Title: The Rules of Rivals

Pairing: James Sirius Potter/OC (Phoebe Erickson)

Updated: 8/29/10

Words: 3501

Hey, guys. So, this chapter took a while too. I have a feeling that I probably will start taking an even longer (yes, I know, is that possible?) time update chapters due to the fact that school just started. I'm in an advanced program and I'm going to be having a ton of homework and projects this year. I have to read a classic book for a book report, and I was thinking Pride and Prejudice? Any thoughts on that?

Anyways, this chapter is split into so many sections...a lot happens. I tried fleshing out a few characters more and giving them more "screentime", so to speak. Included in this chapter are special bits with Brent, Kali, and Fred. Enjoy!

l felt like I should be in Azkaban right now.

I felt terrible about what I did. As in, stay-up-late-into-the-night-wishing-I-had-thought-before-I-acted terrible. Hearing him complain to his friends about what an awful day he had just made me snap. He had an awful day? What about me? Before I could even think about what I was doing, I had jinxed the stairs, with malicious contempt. Watching him slide, I had almost laughed. All the years of abuse...I guess I was just at my breaking point. But I knew that didn't excuse me, not in any way. I stood in shock, staring at Potter after he crumpled onto the ground. I felt like I was in a daze as I watched the teachers gather around his crumpled body. His friends crowded around the teachers, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

Professor McGonagell asked them who has jinxed the steps. I saw her eyes flit over to me before Potter's friends left the scene. Everyone seemed to finally be moving on, except for the group of Ravenclaws I was with. Thomas, Shayden, and Kali were standing around me, surprised with what I had done. I was surprised.

Professor McGonagell headed in my direction. I nodded blankly as she gave me detentions for the rest of the term on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Hagrid (starting at 7:00), hardly registering what she said in my trance. I deserved much worse. I cursed my temper when it came to Potter. He made me so freakin' angry. I couldn't stand to see the smirk he wore every time he teased someone or pulled off a prank. I couldn't stand the fact that he was obnoxiously right all of the time. I couldn't stand his stupid hair, his attitude, and his ability to get away with almost anything. I couldn't stand him.

But I still felt awful about what I did.

I didn't snap out of my daze until Kali finally spoke up in our dorm room. "Phoebe? Phoebe!" I jolted violently out of my daze and looked expectantly towards her.

"Yes?"

"Brent's looking for you. He's down in the common room."

I almost shuddered, but refrained. In the day's drama, I had nearly forgotten about Brent's request to talk to me. I felt goosebumps form on my arms at the thought of what Brent might say to me. I wished that we could avoid the whole "awkward confrontation" thing. I had a bad day, and I really didn't want to make it worse. I was super stressed, and I was already having trouble taking in everything that had happened in the past few hours. It was enough to give anyone a migraine.

i smiled grimly at Kali, who offered a comforting shrug. I breathed deeply and headed into the common room. I spotted Brent quickly enough. He was hunched over an assignment, working diligently. I desperately wished for an out, glancing around. Finding none, I sighed deeply and walked over to Brent, thinking up something to say while I did so. I sat on the couch next to him, and he looked up at me, a smile spreading over his face.

"Phoebe!" he greeted. I sucked in a breath and was about to make an excuse for what I had written in my diary, but Brent cut me off before I began to speak. "How are you?"

I paused, confused. "What? Oh, er, fine. I guess. You know. The usual."

I surveyed me thoughtfully. "You seemed quite a bit stressed today."

I laughed. "Yeah, you could say that."

He laughed with me. "Well, no one could blame you. I hate Potter too."

"I shouldn't have jinxed those steps. I didn't mean to, it just...well it just happened. He makes me so angry! I couldn't stand to hear him saying I deserved it...bloody bastard." He raised his eyebrow and I became quite flustered. "Not that I'm justifying what I did, because it was a rotten thing to do, of course. I'm just saying that I didn't think before I acted, and although I really should have, there was nothing I could do to stop myself. I was stressed and upset and-"

"Phoebe, shut up." I frowned. "I don't blame you. How many times have you ended up in the Hospital Wing because of him?"

"Er...I lost count a year back."

