#I’m not joking when I say I’ve never drawn Sirius that pretty | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

startanewdream · 4 years

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Do you know when there is something you are really happy of how it turned out but you also know that you'll never finish it? So a while ago I tried to write a fic about Harry realizing a little bit sooner that he fancied Ginny and Ginny not dating Dean at the beginning of HBP. All because, really, I wanted to give them more time together and allow Harry to be more of a teenager in love.

Well, I won't finish this, but it's too long to sit unread on my desktop, so I hope you enjoy those little moments of Hinny that could have been, with a strangely romantic Harry.

The moment that Ginny walks away from him, after telling she promised to meet her friends on the Hogwarts Express, Harry feels a strange twinge of annoyance. He watches her go, her long hair dancing behind her in a way that seems to reflect all the sunlight and he thinks he has become so used to her presence over the summer that he hadn’t stopped to think she usually did not hang out with him while at school.

He wishes he’d asked her sooner to sit with him.

It’s only when he is walking along the train with Neville and Luna, and he sees Cho Chang darting hurriedly into her compartment to avoid him, that he realizes this is not the first time he has wished he’d invited someone sooner. A shiver goes through his spine as he realizes the implications.

It’s not as if he feels for Ginny as he felt for Cho, he reasons silently. When he was near Cho, he was always nervous, like if there was a hole in his chest that was threatening to engulf him.

When he thinks of Ginny, he doesn’t feel nervous, he doesn’t feel like he is missing anything. If he thinks of Ginny in those last weeks of the summer, he remembers her being brighter than the summer sun. She is lively and fiery, and Harry had enjoyed her company, had shared her jokes, had made her laugh as much as she had made him laugh. After everything that happened – after Sirius – it had been nice to feel light and Ginny had helped him.

He feels peaceful and complete around her, which Harry tells himself it is perfectly reasonable. She is his friend after all, and if he considers Ron as his brother, then she would be like his sister, like Hermione.

Except now that Harry’s mind is grasping the effects of Ginny Weasley on his life, he realizes he doesn’t really think of her as his sister, no way. He remembers watching her imitating Fleur, her long red hair dancing around her in a way that seemed more entrancing than any veela power Harry ever met; he remembers when they got caught in the summer rain and the way her clothes were glued to her body and he had hastily looked away, feeling so embarrassed at how his stupid teenage body was reacting to that vision.

But now Harry doesn’t think it was just a normal teenage reaction. He thinks about how it would be if he were in the same situation with Hermione and the thought is unappealing just because he doesn’t really see her as anything but his friend.

It’s not the same with Ginny.

He thinks about her smile, about her long red hair, about the curves of her body he’d noticed even though he tried not to and about the freckles on her face that he was once strangely attempted to count.

He feels attracted to her.

That realization comes at the same moment that Ron enters their compartment and Harry feels suddenly guilty; Ron trusts him. He remembers hearing to Fred and George teasing her about her previous boyfriend and how her brothers are so protective of her; Ron would hate him if he knew Harry was –

What? Harry doesn’t know what he is feeling. Somehow this makes him feel less guilty. So he thinks Ginny is pretty. That’s reasonable, anyone with eyes could see she’s beautiful. So he misses her presence; that’s also fair, considering how much time they spent together over the summer.

That doesn’t mean anything, he tells himself when he attends the invitation of Slughorn and his heart skips when he sees that Ginny is already there.

It’s just a silly attraction, he insists, when his fists close after hearing Blaise Zabini commenting on how good-looking she is.

Oh, I'm screwed, he admits when Hermione is explaining how Amortentia works and Harry knows exactly whose perfume he is smelling in the potion.

-----------------

So he has a crush on Ginny Weasley.

That’s okay, Harry tells himself, I can manage it.

Except he is really horrible at pretending he doesn’t care for her. Harry knows this is stupid; it’s not like those feelings developed overnight, he probably was falling for her during the summer, but somehow realizing these feelings exist have made him flustered around her.

He nearly drools during trials when she flies perfectly and outflows all the competition, thinking that her flying is better than any dance he’d ever seen.

He sighs watching her play with her pigmy puff, and he looks around hoping that no one saw it.

Still, he can’t help but keep stealing glances at her in the Common Room, careful only to avoid Hermione’s increasingly knowing looks, and he realizes that maybe he should stop pretending he doesn’t have feelings for Ginny when he sees her talking to a boy from her year.

They could be just friends, for all Harry knows, but that’s when he understands that if he doesn’t do anything, someone will ask her out and eventually she will say yes.

He remembers how she teased a while ago that she was going out with Dean Thomas just to pest Ron and he feels suddenly happy that Dean is not on the Quidditch Team, that he doesn’t spend much time with her. He’d heard Dean and Seamus talking in low voices about her in their dormitory when Ron is not around, and he knows Dean still fancies her.

Sometimes Harry looks at Ginny and wonders what she would say if he asks her out. He remembers Hermione telling them that Ginny used to like him but she gave up on him ages ago. Indeed, now she treats him with so much friendship that Harry wonders if she will just be offended with his invitation. That fear burns inside him, but he cannot help himself from walking back with her from training – even if Ron’s there most of the time – and he doesn’t really think when he volunteers to help her with some spells for extra points in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Harry soon finds out it was a terrible wonderful idea to spend a few hours with her on Friday night, just the two of them, in a closed classroom. His heart is beating faster as he watches her dodge his spells and he knows it’s not adrenaline from the duel. It’s her, it’s always her.

She is strong, he realizes, when Ginny looks fiercely as she fights him, her eyes blazing with determination and she deflects spell after spell he throws in her direction. She is gorgeous, he notices shamelessly, when her face is red and sweaty from their duel, and she is beaming at him at the end of their duel.

‘You are amazing’, he says and if his eyes are shining he thinks it could be explained by the fact that she really was very good.

But what he can’t explain is how much the energy he was spending on their duel is still running through his vein, filling him with heat and desire for her, desire to do something, anything. He wonders what she would say if he suddenly acted in his urges and just kissed her – he wonders if she would hex him if he pushed her against the wall, and his lips captured hers, his body pressed against hers, feeling her curves, their hands desperate, hearing her moan into his kiss –

‘Thanks’, she says, breaking his imagination. Harry nods, avoiding looking at her. The images are still very clear in his head and he’s glad he’s wearing a cloak. It’s much easier to hide the effects of his imagination this way. ‘I thought you were going easy on me at first’.

It’s the teasing in her voice that makes Harry turns towards her and he almost regrets it. She is still breathing hard, sweat shining on her neck, and Harry’s eyes are drawn to her neckline and then lower seeing her chest going up and down and suddenly the room becomes even hotter.

It takes real effort to look her in the eyes.

‘I would never’, he promises. ‘You’d hex me if I did’.

She giggles and Harry pretends that innocent sound doesn’t fill his chest with longing.

‘Let’s go? I need a bath after this’, she says and Harry considers seriously that she has to know the effect her comment makes on him. His imagination has been working overtime lately.

‘I need too’, he whispers more to himself than her. He doubts she needs a cold shower as much as he does.

‘So’, she begins, as they walk back to the Gryffindor Tower. ‘Excited for tomorrow?’

‘What?’

‘Don’t tell me you forgot the first trip to Hogsmeade. I’ve been waiting for ages for a day-off’.

The thing is Harry hadn’t forgotten Hogsmeade. He couldn’t, not when ideas of taking a stroll with Ginny through the village were constant on his mind; he’d thought about it ever since they announced the date of the trip, but his – that one that always got him into trouble – had faltered him for once.

‘I just lost track of time’, he says, hoping to sound distracted. ‘Got any plans?’

‘None so far’, she replies, her voice sounding as distant as his.

Harry takes a deep breath and urges himself to be brave. If he can face a basilisk, he can do this.

‘You could come with me’, he says, and when she turns to look at him, Harry discovers that looking her directly in the eyes would probably be as mortal as a basilisk eye. ‘Us, I mean, me and Ron and Hermione’. Harry forces himself to smile calmly, even though his heart is beating painfully fast now. ‘You know, if you want our company’.

He glances briefly at her. Ginny is frowning slightly.

‘I don’t want to intrude’, she says finally. Harry is glad she is not rejecting the idea.

‘You wouldn’t’. He smiled as charmingly as he can. ‘Come on, it will be like summer over again, we can tease Ron and Hermione’.

She laughs. ‘I would never miss an opportunity to tease them’, she agrees, and Harry tries not to beam as she accepts joining him – them – for Hogsmeade.

But he beams later that night when he hears Dean grumbling to Seamus that he’d asked Ginny out for Hogsmeade and she answered that she already had other plans.

Plans. They have plans together.

---------------------

The trip to Hogsmeade is an utterly disappointment, with the bad weather and finding Mundungus Fletcher nicking Sirius’s stuff and the curse of Katie Bell. Not even Ginny’s presence is enough to save the day and Harry is left feeling miserable the whole weekend.

The meeting with Dumbledore helps to ease his tension – never mind that they are discussing Voldemort’s past – but it’s in the next morning that Harry feels hopeful again.

First, Hermione tells him of Slughorn’s Christmas party and Harry’s mind, already exceptionally good at creating scenarios involving him and Ginny (he’s been so creative lately that he thinks he could provide ideas for Fred and George’s Patented Daydream Charm), immediately wants this opportunity to ask Ginny out. And second, Hermione invites Ron to go with her, and Ron’s subsequently bliss is enough for Harry to feel that his best friend wouldn’t mind if he asks Ginny out.

Harry tries to say to himself that it’s still early – they’ve just entered November and the party is a month away, but an unforeseen complication arrives the moment that Harry asks Dean to join the team.

He’d thought that Dean would have given up on Ginny already, but from what he collects – and Harry is becoming really good at overhearing conversations -, Dean considered that Ginny denying his invitation was not because she already had a date, just because she was going with her brother. He sees Dean is more invested than ever, and when he gives her a very nice drawing of her face, Harry feels suddenly useless.

Dean can draw. What can Harry do? Sure, he flies well, but it’s not like he could impress Ginny with that when she probably flies better than him. And it’s not like being the Chosen One is a talent – it’s more of a burden, really, and Ginny already knows him enough to see he is not a hero.

He’s feeling really dismayed after the training and for once, when he realizes he and Ginny are alone in the changing room, he doesn’t feel excited.

‘Spit it out’, she says, standing in front of him with her arms crossed, as soon as the door closes after Ron.

‘What?’

‘What’s been bothering you’. She frows at him. ‘You’ve been quiet all training. You didn’t say anything when I called Ron a prat. You didn’t say anything when Ron punched Demelza and he really deserved a call. So tell me, what’s wrong?’

‘Do you ever feel like a failure?’

She blinks, clearly not expecting that question.

‘Hum. Yeah. I once opened a secret chamber, you know’.

‘That was Voldemort, not you’.

‘Well -’, she takes a step back, but she relaxes her arms. ‘But before it was his fault, it was mine. I only let him get to me because I was feeling so insecure’.

‘You were eleven’.

‘When you were eleven you were stopping You-Know-Who’, notes Ginny, rolling her eyes. ‘But what I meant is that I still question myself sometimes. And when I do, I remember that the last time I really doubted myself, I let someone control me’. Her gaze burns into his eyes and Harry thinks she never looked so fierce than now. ‘No fear will ever control me again’.

Oh, God, he feels so smitten by her.

‘Thanks’, he says instead of pulling her closer to him, which is everything his body screams for him to do. She smiles.

‘No problem, Captain. And you are not a failure. How could you be when you have me in the team?’

He laughs easily.

As they walk the grounds, Harry asks her in the most meaningless voice he can manage: ‘I saw Dean giving you a present early. You and him –‘

She sighs and Harry tries to understand if it’s a happy or sad sigh.

‘Yeah, he is – and that’s his words, not mine – courting me’.

She doesn’t sound pleased and Harry’s heart nearly bursts then, satisfied.

‘It was a nice drawing’, he says nonchalantly. She just nods. ‘What’s the problem?’

‘Really? We wouldn’t work out together’.

‘How do you know?’, asks Harry, but he is not really thinking about Dean.

‘Well, for starters, he uses the term courting’, she says, making Harry chuckle without meaning to. ‘It’s just – well, I had one relationship so I’m not an expert but – he is the kind of guy who runs to open doors and I am the kind of girl who likes to open doors for herself. We just wouldn’t click’.

‘Oh!’, Harry bits his lips but the question is his mind slips through his mouth anyway. ‘And what kind of guy am I?’

She stops to look at him. They are a few steps away from the Entrance Hall and Harry almost lost his track when he sees her illuminated by the light of the castle. It feels like a vision from the heavens.

‘The kind who would let a girl open the door if she were closer’, she says warmly, but before Harry can answer, she turns away from him, entering the castle.

--------------------

The minute the door closes on the changing room, Harry lets out a dismayed sigh. His plan was supposed to help Ron get his confidence again, to let himself back into that bliss that had accompanied him in the days after Hermione asked him out for Slughorn’s party. Now, he doesn’t even know if Ron and Hermione will remain friends.

When he leaves the changing room, there is a crowd, many of whom are congratulating him. He just nods without really listening and when someone pulls him away from the crowd, he reacts until he realizes it’s Ginny.

‘Come on’, she says and instead of taking the shortcut that every other Gryffindor is using, they use the normal stairs to go up. ‘What happened?’, Ginny asks, when the sound of the crowd vanishes behind them.

He tells the story in a low voice, not wanting to look at her as he recalls his plan, wondering now how he didn’t think Hermione would assume the worst –

‘It was a good plan’, Ginny mumbleswhen he finishes the story. They are in the seventh-floor corridor now, and she stops by a window, crossing her arms as she lays her back against the wall. The wind makes her hair flow like flames around her; this distracts Harry for a few seconds until he sighs.

‘It backfired completely’.

‘Well, yes, but only after the game’. She bits her lips, thoroughly. ‘But for your plan of helping Ron, it worked. He is a good keeper when he can keep his head in the right place’.

‘Yeah’. He sighs again, taking a step closer to her and looking at the window, trying to ignore how her scent of flowers threatens to overwhelm him. ‘Except now he is mad at Hermione and she is feeling hurt and –‘

‘They are bickering, Harry’, she notes. ‘That’s what they do’.

‘Yeah, but –‘, he remembers that day in the greenhouses. ‘- but for once they were closer to be over that phase, you know? They were going together to Slughorn’s party’.

‘They still will’, Ginny says calmly. ‘It’s just another fight for them. You could call it foreplay even’.

‘Ew, thanks for the image’, he complains, but there is a smile on his face that reveals his amusement. It’s easy to let her quiet words wash over him, drawing away the apprehension.

That’s Ginny’s power over him, he thinks. There is a lightness in her, something that makes him feel as if he had just eaten a chocolate after encountering a dementor, or as if he is as protected as if he just casted the Patronus Charm.

‘You know, I can’t still believe Hermione invited Ron’, she says almost absently.

When Harry thinks about it, he considers that maybe Hermione just lost the patience that Ron would ever ask her out; but right now, he feels envy for her courage, for her stepping over any fear and asking out someone who is one of her closest friends. If Hermione could do it, then he can too.

‘I take you are nervous about it?’, she asks, and Harry turns to her, confused to what she means. ‘About Ron and Hermione, you know, dating’.

Harry shrugs, trying to look nonchalant.

‘As long as I don’t have to see it’, he says. She raises her eyebrows, not believing his indifference. ‘Okay, I worry a bit. If they split up, I don’t know how things would be’.

‘No one knows. But that’s their problem, Harry, not yours’.

‘Our friendship –‘

‘- will survive’, she finishes for him.

‘How do you know?’

‘With the things you’ve faced together, you just can’t stop being friends’. She stares at him for a few seconds, then adds gently: ‘And they won’t ever leave you’.

He blinks, losing himself in the warm brown of her eyes, marvelous at how she always seems to read his mind. He wonders if there is more she can see through him.

If she knows how he feels for her.

‘And if they do split up, at least they will know. Not knowing is the worst sometimes’.

Harry agrees. Sometimes at night when he wonders how it would be Ginny’s reaction to him asking her out, he thinks that the agony of unknowing is worse than any rejection he could face.

‘So it’s good they have a date’, Ginny is saying, seeming to not notice any of Harry’s internal discussion. ‘Slughorn’s party looks nice’, she glances at him rather amusedly. ‘You would know if you had gone into any of his dinners’.

‘I wish I’d gone’, Harry says rather fervidly, thinking he’d enjoy that extra time with Ginny. Then he takes a deep breath. It doesn’t make sense to wish for more time and do nothing about it. ‘Are you going with someone?’

She blinks slowly.

‘Dean’s been giving me some hints he’d like to go with me, but, you know –‘

‘- you are not interested in being courted’, he remembers, with a smile that is calmer than he really feels. His heart is beating so loud in his chest that he wonders if she can hear it. ‘So if you don’t have any plans, would you like to come with me?’

The words are said so naturally that something inside him is almost applauding him, elated that he could really ask her without tumbling the words; he can still remember that Wangoballwime fiasco. But now, as time seems to stop as he waits for her answer, he thinks it’s obvious he would be better asking Ginny out.

Whatever he felt for Cho is in no way comparable to what he feels now.

Ginny is still looking at him, without blinking, and he thinks it’s the first time in a long time he sees her so quiet.

‘Just to be clear –‘, she begins, then she shakes her head. He sees her taking a short breath. ‘We could go together, yes’. There is a smile on her lips that doesn’t reach her eyes. ‘I imagine this way Romilda Vane and all those other girls will stop pestering you about’.

He could just nod. He could accept her perfect reasonable explanation for them going together to the party and that way there will be no chance of things being weird between them.

But for her, he is willing to take a chance.

‘They would, but that’s not because I am asking you’, he says, his voice low. 'I really -'

There is a high shriek on the end of the corridor. They turn around together to see the portrait of the Fat Lady opening and Hermione is leaving the Common Room. There is a cloud of birds around her head and as they watch, the birds suddenly fly directly to the Common Room; there is a scream of pain.

Harry and Ginny look at each other.

'I'll see Hermione', she says, just as Harry nods.

'I'll go check Ron', and they split.

--------------------

There are many things Harry could've foreseen, but Ron dating Lavender Brown is not one of them.

Things between Ron and Hermione are rocky, and as he plays the middle man between them, he finds out there is not much room for telling either of them that he has invited Ginny to go with him to Slughorn's party.

He supposes Ron wouldn't be mad at him, but he only supposes because his friend is always occupied with Lavender these days - or rather their mouths are. At least Harry feels any protectiveness of Ron would be rather hypocrite considering how much Harry has unfortunately seen his best friend snogging.

And Hermione looks so heartbroken and furious these days that he doesn't have the heart to tell her about his plans with Ginny.

He couldn't stop beaming if he told her and that's not very tactful.

Sometimes he feels like the worst friend – his best friends aren't talking to each other, Ron has lost himself in a relationship and Hermione is so upset – but the truth is that the idea of going on a date with Ginny fills his heart with glee and makes him want to sing.

And if Ginny mentioned to anyone that they will go together, Harry wouldn't know. He thinks not, because he doesn't hear anyone talking about it – and between Dean Thomas and Romilda Vane, he would've heard; even Ron would return to the surface to say something, he thinks.

It's just one of these things that somehow feels weird to announce after not announcing it immediately, so he considers that people will just notice when they go together.

And it's not like there is anything different between him and Ginny. She treats him as normal as before he'd asked her out, and if their eyes meet randomly through the day – and she smiles at him – it's still normal.

But he waits more anxiously than before to Slughorn's party, imagining candle lights and romantic songs, maybe a slow dance.

He can’t dance for his life, but for Ginny he thinks he could learn ballet.

Romilda Vane keeps hinting that she’d like to go to the party with him and Hermione advices that he should ask someone else so people can stop pestering him.

‘I have’, he says finally, and the smile is already in the corner of his mouth, as much as he wants to pretend it's no big deal. ‘I’m going with Ginny’.

His attempt at apathy is pathetic and even though Hermione has not been herself lately, she is still smart enough to see right past him.

‘Oh. Finally, then’.

Harry pretends to not understand.

‘Why are you keeping it a secret?’

They aren’t, not really, so Harry just shrugs. He has dealt with the effects that being related to him have caused before, and he doesn’t want for it to happen again - not so soon, not before he and Ginny even… What?

He doesn’t know what he is waiting to happen first, but, still, it seems important to wait.

‘You better tell…’, Hermione is suddenly quiet. ‘Well, you don’t want people to know second-hand’.

Harry sighs, but he nods in agreement. Hermione is probably right, as always.

‘For what matters, Harry, I’m happy for you. I hope things go well’. They exchange a short smile, before Hermione is serious again. ‘Now, I really think you need to be careful with love potions...’

Hermione’s advice - both about love potions and telling Ron – stays in Harry’s mind. He doesn’t get the chance to tell Ron that night – Ron’s too much occupied with Lavender to notice Harry – and he promises that he will tell Ron the next day, hoping his friend won’t notice that he is telling just hours before the party.

The next morning, he waits until Ron finishes his breakfast – his humour is always better when his stomach is full – before telling him bluntly just outside the Transfiguration classroom.

‘There’s something I need to tell you. Slughorn’s party tonight. I’m going with Ginny’.

The fact that Ron doesn’t immediately draw his wand encourages Harry.

‘Ginny? As in my sister Ginny?’

Harry nods in silence, careful not to give any provocative answer. Sarcasm has always been his best defence, but he doesn't think Ron would appreciate it right now.

‘As friends?’

‘Hmmm, not exactly, we - we will see’.

‘Oh’.

And then Ron stays silent, but Harry sees him throwing glances at Hermione for the first time in weeks and when Lavender approaches him, he looks less thrilled than before.

‘Don’t mess this up’, is all Ron says quietly to him, just before the class begins, and Harry wonders if Ron is sorry for all the things he has messed up with his own love life.

-----------------

The thing is Harry doesn’t get many moments in his life where he can feel like something has changed; well, at least not many good moments. When he found out he was a wizard is one. The first time he flew on a broomstick. When he and Ron saved Hermione and they became friends.

But he likes to think he’s in one of these moments now, as he watches Ginny coming down the stairs.

He knows she is beautiful and he knows he has been smitten with her for a while now, but still his heart skips a beat as he takes in her figure: the shining red hair, which instead of being in the usual practical ponytail is falling in delicate curls; the way her eyes are glinting, with a soft make-up that he rarely sees her wearing; and the dark green robes she wears, hightlighting her figure and showing her curves much more than the school robes.

'Hi', she says brightly, and Harry appreciates the fact that she doesn't comment on how he is blushing (he must be, his face seems to be on flames) or how he's staring open-mouthed at her. 'You look nice'.

Harry couldn't describe for his life the clothes he is wearing. He could be naked and he wouldn't notice it.

'You look amazing', he insists, and there is so much sincerity in her voice that a light pinkness arises in her face.

But all she says is: 'Shall we go?'

He nods quietly, and then he wonders if he should offer his hand - or his arm? His arm would be the respectable option, but if he took her hand, then -

Ginny decides it for him. As they walk through the portrait, in a gesture that seems more natural than breathing, she takes his hand.

Her hand is soft and warm and as their fingers interlace, it takes all of Harry's effort not to kiss her now and then, even before their date really begins.

'Who do you think Slughorn invited?', she asks, her voice casual.

Harry smiles to himself. Of course Ginny wouldn't let things get strange between them.

They talk normally as they descend the stairs to Slughorn's office, and Harry is feeling silly for all the times he has feared that something could go wrong this night. It's Ginny whom he is with.

So he talks with Slughorn and accepts being presented to anyone because with Ginny by his side, he thinks he can face anything. She makes funny comments – and Harry chokes more than once when she passes ironic comments with the most innocent face he's ever seen – and after a while he notes that even when the people they are talking to were originally interested in Harry, it's Ginny that draws the attention. She is so lively that he can't blame others for noticing it.

They talk and they laugh and they save Hermione from Cormac McLaggen.

''She'll come back in a minute, Cormac', Ginny says with a straight face when McLaggen asks them if they saw Hermione. 'Why don't you try these custard creams while you wait?, and she apparently takes a biscuit from the nearest tray, offering him one. 'Let's get some air, Harry?'

Harry nods with a smile, already awaiting. He and Ginny are already on the other side of the room when there is a sudden pop and they turn to watch a canary appearing in the middle of Slughorn's office, in the place McLaggen was.

They laugh together, but as his eyes meet hers, Harry feels the reason for his amusement changing.

Or maybe not. In any case it is Ginny that makes him happy.

But now instead of feeling joy for a prank, he feels a quiet warmth spreading through his body and when their laugh dies, the silence that fills them is not heavy; it's a silence that questions Harry and it's a silence that there is only one answer he could give.

His eyes drift to her lips for a brief second – they are pink and shiny and they look so soft – and when he looks at her again, there is a blazing look in her face that Harry wants to see forever.

Her hand is still connected with his – he realizes now that they never once broke apart during the party – so it's the easiest thing to pull her through a curtain, to a nice desert balcony and take a step closer to her.

For a moment, they stand together, looking at each other, then Harry presses his lips softly to hers.

The softness lasts two seconds as if neither believes the kiss is really happening. Then Ginny places her free hand on his neck and Harry holds her by the waist and then suddenly they are closer, their bodies together and their lips urgently. Her lips part and he can taste her - really feel the taste of the butterbeer she drank and the other flavor that is spicy and sweet and intoxicating that screams of Ginny. Her hand playing in his hair causes shivers that have nothing to do with the cold air of December.

A part of Harry wonders if maybe there are fireworks in the party, because he can hear them exploding, he can see all the colours even though his eyes are closed. He doesn't know where he is, what day it is,how long they've been kissing each other on that balcony; all he knows is that she is the only real thing in the world and he promises he won't ever stop kissing her –

Unfortunately Harry breaks this promise a second later. There is a distraction back in the room and the loud noise is enough to break them apart. Still, Harry doesn't really move, breathing hard – they hadn't stopped for something as silly as breathing –, his heart pumping fast in his chest, all his senses still concentrated on Ginny, until he recognises the voices.

Snape. Malfoy. Their voices break through his bubble of happiness and blissfulness.

His distress must be evident on his face, because Ginny takes a step back, with a knowing smile, and pulls him back to Slughorn's office.

He watches the discussion and when Snape and Malfoy are leaving, he hesitates, looking back at Ginny.

For one second his eyes drift to her lips – their lipstick is gone and he remembers his promise, wants to taste her again, wants to be lost in the feeling of having her in his arms –, but when their eyes meet, she unclasps their hands.

'Go', she says in a quiet voice. 'I'll come up with something'. When he still doesn't move, she smiles slightly. 'We'll have all winter holiday, Harry'.

It's that promise – and the ideas of being together with her for two weeks – that makes him leave her side for the night.

------------------

He doesn't meet Ginny again until the next morning, when he arrives to get the Floo for the Burrow.

Ginny smiles brightly at him. His body reacts as always – warmth spreads through every part, a grin comes to his face and his heart beats faster –, but it's a welcome feeling after all the worry he had been with Unbreakable Vows or whatever.

He will worry about it later; now his only concern is being with Ginny and –

His eyes fall on Ron, at her side. His best friend has his eyebrows raised, and he looks to Harry rather questioningly, but he stays strangely quiet. Then Lavender is there, kissing him as if Ron's going to war, rather than being away from her for two weeks, and Ginny rolls her eyes in disgust, but doesn't say anything.

'Happy Holidays, Harry, Ginny', he hears Hermione saying by his side, her eyes suddenly red and she enters the fireplace hurriedly.

Ginny scowls at this and throws an annoyed look at Ron – Harry sees her hand twitching to brag ger wand –, but she presses her lips firmly.

Harry feels like he's missing something.

'Hi', he begins tentatively, and Ginny turns to him with a softer expression.

'Hi. Ready to go?'

'Always. Ah - about the end of the party –'

Her smile falters for a short second.

'No harm done. I got back in time to save Hermione one last time from McLaggen, so everything worked out perfectly'.

Harry sighs.

'That is not how I imagined the night ending'.

'So you were imagining things?', she asks teasingly and Harry feels his cheek burning, but he nods, taking a careful step closer to her.

'I've been imagining them for a while now', he whispers, for once happy with all the kissing noise of Ron and Lavender behind them. There is a sparkle in Ginny's eyes now.

'Perhaps we can turn those imaginations into reality'.

He raises his hand, putting a lost strand of her hair behind her ear, and he thinks her smile is warmer than the fireplace in the room. He wonders if he'd dare kiss her now – there is certainly a challenge in her eyes – but before he can move, McGonagall is calling them for taking the Floo.

'Later then', whispers Ginny, winking at him, and Harry's heart beats faster.

------------------

The Christmas Holiday is anything but frosty for Harry, even though he has his fair share of stressful moments - werewolves, discussing Unbreakable Vows, unexpected visits from the Minister of Magic.

Still, if Harry had to summarize those two weeks in one word, he would say Ginny.

Not that anyone asks him about. There is some mutual agreement between Ron and Ginny, so no one knows they went out together to Slughorn's party just as Fred and George are left without knowing about Ron's new girlfriend and their activities.

That means no one – except Ron but he is turning a blind eye, albeit a slight judgemental blind eye – really understand why Harry is grinning through the holidays, why he always wakes up smiling, why he offers to help Ginny set the decorations, why he and Ginny tries to cook apple pie closed together in the kitchen (the pie ends up quite tasty if a little bit burnt).

