It had been entirely by chance that James had ended up in the potions classroom, delivering a letter to the professor from Uncle Neville. He had been causing trouble, as usual, with his cousin, Fred. They had been using their spades as swords and had knocked a couple of the magical potted plants off one of the tables.

Neville, not being one to get angry, decided to just shoo one of the trouble pair out of his classroom. He'd had a note to be delivered, anyway, and this seemed to be a good enough excuse for him to get James out of the greenhouse and away from anything or anyone that could cause potentially more damage.

James had decided to deliver the note leisurely and at his own pace. He had never been one to follow the rules, and so why should he now? It was simply because Neville was quite close to his family that he was delivering the note at all. If it had been any other professor, he would've tossed the note and gone about his own business.

First, he stopped in the study hall, where the most beautiful girl (in his year that he wasn't related to) sat reading her Transfiguration book. He slipped into the hall quietly and stole beside her, shoving some weasel out of the seat. She was a Hufflepuff and related to a famous writer in some way.

"Hello, Gina," James said with a coy smile, the note tucked safely in his pocket. He glanced at the professor who sat at a table near the end of the hall. James hadn't been noticed sneaking into the hall and it didn't seem the professor cared much when he had shoved the other boy out of his seat.

"Mister Potter," the raven-haired beauty said, looking up from her dreadfully dull book. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"I was drawn in by your incredible beauty, my love," James said with such a serious look on his face, one could barely tell he was joking. Finally, he cracked a smile. "C'mon, I'll sneak you out and we can skip class for the rest of the day."

"James," Gina said with a roll of her eyes. "Unlike you, I do hope to graduate this year. And Hufflepuff is actually in the running for the House Cup. I'm not going to compromise my entire house for a jaunt to Hogsmeade."

"Well, I was thinking just down the hall to the nearest broom cupboard, but..."

James was cut off when Gina promptly thwacked him with her heavy book. He cried out in exaggerated agony.

"Mister Potter!" the professor quickly realized there was someone in the study hall that did not belong, someone who was wily and would probably distract the entire class from studying if let be.

James cursed and pushed himself away from the table.

"Alas, it seems they want us apart, my love," James said with an impish grin on his face, dodging a spell aimed at him that would probably have him dragged back to the greenhouses. "Adieu, my pet, until we meet again I shall think of you every night."

"James Potter!" both Gina and the Professor shrieked and James quickly hightailed it out of there, amidst peals of laughter.

And so James trudged his way down through the dungeons towards the potions class. If only Fred had come with him, they could get into such mischief. Instead James knocked on the classroom door before entering.

"Note for you, Professor," he said, pulling the crumpled note out of his pocket. "From Professor Longbottom."

As the professor left his desk, James glanced around the classroom and realized he was in the middle of little Al's potions lesson. He grinned cheekily at his brother, which earned him a well-placed glare from Rose. James and Rose had a love-hate relationship. They loved each other because they were family. They hated each other because they were complete opposites. James was too full of tom-foolery and Rose studied far too much for James' liking. And she and that dreadful Molly always ruined his fun.

Realizing that some of the younger girls were staring, James shot them a wink and a dashing smile - the one he often practiced in front of a mirror.

"I can't believe we're related," he heard Rose whisper into Al's ear. He chuckled.

"Thank you, Mister Potter," the professor said as he took the note from James' outstretched hand. "You may leave now."

James nodded and turned, giving the ladies a bow with flourish. He grinned as Al ducked his head behind a book and Rose's hands turned into fists around her potion ladle.

And this was that fateful, chance encounter mentioned earlier. As James turned to leave the classroom, he caught sight of a blond boy at the back of the classroom nearest the door. He was gazing quite intently at James that it caused a shiver to run down James' back and he did not like feeling this way. In fact, he downright hated it. He couldn't decipher the look on the boy's face, only that he wouldn't stop staring.

Then James realized who it was that was staring. It was that pesky little Malfoy that was constantly pestering Albus. Al hated the little bugger and therefore James hated him too, if only because Albus constantly complained about him. He hadn't really met Malfoy, at least not properly. He'd passed him in the halls, tripped him when Al was around so that he would shut up about his Slytherin problem (though this usually only made it worse, since Al would tell James not to be so mean - the little tree-hugger.)

He glanced at Al and then proceeded towards the door. As he passed the bubbling cauldron of purple liquid, James knocked over an open bottle of mugwart into the pot. He hadn't looked up at the blackboard to see what the sixth year's had been working on, and if he had, he probably wouldn't have done such a stupid thing.

The potion promptly exploded.

Mugwart wasn't usually that volatile, but in this instance, both James and Malfoy had been covered with disgusting purple goo. At least it smelt like cinnamon and... well, mugwart - which smelt more like rotting grass than a bushel of roses.

"Ugh," James moaned, using his hands to wipe his face clean of the purple mess. Malfoy was glaring ferociously but James ignored it. Absent-mindedly, James licked his lips.

And that was when the lights seemed to flick off in James' mind and he collapsed to the floor.