* - - i'm so sick of being so serious (james)

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey was pacing back and forth in front of The Three Broomsticks. She was feeling nervous and swore her heart was racing a mile a minute. And it wasn’t because of who it was that she is supposed to meet here, it was what she was about to ask him. And who was this boy she was about to meet up with you ask? Well that would be the infamous James Sirius Potter, the boy that all the girls seemed to be after. Well, all except for Aubrey. To Aubrey he was like an older brother. In fact, pretty much all of the Weasleys and Potters were like family to her. She was so glad to have met such a wonderful magical family when she found out that she was a witch.

As she paced back and forth she wrapped her long deep scarlet wool trench coat around her. It was a tad cold out letting the people of Hogsmeade know that winter was just around the corner. Her hair was down and perfectly straight that day since she felt that it would keep her a bit warmer than putting it up like she did most of the time. And her favorite pair of black skater shoes with scarlet and gold plaid décor in it crunched on the ground below her as she continued to pace back and forth.

Now what would a girl like Aubrey need to ask of James? Especially since she was a prefect and she wore that badge on the outside of her black camp shirt that was underneath her coat. James was considered a troublemaker and more than often Aubrey had been warned that she should keep her distance unless she wanted to be pulled into trouble as well. But perhaps what Aubrey was asking of James could cause her to get into trouble? It could, if she were caught.

Aubrey wanted to become an Animagus, a very tricky type of magic that she can definitely get in trouble for. Especially if she decides not to register to the Ministry of Magic. But she would have to, after all the reason why she wants to become one was to impress Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. This was the pureblooded Slytherin that had caught her eye and because he was the son of the Minister of Magic, she was sure he would convince her to register once she finally managed to accomplish it and show him. But she wasn’t going to tell James this. She knew that if he did, he probably wouldn’t want her to try and impress him. She wasn’t even sure what James felt about the fact that she was dating Scorpius.

For now Aubrey just continued pacing, glancing up every-so-often for any sign of James. She knew he would be willing to help her become one. In fact, she was sure he wouldn’t mind trying to become one as well. But right now he was making her feel quite impatient with how long he was making her wait. Did he even remember the time that she had said she said to meet her at? She glanced at her watch it told her that it was five minutes past noon, she swore she told him to meet her here at noon.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James was yawning as he realized what time it was not really in any particular hurry to get out of bed, but in reality he had indeed forgot about their meeting at Hogsmeade. Right now it was ten am and he was just rolling out of bed. Surely Aubrey knew that he usually wasn't the one to actually arrive on time, and especially since he did it on his own schedule. When he wanted and what he did was always up to him, he wasn't about to let anyone ruin his fun at all, not even her. Sighing softly, he tried to remember what this meeting was about as he tugged on some socks after he had taken a quick shower. It was hard being the infamous James Potter at times. Having a name like his he had to represent his Grandfather's name, but he was turning out to end up too much like him someone had said.

James remembered his father scowling at him one day when he had picked on Albus, telling him to get along instead of fighting with his brother. That thought tugged at his mind, but he no longer cared as he soon raised an eyebrow looking a note that was left on the desk. Having to remind himself that Aubrey was waiting in Hogsmeade for him, why on earth was he dawdling like a banshee that had been petrified? Oh well, she could wait a few extra minutes as he was choosing what tie to wear, but there really was only one option in the long run. Finally he started to pick out the casual Gryffindor tie pulling on the vest, along with the pants. Making sure his brown hair was well-kept as his blue eyes pierced into the mirror to stare back at him.

You handsome devil you, ohshootsnapsholic, he was definitely going to be late now, no time to play with the hair. Now he was really worried Aubrey would get even more frustrated that not only was he late, he almost brought the wrong papers with him. That would have really got him a new one, but why she wanted to meet him was beyond him. Was it cause of someone she was interested in that she was going to reveal to him? Was it him she was interested in? Cause he would let her down easily if she was. Don't get any crazy idea, James, he mused to himself, knowing Aubrey better than that. Seeing her as his little sister more than anything and wanting to protect her like a brother would.