Sometimes Harry thinks people should know – they can't be really keeping a secret from Fred and George, and Mrs. Weasley always seemed to know things –, but most of the time his thoughts are occupied somewhere else.

Or rather in someone else.

Harry is patient on the first day of the holidays. He lets Mrs. Weasley take care of him – complaining that he is still too thin, asking how things are in school – until he drops his things on Ron's bedroom and says something about needing to take some air. Ron is not convinced, but Harry can't really care right now. Thirty seconds after leaving Ron he is already out of the house; ten seconds later, Ginny is in his arms, her body pressed against his as they kiss under an apple tree in the garden.

It's hidden there, with only the moonlight as witness, and Harry loses himself gladly in the feeling of her lips, her hands in his neck, the softness of her skin as he finds an opening in her jumper and touches her back, marvelling at the fact that she trembles upon his touch.

It's a routine they will share for the next few days. Hidden stolen moments in the garden, in the attic (ignoring the sleeping ghoul there), their lips exploring each other, discovering the best angle to kiss, until they are both left gasping for air, their lips swollen from the kisses and with that smile that Harry feels like an outdoor for ‘hey, I’ve been snogging’.

Still, no one asks him anything and for once Harry prefers it that way. They will tell people later, it’s just that for now it’s good to keep a secret that has nothing to do with Dark Arts or Voldemort, and it’s good to avoid any teasing or older brother-talking or – as Ginny says with a shudder – Mrs. Weasley’s delightful approval.

Maybe people think they are just good friends. In fact, every time he can’t be alone with Ginny without arousing suspicion, they are together, talking and discussing anything. It’s not much different from what they did during summer holidays, but Harry now thoroughly appreciates how Ginny is a good company, how he can talk to her about any subject.

Well, almost any subject. She doesn’t ask what he found out following Malfoy and Snape on the night of Slughorn’s party, and Harry doesn’t want to share with her – not because he doesn’t trust her, but because telling her it would somehow involve in that mystery and it would be too close to the fact that he is the Chosen One, and when he is with her, he just wants to forget it and be a normal teenager.

She seems to understand it. That's the thing he most likes about her, more even than the physical things he feels when he is with her; she never presses him for anything.

They kiss under the mistletoe she has left on the porch (and Harry can't help but think it's really an improvement from his first kiss), they kiss in the kitchen when they happen to meet late in the night for a hot chocolate (that he can taste in her lips).

It's the best holiday Harry ever had.

--------------

The night before they return to Hogwarts, Ron asks Harry nervously:

'What's going on between you and Ginny? Are you going out?'

Harry hesitates for a second.

'I don't know', he answers truthfully, but now that Ron has asked, this uncertainty bothers him. Ron frowns, his disapproval evident, and Harry hurries to add: 'I'm not messing her around. I really like her'.

At this, Ron seems to relax a little.

'Just - just talk to her, ok? I don't want people saying that my sister - well - just decide what's going on with you two'.

Harry nods in silence.

He lays in his bed for a while, hearing Ron’s soft snores in the bed next to his, before he quietly slips out of the bed. He’s careful to avoid any of the steps that always seems to resonate in the house, and before he can lose his courage, he knocks on her door.

After five seconds that seem to last longer, she opens her door.

‘Harry?’, she asks, blinking and confused. Harry doesn’t think she was asleep, but she was obviously preparing to; she’s wearing a robe, her hair wet, and he sees her holding a towel that she was using to dry her hair. When she sees him staring, a faint blush comes to her face. ‘I take a shower when I can’t sleep’, she admits.

That’s not where Harry’s mind was. He must have kissed her a hundred times by now, must have seen her blushing and teasingly and confident and daring, but seeing her fresh from a shower, with her floral scent heavier in the air, the only thing he was considering is how much he wants her, how much he is falling for her.

‘Do you want to go out with me?’, asks Harry. She blinks, surprised, and looks around quickly.

‘Come on’, she says, pushing him inside her bedroom and closing the door.

Harry had never ever seen her room before, so he is distracted for a moment, taking in the small bedroom, her decoration. Then his eyes fall on the bed and he feels suddenly very hot.

He tries to ignore the flush creeping over his neck as he turns back to her, but he can’t really meet her eyes – Ginny always seemed to read him very well…

‘Why are you asking me out, Harry?’

That stops his creative mind that was still fixed on her bed.

‘Well - because I want to go out with you?’

‘I figured that out, you know, considering how much we’ve been snogging’, Ginny points out. ‘But that doesn’t answer my question’.

‘It’s just – Ron said -’, at this, Ginny furrows her brows and Harry considers that maybe Ron is in danger. ‘I just don’t want to seem like I’m taking advantage of you or –’

‘I believe I was having as much “advantage” as you’, she says with a grin that Harry can’t help but share too. Then he shakes his head.

‘I want to do things right’, he says firmly.

‘You mostly definitive are’, Ginny assures him, winking. ‘I just don’t know if you really want to date me’.

‘Of course I –’

‘I mean, we sort of never told anyone we were going together for Slughorn’s party and I thought you wanted to keep things private’. Harry bits his lips. She takes a step closer to him, grabbing his hand gently. ‘I know you don’t like getting attention and if we’ve dated, people would talk about. I can handle people – that’s why I learnt the Bat-Bogey Hex, but I thought you’d be stressed’.

Harry raises his free hand, touching her face, the wet locks of her copper hair.

‘I don’t like people talking about my life’, he whispers. ‘But for once people would talk about something that’s making me happier than I remember being in a while, so that would be a change. Still – if we could keep just between us – I just don’t want to seem like I’m ashamed of you or that I want to keep you a secret -’

She smiles.

‘Keeping this low was my idea as much as yours’, she remembers. ‘And we don’t need to keep it a secret forever, just, you know, until people find out. Until then –’, she approaches him, raising on her tiptoes to press her lips softly in this neck. The goosebumps erupt all over Harry. ‘– we can have some fun’.

#hinny #wip without progress #just sharing some nice moments #i like the words there #Harry feels really romantic when he is pining #and hinny is my otp #just words lots of words and feelings #for curiosity this would go until the end of the book #lots of snogging happy moments for them #some fights because now there would be time to discuss everything they don't discuss #but still they would be happy together

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absolutelyfizzing · 3 years

Text

potions class confessions (james potter x reader)

description - Reader is a potions natural and she gets paired up with James in class. While trying to make conversation they both let it slip that they might have a crush on each other. oops?

word count - about 1800

warning - Fluff!! avoidance and awkwardness, James being maybe a little shy ooc. Reader is a badass. House not specified but non Gryffindor is implied. Some negative self talk. There is also wolfstar!

MASTERLIST

Potions was by far your favorite class. The professor loved you and you had it with Gryffindor. This meant that you got to see him. James Potter. The golden boy of his year. You knew he was probably out of your league but you were pretty badass as well if you did say so yourself. You had top marks and were the seeker of Y/H. You were also widely liked, even though you weren't as loud or outspoken as the troublesome group of four in Gryffindor house. Your attention was drawn to your professor when he began to call out partners for the next couple weeks of the course. Your heart nearly stopped when he said you would be partners with none other than James Potter. Your heart picked up speed. You had a crush on the boy but you knew he was deeply infatuated with the beautiful Lily Evans of his own house. You knew better than to try to compete.

You looked over to where he sat with his friends and they were all giving him looks and shoving his shoulders. You thought they might be making fun of him for having to be partnered with you. You felt heat rise to your cheeks. He looked over and you made eye contact. Both of you looked away as quickly as possible and your cheeks darkened in color.

By the middle of class you had all migrated into your potion pairs and your assignment was to make a very simple healing potion that you could make in your sleep. It was more for practice than anything else. You hadn't spoken a word to James and he seemed unusually quiet. You had a suspicion that he didn't like you. He got pretty quiet whenever you were around and he sometimes would even leave the room when you entered. You didn't know why he didn't like you but you pressed on. And your crush persisted nonetheless.

"Quit staring at me, you're making me nervous." You mumbled as you began pouring in ingredients but you could feel his gaze on the side of your head.

You didn't look up when you heard him mutter a small, "Sorry." It was a short response and your heart sped up a bit at even the sound of his voice. Oh you were whipped and he wouldn't even talk to you.

"Do you wanna do this next part? You should participate if you want full marks on the assignment but I can keep going if you want me to." You offered, finally looking up at him. He was taller than you but his eyes were piercing. You held the spoon out a bit for him to take if he wanted and he smiled a bit at you before grabbing it. His hand brushing against yours had your heart fluttering and you thought you might just throw up. You both stared at the potion as James began to stir and he counted his rotations. When he got to 20 you threw something else in and he began to stir again, counting to 20 again. It was a bit tedious and ridiculously quiet.

"So, are you looking forward to the match tomorrow?" you tried to find a common discussion topic. He smiled a bit and took the spoon out of the cauldron. You looked to the clock and began the countdown of 5 minutes for the potion to sit before the next step.

"I'm very much looking forward to it. We are for sure gonna beat Y/H" he looked over at you slyly. You gasped dramatically.

"How dare you! I will have you know that I have caught the snitch in every match this year but one and that was because your beater hit me early in the game. I will be beating you tomorrow." You smirked. He looked at you with amusement in his eyes and he giggled a bit. He wasn't nearly as cocky alone as he was in large crowds.

"You're probably right. Our seeker is a bloody dud and it's unfair that we have to deal with him while Y/H has you, you're the best seeker Hogwarts has had in 50 years." He smiled at you, his volume matching yours, louder than your previous murmurs. You blushed under his gaze and under the praise that you hadn't expected. You thought he would tease you back instead of showering you with compliments.

"Flattery wont make me go easier on you, Potter. I'm still going to beat Gryffindor." you smiled., trying to bring the teasing back before the conversation got too serious and you revealed something you weren't supposed to. His eyes sparked at you and he smiled for a second longer before breaking your eye contact and chuckling.

"It was worth a try." He grinned, "You know, Remus was jealous I got to be your potions partner cause you're such a genius in potions and he's got to deal with stumble-y over there. " he nodded over to where you could see Remus trying to corral Sirius away from their cauldron as Sirius was a bit notorious for dropping things that happened to cause explosions. You laughed and blushed at the compliment.

"You do just fine on your own but thank you." You tried to calm your heart rate a bit. "Are they dating?" you questioned genuinely, still gazing at the duo across the room. You had seen them in the halls standing a bit close for friends and you thought you saw them holding hands once. James smiled like he was remembering something fondly and shakes his head.

"Not yet." he said simply. You quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly. "They've both got massive crushes on each other but refuse to see it. They'll figure it out eventually but for now its just endless flirting and it is downright exhausting." He said but all with a smile on his face, never an ounce of annoyance in his voice. "Have you had anyone catch your eye yet? I cant believe you aren't dating anyone." He continued to make conversation.

"I've thought about a few guys but the ones I like aren't the ones that like me." You tried to say lightly, avoiding eye contact with James. "But thats no big deal, I've got bigger things to worry about than who wants to take me to Hogsmeade next weekend or who's going to pick me up on the quidditch pitch when I've won that match tomorrow." You joked but James didn't really laugh.

"I want to." He looked at you before the timer you had set went off. Before you could say anything he started asking questions about what was next and you quickly threw the right ingredient in and stirred it three times. You raised your hand to call the professor over and while you were explaining your work you could feel James fidgeting behind you. The professor told you to sit tight the rest of class as you had finished early and you nodded at him before turning back to James.

"Are you pranking me or something?" You questioned lightly, already slightly upset that he would joke about something that you didn't want to joke about. You saw him look up into your eyes and furrow his eyebrows at you.

"No I'm not pranking you, why would you ask me that?" he asked, concern filled his voice. You looked down again and felt your heart pick up, your eyes stinging.

"Its just that I know that you have a think for Evans and I didn't know if you were kidding a second ago." you relied honestly. You felt a hand on yours before your pinkie was linked with his.

"I'm not pranking you. And I don't actually like Evans. I mean she's one of my best friends but me being in love with her was a rumor Sirius started as revenge for me telling Remus he liked him. I've.." He sighed a bit, "I've had a crush on you for a few years now actually." he looked sad. You moved so you were fully holding his hand and you squeezed.

"Look, if you're serious then I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you, I've liked you for a significant amount of time, I just don't want you to feel like you have to cause you pity me or something." you mumbled the last part. James looked at you inquisitively.

"Why would I pity you? As I've said you're the best seeker I've ever seen at Hogwarts and you can properly kick my ass in any class we happen to be in. And I promise I'm only half trying to get you to go easy on the match tomorrow." you smiled at the end and you chuckled a bit.

"Okay then, will you go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" You questioned, a bit more sure of yourself.

"Of course I will. I was also hoping I could steal a tie or two so I can properly represent when i'm at your matches. When you aren't actively crushing my team, that is." he smiled and your heart soared.

"I guess we will have to make a trade." you smiled and as soon as class let out you walked hand in hand into the corridor.

"Finally! Took you long enough, mate." you heard the voice of the raven haired boy behind you as he stood rather close to his not-yet-boyfriend. He pushed James a bit in the shoulder and held his hand out to Remus. Remus sighed and handed him a galleon.

"You couldn't have waited to make it official until the Hogsmeade trip? You've just cost me a galleon." he teased and you both laughed a bit.

"You should have let me in on the bet before hand and I could have kept it professional for another week." you smiled and James pushed you a bit from the side and you all laughed.

You looked over at him and his smile was so wide it made his eyes nearly close. You took a deep breath as you finished laughing and you started to pull him toward the dining hall where you were planning on getting dinner. His hand left yours and instead snaked up to you head so he could push your hair to press a kiss to the side of your head and you blushed deeply. You couldn’t have cared less when you heard a gagging sound behind you from the best friends of the man you hoped to be with for a longtime.

#james x reader #james potter #james potter imagine #james potter x reader #harry potter #harry potter imagine #hp imagine #hp fluff #fluff #imagine #james imagine #wolfstar #the marauders #marauders x reader #marauders imagine

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moonslove7 · 4 years

Note

Hi :3 Can I request a post Hogwarts (both married) reader cooking with no magic and running a bubble bath for professor Remus after he goes back home from his first day of teaching classes at Hogwarts.

Istg Professor Remus is my ultimate soft spot so yeah, just know I am blushing the entire time while writing this. Also Imma pretend you have like a family inherited cottage thing somewhere near hogwarts for this and remus doesnt like staying at hogwarts bc he would miss you also idk how to cook so you can just make up the food.

“(Y/n)! I’m home!”

The sound of your husband Remus announcing he had finally come home, you were in the kitchen, cooking dinner, the smell louring him into the kitchen while he held his briefcase and had his robes still on, he watched you for a second as you kept looking at the oven making sure nothing was being burnt and then you turned around and smiled at the handsome professor.

“Hey Rem, how was the first day?” You asked pressing your lips to his gently, he put his briefcase down on one of the chairs at the table, took your hands in his, your fingers interlocking as his smile matched yours. “It was pretty good surprisingly, it’s good to be home though.” He then pecked your lips with a kiss this time, making your smile grow, you let go of one of his hands to check up on the food.

“Here, let me help.” Remus mumbled and started to put all the ingredients you had chopped up into a pan, turning the stove on. “ Why don’t you go rest love? You’ve been at work all day.” You asked him, he shook his head ‘no’. “ I’m fine pup, I can help you finish making dinner and then we’ll both relax, you’ve been working too.” You never felt like what you did was an actual job, you helped people with divination, or sometimes they payed you to find out if someone they loved was cheating or liked them back, Remus knew how emotionally exhausting it could be, to him it was a real job.

“ You look so good in those robes by the way, I didn’t know you becoming a professor would somehow make you even more attractive but here we are,” You joked and giggled while Remus, said “Hey! Are you calling me not attractive ?” He started to walk slowly towards you to tickle your sides making your knees buckle, “No Sir, course not Sir,” You joked making Remus crack a smile and a giggle, he continued tickling you, “NO REMUS PLEASE- THE FOOD-” You tried to yell between the giggles until you were laying on the floor, Remus on his knees as he continued his torture.

“You’re a Menace (Mr/Mrs Lupin).” He said quietly but loud enough for you to hear, he stopped tickling you to kiss you, leaning down he brought his right hand to your face to hold you while he pushed his lips onto yours making you stop giggling and instead you sighed into the kiss, bringing your hands up to play with his messy dark brown hair, before he could deepen the kiss though you mumbled his name on his lips, getting him to lean back a little so you could speak without his lips smothering yours. “Food first, that can wait my love.” You said while standing up, leaving him pouting on his knees, he stood up following you, the pout now joined with his puppy eyes.

“Jesus Christ, people will think I married a man-child.” You sighed as you noticed his face, he smiled his pout dropping as you leaned in close to him, kissing him once more, “You love me though,” He said teasingly, going back to the stove to check on the food, you replied, “that is true, I love you very much Moony.” At your words Remus smiled while turning the stove off and took the plates out from the cupboard with you gathering the food up and placing it on the table, then putting it on the plates, Remus went to the fridge, opening it to retrieve wine he remembered you brought, he grabbed two glasses before sitting down next to you, he poured you a glass and then himself.

“Congrats on your first day.” You held the glass up to him, to do a toast as this job seemed the best one he had managed to find in a long time that complimented him in everyway, he had history there, unsealed wounds, and he was smart enough to be a professor any day. He brought his glass to yours making a clanging noise, you both took a sip of the wine and then started to dig into the food, unconsciously yours and Remus’s hands had found each other while you ate one handily, you both held hands the entire time.

When you had both finished Remus insisted on taking the plates to the sink to wash, you both were still drinking your wine, you got up with Remus anyway, “Hey, don’t look at me like that, I’ll put away the plates and cutlery while you wash them okay?” You asked while he looked a second away from pouting again. “Okay, deal.” After ten or so minutes everything was cleaned and put away, so you took Remus’s hands in yours and pulled him towards the bathroom, the Sun had began to set as you closed the bathroom door, and Remus closed the toilet seat to sit down on it.

“Thank Godric, I’ve been looking forward to this all day.” He says when you put the plug into the bath and began putting in relaxing bath salts and of course bubbles, turning the taps on you smiled at him as he just watched the water fill the bath. “I know Rem, that’s why I got you an extra treat.” You walked over to the cabinet that you kept the clean towels in to use and move the first towel to reveal two chocolate frogs you had managed to get during the day, you showed him the chocolate making him smile lovingly at you, “You didn’t have to do this pup, you really are too good for me.” He says while you put the frogs on the bath table at the very bottom of the bath, when the bubbles were made and the bath was full you turned the taps off and started to strip making Remus stand up and do the same. You also played a song on your phone, the one you had your first dance as a married couple to, Let’s Go Home Together by Ella Henderson and Tom Grennan.

Both standing there nude you went into the bath first, laying down and then opening your arms to invite him to join you, he stepped into the bath, grabbed the chocolate frogs and leaned back, you sat up, letting him rest his arms on your knees as he opened your chocolate and fed you it, you doing the same for him, you both closed your eyes enjoying being so close to each other while the song played quietly in the background.

‘you seem like someone I could pick a fight with, dance all night with,

Maybe you’ll like me the way I am,’

All of a sudden you felt Remus kiss your nose, then your cheeks, opening your eyes you saw the giant of a man looking at you with so much love in his eyes it made you melt, you violently kissed his face all over making him laugh.

‘Feels like I know you so well,

You could be everything

That I’ve been missing,

I’m coming out of my shell,

And I never do that,

How did you do that?

It feels like I’ve known you my whole life.’

You both looked at each other with pure love and affection, this song reminded you both of yourselves, how everyday you help him learn to very slowly love himself and believe maybe he is allowed to be loved the way you love him, and he helps you grow confident in yourself and realise you also deserved to be loved too, and you both always knew what the other needed without words, finding neither of you could properly relax anymore unless you were cuddling.

For Remus he fell in love with you instantly, he met you through the order, the first time you two met he would stumble over his words as he learned you had managed to predict some of the death eaters attacks saving a few people including fellow members of the order, you radiated such warmth and comfort as you talked to him about your life that night and he did the same leaving his little furry problem alone for now, he even saw Sirius grinning at the two of you, knowing you two instantly clicked and connected. He didn’t need a tarot deck to figure out you both were drawn and comforting to each other.

‘I’m never that good in a crowded room,

But everything stopped when I first saw you,

You seem like someone I could,

Be myself with,

No defences,

Maybe you like me the way I am,’

After Remus had told you about his condition, the full moon after that brought him to tears, because he didn’t expect you to stick around but you had gone above and beyond, helping him to his room, running a bath for him, massaging his shoulders and bandaging any wounds, you even made him some food and a quick drink, you would say it was nothing but to Remus it meant everything, to him it was a sign that you liked him just as he was, and he loved that a lot. It was probably at that moment he fell deeper than he thought possible in love with you.

I hope you enjoyed! Sorry it’s kinda short

#remus lupin #harry potter #remus j lupin #remus john lupin #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x you #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin x male reader #remus lupin fluff #moony x reader

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hxlyhead-harpies · 4 years

Text

Double Date (S.B.)

Requested: Yes “Why are you looking at me like that…?” and “It’s not a double date. We’re just third and fourth wheeling.”

Pairing: Sirius Black x Reader

Summary: (Y/n) and Sirius are third and fourth wheeling to the Yule Ball

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol and brief allusions to abuse

Your jaw was slack as you watched James Potter hop up on to the table and ask Lily to the Yule Ball in front of the entire Great Hall. Her cheeks were flaming red but she accepted anyway, giving him a tentative nod before pulling him down, his foot accidentally stepping on a plate of potatoes. You rolled your eyes at the exchange, finding James’s antics to be a tad bit annoying. It wasn’t that you disliked the boy, you just were not the type to be so cavalier and bold.

James slid into the seat beside Lily with a grin stretching from ear to ear. He leaned against his elbow, studying Lily with a far off look in his eyes. Even if you did find him a bit irritating, he adored Lily and that was the important part. Lily deserved to be adored.

“I told Padfoot you’d say yes this time, he swore you’d just turn me down again,” he said with a triumphant smile. Lily groaned and shoved his shoulder.

“If you pull a stunt like that again I might just change my mind,” she responded before shoveling a roll into her mouth. James’s grin only widened as she said this.

“Too late, you can’t get rid of me now,” he replied. At that moment, his best friend sauntered over and gave him a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.

“Congrats Prongs, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Sirius Black said with a smirk. James rolled his shoulder to rid it of Sirius’s palm before turning back to Lily and attempted to start a conversation with her. Sirius then decided to slide into the seat across from you and give you a confident grin. You suddenly became very interested in your dinner, refusing to meet his eyes.

You had complicated feelings towards Sirius Black. On one hand, he was incredibly attractive and enticing; his jaw-length hair and stormy grey eyes held a mysterious beauty that often distracted you in class. You found his boisterous laugh and alluring smile to be incredibly bewitching and you often blushed when his gaze fell on you. But his looks seemed to be where your attraction towards him ended.

He was loud and brash, a self-proclaimed jokester who always had to be the center of attention. You thought that he was too cocky and full of himself and you found his need to assert himself as a trouble maker to be unsavory. Not to mention his excessive flirting grated on your nerves. It was as if he knew how attractive you found him and thought it was entertaining to watch you flush. Lily often told you that there was more to him than your surface-level observations, but you didn’t exactly want to find out if she was right.

“And how about you?” he asked, his head cocked and his eyebrow raised. “Do you have a date to the ball?” he asked, leaning forward. You sighed and placed down your fork, and looked him in the eyes.

“No, I do not,” you answered, your words stern and clipped. Sirius hummed before reaching to grab a carrot from your plate. You slapped his hand away and sent him a glare which only led him to laugh. He leaned back and you could practically feel how he raked his eyes across your form, looking you up and down.

“So I was thinking,” he started, his voice smooth and even. But, unbeknownst to you, his hands were shaking slightly underneath the table. “How would you like to go to the ball with me?” he asked as if the answer was obvious. You rolled your eyes and hoped that you could hide how red your cheeks were.

“No thank you,” you replied without missing a beat. You couldn’t imagine having to spend an entire night with him, having to endure his quips and jokes. You imagined that he’d find a way to make the night about himself and embarrass you in front of your classmates. He was so confident that it was intimidating. You were usually incredibly shy, and people as extroverted as Sirius had a tendency to make you uncomfortable.

“Why not?” he prodded. You looked up at him and attempted to formulate some kind of excuse.

“I- because…” you sputtered, floundering as you tried to grasp for a reason.

“See, there’s no reason for you to say no,” he said triumphantly. You groaned and put your head in your hands.

“I just don’t want to,” you said, “I think that’s a good enough reason.” Sirius frowned slightly, but you had looked away and missed the look of genuine hurt that had flashed across his face. Lily leaned over and bumped your shoulder with her’s. She had apparently been tuned into your conversation.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if you went with him,” Lily suggested, causing your gaze to snap up to meet her’s.

“What?” you asked, bewildered. Lily was relatively attuned to your dislike towards him. You thought she would have been on your side. But you mentally cursed yourself when you remembered how you told her that you thought that he was handsome one night when you were drunk on firewhiskey. When you were frunk you had trouble keeping secrets. That night you had spilled all of your feelings about Sirius Black.

“You and Sirius could go together and come with me and James,” she suggested with a shrug, “It’d be like a double date.” You gaped at her before looking towards Sirius who had an obnoxious grin on his face.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” he told Lily. She met his comment with a sarcastic grin before turning back towards you. She gave you a slightly pleading look and you huffed.

“Fine,” you grumbled. Sirius’s smile only grew wider.

“I knew you’d succumb to my charm eventually,” he said.

“But,” you held your finger up to interrupt him, “It’s not a double date. We’re just third and fourth wheeling.” Sirius sighed before standing up from the table.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” he said jokingly before walking out of the Great Hall. James gave Lily a look before he took off after his friend. You turned back to your food before Lily slapped your shoulder.

“(Y/n)!” she practically screeched. You dropped your fork and rubbed your shoulder before you turned to give Lily a confused look.

“What was that for?” you cried. Lily rolled her eyes at you.

“He was practically begging you to go to the ball with him and you just shot him down,” she said exasperatedly. You gave her an incredulous look.

“He was not begging,” you emphasized, “And I don’t want to go with him.” Lily scoffed.

“Yes, he was! He looked like a wounded puppy when you first said no,” Lily said, pointedly ignoring your exasperated sigh, “And come on, we both know that you like him.” You shook your head.

“I absolutely do not like Sirius Black,” you stated.

“Really?” Lily asked with narrowed eyes, “Because that night after the Slytherin match you rambled on for nearly fifteen minutes about how much you liked him.” You felt your cheeks heat up and you looked away.

“I think that he’s good looking, it doesn’t mean I like him,” you said softly. Lily shook her head again.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this, but James told me that Sirius fancies you,” Lily revealed. Your eyes widened.

“No he doesn’t!” you insisted. Lily pressed her lips together and gave you a look.

“He flirts with you all the time and he’s constantly trying to impress you,” Lily said. You sputtered.

“He flirts with everyone!” you cried, “I doubt he has any real feelings towards me, I’m just another one of his conquests.” You thought back to all the stories you had heard about Sirius attempting to sweep your peers off of their feet.

“Even if you’re too oblivious to notice, he only flirts with you. And what conquests? All of those stories are just rumors,” Lily said. You mulled over her words. Was it possible that all of his flirting was genuine? All of the times that he had drawn an unnecessary amount of attention to you with his pranks or his disruptions, could those have been misguided attempts to impress you?

Across the castle, in the boy’s dormitory, Sirius was slumped against his bed with a dismayed look on his face. He had been trying to get your attention for months now and he had hoped that you would accept his invitation to the dance. He had thought that he had elicited some sort of reaction from you with his flirting, but now he was questioning if he had read the signals wrong. The way you had spoken to him that morning suggested that he really had the wrong idea.

“Hey, at least she kind of agreed,” James said with a grimace, hoping that his tone was at least a little reassuring. Sirius let out a groan.

“Barely,” he bemoaned.

“Maybe you’re going about this the wrong way,” James suggested. Sirius sat up and gave him a curious look.

“What do you mean? I’ll I’ve been trying to do for ages is impress her,” he said. James shrugged and sat at the edge of Sirius’s bed.

“She’s pretty shy, maybe she doesn’t like all of that flashy stuff,” he suggested. Sirius hummed and sat back. Maybe James was right.

A few days later you were sitting in transfiguration, waiting for class to start. Sirius made his way over to the desk and you internally braced yourself. Usually, when he came up to you he caused some sort of scene. It always attracted a ton of attention that you didn’t want. But this time Sirius seemed different. He was fidgeting with his hands and almost seemed, nervous? He stopped in front of your desk and ran a hand through his hair.

“Hey, (Y/n),” he said, timidly meeting your gaze. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“Hey Sirius,” you said, suspicion edging its way into your voice.

“What color is your dress?” he questioned, “In case you wanted me to match or something.” You blinked in slight surprise, not quite expecting the question.

“It’s pink,” you answered with a small smile. Sirius nodded before heading back to his seat.

“Thanks,” he called over his shoulder. You leaned back against your seat and tilted your head. Sirius usually never missed an opportunity to embarrass you.

In the weeks leading up to the ball, Sirius seemed… different. He still played pranks with his friends, but none of them ever involved you anymore. He also seemed to be somewhat softer towards you; he actually attempted to talk to you instead of his usual mindless flirting, he offered to help you with a charms essay, and he had even attempted to carry your book in between classes. It was surprisingly nice and you found yourself enjoying this new side of Sirius. It turns out that Lily was right, there was much more than meets the eye. He wasn’t the drama queen that you had always assumed. He was actually kind and nice, something you hadn’t exactly expected.

