[Open]Preparing for a new year..

[Penny Matthews]

Penny sat listening to James talk about how he might prefer a less 'stressful' job after he left school, though suggesting a Professor didnt seem all that 'stress free' to Penny, "A Professor? Like at horgwarts? Hello! you could end up in a war!- Not so peaceful" she smiled, even though she knew that the battle of Hogwarts was absolutely no laughing matter..

James them moved on to addressing why he wouldnt be good enough to be an auror, "I wouldn't be able to live up to him. I think he's rooting for Albus in that department..." Why did he have such a downer on himself?! Penny could see he was a great guy, why couldnt he? Gryffindors were supposed to be self assured, and feirce.. where was his fight!?

"Well thats just rubbish.. You would rock at that job!" she smiled, even though she had no idea whether James would be good at that choice of career or not, since they were separated by a year and she hense didnt share any classes with him. "Its all in the mind James. If you think youll fail, then you probably will.." she said wisely. "Its like asking someone out, if you act confident then the girl is so much more likely to go out with you than if your all timid and sounding like your not even sure whether you do want to ask said girl out.." she rambled innocently as she finished off her icecream.

"What made you want to be a jinx breaker... or a healer?"

"Well, theyre both all about working out a puzzle, assessing the symptoms and working out a course of treatments based on your knowledge.. I'd say it was a cookie-cutter Ravenclaw career.. I duno." she shrugged some with a happy smile before adding, "That and my dads a healer at St. Mungos, I shadowed him for acouple of days in the summer, it was soooo interesting! this one guy, came in and he'd managed to grow another head! Oh my god it was so funny! but then Dad had to assess which head was infact the real head, I mean, you dont want to take off the fake head right! yikes that would be bad.. And the fakey was really good at impersonating the real one..." Suddenly Penny became all too aware that she was rambling again.. "Um.. It was.. fun.." she mumbled, coupled with a small giggle.

[James Potter]

James shrugged. A professor was just one idea of his. As much as he wanted to be important, he knew it could never happen. So he just figured he could settle for a lame job. Although being a teacher didn't seem that lame.

"Well thats just rubbish.. You would rock at that job!"

He let out a snort of a laugh. Him, an auror? No way. Maybe he could... but he felt like there were more qualified wizards out there.

"Its all in the mind James. If you think you'll fail, then you probably will.. Its like asking someone out, if you act confident then the girl is so much more likely to go out with you than if you're all timid and sounding like your not even sure whether you do want to ask said girl out.."

Hearing her say those words completely confused him, yet enlightened him at the same time. James knew he was shy, that's just how he always was. Anyone would think all of the attention he got would make him confident and a bit of a jerk, but the opposite happened with him. When people approached him, they expected him to be someone spectacular. But he was just James: the fun loving, kind of shy, book reader. But what was so wrong with being himself? Sure those few adoring fans would be disappointed... but who cared? Penny liked him for who he was. At least he hoped. She wouldn't be hanging out with him if she didn't. But she wants a boy who can be confident and ask her out. James was no where near confident enough to do that. Well, he was the one to suggest ice cream. Maybe he's getting a start. James smiled to himself at the thought. Trying to divert the conversation back to something a bit less nerve wracking he had asked her about her choice for a job after Hogwarts.

""Well, they're both all about working out a puzzle, assessing the symptoms and working out a course of treatments based on your knowledge.. I'd say it was a cookie-cutter Ravenclaw career.. I duno. That and my dads a healer at St. Mungos, I shadowed him for acouple of days in the summer, it was soooo interesting! this one guy, came in and he'd managed to grow another head! Oh my god it was so funny! but then Dad had to assess which head was infact the real head, I mean, you dont want to take off the fake head right! yikes that would be bad.. And the fakey was really good at impersonating the real one... Um.. It was.. fun.."

James laughed brightly at her rambling, thinking it was rather cute. It was something they both tended to do at times. He could picture Penny being a healer, but more of a jinx breaker. "I think Jinx breaker sounds more fun," he said. "Though it would be quite a laugh seeing magical blunders daily... I couldn't imagine having two heads. I'd probably make faces at it all day. Or blow raspberries in its ear." He then noticed her shy away a bit, and smiled at her. James finished up his ice cream before saying, "You know, I hope I see you more this year at Hogwarts." He tried his best to sound confident, just like Penny suggested. His nervousness was caught in his throat, but he managed to push it away.

[Penny Matthews]

"I think Jinx breaker sounds more fun... Though it would be quite a laugh seeing magical blunders daily... I couldn't imagine having two heads. I'd probably make faces at it all day. Or blow raspberries in its ear."

Penny laughed, "Yeah, I'd probably just argue with it about something stupid.. like.. what to wear or something." she grinned at the image of her and Jame both with two heads, her having an argument and James blowing raspberries... She then shook it from her mind thinking it was getting abit strange..

"You know, I hope I see you more this year at Hogwarts."

Penny made a double take, quickly a bright smile spread across her lips, "Yeah.. me too" she grinned happily, kicking her legs out from the wall.. It would mean them both having to make a conscious effort to see each other, since they were in different houses and different years.. But Penny wouldn't mind making an effort, she just hoped that James would..

Suddenly she realised that she was just sitting there gazing at James with a stupid smile on her face. whoops. laughing alittle she hopped off of the wall, "Well, I suppose, I probably should go.." she smiled making gestures with her hands animatedly as she spoke...

[James Potter]

"Yeah.. me too" she said.

James grinned, glad that she agreed and wanted to see him too. It made him nervous though, because he knew he would have to come out of his comfort zone to talk with her more often. But he felt it was worth it. They stared at each other for a certain amount of time, and James was too dumb-founded to even pay attention.

Finally Penny spoke up and said, "Well, I suppose, I probably should go.."

"Uh," James blinked a few times, disappointed that she was going to leave. "All right then." He hopped off the wall with her and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well I guess I will see you in school?"

He fidgeted a bit more before he grabbed his newly purchased book from the wall where he had been sitting. The book was tucked under his arm as he looked up at her. James hoped that they really would run into each other while at school. The first day he hoped to find her at least in the Great Hall, or something. Penny wants a confident guy, and James would try his best to be a bit more outgoing.

[Penny Matthews]

"All right then."

He sounded a little dissapointed when Penny announced that she should be leaving.. It was really nice to just hang out with James, but at the same time.. she really did have other commitments to be attending to, and she was sure that James did too..

"Well I guess I will see you in school?"

Penny grinned, "Yep, make sure that you do alright?" she said, stepping up to him and kissing him on his cheek, "I'll see you James" she smiled sweetly, before turning and walking off down the street, silently jumping for joy...

[James Potter]

James nearly fainted when Penny boldly decided to give him a peck on the cheek. He could feel his cheeks and ears turn from pink, to red, to almost purple. She had such an affect on him, more than any other person has had. Well it really was hard to compare since no one else had ever kissed him or even come close enough to even try.

A few mumbled words somehow managed to escape his mouth. "Um... err... bye?" he said as she walked off. He stared at her, feeling slightly dizzy and abnormally sick. James really didn't want her to go, but he knew that she had to. He had his own things to do as well anyway. He sighed and turned on his heal, heading into the opposite direction. His new book swung at his sides; the book he had been so excited to get... but now he didn't even feel like reading it. Penny was the only thing on his mind. It was quite obvious too to passers-by considering the stupid lopsided grin on his face.

[ Closed. ]