heat things up -

[james potter]

he really wasn’t the huge jerk everyone painted him to be. fair enough, he had spent the better part of the last six years acting like one, but he was trying to change. not enough, mind you, and not putting in nearly enough effort to succeed, but as long as he was seen trying to change, then none of it mattered, did it? since this was his last year, james was planning to go out with a bang---and he would pursue until he succeeded in leaving a lasting impression. such was the opinion of his dear friends, his fellow marauders, bar perhaps peter who was too quiet and acting strangely distant as of late, and remus who refused to do anything that risked breaking too many rules. but then it was james who had been chosen head boy over him, a gift which had not gone without many weeks of smug prancing around boasting his new badge. whilst he didn’t do this a lot, right now he was examining the position of said badge on his school robes, grimacing at the sight of the… well… properness. he wasn’t resentful of the school uniform although he did prefer to either wear his own clothes or alter the originals. procrastination, of course; he would usually spend his time chasing miss evans around in a so-far unsuccessful attempt to win her heart.

it did however allow time for thinking, this goal he’d set out to accomplish (and had insisted to himself that he would in fact do this, and would not allow himself to be beaten or her to get away for that matter). james would spend his time teasing one of his best friend’s remus. or talk to people, whoever they were, and try not to get annoyed with them. whilst he was indeed very good friends with a certain gryfifndor called frank, he could not help but to realise that lately, especially, he was a little irritating. this could of course be due to the fact that james was, unbeknownst to himself, unleashing little frustration over the whole lily situation on everyone around him, and would often only like sirirus’ company, or his own. such was the reason as to why he found himself at the black lake, of all places, skimming stones across the water. “it’s rude to stare!” he called out, even though he had no proof or even assumption that there was anyone else around. james just had a feeling, the feeling of being watched, and he was not planning on stopping going by his instincts anytime soon.

tag; alice<3

[alice logan.]

she worked too hard. she knew she did. she needed to cut back on the workload. she expected so much of herself and when she didn't follow through, she ended up disappointed. nine NEWTs plus constant prefect duty was playing havoc with her social life - not that she had much of one anyway, but that wasn't the point. the point was, alice barely had two minutes to herself all day and by the time she wasn't needed by any one, she was hardly in the mood to socialise and spent the time sleeping, as per remus's orders. her left hand moved quickly across the parchment, taking care not to smudge the ink ( one of the disadvantages of being a lefty ) and pushing her hair out of her eyes with her spare hand. this potions essay had to be finished; it had to be! this was the latest alice had ever left homework in the entirety of her school career and she would not mess up her perfect record now. slughorn expected this essay on his desk first thing on wednesday morning, and alice would rather eat an acid pop than miss a deadline. she rubbed the heel of her hand against her eyes and stifled a yawn, still writing, scrawling scientific words across the yellow parchment and drawing diagrams with swift, clean movements. did she have rounds later too? alice was so tired she felt close to passing out.

finally finishing her essay, alice laid down her quill and stretched her arms out above her head, slumping back in her seat at the sight of her yet to be completed muggle studies, transfiguration, charms, DADA, and arithmancy essays, and not forgetting the past papers for all of them. alice was, quite literally, drowning in a sea of work and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to resurface. choosing to go for a walk to clear her head ( and to put in an appearance at the great hall, just to make sure that her mother didn't send her any surprise howlers for missing yet another meal and allowing her little problem to come back ) alice instructed the person at the desk across from hers to watch her things for a few moments, and grabbed her robe, checking her wand was inside the concealed pocket before moving over to the library entrance and slipping out through the door. the moment alice stepped out onto the grand staircase, her head felt clearer, less wooly, though she was fighting hard to keep her eyes open and to stay upright. maybe she should just go to bed instead. a walk probably wasn't a good idea in her state. she found herself walking without realising it, feet taking the well-learned path to the great hall where she made her presence known to the few professor's around and her house, before leaving again, water bottle in hand. it didn't take alice long before she'd left the castle and was walking down the grounds in a not so very straight line. spotting a figure by the edge of the lake, alice was torn as to whether she should find somewhere else to sit or if she should just carry on, and politely ignore him, if such a thing were possible. feeling a fresh wave of dizziness wash over her, alice sat down on the grass, as close to the edge of the lake as she dared, and rested her head in her hands, mumbling something in reply to the figure. "i'm sorry,"

