#sirius probably: prongs you’re not even a seeker

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Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

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Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 12 K Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence. (Reader discretion is advised). Prompt: It's game time. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Proofread by sweethearts: @aremuslupinsimp & @profoundpidgeon

Chapter 30: Bridge Over Troubled Water

You stayed with the boys until Peter and James arrived, and since it was already past curfew, but mostly because he wanted to, he offered to take you to your room using James’ cloak. You were both already outside your door when he stopped you and pulled you in for a short kiss. 

“Starshine, I might not see you tomorrow…” 

“However will I survive?” you chimed in.

He rolled his eyes, a very small smile playing on his lips before he focused again “That’s not– tomorrow’s the game–” 

“Yeah, I’m very aware.” 

“And I won’t be there.” You nodded, holding your tongue instead of interrupting him again, “You will be the seeker.” 

“Sirius, What’s your–” 

“Just promise you won’t do anything stupid.” 

You gave him a look, and then smiled, reciting a line from a comic you’d read with him a couple of weeks ago “How could I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” 

He deadpanned, “I’m serious.” Again, you had to hold your tongue before saying something that would probably frazzle him a bit more, “Take care of yourself, you’re more important to me than winning the game.” 

You smiled at that. It was a game against Slytherin. You’d be seeking against Regulus. Those words meant a lot more than they let on. You looked at him, and nodded “I won’t do anything stupid.” 

“No using yourself as a shield for a bludger?” 

“Nope,” you confirmed with a nod.

“Stay the hell away from Crouch.” 

“You don’t even have to tell me for me to do that.” 

“And don’t trust Minho, I know you’re friends but he’s as quidditch crazy as James, he won’t go easy on you just because you’re friends.” 

“It’d be a boring game if he did,” you said with a pout. Sirius shook his head in disbelief before pulling you into a hug. 

“Not gonna lie, I’m kind of glad you’re playing seeker instead of guardian, with your shoulder and everything…” 

“Shoulder’s fine,” you said with a shrug, leaning onto him. He was squeezing you tightly, and you rather enjoyed it. “But I’ll get hurt more often if you keep coddling me so much.” 

“How about you don’t get hurt ever again and I promise to continue coddling you regardless?” He hummed into your hair, his tone laced with humour. 

“I suppose we could reach to an agreement,” you replied with a smile, as you took in the scent of his soft shirt, and then pulled back to look at him, “Don’t pick up fights with Evan while you’re in detention with Slughorn,” you added in a warning tone. 

He gave you a look as if to say that it was impossible but you reached up and placed your hand near the bottom of his lip, where a small cut was healing, he winced as you brushed your hand over it “I thought as much,” you told him earnestly as you let your hand fall to the side of his cheek, Godric, he’s so unfairly pretty, you thought. 

He stared back at you, and you must have stayed like that for a while, if anyone saw you, they’d assume you were two idiots in love, which was pretty accurate in and of itself, thankfully the cloak was still covering the two of you, letting you bask in each other’s gazes without anyone bursting your bubble, until Sirius did, remembering it was late. “All right, off you go, you have to wake up early tomorrow, eat a full meal and get ready for the game.” 

“Sure thing Prongs,” you teased, you would have said mom, but being honest, James was a lot more concerned about the games and your eating habits than either of your moms ever were, especially Walburga, at least your mom tried, even if you didn’t agree with the choices she had made in order to please your father. 

He huffed a laugh, “I’ll tell Rem to watch over you.” 

“I don’t need a nanny.” 

“He’ll watch over you anyway,” he added, which was true in two ways, one: he’d tell Remus regardless of your objections, and two: he was pretty sure Remus would watch over you even if he didn’t directly ask him to do it. 

You hummed in response and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before sliding into your room. Lily was awake for some reason, she had a book in her hands and was using the light of her wand to read. You narrowed your eyes at her and decided to go straight into her bed, sitting beside her. 

“Where were you all day today?” She asked in a whisper, you took your wand out of the pyjama pants the boys had given you and cast a silencing spell over the two of you. “The school was chaos, Nox and Comet came over looking for you at lunch, we had to tell them we hadn’t seen you since breakfast. And then it was my date with James, I wanted to ask you if I looked nice but nobody knew where you were, it was like you vanished.” 

“You always look nice,” you said, addressing one of their first statements. “James is head over heels for you–” 

She frowned, looking over your body. “Hold up! What are you wearing?” she asked, placing her hand on the flannel pants you had on, pants she was sure she had seen either on Sirius or Remus (perhaps both), and then turned to the shirt, a little too big for you. A shirt she definitely had seen on Sirius. You didn’t change back into your uniform since you weren’t expecting anyone to be awake. “Isn’t this Sirius’… Oh my God! You were with Sirius,” she said with a gasp, covering her own mouth since she had been much louder this time around, “How was it?” 

“Ah that… It’s not what you think!” You managed to mumble, “I was working on my project with Rem and then I accidentally spilt coffee all over myself, he borrowed this,” you explained, making it all up on the spot, feeling rather satisfied at how convincing you’d sounded. “Sirius came over later and we all just chilled together for a bit, Remus was reading to us and I just kinda lost track of time.” 

She quirked an eyebrow as if analysing what you’d said, Lily was clever, that’s why you had added a truth after the lie, perhaps that way she wouldn’t suspect too much "Does that mean you haven’t…?"

You shook your head. "We’ve… kissed a lot, but no." You then turned to her, narrowing your eyes. "Lily Evans, what makes you so curious?"

She turned red, pulling a strand of shiny red hair behind her ear. "I kissed James today."

You looked at her shocked, James had told you and the boys that the date had gone well, he hadn’t elaborated further. It should have probably made you wonder why he rushed into his bathroom, but you were way too comfortable laying in between Sirius and Remus as he read an action-packed scene that you didn’t pay too much attention to it. In fact, you weren’t sure you’d be able to pay attention to much anything other than Remus’ calming voice, let alone with Sirius, who had at some point taken a hold of your hand and fidgeted with your fingers as the other boy narrated. 

"You know you have to tell me everything about it, don’t you?"

She nodded. "That’s why I stayed awake."

And she told you everything, from how James had picked a few wildflowers, which you recognised as Remus’ idea, to how he’d taken her on a walk near the lakes. How he’d somehow gotten his hands on the muggle coffee candies she adores so much -which you knew had been thanks to Sirius’ cousin Andromeda- and he’d placed them on a small picnic basket filled with her favourite food from the great hall (those had been courtesy of Pebblier and Nimbletwist, you had been the one to ask them for it), how he’d taken some paints and parchment and proposed to paint each other. That had been his own idea, at least the making portraits of each other part. 

She took out her journal and pulled out the parchment, she had neatly added it to one of the pages with tape. James might be good at a lot of things, but he wasn’t a Michelangelo, perhaps a Picasso? You could certainly say Lily’s portrait was an abstract piece. But she seemed absolutely delighted by it. And her happiness was contagious. 

At some point, you had both laid on their bed as he continued telling you all the things they’d done. How he’d behaved like a total gentleman, but kept his very distinctive James Potter charm. She wondered how she had been so blind and not seen that side of him before. You’d been tempted to tell her she was a goner, but held your tongue. You told her a bit about the book you’d been reading with the boys, and she told you that she heard about it. That there was a movie, or maybe they were still making it, she wasn’t too sure. Hogwarts was incredible at many things, but it wasn’t very good at helping students keep up with muggle news. In between laughter, secrets and teasing, the two of you fell asleep beside each other.

 Sunday, November 28th, 1976

"Darling, you need to wake up," you heard as you felt a hand on your shoulder. The pain woke you up, rather than her voice, and you groaned, thankfully Marlene thought it was because you were still sleeping. "Teddy wants us in the pitch earlier since he wants to revise the strategy."

You gave her a look, still rather sleepy but nodded, getting up from Lily’s bed, she was still sleeping soundly on the side, and stirred only a little as you stood up, if Marlene noticed anything related to the pyjama you had on, she said nothing. You went straight to change, freshening up a bit by throwing some water straight at your face. 

You checked your wound, it looked a lot better, the pain was still there, but it seemed like it was already closing. You threw in some healing spray Remus had given you the night of the prank and wrapped it again. You brushed your teeth, and after you were done, you threw some more water at your face. You felt a lot more awake now, but you were sure breakfast would finish waking you up completely. While it might have not been the best idea to stay awake talking to Lily, you still thought it had been worth it. 

You gave a look at your reflection in the small bathroom mirror. "Let’s do this," you told yourself with a smile and stepped out, Marlene was waiting for you outside, she was lacing up her boots."Breakfast?" 

She nodded in response, and the two of you walked over to the door. "Should we wake her?" she asked. 

You shook your head "She stayed up quite late-"

"Talking to you," she interrupted. 

You shrugged. "Yeah, but she didn’t have a game tomorrow," you told her, nodding to the fact that you had been irresponsible, but were okay with it either way. "She’ll wake up before the game, she set an alarm. We should let her rest."

Marlene hummed. "Her date must have been pretty exhausting," she told you with a cheeky smile, you laughed. "Though I still wonder how he managed to convince McGonagall to let him off punishment to go on the date."

You raised your eyebrows "Well… I suppose James can be very convincing."

"He probably cried to McGonagall," she said with a laugh. "Wouldn’t blame him, I’m not sure if Lily would have given him another chance."

"We would have convinced her."

"If only to get James off our backs," Marlene said with a laugh, by then you were already close to the entrance of the great hall. 

James and Sirius –as expected– weren’t there when you crossed the huge doors. Teddy was amiably speaking with Tim and Lucas, who would be covering for your friends, while Gale and Anne sat a little bit further to the side. When Gale saw the two of you, he raised his hand and made a gesture for you to walk their way. 

Both you and Marlene followed and sat in front of the two of them. You served yourself some apple juice as you all greeted each other. They were both already wearing their uniforms, just like you and Marlene were. The Slytherins also had their uniforms on, and they were all sitting close to each other. You realized the boy that would be covering for Evan was the same you had seen in Barty’s room, the Gaunt kid.  

“How’re we feeling?” Gale asked, diverting your attention towards your table again. 

You sucked in some air and smiled. “It’s always the excitement before a game, isn’t it?” 

“Excitement?!? I’m shitting my pants from how nervous I am,” Gale said as he took a sip of some lavender tea Anne had given him to relax. “There’s no way in hell I’m as good as you as a keeper.” 

You almost gasped at his words, you were absolutely shocked the overconfident Gale Thomas, the same boy who had taken your handkerchief away on the tryouts, who was so fast you hadn’t even noticed, would be reduced to a bundle of nerves by something like this, you tilted your head. “Gale you’re brilliant, you’ve always been brilliant!” you said. “Even on the tryouts, you were amazing as a keeper, I’m sure we stopped just as many–” 

“You stopped around 5% more than I did, you had a block ratio of 95%,” he said, leg bouncing up and down as he took a bite from a toast. 

You leaned down on the table to get his attention. “Gale?” you called, he threw you a look, worry still evident on his face. “They wanted you to be a keeper too,” you told him, pointing at Teddy with a nod. “And if they attempt to throw the ball 20 times, and you stop 19, we would still be many, many points ahead. Alison and Mina are great chasers, but I’m sure you’ll be on par, after all, you defended against Teddy, James, Anne and me on the tryouts.” 

Anne nodded. “Say it louder so it gets through his thick head,” she said, a little louder and sounding just a little annoyed. He’s been going over since we came downstairs. 

“You really think I’ll be on par?” he asked, looking absolutely hopeful. You smiled, sometimes you forgot how much younger than the rest of the team Gale was.  

“I’m sure you’ll outperform them,” you added with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. 

“What about you, how long has it been since you played seeker?” 

You took a deep breath, pondering on the question, it had definitely been a while, but you had played mini-matches with James several times, just trying to catch the snitch in morning flights. You still had the touch, or at least the two of you were much better than Sirius, who had only managed to catch the snitch like 7 times of the hundreds you had played. And one of them had been because he’d distracted you by blowing you a kiss.

“Officially? Probably in March or something, but I’ve been practising with James on our morning flights.” 

“You’re not nervous?” Anne asked as he threw a chip in her mouth. 

You bit your lip. “I’m excited,” you responded honestly. “Although, the fact that I’m seeking against Pads’ brother and he won the race does make me feel rather queasy,” you added, deciding to avoid the rest of the drama that he’d caused a few years back.  

“I still don’t get why you keep calling him weird names,” Anne said with a shrug. 

“Regulus?” 

“No, your boyfriend, first it was Puppy, then Pads, as the boys call him. What’s wrong with just… Sirius?”

“Oh, have you heard what they call her?” Marlene intervened. “There’s Starshine, Little Witch, Trouble, Kit–” 

“Vix!” Remus said, cutting Marlene off and giving the perfect example. 

“Hey Moons,” you said with a smile as you leaned closer to Marlene so he could sit. 

“Vix?” Anne asked Marlene in a rather hushed tone.

“Stands for Vixen.”

“And she just lets them call her that?” 

 “It’s because she’s as sly as a fox,” Remus intervened. 

“And it’s still better than Wormtail,” you said, just to get a reaction from Peter who was taking a seat  across from you and Rem. 

“Oi! Stop it, Wormtail is a perfectly fine nickname thank you very much.” 

“If she’s Vixen because she’s a sly fox and Peter is Wormtail because he’s as quiet as a mouse–” Anne started. 

You snorted. “When has Peter ever been quiet as a mouse?!” 

Yes, it was true Peter wasn’t nearly as loud as James or Sirius, and it made it especially evident since he was always hanging around the two boys but Peter was far from “quiet as a mouse”, if anything, Remus was quieter, and that was only half true, because once you got him talking about a book, he could go on and on with it, just like James could talk about Quidditch for hours. 

“And why is he Wormtail then?” Anne asked. 

“He looks like a rat,” Remus responded simply, which would have sounded mean if he didn’t have a complicit smile as he stared at Peter. 

“Quit it with your word games you two!” Peter warned in a rather stern tone, and yet, there was a certain shimmer behind his eyes, as if he knew more than he let on. It was all in the secrecy, really, on being part of the brotherhood that actually knew what was happening behind the nicknames. The shared secret allowed you to do and say things that people didn’t quite understand, even if you sometimes had to play offended. You enjoyed being able to be part of it, part of them.

“And Remus is Moony, isn’t it?” Anne asked, “Why’s that?” 

“Because he’s insane,” you and Peter responded at about the same time, before bursting out into a laugh, Remus pulled your hair lightly in response and you turned to him with your tongue out. 

“If you keep it up, little witch, I’m not gonna give you this,” he said as he pulled his hand up for you to see, his sleeve fell back a little and you could see what he meant, Sirius’ lucky hair tie. 

“You wouldn’t go against Pads’ wishes,” you told him as you grabbed his hands and started to tug at the hair tie, but he dragged his hand away, leaving you with a pout. 

“You sure about that luv?” He asked, eyebrows quirked. 

“Confident,” you said, attempting to drag his hands down, but it was pretty useless, his muscles wouldn’t even budge, freaking werewolf strength, you thought with a huff “Reeem!” you whined. You wondered for a moment what that strength would do as a beater in quidditch and almost shivered.  

He just smiled and tilted his head “How about you ask for it nicely?” 

You rolled your eyes. “Darling Moony,” you said, exaggerating. “Can I please have Puppy’s hair tie?” 

He knew you were playing a part, he could also hear the sarcasm dripping from your voice, and yet… he rather enjoyed that all of your attention was on him. And Merlin the look that you were giving him, it felt almost as good as when Sirius climbed onto the side of his bed, grabbed his hand, and manhandled it until he managed to slide the hair tie in. It still smelled of Sirius’ hair long after he had left for detention. Remus tried not to smell it, he didn’t want to be weird about it. But he couldn’t help himself. 