He grinned, and I couldn't help but notice the way his eyes seemed to brighten when he did so. I quickly shoved that thought to the back of my head, reminding myself that now was not the time and that this conversation could quickly become very unpleasant.

"Besides, he'll be fine. Who cares if people hate you for a while? They're arses. We're still your friends, and we always forgive you." I felt a warm feeling envelope my entire body and wondered briefly how I had ever gotten lucky enough to have such wonderful mates. "Unless you happen to murder someone, of course. That could turn ugly. However, I highly doubt that'll ever happen unless you go insane. But...we're here for you."

Bloody hell, why'd he have to get so sentimental? It was so sweet, and I was reminded of why I liked Brent in the first place. He always spoke from his heart.

Hesitantly, and not wishing to attack the subject directly, but knowing that things would be awkward if I let it go, I asked, "Is that all?"

"Er, no. Actually, I wanted to tell you that...Phoebe, I really like you too. Do you want to go out with me?"

It took a moment before I processed what he had said. "What?" I asked, confused. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

He looked at me, bemused. "Do you want me to repeat myself?"

"Er, no, that's fine. I heard you, I was just surprised." I felt my face heating up, and I suddenly blurted out, "Yes. Yes, that'd be lovely."

"Great." He leaned over, hesitated for a moment, asking, "Is this okay?" As my nod, he lightly brushed his lips against mine. "Er-see you later, right?"

"Um, yes?"

Did I sound too clueless? I smiled at him, trying not to look too pleased and wondering whether or not I was dreaming. This couldn't actually be happening, could it? Had the stress gotten to me? Was I crazy?

In the few moments I had spent worrying, Brent had packed up his things. With one smile at me, he walked away without saying another word. I didn't move for a minute, still somewhat shocked. Once everything had sunk in, and I realized that I was going out with the bloke I had a crush on for months, I rushed up the stairs to my dormitory. Kali had to be the first one to know.

The next morning, I felt much better going to breakfast. Sure, I still regretted what I had done to Potter, but I was probably going to end up sending him an apology note. Maybe. It's not like he had when he had put me in the Hospital Wing all those times, and I had been there for two weeks one time. He would probably be back in class today, knowing Madam Haltor. Broken bones and bruises were simple to heal. It was more difficult to deal with curses and poisons from magical animals. He'd be fine.

I walked down to breakfast with Shayden and my brother that morning, seeing as Kali was still buried under her sheets and pillows. Admittedly, we did go somewhat earlier. I was hoping that the Great Hall would be emptier.

Shayden and Thomas flirted all the way down to the first floor, much to my discomfort. Actually, mostly Shayden flirted. Thomas was slightly awkward around girls. He used to be much more so, back when all he knew was academics, but as girls had slowly shown more interest in him, he became a bit more comfortable with the attention. He had become more extroverted since he came to Hogwarts, and I felt proud of him, thinking how he used to very nearly be a hermit. As a child, there were days when he only came out of his room for meals. He had always been fascinated with experimenting and Science, a Muggle concept that I still didn't fully understand.

Anyways, we entered a relatively empty Great Hall. There were about twenty other students there, nearly half of them Ravenclaws. Only a few teachers had arrived as well. I breathed a silent breath of relief, not wanting to deal with the haters this early in the morning.

"I'm gonna grab a banana and be gone, I'll see you two later, alright?"

There weren't any bananas that morning, so I took an apple from the fruit tray instead. Changing my mind, I sat down to butter a couple pieces of toast. What? I was hungry. Worry and excitement can do wonders for your appetite. I was a nervous eater anyways. I was currently worried about what the general population of Hogwarts would be saying about me now, and, of course, that had me munching on my toast very fast. Did I mention that I didn't want to run into any haters today?

I left as quickly as possible, waving goodbye to my brother and friend, and had just walked out the door when I collided with someone and fell down. I rubbed my head and looked at the person. She had wavy golden hair left down today, held away from her face with an elaborate clip. Her pink lips were curled into a sneer, and her thick eyelashes glared down at me. She was none other than Remy Shore, Hufflepuff's current leading scorer.

