Notes and Jokes [James]

The day had been long and torturous as far as Emma Forbes was concerned. She'd just gone through a long day off classes, and as she made her way to the Gryffindor Common room, she felt exhausted. She may have been a smart, perfectionist witch but that didnt mean she enjoyed all of her classes. And muggle studies, really? She was half muggle, and fairly certain that she knew enough about muggles as it was that she didnt need to go to that class. Still, she did though.

Stepping into the Gryffindor common room, she moved to curl up on the end of one of the couches with her notebook and quill, the ink set on the corner of a table just behind her right shoulder. She intended to finish her notes on the latest subject in History of Magic class, before Chloe and Molly could come and try to drag her away.

The thought made her smile. Chloe and Molly often thought she spent too much time with her nose in a text book and not enough time just living life. She didnt really see a problem with spending her time with her books, but she supposed if anyone were to tell her otherwise, it would be them, her two best friends. Shaking her head, she went back to her notes.

Across the room, a few guys were goofing around, playing jokes on others in the common room, all that kind of thing. Immaturity at its finest. she hadnt really payed much attention to who all was in the group, but she figured she'd probably find one guy there if she looked up. James Potter. He always seemed to be in the middle of that kind of thing, the immature prat. And when he wasnt, he was busy trying to flirt with her. Simply because she was the only girl who seemed okay with denying him. Whatever, if he wanted to constantly be let down, that was his perogative. She had better things to do than fall into his trap like every other girl in Hogwarts.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she focused back on her notebook. Forget the fact that he was - despite his immaturity - actually a little cute. And that he had a nice smile. If he couldnt grow up, then she wasnt interested, she told herself. God, if she kept thinking like that she'd be single forever.

JAMES BLOODY POTTER

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On occasion, James idly entertained the idea that he ought to be more responsible. Perhaps if he prioritized better he wouldn't hate classes half as much. That not-even-started potions essay that sat on his work desk wouldn't do itself, and he was fairly certain that at this point in the evening it wouldn't get done at all until maybe the five or ten minute before-class scramble. Regardless of knowing the right path for a face, he chose to ignore it and take his preferred route: the route of procrastination.

Since Transfiguration, his final class of the day, James had been to the lake, he'd snogged that one Ravenclaw fifth year who fancied him, and he come back up to the common room with firewhiskey and exploding snap. A productive afternoon filled with everything other than doing his homework. Homework was decidedly overrated anyway. Still, despite being for the most part indifferent to the importance of schoolwork, he had this gnawing sensation that he ought to maybe put a little bit of time and effort into his studies. That sensation had only started to exist this past year. It manifested itself in a nagging sort of guilt whenever drank, snogged girls, skipped class, or did anything else that he considered enjoyable. The prospect that he might have actually developed a conscience was rather depressing: only grown-ups are supposed to be occupied by morale purity. Well, at least, James Potter wasn't supposed to even have that edging in on his carefree way of thinking.

Over the span of this year, to try and dull that nagging voice in the back of his head James had developed a brilliant technique: smoke up, drink up. This usually worked, however he'd come to realize that going to class hungover was even worse than just going to class normally. He had therefore been forced to abandon this technique. Eventually, avoidance had become his saviour. Homework started to pile up? He'd throw it, unfinished, on his desk with other long overdue assignments and divert himself by playing a stupid prank or just generally aggravating for the custodial staff.

Today, Ben had suggested a game of exploding snap, and as per usual, James was far from adverse to the idea. If the game had been a muggle game it would have been terribly dull, but the brilliant thing about magic was that it could liven up anything. The idea behind the game was that you matched pairs of cards, however they self-shuffled and exploded: so that made things more interesting. Having been born in a magical home, James was an expert in the game and he was seldom ever singed by a rogue card. The same could not be said for some of his housemates. There was one sixth year boy whose card exploded every single time without fail. That kid just never learned and his eyebrows were therefore seldom intact.

Regardless of it's magical properties, it was still a card game and eventually the fun of it wore out. Though Ben was still entertained by watching a couple of younger students burning their hair, James found his mind wandering. Eventually it landed where it always did: Emma Forbes. She sat across the room, looking lovely as per usual. He furrowed his brow, it just didn't make sense that she wasn't interested in him. He was attractive, she was attractive, they were both relatively smart… he failed to see why the two of them wouldn't work. She, however, seemed to see exactly where the flaws in him were, because she was one girl who wouldn't give him the time of day. Maybe if I didn't snog so many girls in a broom closet… He started to think, but quickly cut himself off. A casual snog shouldn't be a big deal. With any doubt in the quality of his character banished, he trotted on over to her confidently. "Miss Forbes, you look like a vision tonight," He flopped down onto the sofa casually, shooting her a winning smile. "Now tell me, what's a pretty girl like you doing by yourself?" In an afterthought, he decided that the wink that accompanied the statement might have been a bit much, however he was the master of wooing women. It was only a matter of determining her style.

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WORDS - 716
TAGGED - Emma Forbes
CREDITS - This lame not-really-template is mine
NOTES - ugh. this is lame and took forever. Sorry.

Emma had thought that she would have a nice, relaxing day. Homework, some alone time, maybe an outing with the girls later. She hadn’t pegged on being harassed – yet again – by James Potter. Of course, she should have expected it by now, he’d been hitting on her for the better part of the last few years, trying to gauge why a girl like her wasn’t putty in his overly charming hands. It took a lot more than a nice smile and an equally nice body to get her going, though, that was for sure. From what she could tell at the moment, James was playing exploding snap, with his mate, Ben, with whom she’d never gotten along, and a bunch of others. It was ridiculous, really. A game was all good and fun, but when there were more useful things to be done, it could be put aside.

Shaking her head and turning back to her homework, she couldn’t help but think that she had an idea of exactly where James’ homework went each day. Piled up on a desk somewhere, or even in the garbage. It wasn’t like he wasn’t smart, so why didn’t he just put his smarts into his logic and do his homework? By Merlin, it wasn’t that hard, was it? She’d been doing it for ages. Looking down at the notes she was working on in History of Magic, she scratched out a word she’d misspelled and rewrote it, enjoying the valuable use of her time as the best distraction from her wandering thoughts. She needed to focus. Besides, even though she was passing this class, it was way beyond her to put aside an assignment and not do her best on it. Even if she didn’t do this assignment, she wouldn’t fail the class, but she wouldn’t not do it.

It wasn’t long before she felt that familiar shiver go down her spine, the sign that someone was watching her. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw James near his friends, but he was no longer participating in their games. His attention was taken by something – or someone – else. Her. Looking back down at her page, she couldn’t help but hope he didn’t approach. That just meant she’d have to deal with him trying to flirt with her and that she would lose her moment of peace and quiet.

Her hope was all in vain though, for before she knew it, he was sauntering over to her and had positioned himself onto the other side of the couch, smiling charmingly at her. Miss Forbes, you look like a vision tonight. he commented, the compliment was a lovely sound, if only it’d come from another mouth instead of his. She figured if she tried to ignore him he’d eventually go away. Of course, it had never worked before and before she knew it he was asking her his usual question. Heaving a soft sigh and putting her quill down, she looked up at him and tucked her hair behind her ear, a motion that was more habit than anything, “I, Mr. Potter, am doing my homework. Something I’m sure you havent done since you started here at Hogwarts.” she commented, ignoring his wink, “Is there something I can help you with, or are you just here to test my boundaries for the millionth time?”