Having been raised around the Potters and Weasleys must have had a major influence on her as most of them she did see as her family. Unable to deny a request like meeting in Hogsmeade, he was already on his way there. Tugging on a jacket just in case the weather didn't agree, he had a simple white shirt underneath the vest, and blew a strand of hair out of his eyes as he raced out the Gryffindor tower, down the steps. Jumping the flights of stairs that passed each other on the moving stair-case, of course he had also wanted to learn how to apparate sometime this year too.

Secretly he was going to learn it, but he was curious if Aubrey was as well on that aspect. Not knowing still what she wanted to talk to him about left him guessing along the way towards Hogsmeade, soon he was already panting by the time he got to the Three Broomsticks as it looked like he had run most of the way. Only ten minutes late, whew, could have been worse, all he had to deal with was Aubrey, and she was easy to handle compared to an angry Slytherin let loose in a village of muggles with nothing to stand in his way. Slytherinvilla would have to wait though as he gave Aubrey a nervous chuckle.

"Well, look at that, I'm late again, so hey Aubrey, you said you wanted to meet me?" he asked softly, not even apologizing for being late, what nerve this man had. Of course it was to be expected with the ego that many of his friends had fed him at times. Right now he was being serious as he walked towards where she was standing. "I'm curious, are you here to reveal your inner-most deep secret? Or is it something more interesting?" he teased playfully.

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[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

How much longer was he going to make her wait? Normally James was on time for her, and from what she’s heard around the school it made many jealous. But why would they be jealous? Didn’t they realize it wasn’t James she was interested in, but Scorpius? After all, she was dating him.

She was deciding whether or not she should go out looking for James when she felt a hand on her shoulder and the sound of a familiar voice. She turned around to see James standing there with a handful of sweets. Of course he would’ve gone to Honeydukes first to pick up some sweets, normally Aubrey would as well, but this young Gryffindor had much more important matters running through her head. Hopefully she had sometime later, she would really hate to go back home for winter break without any treats from the Wizarding World.

Aubrey placed her hands on her hips and the young blond squinted her eyes at him. “I was wondering when you were going to show up,” she said as she tapped her foot. But then she relaxed, there was no way that she could stay mad at James, it was just too hard. “I’m just glad you didn’t stand me up so I’ll forgive you,” she said in a soft voice. She was sure that James probably already knew that she would forgive him. Many knew that it was hard for Aubrey to stay mad at the people close to her.

She reached out and took his hand. “Come on let’s find a booth in the back, I need to talk to you about something privately,” she said hurriedly as she started to tug him towards the back the pub.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

Even as James had walked into the pub he noticed where Aubrey was standing even as her impatient stance showed she had been waiting a little longer than usual. It wasn't particularly his fault that he was late as much as he had tried to remember where the meeting spot was. As to why he had written it down, it didn't really help at all, but she had wanted to talk about something. It was still troubling him on what she wanted to know, even now she was just tugging on him expecting him to follow along as he stood his ground for a moment. Holding her hand with his both of his for a moment to calm her down a little, and perhaps slow her down a little.

James didn't like being forced to move as much as she wanted to tug, he was stronger than her, and he knew that. Now he wouldn't hurt her, but only if she tried pulling some strange stunt on him that would lead him into getting injured. Finally sighing softly, he nodded to her in response then finally just followed her wherever she was going. It was obvious they were headed to a more secluded place to talk, "Woah, hold up, why are we going to the back of the pub, is this some secretive plan to overtake Hogwarts?" he asked her playfully, obviously teasing her a little. Of course, he didn't say it that loud so no one would be roused with suspicion of what they were doing.