He was also surprisingly sensitive. One night in the common room you saw him flinch when play fighting with his friends. When the two of you were alone you asked him about it and he hesitantly told you about his troubles with his family. Suddenly everything about him made sense. He wasn’t just the pompous rich kid that you had always assumed he had been; he was just a boy who was hurt and wanted desperately to prove that he was different.

The night of the ball you sat with Lily in your dorm. You plaited her hair into a half-crown before you finished your own hair and makeup. Your makeup was light and glowy, sparkling softly in the light. You slipped on your gown which was a beautiful shade of blush pink. The sleeves were puffy and the skirt flared out at your waist. Lily slid up next to you at the mirror, her blue dress contrasting perfectly with her hair. She shot you a quick smile.

“You look so good,” she said affectionately.

“So do you,” you replied. Lily grabbed your hand and the two of you made your way towards the common room where your dates were waiting.

When James caught sight of Lily he looked as if he was going to pass out. His smile stretched impossibly wide as he reached his hand towards her. She took his hand and smiled at him softly before the two of them headed for the great hall. You watched the interaction with a smile, glad that Lily had found someone who admired her so deeply. You turned towards Sirius and shyly tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. You smiled softly at the pink tie he had around his neck. Your eyes finally reached his face and saw how he was looking at you. His eyes were blown and his lips were slightly parted as he took in your appearance. You took a step towards him which seemingly broke him from his trance.

“You look… wow,” he breathed out, causing you to giggle. You put your hands behind your back and swayed back and forth.

“You look nice too,” you replied. Sirius beamed at you before offering his arm.

The two of you stepped into the Great Hall and took in the beauty of the lights. The room looked gorgeous and the music that was playing was beautiful as well. Soon enough you and Sirius were dancing. Your skin seemed to burn under his touch, his fingers splayed across your waist. The two of you glided across the floor and he spun you under his arm. It was absolutely magical.

Eventually, a slower song began to play. You adjusted your arms so they were now draped over his shoulders and Sirius pulled you slightly closer to him. You breathed in his scent, firewood and cologne, and smiled to yourself. You were slowly coming to the realization that Lily was right, you did like Sirius. You looked up and caught his gaze. His eyes were soft, a certain vulnerability shining in them, and his cheeks were pink.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” you whispered, searching his face. Sirius stopped dancing and lifted his hand from your waist to brush away a stray strand of hair. You held your breath as he started to lean in closer. He paused mere centimeters from your face, seemingly asking you a question with his eyes. You answered by closing the distance.

Time seemed to stop as you kissed, your heart fluttering in your chest. Your knees went weak but all you could focus on was how his mouth felt against yours and how sweet he tasted. His hand was hot against your cheek and he smiled into the kiss as his nose bumped into yours. As he pulled back you felt yourself lean forward lightly, as if chasing his lips with your own, not wanting the moment to end. After he tore himself away he leaned his forehead against yours, smiling gently at you.

“I’ve wanted to do that for the longest time,” he said, sneaking a kiss to your cheek. You let out a breath and pulled him closer, resting your head on his chest. Maybe you hadn’t realized it before, but you had wanted this for a long time as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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imaginejamesandsirius · 4 years

Note

Titanic au? I need angst

((A/N: Warning for suicidal ideation in the beginning (in keeping with the movie), and some referenced period-typical homophobia. Also I’ve never seen the movie before so this is based on the synopsis I read and some gifsets. Therefore, scenes are almost certainly out of order. It’s a sort of open ending, so you can imagine it ends like the movie or they both make it out))

Over the course of his admittedly short life, Sirius had come to the conclusion that he was always going to be miserable. His parents didn't like him very much, but that was just the beginning of his issues. Granted, all the other issues stemmed from that, he was sure.

Like this. He was getting on a bloody boat and he hated boats. He didn't even know how to swim-- and sure, no one was going to be getting into this water because it was freezing, but that was beside the point. Or how about the part where he was being forced on this trip to go and meet his fiancé? A fiancé that he'd never met and had zero interest in. Sirius was of the mind that they should've been introduced, at the very least, before getting engaged, but his parents hadn't agreed.

He was on a boat that he didn't want to be on, on his way to an engagement he didn't want to be a part of, and part of a life that he didn't want to live.

They boarded the ship. Time passed. They were having a grand old party. Sirius was standing on the deck in a suit because he was supposed to have attended the party like a good son, but instead of attending, he was looking out on treacherous water. Without really meaning to, he went to the back of the ship and gripped the railing, leaning forward like he was going to pitch over the railing and into the ocean.

If he climbed on the outside of the railing, it would be so easy for him to lose his grip and fall. He'd be lost in the waves and terrified as his will to live suddenly flared, but he didn't know how to swim so it would be a short fight. No one could prove that he'd done it on purpose. He could just... stop existing, here, on this expensive boat where first class tickets had been a small fortune and third class tickets still cost a hefty sum. He'd be able to leave, and no one would be able to stop him. It wasn't like back home, where there would be an investigation and he'd get a big funeral; his body would be as fake in death as he'd been in life. He wouldn't have to marry some random woman that he cared nothing about, and that seemed preferable to him right now.

"Nice view," a deep voice commented.

Sirius jumped in surprise and turned to see who'd snuck up on him. He noticed right away that the man must be on here third class, and he hated himself for it being the first thing he saw.

But it was so obvious.

Not at the party, for one. No suit, for another. His clothes weren't cheap, but they certainly weren't expensive. Economical. Sirius had never owned an economical piece of clothing in his entire life; his parents wouldn't have allowed it.

"Though something tells me that it's not what you were enjoying."

Befuddled, Sirius glanced out at the ocean. "It looks like shite."

The man snorted, then started laughing. "Fair enough. I figured it was a better opening than asking if you were planning to jump, though."

"I wasn't going to jump," Sirius denied automatically.

"Sure you weren't. That's why you chose this part of the ship to stand at, where no one would catch you."

"You caught me,” Sirius couldn’t help but point out. It wasn’t a course of conversation he wanted to follow though, so he said, “Anything else to say now that you've ruined my time alone?"

The man looked at him for a long moment. "Just in case you had been thinking of jumping, I want to tell you that you shouldn't."

"What?"

"If I wake up one day and find out that you've jumped, I'm gonna jump to."

"Are you stupid?" Sirius asked, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could filter them.

"Generally, yes. But people who are suicidal aren't willing to kill other people too, that I've seen. So if you had been thinking about it, I want you to know that it wouldn't be just you that died."

Sirius stared at, dumbfounded. That was... "I wasn't going to jump," he muttered, pushing past him and heading back inside. Joining the party wasn't on the top of the list for things he wanted to do, but it was better than this.

"My name's James," the man called after him, before he got very far.

Sirius paused and turned to look at him.

"This is the part where you tell me your name."

Sirius started walking again. He wasn't going to see this bloke-- James, apparently-- again. Third class was in a completely different section of the ship from first class; he wouldn't have to see him for the rest of the trip.

"What do you do for a living?" Sirius asked.

"I'm an artist," James said, not bothering to ask about the suddenness of the question. It's not like Sirius had built up to it, after all. He had a habit of blurting out whatever he was thinking, no matter how rude it might be-- his parents hated it.

"Like oil paintings?"

James laughed. "That would make me far richer than I am. No, sketches mostly. Watercolours sometimes, but never on a ship," he said with a smirk. "And only a few, at that."

"If that's what you do, how did you afford a ticket?"

"Lottery," James admitted, with no shame. He was so comfortable with himself.

Sirius wondered what it would feel like to be that way. "What do you draw?"

"People. Flowers." James's smile went soft as he looked at Sirius. "Anything I find beautiful," he said, voice low so that no one would overhear.

Sirius's face flamed. No man had ever complimented him before, and he'd certainly never had the courage to do it to them.

"Not clothes though," he added casually, but he still kept his voice quiet. "Never did get the hang of those."

"I'd imagine that makes quite the portfolio," Sirius managed to reply. He cleared his throat. "Did you bring any with you?"

"I did, though I'm not sure how comfortable you would be with some of them."

"Would you describe them as racy?"

"I wouldn't. Some might, by simple virtue of me being a man."

"Despite what you might think of me, I don't think anything you've drawn would scare me away."

"I think a great many things about you, but it's been too short a time to know which ones are accurate."

"Pretty big gamble telling me what you draw, then." Sirius had never told anybody what he liked, after all. Though sometimes, he wondered what it would be like to find someone else like him. What they'd talk about. If they'd kiss, of if they’d just be friends who shared an interest.

"It wasn't a gamble at all," James said.

"You say that rather confidently. Everything's a gamble."

"When you have nothing to lose, I would argue it makes nothing a gamble. Like when I found you on the railing? You remember that?"

"When you said you'd jump if I did?"

James nodded. "It wasn't a gamble. I knew you wouldn't jump."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

Sirius hadn't known that for sure. James's confidence boosted his own, though. Maybe it truly hadn't been a gamble.

James was... alive. It felt stupid to think-- because of course he was alive, they all were, it's the only reason they'd been able to meet-- but he lived and he was happy about it. He took joy in living, and Sirius wasn't used to that. He said so, and James gave him a strange look. "Like... ever? You've never been happy to just exist?"

"I don't know."

"You've at least been happy before, right?"

Of course he had. He just couldn't think of an example.

"When was the last time you enjoyed yourself?" James asked, since it didn't look like any answer was forthcoming for his other question.

"I guess... when Regulus was around."

"Who's Regulus?"

"My brother. He got sick when I was- oh, maybe fourteen? Fifteen? Went in hospital and never came back out. My parents always liked him better," Sirius added without really meaning to. Then his mouth twisted. "I know. Poor little rich boy with his rich boy problems. Other people have it worse."

"I wasn't going to say that. Although it is true that somebody will always have it worse than you. You could be in the middle of getting tortured, and there would still probably be someone who had it worse than you. But that's not the point," James said, shaking himself.

"What's the point?"

"That being rich doesn't make you exempt from having problems. You lost your brother, and it sounds like your parents hate you. All being rich means is that you're not worried about having a place to live or something to eat on top of that. I have that problem sometimes, but you know, I don't even think of it as my big problem. You want to hear my big problem?" James asked with a grin, nudging him.

Sirius chuckled. He never knew how serious James was when he said things like that, but even if it was just a joke, it made him feel better. That was more than anyone else had done for him in a long time. "Sure. What's your big, bad problem?"

"Sometimes, I draw with the wrong pencil."

Sirius stared at him for a moment, but James kept his face straight. Sirius started laughing. "Really? How do you have a wrong pencil? Aren't they all for drawing?"

"Yeah, but there are different types. Some have hard graphite, some have soft."

"And what does that mean for your poor drawings?"

"Well, if I use the wrong pencil, sometimes it'll smear everywhere. Or it can make the subject appear much harsher than they are."

"Truly tragic."

"Isn't it?" James agreed mildly.

"You want to know my big rich people problem?"

"It's not going to be like losing your brother is it?"

"No, this one is definitely ridiculous."

James grinned. "Alright, tell me."

"There's a horribly expensive necklace that I'm supposed to give my fiance when I meet her."

"How horribly expensive?"

"I feel like it's more than the boat cost to make," Sirius said flatly. It might be an exaggeration, but it didn't feel like much of one.

"Sodding hell. That's..."

"Right?"

James nodded numbly.

"What's with all the automobiles?" James asked, looking out at the rows of them.

Sirius snorted, assuming it was a joke. Then he noticed that James looked confused. "Oh, er- they belong to the passengers. That one's ours," he said, pointing at one with gleaming black paint. "Pretty much everyone in first class is bringing their automobile with them." He knew, because it had been part of the ever-so-titillating conversation they'd had at lunch one day. "Some are just here for the ride so they can be sold once we reach land again. I think the crew might be transporting a few for the government."

"Rich people really are living in a different world than me," James said with a chuckle. He grabbed Sirius's hand and they headed down the stairs. As always, James's touch made his heart race. "If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?"

"My room, since anywhere else would have a high likelihood of housing my parents," Sirius snorted. His parents only went to his room when they were specifically trying to find him.

"No," James said, rolling his eyes. "I meant like, anywhere out in the world."

"We're surrounded by water," he reminded him.

"You're no fun at all. Use your imagination," James said. He let go of Sirius's hand and sat in one of the automobiles at the edge that didn't have doors. He mimed putting a cigar in his mouth and puffed. "Where to, sir?" he asked in a gruff voice meant to imitate a cabbie’s accent.

Sirius laughed and sat in the backseat. He hummed, thinking it over. Imagination... all he'd ever imagined was getting away; he'd never thought about where he would get away to. He leaned forward so his arms were resting on the back bench of the front seats. "To the sky," he said, thinking about the dozens of hours he'd spent looking at clouds and dreaming that he was flying among them, because anything had been better than walking on the dirt.

James glanced at him, grinning. "What's the point when you already have a star?" he asked, dropping the accent.

"Because we'd be there together," Sirius said under his breath.

They were close enough that James heard him. His smile widened tellingly, but he didn't say anything about it.

Sirius's parents were busy and would be for several hours, so Sirius didn't think twice about inviting James to his room so he could finally look at his pictures. Maybe it was silly, but Sirius had spent a lot of time thinking about those drawings and what they would look like. It was pretty much as described: pretty people and pretty things.

The people in his drawings were nude, but it was hardly pornographic. About half of them didn't have a full view of their- ahem, special place because of the way they were posed. Women... and men. There were quite a few of nature and buildings as well, but Sirius couldn't take his eyes off the portraits.

"Who are all of these people?"

"Some were models. Others were just people I met at parties and the like."

"You met people at parties and they volunteered to pose for you?" Sirius asked doubtfully.

"Well," James smirked, "they were French. Very different, that."

"I see," Sirius agreed, also smirking. He flipped through a few more. Was it his imagination, or could he see the love these had been done with? He'd never been a great admirer of art. He'd never understood it; it had never spoken to him. It had all seemed lifeless, but anything James did couldn't be confused as such. A person with that much love and light could never make art that didn't reflect it. Even the buildings he drew were love letters to architecture. "Would you ever draw me?" he asked.

"I don't think it would be the sort of portrait you're wanting."

"What makes you say that?"

"As you can see, and if you recall, I told you that I only do nudes."

"I know."

James looked over at him, hands frozen in place where he'd poised one drawing up to show Sirius.

Sirius met his gaze evenly, even as his cheeks pinked.

James's throat worked. It seemed like he was speechless, and Sirius didn't quite know what to make of that.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he mumbled after several seconds of silence.

"I didn't say that," James said immediately. "But I don't want you to do something you'd be uncomfortable with."

"Do I look uncomfortable?"

"You might once you're naked." He paused. "Have you ever been naked around someone before?"

"Does the doctor count?"

James raised his eyebrows. "Not even for sex?"

"Saying yes now would be lying on two fronts," Sirius said. To help distract himself from the deepening blush across his cheeks, he reached into his pocket. "This is that necklace I told you about."

James reached out and stabilized the jewel in the center. "It's beautiful."

"I was thinking... maybe I wear this. If you draw me. It'd be nice to think about it as something other than a symbol of the decay of my personal life."

James's eyes flitted away from the necklace and back up to Sirius. "You're serious about this."

He nodded.

"Alright," James said.

"Try not to use the wrong pencil on me. I want to look as pretty as all your French blokes."

"You'd look prettier than them no matter what I did," James said softly. "I'll lock the door, and you can... get comfortable."

"There's a party tonight in third class," James said. "You should come with me."

A party in third class. Sirius didn't even know what that would like, but refusing would make him more like the person his parents wanted him to be and less like he wanted to be. But, "I don't know why you'd want me to come with you." It's not like they'd be able to dance together, and that was the point of a party, wasn't it?

"You invited me for that stuffy dinner in first class. We might as well see how the other half lives, while we're at it."

"You're part of that half," Sirius pointed out. "You already know how they live."

"Then maybe it's something I think you should see. I think you'll have fun there; it's nothing like the dinner in first class was, or how you've described the parties you've been to."

Sirius worried at his lip for a moment. Then, "What should I wear?"

"Dress down a bit. More like me," James said. He got to his feet, putting a hand on Sirius's knee and squeezing as he did. The touch was mostly hidden by him moving, and it was fleeting; it still made Sirius's blood run hot. That was silly, wasn't it? James had seen him naked-- had drawn him naked-- and a touch on the knee was getting his blood pumping? They'd held hands; they'd talked as though they had a future together. Comparatively, a touch on he knee was nothing.

But it wasn’t nothing, and Sirius couldn’t even try to pretend otherwise.

And now they had a date to go to a party together. He didn't even have to worry about impressing him; all James had wanted was for Sirius to be himself. He still worried a bit for how it would go.

He didn't quite know how it had happened. They'd been laughing, and then Sirius had pulled him out of the main room, still laughing. He was pretty sure that he'd meant to ask if that’s what all parties were like for him, but then they'd been sharing the same breath, and there wasn't a damn thing that could've gotten Sirius to step away.

"We should go somewhere we won't get caught," Sirius managed to say when he got enough space from James's mouth-- not an easy feat.

"Your room?"

Sirius grimaced. "My parents have a key." He wasn't sure he had a key, but they definitely did. "They like to make sure I'm not getting up to trouble. Yours?"

"Third class," James reminded him. "It's not just my room; there's loads of other people there."

"Bugger. Wait, I've got it. C'mon," Sirius said, and started pulling him in the right direction. He was sure that it was obvious what they'd been doing, but most of the people in third class were still at the party, no other passenger would be down in this area, and there was nothing here that the crew would need.

"Where are we going?"

Sirius grinned. "The sky."

He loved the way that James's eyes lit with realisation without him having to say another word. James cared as much about him as he did about James, right? This was proof. It wasn't idle flirtation and animal attraction; it was something more than that.

They hurried down to where all the automobiles were, and not a one of them was locked because they were on the water. Sirius picked one that wasn't near the edge, and they tumbled into the backseat.

"I love you," James whispered against his neck, his hands on Sirius's back under his shirt and hot as a brand. Sirius was his, now. "I love you," he said again, when Sirius got a hand around his prick. His tone was worshipful and awed, like he couldn't believe the universe had let them find each other at the exact right moment.

Sirius could hardly believe it either, and he wasn't about to turn it away. "I love you too."

"Sirius, where are you going?" Orion screamed. He latched a hand around his son's upper arm to try and stop him from getting any further away from the lifeboat.

"I'm not leaving him!"

"He's going to die here!" They were yelling because they were angry, but the sound of everyone else panicking and the water and the boats was enough to make them have to speak louder anyways. "If you go after him, you'll die too. Even if you make it out of here alive, you'd be executed wherever you lived!"

"I'd rather die with him than live another second with you!" Sirius screamed, wrenching his arm out of his father's grip and running towards the lower decks where he knew James was. He didn't know how he was going to get him out of the handcuffs or where they'd try to go after he was free, but he couldn't just leave him there.

If you jump, I jump. James had said that it wasn't gamble back then, but this time it was. Sirius still believed it, though. He wasn't leaving this boat without James, and if that meant not leaving it at all, then he'd be okay with that.

#prongsfoot #marauders #james potter #sirius black #fanfic #filled #fusion #getting together #siriuslystarbucks #Anonymous

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sincerlypadfoot · 4 years

Text

Confert (2)

~After your family dies you take comfort in the only place you could think of, 12 Grimmauld place, leaving just you and Sirius alone in the house with the occasion drops of Remus whenever it was time of the full moon. Hardly knowing each other or talking you take comfort in each other, keeping each other sains for eleven years.

Word Count-2095

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I walked the halls of my new home, the home I had been living in for the past year, quiet and underestimating myself again.

“Good morning Master Stella,” Kreature greeted as I entered the kitchen. “I’ve prepared breakfast at Master Sirius request,” the whole room had smelt like eggs, which was my favorite.

“Thank you,” I nodded grabbing myself a plate from the cabinet and started piling food onto my plate, unknowing that I was being watched.

“Morning,” Sirius Black croaked reaching over and grabbing a plate for himself, copying my actions.

“Morning,” I smiled still feeling uneasy and unsure of how to feel about him. “Thanks,” I nodded at Kreature again, leaving the room, up the stairs to my bedroom that was fully decorated, almost looking like my bedroom from my home.

“Kreature has to go out today, would you like anything?” I watched Kreature walk out of a room and come face to face with me, walking into my room as I sat down on my bed.

“I think i’m good, thank you though,” I nodded my head leaning against the wall of my room and dug into my food, not one time in a year did Sirius and I ever eat together, talk about anything really or sat in the same room, unless Remus was here, forces us to be together.

“I’ll bring you back something Master Stella,” Kreatue nodded his head, walking out of the room, I smiled already loving Kreature, getting him to stop hissing at Remus whenever he’d come by, or howling at him whenever the full moon was near.

I ate in paice, placing my plate on the side of my table and laying down, using my wand to turn on the radio, ready to hear the names of the missing people today.

“How are you doing?” My head turned to my door, I looked at Remus who stood at my door with a smile.

“I’m fine, the same normal Stella that you’ve been friends with since hogwarts,” I shrugged my shoulder still laying down.

“Have you even thought of befriends Sirius?” Remus asked walking into the room, he sat down beside me, taking his shoes off and laid down.

“Not a chance,” I mumbled looking up at my roof. “What about him, all we say is good morning and the odd goodnights, I think that's good enough for me,”

Without looking at Remus I knew he had just rolled his eyes at my words. “I shouldn’t be surprised,” Remus chuckled shaking his head.

“What are you two doing?” Sirius asked standing at my doorway, both of our heads turned to look at the man.

“Talking about someone, wanna join,” Remus asked patting the space beside him, I looked shaking my head but Sirius was already walking over crawling into the bed.

“This is weird,” I mumbled pushing all the way over against the wall. “Remus how are you doing?”

“Those are the most words I had ever heard come out of your mouth Stella,” Sirius laughed copying Sirius and I, looking up at the roof. “I’ve never been in your room before,”

“And for a good reason, i’m a private person,” I aimed my voice at Remus who just let out a laugh.

“You know she fell down the stairs one night well you were sleep, for a piece of chocolate cake,”

“Remus!” I shouted sitting up and looking at him, his face curled a smirk.

“Sirius one time got stuck in the shower room with the glass doors because the doors jammed,”

“Remus what are you doing, I thought I was gonna die that die!” Sirius protested sitting up.

“I bet you both didn’t know that about each other, since they happened pretty recently, well you guys were in the same house,”

Sirius and I stayed silent, almost feeling quilt.

“What's your point?” I asked watching Remus sit up from the bed and crawl over Sirius, standing and looking at the two of us now.

“My point is,” Remus said crossing his arms. “You two have lived together for over a year, and don’t even know what you two do in this house,”

“That’s not true, how do you know I didn’t hear Stella fall down the stairs?” Sirius said sitting up and crossing his arms.

“Or I didn’t hear Sirius cry like a girl and pleaded for his life well locked in the shower,” I commented making Sirius shoot his head. “I didn’t for your information,”

“Because, i’ve known you both forever,” Remus picked up his bag he placed on the ground. “The full moon is coming up, I have to go but it was a nice talk,” Remus turned around on his heels, walking out of the room.

“DId you actually hear me in the shower?” Sirius asked turning his head towards me.

“No Sirius I didn’t, but if I did I wouldn’t have let you out,” I shook my head placing my hand on his shoulder and pushing myself up. “Nice talk,”

“Kreature as boughten Master Stella pumpkin pasties,” Kreature cheerfully said walking into my room, dropping his rare smile after seeing Sirius standing infront of me.

“Ohh my favorite,” Sirius joked leaning down and grabbing one of the many pumpkin pasties that Kreature had in a bag. “Nice talk, maybe we should do it again,” I watched as Sirius left the room munching on his food.

“I doubt it,” I whispered sitting back down on my bed and looking at Kreature. “You know me so well, thank you Kreature,”

“Your very welcome Master Stella, Kreature has things to do, he will see you later,” Kreature walked out, shutting my door behind him, I smiled turning on the the muggle telly that laid in my room and munched on my pumpkin pasties.

“Stella,” Sirius hissed walked into my room and shutting it behind him. “So, we’ve got ourselves a problem,”

“What did you do?”

“Why do you think I did something?”

“What happened Sirius?” I asked a bit annoyed placing my pasties down and standing up.

“I didn’t lock the door for Remus, and he’s kinda, erm,” Sirius paused rubbing his neck. “Roaming around the house,”

I placed my hand on forehead shaking my head. “And what are you going to do about it?”

“Well I don’t know Stella, I guess i’ll go out there and ask him polity to walk his werewolf ass back downstairs,” Sirius hands flew up in the air and I rolled my eyes.

“Sit down I guess, we’ll wait it out, Kreature can deal with the mess in the morning,” I hummed sitting back down on my bed, I aimed for the chair for Sirius but he had placed himself down on my bed taking a pastie out of the bag.

“Nice room, it smells like,” Sirius paused munching loudly in annoyance.

“Cinnamon apples, it’s my favorite,” I pointed to the candle I had burning on the other side of the room.

“Your room is colorful,” Sirius’ view was looking all around, his eyes bouncing from every wall of my room. “It’s creative,” he stepped off my bed walking over towards my walls. “You painted on my walls?”

I stuttered standing up and walked with Sirius, as he stood at the farest wall away looking at the painting.

“I can take them down, I was going to ask but,” I paused rubbing the back of my neck, Sirius’ fingers pressed against the walls, a slight smile appeared on his face.

“It’s your room, you don’t have to ask,” His fingers ran along the lines, the pictures, the people I had drawn on my wall. “Who’s this?” Sirius placed his fingers on two people smiling with a little girl in between them.

“My parents,”

“That’s Remus,” His fingers pointed to a werewolf howling at the sky. “And this one,”

“That’s you,” I lowly whispered a bit embarrassed.

“My nose isn’t that big,” Sirius turned around looking at me with a smile on his face and his hand on his nose.

“That’s what you think,” I smiled turning around and walking back to my bed. “I think if the coast is clear you could probably make it back to your room,”

“What if I don’t wanna go back to my room?”

I turned around and looked at Sirius confused. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing, nothing Stella, if Remus killed me, tell him he can have the telly,” Sirius walked out of the room, I thought about his words for a moment, realized what he meant.

I swung my door open. “Sirius wait,” I called out, the boy stopped and turned around to face me. “I have a kings size bed, i’m sure if you don’t wanna be along tonight, I could use the company,”

Sirius turned around and faced me with a smile, I stepped out of my room and just looked at him.

“Behind you!” Sirius shouted, I quickly spun around looking at Remus who walked up the stairs growling. “Get down!” I dropped to the floor as Sirius let of a spell.

I stood up quickly grabbed Sirius as he walked towards me and pushing him into the room.

“I don’t think we’re leaving this room for a while,” Sirius whispered out of breath and leaning against the door out of breath.

“Do you think he’ll try and come in here?” I whispered scared.

“No, he usual minds his business, but I’m not sure we could leave without him seeing us, his senses are wacky,”

“I know,” I whispered back leaning off the wall and dropping down to the floor at my bed and pulling out a little shoe box.

“What are you doing?” Sirius asked standing behind me, I grabbed the box and stood up quickly.

“Candy, it’s a secret stash for something like this,” I opened the box revealing candy and small bags of muggle chips.

“You really have everything in this room don’t you?” Sirius asked sitting down on my bed, I sat down as well tossing him a bag of chips.

“I guess so, when I left my house a year ago I panicked and tossed almost everything I owned into my bag, it’s where most of this stuff came from,” I shrugging my shoulder opening up a candy bar.

“I can’t believe that we’ve lived together for a year,” Sirius said in disbelief, he laid back on my pile of pillow munching on his chips.

“I know,” I tossed the shoebox in the middle of the bed and laid just feet away from Sirius. “I totally heard you screaming like a girl, just letting you know,” I chuckled tossing my hands behind my head.

“And I heard you fall down the stairs, I hear you ever night sneaking downstairs for something to eat,” Sirius said back making me smile.

“What can a girl do, I get hungry when I can’t sleep,” I joked looking up at my roof. “I think i’m gonna close my eyes for a bit, it’s getting pretty late,”

“I think so too,” Sirius let out a yawn sitting up and closing up the shoe box and placed them down on the ground. “Goodnight Stella,”

“Goodnight Sirius,” I whispered crawling underneath my blankets and turning to face away from Sirius. I waved my hand in the air letting all the lights in the room shut off.

“Have a good sleep,” Sirius whispered back.

“You as well,”

“Are you actually going to sleep?”

I sat up and faced Sirius who was looking at me, laying outside of the blankets with his eyes opened.

“Not if you aren’t, that would be weird wouldn’t it?” I asked looking at Sirius who looked tired.

“I wasn’t thinking about it, I mean if you wanna go to sleep you can, I won’t force you to stay away,” Sirius said shrugging his shoulder, I watched as he fought his eyes to stay open.

“Sirius, I don’t know what your problem is right now but your clearly tired, what's wrong?” I asked completely sitting up, the only light source in the room was the moonlight coming from the far window.

“I just ugh,” Sirius paused rubbing the back of his night. “I have nightmares, and I don’t want to both you with them,”

“Everyone as nightmares Sirius, I have nightmares too, you don’t have to be embarrassed,” I grabbed his hand and smiled. “Go to sleep Sirius, i’ll be here,”

Sirius sat up and looked at me, his eyes flashed and my whole body feel numb as we both just looked at each other.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Sirius joked smirking.

