Title: The Proof of Courage

Pairing: Frank Longbottom/Jamie Potter

"All right. Gather 'round. It's time for the drawing!"

Jamie Potter rolled her eyes. It was a Gryffindor House tradition-the Proof of Courage. Every Sunday morning, two garish hats (that she knew had been stolen from Headmaster Dumbledore) were held aloft by the seventh year prefects. One hat held one piece of paper for every Gryffindor student, bearing each student's full name. The second hat held slips of paper with daring feats on them. The first day of each school year, every student wrote down a single test of courage and submitted it into the second hat.

Like clockwork, every Sunday morning, a name and slip of paper with a dare were drawn. The named student only had until the end of the day to complete his or her task. Since each student had submitted their own name in pen and magic, failure to fulfill the requirements was ... Unpleasant.

"Just get it over with already," Jamie grumbled.

"I know! They're dragging it out forever today!" Sirius Black, her best friend, complained. "I hope it's me. I haven't been chosen since third year!"

Personally, as much as Jamie adored pranks, she hated this Proof of Courage tradition.

Her name had been chosen twice. The first time, when she was just a first year, she had to steal a book from the Restricted Section. Jamie ended up grabbing one that was cursed. She spent almost a month in the hospital wing recovering from a stabbing pain in her head that worsened whenever she moved.

Then, the last week of her second year, Jamie had had to be a Slytherin for the day. The magic of the blasted Proof of Courage had actually ReSorted her for just one day. So she wore the Slytherin uniform, ate at their table, sat with them in classes, and was forced to join them in their common room for the evening, as well as sleep in the girls' dormitories for a night.

The Slytherins had not been amused.

They hadn't killed her or dragged her to their Dark Lord, though. So, that was good, right?

The female prefect, Camellia Brown, pulled a piece of paper from the hat that held the names. "Jamie Potter!" she announced.

Jamie almost swore, she was so upset. But not only would that be unladylike, and greatly upsetting to her mother, it also wouldn't change anything. Why couldn't Sirius's name have been chosen? He actually liked this stupid tradition.

Frank Longbottom, the male prefect, pulled a slip of paper from his hat. He paled. "I'll just choose again, yeah?"

"That's against the rules!" Lily Evans said. "The hat won't let you pick again."

No matter how he tried, Frank's hand wouldn't go back in the hat he held. Jamie started to worry. What was so bad that he had reacted like that? None of the prefects had ever tried to redraw the daring feat in all the years she had been at Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry, Heiress Potter," Frank whispered.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Frankie," Sirius said. "It can't really be all that bad, can it?"

Sometimes Sirius's inability to notice what was really going on around him drove Jamie crazy. How could he be that thick? Of course it was bad! Frank wouldn't have reacted like he did otherwise. "What do I have to do by the end of the day?" Jamie asked. Worst case scenarios ran through her head.

The Proof of Courage test was worse than everything she thought.

"Confess your feelings to the person you love," Frank whispered.

"What?" she rasped. Pureblood witches did not confess. Pureblood wizards expressed interest in whom they liked, and then the pureblood witches got to accept or reject them—if their parents allowed them to have any input at all. And on top of that, she had been very careful to hide her real feelings. Not even her mother knew whom she had fallen in love with. "I can't ..."

"I'm so sorry," Frank said.

Jamie almost threw up in front of everyone in the common room. This could not possibly be happening to her!

Sirius nudged her with his elbow. "Maybe he won't mind, Jamie. Maybe he'll be happy to know how you feel about him."

"He's engaged," Jamie said, hands shaking. This couldn't be happening to her. It couldn't!

"What?" Sirius paled, like Frank had earlier. She wasn't surprised that he was shocked at her interest in an engaged wizard. That had to be the reason for his reaction, didn't it? In her defense, she had fallen in love with him before he got engaged.

Once again, Frank blanched and said, "I'm sorry, Heiress Potter."

The hats weren't as strict as the Goblet of Fire, but they would still wreak havoc with her magic, causing it to fluctuate and twist, as if she were still a child with no control. It would hamper her schoolwork. It would continue to worsen the longer she went without fulfilling the feat.

Jamie pushed herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around herself. "Worse case scenario, I start a blood feud. It can't get worse than that ... I think." She walked over to Frank.

Frank held out the paper, so she could see the words for herself. "I ..."

Without glancing at the slip of paper, Jamie set her hands on Frank's shoulders for balance. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. After pulling away she smiled sadly at him. "Alice is a lucky witch, Heir Longbottom."

He made a strangled sound in his throat. It was the only noise in the room. Frank grasped her elbow, so she couldn't back away without struggling. "You're going to bond with Sirius, Heiress Potter. Everyone knows that. No one ever doubted it," he whispered.

"No, I'm not." Was that why no one had ever asked her on a Courtship Date? They all just assumed she was in love with her best friend? "I love Sirius to death, but not like that," Jamie replied.

This time Sirius was the one who sounded like he was being strangled. Jamie was shocked. He wasn't really in love with her, was he? That would be devastating; she couldn't return those feelings.

"I need to speak with Alice first, to explain things, but if you'd allow it, I would love to take you to Hogsmeade next weekend."

Alice was sweet. She was one of Jamie's friends, though not the closest. It would break Alice's heart if Frank broke off their engagement. The three of them would be in the middle of a scandal. The gossip would be rampant. If everyone had really thought she was going to bond with Sirius, she could only imagine how twisted and deformed and cruel the story would become.

But when it came to things that really mattered to her, Jamie Potter had always been selfish.

"I'd love that."