"I can't believe you're actually doing this essay," groaned Walker, rolling his head back in annoyance. He slid his legs over the bench of the Ravenclaw table and grumbled a look in Gwen's direction. "That means Kettleburn's going to be expecting the rest of us to do it, too."

     "Maybe that's what he meant by assigning it," Gwen suggested, rolling her eyes. "It's only two pages, Walker, really. And I thought you loved the Nifflers when he brought them in last week?"

     "When I held one," Walker argued. "Not when I have to bloody make up two full pages on their stealth strategies and how it affects their interpolation of breeding."

     "Sounds boring," Jackie said, feigning a yawn. "This is why you drop Care of Magical Creatures after O.W.L.s. Take it from me. You don't even need that credit to become an Auror, Gwen."

     "No," she said pointedly, "but I don't want to spend my last two years here slacking off, like you. And besides, I find the lessons entertaining."

Walker rolled his eyes, jabbing his fork into the pile of peas on his lunch plate. "You and nobody else."

Gwen shoved his shoulder. "Whatever, prick."

"You lot hear about what Snape said to Evans last night?" Jackie began, blithely, attention still on the plate in front of her. Every day, Gwen was reminded of her friend's title as biggest gossip of the school. "Called her a Mudblood, straight to her face. Supposedly, he finally told her he fancies her and she—rightfully so—was disgusted. I just can't believe—"

Jackie's usual gossip rant was cut short when somebody cleared their throat from behind Gwen, an expectant noise from someone much too pompous to otherwise announce themselves. This was how Gwen knew who would be standing behind her before she even turned around.

"Oh, Potter," she said, giving him a feigned smile. "Always a pleasure, with you."

He had his hands folded behind his back. He nodded to Jackie and Walker in greeting, then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, even though they weren't falling down.

"I'm here to ask a favor," he announced, too spectacularly. He narrowed his eyes on Gwen and pointed right at her. "From you, my friend."

Gwen frowned thoughtfully. "Not sure I want to be involved in any of your pranks, if that's what you're—"

"It's not," James said quickly. "We got busted last night for trying to sneak the Nifflers into the Slytherin Common Room. Sirius and Remus've got detention for a week."

Gwen arched an eyebrow. "But not you or Peter?"

He grinned. "Invisibility Cloak can only fit two of us now, unfortunately. Wormtail and I were got last month, so it was Moony and Padfoot's go. Anyway, that's not what I was here to talk about—I have an important question to ask you."

"If it's about the sixth-year ball," Jackie scowled, "I'm offing myself in front of you."

James scrunched his brow and nodded to Jackie slowly. "Right. Good thing it's not. I just—well, Gwen, you're doing really well in Kettleburn's class. I, however, am not. I need your help getting my marks up so I can get my N.E.W.T.s next year."

     "Thinking ahead," Walker said, reproachfully. "I thought better of you, Potter. Live in the moment."

     "Don't listen to him," suggested Gwen, standing. She gathered her bag and slid her arm into James's, traipsing off with him out of the Great Hall. "James, I don't think you understand. I have been waiting for the day you'd come to me for academic help."

     He raised his eyebrows, tightening his arm and leading the way. "And why is that, Gwenny?"

     "Don't call me Gwenny," she said, in the same blithe tone, "but it's because, all along, I knew you knew I'm smarter than you. You had to accept it one day, Potter. I've just been waiting."

He scoffed and dropped her arm, stopping in his tracks, looking light-heartedly unamused at her laughter. "Oh, that's not what this is. Trust me."

"Oh, isn't it?" Gwen said teasingly, raising her eyebrows. "You need my help on this Magical Creatures assignment, no?"

He sighed, lips pursed and eyes traveling up to the ceiling as though he couldn't look at her. "You're very boastful, you know that?"

She beamed up at him innocently, lifting her shoulders. "I'm right, though. You can call me anything you want, Potter, but that fact will not change."

"Anything?" James raised his eyebrows, a smile spreading across his lips. "I'll keep that in mind, then."

"I feel like you've managed to make that suggestive."

"Suggestive?" He put a hand over his heart, feigning shock. "No, not I. Never would I dare."

She laughed. "You dirty bastard."

He smirked, hands folded behind his back as he strode off cockily. "Call me whatever you wish, darling—I'll do the same for you."

i need him biblically. so

The library, at its pinnacle, was filled to the brim with students; perhaps a first-year studying for their first upcoming exam from a teacher, or a fifth-year particularly worried about one specific O.W.L. and trying to cram as much into their mind as possible, an odd couple once or twice who found the most discreet corner and snogged until some other poor soul stumbled upon them.