Now he had you all over him, legs pressed against his and hands all over his arm as you attempted to pull it down, and he adored it. Even if he knew he shouldn’t, even if he knew you were Sirius’, he loved having your undivided attention. Your eyes on him, and no one else. 

“Pretty please?” you added, and now you had that sneaky little puppy dog face you gave him when you wanted something. The same face he could barely say no to when you weren’t pressed against him. 

He sighed and lowered his arm, allowing you to take the tie from him, relishing on the way your hands brushed over his own. Your hands were much smaller than Sirius’, even if a little rougher from so much quidditch and not that much piano, but he liked them just as much as he liked the ones of the boy.

When you managed to slide it off, you pulled back a little to add it to your hair “Have you eaten?” Peter asked from the front. Suddenly you remembered it wasn’t only you and Remus in the room and felt awkward for half a second, but everyone seemed to find the interaction the most normal, especially Peter and Marlene who hung around you and Remus often. 

You looked down at your clean plate, you had been so focused on comforting Gale and then on Remus’ talk, or perhaps just on Remus, that you had forgotten to even serve yourself anything. You shook your head and filled your cup. “How much time do we have?” you asked Marlene. 

“About 15 minutes,” she informed. 

“That should be enough,” you said before taking a drink and grabbing onto a toast before spreading butter on it. Then some cream cheese and you were about to grab the marmalade when Remus spoke. 

“Here,” he said as he passed over a plate with fruit to you. 

“Thanks, Rem,” you said as you grabbed a few of the berries and placed them on top of your bread. You then started munching on some of the other fruits on the plate. You didn’t realise, with the rush, that the plate actually had only your favourite fruit. Remus had picked them up from the centre of the table as you prepared your toast. 

You pretty much gobbled your food, like you had been doing all week, even if the absolute craving for meat had significantly diminished -especially when you were around Remus you noticed- the hunger seemed to prevail. All the types of hunger. Every time you saw Sirius you had the urge to kiss him over and over again like that time in the passageways. That type of hunger didn’t seem to subside when you were around Remus. 

You stood up, Teddy, Tim and Lucas had already left, and Marlene was just finishing her eggs while Anne and Gale stood up. Remus was still eating, a lot more calmer as the four of you motioned to move. 

“Little Witch!” he said, just before you started walking towards the door, he used his wand to levitate a blueberry muffin towards your face. “Take this for the way.” 

“What about me,” Marlene asked. 

“It was the last one, sorry.” 

Marlene gasped playfully. “I swear, this is what you call preferences,” she said with a humph and turned her heel. 

“I’ll save one for you next time,” Remus said with a simple shrug, and Marlene just gave him an incredulous stare before marching off behind Anne and Gale. You gave Remus a look and he shrugged again. “It was for you, she’s playing what she always does, you aren’t,” he added, did that make sense? he sure hoped it did. 

“Thanks, Rem,” you told him with a smile. “I’ll see you in the game, yeah?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” 

“See you there too Pete,” you said with a wave, the boy nodded and hummed in response, too busy picking the onion bits out of the eggs. Peter didn’t like onion, and he always took his sweet time taking it out of his eggs, Sirius had given him a spell, but he said it wasn’t as good as using his hands and eyes. 

You moved to follow behind Marlene and had almost gotten all the way out of the room when two Slytherins cornered you near the doors. You smiled. 

“You did it, didn’t you?” Comet asked, a complicit smile on her face. 

“Had to be you, Crouch has been on your back for months,” Nox added. 

“And then there was the incident with Evan, Severus has always been an ass to you and Mulciber follows them along wherever they go,” Comet intervened. 

You gulped, a small smirk on your lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“And you were in my room, jeez, how the hell didn’t I notice.” 

“You must sleep pretty heavy,” you said with a shrug. 

“Ha! She’s admitting it!”

“I can’t confirm nor deny anything…” 

Nox looked dumbfounded while Comet laughed. “Thanks for the heads up,” she told you. 

“What warning?” you asked with a complicit smile. 

Nox breathed out, a smile playing on his lips again. “Should have heard his screams, he woke up drenched in sweat and crying like a baby,” he added, smile turning to smirk. You had never seen so much Slytherin-ness on him before. “Serves him well.” 

You bit your cheek to avoid making your smile bigger. “Well guys, there’s a game I need to attend.” 

“Good luck!” Comet said with a smile as you waved them goodbye and started walking away. 

“We hope you lose,” added Nox casually, he actually liked Regulus, he’d always been a good roommate. Comet dug her elbow on his stomach, she didn’t care much for the Quidditch team, except for Minho, but she liked you better. 

“I don’t, I hope you win!” she said with a smile “but invite me to the celebration party, I’d hate to miss it.” 

You turned with a smile and a wink. “Of course, you’re always invited to the Gryffindor parties.” 

You continued walking towards the pitch, you bumped into Nina, who hugged you and wished you a great game. She told you she’d be watching on the Gryffindor side with Sibyl, which made you smile. 

After a few more minutes you were already on the pitch, everyone was there already, and Teddy was talking with Gale now, he turned to you and called your name, using his hand to prompt you to come.“James said you’ll be seeking.” You nodded, you knew. “But… and I know this might be a lot to ask, but could you keep an eye on Gale?” 

“But he’s brilliant!” you argued, and then turned to him, standing on the side. “You’re brilliant Gale, I told you already.” 

“He knows,” Teddy said, getting your attention again. “But he asked me to ask you to do it, just in case.” 

You looked between the two boys and realised that more than anything, what Gale wanted was reassurance, so you smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Of course, I’ve got you covered,” you bolstered him. “Just do your thing, be as fast as you always are but stay in the goals, all right?”  

“Will you teach me how to do the backflip?” he asked. 

You nodded, “How about I teach you during our next practice, in case you ever have to play keeper again?” 

He nodded excitedly. “I want to be as good as you one day.” 

“You’ll be even better,” you told him with a smile. And you truly believed he would, it was almost like a hunch. 

“All right guys,” Teddy said, “10 laps, we need some warm-up.” You nodded and did as told, speeding through the pitch as fast as your broom allowed, then up and down, practising the break before reaching the ground. 

Eventually, Teddy called everyone down, and you all started to gear up. You helped Gale with the many layers of protective gear he’d be wearing and then sat down near the bleachers to fasten your own gear. Most of the gear was similar to the stuff you wore normally. Although James had given you a pair of old gloves, that he said he’d used to win his first match. You tried not to think about the fact that your hands were so small that James’ had been the same size when he was 13, but then you remembered being James, and it actually made sense. 

“Feeling ready?” you heard a soft voice from behind and saw Remus’ hands out of the corner of your eye, as he sat down on the grass beside you. 

You hummed. “Yeah, I just need to finish with this,” you said as you pointed at the laces that you were passing through and around your shins. 

Remus leaned on his palms as he looked up. “It might rain soon,” he informed. 

“It’s a wonderful day!” You told him with a smirk, he gave you a side eye but smiled. 

“Here,” he said, giving you a small, marble-sized transparent ball. 

“A swamp bomb?” you asked curiously as you looked through the transparent-ish ball and looked at all the little murky water details inside.

“Throw it on the ground and you get an instant swamp,” he said with a smile. “Sirius and I trapped it on the marble a few years ago, we made one for each, they always carry them on rainy games.” 

“For… luck?” you asked with a bit of a frown. 

Remus quirked an eyebrow. “In case you slip off your broom,” he responded matter of factly, “use it and you’ll fall on water rather than on the grass, it’ll break your fall”

You gasped in shock, a surprised expression that turned into a smile the more you thought about it. “That’s insanely clever! It should be used as a failsafe for every quidditch player. I mean change the swamp for cleaner water and you have the perfect little artefact.” 

Remus nodded in agreement, “Keep it in you, all right?” 

You nodded. “You really did take the whole “taking care of me” thing seriously,” you said as you pocketed the marble. 

“Take care of you?” he asked with a frown. 

“Didn’t Sirius ask?” you asked a little confused. 

He had.

Although, Remus had been too busy trying not to blush when he grabbed his hand to put the hair tie in. Did he? he wondered, perhaps he did, I wasn’t exactly listening. Remus cleared his throat, you noticed he did that quite often when he was around you, you wondered if maybe he was getting sick or something. “Yeah, I… yeah, but you’re my best friend so, still…” 

You nudged him with your shoulder. “Don’t get all soft with me,” you joked. “You know I’ll be alright, don’t you?” 

He propped his elbows on his knees and leaned his head on them, giving you an expression you could only describe as cute, even for Remus. “I know,” he reassured. “How’s the shoulder?” he asked, brushing his fingers on it lightly. Perhaps he was giving himself too many liberties around you these days, you didn’t seem to mind it. 

“Better, it still hurts, but much better. Think James would have allowed me to play if he hadn’t gotten detention?” 

He humphed. “You would have convinced him, you always do. Maybe it’s the fairy bIood?” 

You shrugged, “Nah, mom was the last one in line with the ability to glamour.” 

He smiled, “How about going against Reg?” 

You swallowed thickly, you had told Remus about not using the hexbag on him. “It’s… It’s whatever.” 

“You still resent him?” 

“Am I petty?” you asked with a frown. “It’s… It’s not even about me and Sirius anymore, you know? It’s about the betrayal. I trusted him, Rem. I did, and Sirius warned me, he told me he was always doing what Walburga and Orion asked but I chose to trust Regulus. I thought I saw something in him, maybe a friend but… I guess I got my gut feeling wrong then.”

Remus nodded as he listened. “Did you ever talk to him about it?” 

Yes, Remus, the voice of reason, of course, that’s what he would ask. You averted your gaze and shook your head, “He sent a letter once.” 

“And?” 

“I burned it down without even opening it.” 

“You really have a knack for burning things that could be useful to you.” 

You hit his shoulder lightly, knowing exactly what he was talking about, the werewolf book pages. “Either way, I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to talk to him, things got really awkward when I blew him off during the race.” 

Remus sighed, he really had to go and fall in love with two of the most headstrong and stubborn people in his life. He was about to say something when Teddy called for you. You turned to him, a smile plastered on your face as if the sad subject hadn’t been touched at all. “Enjoy the show then,” you said in the most enticing tone before standing up and pulling your broom up to your hands without even saying a word. Impressive, Remus thought, but then again, she’s always been impressive. 

“The game is about to start,” Teddy informed, “Mckinnon, Lucas; Crouch will be all over Gale because he’s new, I want you to keep your eyes on him.” 

“I… I think perhaps he might be all over (Y/N),” Marlene said. “He’s got beef with her.”

Yeah, Beef is certainly a way to call it, you thought. “Nah, Minho is friends with her, she won’t be in the danger zone too often.” 

“I’m here,” you said, intervening with a raised hand, they were talking as if you weren’t. “And while I do think he’ll be trying to shoot the bludgers straight to my face, because that’s just who Barty is, I’ll stay close to Gale, no need to choose between the two, how does that sound?” you asked. 

“Fine, but don’t stay in place if you see the snitch, go right behind it.” 

“I was planning to.” You liked Teddy, you really did, but he wasn’t a great captain, James was.

“Davis, Tim, we’ll play offensive.” Teddy was still coordinating with the chasers when you heard a loud whistle sound from the referee. 

You all walked towards the centre of the pitch, Teddy at the forefront, you and Gale to each side of him. The Slytherin team was right in front of you, Regulus was looking at you with a bit of a frown, his lips pursed, as if he wanted to say something but was holding his tongue. 

You stared at him, and then at Barty who was glaring at you. You stood a little straighter, pulling your head back just a little and giving him the most unbothered and cocksure expression you could have mustered. It worked, his eyes narrowed and his glare thickened. Regulus, who had been watching the entire exchange, almost smiled proudly at your stance.  You really were the same girl he had met years ago at the resort, perhaps even a little bolder now that you were older. 

“Captains, greet each other,” the referee said –a Ravenclaw player who had been commissioned for the job. Dimitry and Teddy stepped ahead and shook hands. 

You shot Minho a look as they stretched their hands and he winked at you. You knew he wasn’t going to make it easy for you just because you were friends, and you were thrilled to finally be able to play against him. You had heard stories, and you had seen him in practice games, he was good, professional player material even. 

“Seekers,” the referee called, you turned to look at them, “your turn.” 

You took a step forward and awkwardly shook Regulus’ hand. It was as soft as Sirius’, you still found it impressive how much they looked like each other and how different they were from the other, “I’m looking forward to playing against you.” 

“I’m looking forward to beating you,” you said, a lot more bitterly than you originally intended for it to sound.

Regulus scoffed but smiled, that’s definitely something you would have said to him before the incident, although your tone would have for sure been different. The referee let the snitch out, and it circled Reg before circling around you and flying up into the air. You stared at the shiny orb until it disappeared in the air. Gale and Dimitry were already on the goals. There was another loud sound whistle, along with sparks and the game started.

You did as you promised, flew straight towards the goals and kept a decent distance between you and Gale, flying a little higher as you looked through every bit of the field to try and find the little golden ball. It hadn’t even been 10 minutes and the sky started to rumble. You looked up, and felt the first trickle of rain over your cheek. You smiled, things were about to get good. You had promised you’d stay near the goals, and you really did intend to do it. But then you saw something moving in the distance, barely a glimmer, a flicker of gold through the thick drops of rain. You turned to Regulus, he was looking towards the same spot you were. So you dived that way about at the same time he did. 

You saw Anne Davis get a grip on the ball and dive straight towards Volkov’s goals, she missed the shot and he threw the ball back to one of their chasers but Tim intercepted and shot it back, managing to score some points for your team. The crowd erupted in cheers and even you joined in their cheers. Tim beamed from his spot, it was the first time he played an official game, and managing to score was a huge moment for him, although you never doubted his ability.

You and Regulus were almost side by side, flying towards the east side of the pitch, but the snitch seemed to have vanished again, he did a swift break a few metres from the ground but you continued down hoping to see the sneaky little ball somewhere, breaking just before you reached the grass, and rolling around the bottom on circles to diffuse the momentum of the fall. You looked up, Gale was being surrounded by the beaters of both teams, while Marlene and Lucas were trying to push the ball to the other side Minho and Barty were viciously dragging it back to Gale. You took a deep breath and flew as fast as possible towards them, not quite looking at Gale but pretending you had seen something. That would get them off him and to follow you instead. 

“Don’t do anything stupid” you heard Sirius’ voice echo in your head. Well, it’s not stupid, you attempted to reason. It’s not like trying to stop a bludger with my own hands or stepping in front of one to defend Gale, definitely not like throwing your wand on the ground when facing a werewolf. This is teamwork. 

You followed through with your plan and continued taking sharp turns, emulating the kind of turns the snitch would make you take and surely enough, in a matter of seconds, you had both Minho and Barty all over you, throwing the bludgers at your face as you skid and dodged them over and over. Thank Merlin you had decent reflexes. 

Gale seemed to be a lot calmer now, and even if the reserve player, Solacis Gaunt, had scored 10 points earlier, he was visibly struggling to get past Gale’s defences. You smiled proudly at yourself as you continued to soar through the air, and dodged a few more throws from Crouch. Perhaps it was a bad idea to taunt him, but you couldn’t help yourself; when you steered clear of yet another shot from him, you turned around with a cocky smile and waved. 

Crouch did not look happy. Minho was laughing in the background and Marlene, who was still close to Gale, watched the whole interaction with a bit of a frown. That was it, the stupid thing Sirius had told you not to do. 

Even Remus, who didn’t have such a good view of the situation from the bleachers, noticed how you were haughtily making fun of Barty’s shot and stiffened in his seat. You could be so insolent sometimes, often failing to realise the consequences of what your actions could do to you. Like getting you thrown on the shrieking shack or almost eaten alive. Regardless, he had never seen anyone be so damn stunning while boasting. Actually, that was a lie, Sirius was equally beautiful when he did.

The game was tight, Regulus and you were darting almost side by side, he seemed a little confused at first because he couldn’t see the snitch you were so animatedly looking for, but then he noticed: your worrying looks at Gale, the little proud smile when he managed to stop a quaffle after Minho and Barty were off his back. She’s protecting him. 

