shook her head managing the most innocent smile she could give him.

He could still not believe his ears, "a date? Really? To Hogsmeade?"

"Since that's the only place you can go on a date while staying in the school's code of conduct, yes Hogsmeade it is," she replied nonchalantly as if it was the most logical thing in the world and he was a dunce not to notice it.

James was slowly getting the hang of the deal. If he scored well, Felicity would persuade Lily to go on a date with him and if he failed he would miss such a golden chance. Besides, to him there wasn't any other way Evans could possibly agree to go to Hogsmeade with him.

Felicity shoved his shoulder with a book, "get out of Lily LaLa land, will you? If you don't study the deal gets cancelled."

"Who said I'm not going to study?" James sat up straight attentively, looking down at the books in front of him, "I will do my extra best to achieve good grades this year."

"Never thought you could say that but well..." Felicity had a small smile on her face, she knew Sirius couldn't think of any idea better than that, "why don't we start from potions today?"

He nodded enthusiastically, "sure, why not?"

Throughout the two hour lesson, James managed to keep full concentration, a fact on which Felicity was thoroughly surprised, since he didn't ask any stupid questions and was actually trying to understand stuff.

She wondered why she hadn't thought of it before, her previous year would have been so much easier if she had. She knew now that James Potter might be a hell of a chatterbox but when he actually wanted to achieve something, he could exhibit quite a hell of a determined nature as well.

Sirius Black better be prepared to lose the bet, she thought inwardly, and she couldn't wait to see the look on is face if he really saw James studying with so much zeal and determination.

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