Beautifully Unfinished

James’ seventh year at Hogwarts definitely hadn’t started the way he had thought that it would but he was doing his best to get on with things as normally as possible. It was clear that the other students were worried and the truth was that James was as well but he knew that he just had to believe that the people he cared about were going to be fine. He had family and friends who weren’t at Hogwarts any longer and there were his parents as well, there were always going to be people out there who were closer to danger than he was at Hogwarts and not a day went by when he didn’t think about them. He did his best to stay in touch with them all but it wasn’t always easy considering that they were busy getting on with their own lives as well. Truth be told it was easier focusing on what was going on outside of the school than it was thinking about what was going on inside of it considering that the kiss he had shared with Iris was something that was proving really difficult to forget. He knew that she’d had far too much to drink that day and she claimed not to remember it but for James it wasn’t that easy. The two of them had always wound each other up and they were rivals on the quidditch pitch but for some reason he had taken to trying to protect her when he could and stop her getting into trouble. It was something that James didn’t understand since he had always thought that he didn’t particularly like Iris due to the way she was around other students but he knew that she had to deal with being judged because of her last name just like he did so they were similar in that respect. They were both also guilty of perhaps pushing themselves a little too much when it came to quidditch but for James that came with the territory of being his house’s team captain. He knew that at least one of the other house teams had a new captain but he wasn’t sure who had been given the honour of taking on those roles this year and he couldn’t deny that he was curious to find out.

For now there was only one thing that James wanted to do, though, and that was clear his head and focus on something else for a while. The best way he knew of doing that was to focus on quidditch so that was why he had decided to head down to the pitch that day. The quidditch season hadn’t started yet, tryouts would be coming up soon and James knew that there might be some students who wanted to get some practicing in before those started but he hoped that the pitch would be free when he got there and as he arrived he realised that his luck was in. There wasn’t another person in sight so he released a bludger and the snitch before taking to the sky. He knew that he could just hone his skills using the snitch but he liked a challenge so it was more fun to have a bludger loose to pose more of a threat. James had been out there for a little while when he heard a familiar voice and he flew down to the ground before climbing off his broom, his eyes meeting Iris’ as he did so. “I hate to break it to you Carrow but I was here first. I’m not going anywhere,” he challenged. “What are you doing here, had enough of terrorising first years already?”

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW

James had always known that he would feel the pressure of being the son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley when he got to Hogwarts and that had certainly ended up being true but he liked to think that he was coping with it. He had made a lot of friends during his time at the school and he knew that he wouldn’t be without them. He’d had it easier than his brother had, that was for sure, and he was doing his best to make sure that his sister Lily had a good time at Hogwarts. She had friends of her own but the two of them were still close and he wished that the same was true of Albus. His brother had pushed him away after being sorted into Slytherin and James had tried to reach out a few times but it hadn’t worked. Albus seemed determined to do this on his own and James knew that he had to respect that. When he’d started at Hogwarts he’d had his cousins there to look out for him and he’d had some friends he’d made before he had boarded the train at the start of his first year as well which had definitely made things easier. His surname had made him a target in some respects but he had grown used to that and now the other students knew better than to mess with him. His time at Hogwarts had been pretty great so far and even though the Enlightened had thrown the world into chaos, he knew that he still wanted to enjoy his final year at Hogwarts.

One thing James knew that he wanted to do that year was to bring the Quidditch Cup back for Gryffindor if he could. Last year they’d had a turbulent year after Kai was injured and right now James wasn’t even sure if his friend would want to reclaim his position has Keeper but he had made it clear that Kai could take his time deciding. Seeing what had happened had been difficult enough but Kai had actually lived through it. James had been there for him through all of it, he hadn’t let Kai push him away no matter how hard he had tried because he had known that he hadn’t wanted to let his friendship with the guy diminish the way his relationship with his brother had. Right now the quidditch season hadn’t started yet and James had some decisions that he needed to make ready for when it did. Some of the players from the previous year had graduated and left Hogwarts and he was thinking of having the existing players try out for their positions as well so that he could see what new blood was out there but he wasn’t quite sure yet. That was one of the things that he hoped being out on the quidditch pitch would help make clearer for him and another thing was what to do about Iris. He was doing his best to forget about the kiss that they had shared, one that he had a feeling she remembered even if she claimed she didn’t, but getting her off his mind was proving to be much easier said than done. Flying always cleared his mind and when he was able to focus on trying to find the golden snitch he often found it easy to forget about everything else for a while and when he had to focus again things were a little better. That was what he had hoped for that day but it seemed that Iris had had the same idea as him and he shook his head as she told him that he could leave now so she could have the pitch. “Sorry but I have a free period so if you want to use the pitch now you’re going to have to share it with me for the next hour,” he countered, knowing that he wasn’t going to let her talk him out of spending time out there like he’d planned to. “I would say I’m surprised by that but I’m not. Most people know your family’s reputation just like they know mine,” James admitted. “It sucks sometimes,” he added. It was something that he had grown used to but that didn’t mean that he didn’t still hate it sometimes. “Listen, since we’re both out here why don’t we practice together?” he suggested, knowing that he wouldn’t pass up the chance to spend some more time with her if she was up for it.