Regulus knew Gale, they were in the same year, and he knew he was a good guy, he was always studying and even if he was a little too loud and conceited for his own taste, he respected him. In fact, he was a little surprised he was so self-conscious about the game since his very confident persona would rarely waver into diffidence. 

And then he saw the way you threw the boy a thumbs up and he realised: that could have been the kind of friendship that developed between the two of you. If he had done things differently, if he had perhaps… gone to the waterpark with you and Sirius. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so angry about the lies he’d told to keep you from harm. But he was also certain that what you wanted, for him to admit that it had been your idea, wouldn’t be something he would ever change, he wouldn’t have done anything to put you in danger. 

From the very beginning, you had been kind and friendly to him, like you were to everyone you met, and even if you were clearly drawn to Sirius like a moth to a flame, you had never left him out. You’d even tried to convince him to come along, but he was too scared, he’d seen the way his parents punished Sirius. He didn’t want his mom to pull that kind of face, let alone those kinds of spells…  Yeah, he might have been a bit of a coward, but everyone was safe in the end, and you were happy now, which in a way made him happy too. 

He hadn’t seen the snitch either way, so he followed your game, darting behind as close to you as he could. He knew Minho would control his shots if he thought he could hit him, so in a way, he was protecting you and himself, since your team’s beater would be doing the same. Although –and he was indeed curious about this– they seemed to be sticking to Gale rather than following behind you and protecting you, or trying to tumble down the other players, like they should.

But then it happened, another glimmer like the one you had seen earlier, passed just over Dimitry Volkov. He swallowed, eyeing you, but you hadn’t seen it, no you were too busy trying to avoid Barty’s aggressive blows. Regulus darted straight towards Volkov, and you instantly knew he was probably following the snitch. So you went right behind him, managing to get shoulder-to-shoulder against each other. 

BIoody hell, she’s fast. 

He knew that too, but it had never been as evident as having you flying against him, and you didn’t even have your Dark Nimbus anymore. Eventually, you saw the snitch too, and picked up your speed. Both you and Regulus were on the verge of getting it, the sly little ball darting just away from your grasp as if it had a mind of its own. 

It didn’t matter, both you and Regulus were as skilled as the other, which was something to say about the boy, since you had been doing this for a lot longer than he had. And even then, you found it a little hard to keep up with him in the sight department. Yes, you were faster, but the snitch often got lost in between the rain in your perspective, but Regulus seemed to always know where to go, never losing sight of it, which was getting on your nerves. 

You lost sight of it again and whispered “fuck,” the bludger darted your way and you speed forward, it brushed over the sweeping side of your broom and made you lose balance but the grip you had on the handle was strong and you managed to straighten up before the other bludger sped your way. 

You managed to move away from it this time, but not before sending Minho an incredulous look, he just shrugged with a small smile in response “I told you I wouldn’t make it easy for you darling!” You rolled your eyes but nodded, moving out of the way as Marlene shot the bludger back, straight towards Minho, who barely had enough time to react. 

You chuckled at his incredulous reaction, as if he was genuinely shocked. Which made sense, last time he’d seen Marlene, she was still guarding Gale like a loyal dog. She threw you a look, a small nod as she let you know “I’m with you” without having to say a word. You looked at her with worry and turned to give Gale a look, once you made sure he was fine, you turned to her again with a smile.

Yes, Teddy had told her to stay by Gale’s side, but you truly needed to have 0 common sense to stay guarding someone who didn’t need protection and leave someone that was struggling with so many bludgers thrown their way by themselves. Besides, you were roommates, friends, she wasn’t gonna let you fall off that broom. 

With Marlene on your side, you managed to let go of some of the extra apprehension you had been withholding to try and stay on your broom, she was countering the bludgers and you finally managed to focus on the snitch.

You tore through the air, faster than you had in the previous game, and faster than you had in the race, even without your broom, you’d somehow managed to pick up more speed, the wind whipping past with a biting force. You weren’t sure why it was happening, but you were benefiting from it so you didn’t think much about it. 

You were shoulder to shoulder with Regulus again when your eyes landed on the snitch, it wasn’t far, you just needed to push through a little further. You could feel the sharp droplets of rain hitting against your face like icy needles from how fast you were moving, and the clouding in your glasses made it a little hard to see much of anything, but you were focused. Gaze fixed solely on the elusive glint of the snitch, tantalisingly close. You weren’t going to lose sight of it this time, not now that you were ahead of Reg. 

As you neared the prize, almost forgetting your surroundings, you felt it, the yanking of your broom, the same yanking that had jolted you off it a few weeks past. Clenching your teeth, you tightened your grip and tried to push through, ignoring the feeling, you were so close. The snitch was within reach; your outstretched hands were on the verge of capturing it, ignoring the strain on your shoulder from how fiercely you were using your arm to grapple the broom, you fought to maintain control over it.

Regulus noticed “Barty!” He spat angrily. You didn’t hear any of it, the broom was pulling backwards, prompting a split-second decision. So you did the only logical thing you could and harnessed the momentum to leap towards the snitch just as the broom slipped from beneath you. Then, the fall began. 

The whole crowd seemed to be holding their breath. Regulus, Marlene and Minho, who had been the closest all tried to fly towards you, to catch you before you hit the ground, not that you noticed. 

You were rather high when you started to fall, and it almost felt like it was in slow motion, but you had already dragged your hand to the marble Remus had given you earlier when you felt the broom slipping from under your legs. You threw the marble to the ground and braced yourself for the rest of the fall. Trying to keep your eyes open as you wrapped your arms around your body and hoped to fall into the murky water. 

In less than two seconds, you felt the freezing hit of the water all around you, lowering your temperature even more. Fortunately, the pocket swamp was deep enough, you didn’t even reach the bottom as you fell a few metres down the water. It took a minute to adjust, opening your eyes as you looked down, managing to see only darkness and some vines of seaweed. However, just as relief washed over you, and you started swimming upwards, you felt something grip onto your ankle. You looked down, panic cursing through your veins when you noticed the bony hand attempting to drag you down. What the fuck?

Above the water, the game seemed to be frozen, the players didn’t know if they should continue playing when two members of the Slytherin team and two of the Gryffindor were completely distracted by the accident. 

“Minho, Regulus!” Dimitri shouted, “to your fucking positions.”

Teddy seemed to be about to do the same thing when Marlene threw him a warning look and he shot up, indicating the rest of the team to be on guard with his hands instead of speaking. 

Minho turned to Dimitry, second-guessing himself, before turning back to the rippling water in front of him, you weren’t out yet. He shook his head and chose to stay, taking his wand and pointing it to the water “Hidroclearus!” The murky water responded to the spell, gradually clearing to reveal the unfolding scene beneath the surface.

Regulus didn’t even turn to look at Dimitri, he was fully focused on the water, worried. 

Remus, who had seen you fall, had already crossed half the pitch with a panicked look on his face, followed by a terrified Lily, and a very concerned Mary. Your Slytherin and Ravenclaw friends were on the edge of their seats. Everyone except for Sibyl, that was trying to get Nina –who was crying hysterically–to calm down.  

Someone was trying to stop Remus from going deeper into the field, so they wouldn’t interrupt the game further, but he pushed them off his way easily, Lily and Mary weren’t as lucky, and they were stopped by the game staff as Remus strode towards the swamp. 

Under the thick water, your initial shock faded quickly, and you realised that whenever the boys had trapped the swamp in the marble, they had also trapped some kind of water creature. A water creature that was clearly pissed and very hungry after being carried around the boys’ pockets for so long. You pulled your wand out and cast a wordless reducto, getting it to snap his hand away, and started swimming upwards as fast as you could. By then, the water was clearer and Minho saw you, struggling to outswim the creature. 

You threw a few other curses at the thing but it was relentless, it wasn’t thinking anymore, the creature had starved inside the marble for so long, the pain your spells caused was completely overshadowed by the rumbling of its stomach the moment it noticed: you were food.

Regardless, there was something you had that the monster didn’t, and that was raw stubbornness, you kept shooting jinxes and swimming however you could, and then you saw a hand, you had no idea who the owner was, but a stranger’s hand was still better than being eaten alive, you reached for it, the hand gripped around your wrist and hauled you up. 

Seconds later you were finally above water, gasping for air and panting, you turned to the side, Minho, you realised. You looked back warily, pulling him by his robe as you stared at the water, and only relaxed when you were sure the thing was not about to follow. 

Regardless you pulled your wand and whispered “glacius.” A thick layer of frost started to coat the lake and you finally exhaled.  You pulled your head back, looking at the sky, the game was still going, but everyone was on edge. Regulus was looking at you in shock, but he seemed more angry than anything and Marlene rushed towards you before the lake froze completely. 

She placed her hands around your face, “Are you… are you okay?” 

You nodded, head a little squiffy as you tried to gain back focus, the surge of adrenaline finally draining and letting you feel the discomfort of the fall, and the one from your wound. Then you looked up again. “Why… why are they still playing?” 

“Regulus stopped searching for the snitch the moment you fell,” she told you, Minho was still standing beside you, worry evident on his furrowed brows, he’d never seen you so fazed. Remus had, but that did not make his long strides slow down. He was also rather angry about the game continuing even after the entire thing had happened. Everyone should have stopped, everyone should be helping you. 

He exchanged a look with Minho, the boy stared at Remus’s eyes for a second, seeing the worry and his concern, it reached deeper than his own, and he instantly knew. Yun Minho, the boy who had once kissed Remus, and knew the meaning behind his eyes from the amount of stolen glances they had shared at some point, was the first one to realise how irrevocably in love he was with you.

“That… that doesn’t matter.” 

“I bIoody well agree but those are not the rules!” Marlene said, a little riled up but trying to control her anger.  

“No,” you said slowly. “I mean, the game is over.” 

Marlene frowned, and then Regulus noticed, in one of your hands, the one you had kept glued to your body the entire time, knuckles white from your hard grip, there was something, a small, unfolding wing, and he looked at you, absolutely stunned. 

Still looking at Marlene you gave her a lazy smile, tilted your head and pulled your hand up, slowly unwrapping it until you were holding the snitch in between your index finger and thumb. Marlene’s jaw dropped while Minho looked at you impressed and patted you on the back.  

You didn’t wince, but turned to him with a smile. “That was quite a game,” he said. 

You nodded, letting a soft laugh out, raising your hand higher, so people would notice. The commentator, who had been struggling on whether to keep up with what was happening in the air or what was happening with you, gasped. “She has the snitch!” he said pointing at you, more surprised than anything before clearing his throat and announcing it properly, “That’s 150 points for Gryffindor! The final score is 200 against 60.” 

You raised your eyebrows, Gryffindor had been losing by one shot. You could see your teammates start to fly down but were distracted by a bone-crushing hug, you hadn’t seen him coming, but you knew it was Remus instantly, his smell was unmistakable.

You smiled at his hug, you knew you were soaking him with murky, smelly water, but he didn’t seem to care, he was just glad you were all right, you almost snuggled your head on his chest, basking on his warmth, warmth that he had somehow kept despite the cold rain still falling over everyone. 

“Rem?” you managed to mumble, he hummed in response, his head was on your shoulder, his eyes shut tightly as a tear of relief soaked your robe, you were fat too wet to notice. “You’re… you’re crushing me a little.” 

His head snapped from its place and he looked at you with worry as he pulled back, his hands still on your arms. Now looking all over you, trying to make sure you weren’t hurt, that he hadn’t hurt you either. 

You noticed instantly, the panic in his beautiful brown eyes. “It was just a little,” you reassured. “I’m fine,” you added. “Thanks to you, actually.” 

Professor Pendragon had rushed towards you and stared at the lake, Nightshade was trailing behind, Remus stepped aside, but kept his hand on your back as the dark-haired teacher leaned closer to inspect you. “There’s a water spirit under the swamp,” you informed, “It’s hungry.” 

She raised her eyebrows at you, impressed at your quick thinking. “That’s why you frosted it.”  

“Didn’t want it to come up after me.” 

“You had to fight it, presumably.” 

You nodded, “It wasn’t that hard.” 

Remus narrowed his eyes, it was as if you and Seraphina were saying a lot more words to each other than the ones he was actually listening to, it was in the intense gaze you shared, you seemed uncomfortable, almost on edge, but she seemed… pleased. 

Professor Pendragon intervened a little later, he called you by your last name “You must be taken to the infirmary.” You threw a worried look at Remus, he had also wanted to take you there, but he bIoody well knew he couldn’t. 

“I’m fine, it won’t be necessary,” you said with a smile. Nightshade tilted her head backwards, she knew why you had declined, you were clever, you knew people couldn’t see the probably still rather fresh would your werewolf friend had caused you. “I’ll just… go dry up and I’ll be good as new, the water broke most of the fall,” you added, reassuringly. 

Cunning, Nightshade realised, she would have also been fooled, if she hadn’t known better. But she did, and she knew how much that fall must have stung. 

Lily and Mary had somehow managed to get across now that the game was over and they were fast approaching but Gale beat them to it, and he also pulled you into a hug “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he repeated like a mantra. You frowned at him and allowed him to pull back of his own accord. “If it hadn’t been for me and my-” 

You shook your head. “Nothing was your fault, Gale. I’m fine, we won! You did incredible today too.” 

He still seemed a little uneasy but nodded. “Yeah Thomas, it wasn’t your fault, if anything, it was Teddy who told me and Lucas to stay by your side,” Marlene said, throwing the chaser an angry side eye. He recoiled, he’d been staying a little further from the reunion. Lily and Marlene came over next, squeezing you in between the two of them before Peter did the same.

The rest of your friends also came down to tell you how happy they were that you were fine, Nina had pulled you into a hug almost as tight as Remus’ and didn’t let go of you for a few minutes while Sybil attempted to pull her off a few times. After a few more hugs, everyone seemed to be ready to start the Gryffindor celebration party.  You had whispered Comet the passwords when she came to make sure you were all right, and she smiled, telling you she’d bring Nox along, even if he wanted you to lose initially. 

After you and most of your friends started to walk towards the Common Room you felt a rather sharp pain in your arm. You winced but swallowed a whimper, you didn’t want to worry any of your friends, especially Lily and Remus, who looked somewhat at ease now. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” you announced. 

Lily frowned, “I’ll come along…” 

You shook your head. “No need. It’ll be quick, I’ll see you in the common room. Could you help me find something cosy to change into?” 

She gave you a scrutinising look but nodded. Stepping ahead, but as you diverted, you felt an arm stopping you. “Where do you think you’re going, young lady?” he joked. 

You turned to Remus with a diverted smile. “To the Toilets. Care to accompany me?” you said the last bit with sarcasm. 

Remus chuckled. “What if I do?” he said then, in a rather teasing tone. “With the magnet you have for trouble I wouldn’t be surprised if you bumped into a troll or something.” 

“A troll? In the girl’s lavatories?! Don’t be ridiculous, Rem! Go on and spare some fire whiskey from me, why don’t you?” 

He wasn’t too sure about letting you go on your own, but he also knew how you were feeling, you had been literally surrounded by people from the moment you’d stepped out of the murky lake, and while it was nice to get hugged and all after getting hurt, sometimes all you needed was time to process what was had happened, he would know, he certainly did sometimes. 

Perhaps, like he had many times, you just wanted a few minutes for peace and quiet. And although it took him a few seconds, he reluctantly let go of his grip on your arm and allowed you to go. “How much?” he asked with a smile. 

“At least a flask,” you responded, he arched an eyebrow at you. “Come on, I’ve had quite a week, I deserve it, don’t I?” 

He chuckled and nodded. “I’ll save two then.” 

You smiled widely “That’s why I love you, Moony!” You had used a rather playful tone when you said it but that didn’t stop the knot that formed on the boy’s stomach, “See you in a bit, yeah?” 

