It was not worth it. It was absolutely, wholeheartedly not worth it. While in the moment, punching Axel had felt great and the boy certainly deserved it, it wasn't worth it.

Because while before Del had just been avoiding him, now she was ignoring him completely. And while previously he would have considered it the same thing, now he knows it's not. He never thought he would want her to go back to avoiding him.

She wouldn't even look his way. Whereas before she would catch his eye and then quickly look away, she didn't even bother to look anymore.

He had messed up big time and even Sirius noticed.

"What the hell did you do?" Sirius demanded as he entered the common room. James sat on the couch with a cloth held to his nose.

"I didn't do anything," James replied.

"Bullshit," he shook his head. "Lily told me what happened."

"I didn't intend to punch him," he explained as he placed the cloth down. He leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees. "He was being an ass."

"And what exactly did you think would happen?"

"I wasn't thinking," he answered simply. "He wasn't even supposed to be there."

"If Del's there so is he."

"I'm coming to realize that."

"So?" Sirius inquired.

"So?" James repeated in confusion.

"Del," he explained, "Did she say anything?"

"Nothing helpful," he sighed. "Just that it was complicated and we should let it drop."

And that had been a week ago. With break coming up soon, if they didn't think of a way to help Del, they didn't know what might happen to her when she went home.

"They won't do anything to her, right?" Peter inquired as he nibbled on his nails anxiously. While Peter and Del weren't close by any means, he had grown to like her from the trips to the hospital rooms.

"I don't know," Sirius replied as he picked up a grape and dropped it onto his plate.

"Will they hurt her?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think she'll get married over break?"

Sirius huffed, "I don't know."

"Do you think-"

"Peter!" Sirius exclaimed. "I don't know."

"Sorry, it's just..." he trailed off. "Isn't that why she's doing this? To protect herself?"

"Please," Sirius scoffed. "Del never does anything for herself. Ever." He shook his head, "There has to be something else."

James tapped his hand against the table when it registered. He stood up quickly, ignoring the looks he got from those at the table. "I'll see you lot later." He left the room a moment later, exiting the hall as fast as he could without sprinting.

In hindsight, he hadn't actually known where he had planned on going at first. He just needed to find Del and in order to do that, he needed to find someone who might know where she would be.

"Carina!" he exclaimed as he spotted her with a few other Slytherin's. The group turned to look at him and scowled. Carina told them something and the group dispersed.

She made her way over to him and stopped a foot away from him, crossing her arms over her chest, "If you're going to ask me out, you're not exactly my type."

"That isn't-" he cut himself off with a shake of his head. "Wait, I'm not?"

"For one, you're a guy," she explained, "It's kind of a deal breaker for me."

"Ah," he replied.

"You do realize it's possible for someone not to like you, right?"

"Of course I do," he shrugged. "If I didn't, I would be conceited."

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"Right," he rubbed his palms on his pants, "Do you know where Del is?"

"Oh, that's right," she nodded. "Del's been avoiding everyone."

"So?"

"So," she repeated, "She's probably with Axel."

"Do you think you can help me change that?"

"How would I do that?"

"This is an awful idea," Carina huffed as they both peered around the corner.

"No, it isn't," James countered, "It's brilliant."

"It won't even work."

"Yes, it will."

"You're an idiot."

"And yet here you are helping me."

She glanced back at him, "I can change my mind."

"You won't."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because even you - little miss all things dark and scary - have a heart," he informed her. "You care about your cousin just as much as the rest of us even if you won't say it out loud."

She made a noise that he couldn't quite identify before she stood up straight. "Fine," she huffed, "But if this goes poorly, I will throw you under the bus."

"Wouldn't expect any less," he replied and she narrowed her eyes slightly.

Carina waited a moment before she stepped out of hiding. She shot James a glare and he merely grinned in return before she started down the hall.

It was in fact an awful plan that was so beyond poorly thought through that it shouldn't have worked out how it did.

As soon as Carina had stepped out, Harry wheeled around the corner. They past each other and the plan was in effect.

"That was my toe you stupid mudblood!" Carina exclaimed. Harry looked up at her with wide eyes as those in the hall turned to see what the commotion was about.

It took Harry reassuring Carina that he didn't mind her calling him a mudblood if it meant they were helping Del.

"I didn't see you," he explained quickly as he rolled his wheelchair backwards. "I swear."

"You should pay closer attention," she sneered. They were both so convincing that James almost forgot his part in all of this.

Del stepped forward to intervene on Harry's behalf. Axel placed his hand on her shoulder and shoved her back forcefully. She narrowed her eyes but bit her tongue, not arguing with the boy. A very un-Del thing to do.

Axel approached Harry and Carina, his sight set on Harry rather than Carina. They had all agreed that if Axel tried anything on Harry, it was over and they would try something else.

James took the opportunity to turn the corner and discreetly make his way to where Del stood watching the scene play out anxiously.

"What do you think you're doing?" Axel demanded of the boy in the wheelchair.

James grabbed Del's elbow gently and she jumped. "It's okay," he muttered when she didn't turn to look at him. "I need you to trust me."