“You started looking at me like that first,” I shot back still holding his hand not relixing until I stopped my sentence.

“We should go to sleep,” Sirius said letting go of my hand and moving so he was under the blankets, almost touching the wall.

“Yeah I think your right,” I whispered doing the same, I again, turned my body back to face the door, thinking about the look in Sirius’ eyes and Remus.

#sirius black #sirius x y/n #sirius imagine #siriusblack x reader #Siriusblack #sirius black x y/n #sirius black x you

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halothenthehorns · 4 years

Text

THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN

James kind of got the worst chapter on this, again, didn't he?

HPHPHP

James began, feeling like ice was trying to freeze him over. He really didn't want this chapter, but he also was dying to know what on earth had happened to his son down there. Steeling himself, he forced out.

Harry found himself in yet another long chamber, with the ceiling so high up he couldn't even make it out, and no light source visible though everything had a green tint to it. Stationed and spaced around the room were stone carvings of snakes larger then Harry, all seeming to watch him walk. Which only reminded him of where the Basilisk could be.

"The Basilisk still isn't my biggest concern right now," Remus grumbled, "I want to know who dragged Ginny down there, who's been doing this stuff all year!"

Harry just looked at him miserably, as hungry for those answers as any of them.

Still, his biggest concern was, where was Ginny?

Then he nodded to himself, this question was still number one to him. Despite his gut feeling that Ginny was okay, in this particular moment anyway, he still had no idea what to make of that other memory flash, he desperately wanted to hear the book confirm this.

Still walking along as quietly as possible, he tried to ignore the paranoid feeling that the frozen snakes were watching him, and a few times the shadows made it seem as if they were moving.

"Creepy," Sirius said, drawing the word out for emphasis.

The end began creeping into sight, and Harry found himself facing a huge wall that climbed high above his head.

James bleakley remembered just a few hours ago when he'd made a joking comment that he hoped Harry found this place. It was something new, a part of the school's history that hardly

anybody would have known about. He'd wanted his son to find something like that, now he just wanted to drag him out of there as fast as possible.

Harry had to tip his head all the way back to make out the person etched into the stone, whose features seemed monkeyish.

All three boys couldn't help but release a snort of mirth at the beginning of that description. All five of them had a very good guess that this statue was of Salazar Slytherin, and the three boys were picturing someone walking up and calling him a monkey to his face.

The dry humour only lasted for a moment, but it was appreciated nonetheless in the tense silence. As much as they were all praying Harry would simply find Ginny and get out of there without running into anything, if history had taught them anything so far, Harry's life wasn't going to be that easy.

Laying facedown at the foot of this, was a small body with bright red hair.

"Ginny," they all breathed, Harry in relief, the others with trepidation.

So Harry had found Ginny like they were hoping, but the fact that she was face down meant absolutely nothing good. Could Harry's gut reactions finally be wrong, and the poor girl was

already dead? James wasn't going to sit around speculating, he blasted on.

Harry ran forward without thinking, throwing his wand away in a panic,

"You did what!" The four of them screamed. It must have been quite a racket, even upstairs, because the baby went off again. Gently placing the book aside, James blasted off to the stairs,

while Lily demanded, "Harry, he was joking right? You didn't really-"

Harry didn't even begin to deny it, his abashed face was all the answer they needed. His only defence was, "I'm sorry. I panicked, it was in my hand and I wanted both hands to-" he trailed off giving a helpless shrug, "I know now it was stupid."

"At least you recognize that," Remus sighed, flopping back against the couch.

"Honestly, remind me again why we don't have an elementary wand-safety class?" Sirius demanded. "Don't put your wand in your back pocket, don't toss it around like a stick, don't go

waving it around like a toy." He said all this in a very huffy tone of voice, clearly mimicking someone Harry couldn't place as he continued in his normal tone, "I didn't even like her and I

listened to those stupid rules."

"You can't call them stupid and then say they're needed," Lily pointed out as James came back down the stairs, childless and only slightly less grumpy than when he left.

"I thought you said you put a silencing charm on his room?" He directed at Sirius, pretty sure he was the last one to be up there.

"I did," he defended at once.

"Well it must have worn off then," he sighed, flopping back into his spot, "good lord how long have we been at this?" He demanded of nothing, rubbing at his eyes, then directing at Harry, "I

assume they all told you why that was stupid then?"

"We didn't have to," Lily defended, "he recognized it was stupid himself."

"Atta boy," James said, grinning weakly, "guess I can't blame you too much. You were in a pretty awful situation."

"Merlin," Sirius said in shock, causing the three of them to turn their attention to the other two, "has anyone seen the time? We've been at this all day, it's no wonder the charm wore off."

James really did check his own watch then and let out a low, throaty whistle while saying, "damn, we missed dinner."

Lily released a snort of mirth before saying, "well, we'll have a late one then. I don't want to delay this any longer, and I want Harry out of there. So keep reading James."

He shrugged, in no mood to argue the point, and began a little more easily now that he'd had time to clear his head.

so that he could grab her shoulders and roll her over to find a face whiter than snow and so cold. Her eyes weren't opening, which meant she hadn't been Petrified. His mind jumped to the only other thing...

All five of them shivered in disgust. The four of them never having even met Ginny, and still horrified at the mental image of the dead girl. Harry felt sick inside, even knowing it wasn't true, that was one memory he would gladly erase away all over again.

Harry kept shaking her anyways, watching her head move lifelessly as he begged her to wake up. Then a voice behind him whispered that she wouldn't.

They all started then, not having expected that. They had thought whoever had dragged Ginny down there must be with the Basilisk, so if someone was talking to Harry then they didn't need the book to tell them something really awful was about to happen.

Harry turned around to find a dark haired boy leaning against one of the stone snakes and watching him.

"You didn't recognize him?" Sirius asked, puzzled at once that a name hadn't been in there.

"He must be someone at the school though," Remus said, brow furrowing in confusion. "Admittedly we haven't come across anyone this year who it could be, but no one but the students

and staff are in the school enough for him to not stick out and be suspicious."

Harry was frowning for a different reason this time, somehow knowing the answer was going to be far weirder than anyone would see coming.

The longer Harry stared, the more he noticed that this boy was blurred around the edges, like looking at him through fog.

This just piqued their interest even more. By that description, it clearly meant whoever this boy was, he was wasn't really there. But they'd never heard of this type of communication before, which still didn't bode well for Harry.

Still the name jumped into Harry's mind, and he whispered Tom Riddle.

"Wha-" James began, triple checking that he had read that right.

"That arse who framed Hagrid all those years ago?" Sirius demanded. "You must be joking?"

Harry shook his head sadly from side to side, saying aloud, "no, it was him, or else he has a twin brother who looks and sounds just like him."

"But, fifty years later?" Remus demanded. "I don't care about genetics, that can't be the same person, or even his son. No one looks exactly like someone else. This isn't possible, he still

wouldn't look the same."

"I think you're all missing the point," Lily whispered, eyeing the book with high trepidation, "which is, why is he down there with Harry?"

That brought them up short. The odd realization that some kid who still looked the same fifty years later was weird, which had derailed them from what Lily had reminded them. After a drawn

out pause, James finally asked, "how?"

"With any luck, he'll explain, 'cause I've got nothing," Harry sighed, looking longingly to the book. He was very sure that the headache that was pounding away at him would finally be at ease

after this horrid year. Unlike last year, he'd gotten none of his answers slowly throughout the year, but more questions on top of questions. Now here he finally was, at the climax of this disastrous year, and he felt it was high time to get this over with.

James relented that if there was any justice, this wired ghost Riddle kid would explain something, soon.

Harry turned his attention back to Ginny, asking what he meant? Riddle admitted that while she was still alive, it wasn't by much.

Even with Harry's reassurances and Riddle's own declaration, that still wasn't making anyone in the room feel any better. There were some worse things to be then dead, and Ginny seemed to be heading that way.

Harry felt distracted once again by watching this boy, who by records should have been fifty years older, not the exact same sixteen year old Riddle as Harry had seen in that diary. Harry asked him if he was a ghost.

"That's not how ghosts look and you know it," Remus said, not reprimanding even, just being his typical self in pointing things out.

Harry pointed out right back, "like you, I wasn't exactly expecting that. It was the first thing that came to mind."

Riddle told that he was a memory, who had been saved in a diary all these years.

"That's, possible," Sirius said, slowly and uneasily, "but not to this degree. The most advanced form of that is the magical paintings, and even they can't leave their bindings. Since that diary is his binding, he should not be able to leave it and 'walk' around."

Harry was very curious to hear more about that, but now didn't seem the time.

He gestured to the little black book at Ginny's feet Harry recognized as having found in Myrtle's bathroom all those months ago.

All of them puzzled at this, indeed wondering how it could have made its way down there, and how it was all connected? This still didn't even answer their question of who was doing all of this, it actually managed to raise more!

Harry remained frozen in shock for a few moments before deciding he'd deal with that later, and asking Tom to help him with Ginny, trying to lift her into his arms himself. He voiced that the basilisk could be coming even as they spoke, but Riddle didn't even twitch.

"I didn't like him before," Lily began, notes of unease already creeping into her voice, "and I'm liking him less and less as this goes on."

"He's unnatural," Remus agreed, "whatever is going on here is something very Dark. How Ginny got mixed up in all of this still blows my mind."

Harry was frowning and shaking his head from side to side, somehow he just knew all of the pieces were right there in front of him in that moment, and so he begged his father on so that they would finally come together.

Harry only got to his feet with her for a few moments, before he reached for his wand and found it wasn't there.

"Not good," James hissed, beginning to bounce in place, though stopping quickly as this made it very hard to read, "very not good."

He began to ask if Tom had seen his wand, when he looked up to find said Prefect twirling it about in his hand.

"He shouldn't be able to do that," Lily yelled, her voice an octave higher than was normal.

"Nothing like this should be happening," Remus snapped back, then immediately apologized and said, "sorry Lily, just on edge."

She acknowledged the apology with the barest of nods, not having been the least bit offended by him. They were all beyond off edge by this point.

Harry thanked him for grabbing it, reaching out his hand expectantly.

Sirius had to restrain himself from laughing out loud at this. His poor pup, there was no chance that this would simply be resolved that easily. No, Riddle was there for some very Dark reason, and giving Harry back his wand most likely didn't involve those plans.

Riddle only smiled a bit, but didn't even move one bit towards giving it back. Harry's knees began to shake with the dead weight of Ginny.

Harry shuddered at that figure of speech, still not appreciating its meaning.

He tried to convince Riddle that they really were in a hurry, as the basilisk would be here soon, but Tom cut him off by saying it wouldn't come until called. Harry finally lost the battle and lowered Ginny back onto the ground, then asked what Riddle meant, then demanded his wand back. Tom only smiled wider saying Harry wasn't going to be needing that.

"I don't like this," Lily moaned, her hand beginning to dig into Harry's again. She really needed that reassurance right then, that her baby really was going to be okay.

Harry returned the pressure with a reassuring squeeze, the only comfort he could offer right then.

Harry began to ask what he meant, but Riddle cut him off by saying he'd been very eager to see Harry for a long time.

"Why?" James demanded through gritted teeth. "What on earth could he possibly want with you?"

Harry had no answer for him, except the instinctive one that they weren't going to like his stay in the Chamber.

Harry's temper was wearing in now, saying they could talk later, but they needed to get out of here now! Riddle shot back that he was in no hurry, and he wanted to talk now, then he put Harry's wand in his robes. Harry started to get a prickling feeling up his spine.

"Glad you picked up on that," Sirius said weakly, not mocking really. Harry was only twelve at this time after all. Any normal student wouldn't really question too far what was going on, except trying to get out of danger like Harry was.

He asked the first thing that came to mind, what had happened to Ginny?

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about that," James murmured, his words not nearly covering the feelings of unease that were still rampaging through him.

Riddle seemed amused by the question, saying that was quite a story. It started with the fact that Ginny had been talking to a diary for nearly a year.

Remus' mouth opened with a little pop. Upon questioning though, he just shrugged and murmured, "just, processing is all. I knew I didn't like that diary, but I really don't like what he's

implying. Just keep going James, I want to hear this."

James wanted to do the exact opposite in fact, and simply take Harry's word for it that everything was fine and move past this already. Still, he couldn't very well leave it like this now could he.

How the book that Ginny'd been writing in all this time had been so kind to her, how she'd bemoaned about her life of being poor and how the noble Harry Potter would never even look at her.

"This is foul, beyond loathsome," Lily hissed. "How dare he mock her for this! What on earth, why-" she sputtered out of air then, simply waving James on when she realized he still hadn't

really answered anything. He was just insulting the insecurities of an eleven-year-old, which in itself was awful.

The longer he spoke, the more hunger swam in his eyes as he kept staring at Harry.

"He's creeping me out with that," Sirius muttered, mostly to himself.

Riddle sighed about how boring it had been trying to comfort her, but she'd eaten it right up as she constantly thanked him for being such a good friend. Then he laughed, such a terrible sound that it made all of Harry's hair stand on end.

That had already happened to James a long time ago, and he wasn't even there to hear this in person. Just listening to his cruel depictions of mocking Ginny was enough to give him the creeps.

Riddle congratulated himself that it had always been easy for him to make others see the better side of him. Ginny had poured her heart and soul into that diary, and her soul had been just what Riddle needed.

Remus shuddered in disgust, not really wanting to answer when Harry asked, "I don't get it? Why would he want that?" He didn't seem able to bring himself to say those exact words Riddle had.

"Not for any good reason, I'm sure," Sirius almost whispered.

"What exactly is this thing?" Lily demanded. "I've never heard of anything like it?"

"I'm positive I don't want to know the answer," James huffed, before forcing himself to keep going anyways.

Finally Riddle had been feeding off of Ginny long enough that he could start giving her a little of his soul back.

Sirius actually did retch then, going a funny green colour at the thought of that.

Harry still dearly wanted to ask what on earth was going on, what this thing was, but one look around and he realized they had no more idea than him, which was the opposite of comforting.

He concluded by saying that Ginny Weasley had been the one opening the Chamber of Secrets.

'She can't have' James wanted to snap, but really he had no way to say it. All the air seemed to have gone out of him.

"Is it, possessing her?" Harry asked, looking from the book back to the others very quickly now.

"Seems like," Remus forced the words out, "but again, I've never heard of anything, anything, like this."

"Which is, above all, the creepiest thing," Sirius said in a ghost of his old teasing voice, "we're supposed to be able to use you as our walking dictionary."

Lily let out an almost hysterical laugh, which died quickly.

None of them could really think of anything else to say, though the dominant thought was 'why Harry?' Why on earth had he been the one to come across this, and why was this thing so transfixed on him? Of course they all had a pool of concern for poor Ginny as well, she was clearly a victim of something very wrong going on, something that still managed to tie into Harry.

James hated every word out of his mouth as he choked out.

Riddle continued in a happy voice that Ginny had been the one to tell the snake to attack those Mudbloods, and Filch's cat. Harry tried to deny it, but it hardly made it out of his mouth.

Harry very dearly wanted to interrupt again, with questions like 'why hadn't any of them noticed Ginny was acting weird all year?' At least her brothers should have noticed something! These questions though, would never truly be answered.

Riddle laughed, still speaking as if of the weather as he admitted that she didn't realize she was doing it at first, which had been the most amusing of her entries into the diary.

"Amusing?" Lily hissed. "Did he really just say that? I can't imagine what must have been going through the poor girl's mind, but amusing is far from it."

"This thing is a sadist," Sirius grumbled.

Harry couldn't really feel the horror on his face as he listened,

None of them needed to imagine that, since it was on Harry's face right now, and most likely mirrored on their own.

to Tom explain that her entries were now of how she'd woken up covered in rooster feathers and red paint. She had no idea where she'd been on Halloween night, how she had no recollection of what she'd been doing when the students were attacked, and she feared she was losing her mind.

By the end of this, Harry wanted to yell and rage and scream that he needed to shut up now, but it would be pointless yelling at his dad for that.

Silence seemed to have struck the room as Riddle just seemed to keep talking, none of them able to think of anything to add to how horrible this was.

Harry felt his hands tense up, white knuckled, as Riddle admitted that Ginny finally came to realize she shouldn't be trusting her diary and tried to get rid of it, when Harry found it.

'Which is when the attacks stopped', Lily realized, wanting to slap herself for not having linked that together before.

"Of all the-" Remus began, but quickly cut himself off. If Harry hadn't found it, then some other unsuspecting soul would have come across it. Since it had been in a girl's bathroom, even a mostly unused one, Harry finding it was almost, barely, a good thing. For if another girl had found it, she possibly would have gone through the same process as Ginny all over again. At least Harry had never written in it more than once, saving him from this horrid fate.

Riddle couldn't have been happier, as Harry was the one person he wanted to meet more than anything.

Sirius opened his mouth to repeat the question that was on everyone's mind, why on earth this demon seemed so intent on Harry, but James quickly kept going.

Harry could hardly spit out the words he was so angry, but he managed to ask why? Riddle told how Ginny had given him the story of the Boy Who Lived, and how Riddle must reach Harry and talk to him about this.

Sirius then had to bite his tongue to keep himself from making a 'fan girl' joke. Now wasn't the time, nor would it be appreciated.

Tom had chosen to show Harry the vision of capturing Hagrid, insulting the man a bit, just to get Harry to trust him.

"Don't insult him," James snarled. "While I'd love to burn this thing, I can't wait to find out where on earth Ginny got it, and drag it to the Ministry and prove it wasn't Hagrid you-" he cut himself off in a muttering of curses.

Lily blinked in surprise, this question hadn't occurred to her yet, but it was a good one. Where had Ginny gotten a hold of this thing? She couldn't imagine it would have been anywhere at her own house, her parents would probably die before bringing something so Dark into their home, and it couldn't be at the school. Where had she come across this?

Harry spat back that Hagrid was his friend, and Riddle had framed him! Riddle laughed again, clearly pleased at Harry's retort as he admitted it wasn't hard as he'd been the perfect school boy, very heroic, a prefect, perfect grades,

"Crazy, psychopathic, sadistic-" Remus had to poke Sirius in the ribs to get him to stop.

while Hagrid had been the opposite, always sneaking around wild animals, trying to take care of werewolf cubs,

All three boys were in too much of a towering temper to correct such a ludicrous sentence. On top of everything, this idiot didn't know the first thing about werewolves, and the fact that werewolf cubs didn't even exist!

Harry dearly wanted to ask about this, but still held his tongue.

or sneaking into the forest to fight trolls,

"This thing knows nothing about magical creatures does it?" James really did scoff this time.

"While there are forest trolls, there aren't any in the Forbidden Forest."

"You would know," Lily said, trying for a bit of good-natured humour, which really was appreciated right then.

but even Riddle had been shocked when people bought his story so easily. Anyone who looked twice at Hagrid should have realized he couldn't be the Heir.

"That is a very good point," Harry was loath to admit and agree with anything this thing said, but since it was about Hagrid...

Riddle had spent the past five years learning about the Chamber, then scoffed that Hagrid didn't have a portion of the knowledge to do half of this.

"And he's got an ego on top of all his other lovely qualities," Sirius grumbled.

Dumbledore had been the only one who didn't believe Riddle's story.

"Really?" Lily demanded. "Only Dumbledore? No other teacher, hell anybody with a brain, bothered to question this?"

"Prejudices," Remus offered bitterly. "I'm sure most anyone can guess Hagrid's half-giant. So when someone like Riddle would have come along and accused Hagrid of doing this, they ate it

right up."

"This is disgusting," James growled, he might have even kept going, but Harry was quick to get him back on track. While he hated this idea as much as anyone, there was no good in sitting about and talking about it, when they could possibly fix it.

Dumbledore had been the one to convince Dippet to hire Hagrid as the gamekeeper, and Dumbledore had also been the only teacher never to fall for Riddle's charm.

"Can't imagine why," Remus said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "Could it possibly be he didn't fall for your demented act?"

Harry wasn't surprised, saying he was positive Dumbledore had seen right through Riddle. Tom agreed Dumbledore became a bit of a nuisance after all of that, it hadn't been safe for him to reopen the Chamber in his own time, so he'd laid aside the diary to do the work again for him later.

"With the blackest, cruellest kind of magic I've never even heard of," Remus said through clenched teeth.

"There's no way a sixteen-year-old did this," Sirius said weakly, "this is the darkest, most advanced magic-"

"Can we not," Lily moaned. "I don't want to be sitting around thinking about this. It's dark, and twisted, evil and weird, we all agree, but I want to see Harry getting out of there before midnight."

That silenced them for now anyways.

Now he could be free to finish Slytherin's true calling! Harry laughed aloud this time, pointing out no one had died this time, not even Mrs. Norris.

"Do you think," Harry began hesitantly, "is there any way Ginny was somehow, I don't know, trying to influence so that these set of circumstances happened? It can't really be a coincidence no

one's died."

They puzzled this for a moment before James said, "you know, I wouldn't be too surprised if that were true Harry. Everyone who's been attacked had a means out, Ginny may have been semi

influencing the choices to give them a chance."

Harry beamed, knowing this could never be proven one way or another, no way would he ever ask such a thing, but liking the idea anyways.

Riddle didn't seem concerned, saying that he had switched goals. Now he felt his job was to kill Harry.

James choked out that last word as if he'd had a dung bomb tossed down his throat. The horrid idea that someone wanted his son dead was awful enough, let alone him having to say it.

"Why?" Lily demanded of no one in particular, "this is, I don't even know what this is! What on earth does this creature have against you?"

Harry just shrugged, feeling frustrated he couldn't remember, though he was sure he found out in a few moment's anyways.

Harry just gaped at him. Riddle kept talking, speaking of his surprise about how the next time someone had written in his diary it had been Ginny again.

"Why would she go back to it?" Sirius grumbled. "If she had the ability to throw it away the first time, why didn't she just try again? Or better, go get a teacher, or-"

"Oh, now I understand," Remus cut him off, "it was Ginny who stole the diary from Harry. Ginny pieced together what had happened to her, which is why she got rid of it, she must have

recognized it was doing something to her. When she saw it in Harry's possession though, she was afraid the same thing would happen to him."

"That still doesn't explain why she didn't take it to someone," Lily sighed.

"I think," Harry said slowly, then broke off as soon as he had begun. Growing far beyond annoyed at his inability to give these answers, he instead said, "I know I understand everything

before the night's over. Let's please just hear about Ginny getting out of here, then we can keep questioning this" he all but pleaded in the end.

Nodding in assent, James forced himself to read on.

She must have seen Harry with that diary and feared Harry would use it. What if Riddle told Harry everything she'd written? What if Riddle had even told of how Ginny had been the one doing all of this?

All five of them grimaced as they got their answer anyways. Yes, the fear that Ginny would be blamed for these attacks would certainly hold the girl's tongue about this evil diary.

Riddle wasn't too concerned though, now knowing that Harry would go to any lengths to solve the mystery, especially if a certain muggleborn friend of his was set upon.

Harry gritted his teeth so hard he could almost hear them cracking. Riddle had targeted one of his friends on purpose that time! If this spectre didn't die this night, he certainly was going to soon.

For an added bonus, he'd made sure to have Ginny sign herself away and come down to the Chamber. She had tried to fight it off, becoming quite boring to Riddle.

'So now it's boring to watch a child beg for her life' James howled in his head, but didn't interrupt himself to say it aloud. Everyone here looked on the brink of yelling themselves soon.

Then all he'd had to do was wait, and sure enough Harry had come. Riddle added that he had a lot of questions for Harry.

Remus swallowed hard as he realized something else, he was feeding off of Ginny. The longer this conversation went on, the closer she was to dying. That's why all the talking, and explaining. He was purposely drawing all of this out. He very dearly wanted to point this out to the others, but either they had already realized it for themselves, or it would do no good in the end. So he decided against it, knowing it would only hurt Harry.

Harry growled that what could he want? Riddle's first question was, how had he done it? How had a baby defeated the most powerful wizard to exist, Lord Voldemort?

"Voldemort?" Sirius asked in genuine confusion "What on earth has this got to do with him?"

Harry opened, and just as quickly closed his mouth. He had known there was something significant about the name Tom Riddle, and he just knew they were on the brink of figuring it out. He tried his best to explain this, and now very curious James read.

Harry asked why he'd want to know, as Voldemort had rose after Riddle's life, but Tom gave a small smile as he said Voldemort was his life.

All five of them felt themselves going slack-jawed for a moment, but James wasn't giving anyone the chance to say anything until he read.

He used Harry's wand to spell out the name TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. Then he gave it a flick, and the letters moved around until they instead formed I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

"Voldemort is just an anagram?" Sirius said, almost laughing in shock.

"I suppose that makes sense in a certain light," James agreed. "After all, it's not a surname or anything of the like. I guess Riddle or Tom just wouldn't have the same spooky effect."

"Are you kidding me?" Lily screeched, going white as a ghost. "How are you laughing about this? What, how, why is Voldemort's... I don't even know how to phrase this it's so ludicrous."

"How is a bit of Voldemort walking and talking through a diary?" Remus offered weakly.

Lily nodded quickly as she said, "yes, that."

Harry very dearly wanted to answer, but the price was yet another stab at his brain, a very powerful one this time he was sure. He had known from the get-go that there was something very

particular he should remember about this diary, and it related to that question...but what?

The others were so stumped, they couldn't even begin to speculate on this. They had never heard of anything like this, even Sirius who had heard of some pretty dark magic growing up around his kind of family couldn't piece this one together.

Only taking a brief comfort in that Harry was still here now, and his insistence that Ginny survived this, was James able to read.

Riddle seemed quite pleased now as he explained that he would never keep the name his family had given him, his wasteful Muggle father.

Sirius suddenly snorted so violently, Remus leaned over him in shock and concern before Sirius began laughing, hard. James had to reread that sentence almost a dozen times, and he was still

frozen in shock.

Coming out of his laughing fit, only slightly, Sirius said in a breathy voice, "V-Vol-Voldemort's a half-blood! Oh Merlin, I can't breathe-" and he really didn't seem able to keep sucking in air as he continued laughing.

"The pureblood supremacists of the world, is a half-blood." Lily said the sentence slowly and distinctly, tasting the words and cracking a smile herself. "Well, that's certainly something I never saw coming."

"I'll bet his followers don't know that," Remus cackled. "I've always said there's no way possible every Death Eater's a pureblood, there's just not that many of them! It's no wonder Riddle's so lax."

"Is that what we're going to call him now?" James asked in a conversational tone of voice. "Riddle? I am completely okay with this."

"Well he certainly doesn't deserve the title of Voldemort, supreme ruler of liars any more," Sirius agreed, finally gaining back his breath. He still had a gleam of victory surrounding him, he had been contemplating going over to his 'oh so proud' parent's and informing them a little bit about their 'saviours of the wizarding world.'

James pressed further, asking, "so, Dumbledore knows this, right? After all, Ollivander knew Tom Riddle turned into Voldemort, and I'd bet my wand Dumbledore must know this! So Dumbledore would have looked into this, and known about him being a half-blood. Why hasn't he spread this around? It would put a real cramp in his regime if everyone knew."

"Maybe he can't prove it," Lily offered. "I mean, I'd love to look into this myself, but what if you just can't. Wizards aren't very good about birth certificates or anything..."

"This is fun and all," Harry said, a silly smile still plastered across his face watching his family enjoy this revelation, "and I hate to break the mood, but can we please finish this year? I'd still feel better seeing Ginny get out of there."

"What's a matter pup, don't trust your own gut?" Sirius joked.

Harry merely grinned, not willing to admit that this was it exactly. He knew by now though that if he said this aloud, they would all tell him that they trusted his gut, but he dreaded the idea that sometime soon his gut feeling was going to be wrong, and it was going to lead to something awful happening. So he brushed off the joke, and James decided to keep going.

He, who had the fortune of Salazar Slytherin's own bloodline from his mother, would never consider keeping such a Muggle name of the man who'd abandoned his wife when he found out she was a witch.

"Really?" Lily said, looking truly upset at this. "The worst wizarding war that's existing right now, all stems back to the fact that Voldemort has daddy issues? I'll admit, it's absolutely horrible his father abandoned them, because his mother was a witch, but-" she broke herself off shaking her

head sadly from side to side, unable to continue it was so pathetic.

Sirius couldn't help but release another snort of mirth, putting it like that made Voldemort look like

some bratty child rather than the darkest name in their history.

Riddle wouldn't stand for it, so he created his own name, one that the whole of the world would one day not even dare to say, and become the most powerful wizard there was.

"Cause that's not, you know, the most big headed thing I've ever heard," James scoffed.

"That's rich coming from you," Lily poked fun, grinning over at her husband, "considering how big your head was through most of school."

"Aw, I deflated, kind of," James grinned, not looking nearly offended by that as he once had been.

Sirius and Remus both gave appreciative chuckles, while Harry watched his parent's curiously. The two of them seemed like two people with completely opposite personalities most of the time,

so he was genuinely curious how they had gotten together. He really wanted to ask that question eventually.

Harry shot back that he had failed, that Dumbledore was!

This time Remus began applauding Harry, backing him up on that one hundred percent. Sirius and James considered it for a moment before deciding that they agreed, there wasn't another living

person who had done half the thing's their headmaster had done.

Lily was the only one who looked about disagreeing, but she was also just that little bit sore from last year. Still not completely convinced he hadn't set Harry up last year to do all those dangerous stunts, and he had hardly done anything this year to prove otherwise.