The boy nodded and you turned towards the toilets, speeding through to check on the wound. You removed your robe and sweater and used a spell to wipe them off the murky water as you checked the wound. Quickly washing it over the sink as you saw the splotches of cherry red slide down, contrasting against the porcelain white sink. 

You rolled your eyes, the fucking wound was getting more annoying and inconvenient than painful at this point. Regardless, you dried it out, threw some of the painful ointment you had kept in your pocket with a spell for it to remain fresh in case of an emergency and wrapped it again, wiping the tears that fell from your eyes from the sharp sting of the dreadful but effective medicine you had somehow crafted. 

You took a deep breath and moved towards the outside, you were just rounding the corner when you heard two voices, two very recognizable voices. 

“You fucking asshole,” Regulus said, anger dripping from his tone.

“Off me, Black!” Barty countered. You leaned your head over, Regulus had him pushed against the wall as Barty fumed and tried to squirm his way out. Regulus was taller, but Barty had always been more vicious, and you knew how strong he was, after all, he had been the one to haul you to the shack on Monday. 

“You do that again and you’re dеad meat,” Regulus seethed in between gritted teeth. “You got what you wanted, now back the fuck off!” 

“Why are you even trying to… You didn’t have the nightmares I had! You SAW Evan, in the fucking infirmary!” Barty seemed to feel actual grief over that last bit.

“You both had that one coming, you think I’m blind? You’ve had it against them since the quaffle incident.” 

“Well, she had it coming too!” The boy against the wall complained. It’s about me, you realised. And it almost pissed you off that Regulus would even try to defend you, who the hell does he think he is?!

You turned around to leave when you heard Regulus mutter a jinx and heard a howl from Crouch, you leaned over the wall again, to try and see what had happened, but Barty spotted you. 

“Bitch’s here,” he said as he nodded your way, his jaw slightly slack.

“Yeah and this is none of my business,” you said, skipping past the two boys, not sparing a second glance at Barty, who was on the floor clutching his stomach. 

“Hey!” you heard Regulus’ distressed voice “Wait up.” 

Barty huffed at his reaction, rolling his eyes as Regulus trailed behind you like a lost puppy. Fucking Blacks’ obsession with that fucking girl, he thought as he stood up and limped to the other side. 

“I said wait up!” Regulus said, grabbing your forearm. You yanked it away from him, with a vicious frown. 

“Regulus, don’t fucking touch me,” you said in a warning tone, he seemed to recoil but stood his ground. 

“Let me explain,” he said, running past you and blocking your path, the anguished look on his face reminded you so much of Sirius you almost folded  “I–” 

“No need to explain,” you dismissed while shaking your head. “Whatever you do with your life is your fucking business. And no need to worry about it, I don’t like talking behind people's backs like others. I’m no snitch, and I’m not gonna go running my mouth either.” 

He seemed taken aback by that, blinking a few times as he processed the information. “You…” he stammered, “you never read my letter.” 

You scoffed. “Of course I didn’t fucking read your letter Regulus, there was nothing you could have said to take back what you’d done. Sirius and I didn’t talk to each other for fucking years after that, I thought he hated me!” You were angry, bottled-up emotions spilling out of you like boiling water in a small pot. He was quiet, staring at you like he didn’t know what to say “Fucking thought so,” you whispered and skipped past him.

He had thought of so many things to say to you over the years. He was sure you hated him because he hadn’t let out the fact that it had been your idea, not for telling his parents about the escapade, and of all the times he had run this conversation in his head, none of them had included that fact. He felt like short-circuiting, and you were about to turn the corner when he managed to say something. “It wasn’t me!” You continued your way. “I didn’t tell them, I wasn’t the snitch!” 

You froze in place, what? that… it doesn’t make sense. 

Regulus took a deep breath, grateful you were listening, finally listening. “Someone sent an owl to my dad, they said they’d seen you in town.” 

You turned to look at him, your eyes analysing him, his words, his red-rimmed eyes and the absolute raw emotion visible on his face, nothing like the stoic Regulus you were accustomed to. 

“He asked me where you were,” he continued narrating. “I told him you had gone flying but he already knew. Then he slipped something in my drink and I couldn’t– it was veritaserum.” 

You looked at him shocked, he was about to cry from the memory. Veritaserum? His parents used veritaserum on him?!? You wouldn’t put it past Orion and Walburga but still, it was absolutely heinous. “Reggie….” 

He let out something in between a breath and a sob when he heard the nickname, the same nickname he had hated but longed to hear after the incident. He looked so much like Sirius you wanted nothing more than to comfort him, you hastily realised how awful you had been. 

“You never…” you swallowed. “You didn’t snitch on us.” He shook his head.  You sighed, you face falling. “BIoody hell, I’m an asshole,” you said thinking back to all the times you had ignored and blown off the boy, your boyfriend’s little brother for fucks sake.

“You didn’t know,” he tried to reassure. 

“Ignorance is no excuse,” you managed to say, disgusted with the way you had treated the poor boy. A boy who –and you had noticed from the beginning– craved a decent friendship, some kind of human connection. All the attachment you had felt for him before the escapade at the hotel came crashing back, and you groaned and how much of an asshole you had been “Sorry.” 

He shrugged, “Does that… does that mean you don’t hate me anymore?” 

You sighed again, cringing at yourself for causing such an impression on him. “Of course, I don’t fucking hate you Reggie. I was pissed, I AM pissed, I…” you struggled to form a coherent sentence .“I trusted you, besides Sirius warning, I trusted you because it was what my gut told me to do and then… then I thought you had betrayed us and I was pissed, I was pissed at you, at my parents at your parents, at Sirius who didn’t admit it was my idea and…” you sucked in a breath, “I was pissed with myself, for being foolish enough to trust you.” 

“I’m sorry…”

You shook your head, taking a step closer, the urge to comfort him almost taking over, “No Reg… It’s me, I AM sorry, for not giving you a chance to–” You remembered the train, the race, the other times Regulus had tried to approach you and you had either ignored him or scowled at him to scare him away “–And you tried so many times.” 

He laughed at himself, “I’ve been told I’m rather stubborn.” 

You let out a breathy laugh. “Reminds me of someone.” 

“Will you…” He hesitated, “Will you tell Sirius?” he asked, a mix of frightened and hopeful. 

You nodded, “He needs to know, he’s… resentful.” 

Regulus swallowed, another one of those expressions you had seen your boyfriend do, his eyes were still red, his breath was heavy and he looked like he was about to burst into a panic attack, you took another step towards him, reaching your hand to grab onto his arm before you stopped yourself. “Do you mind it if I–” you started, “can I hug you?” 

He turned to you, a little shocked at your request, Regulus looked like he desperately needed a hug, you weren’t sure if your hug was the one he needed, but you hoped you could comfort him, if only to take back a little bit of the evil you had done to him, even if it was under the wrong belief. 

Eventually, he nodded and you leaned closer, wrapping your arms around him, he was taller than you, unlike when you’d met, shorter than Sirius, but taller than you regardless. “I’m sorry,” you whispered, “for being a piece of shit.” 

“You didn’t know.” 

“I should have known. I just needed someone to blame and then Sirius–”  

“It’s fine now,” he said with a smile. You don’t hate me anymore. Regulus seemed to relax as you rubbed your hand on his back, trying to comfort him as best as you could, and then he pulled back. “You have a party to attend to,” he told you, motioning to the side. “You were brilliant today.” 

You smiled, “Bullshit, I pretended to know where the snitch was just to get Barty off Gale’s back.” 

“And you fooled him,” he added with a bit of a smile. “That’s no easy feat.” 

You shrugged, “You certainly helped.” 

“That’s what friends are for.” 

You swallowed. “Did you… did you let me win?” you asked with a frown. 

He looked at you, eyebrows raised, “I would never let you win!” he said disdainfully, a whisper of the disagreeable Reggie you had met at the park. “It wouldn’t be fair to you.” 

You nodded, a small smile playing on your lips. “So that means I won fair and square.” 

“You jumped off your fucking broom to get the snitch, of course, you won fair and square.” 

You shrugged, “I knew I had the swamp marble, and I was gonna fall off the broom anyway.” 

He clenched his jaw, “Fucking Barty.” 

“I can deal with him, don’t keep messing around or you’ll end up with a shaved head or something one day.” He placed a hand on his hair, looking slightly panicked and you laughed. “You’re so much like Sirius is ridiculous.” 

He frowned at that. “Just go to your party.” 

You smiled again, holding a laugh as you turned around, deciding not to tease him further, but you turned back to him “Hey Reg… Will you be alright?” 

He looked at you and nodded. “I’ve got you as an ally now, of course, I’ll be alright.” 

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

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“I am in love with your brother!” James blurts out, unable to stay quiet anymore.

Sirius doesn’t even look up from his book. “Big fucking news, Prongs.”

Remus grimaces and then smiles sheepishly at James. “Sorry, I told him.”

James mouths ‘traitor’ at him and kicks Sirius under the table. He isn’t even sure why. This is brilliant, actually, he has been going insane trying to figure out how to tell him about that recent development, afraid of his wrath. But this non-reaction is somehow even worse than a huge fight.

“He hates me,” James whinges. Which is not entirely true. Regulus nothings him, probably doesn’t even know his first name, and his last name only because he sees it on James’ Quidditch robes every time. Because James is a much better Seeker. Ha!

“We’re basically family,” James continues his woe-is-me program. “You’re like my brother so he is… too?”

Sirius looks up now. “Practically catnip for him, he’s a Black.”

“Ew,” Remus remarks.

James sighs. “I will die a virgin.”

“Do what I did,” Remus suggests. “Show the tiniest bit of affection.”

“I will tell him I love him,” James decides and hurries off.

“He’s dead,” Sirius muses impassively.

[booksarelife-stuff]

Gold Rush

Jily (James Potter/Lily Evans), Minor wolfstar

Word Count: 4856

Lily didn’t expect to be having these feelings for James when 7th year starts. Featuring a jealous and pining Lily. 

Read on AO3

When James caught her eye from across the Gryffindor table, she didn’t expect a fluttering feeling in her chest to blossom. 

Summer had been kind to him in ways that almost made Lily angry. He seemed to grow into his features. His cheeks had lost all the baby fat, making sharp cheekbones appear, and he had gotten new glasses that seemed to frame his face a lot better and highlight his hazel eyes. The dimple in his left cheek still made appearances when he smirked and god, his jawline was heavenly. His voice had also deepened to a nice even baritone that when Lily first heard it, it had taken a second to realize that James had spoken. 

Alarm bells started going off as he smiled at her. She quickly smiled and turned away, hiding the blush that was starting to form on her cheeks. 

She could not be thinking about James Potter like that. 

~~~

Lily hadn’t been particularly thrilled with having to share a living space with just him. It could be worse, as she had been expecting Remus and he wasn’t the tidiest. She had been in the boys’ dorm a few times and it was never messy, but Remus told her that it was because James cleaned it. 

It hadn’t been bad, besides the fluttering in her stomach when he walked in. 

Lily was reading a book on professional level charms, her legs stretched out on the sofa by the fireplace. The head dorm was nice and Lily wondered if it changed based on who were the heads that year because it resembled the Gryffindor common room closely, with more cushy furniture than necessary. 

She was about to turn the page when the bookcase that hid the entrance swung open. 

She hated the butterflies that formed in her stomach.

James stepped in, soaking from the rain. He had had Quidditch practice. 

“It’s raining horribly,” he said as a greeting. 

Lily opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. His hair was flat for once in his life and sticking to his forehead. He had a curl plastered on his forehead. His t-shirt was clinging to him. James wasn’t buff, but he was lean and his defined muscles were nothing to laugh at. 

“I swear I almost drowned in mid-air,” he said. “Is that even a thing?”

“No, I don’t believe so,” Lily said, turning away and looking at her book. He got out his wand and started charming himself dry. 

“Practice went okay otherwise,” he said, finally getting his shoes dry. 

“How’s the new seeker?” she asked, not looking at James as he flung himself into the sofa across from her. 

“Doing good. Just need to make a few improvements on her techniques,” he said. 

Lily spared a glance and wished she didn’t. His legs were spread out and his head threw back, exposing his neck. She hoped that he didn’t see her blush.  

“Who’s the first game against?” she asked. 

“Ravenclaw,” he said. “They got a strong keeper, but I don’t think they’ll be a problem. Hufflepuff has a great line up though and it has me a bit worried.”

“It’ll be fine. Gryffindor always pulls through,” she said. James laughed a little. 

“Yeah, but doesn’t mean I can’t try to eliminate a struggle,” he said. Lily looked up and saw he was looking at her. “I like it when I can crush them with little to no problems.”

Lily rolled her eyes. 

“I think a struggle is a better show of feat,” she replied. “Shows how you work under pressure.”

“Ah, but when there’s no struggle, it shows that we don’t have any weakness,” he said. 

“Spoken like a true Gryffindor,” Lily said.  James laughed and the butterflies in Lily’s stomach started up again. 

James asked about what she was reading and she found that she forgot about the anxiety that had started to surround her when he was near. He was easy to talk to, always had been when they weren’t intent on arguing for the sake of arguing. 

~~

When Lily joined in with James at the breakfast table of trying to throw sausages into Sirius’s mouth, that’s when she knew she had a problem. 

Lily was never one for rules, especially if they were unfair. She upheld the ones she agreed to, sometimes bent them when she saw fit, but the outward display of joining in the Marauders was crossing an invisible line. 

Lily didn’t see that line until Marlene pulled her aside after History of Magic and casted a silencing charm around them. 

“So when did you realize you’re head over heels for James?” she asked. Count on Marlene to always jump straight to the point.

Lily almost dropped her books. 

“What are you talking about?” she asked. 

Marlene rolled her blue eyes at Lily.

“Come off it,” she said. “It’s obvious. The Lily that despised him fifth year would never have spent the morning trying to break his sausage-throwing record or share your notes with him.”

Lily felt angry.

“Just because I’m being friendly doesn’t mean I like him!” she hissed. Marlene was unphased by Lily’s anger. 

“Oh Lily, don’t be upset. He’s fit as fuck and a decent guy,” she said. “I would be shocked if you didn’t!”

“You know how much I hate crushes,” Lily said, fighting the urge to stomp her foot like a child. “It’s pointless!”

Marlene laughed. 

“Sometimes, you can’t fight it,” she said. She waved her wand and the silencing charm around them faded. “Let’s get to lunch.”

Lily walked beside her in silence, fuming. 

There were a few reasons why Lily hated crushes. She hated how they painted the world in rose colored glasses, obscuring truths. She thought about the crush she had had on a 7th year Ravenclaw when she was in fifth year. 

Lily didn’t remember his name, just that she had tried many times to speak to him when they were at the library at the same time. Lily felt like she was flying every time she saw him, with every word he spoke to her.

Then came the bone-crush. He kissed her one day over her charms homework and the next day she found out he had a girlfriend, a fourth year Hufflepuff. 

Lily felt disgusting and immediately told her. 

When she looked back at that experience, she felt hot anger and embarrassment. The rose colored world she had seen had blinded her from the truth. 

She should have noticed how flippant he was when she asked him questions. How once he caught on to Lily’s crush, he would find a table in the back, out of the way from passersby. Lily had thought it was because he wanted alone time, not because he was hiding from his girlfriend or anyone who might rat on her. 

She had vowed that she was never going to make an utter fool of herself again. 

Lily pushed down her anger and looked forward to have a nice peaceful lunch with her friends that she missed so dearly. Alice, Dorcas, and Mary were waiting for them at the end of the table, but as Lily’s eyes looked on, she found a sight that made her almost vomit. 

There was James, sitting across from Amelia Bones, a Hufflepuff in their year. 

He was flashing her his signature smile and laughing at something she said, running a hand through his messy hair. 

She peeled her eyes away and took her seat next to Alice, forcing herself not to stare at them. 

She picked at her food and tried hard to pay attention to her friends. 

“Hogsmeade is next week, right?” Lily asked, suddenly. 

“Sure is,” Mary said, sipping some of her juice. 

“I want to get plastered at the Three Broomsticks,” Lily said. The girls laughed. 

“It’s date,” Marlene announced. “I’ve been waiting to see you drunk since you took that shot of firewhiskey.”

Lily rolled her eyes, thinking of the time Marlene snuck a firewhiskey up to their dorm last year and Lily almost threw up after one shot. 

The girls started planning the trip. 

Despite her resolve, she shot a glance at Amelia and James, who were just getting up from the table. James met her eyes and winked at her, to which Lily rolled her eyes because it let her do something other than blush. 