[james potter]

now there was a person he never expected to see here. least of all on her own, because he had always seen her either with her piece of man-candy or remus. now there was a couple james wouldn’t mind getting his hands on, and forcing the two of them together. friendship with frank aside, james felt a little sorry for alice; her boyfriend was definitely caving a little. he was an expert, or near enough of one, seeing these things as he was friends with renowned sirius black. now, whilst he didn’t apologise for yelling at her, he did finish collecting in his hands the remaining pebbles he’d seen nearby and trudged up to the space his on-occasion friend had sat. i say on-occasion because james and alice never really got talking a lot. he only spoke to her when she was with remus, or when he saw frank with her, so there was an awful lot to build on. not something james was reluctant to do, either. anyone who was female and knew lily at least a little could offer any advice or be probed for information on how to win her over. everyone did however know of his intentions so it wasn’t hard to guess what he would ask them. but, for once, james held himself back a little as he sat beside her and saw the drawn look on her face.

“alice?” he checked, although it was more as a comforting gesture. from his space he was fairly close to her, and this allowed him to see her expressions change. she looked so sad. ill, perhaps? he crawled a little closer, or inched closer was possibly the right word to use, and kept his eyes open as he scrutinized her expression. “are you all right?” obviously she wasn’t, but part of the ‘new’ james attempting to impress lily was keen to ask people how they felt, and not just assume things about them. such was his intention here. he sat himself back, although retained his current distance from her (which wasn’t much of a distance at all), and watched carefully. he didn’t want to miss any twitch that would indicate a lie, another reason as to him being so close to her. this was one of his best friend’s best friends, and he wanted to make sure she was okay so that remus wouldn’t be riled up and too over-concerned for no apparent reason. that being said, this could just be alice being simply tired, but james was a digger, and he knew there was something else bothering her.

[alice logan.]

she ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes, breathing deeply in an attempt to stave off the dizziness. she'd never been quite so dizzy before in her life; she didn't understand it. people usually only got dizzy by standing up to quickly, or spinning in circles, or by holding their breath for a long period of time, but alice had done none of the above. she'd simply come outside in an attempt to clear her head. she felt really quite ill; maybe it was all the pressure she put on herself. it really couldn't be doing anything for her health. she looked up minutely at the voice, barely registering the fact that it was now much closer than previously and that she knew who it was. maybe she should find remus. remus would know what was wrong with her. remus would help her get better. frank was lovely and all .. but alice was getting tired of his frustrated little looks every time she denied his advances. no, alice was better off going to remus with her problems. besides, after frank's latest attempt, remus had given alice strict orders not to give in until she felt one hundred per cent ready, regardless of how bad frank made her feel. alice blinked, and recognised the figure in front of her as james potter; he and lily would make such a lovely couple. alice swallowed, and ran her fingers through her hair again, before dropping them in her lap, automatically pulling at the blades of grass. "no," she smiled weakly, looking down at her hands. "but i'll survive."

james wasn't as bad as lily made him out to be; what with alice hanging around remus almost twenty-four / seven, it was inevitable that they would eventually talk. they weren't half as close as alice and lily, and no one could be closer than remus and alice, but alice counted him as one of her friends, despite the fact that his overly flirty nature used to bother her in the past. alice turned back to look at him and smiled weakly again, relinquishing her hold upon the innocent grass blades to pull the sleeves of her jumper over her hands. "i'm fine .. really. .. how're .. how're you?" alice was a terrible liar.

[james potter]

james liked to think he was good at picking out liars. after all, he had been one for six years, weaving himself out of terribly sticky situations and inevitable trouble. so when alice said she was fine, he knew that something was up. not just her comment a few seconds beforehand, but her attitude, the way her eyes shivered uncertainly, the way her hand twitched and her gaze refused to meet his own for more than a steady amount of time. “what’s wrong.” he was not having his two words come out as a question, oh no---this was more like a demand, something which she would answer truthfully or james would just sit here and bother her until she decided to tell him the truth. if that took all evening, then so be it. james wasn’t normally this cushy, really; a part of him hated the emotion he was showing, but then, since he had grown older and dare he even think it, a tad more mature, and he had fully understood that clowning around like a prat wasn’t going to win him lily, he had opened himself up to actually considering other people’s feelings (these did not include first years, or severus snape whenever he got the chance), but to lily’s friends, then sure. he would have to impress them if he were to steal their best friend away from them. that may make him sound like some evil villain of sorts, and that wasn’t his intention. if something had happened to alice, however, james would find out before remus, for purposes stated prior.