At this moment though, she would have gladly taken Dumbledore, or anyone for that matter, down there with her son. So she wasn't going to go around disagreeing with what he said either.

Despite the situation, James still had a bit of a goofy smile on his face as he said.

Voldemort scowled down at Harry, pointing out that Dumbledore had fled the school because of his memory!

"Actually, it was a corrupt government board, headed by a pompous arse," Sirius corrected, "and even then he won't be gone long. I'm still positive there's no way he made that injunction legally, so someone's going to be able to get around it soon."

Harry wouldn't let go though, saying Dumbledore was never gone so long as there were those to remember him! Riddle made to say something back, but was cut off by music.

"Music," Lily puzzled, wondering if she'd heard that wrong.

"Did you decide to start singing or something?" Remus asked.

Harry deigned him with a 'you're not funny look', but James didn't even look up.

Both of them looked around in confusion to find a bird flying towards Harry, bright red in plumage, and music coming from its windpipes.

"Fawkes?" James breathed in surprise.

"Unless there's another phoenix loyal enough to Dumbledore to respond like this," Remus agreed, grinning wildly.

"Does this explain the music?" Lily asked. "Why is it cawing music?"

"Phoenix music is rumored to embed those it trusts with bounds of strength," Sirius told her brightly, "it's supposed to encourage bravery and make you fearless and stuff."

"I give you half points for that explanation," Remus laughed out right at him, "you sounded pretty smart until you finished with 'and stuff.'"

Sirius just rolled his eyes at him, while James still continued on now more curious than ever.

The bird came swooping down towards Harry, something dark crumbled in its sharp claws,

No one stopped this time to ask what on earth Fawkes could be holding.

which it dropped at Harry's feet, and then settled on Harry's shoulder. Riddle was eyeing the bird with dislike as he pointed out that was a phoenix,

Remus gave a slow sarcastic clap this time, giving Sirius the joyful opportunity to smack him again and get him to stop.

and then noticing that it had dropped the Sorting Hat.

"Do what?" Lily couldn't help but ask this time.

"Why," James couldn't help but agree, "would Fawkes bring that? Is he planning to try and convince Riddle he didn't belong in Slytherin, and ruin his life further?"

Harry chuckled in amusement, but none of them had any idea what could be going on right now.

Then he started laughing again. Mocking Harry that he should feel so much better, with a stupid bird and a random hat. Harry felt like vomiting. Riddle didn't seem to care as he decided to move on, pointing out that Harry had already met him twice,

"Thanks' for that awful reminder," James muttered in disgust.

and Harry had lived both times. If Harry told him how, it would keep him alive all the longer.

"Something you'll never understand," Lily hissed viciously, wanting more than anything in that moment to be there for her son again, to stand in front of him and curse this demented creature into oblivion for threatening her baby.

Remus couldn't help but wince, remembering all over again why Riddle was drawing out this conversation.

For the first time Harry once again noticed the odd blurred lines around Riddle, and how the longer they'd been talking, the more they'd been vanishing. Harry realized that Riddle was still feeding off of Ginny, that the longer this drew out the more powerful Voldemort was getting.

Remus looked around and noticed no one seemed too surprised by this, so they had all worked it out then. They all looked equal amounts pissed off that Harry was being threatened like this,

again, and worried about his situation at hand. How had Harry made it out of this alive? Did he summon the basilisk and have it kill this evil spirit?

Harry shot back that he wasn't positive of how it had all happened, but he did know it was because his mother had died to save him!

"Personally, I wouldn't have told him that," Sirius scoffed, "not that he can do anything against you, but it still would have been all the more fun for him to never know the answer to that."

Harry shrugged, he had just enjoyed that one moment of lording that over the Dark Lord.

Mocking Riddle that he'd been overcome by his muggle-born mother!

James voice rang with pride for his son as he read out that last part.

Riddle considered this, admitting this was a very old bit of magic, that could be quite useful.

"It genuinely bothers me that he knows about that, and I've never heard of it," James huffed.

"Guess we should just be happy we don't really know the same things as this nutter," Sirius offered.

"Plus, we know now," Remus added vindictively.

Admitting how this didn't really change anything, as it meant Harry was nothing important.

"I disagree," Lily snapped with pure venom, "his very existence as being a loving person makes him infinitely more special than your heartless arse."

Harry blushed furiously at the compliment, while the other boys couldn't help but agree.

Riddle had been wondering on this, as there were similarities between the two of them,

James smile vanished at once, he looked like he was being force fed vomit as he continued.

that they were both half-bloods, orphans, and brought up by Muggles.

Sirius was muttering a couple of foul things under his breath, very much wanting to deny those last two, and hating that he couldn't.

The rare gift they both possessed in being Parselmouths, most likely the only ones since the original Slytherin. They even had a bit of the same features.

James was grumbling and snarling that these were all circumstantial, stupid things. For anyone to imply his son was the smallest bit like Voldemort made all four adults in the room want to curse something into oblivion.

Harry, who had begun to look rather upset at what he clearly did see as parallels, smiled around at them all again. Clearly, his family wasn't reading into these things, so he had no inclination to do so either.

Riddle was more than satisfied now though, realizing this was all unimportant. Harry stood stock still, readying himself for a fight as Riddle continued that it was high time the question be answered, and to pit the Heir of Slytherin himself against Dumbledore's greatest weapons.

"Well this can't be good," Lily moaned.

"What even would happen if he tried to use a spell with Harry's wand?" Sirius asked curiously. "I mean, he's tangible enough to hold it, but I still don't even know what he is! Will the wand

recognize magic in him, and perform the spell, or..."

"Maybe this memory doesn't know itself," Remus shrugged, "and he's not going to risk it. Whatever he is planning though, I agree with Lily. This isn't going to be good." He mentally

added that, if Ginny did die, this thing very well might likely be at least some kind of human again and could possibly do whatever the real Voldemort had done was doing now. Time travel was making this way too complicated, since his instincts now was crawling at the idea of two Voldemort's existing at once, while he reminded himself that in this timeline Voldemort had died

and this would be a rebirth of him?

He stopped his brain from trying to continue the paradox as James continued.

Riddle turned away from Harry, now looking up at the statue as he spoke in hissing tongues.

"He's summoning the Basilisk?" James asked wearily.

"Well this shouldn't be too bad," Sirius said with far more confidence than he really felt, "since Harry can control it just as well as Riddle."

"But," Lily began, then bit at her lip again. Then, sucking in a deep breath, she voiced, "but, Riddle obviously has far more experience with this. He's also been controlling this snake longer, so what if..." she couldn't even finish, the idea swimming around was too awful to put into words.

Since none of them really had any idea how Parselmouths worked, James simply hoped the book would explain.

Harry began backpedalling in fear as he realized what was going on, and Fawkes took flight from his shoulder. Harry didn't get a chance to see where he was going, as he slammed his eyes shut at the same time something heavy hit the solid floor. He wanted to call the bird back, he didn't want to be by himself, and he had no confidence this phoenix could do anything against the king of snakes.

"Quite a bit I'd wager," Remus offered weakly, "as highly intelligent as they are. Fawkes might not be able to win this fight, but he will be of use."

Harry turned blindly to start running, and heard the hissing command from Riddle to kill him.

James couldn't help but retch all over again at having to say that, dearly wishing he'd never have to hear those words again in relation to his son, let alone have to say them as many times as he had in this chapter.

While Harry began to blindly stumble along, feeling the snake in pursuit, all he could hear was Voldemort laughing behind him.

'Is Harry not even going to try speaking to it?' Remus wondered, but kept that thought to himself.

If Harry didn't think of it himself, well he could hardly blame his cub since the act of speaking and controlling snakes was still new enough to him.

His feet failed him, he hit the ground hard and felt blood spring into his mouth. He felt the beast rearing up behind him,

All four of them recoiled from that disturbing mental image, now willing to give up their lives all over again if they could have just been there for Harry in that one deadly moment.

but he was saved this time when something hard smashed into him and he went sailing into a wall. He must have been struck by the snake's tail rather than teeth. He remained stock still, waiting for something else to happen, but all he heard was jumbled hissing.

Harry felt very bad for his family, who all looked akin to corpses they were getting so pale. He floundered, trying to come up with something to help distract them again. Clearly his mental imagination was going to be the death of them all. The only one that came to mind was to offer up the explanation to them that this particular Basilisk never actually spoke to him in words and a language like he knew he could understand in the Chamber. Maybe it couldn't speak its own mind when under the command of someone telling it what to do, but Harry got the impression none of them knew enough about this to offer their own opinion, and wanted too much to hear of anything else but the giant killer snake for Harry to start a discussion about it. So Harry in fact had nothing of comfort to offer them. In his young life, this was by far the scariest thing that had happened to him yet, and words of comfort just weren't going to cut it this time. So he instead remained quiet, hoping the book would get past this quickly, and skip to however he got out of there with an alive Ginny in tow.

Finally Harry's curiosity won out, and he cracked his eyes open to find Fawkes flying around the snake's head, pecking furiously at the yellow eyes and avoiding the fangs that were longer then Harry's arm.

James at least no longer sounded like he was reading his own death warrant. Harry wasn't as alone down there as he had been thinking. Admittedly a bird, even a phoenix, wasn't the kind of help he would have been for his son then, but it was better than nothing. Even if Fawkes tipped the scales just that little bit, made it possible enough that Harry could get out of there, then he'd be just a tiny bit happy again.

Blood was starting to go in rivulets down the scales, and Harry was so transfixed by the sight that he had no time to close his eyes again when the head swung around and Harry should have been staring at the deadly eyes,

Then James voice choked off all over again when he realized Harry was looking into his own death. No one had air in their lungs to question the fact of Harry's survival. James himself only managed to keep going out of the will to see this miracle.

but nothing happened, because the eyes were gone. In their place were bloody sockets, with holes jagged into them from the furious phoenix who was still streaming around its head and cawing as the snake roared in pain.

"It's blind," Sirius finally broke the long stream of silence.

"Thank Merlin," Lily practically sobbed.

"Thank Fawkes, or even Dumbledore for owning the bird, or-" Remus broke off in semi- hysterical laughter.

"How come Fawkes didn't die if it was looking into the Basilisk's eyes?" Harry asked, a bit too late, but finally coming up with another random question.

James was more than happy to respond, saying, "phoenix's are damn near indestructible. They have healing tears, so their eyes are the most invulnerable part of their body. No one's ever put this to the test, but I guess phoenix eye's beat basilisk eyes."

Still shaking a bit, though now in relief, James was finally able to keep reading in almost normal tones.

Riddle realized what was happening, and howled at the snake to forget about the bird, go after Harry. The snake could still use its other senses to kill him!

"Guess it is still poisonous," Remus muttered to himself, "and how big again?"

The others ignored him, now confident this bird was the reason Harry had survived. Had Fawkes even somehow found a way to kill the Basilisk? They certainly hoped it got to that part soon.

The snake responded as told, still as deadly as ever as it blindly lunged, but Fawkes wasn't having it as it began scratching at the green nose.

Sirius released a semi-hysterical giggle as he said, "now he's trying to make it lose its sense of smell too. Next thing, he'll be trying to rip out its teeth."

Harry could do nothing as he lay on the floor, whimpering for someone to help him.

While none of them had exactly been back to a 'happy place' in this story, this verbal reminder from Harry himself needing help made them all want to take him up in a hug and never let go.

Fate be kind, the snake's back end was still waving madly, and flashed something across the floor right into Harry's face. Harry blinked in shock to find the Sorting Hat.

Well this was a pretty easy distraction. Had any of them ever figured out why the Sorting Hat was even there? Why had Fawkes grabbed it? None of them bothered voicing these questions allowed though, since no one had any answer, and they were all just too eager for Harry to hurry up and get out of there.

He didn't stop to consider it, shoving his head up under the material and begging the hat to do something, anything.

Lily felt such a tightening in her throat, it was almost impossible to swallow and continue breathing. Her little baby, reduced to cowering on the floor from a deadly snake, alone with

nothing but a rangy old hat. She had never wanted that mental image, and now wanted to burn her mind for giving it to her.

He wasn't expecting to nearly black out when something hard smashed over his head.

James tone finally changed from outright fear, to genuine puzzlement. A much better way of reading then every other word pondering if his son was going to die.

Half dazed and more than confused, he groped above his head and had to pull the hat off for quite a bit longer then he would have expected, when he was done a sword came toppling into his lap, the hilt inlaid with rubies as big as his fist.

"A sword?" Sirius burst out. "Not some nice advice on, I don't know, summoning a rooster or something, but a bloody sword? What the bloody hell is Harry supposed to do with that, duel the

stupid snake? Why, where did the sword even come from-" Sirius had been silent and pent up for so long, it seemed he would never stop his fountain of questions, but then Remus gave him a very sharp poke, causing Sirius to go silent again. None of them had an inkling of an idea how the Hat worked, that was old Founder magic. They wouldn't get an answer to any of these questions, until the book said them. If the book even did answer.

Riddle was ignoring all of this, still yelling for the basilisk to kill Harry already! The snake tried to respond, turning on Harry and with one, precise strike, came forward, only managing to smack into the wall as Harry rolled away.

"Ha!" Remus and Sirius both breathed, taking relish in this small victory.

He ended the manoeuvre by landing on his feet, sword poised and ready. When the snake moved and went for him again, Harry was ready, point perfectly positioned for the snake to come forward and the whole of the blade to run through the top of its skull.

Then their mouths flopped open in horror at all the horrible implications of that. Harry had stabbed it in the roof of the mouth, most likely hitting its brain and killing it, but that also meant Harry's whole arm was in between all of those poisonous deadly fangs! Each one of them took a moment to inspect the boy again, as if confirming he still had that arm and it wasn't snapped off.

The snake froze up before slumping forward and Harry felt a fountain of blood running down his arm from the twitching animal. He was more stunned to find a fang had managed to stab right through his own arm right above his elbow.

James couldn't help it, that was the final straw. He actually did twist over the side of the couch and vomit. Harry leaped back in shock, looking to the others in genuine concern. His mom was openly crying as she produced her wand and vanished the steaming pile. Remus and Sirius looked ready to keel over any moment.

Harry's mind scrambled about wildly as he finally blurted out, "are you okay?"

James brushed the back of his hand against his mouth, giving a weak chuckle as his hazel eyes met Harry's green ones. "Am I okay?" He repeated, as if he'd never heard such a sentence in his life. "Harry, I just read a sentence, that under any normal circumstances, would have meant that you would be dead. Not sitting there, but dead. On the floor-" he broke off before his mouth could keep going, shuddering all over again.

Harry looked about the room again, then offered, "did you want to me to finish? You know I'm not dead, but if this is too awful-"

"No," James said, bolstering himself up again after one more furtive look at his only child. "No," he repeated with conviction, "you did survive. There's a phoenix in the room," he reminded the others, the only explanation remotely possible as to why he was talking to his son, "and so Fawkes is going to save you, and I will later be embarrassed for my overreaction."

"That wasn't an overreaction," Sirius told him weakly, "since I actually did black out there for a minute."

Lily was brushing tears furiously from her face, and Remus was rubbing his eyes hard like he was trying to prevent himself from joining her. Harry felt something stirring inside himself, warmed beyond belief that these four cared about him so deeply like this.

Sucking in one, two more deep breaths, James forced out.

His body began seizing up at once as his limbs failed him, he grasped for the long white point and yanked it out of his arm, knowing it was no good, that the poison was already eating away at him as the colours of his surroundings began swirling out of focus.

Despite his own words of comfort, James still couldn't help his upper lip from curling in disgust as he continued reading about Harry dying like this. No one could muster themselves up to interrupt, the only comfort any of them had right now was the red and gold bird that just had to appear any second now...

A bright flash of red flew past his eyes, and Harry could just make out the sound of talons clicking across the floor towards him.

They all released a collective breath of relief at this confirmation.

Harry managed to choke out a thanks to Fawkes, telling him he'd done great.

Sirius had to choke himself off from saying something along the lines of 'you would thank the bird, while you're dying', but even the thought of those words being put through his mouth made

him want to pass out all over again.

Riddle came over to gloat, laughing that Harry was dead now, and even Dumbledore's pet was crying over it.

Remus actually did release a funny sound, like a laugh but strangled with emotion. Clearly Riddle didn't know the properties of phoenix tears, his ignorance would be Harry's salvation.

Harry's fuzzy eyes did manage to focus in on the bird, who was laying his head against the puncture in Harry's arm, bright tears trickling into the wound. Riddle clearly didn't care as he continued by saying Harry could take his time finishing up dying, he enjoyed watching.

James very dearly wished his son found some way to murder this apparition of Riddle soon, just to get him to shut up. He was still so emotionally wrung, he didn't think he could take much more of this taunting over his son's body before he really did curse something.

Riddle found the whole thing rather funny, how Harry was to die alone in this Chamber, with no friends,

Lily muttered something indistinct under her breath. The boys might have caught a few words, but they were all so disturbing they pretended they hadn't.

who was finally vanquished by Voldemort who he'd foolishly challenged all those years ago.

"Challenged," Harry grumbled out loud, "I'd gladly avoid him for the rest of my life! He keeps bothering me!"

All four of them really did laugh then, a genuine sound of amusement at Harry's truly annoyed look. His use of 'bothering' to describe constant attempts of murder was just slightly

underwhelming as well.

Harry would have the joy of being back with his Mudblood of a mother in a few moments.

James then groaned again, pressing his face into the pages of the book in utter disgust. Pulling away, he asked the ceiling, "what are the bloody odds I got every single stinking chapter, where someone said that horrid word!"

Lily reached around and gave her husband's shoulder a comforting squeeze, which James took gladly.

Harry wasn't listening all that much anymore, he was starting to think that dying wasn't all that unpleasant as the pain started to go away from him.

They all obstinately ignored that putrid sentence, since they knew the opposite was happening.

It was odd though, that instead of everything going dark, his surroundings were instead coming back into colour. His eyes were focusing much better now on Riddle hovering nearby, and Fawkes who was still crying into Harry's wound, then he blinked again and realized there was nothing there.

All five of them couldn't help but beam with pleasure. They had known without a doubt this was what was going to happen, but hearing it in words made the whole ordeal bearable.

Riddle realized this at the same time as Harry, and he pulled out his wand and shot a spell at the bird who flew away.

Then they all grimaced when they realized Riddle really had grown so powerful he could use spells now. This didn't bode well for Ginny, or Harry for that matter. Now the snake was dead,

but how had Harry gotten past Riddle?

He was cursing himself for having forgotten that phoenix tears could heal anything.

"Twat" Remus snapped, more than happy at this psychopath's lap in knowledge.

Then he glanced down at Harry and decided he didn't mind, he'd much rather be the one to kill Harry with his own power. He began raising up Harry's wand,

James couldn't help but wince all over again. Harry had just skipped death, and now his very own wand was being thrust back into his face for yet another go! Was Fawkes going to take this spell to? How long could they keep playing this game before someone's luck ran out?

but Fawkes reappeared above Harry and dropped something onto Harry's legs, the diary.

"While I agree that thing needs to be burned," Sirius said slowly, "what good is it going to do now?"

"Riddle said it himself," Lily pointed out, going bright eyed with glee now, "he had put a bit of himself in that object. So maybe, if Harry destroys it, this thing will finally disappear."

James fervently hoped so, now reading eagerly, almost praying this is what happened.

Harry only hesitated a second, then he reacted on instinct by picking up the fang that had nearly taken his own life, and stabbed it into the binding of the book.

"If that doesn't do it nothing will," Remus beamed.

Riddle had no chance to stop him, he was clawing at his chest in obvious pain, screaming at the top of his lungs, and then, he was gone.

"And good riddance to rot in hell you-" Sirius finally did get all of his pent up emotions out by spouting every foul word that came to mind. The others sat there and let him, venting in his own way until he finally ran out of steam.

Harry's wand fell to the floor, while the diary continued dripping ink. Harry got unsteadily to his feet, gathering up the hat, and wrenching the sword out of the dead snake.

"Souvenir," James said weakly, causing Remus and Sirius to burst out with renewed genuine laughter at what was clearly an old joke between them.

Harry and Lily smiled indulgently at each other, more than willing to put up with all their inside jokes if it meant nothing this awful ever happened again.

Then he heard a faint noise behind him, and he turned to find Ginny sitting up. She was blinking sluggishly as she glanced at her surroundings, then her eyes found the diary in Harry's hand, and she began to sob.

"The poor thing," Lily almost sobbed with her as she remembered all over again the traumatic experience this eleven-year-old had been through, "it'll be a miracle if she isn't scarred for life

because of this."

She began brokenly trying to explain herself, saying she hadn't done it on purpose, that Riddle had made her, the last thing she really remembered was Riddle appearing out of the diary.

James read all of this with a miserable look on his face. What Harry had just endured was the epitome of awful, but this little girl had been through something equally as tormenting all year.

She wasn't even his kid and he wanted to hug her in comfort.

Harry showed her the now destroyed book, comforting her that it was all over, but Ginny wouldn't be comforted, wailing in anguish that she was going to be expelled.

"Never," Remus vowed at the suddenly heartbroken look on Harry's face. "If there's any decency in the world, no one will look twice at Ginny once you tell them what happened."

"But I broke the diary," Harry seemed unable to stop himself from arguing back, "what if she really does get in trouble for this?"

"It's not going to happen," Sirius all but growled, "it's just not possible anyone could believe Ginny could do something like this."

Harry nodded, feeling relieved for once his first instinct was to agree with them, it was just his pessimistic side that was trying to say otherwise.

She'd wanted to go to this school her whole life, and what were her parents going to think?

"Thank god you're alive," Lily stated at once, "and the only reason you wouldn't come back next year is because they'll be worried sick to let you out of their sight again."

"Can't blame them," James muttered sadly.

It took a bit more soothing words from Harry before she hiccupped herself into sense again, and Harry supported her to her feet and began leading her back through the tunnel to the sound of rocks being pushed around.

"Ron," they all said in relief, the distant memory of his wand cursing Lockhart seeming like a gold mine of happiness compared to what they had just been through.

Harry called out to his best friend at once, telling him his sister was okay! Ron's face appeared in the hole of rocks he'd created

"Damn," Sirius said in congratulations, "and he did that without magic. Props to that kid."

shoving his arm through it and grasping hold of his sister, pulling her into his chest with a tight hug and screaming in relief that she was okay, then getting distracted by noticing the bird and asking where that had come from.

"Long story," James said weakly, drawing the first word out in remembrance, and dearly hoping he wouldn't have to reread that story himself, again.

Harry explained it was Dumbledore's, then Ron asked where Harry had got the sword from.

"A question I'd still like answered," Sirius said in an almost chipper tone. Their utter relief that Harry was finally out of there was more than palpable, and finally bringing normal conversation back around.

Harry promised to explain later, still keeping an eye on Ginny who had her face buried in Ron's chest. Harry didn't want to go into details of who'd been opening the Chamber with her in the room.

"So sweet," Lily sighed, unable to stop herself from grinning at her son who was still trying to put the girl's feelings first.

Then Harry asked his own question of where Lockhart was, and Ron said he'd taken him back to the entrance, he was in bad shape.

"And I still regret nothing," Remus said in full glee, "he deserves every bit of that irony."

Ron led them back to where Lockhart was leaning against the wall absently, smiling vaguely into space. Ron explained that the man's memory was gone, the spell had backfired, and he had no idea who he was, let alone where.

'Know the effects of that all too well' Harry thought bitterly, an inkling of pity beginning to form for Lockhart.

Harry then asked how they were supposed to get back up the tunnel, and Fawkes saved the day again by landing in front of him and waving his tail in front of him.

"And he saves the day again," Lily grinned, "you know James, I'm genuinely thinking I want one of those."

"First a jarvey and a crup for our garden, now you want a phoenix, we've already got Click and Hickory. Exactly how many pets do you want?" James demanded good naturedly. To be perfectly honest he didn't mind one bit, he would always indulge his wife in whatever she wanted.

Lily shrugged, not looking the least bit deterred at the animal count that was beginning to stack up.

"I'm wondering though, that there must be another way to get up," Remus voiced. "I suppose I can think of a spell or two, but you'd really think Slytherin would have given some kind of ladder back up."

"Let's not have Harry stick around to find out," Sirius grumbled.

Harry correctly guessed that the phoenix could fly them all up, and had them all hold hands, Professor Lockhart at the end.

"I think you can finally stop giving that bonehead such a title," Remus told Harry pleasantly.

Harry shrugged, it hadn't yet occurred to him, he had too much other stuff on his mind at the time.

The moment he took hold of the golden plumage, he began to feel light as a feather himself as they all rose up the pipe, Lockhart swinging along below them and calling out how cool this was, it was just like magic.

Despite how much all five of them genuinely hated this guy, they couldn't help but weakly laugh at this childlike innocence.

Before Harry could even really enjoy the ride, they were being set back down in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, with the entrance closing behind them.

"And may it stay that way forever," Lily muttered in disgust, to general nodes of agreement except for Harry, who had an odd feeling he'd find that Chamber opened at least once more, but not for anything bad...

Myrtle seemed shocked to find Harry back, pointing out that he was alive.

"And a good day to you to," Sirius grumbled, not really appreciating how close that sentence came to not being true.

Harry told her she sounded far too unhappy about this, while getting rid of some blood from his glasses.

"Ew," James huffed, trying to distract himself from why that stuff was there.

Myrtle blushed a bit by admitting that she'd thought Harry would die down there, and if he'd come back, he could have shared her toilet.

"Oh yes, that's just what Harry needs," Remus said, trying his very hardest to suppress a grin, "another admirer."

Harry didn't even have the energy to glare at him for that joke, he was just as ready for this year to be over as them.

Ron couldn't help mocking his friend for that bit as they went outside of the loo, telling Ginny she may now have a competitor.

"Really Ron?" Lily demanded of the ceiling. "Is now really the time to be poking fun at your sister?"

"I find it rather appropriate," Sirius countered, "it's kind of his way of saying, the world goes on. You nearly died, but I'm still going to poke fun at you."

Lily was beginning to understand why Sirius and his little brother didn't get along very well. Then again, she wasn't all too clear why she herself put up with him. If he wasn't James best friend, she was sure she would have strangled him out of pure annoyance ten times over. Never mind the fact that in recent years she had come to see him as her own sort of brother.

Ginny didn't react, still silently crying. Ron gave her a concerned look as he asked where they should head, and Harry gestured after Fawkes who was leading the way to McGonagall's office. They followed him, knocked, and then went in.

"Why did you knock if you were just going to go in?" Remus couldn't help but ask.

"Why did you knock at all?" Sirius grinned, "I think, in this particular set of circumstances, you really could have just waltzed in."

Harry just shrugged as Sirius took the book, having no response to any of them.

#Harry Potter #James Potter #Lily Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #reading the books #fanfiction #the life that never lived

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7livky · 5 years

Text

Dionysus - Park Jimin

CHAPTER 3

Author's POV

The sunny day was now a lukewarm summer evening, the first stars and especially the bright planets Venus and Jupiter were already shining in the evening sky. Small sparkles were visible in Diona's blue eyes as she looked up where you could see the brightest stars like Sirius.

Besides Greek and Roman mythology, she was just as interested in astrology. Every time, she found something that fascinated her all over again. No wonder that in many of the paintings she had drawn so far you could mostly see planets or the universe.

With her arms crossed, she stood in her little garden when suddenly a cold breeze touched her body. She stroked her forearms a few times before going back into her atelie.

"Pretty cold, huh?"

She looked behind her when her father glanced at her with a huge smile. He put the tray on her table and took a glass of water to hand it to her. Diona smiled back as she took it, as well as the medicine which he gave next. She took her medicine, but hated that feeling.

"Dad, I don't want this anymore" ,she said with pinched brows after breaking the tablet in her mouth and swallowing it. She couldn't take them any other way.

"I know, my princess, I know." He stroked her head, kissing her forehead after which he pointed to the plate with noodles on the table.

"You're the best, thanks, Dad."

He tried to wink at her, which just didn't work. They both started laughing when there was silence again after he had left. She hungrily licked over her lips and immediately grabbed the fork on the table.

"Hmm" ,she nodded and stuffed more of the food into her mouth.

The Gorgone Medusa and Diona stared at each other as she stood in front of the painting with her brush in her hand and examined everything. Never before had her own work scared her as much as this one. She took a few steps backwards and looked more closely at the canvas so that she could see better whether the proportions were right. She was very picky about her art commissions for the university. Everything had to be perfect, if it wasn't, she started it all over again, which Jongsuk could never understand, because he found it too bad after so much effort.

Beep.

The message made her music quieter for a brief moment. She ran towards the speakers and checked her display.

from kookie-monster95

Diona let out a loud sigh. There was something weird about this customer. She thought she was just getting screwed. That's why she hadn't read the first message completely yet. Unplugging the cable and her phone, she sat down at her desk to eat all the food. As she filled her empty stomach, she tapped on the received mail.

All right, I'll buy it for $2000. But I won't go any higher. Are you okay with that? Otherwise I'm looking for other artists.

The noodles got stuck in her throat, causing her to cough. Trying to breathe again, she immediately grabbed the sprite can and took three sips.

"TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS?!" ,was the first thing that came to her mind at that moment and that was exactly what she wrote back.

from diona7

Two thousand dollars??? This is a joke right?!

Sending it, she pulled down the tab each second to update the page. She noticed that this was the first time she had written so informally with somebody, although he or she only wanted to get a painting, like everyone else before.