~~~

Lily would be an idiot if she thought that she was the only one to notice James. That didn’t mean she had to like it though. 

James had been asked out three times in one breakfast and though she had no claim to him, it was grating on her nerves. 

“So Prongs,” Sirius started as the brave third year who just asked James this morning left. “You’re turning into quite a lady killer.”

James snorted. 

“I’m starting to think someone is cursing them,” he said. “It’s mental.”

“Face it, Prongs,” Sirius said. “You’re a hot ticket item.”

“They’re dying to have your babies,” Remus said, not looking up from his copy of the Daily Prophet. 

“They’re going to kidnap you and force you to go on a date with them,” Peter added. 

“Probably going to slip you some love potion,” Lily said. James whipped his head and looked at her. 

“I expect them to gang up on me, but you Evans? Betrayal,” he said. 

Lily smiled and bit back the green monster that was going to reel it’s head if she thought about it too hard. 

“I know what’s going on,” she said. 

“Please, be our insight into the female mind,” Sirius said, brushing a strand of dark hair behind his ear. 

Lily rolled her eyes. 

“Teenagers are horny,” she said. “James is headboy, plays Quidditch. Every fifteen year old’s dream.”

Lily kept her eyes on her tea as she took a sip. She could feel his eyes on her. What she really wanted to say is that she got it. She got why these girls were dying for James. Lily herself felt like she would die in order to have James touch or snog. 

She was trying to get that to stop. 

“And he’s fit,” Remus said. Sirius glared at his boyfriend. “Objectively speaking. Not my type, sorry James.”

“I don’t take it personally,” James grumbled, taking it personally. 

“Just be happy you can get a date,” Peter said. “I can’t get one for the life of me!”

“How about this Pete,” James said, resting his elbows on the table. “Tell me who you fancy and I’ll ask their bestfriend out and see if I can’t get a double date?”

Here was the bone-crush. Here is where the misery came and grabbed Lily. 

“You’d do that for me?” Peter asked, his eyes wide. 

“Once,” he said. “I’m going to help you woo the pants off of this girl and hope you get a second date on your own.”

If Peter said who he fancied, it was lost on Lily. She stared at the cup of tea in front of her, watching the surface of the liquid vibrate. 

She could imagine going on a date with him, so vividly it hurts. She could practically picture walking with him down the slope, hand in hand. Sitting across from him at the Three Broomsticks and stealing his chips. And that image hurt as she watched them plan their double date.

James nudged Lily, jarring herself out her thoughts. 

“Time for Transfig,” he said. “Ready?”

Lily nodded and stood up. As she grabbed her bag, she saw Remus watching her. He gave her a small smile and she tried to return it. 

James, Sirius, and Peter were already walking ahead of them when Remus came beside her. 

“So, I take it you’re against the double date?” he asked as they started up the stairs. 

“No, why would I?” she asked quickly. 

Remus sighed deeply and just shook his head. They caught up to the other boys. 

~~~

Once Lily heard James was taking Amelia Bones to Hogsmeade, she was even more determined to get wasted at the Three Broomsticks. She was a rational person. She knew that getting wasted to forget a stupid crush was immature, but she could be immature for a night. 

She put more effort into her appearance than normally for a girls night out. Normally she would be fine with jeans and a jumper, but Mary had suggested they act like they were going to the hottest nightclub in the U.K. 

Lily didn’t have a lot of clothes appropriate for that, but Mary was her size and had tons of sparkling dresses that she was willing to let Lily borrow. 

Mary had picked a gold sequined dress that was a little shorter than Lily was used to, but she knew she could make it work. It was strapless and Lily had a slightly bigger breast than Mary, so Lily placed a sticking charm on the sweetheart neckline. 

Lily also did some beauty charms. One to make her hair have more beachy waves than her own slightly sad waves. The make-up charms turned out better than she thought as her emerald eyes looked bigger with the eyeliner charm. 

She checked the time, gave herself one final look over, and then grabbed her coat, and left her room, stepping out in the common room. She heard something fall as she closed the door. 

James was standing at his door, staring at Lily like he was deer caught in the headlights. 

He was ready for his date, a nice dark green shirt and pants that had been pressed. He looked good and Lily hated it. 

“Evans, what are you wearing?” he asked. Lily looked down at her dress. 

“A dress?”

“You look…” he started, eyeing her up and down. “Stunning.”

Lily felt her cheeks heat up. 

“Thanks. It’s for the girl’s night,” she said. The air felt awkward as the silence fell. 

James looked away, clearing his throat. 

“Where are you going? For the girl’s night,” he asked, picking up his wand that he had dropped. 

“Three Broomsticks,” Lily replied. “Where’s your date?”

“Madam Padifoots,” he replied. 

“Aw, that’s romantic,” Lily said, forcing a smile. 

“Pete picked it,” he said. “I would rather be drowning in some Butterbeer.”

Silence fell again. Lily wanted to say something, but she found it hard. James hadn’t looked at her since he picked up his wand. 

“Well, have a good time,” Lily said, making her way to the bookcase. 

“Same,” James said. 

The walk down was freezing, but once Lily sat in a booth, squished between Mary and Dorcas, she realized it was worth it. 

They started out with some food, but soon enough the drinks kept coming. Lily felt wobbly as her and Mary sang a Muggle song on the top of their lungs. She was spinning when Alice admitted her and Frank had had sex in his childhood bedroom over the summer. 

She was absolutely gone with Remus and Sirius stood at the end of the booth. 

“You lot are cut off for the rest of the night,” Remus said. Lily started giggling at his stern expression. 

“Oi! Remy,” Mary said, her words slurred. “How big is Black? We have a bet.”

“I’ll have you know I’m packing,” Sirius said, not the least bit phased. 

Lily snorted.

“He’s average,” Remus replied. All the girls started laughing. Lily felt tears in her eyes as Sirius elbowed Remus. 

“He’s joking,” Sirius said. Remus shook his head, unknown to Sirius, and the laughter started again. 

“We’re escorting back to the castle,” Remus said. 

The loud “aw” that escaped their lips was enough to make the rest of the bar turn and look at them. 

Marlene almost fell when she tried to walk and Remus ran out for a second. He came back with James. 

Normal, sober Lily would be ashamed of herself in the morning. 

“James!” she yelled. James smiled and widened his eyes. “I’m drunk!”

James ran a hand through his hair and smiled, his dimple making an appearance. 

“I can see that, Lils,” he said. 

He helped her up off the bench and caught her as she stumbled. His hand was warm on her arm and goose flesh appeared. 

“Let’s try to get you back in one piece, alright?” he said. 

“Carry me,” she said, giggling. James gave her a look she was too drunk to read into. 

“I will if I have too,” he said. 

He helped her put her coat on and then placed his arm around her in order to steady her walk. 

The rest of the group was in front of them. Mary and Dorcas, stumbling, but they were fine compared to Alice, Marlene, and Lily. Alice was Sirius’s back while Marlene was basically using Remus as a cane. 

“Where’s Peter?” Lily asked. 

“He had a pretty nice date,” James replied. “I think they’re still out.”

At the mention of the date, Lily pouted. 

“So your date was nice?” she asked. She hated that tears were forming in her eyes. 

James took a moment to answer. 

“I mean, Amelia and I just talked about our Divination project. I told her it was for Pete,” he said. “We aren’t interested in each other.”

Lily’s heart soared and her eyes dried. 

“Why’d you get all dressed up if it wasn’t a real date?” she slurred. 

“Because it was real for Pete and Ingrid,” he replied. 

“It’s a shame,” Lily said, frowning. 

“What’s a shame?”

“That Amelia could pass you up looking like that!” Lily said, stumbling into him a bit. “I mean your arse looks fantastic! Almost as good as your Quidditch pants.”

James paused for a second and Lily almost tripped but James caught her and steadied her. 

“You’re more drunk than I thought,” James said. Drunk Lily didn’t notice the tightness in her voice.

“Yes,” she said. “And it’s fantastic!”

“You won’t be saying that tomorrow,” he mumbled. 

The boys brought them all back to the head dorm, which made the girls squeal and get excited about a sleepover. James deposited Lily on the couch and quickly made his way over to the potion station in the corner of the room.

“I love the dorm!” Alice chirped, looking around. 

“These couches are ten times better than the ones in the tower,” Marlene said, curling up on the couch by Dorcas. 

“I agree,” Mary said. 

Lily’s eyes wandered to James, who was at the potion station. She was staring at him, but was jared when Sirius sat next to her. 

“How many drunk head girls do you think entered this dorm?” he said, smirking at her. 

Lily threw a pillow at him. 

“Probably all of them,” she replied. “You don’t make head girl without a dash of mischief.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows at her. 

“Lily Evans and mischief? I find that unlikely,” he said. Lily felt offended. 

“Who hexed Avery to make his voice high pitched, huh?” she said, crossing her arms. 

Sirius widened his steel blue eyes. 

“That was you?” he said. 

“Of course it was bloody me! He called me a mudblood and I just snapped!” she fired back. 

“That’s not mischief then Lils, that’s justice,” he said. Lily laughed, loudly. 

“And I’d do it again,” she said. “I also stole Snape’s potion essay once.”

“Evans!” Sirius said, clutching his chest like he was scandalized. 

“He was being a prat! He kept going on and on about he was the best in potions! So I took his essay before it was due,” she said, rather proudly. “He got detention and I found a major error in his essay. I circled it and stuffed it back into his bag.”

Laughter erupted around her, making her feel warm and proud. Alice was clutching her side.

“What else have you done, Evans?” Sirius enquired, leaning back on the cushions and crossing his legs. 

Lily hummed and thought for a second. 

“I changed James’ quidditch robes to neon pink in fifth year,” she said. 

“That was you?!” James exclaimed from across the room. “I didn’t talk to Sirius for a week!”

Sirius doubled over with laughter. 

“I remember that!” Mary said, clapping her hands. “You did it because James threw a piece of parchment at you and asked you out in the middle of the hallway!”

Lily remembered it and laughed. 

“He was such an arse!” she said. 

“Was, did you say Evans?” Sirius inquired. 

“Yes, was,” she confirmed. Sirius shot her a look. 

The conversation drifted away from Lily’s mischief to how Mary engorged Marlene’s tongue when she thought she told the school one of her secrets. Lily’s eyes drifted back to James, who was bent over a steaming cauldron. Lily, ever the potions master, decided she must know what he was making. 

She wobbled across the room and stood next to James, so close their arms bumped. 

“Whatchya making?” she asked. 

“A sober-up potion for you lot,” he said. “Then I’ll make a hangover-be-gone tomorrow for you guys.”

“I don’t want to sober up,” Lily pouted. She grabbed James’s arm and leaned her head against it. James didn’t say to protest it. 

“You’ll be thanking me in the morning,” he said with a smirk. Lily rolled her eyes. 

He was finely chopping the roots and Lily watched him, her could feel the muscles on his arms move, but she didn’t want to move and James wasn’t pushing her away. 

“Shouldn’t you dice them?” she asked. James scoffed. 

“You’re drunk and you’re still critiquing my potions,” he said. 

“I wouldn’t have to critique if you did it the right way.” James erupted in laughter. 

“Trust me, Evans. I’ve made this a few times,” he said. Lily didn’t reply, she just watched the cauldron bubble from her spot on James’s arm. 

“I’m sorry about asking you out that way in fifth,” he mumbled. 

“It’s okay,” she said. “You were just an obnoxious little boy.”

“You don’t think I'm still an obnoxious little boy?”

“Nope,” she said. “You would have never made headboy if that was the case.”

“True,” he said. He turned the potion off and stirred it until it was a clear color. Lily let go of his arm once he was ready to pour it for them. 

Lily drank hers and watched as James started handing out the rest to her friends. 

As the minutes ticked by, she realized she was going to regret a lot in the morning. 

~~~

Lily remembered everything of her drunken night clearly, which is why she was determined to put as much space as possible between her and James. 

She told him he had a nice arse! That was something she could never come back from. Ever. 

He didn’t mention it and she was grateful for it. He did get her back from making his Quidditch uniform pink and during breakfast when her black robes turned a stunning shade of pink. When she made eye contact with James down the table, twirling his wand in his fingers, she just laughed. She left them that color for the rest of the day. 

The only thing is that James started walking closer to her in the corridors when they patrolled together. His arm brushing against hers constantly. She often wondered what would happen if she just grabbed this hand. Which is why she started making the distance bigger.

Lily was spending her time in their shared common room when he was gone or at practice. She knew the time that James would be in and made sure to either be at the library, her bedroom, or in the Gryffindor Tower with the girls. 

She was packing her things up, about to move to her bedroom before James came back from practice. She wasn’t expecting the bookcase to swing open ten minutes early and reveal a sweaty James Potter. 

She fought the urge to get up and run without saying anything, but she held firm and tried to put her books away without looking like she was trying to do so as fast as she could. 

“Hey Evans,” James said, smiling a little at her. 

“Hey Potter,” Lily said as evenly as she could, darting her eyes back to her textbook. 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in a hot minute,” James said. 

Lily glanced up to see him standing by the couch. 

“We ate breakfast together,” she pointed out. 

“You sat like, three people away from me,” he said. 

Lily took a deep breath. She was getting irate and couldn’t quite place why. 

“I talked to you in Transfiguration,” she pointed out. 

She heard James sigh. 

“I just asked to borrow a quill,” he said. 

Something in his tone made Lily look at him. He was standing at the side of the couch looking utterly frustrated, running a hand through his damp hair.  

“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” Lily said, looking back at her book before their eyes could meet. 

There was a heavy silence. 

“I don’t get you,” he said after a moment. 

“‘Get me’?” Lily asked, snapping her book shut. Lily looked up and saw that James looked frustrated. 

“One minute, I feel like we’re finally getting on and then next you act like I’m a second year who just wants to pull your hair,” James said. 

“We are getting on,” Lily said, crossing her arms. 

“Are we?” he questioned. 

Lily stood up, anger flaring in her stomach. 

“Well, we were,” she said, crossing her arms. 

James took a deep breath and turned away from Lily. 

“Can you just tell me what is going on?” he snapped. “I know I’ve done some pretty shitty things in the past. I’ve been trying to be better! Snape cursed me in the hallway and I didn’t curse him back because I knew you’d be upset!”

James opened his mouth like he was going to say more, but he quickly shut it. He just stared at her from across the room, his chest heaving slightly. Lily had seen an angry James quite a few times, but there was something in his eyes that showed Lily he was more hurt than anything. 

“It’s not your fault,” Lily said, holding his gaze. 

“What isn’t?” he asked. 

“Me being weird,” she said, throwing her hands up.

“Explain it to me. Because one second you’re telling me I have a nice arse and the next, you can’t even look at me,” he said. 

As Lily stood across from James, she realized that there was no way out of this mess besides the truth. Lily didn’t know if she was ready to throw her cards down, but God, she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Because I can’t stop thinking about you!” she yelled. “Every bloody day, I see girls tripping over themselves to get a scrap of your attention and I feel like I’m a fool!”

James’s jaw dropped as Lily fell silent. She felt heat rise in her cheeks and wishes she could stuff the words back into her mouth. 

“What changed?” James asked. It was so low, Lily almost didn’t hear it. His eyes kept her captivated. 