the gryffindor arched his eyebrow, and leaned closer again, watching her expression intently. he would find out what was wrong with her, because clearly there was something. he leant back a little, although did not move any further away, and moistened his lips quickly before answering her question. “i,”james began, flashing his infamous grin, “would be a lot better if one, lily would stop denying the chemistry between us---and two, if you would stop lying to me. now.” briefly he wondered where to begin, how to get her to answer him properly, before he decided that it really didn’t matter and that he was going to just come straight out and say whatever he wasn’t thinking. this was how james usually went by his days, because he didn’t think about things at all before he said them, possibly why people got so offended easily. he was just going to have to make this effort remus insisted upon him doing, if he wanted any chance at all. part of this, was to help alice. now he had understood that she found his flirtatious nature slightly off-putting, but that was just the way he was. if he wasn’t so convinced that lily was his soulmate then perhaps he would have felt differently towards the girl beside him. or opposite, whichever, really. “you look ill, so perhaps that’s because you’re too stubborn to go to the hospital wing and get fixed, or you’re just overly tired. another possibility is that you’ve recently had a huge argument and are now stricken with guilt, and don’t know what to do with yourself. or,” and now he was grinning, mischief glinting in his eyes, “you’ve finally realised your feelings for one of my best friends and don’t know what to do about it. in which case, i can help you there.”

[alice logan.]

alice had never been a stellar liar. she always did something to give herself away, whether that was refusing to look at someone, fidgeting, looking nervous, or any other tell tale signs of lying. she often wasn't aware she was doing it, which really wasn't helpful. she knew the minute the words fell out of her mouth that james would be able to tell she wasn't telling the truth - this was james potter after all. after knowing him since first year ( and only speaking to him from the third year and up after being forced to sit by the boy in defence against the dark arts ) alice was all too aware that james lied like alice breathed. she looked up, wide eyed, as he demanded she tell him what was wrong, and blinked, trying to conceal the fact that she honestly didn't know what was wrong. maybe it was all the pressure from NEWTs, prefect rounds, frank and homework all just piling on top of her. maybe it was frank's jealousy every time he saw her sitting near another boy despite the fact that he knew she'd never do anything with anyone else - if she wouldn't do anything with him, why on earth would she do something with another person? it would make alice a hypocrite, and one of the things alice prided herself upon was the fact that she was nothing of the sort. alice looked back down and avoided his gaze, fingers instantly moving to pull at the grass again. she really wasn't sure how to answer the question. or .. demand, rather. statement. whatever it was. alice didn't know what to say. she knew if she said nothing, he'd hound her for the rest of the night, and the only way alice would get any peace would be if she holed herself away in the dorms all night. but she couldn't do that; she had essays and papers and rounds and-

alice smiled again at the mention of lily - she hadn't seen her friend in days and was in desperate need of a chat with her - and shook her hair out of her face, a light blush covering her cheeks at james' remark about her feeble attempt at lying. she glanced up at him briefly, catching him in thought, and looked away again, wondering if it was worth trying to get up and making a run for it. looking back at him, alice immediately discarded the idea; james was a quidditch player. he was fit, fast, and .. fast, whereas alice .. wasn't. she was fit, yes, to a certain extent, and the only reason she was as slim as she was was due to her habit of not eating much and constantly walking around the castle on rounds. no, there was no point in running away. james had probably already anticipated that she might do it, and that was why he was sitting so close to her. curses. well, at least he wasn't being .. flirty. alice wasn't sure she could handle that, right now. she'd never been able to. flirting threw her off and caught her off guard. she didn't know how to react to flirting, and james' main form of communication was flirting, which made interaction between them rather difficult and strained. it was this reason that alice found it difficult to talk to sirius. he seemed to enjoy the blushing and stuttering that alice emitted when he was around. alice just found it irritating. "i'm not .. well .. i think .. i might possibly be coming down with a cold .. but that's .. i'm just .. me and frank .. fine .. nothing wrong at all .. nothing. .. and remus is my friend, for the last time!"

[james potter]

“don’t even think about it,” james warned, watching her eyes as they darted back and forth between him and the castle. he wasn’t warning her in a cruel tone, or even threatening, because he followed his words with a grin, but he knew what her plan was---or what it would be, and he wasn’t going to allow it. not just because it was ridiculous, and he would without a doubt catch her before she got anywhere, but because then she would be showing him that she was hiding something. and james really didn’t have a problem with running; he’d just prefer not to. the grass was quite comfortable and, dare he say it, he was enjoying the company of his friend. if that was what they were, of course. aside from his fellow… marauders, james didn’t really do close friends. this sounded rather arrogant of him, and he begged to differ. well, he didn’t, not really. james knew that he would always have these three people as his closest friends, and sirius as his… well, blood brother, you could say, seeing as james’ parents had taken him in at the end of their last year. it was great, because their schemes were planned to precise detail. it also surprised him that nobody seemed to point out how, when he wasn’t around his friends, james was a lot less in-your-face arrogant, and slightly more down to earth. except, of course, in the presence of lily evans.

