I Fancy You: James Sirius Potter

25. Learning New Things

James and Daniel's talk must have went well because I have Potions next and James said to go ahead and sit with Daniel. When we take our seats though I notice James and Conor sit close behind us.
"It's going to be very distracting to pay attention with such a handsome face behind me," I say to James before turning around. Daniel slyly rolls his eyes. "Are you prepared for the OWLS? I'm pretty nervous," I tell him.
"You? You'll do great. I remember you finished pretty high at the top of the class last year. I'm the one who should be nervous," Daniel tells me.
"You'll do fine, Daniel just have some confidence I know how cocky you can be," I say smiling.
"Very funny, Fletcher." He shakes his head with a grin on his lips. I feel James practically staring a hole through my head so before class starts I turn to him and smile. His body relaxed a bit as he smiles back at me.
Our first potions lesson goes well, for me at least. I notice a lot of others seem confused. I was helping Daniel the whole time so he seems a bit more confident than others. Desmond and I are the only two who seem to have grasped the whole lesson.
"I really don't know how you do it. I'm not so bad at potions and even I had a hard time in there," James tells me as we walk to our next class. Desmond is explaining the lesson to Conor behind us.
"You'll be okay. It looks like your notes are correct. You can join Daniel and I later to study if you'd like."
"Uh. No. Part of our deal was that I'd take a step back so that there's not so much tension."
"Got it. Well we can still study together at some point," I tell him with a smile. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, filling my stomach with butterflies.

The rest of our classes went smoothly, every professor telling us what they expect on our OWLS. On my way to the library to meet up with Daniel I see Albus and Scorpius hanging out with Dylan.
"Hey! How are you three doing?" I ask them.
"Great! My first day was fun! Albus and Scorpius are going to help me get to dinner because I'm kinda lost," Dylan tells me.
"Thanks guys. I'm off to the library if any of you need me. Love you, kid." I give Dylan a kiss on the head and then my other boys. They've gotten much taller.
I take a seat at a table in the library and after a few minutes Daniel walks in with a plate of food. "Since we're doing this during dinner I figured we could share a plate so we don't get so hungry," he says.
"Wow Daniel that's really thoughtful, thanks," I tell him as I take a bite of chicken.
"I can be thoughtful, don't sound so surprised."
"Okay sorry." I take another bite, noticing his eyes on me. "What?" I ask with my mouth full.
"Nothing," he says with a smirk. "Alright let's get started."
After studying for a while, I notice how stressed he looks. "Daniel, you okay?"
"Yes I just think it'll be a miracle if I pass this particular OWL," he says sighing.
"Let's take a break then. Tell me something personal."
"Like what?" He leans forward, clearly liking the change of subject.
Before I can answer though a Ravenclaw girl comes in and kisses his cheek. "Hey you!"
"Liv! Hey," Daniel says to the girl. "Ellie this is Olivia, my girlfriend."
My stomach drops. "Hello, nice to meet you," I tell her.
"Nice to meet you too. Are you two done studying? I thought you could walk me to my common room," Olivia says to Daniel.
"Yes we're done. I'll see you in class, Daniel." I look at them and smile my most convincing smile.
"Okay. See you in class." Daniel packs up his stuff then puts his arm around her shoulders, glancing back at me on the way out.
I stare after them feeling so confused my head is spinning. I look back down at my homework.
"You okay?" I look up to see James.
"Yeah! How was dinner?" I ask him.
James sets down a plate of some of my favorite foods. "I saw Daniel bring you some food too but I figured you could use some more." James smiles when I go right for the dessert. "So how did it go?"
"Oh it was fine. His girlfriend came by to grab him when we were done," I tell him.
"Yeah he told me about her. One of the reasons I felt better about this whole thing. Want me to walk you to the common room?" James helps me put my stuff away then pulls out my chair for me. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah I'm just really tired. These OWLS are going to kick my ass." I jump onto James's back when he offers it and let him carry me back to the Slytherin common room. We kiss goodnight for a while until Albus comes by and heckles us to get a room.
"Sure we'll take yours," James says sarcastically.
"His is taken," Scorpius says coming up behind us.
"I don't want to know about any of that!" I yell at them while they laugh. "Goodnight," I tell James before one last kiss. The three of us head into the common room and the first face I see is Daniel's. I quickly look away from him to run upstairs to my room.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Alli asks as I plop onto my bed face first.
"I don't know. I'm an idiot. I think I have a crush on Daniel which is so gross because I'm with James."
"As long as you don't act on it in any way including flirting then you're fine."
"He has a girlfriend he told me nothing about. Why wouldn't he tell me?" I roll over onto my back.
"Because he's got an insane crush on you too." Alli looks down at me.
"I thought he did. It doesn't matter. It's better this way. Now there's absolutely no chance I can screw things up with James."
"Do you want to take your mind off of it?"
"Desperately, yes."
"Desmond and I had sex tonight."
I almost fall off of my bed I'm so shocked. "What?" I look at Alli to see if she's serious.
"Tonight, before dinner, Desmond met me at the top of the astronomy tower and we..." Alli trails off, looking in my eyes. "You think I made a mistake."
"No! No it's not a mistake! You two are really good together. Was it good?" I smile when she blushes.
"It really was. It was both of our firsts so I don't exactly have anything to compare it to but it felt good," she tells me.
We talk about it until our other dorm mates arrive. She doesn't really want word getting around because some people get really mean about the subject. I go to bed that night thinking about both James and Daniel. I know I'll wake up feeling guilty.