     At its slowest, the library was probably entirely vacant, save for Madam Pince and the few ghosts that enjoyed lingering through the bookshelves.

     That was how Gwen and James found it, the afternoon they'd chosen for Gwen to give James a few pointers on their Care of Magical Creatures assignment: Empty, and the perfect place to really get down to business.

     "Right." Gwen placed her own copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in front of James, looking him right in the eye for full sincerity. "You've read this, Potter?"

     He skimmed the cover of the book, then scoffed and lifted a weak shoulder. "No, of course. It was required, right? So of course I—"

     "Who wrote it?"

     He pursed his lips. She caught his eyes flickering to the spine of the book for help, but her fingers slipped in front of the name of the author, and he gave her a blank stare.

     "Okay!" He threw his hands in the air. "I didn't.. read it. But in my defense—"

     "Look, James; I know you think the Nifflers are cute," she said, moving to sit across from him, "but you aren't going to get a passing N.E.W.T by going on for six pages about that."

     "Six pages?" James's eyes just about popped out of his head. "You're joking! I can't write four pages in a week; what makes them think I can do it in two hours?"

     She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You need more help than I thought you did, Potter."

     He shrugged. "That's why I came to you, instead of bloody Frank Longbottom, or someone who was known for their smarts or revision classes."

     Gwen stiffened, offended. "And what, then, am I known for?"

     James gave her a look that made it seem as though it should've been obvious. "Your brilliance on a broom, how easily you make friends, how fit you are, that time I broke your rib, but m—"

     She hid her face in her hands, shaking her head. "You know how bloody daft that is? I can be 'known' just for being pretty, and Frank gets to be known for being smart? What makes it so I can't—?"

     "Oh, give me a break." James put a hand over her mouth. "I was going to say, before you cut me off, that you were mostly celebrated for being the brightest witch in the school. Maybe they meant chattiest, though..."

     She pushed his hand away, hiding a smile by looking down to her book. "Whatever, Potter."

     "No," he said, frowning. He pushed her forehead up so she was looking at him again. "Your go."

     Her eyebrows shot up. "Sorry—?"

     "It's your go," he repeated. "To go on about me. How fit I am, how selfless, how kind—"

     "How humble?" she suggested, to which he laughed.

     "Add it to the list."

     "I'm not making a list."

     James kicked his legs up onto the desk, leaning back and resting his head with his hands casually. "Ah—Number one: I am the most fit lad in our entire school."

     Gwen shot him a disbelieving look. "Have you seen Sterling Holloway?"

     He sat up suddenly, eyes wide with alarmed confusion. "What—what do you mean by that, Gwendolyn?"

She couldn't keep a straight face, and when she broke, he threw a ball of parchment at her. She laughed heartily. "Merlin, Potter. It's so easy to make you sweat."

He offered a mocking laugh, drawn-out and clearly not amused. "Oh, whatever. Let's get to the actual reason we're here, shall we?"

     Gwen leaned back in her seat, throwing her hands up. "Well, I suppose I'll just give you a few tips. You can open the essay with the similarities between Nifflers and Snidgets, if you'd like, like how they're both—"

     James held up a hand, furiously jotting down everything she had said. When he finished, he looked up. "I don't know what a Snidget is."

     Her lips parted in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

     "I'm not. I'm James."

     "You've never seen a Snidget before?" She ignored his pun and instead gawked at him in complete astonishment. "Merlin, James! And you're a Seeker. You know Golden Snidgets are where Snitches come from, right?"

     He thought for a second. "No, I did not know that."

     "Right." Gwen scoffed. "I've got to show you a Snidget, then. You can't possibly finish this essay without knowing them. They're the most evasive type of bird, but there's a little nest of them in the Astronomy Tower, apparently. They come out at night."

     "So.. we're sneaking up to the Astronomy Tower after curfew?" James raised his eyebrows. "D'you realize how that looks, Gwenny?"

     She rolled her eyes. "I'll meet you there tomorrow night after the professors finish their patrol. Deal?"

     He smiled and saluted her with two fingers. "Deal."

VIA CORNER :D!!!!
flirty but still in denial that they fancy each other gwames is my favorite era so far i love them also they're so fine. so