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James walked into the Great Hall nervously, it was the day of the second task and Hogwarts was counting on him. He sat himself down between Fred and Hugo at the Gryffindor table, Fred and Hugo immediately noticed how tense James was. Although they questioned him for his well being, he quickly turned both of them down saying he was fine, which he wasn't. He didn't want to talk to anyone if he was being honest, his mind was filled with thoughts, the last thing he needed was more.

As James ate his cereal he all of the sudden realized something, he was sure that if Ivy wasn't put in the lake Fred would, but Fred was here. He looked across both sides of the Gryffindor table noticing every single one of his cousins were there. James quickly stood up in search of Ivy but was unsuccessful, he only managed to spot her group of friends at the Slytherin table.

"James who are you looking for?" Fred asked with a mouth full of eggs. He turned his head towards where James had his gaze, he realized he was staring over at the group. "Mate I don't think she likes you, especially because you're an idiot who decided to distance himself. Also she's not even there, probably at her dorm or the library studying."

"I have to agree with Fred there, that was a pretty stupid move." Hugo said joining in. Although he didn't know much about the situation between the pair, it wasn't hard to notice the feelings they had tried to hide with hate for the past couple of years.

"Both of you shut up, I had my reasons." James said rolling his eyes. "It seems there was no point considering she is no where to be found."

"Ask Albus about her whereabouts, I'm sure he knows." Hugo said.

"He always knows where she is." Fred said. "Do you think he fancies her? I'm sure they've snogged, they've had to at least once."

"Fred you're not helping."

"I know."

James rolled his eyes once again, at this point he wouldn't be surprised if they rolled towards the back of his head. "I'm going to go ask, see you two later." James said bidding goodbye towards the pair as he made his way towards the Slytherin table. As soon as he neared he was sent multiple glares from the Slytherin students, most of them hated James considering he was head of Gryffindor. While some sent death glares, others did send a quick good luck for the upcoming task, after all they wanted to win in the end. James sent a small thank you to those who had gave him a thumbs up, he finally made it to where the group sat, they all looked at him with a questioning glance. James soon noticed they didn't look all so happy to see him.

"Ivy isn't here." Scorpius said bluntly. "You can leave now."

"Have you seen her? I need to talk to her before the task begins." James questioned hoping they'd say she was at her dorm or at the library.

"She didn't come to our dorm last night, Headmistress said she had something important to do for the task later today." Harlow said with a shrug. "I haven't seen her since, have you all?" Harlow questioned the rest of the group, but they all let out a chorus of no's

"She's been a bit off since we came back." Albus stated sending a glare towards his older brother. Ivy hadn't confirmed anything, but he started noticing the two seemed to be growing closer. "Do you have anything to do with her foul mood, can you just give her a break?"

"Albus you don't know the half of it, stay out of this." James said raising his voice.

"You're the one who's made her life a living hell for the past seven years, and I'm always there to help her get over your stupid pranks. Don't tell me what I know because I'm sure it's more than you do." Albus fought back. Ivy was like a sister to him, she wouldn't let her get hurt over his childish brother.

"How about both of you shut up?" Harlow asked receiving a jab at the side by Daisy.

"What Harlow meant to say is that both of you need to stop your arguing, it's nine in the morning for Merlin's sake." Daisy said. "James if Ivy shows up I'll tell her you were looking for her."

"Thank you Daisy." James replied sending one last glare towards his brother.

*

"Steady your breath lover boy." Fred said standing next to James. It was freezing as the crowd surrounded the champions from afar. James hadn't managed to find Ivy all day and he was positive she was underneath the water in a deep sleep. He asked the Headmistress multiple times, but she quickly turned him down before he could utter the question.

The yells began to increase as Vivian Jordan announced the task was about to begin, James' hands started to sweat of nervousness. He kept questioning himself. Fred and Hugo tried their best to calm their cousin down, but nothing seemed to work.

"James we gave you Gillyweed." Hugo said informing James. "You'll be able to breath correctly and it'd be nearly impossible to drown."

"Mate you won't be able to rescue anyone with the state your in." Fred said slightly worried because James hadn't been able to calm down just yet. He had exactly two minutes before he was pushed into the ice cold water.

"Champions get ready!" Vivian called out causing everyone to shout of excitement.

James let out one deep breath calmly collecting himself, he gave a reassuring smile to both of cousins letting them know he'd be okay. Without a second thought James jumped into the freezing lake with one thought on his mind, Ivy.

*

Ivy let out a huge gasp as she resurfaced from the water. James had one arm secured tightly around her as he guided them towards the dock. While everyone cheered at the first champion to rise, Ivy noticed James' bleeding arm. All the anger she held for James turned into worry. His left arm had been clawed leaving a nasty scar. What in the world was down there Ivy thought to herself.

Ivy and James were pulled up by roaring Gryffindors. They all congratulated James with a warm hug and a slap on the back. James quickly thanked everyone before pulling Ivy aside.

"Are you okay? Merlin Lennon I'm so sorry, I tried distancing myself so you wouldn't be put in this situation. That clearly didn't work." James said mumbling the last part towards himself.

Ivy stood frozen astonished. This boy had nasty scars down his arms, yet here he was worrying about her, even though she didn't have a single scar on her body. She let out a small laugh which caught James off guard.

"Why are you laughing? You hate the water, you could have drowned!" James exclaimed.

"You're a complete idiot James Potter." Ivy replied still laughing at him.

"I tried to protect you Lennon." James sighed.

Ivy took ahold of his hands intertwining their fingers. "James distancing yourself made everything worse." Ivy said resting her head on his chest. "You could have just talked to me."

James peered down at Ivy surprised of her sudden actions, considering his luck was up the roof at the moment he gently placed a small kiss on the top of her head. He felt her smile pressed up against his chest. "The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, I'm not very good at showing my feelings, am I?"

"You're actually very bad at it." Ivy said with a snort. "Hopefully I can put up with it."

"Hopefully you can." James said looking down at the girl who was still pressed up against his chest.

"Hey loverbirds!" Fred exclaimed causing Ivy to lift her head. "Party in the common room!"

"We could skip you know." James suggested squeezing her hands slightly.

"And have all of Gryffindor hate me? In your dreams."

~

this might be my
favorite chapter i've
ever written. i love
writing these two, i
love them so much.

also I WANT A
JAMES, ps i'm free
on the 14th

actually no i'm not lol,
i have my ginger bf
i managed to snatch up
hehe, but if James came
up to me i'd drop him
bahaha