even though she had given her reasons, he still didn’t believe her. as said, james was extremely skilled in picking out liars, and alice was one of them right now. not in all places, but in certain little things he’d picked out, from her gestures to her eyes twitching. “a cold? now really, alice m’dear, that was my excuse. can’t you do any better?” james didn’t think she looked like she was coming down with anything other than denial, of course. “nothing wrong? if you say so.” the only reason he wasn’t pressing this particular point was because he didn’t have anything solid to go on, other than what he’d all ready brought up. bar the insecurities, alice seemed fine, and frank just the same. the two got along well when he saw them, but that didn’t stop his persona from kicking in whenever he spotted remus and alice together. how could those two not be perfect for one another? they were as close as close can get without being an official couple. if james was going to accomplish anything this year, it would be to get the two of them together. and it would happen, and he would make it happen. “why can’t you see!” he threw up his hands in exasperation. “you and remus are meant. its like fate, like lily and i.” and with that, he flashed her another widespread grin. then, his expression changed a little to something more serious. “something is up. you look as if you’re going to pass out on me. please don’t.”

[alice logan.]

alice's shoulders sunk as james noticed her attempts at planning to escape, & instead reached for her water bottle, unscrewing the top & taking a sip. she couldn't seem to make her brain turn off. she kept going over & over her essay in her head, wondering if she should rewrite the conclusion or the introduction, or how much help peter was going to need with his homework tonight, or even how many prefect rounds she had left this week. alice honestly didn't feel as though she were up to the one she had tonight; she felt practically dead on her feet. she wasn't even entirely sure how she was going to get back to the common room from here. she flashed a weak smile back in james's direction at the grin, & - once again - pushed her hair out of her face, before rethinking it & tying her hair up, pulling a bobble from her wrist & wrapping it around her hair, tucking loose tendrils behind her ears. maybe if she went to see the nurse, she'd give her something to wake her up. no, alice immediately thought. she'd prescribe bedrest. & as much as alice wanted to sleep, she had far too much going on.

alice grimaced; she knew james wouldn't believe her. no one believed her when she lied. alice just couldn't lie, & alice didn't have the energy to argue any different. placing her water bottle next to her, alice lay down on the grass, closing her eyes momentarily, opening them only because she didn't want to fall asleep by the black lake when james was talking to her. james & alice may not have been as close as alice & remus were, but alice still considered him her friend, & she didn't particularly want to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation with him. sleep could wait. she'd have to find the sixth year gryffindor prefects & ask if one of them minded covering her shift tonight; there was no way alice was in a fit state to patrol the corridors. she turned to look at james, irritated at the talk of her & remus being made for each other, opening her mouth to tell him that they were just friends & that wasn't going to change any time soon, before giving up. no matter how many times she'd said it, james didn't seem to believe it. she gave up. "i'm just tired," she admitted, rubbing her eyes again. "i was up until about two this morning with prefect rounds & then i've had seven lessons today, i've barely had time to eat today, i really don't want to do my prefect duty tonight & i'm not looking forward to seeing frank later because he'll only want to .." alice pushed herself up; she never usually spoke this much, not to people who weren't lily or marley. "it's just .. stressful. nine NEWTs .. & all."

[james potter]

now, james was particularly skilled at lying. he’d done it for so many years just to weasel himself out of sticky situations that it just came naturally to him. lying so smoothly (and many times not-so-skilfully), was a natural trait he had found himself to be rather attached to, and not so keen on losing, at least not until he graduated. when he embarked on to the real world, he did want to get is own place, preferably with lily. well, he was working on his wit and charm, that was all that could be expected. so he knew from alice’s face, she was completely evaiding any attempts at him staring at her. so he tried the other approach. cruel, of course, but it was worth it to help a friend… a very good friend of his, in fact. james reached out with one hand, and in one swift movement he claimed her water bottle as his and hid it behind his back, well out of her reach. if she even attempted to make a grab for it, james deduced that she was tired enough to not get far before he could stop her. so, really, his plan was fool-proof. “no more distractions, missy. that goes for your hair, too, though i can’t really cut that off, so you’re going to have to promise me on this one.” he gave her a traditional, very typical james potter grin, fresh off his usually taunting lips, though he was careful. alice wasn’t like lily; he had no romantic intentions towards her, what so ever, but she was a dear friend of his, and he didn’t like to see his friends upset. being in love with evans and promising to be more gentlemanly was making him go all soppy. god help us all.