Finally letting her take his hands, he was soon starting to follow her towards the back of the pub which was slightly secluded from the rest of the place. A perfect area to talk about secretive manners with her, but right now he was just raising an eyebrow. James was so confused, and he didn't know how to react by this point. Just handing her a few of the candies he had acquired along the way. "Also, why here? I mean the whomping willow would have been a way better location to sneak out to the shrieking shack," he whispered again in a hushed tone.

James knew that Aubrey usually didn't think these matters through as much as he did, but then realized that even Albus could have caught them practicing on whatever they were working on. Even so, he soon let Aubrey answer his questions as he crossed his arms taking a seat if there was one at the place they were going to just to listen intently to her request.

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[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey ignored him as he joked about her overtaking Hogwarts, as if she could do that, she was only a sixth year. She just rolled her eyes and continued back to one of the booths in the back. She wasn’t in a joking mood at the moment, one of the reasons she didn’t say anything to him about his comment.

Aubrey had slid into the booth just opposite of James, taking her messenger bag off at the same time and placing it next to her. She had completely ignored the candies that James had sat out for her, or rather she just didn’t notice. She was still thinking about the topic she was going to be throwing out on the table. She had been running through her head what she needed to do. “Because I don’t exactly like the shrieking shack, it’s a bit creepy,” she shuddered at the thought of it before she dug around her in messenger bag and pulled out a book.

This book that she had pulled out was about animagus’s. She placed it on the table before him as she spoke, “I need your help. I want to become and animagus and would greatly appreciate it if you helped me,” she spoke quite seriously. This was probably the most serious that anyone has ever seen Aubrey before, and it was very rare to see a serious look on her face in the first place. But now she crossed her arms and waited, waited for James’s answer in hopes that he will say yes.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

Uh oh, she was serious, this meant trouble for James, and he was about to bail when she looked at him. Since she wasn't in a joking mood that made him lose his smile for a moment, thinking about her request. Listening to her sit down and move her messenger bag to the side. There was something off about this meeting, and even if he said no she'd beg him to do it. Surely, there was another way to get the approval of people besides learning how to become an animagus, after all not many people got where they were just from studying it.

Just because you can turn into an animal, doesn't mean you can't be changed back forcefully. Sighing softly, he then took a seat and crossed his arms while looking at her. Idly tapping his fingers against his arms in thought looking off into the distance as he pursed his lips. Seriously, this was against the school rules to learn about it on their own. Even in the back corner of the tavern was risky business, and what was she doing thinking she'd get away with it? Ah well, James loved the idea of almost getting caught and gave her a great smile.

"Animagus? Why didn't you say so before, I'm interested in becoming one myself, just to keep those brutes that go after you off of you, they'd have to get through me first," he said to her, as he showed her his own serious face. Aubrey being serious was like walking in on Slytherin acting nice for a change and not doing anything horrible. If he had said no, there would have only been a disappointed look and he always wanted to see Aubrey's smile since whenever she was down it usually brought a frown on his face too. Perhaps that's why he acted like an older brother most of the time.

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[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

What was taking so long for James to answer her? Didn’t he know how impatient she was? Perhaps he was thinking of a way to decline her. Not that it mattered; Aubrey was determined to become one, even if he didn’t plan on helping her. That just meant she would have to be extra careful and extra secretive. Who knew perhaps James would try to stop her from trying, but she was determined, there was no doubt about that.

“Animagus? Why didn't you say so before, I'm interested in becoming one myself, just to keep those brutes that go after you off of you, they'd have to get through me first.”She snapped back to reality when she heard his voice, she knew that she needed to stay serious so at the same time she was fighting to hide her smile, but in her mind she was throwing a party. She was ecstatic that he said he would! Everything would go much better if she had James there to help her; she just had to make sure not to mention to Scorpius that she’d be around James even more. She knew how much the two of them didn’t get along.

Wait a minute… Did he just say that he wanted to become one to protect her? “You don’t need to protect me James. Besides for all you know you could become a small little ladybug, how would even defend me as a ladybug?” she questioned him. Not that she actually thought he would become a lady bug, she was just trying to show him that becoming an animagus didn’t mean it would help protect her. Though if she were to become something small like that, perhaps she could get away from people easier, or spy on people. She could find out everyone’s secrets and feed it to the reporters. Oh wait Aubrey would never do that, it just wasn’t in her personality.