“A lot of things,” she replied. “Like the fact that you weren’t an utter tosser last year and this year.”

“You told me I was one quite a few times if I remember correctly,” James said, a smirk on his face. 

Lily smiled a little, despite the feeling that she messed something up between them. 

“It was different,” she said. “You just… know how to make people laugh, even when teasing them.”

James smiled, wide and bright and Lily finally looked away, choosing to stare out the window and look at the bright blue sky and fluffy clouds that were outside. 

“I don’t want to get hurt James,” she said. 

Lily felt him walk over. 

“Why do you think I’d ever hurt you, Evans?” he whispered from beside her. 

“Because you’ll realize there are better options out there,” she said. James snorted. 

“I have nothing against the other girls in Hogwarts, but I doubt there is anyone that could ever compare to you, Lily,” he said. “Especially to me.”

James placed a hand on her shoulder and Lily turned to look at him. He was still sweaty from Quidditch, his glasses were crooked, but Merlin, she had never seen a better sight. 

“Fancy a dinner in Hogsmeade?” he asked. She smiled. 

“Hogsmeade is in two weeks,” she pointed out. 

“I’m not waiting two weeks,” he said. “We don’t have patrols tonight. I’ll be ready in twenty, if you want to go with me that is.”

Lily hesitated for a second, not because of James, but because sneaking out. James seemed to get this. 

“You said yourself, ‘what’s a head girl without a little mischief?’” he pointed out. Lily smiled and nodded. 

Lily didn’t think James’s smile could get wider but it did.

“Give me twenty minutes!” he said, moving to turn around and rush to his dorm. 

“Wait a second,” she said, causing James to pause. 

Lily threw all caution to the wind . Just cupped James’s face and brought it down to hers, capturing it in a kiss that made Lily wish she had done this sooner.

[highgaarden]

call it quits (call it destiny) — “easily”, bruno mars; prompted by @jamiones on twitter

-

“Stupid,” Sirius mutters, toeing the ground with a scuffed brogue. It was of fine make, dragonhide to withstand a years’ worth of pranking and pratting about that is expected of the Heir of Black. The sort of shoes one might wear if one strived to be immortalised in fables, but the cautionary ones.

“What’s stupid?” James asks, later than he is supposed to.

“This whole thing,” Sirius says, gesturing, with vigour. If Remus doesn’t even look up from his book, James sure as hell isn’t going to take stock in whatever it is Sirius is gesturing at - he’s always gesturing. Posturing. Preening, Remus would correct.

You would too, Sirius always scoffs, if you looked like me.

“Let him, Pads,” Peter yawns. He has long pushed away his textbook in favour of one of Sirius’ muggle magazines. It has a half-naked women arranged sensually atop a motorcycle on the cover. It’s been enchanted to look like Seeker Weekly to anyone else but them. “It’s cute.”

“Don’t call me cute,” James snaps. “I am gallant and handsome.”

“There’s nothing gallant about the amount of mooning you’re doing,” Sirius argues. He nudges Remus, who glares at him and turns a page loudly and pointedly. “You’re pining. In a library. Even Pince wouldn’t approve—”

“Matters of the heart don’t come with a guidebook,” Peter interrupts sagely.

Remus stops reading.

Sirius blinks.

Even James - who has had a hard time concentrating on his Transfiguration essay as it is, what with Hermione Granger being two tables away and four-inches deep into her own homework with her wand poking through the bun of hair piled atop her head, her nose wrinkled in concentration that is quite lovely, really, wait, no - not lovely, back up Prongs - turns to stare.

Peter flushes, but manages to affect an air of superiority even through his defense of: “What? I’m sensitive, Marlene said so.”

“Fucking birds on the brain, all of you,” Sirius groans, scrubbing a hand down his face. “It would be less pathetic if she gave you the time of day. It’s like Lily all over agai—”

“Maybe Prongs has a type,” Remus says wryly. “Studious, brazen, beautiful—”

“With balls of brass,” Sirius offers.

“Zero tact,” Peter adds.

“Increasingly colourful ways in rejecting your advances,” Remus muses.

“Ah,” Peter says, raising a finger, “but just because it won’t come easily, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try.”

“Have you been reading Georgette Heyer again?” Sirius demands.

“It was from your shelf,” Peter retorts. Remus lets out a snort, though he has gone back to his reading, only half-listening.

His friends quite distracted with their squabbling, James goes back to his homework. He’s stuck on a section - Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration hadn’t shed much light on it at all, and he remembers how Hermione’s hand had been the first to rise in class, as it always had, and her answer - always without breath, like if she spoke any less slower it would make her answer any less perfect - had made McGonagall nod approvingly.

As much as James would like to remain firmly in denial about his burgeoning feelings for the transfer student - who simply refuses to look him in the eye despite him catching her staring at him, sometimes, something misty behind her eyes: not admiration, he’d surmised. Something else. Something a bit more subdued - even sad, he would venture, if he thought much on it - and no, he does not think about it— but he is digressing.

The point is, Hermione would probably know how to get through this tricky bit. He glances at her (once, not once again, there is a bloody difference), and all thoughts of Transfiguration flees his mind when he sees her looking back at him.

“All right, Hermione?” he calls out bravely.

Hermione purses her lips. But she nods. She darts a quick look at his eyes - his grip tightens around his quill. He lets out the breath he doesn’t realise he’d been holding only when her attention returns to the parchment in front of her.

hannah is drunk and taking prompts, so send her a song + pairing and she will drunkenly bang out something. there will be typos if you look for them. please don't look for them.

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 65: Bagman and Crouch

Sirius found himself on all fours in a grassy meadow still blinking bright morning sun out of his eyes, and grinned at the potential for mayhem all around. With not a soul in sight.

Head still spinning like he'd just taken a bad tumble from a broom, he staggered to his feet and stumbled around for a few moments, right into someone's tent. Not his initial intention, but he shrugged and kept at it anyway, even if he would have picked a grander one to start. It's not as if this one was uninteresting.

Instead of supporting either of the current teams here, they seemed to have hung posters of the Tutshill Tornados around. The beddings were even done up in bronze and blue, and there was a Comet Two Sixty leaning against a twin bed at the ready, amusing him for a moment as he imagined whoever owned it had actually planned a pick-up game at the World Cup, he knew he would have.

After only a moment's hesitation, he raided their cupboards and found a few things to eat, before eying the bed wearily. It had been a while since they'd taken a break, and he hadn't heard the book going yet. However, he wanted to meet up with James and Remus first, explore with a bit more daylight. Maybe he'd run into everyone and they could all agree to take a nap so no one got any surprise jerk aways.

The peacock cocked his head to the side, and James mimicked the pose. The bird extended its albino plumage and James waved his arms wide. Unimpressed, the other one snapped his beak impatiently to move him along, but James' grin only widened as he once again tried to pass them by, sure there would be something of interest in the tent they were guarding.

"Hey!" looking up and around in surprise, James grimaced at Regulus marching towards him, almost literally. It always fascinated him how much this kid looked like Sirius but acted nothing like him, his best mate hadn't held himself so straight since Filch once threatened to tie a broom to his back.

"Yes?" He asked unenthusiastically, noticing the book in his hand, and turning dismissively back towards the birds.

"Need to talk to you about something."

He was glad he'd turned away now, the resemblance wasn't so uncanny when he didn't have to look at him. "When I want your opinion on my friend's, I promise you, I'm not shy in asking for it."

"Some friend," he scoffed.

James clenched his jaw, but before he could respond he went on primely, "no, that's not what I was going to say. You're probably better at hunting down the lot than I am-"

"Some Seeker," he snorted.

"But I'm going to keep this with me and crash for a few hours," he went on, somehow his voice getting more snooty by the moment. "That way, no one has to worry about not knowing when we're leaving again."

"How considerate," he rolled his eyes.

"Just thought you'd like to pass along the message," his voice sounded just a touch surley now. "I say we meet up at the Weasley's tent, once everyone's there, then we'll all be ready to keep going."

"What an excellent idea," he snarked.

He heard Regulus blow air through his nose in what was too dignified to be called a snort, but felt him still standing behind him. Temptation won out, he glanced over his shoulder and saw him chewing on the inside of his cheek as he continued to eye him. Whatever he was considering saying, he was sure he didn't want to hear it, so finally abandoned the stately tent and walked off.

"I just hope your memory isn't as shallow as your gene pool," he finally called after him. James flipped him the bird and made a quick cut through more tents.

He tried to keep eyeing everything as he walked past with curiosity, but now he just kept expecting to see Regulus out of the corner of his eye following him. Then he grimaced as he'd swear he heard Sirius' voice and turned expectantly to still see nothing. He considered circling back out of spite and trying to get back into that tent, but it didn't hold much appeal without his friends around to go through it with him.

The silence was beginning to ring in his head, he found himself pacing the same cloak propped up on sticks four times before he even realized it, and then when he finally made the conscious decision to turn deliberately left, he slammed full-face into someone.

"Sorry!" Frank said automatically, reaching out a hand to help steady him.

'Frank the tank it felt more like,' James thought to himself as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "S'alright, wasn't looking where I was going."

"You seen anyone else?" Frank asked with an uneasy smile. "I've, ah, been looking all over, this place is like a maze. Found myself in a sea of faces on tents, it was a bit spooky, but no one else besides you."

"No one you'd want to run into," he snapped.

Frank frowned at him, but James didn't want to deal with anyone else right now, certainly not the bloke who probably would have pissed himself if he'd run into Remus instead. He turned away without another word regardless and walked purposefully this time, now tapping his wand on his hip in thought. He considered throwing up some sparks, surely everyone would see it and they'd all meet up regardless and then be able to break off on their own.

Everyone, his mental voice repeated, and guilt began bubbling to the surface as he pictured it. Would it be worse if he didn't see a glimpse of Peter, or better? He'd respected his wish and stayed away, but James hadn't tried much to figure anything out since then, every time he even considered thinking about all he'd heard he just wanted to throw up again.

Shouldn't he have tried anyways though? Come around and been badgering the lot of them to hear his side again? 'Sirius hadn't,' he mentally reasoned, 'he was probably taking his cue from him.'

'And look how well that turned out,' he argued back with himself. How long had they been fighting before they made up in that future then? If this hadn't happened, how long until the four would be friends again? Long enough that the mistrust would never truly fade and that's what started all of this?

'He'd been the best mate at your wedding!' He yelled at himself. 'Surely the four of them still meant something to each other!'

"But not enough," he sighed aloud, before wincing and covering his mouth in shame.

"Prongs?"

Shaking his head and finding himself somewhere new once more, surrounded completely by moss apparently, he still called back, "Moony? That you?"

"Yeah, finally," he came jogging into sight, Alice Smith of all people trailing along behind him with a nervous yet excited smile. "Thought I heard you, we've been looking all over for anyone!"

"Oh yeah, me too," he said quickly, easily putting a smile back in place, more for Smith than anything. "I ah, ran into Longbottom and Regulus already, but, obviously they couldn't handle my charm."

"I'm so sure," Remus rolled his eyes, while James continued gesturing over his shoulder.

"Err, that way, sorry I didn't get you a map."

"A shame," she grinned, "you seem so good at those."

He smiled genuinely in surprise at how comfortable she apparently was, or at least, she didn't dart off in that same second. Remus was still studying him, so he was quick to keep going, "seen Padfoot?"

Moony clucked his tongue and gave him an obvious look. "Yes, I absolutely spotted him in the distance but didn't hail him down, instead I just kept wandering around wondering where you lot were."

"Always keep us guessing Remus," James nodded.

"I haven't heard the book yet," Alice said when the silence started to grow.

"Oh, ah, yeah," James was quick to cobble his mind back into place. "Regulus, er, found the book and said something about crashing before reading it. Said he wanted us all to meet up at the Weasley's tent when we were ready to get going again, so no one had to deal with a surprise pull away."

"How sweet," she grinned.

James scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck, and Remus shuffled his feet for a few more moments before Alice cleared her throat. "Right, well, guess I'd best go find Frank and Lily. It was, nice talking to you Remus."

"Yeah, you as well," he said quickly.

She smiled one last time and waved before taking off.

"You two find something of interest to talk about?" He asked curiously.

"Not really," he shrugged, "she mentioned she was a quarter Irish or something, but who isn't really."

"Oh, and you two seemed to be hitting it off," he smirked.

"You and Evans create enough love drama, don't go trying to start more," Remus rolled his eyes, before adding shrewdly, "and changing the subject. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Let's go find Sirius." Finally, with one of his friends back around to chat with, the voice in his head quieted down.

Lily sat with her feet hanging into the well, swinging them about and wishing the water was high enough she could dip her toes into it. She could just magic it, she supposed, but even after five years in school where that was accepted as the norm, the look on Petunia's face when it came up had her hesitating to do it casually. She knew what Sev would say if he was here at least.

She sighed as her eyes started to droop down heavily, but clung stubbornly to the sunlight keeping her warm and eyes wide open. Harry lingered in her mind once more, somehow a son she had no wish to have with Potter was less painful to think about than other thoughts that so often consumed her. What did that say about her? He was here with his friends, having a gay old time, which she was surprised to not be hearing about yet.

Quidditch had never been particularly endearing to her, but she was almost looking forward to the coming game anyways. It always seemed a topic that everyone could enjoy, and she was so tired of fighting.

The warm sun continued to beat down, causing a sheen of sweat to appear. She closed her eyes and kept soaking it in, letting it seep down to her bones. She hadn't realized she was nodding off until she jerked uncomfortably, and found herself nearly toppling down the well. Clutching painfully tight to the bricks and her wand, she swung herself carefully around and decided it really was time for a nap, she'd look for Alice and Frank later. Meandering over to the nearest cluster of tents, she hesitated for a moment before picking out a simple, smaller one. Inside was a flowered dress hanging on a hat stand and sparsely anything else but a bed. She hoped that meant this was an elder woman's tent who wouldn't mind offering Lily the bed she crashed in.

They'd finally found Padfoot examining a squashed slug, he'd greeted them enthusiastically and then dared Prongs to eat it. Now they were wandering around fighting off itchy eyes and slowing conversation. Exhaustion was setting in, but none of them seemed ready to call it quits and get some rest.

None of them said it, but when they walked into a tent with four beds at the ready, they froze.

Sirius turned to leave, trying to ignore his skin twitching in unease. What would be worse? To pretend the bed was filled with the usual snores, or be grateful it wasn't? Before he could make it out though, James cleared his throat. "Ah, actually, maybe we should-"

"I'll go kip under a tree," Sirius muttered without looking at them.

"Actually Sirius, I was going to say maybe we should talk about-"

"I want some bloody sleep Prongs!" Sirius snapped without turning around.

"I don't think I can," he whispered back.

Sirius inhaled the air still coming through the tent flap, he still didn't want to turn around. "Shall I knock you over the head then? Can't hardly whip up a sleeping draft."

"Padfoot, I mean I can't just go to sleep without thinking-"

"Right, a nice concussion charm it is," he began mock digging through his robes.

"Sirius! I mean it!"

He saw Remus out of the corner of his eye taking a few uneasy steps back, like he expected a bomb to go off between them. He turned slowly, trying to force himself not to glare at Prongs, reminding himself whose fault this was. "And what exactly is having a little powwow going to do? Help you cry yourself to sleep we're never speaking to him again?"

"I never said that-"

"And why haven't you?" His voice still sounded painfully calm. "You really haven't said much of anything, either of you. In case you've forgotten-"

"I think you're the one who's having some damage to your brain," James said a bit coldly. "I just wanted to say we've all had a chance to cool down and maybe we should go find him to talk-"

"I'm not speaking to him!" Sirius flared in disgust. "Not unless I can hex his ruddy face off! He-"

"I know perfectly well what those books say he did, to all of us," James crossed his arms to hide his shaking fists, the only sign of his anger. "And we need to talk to him about it, after five years and all we've been through, he deserves that-"

Sirius spat on the ground, turned about, and walked out.

