Hanging Out and Drawing ((James Potter))

Slowly climbing the staircases, Zoe headed towards the Empty Classroom. It was raining again outside. So she was confided to the inside of Hogwarts, again. She hated when this happened. But at least she could still draw. Hopefully there would not be a crowd in the Empty classroom she like to spend time in.

Carefully she pushed open the door into the empty classroom. Zoe walked in. It was dark but that was ok. Like she had numerous times before, Zoe conjured a light to draw by. She sat at a nearby table and laid her drawing things out. Not paying much attention to anything around her.

James stared outside at the rain pouring against the windows and sighed. He was walking down the hallway and had no where to go. He was sick of just sitting in the Common Room all the time, because on rainy days that seemed like all anyone would do. He was wandering the halls when he decided to see if anyone was in the Empty Classroom. Maybe he could find someone to joke with, or at least just talk to.

He walked into the dark room to see a light and a girl sitting there drawing, which he recognized to be his cousin, Zoe. He knew that they didn't talk that much but he decided to see if she was up to company anyway. "Hey Zoe," he said as he walked up to where she was sitting and looked over her shoulder.

Zoe jumped a little when she heard someone call her name. She looked up from her drawing. It was her cousin. It was James. "Oh, hi." She said looking back down at her work. But soon found she couldn't continue. Not really sure why. Slowly Zoe looked back up and looked back at James. What was he doing in here? She wondered. Not to mention, what was he doing talking to her. He never talked to her. For that matter, most of her family steered clear of her.

"So what brings you in here?" Zoe finally decided to ask. She laid her pencil down and picked up a piece of chalk. Laying it back to the paper to shade an area over.

James pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. "I dunno, everyone's being really boring today. Thought maybe I'd find someone in here and I was right," he said. "I haven't talked to you in a while either." He shrugged and watched her shade in part of her drawing. She really was a great artist, he almost thought of telling her that, but she probably would think it was one of his stupid jokes or something. He really didn't know why he didn't talk to Zoe more. It seemed like lately James had drifted apart from a lot of his family members and he didn't really like it, family was important to him. Maybe this would be a chance to change things around, but he doubted she was would that. She seemed like already she didn't want him there.

Zoe nodded. Not really looking at James. "I know what you mean. It's this rain. Springtime brings it." Zoe stated. Boy did she sound like a smarty pants. After a couple of minutes of silence she laid the piece of chalk down. She turned back to James. "I'm sorry James. Just not been in the best of moods lately. Have had a lot on my mind. How are you doing? Haven't seen you around in ages." She said looking at James. Now that she thought of it. It had been a really long time since she had seen him last. Wonder why. She thought to herself.

James looked at Zoe and almost was relieved that she seemed to be okay with him there, though he was concerned that she said that she had been in a bad mood lately. "Not really bad at all actually. Well, I'm really behind on my assignments because well..you know how I am," he said wondering if she actually really did know him well enough to know that he was lazy. "Other than that nothing really. Life has actually been pretty boring. How about you? Is everything okay?" he added, hoping that maybe she would actually tell him why she had been in a bad mood lately.

"Between being out sick and dealing with my stupid sisters, nothing much." Zoe told him. She wondered if her mother had even told anyone that she was sick. She doubted it. The only people from her family that came to see her was her Dad and her twin brother, Louis. "I'm trying to catch up too. But they are pretty easy. Hate classes but still easy." She said shrugging.

James nodded. "I'm glad you're feeling better at least. No one told me you were sick even," he said, suddenly feeling a little bad. How was his own cousin sick but no one had even told him? Not like he could do much to help her anyway, but he hated finding out things after the fact. He paused for a moment, not really sure what else to say. He looked down at her drawing. "What are you drawing there?"

Zoe looked toward James. Then she laughed. "You know. For some reason that doesn't surprise me. Mother tries her best to ignore my very insistence. Guess by ignoring me being sick allows her to continue. Father came to visit and Louis of course. But no one else. So it's not a huge surprise that no one told you. No one else came to visit either. So don't feel bad." Zoe tired to be reassuring. She was use to everyone paying more attention to her sisters than she received. Nothing new there, not really. She shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her drawing. Picking up her pencil she went back to adding lines. "It's the classroom but not really what's inside. Haven't really made my mind up. Just doing the classroom. Might add more later." Zoe told James.

James studied the drawing and saw it now. "Well it's really good," he said. "Maybe you should add me to it!" he said stricking a ridiculous pose and then laughing and straightening up normally again. His face got a little serious again as he thought about the fact that he and none of his family he assumed, had gone to visit her when she was sick. Even though she said not to feel bad, he couldn't really help it. James was generally the light-hearted one in the family and he always loved his family no matter what. He was sure that if he had gone to visit her he would've been able to make her laugh, and that would have made James happy.