Carina looked over at the two and James caught her eye. She nodded her head only slightly and he returned the gesture before pulling a rather reluctant and confused Del away.

"Let go of me," she demanded as soon as they were out of both sight and ear shot. He obeyed immediately and she crossed her arms over her chest. "What's going on?"

"We need to talk," he explained simply.

"About?"

"You do know that I'm not scared of your family, right?" he inquired.

She narrowed her eyes, "What?"

He rolled his eyes, "Your parents and cousins and anyone else. They don't scare me." He mirrored her stance and crossed his arms over his chest, "What on earth made you think that I wouldn't be able to protect myself?"

Her jaw clenched, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong," he suggested and she eyed him warily. "Your mother wants you to stay as far away from me as possible and up until you asked me to tutor you, you had made good by that. So we did that for, what, three days?" he inquired and she said nothing in response.

"Moving on," he ran a hand through his hair for a moment. "Then comes your birthday and everything is well until your parents show up. The package they gave you read 'Delphinus Walburga Nott.' They had arranged a marriage for you - which I have more to say about but that's for another time. Knowing you, you didn't agree at first and this is where things start to get a little fuzzy for me."

"That night you sent me a message asking where I was," he reminded her. "I was confused for many reasons but then I remembered that people had been accusing me of a bunch of stuff that I hadn't done and would never even imagine doing. So I went to your room with the present I was unable to give you at the party because you hadn't attended and instead of you answering the door, it was Axel."

She seemed surprised at this, "It was you at the door?"

He nodded before waving his hand, "Anyway, I'm not entirely sure what happened but I'm going to assume he blackmailed you into being in a relationship. Unless you - for a reason unknown to me - changed your mind about the devil spawn in which case I will be on my way."

She narrowed her eyes, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Au contraire," he replied. "'It's a strange truth that no matter how persuaded we might be of our own correctness, the discomfiting realization that others disagree with us causes a paralyzing inability to argue the case convincingly.'"

She raised an eyebrow and fought down a smile. "'He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak,'" she countered.

"'You need other people. There's a great freedom in knowing that. And accepting that. And letting people in. Letting them help you.'"

"I don't need nor want your help."

"Okay, fine," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't sure how much time he had before Axel realized she was gone. "Tonight, meet me in the Shrieking Shack. If you don't show up, I'll leave you alone. But if you do...I'll help you."

Before she could reply, there was a shout from where she had just left. Neither of them thought twice before taking off at a sprint to get back.

As they approached the scene, however, their efforts proved to be seen as pointless. Harry had hexed Axel.

James let out a breath of relief. If anything had happened to the kid because of his plan, he wouldn't have known what to do with himself.

Del covered her mouth to prevent herself from laughing as Axel turned around. His head was slowly growing bigger by the moment. "We should get you to Pomfrey's," Del suggested as she stepped forward.

James wanted to reach forward and stop her but decided against it. She glanced back at James briefly before grabbing Axel's hand and walking off before anything else could happen.

He approached Harry and held his fist up. The boy eagerly hit his fist against the Gryffindor's. James grinned, "Color me impressed, kid."

"I thought he was going to kill you for what you said," Carina breathed out. She was beyond relieved that nothing had gone wrong.

Harry shrugged, "It would have been worth it."

"What did you say?" James inquired.

He opened his mouth to answer but Carina quickly stopped him, "It's best not to be repeated ever again." James was surprised that the boy could say anything that even the Slytherin thought it was too awful to repeat.

"How did it go?" Harry asked.

"I told her to meet me tonight," he explained. "Hopefully she shows up."

Del hesitated as she stood at where the entrance of the Shrieking Shack was. She could go in and James would be there and he would help her. But it wouldn't be fair to him if she pulled him into this. This was between her and her parents, and more recently, Axel Nott.

She shook her head as she turned around to leave but stopped in her tracks. Because James hadn't been inside the Shrieking Shack. Of course, he had been late.

Del opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when he engulfed her in a hug. She immediately melted into his warmth, a part of her upset with herself for not pulling away.

"I'm going to help you," he informed her, his voice muffled in her hair. He pulled away and held her face in her hands, "It's going to be okay."

She shook her head, taking a step back, "There's nothing you can do."

"I won't let anything happen to you without a fight."

"It's not about me," she countered. "It's-"

"About me," he finished, "I know. But I'm capable of taking care of myself."

"I won't let her hurt you."

He brushed her hair behind her ear, "You don't have to worry about me."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at him, "I always worry about you."

James scanned her face for a brief moment before crashing his lips with hers. He placed his hand on the back of her neck once she kissed back and pulled her closer if that were even possible. He hadn't intended to do this. Of course he hadn't invited his best friend's sister into an allegedly haunted shack to make out with her but there they were.

They parted after a moment, their breath mingling together, "Come to my house for the holidays."

Confusion took over her expression, "What?"

"For the holidays," he repeated. "Come with me. Tell your parents your staying here or going with Cynthia or Angela. But come with me."

She shook her head, "I don't know."

"Please," he tried, placing his hand on the side of her face, "I need to know you're safe."

"Alright, fine but if anything happens-"

"Nothing will happen."