James blinked in hurt, and surprise. That wasn't like him at all, he would have normally decked someone before just walking away.

"I'll ah, go talk to him," Remus muttered lamely.

"Right, yeah," James whispered without looking at him either. His eyes blurred with exhaustion. He didn't know who he hoped would come back through that tent anymore. He was so sick of feeling so useless, he hadn't at all stepped in and helped Remus and Sirius with their fight, and now this had somehow escalated to even worse. He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to say anything. Peter hadn't served him up to You-Know-Who...but he couldn't stop seeing the guilt on his face. Unable to deny the idea...

Sirius was no easier to track down a second time. He just caught sight of him walking as fast as he could and tried calling after him, but he either couldn't hear him or was ignored. He only just stayed in sight, and by the time Remus caught up to him panting slightly, Sirius had his face pressed miserably to an invisible barrier.

They were at a trailhead now, lanterns sitting unlit in the trees. Remus couldn't help but be mildly impressed for a moment how far he'd come so fast. He was still injured, even the shadow of the Devil's Snare was still visible on his neck, but Sirius was nothing if not resilient.

"Sirius we really should-"

Sirius' hand lashed out, he caught the collar of Remus' shirt and pulled him in for a searing kiss. Remus responded for only a moment before pulling away, "that's really not-"

"I don't want to talk," he clearly enunciated every word. Keeping a firm hold on him, he began pulling him back towards the nearest tent. Remus reluctantly let himself be dragged along, beginning to wonder if that's all this was to Sirius, another way to avoid everything for as long as he could.*

Peter hesitated over every step he took as he eased himself slowly towards the tent. He'd been doing so all day as he'd landed quite close to Remus, had watched protectively, then curiously as he came across Alice and they'd had an awkward yet cordial few moments before finding Prongs. He should have taken off then, what did it say about him he was already eavesdropping on them? Was this why he'd become a spy for You-Know-Who, it was the one thing he was good at?

He shouldn't have been listening in on them all day, it was only making him more guilty, but the smallest flair of hope kept him shuffling closer as Sirius stormed out and Remus followed. If James really, finally, wanted to talk, he was more than happy to.

With one last dragging breath to build up what little nerve he had, he changed form and poked his head around the side. Then let it out miserably as he saw he'd waited too long.

Prongs had set himself on the bed, and fallen into an uneasy sleep. His face was resting uncomfortably against the frame, his glasses skewed and about to fall to the floor with his next breath. Dancing on the spot for a few moments more he finally moved forward and took them off for him, lest they fall under the bed and they spent another memorable few moments laughing as his butt wiggled around while he dug them out.

He bit his lip to stop himself laughing at the memory, Remus hiding James' wand up his sleeve and trying to blame Sirius for it, Padfoot on the ground laughing his butt off all the same. He'd just been witness to it all, like so many times in their life. How soon until they forgot he'd been there altogether?

Should he wake him? If James finally wanted to talk he was more than happy to, his words had sounded promising, but not altogether reassuring. Like the coward he was, he hesitated. What if James just wanted to talk to the other two about keeping him out for good? Like a child, he clung to the notion that maybe, if he just gave it more time, it would work itself out?

Placing the glasses on the table, he eased himself back out without making a peep.

Regulus stretched and rolled over uncomfortably in the borrowed bed, glaring moodily at the light still around him. The fact that the sun hadn't seemed to have changed position disturbed him, as if he hadn't slept for nearly as long as his body said he had. Then he spotted something even more odd in the bed across from him.

Why Peter had decided to bed down here was a bit of a mystery, it's not as if there wasn't an abundance of other choices. He was an only child as well, it's not as if sleeping alone should really bother him. Most of the time he'd spent crammed around this lot he'd longed for the nights in his fourposter bed at home. Even if what home meant to him was now a question hovering above his life, he liked to think the little changes like his room being undisturbed by dormmates would stay the same.

Yet he couldn't resent waking up to the company either. He also understood more than anyone what it felt like to feel alone surrounded by others.

Moving about quietly so as not to disturb him, he eyed the teapot sitting ready on the stove for a moment, wondering idly what would happen if he called to Kreacher. Would he appear from his timeline, whistling while he worked? Was he even alive now to be summoned if it would work?

Storing the questions away for later, he finally threw the blankets off and set up for a small morning breakfast. He was stirring sugar into a chipped mug that had some American school logo plastered on the side and flipping idly through the blank chapters of the book when Peter awoke.

He groggily stumbled forward and muttered a sullen thanks as he spotted the second cup, sipping noisily at the still steaming liquid.

"What do you think would have happened if two others had started this?" He finally asked one of the idle questions floating through his mind.

"Eh?" Peter's watery brown eyes were still half-lidded as he began rummaging through a biscuit tin.

"I mean, if Lupin and Evans had somehow accidentally stuck their hands in that potion instead of Potter, or you even, or, me."

"Oh," Peter had to blink a few more times before it seemed he'd even caught up, seemed he wasn't a morning person. "Erm, well, I'd suppose we wouldn't strictly be hearing about some love child, except maybe if it had been Longbottom and Smith perhaps, but ah, perhaps something the same. Maybe we, would be hearing about other futures."

"You think?" Regulus asked enthusiastically. "You mean our points of view on this future, or something else entirely?"

"Like?" Peter looked intrigued at the prospect.

"Just, what we were talking about, I can't get it off my mind," Regulus shrugged. "That, the future isn't set in stone, especially not this one."

Peter slurped the last of his drink and smacked his lips for a few more moments before answering, "well I certainly hope so, but exactly what stakes are you hoping won't occur?"

Regulus spooned a few more cups of sugar into the dregs, creating a lumpy mess more than anything and began pushing that around instead. "I don't know yet, and that's been bothering me as much as anything."

Peter snorted softly. "I wish I still didn't know, take it as a blessing while you can mate."

He got up then to rummage through the rest of the cupboards, missing the surprised look he'd left behind. Were they mates now?

Lily was smiling up at a banner for The Salem Witches Institute when they finally found her.

"I've been looking all over for you guys," she said with chipper as she all but skipped over, still clutching a pamphlet for the place.

"We haven't been avoiding you, we swear," Frank grinned.

"We've been looking for you too, but when we finally found each other we nearly fell asleep over this purple fire-"

Lily laughed and waved off the rest of the apology. "So, how should we move forward? I'd feel bad summoning the book and waking up anyone else, but I don't fancy waiting for those layabouts to spend twelve hours sleeping either."

Alice was still some sleep out of her eyes while Frank explained what he'd been told about meeting up at the Weasley's camp when ready.

"Great," Lily actually clapped her hands together. "Any idea where that is?"

"Let's, ah, start that way I guess," Frank pointed in a direction he'd yet been, and she more than happily took the lead.

"Someone's a morning person," Alice smiled.

Lily smiled without remorse and began enthusiastically asking if they'd seen any other interesting sights.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Peter muttered as he spotted James heading slowly their way.

Regulus grabbed his elbow before he could poof out of sight again, drawing the other threes attention. The five of them had been managing to chat so pleasantly that the blanket tension settling down as he spotted them couldn't go unnoticed, but he ruffled his hair instead of slowing his stride.

"Morning all," he called, doing a goofy little spin on the spot for a moment before just plopping down on the grass, only slightly farther away than would be considered casual.

"I expected the other two to be with you," Frank called with a forced neutral voice.

Peter's uneasy smile turned to a snort of mirth. "Please, if Prongs isn't around, it'll take a riot to wake them up."

"Well, they're up somewhere around here," Regulus noted, as words had appeared ages ago, he'd just been politely waiting as he'd said he would.

"I'd get started then," Potter said quietly.

Regulus wanted to protest, he'd said he'd wait until everyone got here, but Peter nodded along eagerly and the others were starting to look restless. He hesitated a moment longer, looking between Peter and Potter, the latter of whom had pulled out his wand and was transfiguring the grass at his feet to weave itself into complicated figures and looked sullen.

Glancing one last time at Peter, he decided he was missing something and took the bit of peace while he could and said, "Bagman and Crouch."

"Not Ludo Bagman?" Sirius tied his shoes up and glanced at the jersey still lying on the floor.

"Unless he had a kid," Remus grumbled, face still pressed into the pillow. It didn't matter he was technically awake, it didn't mean he wanted to get up. "Even then, I don't know what that has to do with the other name."

"Crouch, Crouch," Sirius repeated as Regulus' voice continued to filter into the tent about Harry getting his first glimpse of this place. He wasn't bothered he hadn't kept his word and waited for them to appear, his timing was actually rather fortuitous, best he started now before Sirius changed his mind and crawled back into the bed. "Haven't we heard that name already?"

Remus garbled something about him being Percy's boss, proving once more he'd been listening much better than Sirius had bothered.

Sirius began bouncing impatiently on the bed as nothing he was hearing was too interesting. The book was dragging out every detail it could of Harry walking around, meeting a muggle, building a tent. It was maddening, he wanted to hear about the cup!

"Padfoot!" Remus whined, reaching out blindly to grab him and hopefully still him.

"Come on Moony, rise and shine," Sirius grabbed his hand and began pulling on him to drag his face back from underneath the pillow. He felt a little bad when his eyes barely opened and he could only muster a pitiful glare in response. Remus usually slept the whole day after a full moon night. His sleep in particular kept getting harassed during these massive time skips. If he let him doze back off though, someone might really come looking for them, Prongs might be now.

"I know Remus," he squeezed his hand gently. "I really am sorry, I know you're tired, but let's try exploring a little more. Maybe Bagman's got a tent around here! Oh, and we could find that Muggle's house, I do love looking around those."

Harry and his friends had gone out to get water and back already by the time Moony had finally been roused from the bed, and even then he reluctantly set off again with Sirius. Slow to wake, but boundless once he got going, he did indeed drag them all along the rest of the campsite for the rest of the chapter, never staying in one place too long even when they did come across something he took an interest in.

Bagman's tent was solid gold, a yellow wasp banner flying proudly above it, but not many details inside except for an odd little book full of scribbles. It took them a while to makes heads of it, and finally concluded the letters were acronyms for different names, money placed, and statistics for the coming match. A bag of gold was stashed under the bed, and the two whistled in longing as they realized they'd been missing out, never realizing the money they could make if they started betting on their own house sports.

At least he was fun to hear about, Sirius almost pissed himself in excitement Harry got to meet the player! Hearing about Crouch wasn't nearly as fun, they almost wished he hadn't made an appearance at all he was so stuffy to listen to, let alone be around.

Mr. Roberts house was just inside the barrier on the edge of the property. It was a sweet little home, he even apparently had two kids, a boy and a girl. Remus flipped fondly through the boy's artbook while Sirius closely inspected a unicorn doll and muttered they'd gotten the details all wrong, he'd never seen a purple one.

It seemed to take ages, Remus was even fully awake by the time Arthur announced the game was about to begin. The two hardly shared an eager smile before they were teleported away.

*I’ll have the deleted lemon in a separate post

[queerofthedagger]

27 with jegulus?

Thanks for the prompt, Nonnie! 27 was: "Help me I'm being hit on at a bar please be my fake boyfriend for a second."

Like You Mean It

Pairing: James Potter/Regulus Black; Wc: 7109; Ao3

Warnings: None; Tags: Fake Dating, Professional Quidditch, Au - No Voldemort

Summary: When Regulus gets hit on in a Muggle bar while celebrating his graduation and signing up as a professional Seeker, he thinks asking James to pose as his boyfriend for a moment, instead of hexing an unsuspecting Muggle, is a rather smart move. After all, it's only for a few minutes, so it won't be much of a problem with the small crush he has. Right? Well - let's just say it doesn't work out that neatly. Until it does.

Regulus is going to kill Sirius, he thinks, weaving his way through the throng of people clustering the shady bar his brother dragged him to, narrowly avoiding getting drinks spilled on his shirt.

Alright, maybe nothing that drastic but he’s not sure why Sirius thought a ratty punk-bar in Brixton would be the obvious choice to celebrate Regulus’ graduation and signed contract for the Seeker position of the Falmouth Falcons. Or maybe he simply isn’t drunk enough yet.

Ducking underneath another elbow, he steps up at the end of the long-winded bar that runs along the wall, leaning his elbows onto the dark wood and watches as the two barkeepers try to keep up with the string of orders.

The bass of the rough music is reverberating in his head, he can feel the vibrations through his shoes and up his legs and the strobing lights let everything appear slower, like watching a series of individual pictures in quick succession and he can admit, at least to himself, that he kind of gets why Sirius likes to come here.

It’s a stark contrast to the wizarding world, to everything they grew up with and he can nearly taste the sense of defiant freedom the people here carved out for themselves – he’s just annoyed that he lost Sirius, James, and Remus somewhere in the jumping crowd and isn’t all that certain that he fits in here.

“Hey there, pretty boy!” a loud voice shouts way too close to his ear for comfort, the words slightly slurred and he clenches his jaw, refusing to visibly jump.

Taking a deliberate step back, he slowly turns, lips curving into an instinctive sneer. Maybe he’s going to reconsider the murder plans from earlier he thinks, looking the guy up and down. He’s taller than Regulus, which is saying something, and twice as wide, with an unkempt beard and an unrefined face. Worst of all, he’s leering and Regulus’ fingers itch for his wand.

“What do you want?!” he asks, raising an eyebrow and standing up a bit taller.

His hostile attitude doesn’t seem to deter the guy; he simply takes another step towards him, leaning close and grins. “Don’t be shy. You look bored, and a pretty guy like you – “

Right, no. His eyes flicker to the side and he thinks he’s never been more relieved to see James Potter standing only a few feet away, leaning over the bar and talking to the barkeeper. Without another word, he steps around the guy and pushes his way over to James, pressing up close to him.

James looks surprised but flashes him a quick smile. “Alright there, Reg? Enjoying yourself?”

He silently thanks whoever is listening that just now there’s a switch of the bands, just background music filling the small space, and that he doesn’t have to shout to be heard. “No, but listen. There’s this absolutely disgusting guy hitting on me so, to prevent me from hexing the living daylight out of some Muggle, pretend to be my boyfriend for a moment, yeah? Great, thanks. There he comes.”

James' eyes widen and he opens his mouth, but Regulus elbows him into the side before wrapping an arm around his waist. James tenses for a moment but he seems to get it quickly enough, eyes suddenly dancing with mirth. He throws an arm around Regulus’ shoulders, leaning close. “Alright, but you owe me.”

Regulus spares a moment to consider that this might not have been his best idea; he harboured a small crush on James for years now, and they’re going to play on the same Quidditch team soon. Then again, it’s not like this is going to take longer than a few minutes and he’ll probably only have to help him prank Sirius or something.

Shaking his head, deciding to worry about this later and ignoring the little voice in his head telling him that he might be drunker than expected, he leans into the hug, turning his head when the guy steps up next to James and looks at the two of them.

James’ smile vanishes and he tightens his grip on Regulus, who’s definitely not enjoying this more than he should. “Need something?” James asks, all that arrogance and cockiness he carried through his first six years of school breaking through.

“I was just talking to your friend – “

“My boyfriend,” James says with a pointed look. “And he didn’t appreciate it, so if you could get lost – “

The guy frowns, lips curling downwards and for a moment, Regulus thinks that this could turn very ugly. “Are you certain about that?”

Regulus sneers, glaring and leaning around James. “Who the fuck do you think you are to question that? Even if I wasn’t, I was obviously not interested so I’m going to repeat what James just said – get lost!”

He thinks there’s something like recognition flickering through his eyes, but it’s gone just as quickly. “Well then, your loss.”

Both James and he snort and shake their heads at his retreating back. Before either of them can say anything, Sirius steps into the empty spot, looking between them and the guy that just left them alone. “What in Merlin’s name did you talk with Andrews about?”