She opened up her messenger back and pulled out a roll of parchment as well as a couple of books. “Well this is the information I’ve dugged up so far. So it should help us,” she nodded lightly as she pushed everything over to James.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

Aubrey was cute when she was serious at times but still she had the habit of spacing out that he had to mock at times. Even when she was trying to talk to him, he could tell how excited she got and was now beaming at him when he had agreed. Or he had thought he saw a smile throughout her demeanor as her aura seemed to change slightly. With the many years he had been with her, he knew fully well she was capable of taking care of her. Tapping his foot lightly on the wooden floor of the area they were sitting at as he listened to her talking about the books. As for ladybugs, he'd see about that as he wanted to turn into something more ferocious than just a ladybug.

It would be really awesome if he could turn into something like a rhinoceros to at least be of some use. “You don’t need to protect me James. Besides for all you know you could become a small little ladybug, how would even defend me as a ladybug? ""Now that's not fair, that was a low blow, I could become a rhino you know, and charge anyone that dares mess with you, besides that you could be the one turning into a spider or something. Becareful what you wish for, missy," he jutted his finger out at her accusingly. Even though he was joking after he smiled towards her.

Feigning disgust as he looked over at all the books she brought him, and wasn't eager to learn them. After all he'd rather be picking the boogers out of a troll's nose with his wand than studying more. James had already looked into these books earlier on when he had been curious enough to study the subject. Then the books suddenly disappeared off the shelves a week later, and he realized just then Aubrey was the one who had taken them. So it was what she had planned all along as he let his knowing gaze travel over her face. "No wonder I couldn't find these books, you sneaky lil girl, so, where do we start?" he asked curiously.

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[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

“Now that's not fair, that was a low blow, I could become a rhino you know, and charge anyone that dares mess with you, besides that you could be the one turning into a spider or something. Becareful what you wish for, missy,” she crossed her arms and glared at him did he honestly think that she really wished he would turn into a lady bug. It wasn’t like she’d actually wish that upon someone after all. Well except maybe upon someone she really truly doesn’t like. But she wasn’t one to stay mad at her friends for a lengthy amount of time. “It wasn’t like I said that you will turn into a lady bug, you could. We really don’t know what we’ll turn into, but most say that it’s the same as your patrounus,” she said lightly as she pulled out one of the books.

“No wonder I couldn't find these books, you sneaky lil girl, so, where do we start?” she smirked at him. Of course Aubrey would’ve checked out most of the books that were about animagus, plus she had a couple of her own that she had bought over the summer holidays. She wanted to be prepared for her sixth year, and with the fact that she wasn’t chosen as one of the champions, she wanted to prove that even though she wasn’t chosen, she was still skilled as a witch. That was also why she was making sure she got over her fear of flying by the end of the year as well. Ah yes, dear Aubrey was going to be a busy girl for most of the school year. “Well not all of these are Library books. The librarian would be quite supisiocus if I took all of them. Some of them I bought over the summer Holidays as well while no one was watching,” she said matter-of-factly. Yep, Aubrey was serious about this whole business. “Well here’s a book that tells you the spell. Apparently will have to practice turning into an animal quite a bit before we master it,” she said light as she turned the pages in the book to the page that had details about the very complicated spell.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James considered this fact and was almost skeptical at first when she had mentioned becoming his patronus. Well, that wasn't really that unusual, however, he rarely used his own patronus as there hadn't been that many times he had to face a dementor or lethifold lately. Funny as it may sound, he now knew about all of those creatures again, having re-read the Care of Magical Creatures book just cause it had interested him. James knew there was more to life than just becoming an animagus, however, it would be cool to trick some of his friends via this form. Plus, it would be something he could flaunt to Albus, but perhaps he wouldn't just so he could eavesdrop on his little brother's conversations.

