2nd chances (Scorose)

Chapter 33

Scorpius watched with pursed lips, probably wondering what it was about James that led to the entire Gryffindor House worshipping him like a hero, even though he'd only won a game of quidditch, a feat which he had done many times before.

Darting between two Third Years, I found myself in the middle of the crowd surrounding James, who was still airborne.

"James!" I called, adding my voice to the din of the other Gryffindors shouting his name. "James! I need to talk to you!"

I had to shout his name five more times before he heard me. Signalling his carriers to put him down, he tumbled to a stop in front of me.

"What can I do for you, Rosie?" he asked, sounding slightly arrogant.

"I need to talk to you. Outside," I added, hardly moving my mouth and using a serious tone of voice.

I started heading towards the portrait hole, waiting for him to follow me. As soon as I stepped out of the Common Room, I felt better. The air was fresher and I was surrounded and pressed in upon by ten other people. I was definitely a person who needed my personal space, although Scorpius could invade that space as often as he wanted.

I waited until we had walked down the tower stairs to the Seventh Floor corridor before speaking though.

"I'm warning you, James Sirius Potter, that you cannot say anything - and I mean anything - about what I said earlier. Hugo's sexuality is none of your business and you are not to breathe a word of it to Fred, to Dom, to Roxie, Al, Lily or anybody else for that matter!" I said sharply, though containing my voice to a hissing whisper.

James nodded, the bravado he'd shown in the Common Room all gone now that we were alone (with Scorpius though). In fact, he looked warily at me as if I might lunge with my wand and stab him in the eye. I slid my wand into the pocket inside my robes as if to help squander his fears.

"I wouldn't say anything," James finally answered, sounding wounded. "I may lark about and play jokes and tease you guys, but you are my family and I would never do anything to hurt any of you. I'm not that insensitive, Rose. And I know that Hugo's...business is his...business; not mine. I was just surprised earlier."

"You were surprised?" I laughed.

"Yeah, but I guess I kind of knew in a way. Hugo never was like the rest of us was he?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, beginning to get riled up again.

"Nothing. Just that, you know, he was never a keen to play quidditch with us, and he always cared about how he looked - he literally spends an hour getting dressed some mornings - and he just never showed an interest in girls. If Al, Fred, Hugh and I went somewhere and saw a hot girl, he wouldn't talk about her like we would - he'd usually only ever say something about her personality."

I nodded. They were things I had remembered once I knew the truth, so I could understand exactly what James was talking about.

"Anyway, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my adoring fans," he told me, all his big-headedness returning after one, brief moment of him being down-to-earth.

"Just one question!" Scorpius said, finally saying something after being silent through the conversation.

"Yeah?" James asked, looking back at Scor from the foot of the stairs.

"What happened after the match?"

"Professor McGonagall took me to her office and introduced me to the scout for the Chudley Cannons. We talked for a bit, about quidditch mainly, and he asked if I liked to play on contract for the Cannons," James answered with a shrug. I had no doubt that if the story was that simple and unexciting, he would almost instantly change the story somewhat once people in the Common Room began asking him about it. It wouldn't come as a shock if I walked back in to find people asking me if I'd heard how James had had to save the scout and Professor McGonagall from a 'bloody great-big Dragon attacking her office' and how the scout had been so impressed by the feat that he knew it would be 'ridiculous not to give James a place on the team.'