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW

Especially during his early years at Hogwarts, James had grown used to people only knowing who he was because he was Harry Potter’s eldest son. So many expectations had been put on him because of that fact alone and he knew that it would have been easy for him to buckle under the weight of those expectations but he hadn’t done. Instead he had kept pushing through and in the end people had started seeing him for who he was rather than for who his dad was. James wasn’t ashamed of who he was or where he came from, in fact he was proud of both his parents and everything that they had done. He knew that there were some people who perhaps expected him to step up in the same way but he had the support of his family and friends around him and he knew that they all just wanted him to do what made him happy. He wasn’t sure yet whether he was going to want to go on to play quidditch professionally or do something else like becoming an Auror, he wanted to keep his options open and that was exactly what he was doing. As it was his seventh year was upon him and he was doing his best to make it a year that was memorable for all the right reasons. The Enlightened had done the unthinkable by revealing magic to the world in the way they had done, they had torn down the veil that had kept them safe for so long and had tried to make muggles fear them. All around the world witches and wizards were dying and so were muggles. Most if not all of them were completely innocent and while James could understand why the Enlightened had wanted to reveal magic to the world so they wouldn’t have to live in the shadows any longer, he knew that he was never going to be okay with the way that they had gone about it. They needed to be stopped and he really hoped that it was only a matter of time before they were.

It would be easy to get lost in what was going on in the outside world but James knew that he didn’t want to do that, not just yet at least. Right now more than anything he needed to clear his mind. Iris had been occupying his thoughts a lot ever since they’d shared that kiss and he knew that he needed to find a way to forget all about it. She claimed that she didn’t even remember it so he knew that he should just put it down to a drunken mistake on her part and never think of it again but the truth was that he was attracted to her and no matter how much he tried to deny that, it didn’t make it any less true. They were from two very different worlds, at least one of her parents had been a Death Eater while James’ dad was responsible for killing Voldemort and stopping his reign of terror, but one thing James had learned a long time ago was that he wasn’t his dad and he was pretty sure that Iris wasn’t hers either. They were their own people and he knew that he didn’t want either of them to forget that even if most of the people around them did.

“It looks like it. I would say we could alternate weeks but the pitch is more than big enough for both of us,” James shrugged. He knew that it would be easier for them to train alone without the other around especially since Iris had been named as her team’s captain that year as well but he didn’t see the sense in that. They were both old enough to be able to put their differences aside even if only for a little while and if he was honest he quite liked the idea of being able to spend some more time with Iris. Normally they were surrounded by others and they were almost expected to act a certain way around each other but James didn’t want to have to do that, not right now at least. As Iris spoke again, James rolled his eyes. “Sneer all you like but I get the feeling that if there’s anyone who knows what it’s like to feel the weight of other people’s expectations, it’s you,” he offered. He knew that it couldn’t be easy for Iris, so many people judged her for being a Carrow and that was something that he had seen himself time and time again. Truth be told he’d thought certain things about her before ever really spending any time with her as well and he knew that that was wrong because so many people had done the same about him as well. It came with the territory of having the parents they did and they weren’t the only ones at Hogwarts who went through that but it was still annoying to say the least. “You’re right, it isn’t. We’d be pretty childish for trying that,” he agreed. “I’ll take that as a yes then,” he added before she could reconsider. “I could use a bit of a break from practicing manoeuvres so I can play Keeper for you if you’d like to take some shots,” he offered, knowing that he wouldn’t pass up the chance to spend some time with her even if he wouldn’t necessarily say those words out loud.