But the person had actually replied.

from kookie-monster95

???

I mean I know how extremely good looking the people are who should be painted and no money in the world can be enough for these beauties

and also that your works are among the best I've ever come across

but..

HOW CAN TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS NOT BE ENOUGH FOR YOU?

She slapped her own forehead.

from diona7

I didn't mean it that way. Isn't it a little too much? I'm not just doing it for money you know..

from kookie-monster95

Ah I see. You haven't read my first message completely or looked at the individual photos, have you?

She scratched the back of her head. What is he talking about? So she clicked on the e-mail from this morning and read it carefully.

It shouldn't be a normal painting, which only has to be copied from a photo. It should be a completely new painting made up from the beginning. Therefore I uploaded seven files. A concept should be invented, in which these seven figures should be. How they stand or sit is up to the artist. They should be drawn one hundred percent true to nature, their appearance just like in reality. No alienation.

The desired measurements and the files of which the person had spoken before had been given down below.

Well, the job sounded pretty heavy to her, according to the person's wishes. But drawing, painting, just art itself, was the one thing she would never fail in. For her, her artistic talent was the only gift that could help her achieve her goals. She knew she was never the best at school and had no self confidence, so she always distracted herself with her hobby.

The hd files were now downloaded and ready to be opened. She tapped on the first one.

Actually, she had thought that they would be female figures, because she still thought that "kookie-monster" was an old rich pedophile who was into hot women in short rabbit costumes.

But seeing that this was not the case, she licked her full lips without noticing as her brows went up. "Wow" ,she spoke in a soft voice and zoomed in more on the strange male face. "If the first person looks that good... what do the rest look like then?"

The boy was standing sideways to the camera, his chest a little visible, wearing a V-shaped top. Diona's eyes wandered along the chain he was wearing and stopped at his jawline. He had a very oval face with a pointy chin, his upper lips heart-shaped. His mouth was slightly open so that she could see his big teeth. Even if he was looking at her with a serious expression, you could still see a hint of a smile on his face. As if he could do that the best. He had a pointy nose, which looked so perfect in her eyes that you might think it was fake. He had a dark eye make-up, wearing dark grey contact lenses. Besides his pretty short eyelashes, he had thick and round eyebrows covered by his black hair, with a shine of purple in them. In conclusion; he looked like a little sunshine.

Impatiently, she opened the next one.

"Whoa."

The first thing that caught her attention was the unusual hair color. She started to smile as she mustered his whole face. The turquoise-blue straight hair of his pony was covering his entire right eye. A small part of his forehead was visible as well with his thin black eyebrows. The boy was a little thinner in the face than the first one, the cheekbones stood out more, this boy had a much more angular face shape. Under the tip of his nose she recognized a birthmark. While he was smiling, you could see his square mouth and small teeth. She found it adorable that he had such big ears and wore Gucci earrings. But the most beautiful thing on his face was his cat-shaped eyes. They reminded Diona of the eyes of a predatory cat. To be more precise, he had the same as from a desert lynx, as he had very dark and dense lower lashes, just like a eyeliner.

Without hesitation, she examined the third boy.

Obviously, she began to compare each of them and realized that he had a much lighter skin. Even if he smiled, it looked like a forced one. His purple colored hair covered his eyebrows, even his very small eyes. He wore an undercut and just looked like a gangster to her. But then, those full cheeks that she really wanted to squeeze them? He definitely was a mixture of sweet and dangerous. A rather big nose, but perfectly fitting to his face, thick lower lips and small teeth that were unbelievably white. All in all, she could tell from this boy's eyes how exhausted and listless he was.

Sliding with her finger to the right, she blinked at the next one.

So far, he was the tallest of them all. With his broad shoulders, he was standing in front of the camera, going through his gray stepped hair. Black eyebrows that were getting thicker outwards. As he smiled wide, his chubby cheeks and corners of his mouth became visible. Diona had to grin to herself while she looked at him. Quite full lips, the upper lip sticking out. In contrast to the previous ones, his big eyes were a little reddened, the drooping eyelids very strong. She didn't know what made her feel that way, but something inside her was saying that this man could wrap any girl in the world around his finger with a little rose between his lips and his flirtatious look.

" Ooh, okay?" ,Diona whispered as soon as she saw the next tall one. His appearance reminded her of that of a president. He had a very proud attitude, was as tall as the person before him. A white-beige jacket with black buttons, underneath a tight white T-shirt. With his big hand, he ran through his platinum blonde mane. Pair of strands of his gelled hair fell on his forehead, giving him a sex appeal. He had wide nostrils and who would have thought it, pretty full lips too. A very dark eye make-up, his brown eyebrows perfectly plucked. If you took a closer look, you could see his little dimples, which already appeared with such a light smile.

"I've never seen anyone look so good with a side parting before!"

She tried to calm down, her heart couldn't take any more hot men like them, but she was way too curious. She stood up and went outside again. She made herself comfortable on her Hollywood swing by putting a pillow under her head and a blanket over her body. With her left foot, she stepped briefly on the floor to get momentum whereupon she also put her leg on the swing. She immediately unlocked her phone and stared first at two big dark brown button eyes. He was tilting his head to the right, crossing his thumb with his index finger with his right hand. It looked like a heart to Diona, but she wasn't quite sure. Between his thin upper lip and full lower lip, big white teeth that Diona zoomed into. She recognized his front teeth and had to think of those of bunnys.

His delightful smile painted one on her face as well. A giant "Awww", escaped her lips while she still couldn't get over that sweet face. Even less was she able to do it when she took a closer look at his hairstyle, which was called a bowl cut. She grinned wider and wider, zooming in on the black straight hair and his pony, which gave him this appeal of innocence.

"Oh, you little coconut head."

Diona pressed her fingers laterally between her teeth to gradually put an end to the stupid smile. But no chance as long as she watched him. Her gaze landed on the smile lines on his eyes and nose, which were conspicuous and perfectly matched his angular face.

Beep.

Her phone fell out of her hand and crashed to the ground after reading the sender's name. Wobbly, she got up to lift it up and hurriedly clicked on the message.

from kookie-monster95

So..what's the situation? ( ◠‿◠ )

from diona7

I'll do it, but it'll take a little longer for this one..

She played with the ends of her light brown hair as she waited for an answer. A habit of hers that reflected her nervousness. She walked in circles, checking her screen every second. The person usually answered so fast?

She was sure that they would answer her until she had cleaned up the atelier and packed all her stuff. Last but not least, she blew out the candles and was already in the house within a few seconds. Exhausted, she threw herself on her big round bed. She pulled the pillow away from under her belly and threw it to the ground in annoyance. She hoped her parents were already asleep before she reached for something under her bed. She felt the little bottle and grabbed it right in her hand, opening the lid of the champagne. After a few sips, her eyes closed against her will before she was trapped in her dream world.

—

5:55 a.m.

It was about time. Only one more glass was needed,

until his body, his heart, his soul were again possessed by rush, insanity and ecstasy.

The glasses were filled with wine, moving on the glass table with each bass, one of them already vibrating at the edge and about to fall down.

The electric guitars from the song boomed into his ears, followed by the drums, which fit together perfectly.

It wasn't long before the climax of the song arrived, the tension in his body growing every second.

His inner palm was now exactly where he would catch it, when ashort pause set in, the bass line suddenly stopped blasting.

And all of a sudden the music returned in fully - he caught the glass, threwing it against his dark grey wall.

He himself was the only one who could hear his sick laugh as he looked at the shards of glass spread throughout the room. As energetic as never before, he jumped back and forth, shook his head to match the beat as he danced in an incomparably way.

His spatial imagination deteriorated every second, but that was exactly what he loved.

With his burning tongue, he licked over his extremely full and wet lips, in front of his dark eyes stood a few glasses to be finished. Surely, only by him.

He took the deciding sip -

and entering from one moment to the next,

a sensation of hysteria and excitement arose within him, his abnormally fast beating heart becoming the only thing he could hear, not even the music anymore.

His previously raven-black hair.. now a shimmering silver-gray, incredibly shiny. His dark brown eyes.. discoloured to light blue. His beautiful, flawless face sparkled like a diamond.

The black pants and black leather jacket he was wearing had disappeared and been replaced.

In a loose white shirt, covering his naked torso, and fine beige trousers, he walked barefoot towards the round bed in front of him when his white aura illuminated every place he entered.

Apart from his urge for euphoria and agitation, his lust for fertility was now much stronger.

He blinked with his long eyelashes, watching the person lying in front of him. Long golden wavy hair, long thin legs, dainty upper body, the skin as light as his. Very gently, he turned her over so that her hidden face would become visible. When he saw those heavenly lips, you could hear a very loud tremor in the room. Immediately, the woman opened her eyes. The second he saw that turquoise colour, another loud quake followed. This time she cried out and abruptly held him by the collar.

"What's happening here? Where's that sound coming from?" ,she yelled into his face.

Roughly, he grabbed her by the wrist and put her hand on his left bare chest. "Those are my heartbeats."

When she looked away from her hand which touched his heated skin, and their eyes met again, it quaked again into her ears. So indescribably loud and strong, that every time it felt like everything was breaking down.

"Never before have I seen anything as breathtaking as you. Who are you?"

The woman took her hand away again. She had the feeling that if she had touched him a little longer, her skin would go up in flames.

She pointed at the plate next to him and hinted at the grapes in it. Deliberately, she licked her pink lips and waited impatiently.

The other heavenly beauty in front of her took a grape and held it close to her mouth. Before he placed the fruit between her lips and she licked his fingers, she whispered

"My name is Diona."

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axelsagewrites · 6 years

Text

James Potter*Highly Doubtful

A/N: I'm sorry it was late, again. I've got the week off so I'm going to write back up posts so it hopefully won't happen again/for a while. Also, I made it longer than usual to make up for it being late.

Set in marauders and readers 5th year. (Age 15-16)

If your female the bold applies to you. If your male the italics apply to you. If your neither you can pick which applies to you.

(N/T/S/L/Y) = Name that sounds like yours

What is it they say? Opposites attract. Maybe that's why school socialite and Mr popular James Potter fancied (Y/N) (Y/L/N). they were shy, quiet, and stayed out of all social events.

They shared classes together but never a word. In fact, he wasn't sure he heard them say anything but "Present" when the teacher took the register.

Normally quiet or awkward kids got picked on, but it seemed like no one noticed (Y/N) enough to pick on them. James was glad and upset about that at the same time. Even his friends didn't notice them. Again, James was glad and upset about that since it meant Sirius wouldn't hit on them but it also meant he had even less of a reason to talk to them.

James sat in charms with his usual friend group and set up, Sirius next to him winking at girls and cracking jokes, Remus behind Sirius taking a few notes but mostly talking to, Peter who was behind him doodling on his parchment, and himself, his feet propped on the desk, laughing at some joke.

They always sat at the very back of class unless the teacher moved them. Flitwick was chill since he realized they all were still passing, and it was easier to have a mini chaos corner than spread them out to divide and conquer the class with jokes and pranks. He only ever reprimanded them if they laughed a bit loud.

The conversation fell into an inevitable lull as Sirius swapped notes, Remus picked up a book, and Peter tried to finish his doodle of their Animagus's that wasn't that bad. Who knew he could draw?

James' eyes scanned the classroom looking for something to hold his interest. His eyes fell on them again, (Y/N) (Y/L/N), lazily taking notes and looking as uninterested as most of the class. They were doing a theory lesson on water charms, so no one really cared.

The difference was that they weren't talking to anyone. Everyone else either was talking to a friend or were a nerd and were furiously taking notes.

He didn't even care if he got caught staring. Eventually, he did. Their eyes flickered over but James didn't look away, he smiled at them. They gave a tight-lipped smile back.

His attention was drawn back to his friends when he heard Remus hit Sirius in the back of the head with a book.

James put his small interaction with (Y/N) out of his head as best he could. However, at dinner, his plans failed as when all the students bustled in for dinner Sirius nudged him too hard resulting in him bumping into someone.

He glared at Sirius but turned to see who he'd knocked. (Y/N) stood beside him and he was shocked. He managed to force out a "Sorry," without sounding too weird.

They shrugged "Its okay,"

Before James could reply Sirius was dragging him to make sure they got their seats. James would admit he was shallow and was only really interested in (Y/N)'s looks but their voice was heavenly. But he couldn't even share his thought with his friends who had no idea who they were.

"Right so tonight theirs this party so Remus, no holy jumpers," Sirius sent his friend a pointed look.

Remus rolled his eyes but didn't reply.

"What party?" Peter asked before shoveling mashed potatoes in his mouth.

At least he closed his mouth. Through half a mouth full of steak Sirius replied: "Apparently 7th years are having a party in the room of requirement and we are crashing."

"But we're 5th year. How do you plan on getting in? In fact, how did you even find out?" Remus asked.

Sirius grinned "That's for me to know and you to find out,"

James looked at Sirius before turning to his other friends "He overheard some 7th year talking about it and they said he could go so they didn't get ratted out,"

"You ruin all my fun!"

As usual Sirius and James fused over outfits. James didn't deny he liked to look good. Hair like this takes effort to look so effortless. Remus shoved on some random clothes only for Sirius to give him an outfit to change into. Peter on the other hand just asked James.

Sirius was in black ripped jeans, muggle band shirt, and leather jacket. Remus was forced into a non-holy black jumper, grey jeans, and silver chain necklace. Peter, as per James suggestion, was wearing a black shirt, white waistcoat, and black jeans. And finally James was wearing black jeans, sneakers, and a blue denim shirt with a few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up.

They 5th years snuck out of the tower with ease and made their way into one of the secret passageways, Peter holding the marauder's map. "Are you sure I look okay? I've never worn a waistcoat to a party," Peter asked the group.

"You look fine wormtail," Remus rolled his eyes. "What is it with you lot and clothes?"

James smacked Remus's shoulder, "You look great. Just roll up your shirt sleeves and you'll be fine," He did as he was told.

"I still think you should've gone with the leather jacket but yeah you look fine," James glared at Sirius.

Eventually, they made it to the party and with disapproving looks from the 7th years got in without a snag.

You could tell the 7th years hated them as they walked through the party. Sirius turned to a group of girls looking at them, "Ladies," he said. They scoffed and walked away.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Wanna try to find the snacks?"

"Wanna try to find the drink?" James countered.

They all knew the 7th years would hate them but the good thing about 7th years was that most of them were of age to drink.

the marauders stuck together at the party, laughing over stupid jokes as they drank, probably too much, fire whiskey. As they were laughing James stopped suddenly. Amongst the crowd, he'd sawn (Y/N).

Impossible. He told himself. Theirs no way.

But alas the crowd moved again and he got another glimpse of them. He'd thought they were cute before but damn. He'd only ever saw them in school uniform but now they wore an ac/dc shirt tucked into a somewhat short leather skirt. A mostly unbuttoned flannel shirt with black skinny jeans that showed off his ass.

James couldn't help his stare. "Whatcha looking at?" Sirius shouted in his ear. He flinched and turned to his friend but before he could say anything Sirius saw (Y/N). "Damn! Go talk to them,"

His other friends turned to see what was going on. Remus squinted "Is that (Y/N)?"

"You know them?" James asked,

He shrugged "Seen them about. What are they doing here though?"

"Dunno," James replied.

Sirius downed his drink and slammed the cup down "Well let's go find out,"

James didn't have a chance to stop him before he got lost in the crowd. James rushed after him, their other friends following. Sirius was a man on a mission though and before he could stop him he threw an arm around (Y/N) shoulder.

They flinched and moved, shrugging Sirius's arm off. The 7th years they'd been talking to looked confused. "You know him?" They asked.

(Y/N) looked in between the marauders and their friends "Not really. What are you are doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" You could hear the alcohol in Sirius's breath. "You don't have friends," James smacked his friends head. "It's true!" Sirius defended himself.

(Y/N) scoffed at them "Get the fuck out of my party," They said before storming off.

A couple of the 7th years followed them. One of the others, a guy who looked like he should have graduated a couple years ago and was kinda terrifying turned to them, "Way to ruin (Y/N)'s birthday do."

The marauders screwed their eyes shut, ready for a punch. When nothing happened they opened their eyes to see the 7th year had left. One of the other students chimed in "Woah. 5th years really are pathetic,"

"(N/T/S/L/Y) is a 5th year too," Sirius defended himself. James felt his heart clench when Sirius didn't get their name right.

"(Y/N)," the 7th year corrected him, "Is one of us,"

The Marauders weren't kicked out per say but they could all tell Sirius was too drunk to be here. James was disappointed when he could see (Y/N) as they were leaving.

The next day the marauders were kinda hungover and not very happy. Remus because he realized his jumper had a stain on it, Peter because he heard some 7th-year girl make fun of him, Sirius because he didn't make out with anyone, and James because of (Y/N).

At breakfast, it was mostly silent. Sirius decided he didn't like it and kept trying to talk about last night. "You know I think that 7th-year girl liked me," no one replied so he continued "Plus they all totally dug my leather jacket. I'm pretty sure-"

"Will you shut up!?" James snapped. A few people around them looked over curiously "Can you all get your own life?" They looked away. James poked at his eggs.

"Calm down buddy. No need to be such an ass," Sirius said.

James slammed his fork down "Really? I was just taking lessons from you,"

Now even Remus and Peter were confused, "What's up Ja-"

"Last night. You just had to be so rude to everyone. Its one thing joking and annoying some random 7th years but did you really need to insult (Y/N)? And get their name wrong?"

Sirius looked confused "Why do you care? Do you like them or something?"

"You know what? Doesn't matter. I'm just hungover. It's fine."

The guys nodded but didn't believe him. "I'll apologize next time I see them," Sirius said. James nodded but said nothing and ate his eggs.

They had charms before break and as they walked in James realized (Y/N) wasn't in yet. Halfway into the period they walked in and took their seat silently. Flitwick waited till everyone was working to walk over to (Y/N) but James couldn't make out what was being said.

As they packed up near the end of the period James tapped Sirius' shoulder and nodded to the other side of the room. He sighed but nodded in response upon seeing (Y/N).

Since it was broken most people rushed out the class, even Flitwick, and the marauders waited outside the class for (Y/N) to walk out.

"Hey! (Y/N), wait up," Sirius said as they went to leave.

They turned to see the marauders, groaned and sped up. Sirius jogged to catch up, forcing them to do the same. "We-I" he corrected himself when Remus coughed "Wanted to apologize."

"Whatever look," they stopped and turned to them "Its whatever. You don't tell people I was there and I'll tell the 7th years to cancel the revenge-"

"What?"

"-Deal?"

The boys looked at each other and nodded "Deal," Sirius said.

"Happy birthday by the way," Remus said. They nodded and went to walk away.

Sirius cannot take a hint, "Why do you only hang with 7th years?"

They sighed and turned around "Because our year is filled with people like you lot," This time they walked away with no issue.

James couldn't help but feel crushed. You lot. They didn't like him. His friends noticed his moping and called him out at dinner "Right what's up?"

"Nothing." He shrugged.

"Is this about (Y/N)?" Peter asked "Because Sirius apologized and I don't remember the last time that happened,"

He sighed but said nothing. It took a few seconds but then Remus slammed his fork down "You like them!" he exclaimed. Luckily since Remus was so quiet only the Marauders heard.

"Omg, you're over Lily?!" Sirius seemed more excited than he should be.

"Will you shut up?" James groaned "They'll never like me,"

"Why?"

"Because I'm one of 'you lot'. They don't like our year," James slumped in his seat. His friends dropped it eventually but it hung in the air like cigarette smoke.

As the marauders were walking to the dorms after last class they heard a distant fizzing. They looked around as it seemingly got closer, "Duck!" Remus yelled as he spotted something.

A small ball of grey light came towards them at an alarming rate. They all managed to duck but James was too slow and it got him, knocking him all the way down.

Laughter erupted as James sat up. He looked over himself to see grey goup was covering him. "Ugh," He grimaced as he tried to shake it off but it only jiggled.

He heard Sirius say some spell but whatever it was didn't work as the water he shot at James didn't budge the slime.

James looked up to see a few of the 7th years from last night grinning. "(Y/N)," he muttered, looking over the mess he was in.

"Ow!" He looked up to see the 7th years rubbing their heads and an angry looking (Y/N).

They huffed and walked over to James. "Sorry 'bout that. You might need a hand getting it off." He nodded.

Somehow James ended up sat in front on (Y/N) in an empty classroom as they prepared something. "I thought I told them all not to do anything. Sorry I guess," they said.

"We deserved it," he admitted. "We shouldn't have ruined your birthday,"

"It wasn't ruined, just mildly dampened." They confessed, "This should take it off."

"What is it?" James asked as he looked at the liquid in the cauldron.

(Y/N) looked at it then at him, "You don't wanna know,"

It was awkward as (Y/N) helped James remove the slime. They had to dampen clothes with the liquid and scrape the slime off. "That's all of it," they said as (Y/N) got the last bit off his neck.

"You need to tell me how to make that one day," James said. They shrugged. James sighed "Why don't you like our year?"

(Y/N) looked away for a moment. "Dunno. I guess its cause they don't like me," they sighed, sitting on one of the desks. "I never really got on with people in general. Specifically my age."

"Then why do you hang out with 7th years,"

"They're my cousin's friends. Dunno what I'm going to do next year though. People don't really like me,"

"I like you," James said.

"You just met me," they shook their head "You'll realize soon enough,"

James sighed "You're not even giving it a chance. For all you know I might end up being your best friend,"

"Highly doubtful,"

"give it a chance. The guys and I go to Hogsmeade every Saturday. Come with this weekend." James offered, his heart beating faster than his first Quidditch match.

They sighed "I dunno,"

James looked around the room, trying to think of something "What about just me? Ease into it I guess,"

"You'll regret it," they said.

"Highly doubtful," he grinned, using their own words against them.

"You're persistent,"

James nodded "I've been told," he thought of Lily. "What do you say?"

"Eh...fine. I suppose what the worst that could happen."

"You could fall madly in love with me," James joked as they both got up to clear away what they'd been using.

"Highly doubtful,"

(Y/N) was wrong about one thing but right about the other. James didn't end up their best friend, surprisingly Sirius did. But they did end up falling for James.

#James Potter #young james potter #james potter imagine #young james potter imagine #Harry Potter #harry potter cast #harry #Harry Potter Ship #harry potter ships #harry potter imagine #Marauders #marauders era #marauders imagine #young sirius black #young peter pettigrew #young remus lupin

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about-notthing · 6 years

Text

Trompe l’Oeil

·Hello everyone! So this is the first thing i post that i’ve actually written. It’s the first part of a story i’m currently writing. I’m sure it’s going to have a thousand mistakes, so please tell so i can correct it. Hope you like it!·

Trompe l’Oeil

part i

Sirius had thought that being the director of one of the most important museums, not only in the country but internationally, would have been more entertaining. Art is something fascinating, something that should make people get goosebumps, something that everybody would be willing to create. Wasn’t he supposed to be witness to that excitement as the representative of the entity?

Apparently not. He only had meetings and more meetings with besuited people, signed papers about moving works and revised the accounts. It was such a bore. The most thrilling things were the Art School’s event, and there weren’t exactly a lot every year.

The School of Fine Arts had been the most ambitious project the museum had ever got into. That had had such an impact on the media - it had been a much-talked-about topic for weeks. It was even more important than when they bought six canvas that Vincent Van Gogh had painted. It all started as a way to put works of art closer to art students from University, and shortly after it had become bigger than anyone would have imagined.

The School had been functioning for more than a lustrum, and its students were already well-known artists all around the world. At the beginning of each school year, there was a great event where graduated students passed the baton to those students who “started their journey”. The whole ceremony was charged with symbolism, and Sirius, as the jewel in the crown, had to be there.

He actually liked the topic of the event, but formalities made him be so bored...His entertainment each year was trying to make his speech as irreverent as he could without the media getting all over him. His honorable mother always got what he meant - it had been more than once that she had pierced his skin with her nails so that he’d had to meet people with blood stains under his suit. Some years she had “warned “ him even before he got on stage.

However, he wasn’t very excited this time. Maybe it was because of the complaints the institution had received lately, or maybe it was because of Irina. Their breakup had been quite notorious. All the museum’s employees had chatted about it at least once. But who could blame them - it’s not every day that your chief breaks his engagement.

There had been a variety of reactions. Some women -and men too- couldn’t help but be at least a bit excited about his boss’ newly acquired bachelorhood. Others felt sorry for him, and his secretary had even held his hand as if someone had died. His mother had gone mad and had ordered him to make her a visit. He hadn’t been able to go to work for a couple of days until his swollen eye had got better.

But the cruelest had been the journalists. They had nearly destroyed him. A Sirius’ ex worked in the most important gossip magazine of the country, and he had never come to terms with their breakup. It seemed he had finally achieved his revenge. However, stating that he had behavioural problems and that he couldn’t have a relationship was just too much. The worst part was that he couldn’t deny the last part. He really wasn’t the kind to have long term relationships. In fact, his longest relation had actually been the one he’d had with Irina. They had known each other for a year and a half by the time they got engaged. A month after the news was out they would have reached two years of happy relationship. Unluckily, they wouldn’t celebrate their anniversary again.

Sirius kicked a crushed can that was lying on the ground. The object hit a lamppost and fall to the road, but the bloke didn’t care. He was looking down, hands in his pants’ pockets and the jacket hanging loosely over his arm. he was having some pretty bad days, and locking himself up in his flat, as luxurious and comfortable as it was, would only make him angry. He would end up frustrated, with a few broken plates and laying on the floor, completely drunk.

It wasn’t so late yet. It had been only two hours since the museum had closed, but nightlife was starting. Bars were already serving plates, and many small shops were taking stock and counting the money they had earned during the day. It was a calm evening at the end of August.

The biggest attraction seemed to be himself. Pedestrians turned back to look at him, surprised to see him wearing a suit - office work schedule had ended a few hours ago. Two seventeen-year-old girls laughed excitedly at his sight and tried to sneak a picture of him. Right away, a lady standing next to them told them who he was and how disastrous his life was. That damn article.

Luckily, Sirius didn’t realize that. He was used to be the centre of attention, he did like it. However, if it was because of something he wasn’t in control of… He just hated it. He felt as if his privacy was being somehow violated, that people entered his inner world and walked around it, touching and breaking everything without caring about the consequences. He was his own museum when a stupid someone tried to touch a painting and then blamed the security staff.

He wandered distractedly. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, but he wasn’t in the mood to check it. It was his brother - he didn’t even have to look at the screen to know it. Sirius had stayed at his house for the past two days - partly because he wanted to hide from the media, partly because he felt so alone. When they broke up, Irina had taken all her things with her. Sirius wasn’t ready to face that lipstick heart she had drawn on the bathroom’s mirror.

He raised his head and felt a bit out of place. He had let his steps guide him, but he had ended up in a part of the city he didn’t know very well.

Sirius shrugged. It didn’t matter anyway. He was about to leave when he saw a little alley on his right. At the end of it, he could see people walking and cars traveling at top speed. He doubted for a few second - should he turn back and go home or go straight down? Well, the alley looked like a shortcut - why not?

The street was really narrow, certainly. There were almost no lampposts, and the limited sunlight rays couldn’t go through the tall buildings surrounding him. Sirius started to feel uneasy but kept on walking. There was no point in turning back.

He was almost midway when he saw light coming from a lateral street. He walked in and, just when he was around the corner, he had to close his eyes shut. He blinked a couple of time before getting used to the clarity. Then, he smiled. He knew that avenue, it was quite close to the city centre. But that meant more people could recognize him. His smile faded slightly.

Sirius crossed the street with his head down and tried to hide in a group of Argentinian -judging by the language- tourists. They walked together for two blocks until, taking advantage of a collective inattention -a few girls had been trying to talk to him for the last minutes- he entered the first café he saw. He walked fast through tables, dodging clients, and he fell on the most forgotten corner of the place. It was only then that he breathed again, letting the air he didn’t know he had been restraining out.

He put his head over his arms and inhaled deeply. He was tired of running away from everyone and everything. His thoughts and his emotions fought against each other. He was dying inside. But he had to keep a straight face so the media and his own coworkers wouldn’t know it all affected him. Showing insecurity would do nothing but destroy him.

“Would you like to order something, sir?”

Sirius lifted his head, fast as if he had been pricked. In front of him, there was a smiling boy. As soon as he saw the logo on the green apron he cursed himself. He should have looked better the place he entered.

“Are you alright? Do you want me to call an ambulance?”

He struggled to find the words but finally managed to articulate a proper sentence.

“No… No, I’m-I’m fine. I’ll have coffee.”

The waiter looked at him for a few seconds, doubting if he should as him the kind of coffee he wanted. He decided not. Although the man ha said he was fine, he didn’t quite believe it.

“Thank you.”

The guy nodded and went back to the counter. Sirius followed him with his eyes. When he disappeared, Sirius rubbed his eyes, tired. “Idiot” a voice in his mind whispered. That’s the way he would look.

Entering a franchise café is a great plan if you want to go unnoticed, as long as you order something. The problem? Those were places where they call out your name so you would pick up your order. Of course, he could lie and say another name, but people would recognize him anyway. However, the waiter was probably doing something he shouldn’t do by going to his table to take his order. Sirius hoped that wouldn’t get him in trouble. It was not the boy’s fault that his life was falling to pieces.