Now, Remy Shore is an interesting person. I would honestly say she's rather like myself, although probably not quite as intelligent, not that I'm trying to sound pompous. I used to get along quite well with her-we were even friends at one point-but that was all before she started to like Potter. She has a mostly mild attitude and can be very friendly and tolerant. However, she can turn into a huge bitch when she thinks you deserve it. The fact that she was sneering at me was a bad omen.

"Hello, Phoebe." She spat out my name like it was a dirty word. "I heard what you did to James, and let me just say, I am stunned. You should be ashamed for endangering him like that. It's very immature behavior and I can't believe that you would do something so awful. What happened to the old, nicer Phoebe? She seems to have been replaced by a bitchier version. I don't think anything can justify what you did. It was a despicable, rotten thing, and you deserve twice the punishment you got."

With that, she walked off, leaving me staring after her, feeling my stomach clench painfully, because I knew that she was right.

I felt miserable all throughout my classes. I couldn't handle all of the glaring and scoffing. I knew people sneered at me when I walked past. I knew they laughed at my immaturity. I knew everything they did, and it only served to make things worse. For the first time in my life, I cursed my height, which I normally found helpful, but all it did now was make me stand out in a crowd. The only thing that kept me sane was the fact that I knew my friends had my back.

I had Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures that morning, both of which Brent didn't take, so we could avoid any awkward situations in which we only told a couple friends at a time that we were dating. I figured that our Transfiguration class would be a good time to inform our friends of our newly found romance, since everyone was in that class. I was hoping for as little weirdness as possible. Second day into school, and I already had plenty of drama in my life.

I skipped lunch, still avoiding the Great Hall. Kali couldn't go without lunch, but she ate quickly and joined me in an empty corridor on the sixth floor near the Transfiguration classroom. I hadn't been able to tell her about my relationship with Brent yet (she was sleeping when I got upstairs last night) , and was just opening my mouth to do so, but she interrupted me before I got a chance to speak.

"So, when were you planning on telling me about you and Brent?"

I resembled a fish out of water in the following moment.

"What? But...how? I thought...no, that's not right! What?"

"Brent told us at lunch."

"He needs to really think before he speaks, doesn't he?" I said, sighing.

"Yep, sure does."

"It only happened last night, when he wanted to talk to me."

"I figured. Interesting start to the year, eh?"

I groaned. "Ugh, tell me about it. I'm dreading the next time I see Potter. Thank Merlin it's going to be the weekend. I'll need time to cool down. The last two days have been nothing but torture. I don't know what I'm going to do. I feel awful, which is a problem in itself, because I feel awful about something I did to Potter, which is quite bothersome, because I know that the toerag wouldn't care if the same thing happened to me. It's so bloody awful!"

Kali smiled at me sweetly. "Honey, you'll figure things out. Everything will get back to normal soon. Don't worry. Besides, I'll be with you the entire way. After all, what are friends for?"

I found this speech similar to the one Brent had given me earlier, as I wondered once more how I had such amazing friends. I didn't deserve them. I was an awful person who landed people in the Hospital Wing after breaking their bones. They were sweet, kind, and the best friends anyone could ask for. I wondered how Brent could feel any desire to be with me. I wasn't half as good a person as he was.

I wasn't surprised when I involuntarily threw my arms around Kali in a huge hug. "Kali, you are the absolute best friend anyone could possibly wish for."

Transfiguration was a blur of suggestive eyebrow-raising, smirks, "Why didn't you tell me?"s, and "Get it on!"s . I found myself smiling and blushing, and in a generally happier mood after class. I felt generally thankful that we had Transfiguration by ourselves, just the Ravenclaws. It was nice to just be surrounded by friends. I found myself extremely grateful for their support. I left the classroom with a smile on my face, despite the load of homework that Professor Hollis had placed on us. Kali was right. Everything would be fine.

Well, it would have been, had I not run into a certain group of people.

Literally.

I walked straight into Fred Weasley, and we both dropped our books and angrily glared at the other person, the intensity of his glare increasing once he realized it was me, and the intensity of my glare decreasing as I became slightly timid about the inevitable fight. My guilt and embarrassment over what I had done to Potter far outweighed my anger for being knocked over. I knew that I wouldn't be able to fight whatever he threw at me, because he had every right to be furious with me. I briefly wondered how I would feel next time I saw Potter.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know what you do to people who upset you. Wouldn't want to cause anymore 'accidents', would we?"