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW

James had been out on the quidditch pitch for a little while already so he knew that he could have given it up and let Iris have it or they could have just ignored each other and practiced on different parts of the pitch but the truth was that both of those options sounded pretty ridiculous as far as James was concerned. They weren’t kids and they didn’t actually hate each other, or rather James didn’t actually hate Iris but he wasn’t sure whether the same was true for her. They had a habit of getting under each other’s skin but truth be told James liked that. They kept each other on their toes and he had tried to ignore the sparks that always seemed to fly between them but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to do that any longer, not since Iris kissed him that night after her OWLs. She had said that she had no idea what had happened that night so he hadn’t wanted to press her on it but he hadn’t felt a connection like the one he had felt with her with anyone else. He knew that he needed to put those thoughts out of his mind, she was a Carrow and he was a Potter so it was never going to happen, but that didn’t change the fact that he was attracted to her and the fact that they shouldn’t be together just added to that as far as he was concerned. He hadn’t told anyone about the kiss that night and he didn’t plan on doing so, he didn’t care what anyone might think but as far as he was concerned it was a private moment between them and even though Iris didn’t remember it, he knew that it was one that he would hold on to. “I hate to break it to you but your ego is much bigger than mine. At least I don’t walk around school thinking I’m better than most people.” Iris wasn’t actually as bad as a lot of Slytherins were but she didn’t seem like she was going to let him off easily so he knew that he wasn’t going to let her off lightly either. “I’m sure he would have been Head Boy if he hadn’t been off hunting horcruxes during his seventh year to take down Voldemort and his Death Eaters,” he countered. James knew that Iris’ dad was among them and he was one of the worst ones from what James had heard but somehow he had managed to avoid being sent to Azkaban. James wouldn’t be surprised if it had still been difficult for Iris’ parents after that even if they had deserved it though. As she asked what he knew about expectations, James rolled his eyes. “You think so? Do you know how many times a day I get asked if I’m going to drop out to go and deal with the Enlightened?” he asked. It always astounded him whenever he was asked that question and it really did come up a lot. It was like everyone expected him to deal with it because he was a Potter but he was still just a seventh year like so many of them. He wasn’t the horcrux that Voldemort hadn’t meant to make like his dad was and he hadn’t had a prophecy made about him tying his fate to that of another. He was just James but very few people seemed to see that these days.

It was easy to see right through the annoyance that Iris put into her voice when she said that they obviously weren’t children. Honestly James didn’t know why they had to be at each other’s throats all the time, there were times when it was thrilling but other things it was just tiresome and right now it was the latter. James had headed out to the pitch for some peace and quiet so he could clear his head not so he could end up in a verbal sparring match with Iris. It still seemed crazy to him that the reason why they didn’t get along was because of their last names, there were probably as many preconceived notions about the Carrow name as there were about the Potter name and that was something that James hated. He would much rather people just see him for who he was rather than for who his dad was and after a while a lot of the students at Hogwarts had started to see him for him instead but now so many seemed to be reverting back to their old ways. As Iris told him to see if she could keep up with her, James couldn’t help but laugh. “More like the other way around. Keeper might not be my position but seekers have to be fast so good luck trying to get them past me me,” he chuckled as he grabbed the quaffle, mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground. There was a small smile on James’ face as he took off after Iris in the direction of the goal posts, they had never been able to do something like this before and even though he didn’t doubt that the snarky comments would be sure to return once they were back on the ground once again, for now at least they could just be themselves and James felt like a weight had finally been lifted off his shoulders. “Give it your best shot,” he said, taking his position in front of the hoops before tossing the quaffle to her.

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW

From the moment James arrived at Hogwarts it had felt like all eyes were on him. He knew that he had it better than Albus at least, James was the firstborn and had all of the expectations that came with that but his brother had been sorted into Slytherin which made him different from the rest of them. James used to joke about Albus being sorted into Slytherin but he hadn’t thought that it would ever actually happen. He wasn’t as close to his brother as he was to Lily but James still loved him and that wasn’t going to change. Over the years things had started to settle down a bit and James had found some people who accepted him for who he was rather than who his dad was but now with everything that was going on with the Enlightened he could hear more people talking about whether he was going to follow in his dad’s footsteps and put a stop to all of this. James wanted the Enlightened to stop what they were doing as much as anyone else did but he knew that he wasn’t going to go running off after them. His dad had had a connection and insight into Voldemort that no one else ever had and there had been a prophecy made about the two of them so it had been his dad’s destiny to stop him. James wasn’t sure what he was meant to do just yet but he knew that running off after a group that even the Ministry and Guardians didn’t know anything about was only going to get him killed and he had no desire to do that. Instead he knew that he needed to stay at Hogwarts and finish his seventh year, then he could decide what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. There was a part of him that was thinking about staying on at the university but he hadn’t made his mind up just yet and he was glad that he still had time to do that.