“Here it is. It’s four fifty”

The bloke put a paper glass on the table. Sirius couldn’t help but notice the dimples he had on his cheeks. He stared at him until he realised he was making the guy uncomfortable. He went back to reality and handed him a ten pounds note.

“Take the rest”

“Thank you” He smiled back and walked away.

Although he tried, he couldn’t avoid thinking about the waiter. He was quite handsome. And very young. He would be twenty at most. Sirius looked at him as discreetly as he could. He moved airily in the counter, filling cups with whipped cream and caramel syrup. He joked with his co-worker but did everything she asked him. Twice, he disappeared behind a door and came with a big box in his arms. He worked hard, but he wore a tender smile just like it was painted.

By the time he finished his drink, it was already cold. He lifted the glass to his lips and was surprised by the lack of liquid.

Then he really looked at the class.

It was simple, white, with the green logo in the middle. However, somebody had drawn around it with a black marker. Thin lined intertwined with spirals and soft shapes. Little flowers appeared here and there and dissapeared just as much.

It was a mandala. It was a big and beautiflu mandala decorating his vase.

He was shocked. This looked just like something that one of the Arts’ School students would have done as a project for any subject. He turned the object in his hands, trying to soak up the drawing.

He was about to leave it on the table when he discovered a little sing at the bottom. It was crossed out as if the author had done it mechanically and then had regreted it. However, you could still see the letters “RL” written in cursive.

So those were the initials of whoever had drown that. Sirius didn’t know why, but he had the sensation it had been the boy who had done that. It wasn’t certain, as he hadn’t seen the bloke doing it, but he just felt it.

He took out his phone with a sigh. He had five new messages and six missed calls from his brother and his best friend. He answered fast, trying to be as impersonal as he could. Sometimes, he hated that people cared about him, especially if they were his beloved ones. He felt responsible for his actions. He knew he could destroy them without pretending to. And hurting someone he loved would reduce him to ashes.

He looked for a pen on his pant’s pockets, feeling about his thighs until he found it. He took the cap off and a couple of napkins too. He put one over the other so the ink wouldn't stain the table if it bled. He wrote slowly, carefully, choosing the right words and trying to make his calligraphy as neat as he could.

Once he finished, he left the paper on the table and stood up, straightening the shirt’s sleeves. He put his phone away and took the vase. He looked at it, with a little smile on his lips. The drawing was wonderful, and it had cheered him up a little. His head still felt cloudy and he barely processed what happened around him.

A cool breeze greeted him when he went out of the café. He rubbed his arms. It was late, and it was starting to be cold. He put his hands in his pockets and walked absently. It was time to go home.

He had barely taken a few steps when he remembered the note he had left. He couldn’t help but smile, a little smirk hanging from his lips. He was never going to change. He didn’t want to, anyway.

·Caelum·

#wolfstar #fanfiction #art #harry potter #wolfstar au #idk where this is going but here it is

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crimsonrevolt · 6 years

Photo

Congratulations Eliza you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Sirius Black

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Sirius Black is a character held very close to my heart, and let me say that when your application came through we were obsessed! You capture him so well, I found myself so drawn in with every new section. From your explanation of him as a character to your headcanons and question responses, it’s obvious to us that you love him as much as we do and will write him beautifully. We’re so excited to see you join us, welcome to the group! *Your faceclaim change to Matthew Daddario has been accepted.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Introduction: I’m Eliza, I’m 22, and my preferred pronouns are she/her.

Activity: I’m currently in my final year of uni, so aside from any sudden tsunami of work (always possible) I’m legit doing nothing except sitting on my laptop trying to figure out how to procrastinate my Commodus essay. So, uh, high.

How did you find us? through the marauders era tag, I think!

Anything else? Nothing that I can think of.

IN CHARACTER

Desired character: Sirius Orion Black – Orion for his father. Sirius is a family name; he’s technically Sirius Black the Third, but that’s not something he likes to shout about.

Birthday / star sign: Sirius was born on November 3rd 1960, which makes him a Scorpio, and if you need anymore proof that astrology is real I don’t know what to tell you.

Occupation:

Bartender. Sirius doesn’t need to work – his Uncle Alphard made sure of that – but he learned the hard way that nothing’s worse for his mental health than sitting around all day, picking at old wounds. He works at a bar just off Diagon Alley, wizarding, except for the occasional lost confused muggle. He’s good at his job; he likes to talk to customers, he enjoys small-talk, and he makes a killer martini – plus, it’s the perfect position to be in to gather information. He’s friendly with his boss, and on the second floor there’s a large room that is the perfect size for meetings of a book club. A very special book club, with no books.

Faceclaim:

I absolutely love Miles, but finding gifs for him is tough – could I use Matthew Daddario instead? (or, if you hate him, Aidan Turner or Harry Styles or Ezra Miller?)

Reason for chosen character:

This is actually the last part of the application I’m filling in – I’ve spent ages trying to figure out how to answer this question. Why did I pick Sirius? I can write him well, that’s true, I have a proper handle on his voice and how I think he’d react in most situations, but it’s more than that. I think that Sirius, in any marauders era rp, has the greatest possibility for plots; he’s extroverted, has a finger in basically every pie, and his future looks pretty bloody dreadful from a canon perspective, which is something I love. Give me all the blood and tears you can and I’m happy. Besides, I like Sirius. I think he’s a good man at heart, but his flaws are so immense that he’s fascinating to write. So I guess I picked him because I’d like to be his friend, but would hate him at the same time, and that’s all you want in a character, really.

In this section you should also describe the character and how you see them.

Inherently, Sirius is a man with many flaws that often overwhelm him. He is trying to be good, but not always succeeding. He enjoys the pain of others too much for comfort; he can switch to cruelty in an instant when threatened. He has much less of a conscience than James does – in fact, many would say that James functions as his conscience, that the two of them are two parts of one whole. When, at sixteen, he finally left the Black family for good, he cut them off in his mind as well as in practice, finding it easier to cope with the pain if he forced the world into black and white instead of shades of grey. It is only as he gets older that he is beginning to see the difficulties of choice facing his cousins – but his pride won’t let him admit such a thing. He was brought up with all the prejudices that came with the Black family name; his parents, though not Death Eaters, were violent people, viciously against muggles and muggleborns. He’s certain that his father at least is a murderer, and knows that they rejoice in the insanity of his cousin Bellatrix and all that brings with it.

The main way Sirius coped with the loss of his family was by demonising the lot of them. That isn’t, in a way, incorrect: the Blacks were and are at the forefront of the Death Eaters, and Sirius was always too compassionate to easily accept that ideology. But equally he refuses to see any good in them. Anyone who is even neutral in the war turns his stomach. He cannot understand the difficulty of choosing between your morals and your family – after all, he did it, didn’t he? He sees fighting as the only moral option, and that puts him in conflict not just with Death Eaters, but with other bystanders too.

Preferred ships // Character sexuality // Gender & Pronouns:

Bisexual | cis male | he/him

Preferred ships: I’m a sucker for wolfstar, but honestly anything with chemistry works for me. If you can come up with a horribly angsty plot, so much the better, because Sirius is not lucky in love.

Details:

Walburga and Orion had a happy marriage, but it was not one that set a good example to their son in terms of love. They never showed affection in public – Sirius never saw them so much as hold hands; when, as he was storming out of Grimmauld Place for the final time when he was sixteen, he saw his father place a hand on Walburga’s shoulder, he knew that he had truly gone too far to turn back. Their affection was based on fierce loyalty, concurrent goals and ideology, and matching intelligence that they both passed down to their eldest son, but they treated each other only with cold respect in front of their children. With no model of domestic harmony to fall back on, Sirius has never been very emotionally capable. Passionate by nature but always unsure of the affection of others, he tended at Hogwarts to fall into a pattern of obsession and then rejection that had him labelled a womaniser.

Sirius’s love for boys – it is a love for boys, he’s long since accepted that; at first he told himself it was just because he liked sex, but that theory’s been scuppered over and over again – is something that he is relatively open about. He is lucky in that his group of friends are quite accepting; even those who don’t understand the sexual revolution that has been happening in the last decade see it as another of his quirks, oh, that’s just Sirius. His self-confidence, as fuelled by the Marauders, has meant that he has rarely struggled with his sexuality – it’s another thing his family would hate him for, and therefore something else to be proud of.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

Potential plots:

1. James Potter:

James and Sirius are two parts of one whole – Sirius sees him, with typical casual self-deprecation, as the sunlight to his own shadow. Sirius is hardly the sort of person to let anyone take a curse if he’s in the vicinity, but for James Sirius is pretty sure he’d do anything. Not only did James complete the transformation, already begun through his parents’ cruelty, of Sirius from Pureblood supremacist to fully-fledged blood traitor, but also makes him the best person he can be. Around James, all of Sirius’s rough edges are smoothed out; he’s at his funniest, and also at his kindest. They see each other every day, people take the absolute piss, and Sirius loves it.

2. Remus Lupin:

Ah, Remus. Sirius has been in love with a lot of people throughout his life – he can’t help it, he’s a Scorpio – but Remus, well, he lingered. Not that Sirius would say anything, and he spends half his time mocking his friend so thoroughly that no one suspects, and anyway, he’s over it, obviously, times five hundred. But there it is – Remus Lupin, lingering.

They work well together, is all. Remus looks blankly at him every time he makes a bad joke, which is excellent for Sirius’s ego; when Remus wakes up bloodied and furious with himself and the world, Sirius is there, feet up on the bottom of his bed, bottle of water in one hand and cigarette in the other. Remus knows that Sirius secretly likes to read, curled up in his kitchen with a mug of strong coffee, and Sirius knows how Remus likes his gin (strong, expensive). They might not be like James and Sirius, but they can sit in silence for hours, and a lot of the time, that’s all Sirius needs.

3. Regulus Black:

For a long time, Regulus was Sirius’s only friend – something he now says in a tone that’s supposed to be funny, but no one really laughs. A large part of Sirius, larger than he’d like to admit, knows how similar they are, how easily he could have been like Reg, had he not been the heir and subject to more pressure, had he not had James, and for a while he tried to be James to Regulus. But it was fruitless; perhaps it always would have been. Every so often they see each other, and it makes Sirius want to go and drink for five days – usually he then does.

4. Aversio

Sirius was an obvious choice for Aversio recruitment – not only is his cousin Andromeda a member, but he has often vocally and emphatically (and sometimes violently) declared his dissatisfaction with the Order. Weighed down by bureaucracy and occasionally the very prejudices they claim to fight against, Sirius sees the Order as a useless, bloated organisation, too afraid to do anything except wave placards in the air outside the Ministry. He has taken part in several Aversio attacks, but keeps his involvement entirely secret, except from other members. He is suspected, of course, and doesn’t like to openly lie, but there’s no proof; he’s still a member of the Order on the surface. He sees fighting fire with fire as a moral choice – to do anything other than the utmost is to betray the cause, and to be no better than the enemy.

Mini-headcanons:

nicknames padfoot

star sign scorpio

mbti ESFP, the Entertainer

greek mythological counterpart Poseidon, god of the sea, of earthquakes, of storms and horses, protector of seafarers, associated with drowning and madness.

season autumn

deadly sin pride

heavenly virtue liberality

element fire

flower gladiolus. Gladioli symbolise strength of character, faithfulness and honour, as well as remembrance and infatuation, with a bouquet conveying to a recipient that they pierce the giver’s heart with passion.

colour storm-grey

wand elm wood, unicorn hair, 11 inches, excellent for hexes

patronus black dog

early bird or night owl night owl

greatest fear rejection by his found family

secret superstition has a terrible habit of crossing his fingers while he sleeps to ward off bad dreams

small facts

Sirius can ice skate. He can play the piano. He can ballroom dance. He can make a wicked spaghetti bolognese. He likes to read, but can’t write to save his life; his handwriting is something close to incomprehensible. He has an average singing voice, he loves muggle music, and he wishes that he was born a Beatle. When he was fifteen years old he lost his virginity to a distant French cousin of James’s somewhere behind the Potters’ Quidditch pitch. He has been in love, at various points in his school career, with Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, Glenda Chittock, and probably Minerva McGonagall. He hates anything that tastes like nuts, won’t touch sugar quills, and changes his hairstyle every three days. You can tell that he’s unhappy because he retreats inwards, goes quiet, stormy. He likes Quidditch but prefers motorcycles, much to James’s disgust. He thinks marriage is a scam, but secretly wants children desperately. He loves cats, but they hate him. He would die for his friends.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

Do you think it is more important to be feared or loved? Which would you rather be?

SIRIUS: Loved, for sure. Who’d say feared? Being feared is awful; there’s nothing more toxic. It wraps itself around your lungs like a sickness, like clove cigarette smoke, and twists you all up inside until it’s all you lust after, that look in someone’s eyes when they’re afraid of you. No, that’s not for me – I couldn’t trust myself not to want more. Love is good enough.

What is one thing you would never want said about you?

SIRIUS: That I was boring. Can you imagine? You’re sitting there, in your Hufflepuff scarf (you’re definitely a Hufflepuff in this scenario), and you’re eavesdropping on some older, way cooler students (one of them is especially dashing) and they say that they got trapped in conversation with you on Tuesday and couldn’t get away. They wanted to get away from you because you bored them to tears. I think I’d rather die than be in that position. You know what they say – all huff, no puff. Or something. Do they say that? They should.

If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it!

SIRIUS: oh, I’d absolutely invent a cure for lycanthropy. I don’t know if it’d be a charm, or a potion – probably a charm, because Lupin’s the worst at taking potions on time, and he’s the only werewolf I give a fuck about. Wait, did he not say that? Did he forget he was a werewolf? What, and I’m here, slaving over a cauldron, wasting my life away in this dingy basement (obviously I’m brewing this world-changing potion in a basement, by torchlight, also for some weird reason I’m wearing a full-length black robe?) like Nicholas fucking Flamel? I swear to God –

What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

SIRIUS: it’s not necessarily that I find making decisions hard. I make decisions fast, and find it hard to go back on them. It’s more that – well, making the correctdecisions is difficult.

When I was sixteen – and I’m not introducing my age because I think it excuses it; it doesn’t, I’m just trying to set the damn scene – I made a mistake that could have – well, I was going to say it could have destroyed my friendships, but it was more than that. It could have made me a murderer, and Remus too. I’m only telling you this because I am assuming it will never go any further than the two of us. I don’t tell other people’s secrets.

I hated Severus Snape from our first day at Hogwarts. He was arrogant, and he was nasty, and he was clearly in deep with the dark arts, which I don’t hold with. Prongs hated him too, for other reasons that he’ll probably tell you considering he takes any opportunity to go on about Evans. And sixth year was shit. Again, that isn’t an excuse – but that’s what my mindset was, that autumn. My uncle Alphard had just died. I knew that I would never see my brother again, and traitor that he was, he was – is – still my brother. I came back to Hogwarts in September and it felt like a dark cloud had just broken over my head. It wouldn’t go away. I’m going to put this bluntly, because it’s how I do things best – Remus is a werewolf. That’s relevant.

In November, we all knew Snape was sniffing around. Moony had been off at the beginning of the month, and it had been a shit full moon; I wasn’t in a good enough place to control him as well as I should’ve been, and we were all roughed up the next day, Moony the worst. Prongs had a nasty black eye, as I remember; I had a cut up face, Peter was limping. Snape had been watching us. We were all on edge; he’d been close to figuring out Moony’s secret for years, and we knew that if he found proof he’d spread it all around the school. He’d want Remus out – expelled, or worse. As December grew closer, we grew worse. We were snapping at each other, we were getting close to fights every damn evening. Moony was pale and ill the entire month, there wasn’t even the usual grace period between moons. It felt like everything was bad.

The full moon was on December 2nd. That day, James and I had had a catastrophic fight about everything and nothing – we bickered like fucking lovers back then. I bumped into Snape at the bottom of the Astronomy tower, and I – I told him where to find Remus.

God, I regretted it. I regretted it immediately. But even then, even though I knew it was wrong, I hadn’t figured it all out. I’ve always been bad at seeing consequences. When I found James and told him, I was laughing. I thought we’d give Snape a scare – then he’d never bother us again. James has always been a better man than me; he knew immediately what would happen. Remus would kill Snape, or bite him – we weren’t sure which was worse. James went after him. He saved his life. Snape wasn’t grateful, the fucker, but I – well.

Remus forgave me first. He shouldn’t have; I didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t give less of a shit if Snape dies, but Remus would have been affected; I would’ve made a killer out of him. But we could never fight for long; we don’t give each other the silent treatment. I think Remus would forgive me anything. James, on the other hand, took months. Even now, he looks at me different. That’s the sort of decision I’d take back in an instant. That’s the sort of decision I find hard to make.

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

Sirius would be right up there with Amelia and Dirk at the Quidditch match – he fiercely believes that Aversio has the right way forward, and especially after the Order’s apparent dismissal of Edgar Bones’s disappearance (Sirius sees everything other than intense passion as dismissal), he’s feeling even more frustrated and disenfranchised. He would absolutely be helping Marlene and James, though likely getting in the way somewhat, given his tendency to go in all guns blazing (all wands blazing?) when it comes to his family. Fuck Bellatrix is his phrase of the week…well, the month. The year?

I don’t know if Sirius would take direct part in the actual mission to rescue Edgar – it probably makes more sense rp-wise if he didn’t, maybe because the others don’t trust him (though I don’t know if James would leave him behind). Either way, Ed’s return is a positive for two reasons – one, Sirius likes the bloke, and two, he’s hoping he can use Ed’s rescue as a concrete example of Aversio doing better than the Order. Politics, mate.

WRITING SAMPLE

Sirius Black was up a tree.

He didn’t spend a lot of time up trees, as a rule. But it was the first of September, and as such he was avoiding people - and in the Potter household, the only place it was feasible to be alone was in the branches of the huge oak tree in the grounds, out by the Quidditch pitch. He’d climbed it, hands slipping on the wet bark, about an hour previously, and he was starting to shiver.

It was unseasonably cold for September. The wind whistled through the leaves of the trees and caught at his hair, tangling it into messy curls; he huffed and pushed it out of his face and let the rain sweep down in huge sheets. He imagined it washing his features away, leaving him with nothing but a blank canvas which he could paint over, inscribe new eyes, a new nose, a new mouth. Maybe he would make himself a Potter. He closed his eyes and imagined them hazel and bright instead of grey and sharp, and knew he was being fanciful. In the Black household, being fanciful was on a par with dreaming below your station, and Sirius, though naturally imaginative, couldn’t shake that last remnant of his mother’s distaste.

He opened his eyes and watched the water drip off his eyelashes in diamond flashes. He was freezing. Surely, he thought, somewhat bitterly, if this was meant to be a formative moment in his life the world would allow him a few more moments to be at least healthily warm so that he could get his musings into better shape. But it was not to be: he was starting to shake, and even he couldn’t pretend to be fine much longer.

Below him, a figure was struggling through the wind, down the sloping grass from the front door. “Sirius!” the figure howled into the combative weather, the wind tossing his voice away towards the lake. “Oi! Black! Are you completely fucking insane?! Get inside, it’s half-eight! Mum’s made bacon!”

Bacon - now that, at least, jerked Sirius out of his stupid melancholy mood. He slid gracefully down the trunk of the tree and landed with a thump and a squelch of mud in front of his friend, who glared at him through rain-speckled glasses.

“I,” he explained, with dignity, “was having life-changing thoughts.”

“Brilliant,” snapped James, in a manner that suggested it most definitely was not. “But Catchlove’s tits can wait, Black, because I’m starving.”

#accepted app #sirius black

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fvckyouimaprophet · 6 years

Text

All Summer Long | Chapter Three

Summary: AU where Draco Malfoy gets stuck in his Animagus form, and Harry Potter unsuspectingly takes him in. Set post-war. | Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two

Author’s Note: To elaborate on something I should have at the beginning, I visualize Draco as a Berger Blanc Suisse. In my mind, Sirius looks like a black German Shepherd. Part of what made Harry so drawn to Draco is that he looks almost identical to Sirius but white.

By the time Draco woke up, Harry was at work. As relaxing as he wanted his newfound freedom to be, it turned out that hours alone did little more than drive him stir-crazy. He knew if he could get out of the apartment, things would be better, but the rain outside did not relent. Regardless, Harry’s fenced in backyard could only provide a little amount of relief.

So Draco spent most of the morning hopping from the couch in the living room to Harry’s bed. At some point, he found himself halfway between sleep and consciousness when he heard the bang of the door.

Draco’s head shot out, and he leapt off of the bed toward the living room, only to find Harry, drenched from the rain. Back so soon?

“Hey there, boy,” Harry said, crouching down and stretching out his arms as if waiting for Draco to come toward him. I’m not Lassie, Potter. Harry seemed to quickly give up on the idea of Draco running towards him because he got up, kicked his shoes off, and made his way toward the kitchen.

“I figured that you and I could spend some quality lunch time together. I usually spend it with Hermione and Ron, but…” If his conversation with Hermione had been anything to go by, Draco knew that it had to have been a while since he had lunch with Ron. Harry cleared his throat. “Besides, you have to be hungry.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair as he rummaged through the fridge. “I don’t even know what to feed you?” He hummed as Draco stood behind him, trying to look past him to see what Harry had, but before he could, Harry had pulled a few things out and had shut the door. “You’re a dog. Dogs like bacon, right?” he asked as he tore open the package.

I’ll just be thankful it’s not Weetabix. Draco laid down on the other side of the kitchen, giving Harry enough room to move around as he cooked. Draco yawned as he laid down, and Harry caught it.

“Must be a tough life, just lounging about and getting fed,” Harry joked, an affectionate smile spreading across his face.

Yeah, not as relaxing as you’d think being trapped as a fucking dog. Draco huffed, and Harry raised an eyebrow.

“You know, I think Hermione was wrong about you, which – you don’t know Hermione, but it’s rare. She’s always right. It’s usually pretty great, but sometimes it’s awful because –“ Harry frowned as he turned to grab a spatula to push the bacon around the pan. “Never mind. The point is that I think you can understand me.” Harry set the spatula and turned around and crouched to make himself as close to Draco as possible. Draco lifted up his head.

“Okay, boy. Bark once if you can understand me.”

Under any other circumstances, Draco would have been having the time of his life. As Harry stared intently at him, Draco could almost hear the gears in his head working. If the circumstances were any less dire, Draco would have gladly messed with his head, but he couldn’t afford to risk any chance he got at resolving this. But the moment must have passed for Harry in Draco’s hesitation because he began to get up.

Fuck. Draco let out a belated bark, and Harry paused.

“Bark twice if you can understand me?” he tried, his voice sounding much less certain than it had just seconds earlier.

Draco barked twice.

Harry’s brown furrowed, and his stare deepened. After a moment, his relaxed and shook his hand. “Or maybe I’m crazy.” He shook his head and paused turning around to say, his voice light and mocking, “Bark if you know where Draco Malfoy is.”

Holy shit. Draco stood up barking and lunging at Harry.

“Ow! Merlin! What are you doing?” Harry stepped backwards and knocked into the handle of the pan. “Fuck.” He cradled his elbow and looked at the damage before snatching the spatula and pointing it at Draco. “Bad dog!”

I will murder you in your sleep, Potter. I swear –

Draco bit the leg of his pants and pulled again. You dim-witted goddamn idiot.

“Protego!” Draco slide back against the invisible barrier and growled. “What’s gotten into you?” Harry asked, cupping his burn on his elbow with his free hand. “Go!” He pointed away from the kitchen, toward the living room. Judging by the look in Harry’s eyes, Draco knew he wasn’t going to win this fight. His eyes stayed locked with Harry’s for a moment, and he bore his teeth before turning on his heel and moving to the living room.

I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. Draco jumped on the couch and spread out, resting his head on his front paws. If you don’t figure this out soon, so help me God. Draco stared blankly ahead as Harry cooked. He could hear the sizzles and movement from the kitchen, and it was only a few minutes before Harry stepped out, a plate of bacon in one hand and a B.L.T. in the other. I’m going to dehydrate just looking at that.

“How are you doing?” Harry asked, keeping a safe distance. “Still angry?” Draco huffed and looked away from him. “This is what I mean when I say that I swear you can understand me.” Harry must have decided that it was safe because he began to step toward the couch. Draco lifted his head and barked loudly, snickering – or something similar to it – when Harry jumped.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” Harry scowled and set the plate down on the table before motioning to where Draco’s hind legs were kicked out behind him. “And what’s this?”

Draco threw a look over his shoulder at them but otherwise didn’t move.

“I’ve never met a dog so committed to being petty.” Harry pushed Draco to one side of the couch and sat down. Draco kicked his hind legs out again, whacking Harry’s thigh. “So help me God, when I find your old owner, I am going to have some strong words with them.” He took a bite out of his sandwich.

“Mmhph! I hab sometin’ to helb.” Harry jumped up – the sandwich still in his mouth – and moved over to his satchel. He dug for a moment before pulling out a camera.

I am not letting you plaster photos of me all over, Potter. Draco jumped down from the couch and ran towards the kitchen, but Harry pulled the sandwich out of his mouth and moved faster, blocking him.

“So you’re camera shy! There’s no need to be worried. I just need one good photo, and –”

Absolutely not! Draco dove between his legs.

“Hey, come back!” Harry set the camera down on the table before running after him. Draco made his way into the bedroom and tried to nudge the door shut with his muzzle, but before he could, Harry came in. “Got you!” Harry jumped down on top of him, his arms enveloping him, and before Draco took a moment to think, he licked his face.

“Ugh, gross!” Harry wiped his face, oblivious as Draco froze. “I guess you have some dog in you, after all.” He sniffed his hand and mimed barfing before looking over at Draco.

Draco could feel the tension across his whole body. What if I turn into a dog because I’m one for too long? Rationally, he knew it wasn’t true, but all he could think about was licking his face. When Harry’s hand ruffled the top of his head, it felt as if he was watching himself from outside as he turned to face him.

“Relax, buddy. It’s fine. I mean, your breath definitely stinks, but it’s really okay.” Harry bent forward and pressed a kiss to the top of Draco’s head.

With his eyes shut, all Draco could picture was Harry’s face last night – teary and crushed. As awkward as it was, having his hair – or fur, as it were – ruffled by none other than Harry Potter, it was a small price to pay for a roof over his head with – he hoped – the person who could help him undo this damn curse.

“Who knew this is what it took to get you to stop taking yourself so seriously.” Draco opened his eyes to see Harry staring at him. “Now, come and eat because I have to go in like five minutes.” With one last pet, Harry got up and made his way toward the living room.

Well, all right, then. Draco sighed and got up as well, shaking himself off before making his way into the room. No sooner had he stepped out of the hallway then was he met by a bright flash.

“Aha! I got a picture!” Harry beamed and took another bite of his sandwich.

Motherfucker.

“Now I just gotta put these up. Because if you were in Diagon Alley, that means whoever owns you can’t be a Muggle.” He bopped a stunned Draco on the nose before grabbing his satchel and stepping toward the door. “I’ll catch you later, bud.”

- - -

Unsurprisingly, no one came forward about the photos, and about three weeks later, Harry seemed as if he had given up. At times, Draco was almost positive that Harry didn’t want to find someone. They had developed a schedule of sorts, and Draco had to admit that it wasn’t half-bad – or rather, as half-bad as it could be considering the circumstances.

Harry came home every lunch break. Sometimes he cooked, but mostly he seemed to stop by the grocery store to grab sandwiches and sausage rolls. Draco thought that he watched the TV an awful lot, especially after work, but after watching a few episodes of what appeared to be a show called Game of Thrones, Draco could see the appeal.

Regardless, as much as Draco hated to admit it, it could be nice at times. Harry’s loneliness shone through at times when he would talk to Draco about something that had happened at work or in the store. No new moment had popped up for Draco to bark some sense into Harry to reveal who he was, but Draco had to admit that he felt oddly confident that he would work something out.

“I’m going to see Ginny this weekend,” Harry said, stabbing at his chicken tikka masala with his fork. Draco lifted his head up from his plate of it, waiting for Harry to continue. “Apparently Ron’s waiting to see how it goes to reach out. So Hermione said when we got coffee, but I’m hoping it’ll go okay.” Harry set his fork down and clasped his hands together in his lap. “Can I tell you something?”

I’m guessing you will anyway. Draco stretched out on the couch and adjusted himself for a long speech. He gave a half-hearted bark and prepared to tune out.

“I knew it was a bad idea when I kissed Rhys, and I know it sounds stupid, but I felt like if I didn’t do it, I would go crazy.”

Rhys? Draco lifted his head and started intently at Harry. You made out with a Rhys? That’s why Ginny left you?

“I know it’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever done, but I don’t regret it.” Harry picked at the skin around his nails and looked down in his lap as he spoke, but Draco felt as if the couch fell out beneath him. “If anyone would get it, she would, but I still couldn’t tell her. I don’t know. I’m like the worst bisexual ever, right? Like isn’t that what they all say – bisexuals cheat and are greedy and –” Harry’s jaw clenched, and Draco could tell he was focusing his energy on keeping a straight face.

Holy shit. Draco just tried to keep still. The moment felt fragile, as if he breathed too loudly or moved even an inch, Harry would stop. So Draco took shallow breaths and was careful not to move.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. “I loved her, but things felt different. She kept on wanting me to talk about everything that had happened in the war, and I just couldn’t. There’s was all of this distance between us, and we were fighting half the time, so I kept on thinking, ‘What if this is it? What if we spend the rest of our lives together, and I never know what it’s like to kiss or to fuck another guy? What if I’m actually gay, and I don’t know it? Or what if I just never stop thinking about it, and it ruins the relationship anyway?’ But then I slept with Rhys –”

Slept with?!

