Wonderwall || James Sirius Potter

23.

Detention sucked about as much as Cassie had expected it to. She'd spent it helping Professor Longbottom clean and prepare plants for classes. It was her fifth detention. She'd gotten bitten by a particularly nasty Nipping Nemesia and her finger was throbbing.

She was ready to fall into her bed from exhaustion. The day had been very busy what with classes, quidditch practice and detention. Cassie and James had been given different detentions, something she hadn't been expecting, but probably should have been. She wished James had been in detention with her to make the boring and slightly dangerous tasks a bit brighter and more fun.

Her detentions were on Fridays and Saturdays and she was expected to serve six in total. James only had three detentions and had served them on Wednesdays and one Sunday, his were done, but Cassie still had one more the next day. She wasn't looking forward to it.

She trudged towards the Slytherin dorm with heavy lidded eyes. Her feet were dragging and she'd already stifled multiple yawns and she still had a long ways to go.

"Cassie!" She nearly groaned when her name was called, but stopped herself and turned to face the person who'd called after her.

"Cassie, hey!" Marcus Corner was waving, with a friendly smile directed towards her. He stopped in front of her still grinning.

Cassie took a moment to look at Marcus. He was in the year above her and on the Gryffindor quidditch team. James was always complaining about him being late and about how he wouldn't get a haircut. Cassie had to admit Marcus' hair was a bit long for a guy's, shoulder length, but she couldn't say she minded. He managed to pull it off. In fact, Cassie decided Marcus was fairly handsome. He had a nose ring and his shirt sleeves were pushed to his elbows in a careless way. His hair added to the effect rather than taking away from his over all good looks.

"Hi Marcus." Cassie attempted to stifle a yawn after uttering his name. She covered her mouth in slight embarrassment. "Sorry."

Marcus waved off her apology. "Nah, I'm sorry, seems I'm keeping you."

"No, no." Cassie smiled and waited for him to continue talking.

"Right. Well, I know we haven't talked much, but I was hoping we could change that. Would you want to go on a date and get to know each other a bit better?"

Cassie thought about his offer. She had no real reason to say no. She and Zabini had broken up almost two months ago by now and she hadn't made plans for the next Hogsmeade meeting as it wasn't for another two weeks. She knew that Hannah would be with Alfie, Layla was going with some of her Hufflepuff friends, and James was supposed to meet Teddy for drinks. Since, she had no reason to say no, she figured why not.

"Um, sure. Sounds fun."

"Great." Marcus responded. "We can meet at the Three Broomsticks?"

Cassie simply nodded to his question. She was starting to sway from her need for sleep. "Alright, cool. Well, night Cassie."

"Night." She let out a huge sigh the second he'd turned the corner and she practically sprinted to the Slytherin dorms. She went quickly in hopes that she wouldn't be stopped again. After she'd avoided a couple potential roadblocks and made it safely to her room, she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

The sun had finally come back. It was very welcome by the inhabitants of Hogwarts who had been becoming sick of the gloomy grey coldness of winter. The sun had managed to melt what little remains of snow or ice there had been. Only large puddles remained and everything was dripping.

Even with the wet conditions much of Hogwarts could be found outside. They were excited by the sight of sunshine and had managed to convince themselves that it was warm enough outside for only a single jumper and perhaps a scarf. These same people were shivering and standing as directly in the sun as was possible.

James was with Cassie, Fred and Alfie. They were sat out on a blanket that Cassie had brought with her. James was very grateful for the blanket as he'd already heard four girls shriek about how wet the grass was.

"I still have no ideas" Fred was sighing from where he was strewn diagonally across the blanket. He'd managed to take up as much space as possible, causing the others to only have small sections to sit on.

Cassie rolled her eyes and leaned her body back to lay down as well. She threw her legs on top of Fred's and rested them there.

"I've got nothing as well." She sighed.

Alfie merely shrugged. "Nothing here either."

They all turned to stare at James. He glanced up realizing that they expected him to have some kind of brilliant idea.

"How am I supposed to think when it's so bloody cold outside." He complained half heartedly.

The four sat in complete silence for awhile.

"I've got it!" Fred sat up abruptly, jostling Cassie. The other's watched him excitedly. "Bananas!" They stared at Fred in pure confusion. He glance between each face before letting out a huff of air. "Yeah, maybe not." He laid himself back to his previous position.

"Wait, maybe…" Cassie sat up quickly this time. James and Alfie glanced at her as if she was crazy.

They were used to random, unhelpful comments coming from Fred, but they expected Cassie to have better common sense than him.

"Really?" Fred sat up again in his excitement and watched Cassie.

"Well, sort of. I'm thinking bananas and monkeys." She put a large emphasis on the word 'and'.

Alfie was shaking his head. "You guys are absolutely insane."

"No!" James eyes went wide as he looked between Cassie and Fred. "They are geniuses."

Alfie groaned and muttered. "Oh not you too."

James nodded at the other two's excited faces. He leaned in and began explaining what he thought was surely a master plan, by the grins enveloping both Fred's and Cassie's faces he could tell they agreed with him.

The three leaned in closer in their elation.

Alfie simply shook his head and muttered to himself. "Complete loonies the lot of them."