“oh alice,” he swung an arm around her, completely friendly, of course. “you know i’d magic you some food, but its one of those… whatdoyoucallits. though i am not impressed you haven’t eaten anything.” he frowned a little. james usually threw his head boy rounds on other people if he didn’t want to do them and nobody was any wiser, but alice wasn’t like him. she seemed to like everything she did, apart from the one person whose name she mentioned, and james tensed up a little. he wasn’t at all fond of her boyfriend, and he wasn’t sure how their relationship had even broken down. they’d been good friends, once… or at the very least decent friends, and ever since he’d formed a friendship of sorts with alice, he’d come to find frank rather irritating and demanding. “alice… he hasn’t… forced you in to anything, has he?” because really, he doubted anyone who knew alice would stand for that. “we’re not all like sirius,” he chuckled, “i hope he’s not being too big of a moody git.” there was a reason frank didn’t seem to have any friends—he was sure of it. absolutely positive, in fact, that the boy was hiding something. then again james knew he could be completely wrong, and he was imagining everything. “here, this may help you wake up a little.” with a smirk, that same mischievous grin he always wore when he was planning something, james unscrewed her water bottle behind his back, and promptly tipped most of the contents over her head.

[alice logan.]

alice answered immediately. "it's one of the five exceptions to gamp's law of elemental transfiguration," she recited. food was the least of her worries. alice could go without food. "it's not through choice! i don't have the time!" she protested. alice would have loved more time to do the things she wanted; eat, sleep, spend time with frank ( though not when she was in his dorm again, that had proven to be a bit of a bad idea ) & her friends - but alice did too much. she had too many NEWTs, too many commitments, far too many prefect rounds & far too many people relying upon her to do the things she did. she paid no attention as james stole her water bottle, assuming he was going to take a drink, & bit at her lip, pulling at a bit of loose skin - an old habit. she looked up as james asked her the question everyone seemed to ask her, & frowned, ready to deny it, when she paused. "he .. not forced, exactly, but he's certainly very vocal about what he wants," she spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. "i mean .. he's getting more & more upset when i say no, but-" alice smiled, she couldn't even begin to imagine what state she'd be in if frank were like sirius. "oh, well, thank merlin for that, i was beginning to worry."

alice turned away, & looked at the lake nervously, before deciding sitting here was much better than spending the night at the shrieking shack, like they'd done for hallowe'en. alice was never letting james talk her into something like that again. she looked back at james as he spoke, & stifled a yawn, spluttering when cold water splashed all over her. "j-j-james!" she grabbed her hair & pulled it over her shoulder, wringing the water out of it, knowing it was going to frizz out now. she shoved him, flicking water at him in irritation. "wh-what was th-the point of th-that?" she stammered, shivering from the less than tropical air & cold water. fumbling for her wand, alice proceeded to dry her hair & robes, shooting disgruntled glances at james every so often.

[james potter]

James scoffed, clearly bemused. “All right, Ms. Smarty-pants.” His tone indicated he was joking; James didn’t want to upset Alice anymore than she all-ready was, and calling her names in a serious tone would have upset their relationship. “Completely non-romantic,” he started. Now he was rather serious, even though all he really wanted to do was laugh. Which, sadly, he ended up doing. “I would like to extend to you an invitation to accompany me to the kitchens tonight. No arguments, Logan; I won’t have any excuses.” He couldn’t relate to how busy she was, though maybe he should of. He was Head Boy, after all, and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Complete that with homework and NEWTS, everything should really be taking a toll on him, too. But Alice seemed to do ten times the amount of work that anyone else did, and it amazed him when he caught her studying or reading sometimes, how she had the time to process everything. Though now he knew… and whilst she didn’t resemble to him what Lily did, it concerned him. They were friends, after all. This friendship, he thought, enabled him to be incredibly annoyed at Frank, Alice’s undeserving boyfriend. He didn’t even want to think of him as her boyfriend, because that idiot surely didn’t deserve someone like he had. These reasons… the things Alice was saying now, it made him sick to the stomach. Even though he made joking advances towards Lily, he was never physical. “I can have words with him, if you like.” Or whether you want me to or not… he thought to himself, though made a note to ignore the temptation should he bump in to the git ever again. Her reaction did make him laugh though, and it was one that carried with it a degree of smugness. “Alice, you’re no fun. You’re supposed to stay wet; they call them water fights for a reason, dearie.” She hadn’t done next to any damage to him, which he was rather disappointed in. “Would you like to take that trip to the kitchens now then? I’m not letting you out of my sight until I see you eat something.” And, if she knew him at all, she’d be aware of how true to his word he stayed. At least most of the time.