Oh, the possibilities were endless right now, and he wasn't going to be side-tracked from his original quest. Surely, it was easy enough to learn the spells on your own, however, he was curious still as to why Aubrey was secretly wanting to do it. James obviously had a lot on his plate right now, with the Quidditch match having almost started, and being chosen as one of the Champions, now he was studying to become an animagus. Sure, he could do this all at once, but there had to be a limit on how much he could do, well he'd have to test that with Aubrey now. “It wasn’t like I said that you will turn into a lady bug, you could. We really don’t know what we’ll turn into, but most say that it’s the same as your patrounus,”

"Same as your patronus huh, well I'm quite looking forward to that then, as it's for sure not a little tiny dinky lady bug, at least if I remember correctly it isn't," he mused to her. "Although, I'm ready to get started whenever you are," he said eagerly rubbing his hands together.

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[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

“Same as your patronus huh, well I'm quite looking forward to that then, as it's for sure not a little tiny dinky lady bug, at least if I remember correctly it isn't,” Aubrey nodded lightly. The same as her patronus, so would that mean she would turn into a nightingale? She could just see Scorp telling her how cute her form was, that was if she ever told him what she was doing. She wanted to, but she knew that with him being the Minister of Magic son, he would make her march right on up to the Ministry and register herself. Yep there was no doubt about that. She would need to keep it a secret from him for as long as possible, she didn’t want to go through all the registration after all.

“Although, I'm ready to get started whenever you are,” Aubrey raised her brow, did he really expect that they’d get started right then and there in front of everyone that was inside the Three Broomsticks? Perhaps he just forgot where they were at the moment. It would be much better to either sneak out to the forest or something at night, or even to use the Room of Requirement or find an empty classroom and put charms on it so that no one would enter the room while they were in there. “James… It’s not like we can practice here. There’s way too many people around, we’ll have to set up a time and place to start practicing,” she said softly so that no one would hear her as she put her books away back in her bag before pulling out her planner.

Yes that’s right, Aubrey actually took her best friend’s advice and got herself a planner. However, she made sure that it was Muggle Planner, she didn’t want one that would scream her appointments at her. That would be just a bit embarrassing, and then she would have to codename everything so no one knew what the planner was screaming about. That would just be too much work. “So when would be a good time for you and where do you think we should meet?

” she asked him as she began to open her planner and opened to the current date.
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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James had to consider what she was asking, but he knew she was incredibly serious about this, and then realized that this would indeed be a bad place to practice that. Now he was considering other alternative options for where they could practice and then he had a wonderful idea, there was always one place in Hogwarts that happened to appear when you needed it. So setting up a place to practice would be easy and he was sure that Aubrey could easily conjure something up like that, but he knew he could too. Just, his will probably wasn't as strong as Aubrey's to learn to become an animagus. In reality he hadn't learned why she did, but he paid that no mind again.

After all, he was helping her and in return helping himself learn as well. Hopefully to impress the ladies, but that was a long time in the future he guessed. Once more doubting his own ability, wait, he was the infamous James Potter, surely he could do anything. Now that was his ego talking and he had to respond to Aubrey after a moment to let his thoughts finish whirling at fifty words per second. Almost laughing slightly as if she had to ask that question. “So when would be a good time for you and where do you think we should meet?”

"Well I'm going to say anytime in the evening or whenever we both don't have classes, preferrably on a weekend when we have nothing better to do or over Christmas holidays, I'd say on weekends, and I do know of one place, silly. The room of requirement, I've only heard about it a hundred times from my dad, and I'm sure you know of it pretty well too. Although you'd have to be the one to do the wishing for it to appear to suit our needs...since well I think you have more of a will to become an animagus than I do. Despite the fact I'd probably like to show off a little more than usual myself. Although I can't on school grounds," he admitted. Yet, he did tell her at time and date for this to be set up.

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