For now James knew that all he could do was take it one day at a time and right now that meant having to deal with Iris. Just seeing her again was enough to make something stir inside of him but he quickly ignored it, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good to dwell on the kiss since she said she didn’t remember it and she seemed to hate him most of the time. “You’re delusional. You know that, right?” James asked, an eyebrow raised as he looked over at her. “You know it’s true just as much as I do,” he shrugged. His dad hadn’t returned to Hogwarts for his seventh year but James knew that if he had then he would have been named as Head Boy. He had done so much to protect Hogwarts and the wizarding world as a student and there wasn’t a doubt in James’ mind that he would have been given the honour for that. As it was he had decided not to return and years later James had been named as Head Boy instead. He knew that he hadn’t done anywhere near as much to earn the title as his dad had done but it was still an honour nonetheless. As Iris spoke again, James rolled his eyes. “Forget it, I don’t know why I ever thought you would understand,” he said, his voice low as he spoke. He didn’t know why he had thought that opening himself up to Iris like that was a good idea and it was a mistake he knew that he wasn’t going to end up making again, that was for sure.

With any luck he could at least forget all about what was going on for a while and throw himself into some quidditch practice instead. That was something that always helped James clear his mind and he definitely needed that right now. Kicking off from the ground, James felt a smile touch his lips as she said that he would be surprised by how fast her throws actually are. “Is that so? I think you’d better show me then,” he grinned as he tossed the quaffle to her and got into position. James knew that Keeper wasn’t his best position to play but he wasn’t too bad at it so with any luck it would be interesting at least. The smile on Iris’ face for a moment before she turned away was enough to surprise him, it seemed genuine and that was something that he wasn’t used to from her at all but if he was honest it just made her that much more beautiful as far as he was concerned. Studying Iris’ moves carefully, James realised which hoop she was going for and set off, catching the quaffle before it could soar through the hoop. “Not bad but you’ll have to do better than that,” he said, a smile touching his own lips as he threw the quaffle back to her. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were going easy on me.”

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW

James had known that things were going to change when he got to Hogwarts, for the most part his family had lived in a little bubble away from everything that his dad had done and while James was beyond proud of his dad and proud to be his son, he knew that he wanted to be known for more than just being Harry Potter’s son. It had taken him a while to find his feet at Hogwarts but he had made some really good friends and he knew that he would be lost without them. There were always going to be people who didn’t see him as anything more than a Potter but James had learned to tune those people out for the most part. Iris had always fallen into that category, given her dad’s involvement when the Death Eaters took control of Hogwarts it really was a miracle that he hadn’t ended up in Azkaban and James knew that it was only natural that he and Iris shouldn’t get along. That was how it was meant to be anyway but the kiss had changed things, for him at least. Iris didn’t remember it but it almost seemed burned into James’ mind and he couldn’t shake it no matter how much he might want to. It wasn’t his first kiss by any means but it was the first kiss where he had felt real sparks fly and it didn’t make any sense. Iris was infuriating at times, she was full of herself and abrasive a lot of the time and she always had a comeback for everything. She seemed to find herself in trouble a lot and when that happened James always somehow seemed to be in the vicinity but the night of the kiss he had given her a free pass and if he was honest he knew that he might do that again even if he wasn’t quite ready to accept why. “You keep telling yourself that,” he said, rolling his eyes as Iris said that she wasn’t delusional. She definitely had an ego even if she didn’t want to admit it. He really wasn’t sure why he had thought that opening up to Iris was a good idea and he was ready to try and forget all about it when she spoke up and James looked over at her in surprise. He had thought that Iris would understand but it was another thing to hear her say it out loud. “It is. I know the weight we each carry is different but that doesn’t make it any easier,” he admitted. “Our parents are who they are but that doesn’t mean that we have to be like them.” James knew that he and his dad were alike in a lot of respects but the expectations people had of him just because of what his dad had done were insane.

Offering to practice with Iris was something that James hadn’t thought about too much before doing but now he wasn’t too sure how it was going to go. Iris seemed to hate him most of the time because of who his dad was so he knew that her agreeing could just be a ploy to injure him somehow but he didn’t get that impression from her. He was starting to see a bit of a different side to the Iris Carrow he had thought he had known and this one didn’t seem so bad. “Luckily for me I’m immune to your charm so you’ll have to stick with blinding me with your speed instead,” James teased. It was a small lie of course, Iris was beautiful and he found himself thinking about her more often than he should when she wasn’t around but she was also Iris and he knew that nothing was ever going to happen so he knew that he needed to find a way to move on. “I’m sure it does but you’ll have to try harder with me,” he chuckled, an amused smile forming on his face as she said that she didn’t take it easy when quidditch was involved. “Let’s see what you’ve got then,” he challenged, watching her every movement as she went for another shot. This time he picked the right hoop to guard but the quaffle was just out of his reach and it sailed through the hoop. “Alright, I’ll give you that. That’s more like it,” he said, retrieving the quaffle before tossing it back to her. “Got another one in you?”

IRIS JESSAMINE CARROW