“—and I couldn’t not tell her. It was like as soon as it happened I realized that I should have talked to her anyway, dealt with all the shit that had happened. As soon as I did it, I realized what an absolute prat I was.” Harry put his face in his hands. “I don’t think we would have worked out anyway, but that’s not the way I wanted things to end, you know? She was the first person I loved, and she deserved better.”

For the first time, Harry opened his eyes and made eye contact with Draco.

Oh, Potter. Harry could barely hold back tears. He reached up, wiping his hand with his sleeve. “Who needs a therapist when you have a dog, am I right?” Harry sniffled and tried to smile, but it quickly faltered.

You and I have more in common than I think you realize. Based off of the conversation with Hermione, Draco had assumed that Harry and Ginny must have broken up over something along the lines of cheating, but he had never assumed that this was it.

Draco steadied himself as he stood up and shifted on the couch. If there had ever been a moment he wished he could speak – removing the obvious – this was it. Had anyone told him it even a few weeks ago, Draco knew he would have scoffed at the suggestion, but for the first time in a long time, perhaps even years, Draco felt something close to kinship. You shouldn’t have to get vulnerable to what you think is a dog because you can’t talk to your friends. As Draco placed his head in Harry’s lap, Draco could feel Harry tremble.

The movement must have removed the last of his ability to keep from crying because before Draco could look up, he felt a tear drop onto the top of his head.

“I’m so scared to see her. I don’t know how to say I’m sorry and have her believe it,” Harry said. “I know I fucked up, and maybe it isn’t fair, but I need her to forgive me. Hermione and Ron too. I mean, Ron and I have gone months without speaking before, but somehow it didn’t feel so much like just my fault then. But now…”

For perhaps the first time, Harry did not look like Harry Potter to him. He looked human and fragile. You can cry, Potter. It’s okay. Draco nudged his head against Harry’s clasped hands, and a small laugh bubbled out of Harry. “I’ve tried to get you to like me enough to let me properly pet you for the past month, and this is what it takes? You are one strange dog.” Harry began by petting the fur around his face before moving down to his chest and sides. Draco pushed away the instant desire to jump back and instead tried to relax and enjoy the sensation.

It had been so long since he had let anyone touch him. With someone from the Ministry watching him like a hawk at all times, it felt foolish to try to start anything. He had thrown himself into work instead. It had always been easier that way. There had been a kiss or two at the bar, a few men in back rooms, one in his apartment.

But this was different, new. Certainly, to call it romantic would have been a stretch. For all Potter knows, he’s petting a real dog. Nonetheless, it took all of Draco’s energy to just let himself relax and let the moment wash over him. All he wanted to do was talk. I know what it’s like not to want to tell anyone, to close yourself in. But he couldn’t, so he just let the comfort of his touch speak instead.

“I wish you could tell me your story. I feel like it’s kind of unfair how much of the talking I do.” Draco snorted. You do talk endlessly, Potter. “Like how did you get a scar like this? Was it a fight? Did another dog bite you?” Harry reached down and ran a hand over his chest, and Draco’s throat tightened.

The moment slowly crumbled as he stood up and jumped off of the couch. You gave it to me. He had noticed how prominent the scar was the first few times he had transfigured, but he had forgotten since then. Draco’s breath caught in his throat as he remembered being thrown back against the tiled floor, getting colder.

“Buddy?” Harry had been calling him that lately as if that were his name. But Draco couldn’t look back. What’s the point in getting comfortable? As soon as you find out who I am, it won’t matter. You’ll go back to your life, and I will have to deal with whatever they throw my way.

He could hear Harry stand up, but he made his way to the glass door to the backyard and pulled it open. Deep breaths. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Harry must have realized that there was no way to salvage the moment, and when Draco turned around, Harry had already left.

Draco waited out there long enough until the light in the living room and kitchen went off – long enough to be sure that Harry had gone to bed. He nudged the door to the outside closed as best as he could and walked over to the bedroom. The door was cracked, and even from outside, Draco could hear Harry snoring.

Draco pushed the door quietly open and walked in. Even in the darkness, he could faintly see Harry’s face. You can do this. Maybe they wouldn’t be friends after all was said and done, but if there was anything that was obvious, it was that Harry needed someone right now. And as complicated as it was, Draco tried to push it out of his mind, at least for tonight.

He jumped up on the bed and burrowed his head under Harry’s arm. Harry’s snores cut off, and he mumbled as he woke, if only for a moment. “Buddy?” Their eyes met for a moment before Draco broke their gaze and lay his head down on Harry’s chest. Harry’s arm tightened around him, and Draco listened as Harry’s breath slowed and eventually got deeper as he fell asleep.

- - -

Draco knew that there was no way to go back to sleeping on separate pieces of furniture after that, and sure enough, Harry called him over to the bed the following night. And Draco had to admit, there didn’t seem to be any point in fighting it. He had already slept next to Harry, and regardless, there was nothing to do about the fact that Harry had already seen him in dog form. You’ve won this round.

Besides, since discovering that Harry was queer, things had felt slightly different. He’d been young enough when he’d realized that his initial assessment of Harry as the boy who had everything might have been too generous or blind. But since he’d seen Harry cry – twice now – it had been impossible not to see someone else.

You’re really quite softer than who you pretend to be.

The rest of the week flew by quickly with no more heart-to-hearts, and Draco found that he was sleeping better than usual, something he figured had more to do with the fact that he was sleeping on the bed than it had to do with him sleeping with Harry’s arm draped over him. Nonetheless, when the weekend came and Harry left to go see Ginny, Draco felt oddly nervous.

He didn’t know what he expected, but a part of him, no matter how much he tried to push it down, couldn’t help but wonder if there was some outcome to this conversation that ended in Ginny coming back and him getting kicked out. After all, there wasn’t enough room in the apartment for him, Ginny, and Harry. And there wouldn’t be any reason for Harry to talk to him or hang out with him if Ginny were there.

Snap out of it. Harry owed him nothing. There was nothing tying Harry to him other than loneliness. It was why he had him in the first place. Luck had it that Harry ran into him like this. There was no reason that it couldn’t disappear just as easily.

The hours dragged on, and Draco made his way in and out of the kitchen to look at the clock built into the stovetop. It was almost one in the morning by the time the keys slid into the lock. Draco ran into the living room from the kitchen.

Do I look too eager? He barely had time to make it to the couch and rest his head before the door opened. Why the fuck do I even care? Even as he wondered, he did his best to lift his head and try to look droopy, as if he’d just been woken up.

However, with the lights off, it was impossible to tell what the expression on his face was. Draco was sure Harry would flip the switch on and start talking immediately, but he moved slowly as if he was trying not to wake someone. He shut the door in slow motion and leaned against the back of it for half a minute before reaching for the switch. Take your sweet-ass time. Sure. Merlin, you’re frustrating.

As soon as the light turned on, Harry looked in Draco’s direction and yelped. “I thought you were asleep.” His hand went up to his hair, which was already a mess, and tugged at it. “But you’re not, are you, buddy?” He laughed and shook his head, and it took Draco a moment to smell it, but his dog nose couldn’t miss it.

That’s a lot of alcohol.

Harry shook his head as he tossed his keys at the table and missed by at least an arm’s length. “Fuckin’ hell, that actually went better than expected.” You could’ve fooled me.

Harry stumbled his way over to the couch and collapsed backwards on it. “She forgives me, I mean.” Harry let out a strangled laugh. “I don’t know why, but she does.” When Harry burps loudly and winces, covering his mouth, Draco knows that Harry has to be in for a rough night.

You, Harry Potter, are a train wreck. Draco felt half-bad for wishing the worst upon him. As far as Draco could tell, Harry seemed perfectly capable of keeping resolution far out of reach.

“She’s also dating someone.” Harry threw his head back into the couch with purposeful vigor as if to hit it. “I feel so fucking guilty for being jealous. I don’t have any reason to be jealous, do I? But I still am, even though her girlfriend may be the sweetest person I’ve ever met.”

Did she bring her girlfriend? Well, no wonder you’re such a mess. Draco sighed and got up, moving his head to Harry’s lap and licking Harry’s hand as he moved it closer to scratch behind his ears.

“I just can’t believe it’s Luna.” Draco lifted his head and perked his ears up. Lovegood? “I mean, I’m happy for them. I truly am, but I’m just so fucking sad and alone.” Harry slumped over and groaned. “My head hurts. I can’t do this.”

Up and at ‘em. We need to get you in the shower. Draco pulled Harry up by his sleeves as Harry groaned.

“Why can’t you leave me be?” Harry whined, but he still followed Draco’s lead. He stumbled his way to the bathroom, and it was only once he was there that he seemed confused by what Draco was even doing. But when Draco jumped into the tub and tugged the metal handle until the faucet started running, Harry got the gist.

“I don’t know who owned you, but it’s really fucking strange that you’re basically taking care of me while I’m drunk. Like it’s almost like you’re not a dog.” Draco sighed. If you weren’t pissed out of your mind, I would murder you right now.

But Harry could barely stand, and Draco was certain that he had already forgotten what he had said. Harry leaned over to move the water from the faucet to the showerhead and nearly slipped. Draco bit onto his shirt and tugged, steadying him.

“Buddy, what would I do without you?” Have the world’s worst hangover. He smiled at Draco and began taking off his shirt. After a moment of being tangled in its fabric, he managed to get it off.

This seems like my cue to leave. But as if reading his mind, Harry leaned over and pushed the door shut. The round handle on the door was not one that Draco could open, and he glanced anxiously around the small space, trying to bury himself in a corner and give Harry some privacy.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Harry naked. It had happened a few times now, when Harry had changed in the bedroom while he was in it. But it always seemed easier to roll over on the bed or just close his eyes there. Here, Harry was mere steps away from him. When he heard Harry stumble, he jerked his head up from the wall towards him and barely had time to prepare as Harry caught himself, half against the wall and half on Draco’s back.

Who knew you could be such a disaster? He wondered whether it was better that he was here because he doubted it would be the last time Harry slipped and almost fell. Draco nudged Harry’s legs toward the bath, and he waited until he heard the shower curtain close behind him before turning around. It felt wrong to watch Harry’s silhouette, but he did anyway for a moment as Harry ran his hands over his face and through his hair. Eventually, he settled to look away again, letting there be as much privacy as there possibly could in such a small space.

You’re going to have so many regrets when you find out.

Harry ran the water for a good twenty minutes before he stepped out and wrapped a towel around himself. He looked more like himself when Draco looked up at him, and even though the smell of alcohol lingered even after he brushed his teeth, he looked like he could be sober soon.

Draco barked for Harry to open the door and made his way to the bedroom as Harry finished getting ready. By the time Harry joined him on the bed, Draco was struggling to stay awake.

“Can I tell you something kind of bad?” Harry asked as he wrapped both arms around Draco and buried his face against his fur. Draco swallowed thickly at the sudden burst of affection. “I hope we never find your owner.”

Draco closed his eyes as he tried to understand why his heart felt like it couldn’t stop fluttering.

- - -

Draco knew something had to be wrong when the clock moved past 19 o'clock on Wednesday, and Harry hadn't come home yet. Even when he had extra work, he frequently tried to finish it at home. Nonetheless, Draco didn't start worrying until he saw the neon numbers read: 22:47.

Where the fuck are you? He didn't understand why he was even assuming the worst. If nothing else, Harry had proved himself fully capable of taking care of himself over the years. But whatever the case was, Draco knew it could be cause for concern.

Deep breaths. He's going to be fine. He's an Auror! Of course he's working weird hours. Honestly, it's weird he hasn't worked these hours before.

Still, he watched as the clock changed from 23:59 to 0:00 and felt a cold dread settle in. Come on.

As it turned out, the door remained quiet and untouched until 2:23. By that point, he was certain every possible ill thought had made its way through his mind. If something happened, no one would bother to tell a dog. I'd never see him again and never get a chance to say goodbye. Even if he was in the hospital, Draco knew no one had any reason to check in on him. A dumb dog would be the last thing on anyone's minds. No one's going to come check in on me, and then I'll starve. Or if they do come check in on me, they'll probably put me out on the street. No one would want me, and I'd be stuck a dog. Fuck.

So when the keys made their way into the lock, Draco's head swerved up. The door creaked a few inches before slamming open the rest of the way. Draco jumped off the couch, but no sooner had he made a few steps then was he hit by a wave of alcohol significantly more intense than that of Saturday.

"Shh, my dog is probably sleeping," Harry shout-whispered.

"I think your dog will be fine." The low voice was not one he recognized. Draco started moving slowly toward the door, but before he could, Harry and the mystery man came into sight.

"He's a weird dog. Very particularly," Harry said, and Draco felt a small knot form in his stomach.

Fuck you too, Potter.

Draco watched as they stumbled in, their hands reaching for each other's hair, face, arm, whatever they could touch. A hot wave of shame and something else hit him as Harry pressed his face against this man’s face with nothing short of desperation.

Draco barked.

"That dog, you mean?" the guy asked, pointing at Draco.

"Shh, down boy," Harry said, not even bothering to look in Draco's direction.

The knot in Draco's stomach felt like it could not stop growing. Had it been a possibility, he was sure his face would have been flushed. He clenched his jaw and looked this stranger up and down before barking again. Who do you think you are?

But they both ignored him. The guy seemed cute and perhaps a year or two older than them, but something about him made Draco tense all over. The only reason he's interested in you is because he's miserable and lonely and drunk as he, but you wouldn't understand. Bet you'll turn to Rita Skeeter with the hot gossip first chance you get.

Draco barked again, louder than before and ran forward, knocking into the man. Both he and Harry stumbled, but while the man laughed, Harry swerved to look at Draco for the first time. "Why are you so crazy? Why can't you be a normal dog for once in your life and go away?"

The words stung more than Draco expected to, and he reeled back, looking between them. Harry took the opportunity to grab the guy’s arm and move them towards the bedroom. Harry watched as they disappeared and flinched as the door slammed.

Fuck you and your stupid messes. I’m done cleaning up after you, Potter. Draco’s heart would not stop pounding, and he paced the floor, trying to calm himself down, but nothing seemed to be working. I should have known it was only a matter of time before you stopped caring.

All Draco could think about was the panic he had felt in thinking something was wrong. Instead, Harry was off having a life, as he was allowed to do, and Draco had never felt so stupid. And no matter how he tried to settle himself on the couch, he could not get comfortable. I can’t wait until I get out of here.

His mind would not stop turning. By the time the sun rose and the door to Harry’s room opened, he had barely fallen into the lightest sleep. He woke to the man’s voice as he made his way across the apartment, Harry behind him.

“Man, I wish we didn’t have to run off to work.”

“Who are you telling?” Harry asked, laughing. “Feel free to shoot me a text if you’re free this weekend.”

Text? Draco wondered what that was code for.

He looked them up and down. Even though the man was dressed up and ready to leave, Harry was wearing nothing more than an untied bathrobe that Draco was relatively sure he had only seen in Harry’s closet. They paused in front of the door, and the man reached out, tugging Harry forward. Draco looked away.

Soon, he told himself. Soon, as soon as he figured out how to get Harry to see, he’d be able to go home to the privacy of his own flat and never deal with this again. Or at the very least, even if the Ministry had to have his way with him, he wouldn’t have to be stuck here.

He waited until he heard the door close to look up again. Harry crossed the room to the couch and plopped down. “Merlin, I really needed that,” Harry said as he stretched out. He reached to pet Draco, but Draco jumped down and made his way toward the bedroom. He ignored Harry’s shouts of protest and jumped up on the bed, hoping that he’d finally be able to get some rest.

- - -

Chapter Four

#drarry #draco malfoy #harry potter #harry x draco #hp #my drarry #my fics #fic: asl

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gxldentrio · 7 years

Text

Young, Living With No Fear

Summary: ‘I’m egging your house for a dare but your parent is a cop and they’re yelling at me so i told them that you were my ex and you wronged me and now you’re coming outside and please go along with this i don’t want to go to jail’ AU

Word count: ~2.6k words

A/N: I’m two thousand percent sure that I’m not going to be able to have another fic out by the time Nai’s birthday rolls around, so consider this an early birthday present. @hiddenpolkadots i love you above all else and thank you for making me ship things i know 0 about. (And once again, thank you to @yulbos for editing this for me ilu)

FFN / AO3

“Fucking asshole—“ Lily mutters to herself. It’s cold, and she’s pissed, and to top it all off she left her cardigan back at Mary’s and now all she has is a stupid, half-empty carton of medium-sized eggs.

If Lily were sober, she’d probably think twice before throwing eggs around in the middle of the night, but she’s already had a few shots of vodka too many. Besides, it’s Snape, so it’s not as though what she’s doing is actually wrong. She’s not an animal. Most of the time.

Except, when the door opens, the face that greets her isn’t Eileen Prince’s familiar one. No, this one belongs to a man, tall and built like a fortress, and Lily swears she’s seen him before. She hears Dorcas’ soft murmuring and it’s only when she makes out a few ‘shit’s and ‘bugger’s that Lily finally recognizes the man as the police officer who arrested Mulciber back in March.

“What’s going on here?” he says, his booming voice knocking the wind out of Lily’s lungs. She’s scrambling—ha!—to find a solution when an idea pops into her brain.

If she’s not mistaken—and Lily really hopes she isn’t—she remembers him having a son, about her age.

“Good evening, sir.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m really, really sorry,” she starts, “it’s just that, well, this is a bit embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Mr.—Potter, was it?—runs his fingers through his already thinning hair and gives her a pointed look, as if to say ‘Get on with it.’ She’s grateful he hasn’t busted out the police-card yet.

And so, before he gets the chance to do it, Lily blabbers on, “I used to date your son? He sort of, you know—“ it’s a mess, and Lily’s got no idea where she’s going with this, but suddenly the front door’s opening and, oh my god, what is he doing here?

“Dad?” James, from her Mathematics class calls out. Of fucking course. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine, you can go back inside,” Mr. Potter replies, and with a shrug of his shoulders, James turns around. Lily lets out a breath, but then Mr. Potter’s eyes light up, and he says, “actually, James, could you come here?”

The 6-foot-something boy trudges over to them. “’Hello, Evans. What’s up, dad?” he says, nonchalant, as though he hadn’t recognized her fire red hair.

“Miss Evans here,” Mr. Potter begins, “was just telling me that you two dated.” James’ eyes practically bulge out of their sockets, and Lily’s cheeks are so warm she feels like she’s about to pass out. “How come you’ve never mentioned it?”

Lily widens her eyes at James, silently pleading with him to just go along with it, but not really expecting him to. Except he totally does.

“I was embarrassed,” he states, and Lily is sort of offended, the fact that he’s pretty much saving her arse notwithstanding. Judging by the smirk on his face, he seems to notice it, and adds, “, it’s just that I—uh, cheated on her. With her cousin.”

“For the love of God, James,” Mr. Potter mutters, “we raised you better than this. What will your mother say?”

Lily notices the way James’ cheeks darken slightly, and the way his Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “That the least we can do is offer her some tea? I mean, it’s one in the morning, but I’ve clearly caused her irreparable emotional damage and so I feel like we owe it to her.”

Mr. Potter glances at his son and sighs. . Then, turning to Lily, he adds with a shrug of his shoulders, “I’m sorry my son is a such disgrace. Do you want to come in for a second?”

She’s still too dumbstruck for words, so she simply nods and follows the two of them inside.

The house is warm and inviting, but not too hot, which is a nice change from the scorching weather outside. The walls are tastefully decorated, and just from the get-go, Lily can spot at least three different house plants.

“So, Lily, what motivated you to resort to eggs? That’s pretty old-school, isn’t it?”

“I am so sorry about that, Mr. Potter—“

“Please, call me Fleamont.”

“Right,” Lily laughs uncomfortably, “you see, the thing is, I was dared. And you know how dares go…”

She feels her phone buzzing in her pocket, and when she unlocks it, there are three unread messages in the groupchat.

01:23 a.m.

Mary Christmas: Oh my god, Lily, Dorcas just told me

Dork-ass: has he skinned u alive yet???

Dork-ass: I’ll take ur silence as a yes. still cant believe u went inside tho

Lily promptly texts back.

Orchid: yes we all knew I have a death wish

Orchid: txt later go home + sleep

Dork-ass: ok mother

“I’m sorry, you were saying?”

“You know, Lily,” Mr. Pot—Fleamont starts. “You remind me of myself when I was your age.”

James coughs.

“Oh?”

“Yes. Euphemia’s dad also found me egging her house one time. Except, you know, she hadn’t cheated on me,” he adds, side-eyeing James.

“Come on, dad.”

“You’ve made your bed, son,” Fleamont replies, clapping his hand on James’ right shoulder. “It’s time you lay down in it.”

–

02.09 a.m.

Orchid: ok but like

Orchid: james potter’s dad is the /best at throwing shade?? I suddenly feel the need to name my firstborn after him?

Dork-ass: ???

Orchid: so deadass he comes to talk to me and I’m practically shitting my pants because of /course I would be the one to egg a copper’s house, so I panicked and told him I was his son’s ex?? and then potter came outside and actually played along

Mary Christmas: hoe don’t do it

Orchid: and so now mr potter is under the impression his son is a cheater when in fact he’s just really terrible at maths

Mary Christmas: oh my god

Orchid I think I’m in love

Dork-ass-. Of course, out of the three of us you’d be the one getting a sugar daddy

Orchid: don’t be an ass dorc

Orchid: oh wait

–

She gets home impossibly late, but since it is the summer holidays, Lily doesn’t feel that guilty about waking up at two o’clock the next day. And, all right, that means so far her mother has had to put up with Vernon and Petunia by herself, but Lily reckons it was about time she took one for the team.

She gets out of bed, a grin dancing on her lips, and heads for the shower.

It’s about a half past three in the afternoon when she finally emerges from the bathroom, hangover-free.

“Oh goodness, Vernon, why is she like this?” shrills Petunia, so loud that the thumping in Lily’s head comes back.

In response, Lily simply rolls her eyes, shoots her sister a snappy ‘good morning, sister dearest’ and after pecking her mother on the cheek, heads out the door.

It’s sunny out, and Lily quickly regrets having skipped through the sun cream-applying part of her routine. She blares Gasolina through her earphones—courtesy of Sirius Black from Economics, of course—and before she knows it, she’s at her favourite coffee shop.

The whole scene is drawn in heavy lines and brown undertones, and the barista—Frank—is about to give Lily her iced coffee when she feels muscular arms around her shoulders.

She doesn’t really know how she recognizes him, but the fact is that she does; maybe it’s because he’s wearing the same cologne from last night. Maybe it’s because there’s someone up above who likes playing tricks on her, but either way, it makes Lily feel sort of giddy inside.

Um. Interesting.

“What do you want, Potter?” she asks, slowly removing his arm from around her shoulders and thanking Frank for his patience.

“Now, Evans, that isn’t a very nice way of greeting your ex-boyfriend.”

“You’re not my ex-boyfriend.”

“That’s not what you told my dad, was it?” he asks with curious eyes, and a smirk that makes Lily feel some kind of way.

“Look,” she starts, placing the plastic cup on a nearby table and adjusting the strap of her bag. “I was pretty fucking drunk, okay? And then, I dunno, Dorcas and Mary dared me to go egg Snape’s house but I clearly got things mixed up and ended up at yours instead.”

“Where does the ex-boyfriend it come in? I fail to see the correlation.”

“First of all, don’t sass me. And secondly, your dad’s a copper. So yeah. It was either that or go to jail.”

“Jesus Christ, Evans,” James chuckles, running a hand through his messy hair, “my dad wasn’t going to arrest you.”

Suddenly, Lily’s cheeks warm up. “He could have,” she mutters. “Thank you, by the way. For going along with it.”

“It’s no big deal,” he brushes off. “It would be my absolute pleasure to be your ex-boyfriend.”

“Aren’t you a charmer,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “You going anywhere?”

“Not really? I don’t think so, at least. I mean, Sirius has this family thing and Peter is out of town.”

“Remus, then?”

“He’s sick. You know how he gets with allergies.”

–

05.39 p.m.

Orchid: are any of u @ Regent’s park atm?

Mary Christmas: not really, Dorky and I are at the movies, why?

Dork-ass: don’t ever call me that again

Orchid: 1) without me?? umm rUDE

Orchid: 2) cool stay there

Dork-ass: Lily

Mary Christmas: you do know that now we absolutely /have to come, don’t you?

Mary Christmas: and I was enjoying the film as well

Dork-ass: give us 12 and a half minutes

Orchid: specific

Orchid: also unnecessary

“So, Mary and Dorcas are coming over in about fifteen minutes,” Lily starts, releasing her red hair from the black rubber band. “Which gives us approximately ten minutes to find another location.”

“What,” he jokes, “are you embarrassed of me?”

“Surprisingly not. Shocking, I know.”

“You think you’re funny.”

“I’m hilarious.”

–

09.08 p.m.

Dork-ass: were you on a date with james potter?

Orchid: ????

Orchid: define date

Mary Christmas: !!!!!

Mary Christmas: lily!!!

Orchid: yes, mary dear?

Dork-ass: oh my god

Dork-ass: you’re such a /meme

Orchid: here come dat boi shit waddup

–

It takes them two whole hours before they make plans to hang out again. After some squabbling and food preference related arguments—Lily is team pineapple pizza, while James is decidedly against it—the two of them settle on going to the cinema and checking out the new Spiderman film.

Lily isn’t really sure if it counts as a date, but for her own sanity’s sake, she’s taking it as a yes.

There’s a flower blooming in her chest, and Lily reckons it’s probably going to be a little weird for him to explain to his dad that he’s made plans to hang out with his ex, (who he cheated on with a family member and who was caught throwing protein goods at his rose-tinted windows), but he called her a ‘pineapple-munching-fuck’ before and so she doesn’t really care.

Soon, the films turn into walks in the park, which end up more than once in water balloon fights. It’s hot out, and they’ve got no classes to worry about, and everything is blissful ignorance for the pair of them. Friendly waves make way for one-armed hugs, and casual touches turn into lingering ones.

Their nights end up with personality quizzes and wine passing back and forth, and Lily is certain she saw Sirius and Mary snogging once or twice, but the point is, they are happy and they are free.

Her sister is getting married to Vernon Dursley and she asked Potter to go as her plus-one—on the condition that he somehow finds a way to manage that awful hair, of course.

(Lily doesn’t actually dislike his hair; In fact, she’s quite enamoured with it, which is dangerous and makes her want to rip all the skin from off her bones and run her thin fingers through the dark locks. She’s pretty sure she’s dreamed about it a couple of times now.)

She’s wearing a canary-yellow dress, and strappy white heels she knows won’t stand a chance against all the alcohol she plans on consuming.

He picks her up in a dashing black-tie outfit and Lily swears it knocks the wind out of her, because in her humble opinion, it should be illegal to look this good. She’s almost tempted to feel inadequate, but when she notices the way Potter’s eyes lighten up as soon as he sees her, the way his shoulders straighten and his cheeks perk up, staring at her like she’s some sort of goddess, she smiles.

“Potter?” she asks, the butterflies in her stomach flopping about like they’re on five cups of coffee.

“Yes?”

“Care to be promoted?”

“What d’you mean?”

“You know, from ex-boyfriend to current boyfriend.”

James stills, mouth slightly agape as Lily continues, “I mean, I reckon that means coming clean to your dad about the whole egg thing, but I guess that’s a risk I’m willing to take?”

Then, so slowly it almost feels like slow-motion, a smirk stretches across James’ lips and he says, “Evans, you’re so fucking ridiculous.”

“Well, we’d already established that, but thanks.” He’s still grinning like an idiot when Lily adds,” well, you’re not very good at this, are you? A cute girl practically proposes and you don’t even answer—“

She’s cut off by his lips, which James is happy to press against hers. The whole thing is a mess, to be perfectly honest, because the both of them are way too busy laughing to properly kiss each other, but Lily wouldn’t really have it any other way.

In the end, they get to the ceremony twenty minutes late, Vernon forgets his vows two thirds of the way in, Petunia swears one day she’ll have Lily burnt off the metaphorical family tree and Uncle Geoff tries to get it on with the catering lady who looks about twenty years too young for him. It’s all good though.

During the reception, everyone stuffs themselves with cake—which is a lemon sponge with white chocolate frosting—and overdoes it on the champagne.

Petunia, slightly more tipsy than she’d ever admit, lets her know just how happy she is to have her sister there, and Lily can almost see the sarcasm oozing from Petunia’s lips. She feels something tug at her heartstrings, and Lily is pretty sure it’s love, and the pain of being surpassed. It’s especially hard this time, because now Petunia’s part of a different family, and Lily knows it won’t take her sister long before she forgets all about her.

She feels Potter pulling her closer to him and nuzzles her face on his chest. Her body, cold and blue before, is now a portrait painted in technicolour.

Lily isn’t really sure how any of it happened, how she tiptoed her way into finding her home away from home, her best friend, the companion to all of her craziest adventures. When she’s with him, she feels invincible, like she can do anything and there isn’t anything holding her back.

And so, Lily reckons she may not have a sister anymore, but she has the warmth of the sun, and James Potter at her side. And that’s enough.

#jily #jily fic #hp #marauders era #fyeahjamesandlily #hiddenpolkadots #fetchalgernon #yulbos #bantasticbeasts #ravnclaws #prongsno #snapslikethis #padfootdidit #mine #my writing #txt

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