A Broken Inheritance

Chapter 20: The Looming Shadow of Summer

"It's not a game," she interrupted, her voice quiet but sharp. She finally looked up, meeting his gaze with a raised brow. "And there's nothing to tell. Potter has no bearing on me, or my studies."

"Clearly," Lucius said dryly, though his gaze flicked briefly to James, who had gone back to scribbling notes, his head bent low as if determined to seem disinterested. "But for someone with no bearing on you, he does seem awfully persistent. Are you sure you've given him no reason?"

Anastasia's quill stilled for just a moment before resuming its rhythm. "I haven't," she said, her voice clipped. "And I suggest you stop implying otherwise. He probably just thinks I'm up to something."

Lucius chuckled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Do you want me to hex him for you? Might give him something else to stare at."

Anastasia rolled her eyes, her lips twitching into a faint smirk despite herself. "Don't waste your time, Malfoy. I couldn't care less what Potter does."

Lucius raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced but too amused to press further. He picked up his quill again, returning to his notes with an air of exaggerated indifference. "Suit yourself. But if you change your mind..."

"I won't," Anastasia said firmly, already returning her focus to the book in front of her.

As Lucius's attention drifted back to his parchment, Anastasia allowed herself a brief glance in James's direction. He was scribbling something furiously into his notebook, his brow furrowed in concentration, though his movements were a bit too frantic to be entirely natural.

She scoffed under her breath, turning back to her own work. Hopeless, she thought, shaking her head.

At James's table, Sirius finally nudged him with his foot. "Oi, you alive over there? Or are you still thinking about pincushion hedgehogs?"

James blinked, startled, and gave Sirius a forced grin. "I'm alive. Just thinking about how we're all doomed if McGonagall puts my Transfiguration on the exam."

Sirius studied him for a moment, his sharp grey eyes narrowing slightly. But then he shrugged, clearly deciding to let it go.

"Doomed is right," Sirius said with a grin. "Good thing we've got Moony. He'll drag us through like the overachiever he is."

Remus didn't look up, but the faint twitch of his lips betrayed his amusement.

James forced himself to focus on his textbook again, ignoring the way his stomach twisted. Across the library, Anastasia didn't look his way once, her attention fixed entirely on her work.

And yet, James couldn't shake the feeling that she knew exactly how many times his gaze had wandered her way.

***

The morning of their O.W.L.s dawned bright and unrelenting, the summer sun streaming through the castle windows as if mocking the collective dread of the sixth years. Breakfast in the Great Hall was unusually quiet, the usual buzz of chatter replaced by the clinking of cutlery and the rustle of parchment as students muttered last-minute revisions to themselves.

James Potter, for once, wasn't laughing or joking. He sat at the Gryffindor table with his head bent over a mug of tea, absently tapping his foot against the floor. Sirius, beside him, looked infuriatingly at ease, tearing into a piece of toast as though it were any other day.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," Sirius commented, glancing at James's tapping foot.

"Some of us actually care about passing," James muttered, running a hand through his already-messy hair.