Pride and Prejudice | James Potter

Chapter Thirty

The Hospital Wing 

Elizabeth  threw her bag down on her bed and collapsed against it, happy to be done with classes for the day. With NEWT's being less than a month away, classes and homework had been harder, leaving the seventh years with less and less free time. Of course, the Marauders still hung out with Elizabeth almost every day, but the time that had been spent eating food and making jokes was now spent with stressful hours of studying and questions. 

Elizabeth sighed and pulled out her assignments. She had found it was easier to finish assignments the day they were assigned, and keep it organized in her dorm. Then, every day after she finished her assignments, she went to the Gryffindor common room to study with either Lily or the Marauders. She hadn't eaten much in the past week or so, focusing mainly on passing her classes and maintaining her grades. She always made it for breakfast, but lunch and dinner were often lost in the day, filled instead with flashcards and essays. 

James had noticed her unhealthy eating habits, and had made sure that the house elves in the kitchen brought her food at night, leaving non-perishable foods on her nightstand for her to eat during the day. It was things like that that made Elizabeth realize how deeply she was in love with James. The way he looked out for her when even her siblings had gotten too busy to notice made her feel appreciated in a way that she wasn't used to. Of course, she tried to return the favor, checking  up on James and making sure he was taking care of himself, and finishing his assignments from time to time when he fell asleep. 

Her aid in James's homework had been noticed by McGonagall, who had asked Elizabeth to stay after class one day. 

"I've noticed, Ms. Thompson, that on occasion, yours and Mr. Potter's assignments are quite similar in both handwriting and writing style. I must remind you that Mr. Potter is quite capable of doing his own work, and such is expected of every Hogwarts student."

"Of course Professor. I would never do someone else's work for them, it's just that James has a tendency to spend a lot of time of all of his assignments, and he falls asleep before finishing them sometimes. I would normally make him finish it the next day, but so much work is being assigned that I'd rather it just got done."

"I see. However, I must remind you that doing other's work is strictly prohibited. You may go." 

Elizabeth had told James about the encounter, and he had taken McGonagall's side. 

"Elizabeth, I can't even tell you how much you've helped me with my assignments, but Minnie's right. I should be doing it, not you. I will still be asking you for help, though." 

Elizabeth also noticed a decrease in homework for Transfiguration after her talk with McGonagall, and soon enough, a lot of the classes had been giving easier work and instead offering study sheets and tutoring sessions for those that wished to pass their exams. 

Even though the workload had been lifted, the seventh years at Hogwarts were still swamped with work. And for that reason, Elizabeth was still on her bed doing assignments. 

She picked her quill up and balanced it on the paper, waving her wand. Then, she began to speak to it, watching it write her every word. She had learned this spell in charms class, when one of her classmates had mentioned going to Madame Pomfrey twice for carpal tunnel. Professor Flitwick had taken a few minutes out of the class to teach the seventh years a spell that allowed them to simply speak instead of writing. 

Elizabeth was interrupted mid-sentence by Bertha Jorkins bustling into the room, eyes filled with excitement. 

"Your boyfriend's in the hospital wing. Black said that he wanted to see you."

"What? Why?" 

"I'm not sure, but you'd better go quick." Bertha said, eager to watch the scene play out. 

"Right. Thanks, Bertha." Elizabeth said, packing up her bag quickly and heading down the stairs.

When she walked out of the Ravenclaw common room, she found Sirius waiting outside, leaning against the wall. 

"Oh, good, you're here. Let's go, I'm sure Poppy is sick of him." 

"What happened to James?" Elizabeth asked as they started walking. 

"Well, we were flying around, just for fun, and he fell and hit his head pretty bad." 

"When did you have the time to fly?"

"Well, it's more that we made the time." Sirius admitted, scratching the back of his head. 

"And is James okay? How high did he fall from?" 

"He's fine. He fell from a decent height, but Poppy got him all fixed up. He's on some medication that makes him really loopy though, and he won't stop talking about you." 

"Wonderful." Elizabeth said, pushing the doors to the Hospital Wing open. She immediately saw James's bed. Madame Pomfrey was standing next to him, her hands on her hips, and a disapproving look on her face. 

"Mr. Potter, I must ask that you refrain from drinking butterbeer while in the Hospital Wing." 

"Sorry, Poppy. I'll send it out with Sirius. Hey Sirius!" James said, waving enthusiastically. 

"Hey mate. I brought Elizabeth with me." Sirius pulled Elizabeth into view. James smiled widely and waved her over  

"I was just telling Poppy about how you were mean to me earlier this year, but now we're dating, so it's fine." 

"Were you?" Elizabeth asked, sitting next to James on the bed. 

"Yeah. And then I was telling Edgar over there about how you're helping me with my exams, but he wasn't as good at listening as Poppy was." 

Elizabeth looked over at Edgar, who was being treated for carpal tunnel, and mouthed an apology. He shrugged it off with a smile. 

"Oh! Elizabeth, I was thinking about it, and I've decided that after we graduate, I want to get married and have lots of kids. Like at least five." 

"That's a lot of kids." Elizabeth commented, running her hands through James's hair. He nodded. 

"I guess. But if you don't want to have a bunch of kids, then we can just get some dogs." 

"Ah, I see. You're just after the chaos of children, not the actual kids." 

"Yeah." James said, shifting so his head was in her lap. Elizabeth continued to run her fingers through his hair, letting him relax against her. 

"Elizabeth?" James asked. Elizabeth hummed in response. 

"I love you." 

Elizabeth looked down at James. He smiled back up at her. 

"I love you too." She said, leaning down and kissing him briefly. She heard a cough from Edgar's bed, and looked at him. He scrunched his nose with distaste, and she rolled her eyes, kissing James again. 

"You guys are gross." Sirius said.