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flusteredmoonn · 2 months

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the tortured poets department; james potter

summary: "sometimes i wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me," in which after years of james pining after lily, he finally falls for someone else.

tags: (SFW), fluff, drabble??, fast paced, angst, probably ooc!james, gryffindor!reader, she/her pronouns, third person y/n. proofread by @cosmicbolter

words: 1.5k+

ttpd tracklist. request.

pewter cauldrons fizzled as each of the students observed their concoctions, referring to the book of advanced potions. not james potter, though.

"hey! evans," he called across the classroom, drawing the attention of the auburn haired girl, whose head snapped up at the call of her surname. "do we add the tentacula before or after the lacewig flies," he shouted across the room, dismissing both the stares of his peers and the reprimands from the professor. he knew venomous tentacula wasn't an ingredient in the focus draught they were brewing, yet he wanted her to instruct him anyways.

lily looked down at her book of advanced potions, carefully scanning the print for the answer. her gaze resumed on the boy with a slight pinch in her brow, "tentacula isn't in this one, james," her smile was unsure, although she was quick to resume her work when the boy smiled and nodded at her in thanks. heat rose through her cheeks as she felt the intrusion that was the lingering gaze of her peers.

james also seamlessly resumed his brewing, his glasses sliding down his nose as he used the iron spoon to stir the stew of plants before him. he ignored the loud teasing from sirius which followed his interaction with the red head.

"oooh, she didn't shut you down there mate, she must be into you," the amusement in his tone was palpable, especially with the laughter it had elicited from both remus and peter. the latter was quick to slap a hand over his mouth, though, with a coy smile before the stout boy continued his brew. "pads, stop," heat rose up his body, pink dusting his freckled cheeks.

"oh, look i'm james! 'hey evans'" he made an unintelligible sound, ''i wonder what goes in this potion which i have the page open to on my book" he continued to mock james, making his voice exaggeratedly deep. behind them, y/n brought her hand up to her mouth to cover her mouth and suppressing a laugh at the friend groups antics. the curly haired boy heard movement behind him and glanced over his shoulder amusedly, watching her clear entertainment and smirking to himself before tuning back in to his long haired friend's continuous teasing.

thankfully, before he could get too carried away, the professor had directed the class with a new instruction, distracting sirius enough to forget he was teasing his friends.

"now class!" the professor's voice boomed off of the walls, ricocheting off of the flagstone floor as he continued to speak, "you should now be at the stage of collecting a dugbog tongue from the table up the front and adding it to your cauldrons– which should now be a light blue colour," the old man smiled, gesturing for the class to move onto the next stage of their brew.

still smug with a freshly pampered ego, james sauntered over to the front of the class, though not before beckoning lily's attention. confidently, with his longterm crushes eyes on him, he reached into the basket containing the deceased tongues bravely before he jokingly held it in front of his own mouth and acting as though it were his own. he continued to mime with the teachers back to him.

faint giggling could be heard from across the room, however, not from lily. the boy looked across the room to see y/n equally as amused as before, which only egged him on. he continued his antics, ending up sliding across the front of the classroom in an attempt to mock the beast whose tongue they were using, and ignoring the reprimands of his friends who at this point were over the dramatic display. the boy got carried away, locking eyes with y/n and leaning backwards on the table at the front of the room holding the ingredients. a deafening bang echoed through the room as james accidentally knocked the exposed supplies off of the desk.

"potter!" professor slughorn shouted.

the notorious chime of the clocktower bell ringing through the school sounded as professor slughorn dismissed his potions class, rolling his eyes at the mess left behind from james. chatter immediately erupted through the room as friends reunited with one another and made their way to their next classes. the group of gryffindor girls gathered together, laughing as they walked.

"saved by the bell huh, james," marlene mckinnon snickered as the boy walked past her with his friends. he stuck his tongue out at her in rebellion. childishly, the boy whipped round and stuck his tongue out at the girl and her group of friends. "he's ridiculous," she muttered to the group as they watched him run off after his friends.

"i can't believe he did that, lils, and all for your attention," dorcas added, murmurs filled the corridors as students now hurried to their next classes.

"i dunno, y/n seemed pretty taken by him," she shrugged. "hm?" the girls attention was beckoned from the back of the group as they rounded the corner and entered their transfiguration classroom.

"i just said that you seemed pretty intrigued by james today, is all," the girl repeated, sighing as she sunk into her seat. "i mean i can't believe he even thought to act that way, it's unprecedented," she continued with a laugh as marlene slid into her seat next to dorcas, very evidently mocking the bespectacled boys former actions as the professor entered the classroom whilst y/n slid into a seat by herself.

"take your seats, boys," professor mcgonagall spoke sternly, looking to the rowdy group of boys. as if they were small children who had been told off, they immediately found seats across the room and looked ready to listen. james sat himself down next to y/n wordlessly, merely flashing her a momentary smile before giving his full attention to the beginning of the lecture.

professor mcgonagall began to charm the chalkboard to draw various detailed diagrams of the topics she was discussion, the sound blending into that of the scrawling of quill on parchment. eventually the professor had ordered the class to move onto the independent work, urging them to talk quietly, if they felt the need to talk at all.

casually, remus looked across the room to where james sat, intrigued as he hadn't taken his usual spot next to him. and sitting away from where lily had been situated. but the boy smirked as he watched james deliberate over what to say to y/n.

"hey, do you know what we–"

"what do you want from me james," the girl spoke suddenly, a certain firmness in her tone as she turned to look at him.

dumbfounded, the boy stared at her for a moment, his jaw ajar, "uhm, nothing?" he sounded unsure of himself, "i just wanted to know if you knew what we were supposed to do for this question, he pointed to a row of text in their book on transfiguration, glancing up to see professor mcgonagall transfixed by marking first years papers stoically.

"but why did you sit next to me, potter," her voice entirely coated in sourness, clearly unamused by his attempt to be comedic, "shouldn't you still be bothering poor lily, with futile attempts for her attention," there is was, he could practically hear her eyes rolling from where he was sat.

"i wanted to sit with you, i didn't realise it was such an issue," he huffed, nervously shooting a look to his friends.

"but why, why the sudden interest–" she cut herself off, "you know i'm failing this class right, like you can't cheat off of me and succeed, yeah," she laughed, clearly finding a new humour in the situation.

"i didn't come here to cheat off of you," he looked at her, entirely serious, "and i haven't been annoying evans nearly as much as i usually do, i'm self aware now!" he exclaimed confidently, sitting up and puffing his chest.

"pfft."

"i am," he defended himself at her laughter, a smile of his own weaving its way across his features. she turned to face him now, his expression faltering slightly at the directness of her attention on him. "so what'dya call that stunt in potions, where you were clearly chasing after her attention," her brow quirked up.

"i wasn't," he mumbled, turning his head away and talking into the shoulder facing away from her. momentarily, he caught the watchful eyes of his friends, before whipping his head back around to her when she hummed inconclusively. he repeated himself, watching several emotions flash across her face in a split second, urging him to elaborate.

"the ship between us, i think, has sailed," he paused, in thought, "i think there's something i'd rather explore with someone else'.