His sarcasm cut me deep, and it frustrated me, knowing that his biting remark was merited. Still, I had to bite my lip to keep from making a rude remark aimed towards him. His best friend was in the hospital with broken bones because of me. I deserved anger. I deserved sarcasm. I deserved whatever he thought I did.

"I'm sorry," I muttered quietly, not knowing whether or not I should say anything at all. Whether it was my place. I felt incredibly insecure about everything I did now, especially in front of Fred Weasley.

"Sorry isn't good enough," he snapped coldly. His purposefully pushed my shoulder as he past, making me stumble to the side, nearly falling over again. I watched him walk down the hall, feeling incredibly horrible for what I had done to Potter but still feeling slightly like he had done worse things to me, and that he deserved it. That was the worst part.

The night, James Sirius Potter was released from the Hospital Wing at made a reappearance at dinner in the Great Hall. Everyone was crowding around him, their admiration for him showing on their faces. As I saw him soak up the attention, I felt bits of the anger I had felt last night when I jinxed the stairs return. He was a good-for-nothing toerag and he had once put me in the Hospital Wing with a broken back when he had cursed me after Potion's class. Of course, he had received numerous detentions, but I had too, so we were even.

He was practically glowing by the end of dinner, and I was glaring daggers at him. I hardly took notice of the fact that my group of friends was teasing Brent and I throughout dinner. The only time I really paid much attention to them was when Brent pulled me close to him and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek. I blushed and felt bad for not paying him more attention throughout the meal.

Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted everyone's dinner.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!" My head swiveled towards the Gryffindor table, where a bright red Howler was shouting at Potter, who looked rather pissed off. His mother's voice was the one yelling at him, her tone of voice rather pissed of as well. Ginny Potter was famous for having a fiery personality, and I was close to feeling like pity for Potter, seeing as he was likely to get quite the talking-to, even though I had done (admittedly) worse to him than he had done to me.

"YOUR FATHER AND I ARE EXTREMELY ANGRY WITH YOU! WE TRY TO TREAT YOU LIKE A RESPONSIBLE YOUNG ADULT, AND THEN YOU DO THINGS LIKE THIS! DO YOU THINK THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE? FAIR? NICE? WHAT GOOD CAME OUR OF IT? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED, JAMES! WHAT YOU DID WAS UNGENTLEMANLY, AND UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR! YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE THOUGHT HARD ABOUT WE SHOULD DO AS PUNISHMENT, AND WE SENT YOU A WRITTEN LETTER. THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS, AND WHEN YOU SEND AN APOLOGY, YOU BETTER MEAN IT!"

The hall was deadly silent for a few moments. My eyes were wide as saucers, wondering about Potter's punishment. It couldn't be...

"FUCK YOU, Erickson!"

Potter, who had been reading the letter his Mum had sent him, seemed to be getting very mad. He stood up abruptly, knocking his pumpkin juice over onto Fred's lap, and causing quite a spectacle. His face was even angrier than the time I had charmed his shoelaces to be tied to each other and he had tripped on his face.

He marched straight over to the Ravenclaw table and shoved the letter in my face, so close that I could barely make out the words.

...We invited the Ericksons over for dinner to talk about the problems between you and Phoebe Erickson...

I stared at the paper in shock, not paying any attention to what was happening around me. My parents and Potter's parents would be getting together Sunday night to discuss the "problems" between us. Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful.

... Next Chapter ...

... one person able to help me ...

... grow up ...

... I'm Silena Alterra ...

... you have a detention ...

... Potter, I'm sorry ...

Well, that was interesting. I realize that this chapter is very broken, and there's a lot of sections. Sorry if that bothers you. I like writing like that more. Fortunately, the next chapter's not like that, although I think my writing was influenced by Mockingjay (huge disappointment), so it's quite a bit more depressing. But we see some of Rose and a new little buddy. And what I'm pretty sure is the first scene with just Phoebe and James.

Please review!