“Who?” James asks, taking his glass from the bar and downing half of it, still not taking his arm from Regulus’ shoulder.

He tells himself he only stays close in case they’re being watched, but he’s not sure he believes that himself.

“Andrews – the new Beater from your team? You know, Quidditch – “

“You’re kidding me,” James states confidently, shaking his head and smirking at Sirius like he easily sees through his joke.

Sirius looks confused though, slowly shaking his head. “Eh no, I don’t? He was at the try-outs and got the spot – how can you not know that? And what did you do that he looked so pissed?”

James falters, running a hand through his hair and Regulus takes his glass from him because he really needs a drink right now.

“We – well, he – what the fuck is he doing here? This is a Muggle bar,” he says, his throat still burning from the whiskey.

Sirius looks at him like he’s a bit dense and he scowls at him.

“The whole team is here, you know that – and what is it with you two, anyway?!”

James groans, dropping his head onto Regulus’ shoulder who keeps himself from running his hand up and down James’ spine by pure force of will.

“He was hitting on me, and rather disgustingly as well,” he says, lips twitching when Sirius’ exasperation morphs into an annoyed scowl on his behalf. “He didn’t get the message and I spotted James, so – well, I asked him to act as my boyfriend for a second.”

Telling it to Sirius, it doesn’t sound as smart anymore as it did a few minutes ago and Sirius’ barking laugh doesn’t help matters. “You did what? That’s the best you come up with when someone is hitting on you? Merlin Reg – “

“I know, I know okay?! It’s not like James didn’t agree though,” he says, rolling his eyes and nudging James a bit who finally looks up again.

“Did you, now?” Sirius asks with an amused smirk, raising a brow at James.

James shuffles his feet a bit, avoiding to look at either of them before flashing Sirius a sheepish grin. “I didn’t know it’s him – and well, Regulus said otherwise he’s going to hex the guy, so I thought, you know, before getting an incident on our hands because of breaking the Statute of Secrecy – “

Sirius laughs again, shaking his head. “Very self-sacrificing, Prongs. Well, if you two don’t want to have a spit with your future teammate already, I’d suggest you keep that up for a while.”

Regulus’ eyes widen and he quickly looks at James, who appears to be far less concerned by that idea than he has any right to, instead just tightening his hold on Regulus and grinning at him.

“Well then, seems like we have a fake dating thing going on.”

Yeah, definitely not one of his best ideas Regulus thinks, plucking the glass out of Sirius’ hands. How is he supposed to get through this without going mad within weeks?

*

He wakes up with a pounding head, a dry throat and pain in his back, and it takes him long moments to remember where he is and why he feels like he had a run-in with a Hippogryph.

Blinking his eyes open, he looks around the messy living room of James’ and Sirius’ flat, books, vinyl’s and a few empty mugs littering the dark hardwood floor and available surfaces and he slowly pulls himself up into a sitting position.

“Morning,” Sirius greets him, levitating two mugs and handing one to Regulus, looking way too cheery for his tastes.

All he manages is a grunt in response and he closes his eyes in bliss at the first sip of hot coffee. Sirius throws himself into one of the worn armchairs across from him, watching with an amused expression as Regulus slowly returns to the land of the living.

“As often as you’re staying here since you graduated, we could actually consider giving you the third room,” Sirius breaks the silence after a few minutes, and when he looks up, he’s smirking. “Would give your whole relationship-story a bit more weight, too?”

He’s confused for a few seconds before realisation washes over him and he curses under his breath, pulling his knees up to his chest and burying his face into them.

“Oh come on, James isn’t that bad,” Sirius teases, obviously enjoying the whole thing far too much and Regulus thinks he would like to hex his brother. “I was serious about the room though. It basically serves as a storage room right now, and then you wouldn’t have to stay at Grimmauld’s. Or constantly sleep on the couch.”

Distaste is clear in Sirius’ tone and he looks up again, sighing to himself. “Mother is going to throw an epic fit if I move in with you. Even worse than when she found out I signed up for Quidditch.” He doesn’t manage to hide the slight wince at the memory and Sirius’ face turns a bit softer.

“Exactly why I’m offering, she’s not suddenly going to stop pestering you about it.”

Drawing his bottom lip between his teeth, he thinks about it. Normally, he would agree without a second thought. Sirius and he mended their relationship over the last 2 years after drifting apart when he was sorted into Slytherin, and while they’re always going to be different, they get along well enough.

The bigger problem is James – not because he doesn’t like him, more due to the fact that he probably likes him a bit too much, and just got himself into a fake relationship with him. He’s not so naïve to think that this couldn’t blow up in his face.

“I’ll think about it,” he says after a few moments, sinking deeper into the cushion and closing his eyes, trying to calm his racing heart.

James finds them like this, flopping down next to Regulus unceremoniously. A quick glance at him is enough to nullify all his effort to calm down – James looks soft, hair wet and wearing a white t-shirt that stretches over his chest and shoulders, and he’s smiling at both of them.

“That was a good night, wasn’t it?” James says, stretching his arms over the backrest and coming terribly close to Regulus. “Got drunk, danced a lot, celebrated Regulus and I even got a new boyfriend.”

The smirk and satisfaction in James’ tone nearly make him choke on his coffee and he has to fight hard to keep his composure. Of course James Potter would make a joke out of it he thinks, not without some bitterness.

Sirius just snorts, throwing a cushion vaguely into their direction and missing by a landslide.

“You should probably come up with some story, so when someone asks, you’re not contradicting each other. It’s bound to get some attention, seeing that you’re both professional Quidditch players now.”

Regulus just groans again, letting his head fall back and startling when it lands on James’ arm. Merlin, what did he get himself into?

James hums, obviously unbothered by their closeness. “We started dating after I left school and finally got over Evans, otherwise nobody is going to believe it anyway, or make a whole lot of drama out of it. I don’t know, we met through you, of course, and kept the whole thing silent because Reg was still in school.”

“Oh yeah, that’s good! So you’ve not been together for long, let’s say a month? Means you’re still in your honeymoon phase though,” Sirius goes on, throwing his legs over the armrest of the chair he’s sitting in. “You don’t have to shout it from the rooftops, of course, it all depends a bit on how much Andrews is going to bother you about it or if he’ll just keep his mouth shut.”

Regulus doesn’t think that it’s very likely, seeing how bad the idiot took their proclamation last night, but he doesn’t feel inclined to join their planning session right now.

“Makes sense, though we shouldn’t act like we’re just friends all the time. It’s not like there��s much room during practice to be all couple-y but, you know, arriving and leaving together, holding hands, that kind of stuff,” James says, his hand nudging Regulus’ shoulder who only nods in response.

“Oh, and then you can stage a breakup in a few weeks – if you didn’t date for long and say it’s a mutual decision, nobody’s going to doubt that it’s not that hard for you two to still get along – for my sake, if for nothing else,” Sirius grins, clapping his hands together.

“What do you think?” James asks, and it takes him a moment to realise that the question is directed at him.

Shrugging, he leans forwards again to get away from James for a bit. “Sounds fine to me. Now that I know that the git is a wizard, I can simply hex him if he’s getting on my nerves anyway, so we could actually cut this rather short.”

There’s a flash of… something in James’ eyes but then he shakes his head and grins. “Don’t spoil the fun, I actually like the idea. It’s going to be great!”

Of course James would see it this way, just another prank he can pull.

“Yeah alright, it’s probably better to not already antagonise my teammates already,” he says with a sigh. If he tells himself often enough that it’s the only reason he’s agreeing to this, he might actually believe it at some point.

*

The next few weeks are flying by and the whole thing turns out to be less taxing on him than he thought. They simply arrive at and leave training together often, hold hands and share their breaks – ignoring the hand-holding, which is rather nice as far as Regulus is concerned, it’s not that different from what they would be doing, anyway.

Unfortunately, the press catches wind of it soon. They can’t be sure if they’ve been seen or if their teammates couldn’t keep their mouths shut, but about a month after it all started, there’s an extensive article both in the Prophet and Witch Weekly.

 Both Bachelors Black and Potter off the market!

Dear readers, you’re going to be as surprised as I was when the news reached me the first time. Regulus Black (18) and James Potter (19), both fresh, young players of the Falmouth Falcons, are no longer single!

James Potter already became well-known over the course of the last season, filling the position as Chaser directly out of Hogwarts where he led the Gryffindor team to the Quidditch cup six years in a row, the last two years as captain.

Many girls and boys are aware of James’ good looks and charming smile, and there have been speculations about his relationship status for the whole of last year, only outmatched by his best mate, Sirius Black (20).

This season found another young talent among the ranks of the Falmouth Falcons. Sirius Black’s younger brother, Regulus Black, got chosen as the new Seeker and is rumoured to easily match James Potter’s talent. He not only matches him in talent though – the Black family is well-known, not only for their high standing in society but also for their very good looks, and Regulus is no exception.

So maybe it shouldn’t be such a huge surprise that both rising Quidditch stars found themselves a partner – but I think nobody is going to contradict me when I say that it’s rather unexpected that they are in a relationship with each other.

An anonymous source tells me: “Potter and Black always arrive at training together and are basically inseparable as soon as they’re off the pitch. They’re often seen holding hands and Black spends a lot of his time over at his brothers flat, where both Sirius Black and James Potter live together.”

Well, dear readers, I can’t say that they aren’t making one of the most handsome couples I’ve laid eyes on in some time! I’m sure we would all like to know how their relationship came to be! Is Sirius Black fine with this fresh love between his brother and his best friend? What does the Black family think about it? And what will happen if they break up at some point – that wouldn’t be easy, playing on the same team! Stay tuned, this reporter will make sure to keep you up to date!

Regulus would have laughed about the article as much as James and Sirius probably did if he hadn’t found out about its existence by his mother reading it out loud, her voice trembling with barely repressed fury.

His first instinct is to deny it, but the annoyance and defiance that’s been building within him for some time now rears its head – it shouldn’t matter what the bloody hell he does with his time, or whom he’s dating and even if this relationship wasn’t completely fake, she has no right whatsoever to demand he ends it. He stubbornly ignores the voice that tells him that he’s starting to go a bit far for this whole thing, tells her straight-up she can shove it, packs his stuff and moves into the spare room in Sirius’ and James’ flat.

Sirius looks way too proud when he tells him what happened, grinning brightly and throwing an arm around his shoulders. “I knew you had it in you! We have to celebrate that!”

It’s then that James walks in, bags of groceries in his arms and he smirks at them. “Hey, hands off my boyfriend, Padfoot!”

Regulus chokes out a laugh, still a bit incredulous that he actually walked out on his mother, but Sirius simply snorts, rolling his eyes at James. “You can be glad I let you fake-date my little brother, don’t test me.”

Regulus smacks the back of his head before stepping out of his reach. “You said something about celebrating? I could use a drink.”

“Let’s go to the Leaky Cauldron, we shouldn’t get too wasted seeing that it’s our last training before the match tomorrow and that never works out in Muggle London. We can ask Remus and Peter as well,” James pipes up from the kitchen.

When they walk into the pub an hour later, Regulus’ nerves calmed a bit and he actually feels like he made the right decision. If everything goes to hell, he can always find his own place, it’s not like he’s lacking the money.

His good mood dims when they not only find Remus and Peter but half of their team in one of the boots in the back, including Andrews who made it his personal goal to get on both of his and James’ nerves in the last few weeks.

Still, it would have been impolite to not join them and it’s not like they don’t give as good as they get.

It’s still a funny night; they drink too much beer and firewhiskey, exchange guesses and theories about the coming match and Quidditch in general and he gets into a lengthy discussion with James about the possible uses of Transfiguration in a duel.

They’re sitting close to each other, James’ arm over the back of his chair and their knees knocking together occasionally. It’s a good thing that everybody believes they’re dating and that he can put his lingering glances down to acting his part; his heart is beating too fast and he feels warm, and he tries to keep reminding himself that this is not real, that James’ small smiles and short touches are nothing but an act, a game to him, but he’s not all that successful.

At some point, the inevitable needling from Andrews starts, because of course it does. “So, how’s it with the two of you? We only ever see you holding hands and sure, it’s cute and all but you’re either disgustingly innocent or maybe not as in love as you claim to be.”

“What, just because you don’t find us snogging on the Quidditch pitch every other day?” Regulus sneers, unable to help himself. “If you want a show, visit a strip club, for Merlin’s sake.”

James laughs and a warm sense of satisfaction curls in his chest at the thought that it was he who put that carefree expression there.

“It is a bit weird, though,” Mary Charleston speaks up with a thoughtful look. “Don’t get me wrong, you two are definitely disgustingly in love, there’s no doubt about that – “

And isn’t that a bad joke, Regulus thinks bitterly, carefully keeping his face free of that emotion.

“ – But I didn’t take either of you for much of a prude – well, especially not Potter.”

He’s just readying himself to tell them all where they can stick it and that he doesn’t need to indulge in public displays of affection because he doesn’t owe them anything, when James’ hand slides up his arm and settles on his neck,  and at the same time he turns, leaning forward in his chair and kisses Regulus.

It’s like his mind goes blank within a second, everything narrowing down to the soft, warm lips pressed against his, the thumb drawing circles into his neck and James’ smell invading his senses, of freshly cut grass and soap and something spicy – pine maybe, he can’t think straight enough to actually tell.

It takes him a moment to open his eyes again after James pulls back, their faces still close and a soft smile tugging at James’ lips before he gives a soft sigh and sits back in his chair, smirking at the others. “There, satisfied?”

Reality crashes back into him and he swallows against the feeling of cold disappointment that replaces the warmth and elation within seconds. He’s never been so thankful for the endless hours of his mother telling him to never show what he feels, he thinks, biting his tongue and raising a challenging brow at Andrews. Right. All just an act.

“Alright, that was hot. And convincing,” Mary says, grinning at the two of them and he forces himself not to tense when James puts his arm back around his shoulders.

Later, when they’re home and he retreated into his room, there’s a soft knock on the door and James steps in, wearing sweatpants and a washed-out shirt that makes Regulus fingers itch to pull him into bed.

“Hey, just wanted to check – sorry if I overstepped earlier, I was…” James trails off, ruffling his hair and the movement has his shirt riding up, revealing a sliver of tanned skin Regulus has to draw his eyes away from.

Gesturing dismissively, he just shakes his head, looking back down at his book. “Don’t worry about it, it was just a short kiss.”

James is silent for a moment and when he looks back up, he’s watching him with a small frown.

Exhaling slowly, he smiles. “Honestly James, it’s alright.”

“Yeah I – okay, good. Goodnight then,” James murmurs, leaving his room and shutting the door before he can say anything else.

*

The next morning, it’s like nothing happened and no matter how convoluted his feelings on the whole matter are, Regulus is glad for that right now. He’s nervous enough as it is with their first match taking place today, and he shoves each and every thought that involves James as far away as possible.

Still, as soon as he takes off and the game starts, it’s like he left all his nervousness behind. It’s perfect weather for flying – it’s cold but the sky is clear, weak November sun promising a good chance to spot the Snitch, and he quickly starts circling the pitch above the rest of the players, letting his eyes wander and keeping half an ear on the commentary.

Puddlemere United played rather badly in the last season but they exchanged half of their team and it’s hard to tell how it’s going to affect this year, though if the fact that, after 15 minutes, the Falmouth Falcons are already leading with 50 points, it might have not been of much use.

James is in his best form, and Regulus catches himself a few times watching him play for a tad too long – that’s definitely a habit he needs to let go of he thinks, letting his eyes roam over the stands.

It wasn’t that much of a problem in Hogwarts, seeing that they only ever had one match against each other per year, but he can’t keep getting distracted now. Maybe he shouldn’t have joined the same team then, that annoying, little voice speaks up again and he shakes his head to dispel it.

A flicker to his right catches his attention and he turns his head, fixing his eyes on the little, golden ball that’s currently hovering at the bottom of Puddlemere’s goalposts. It’s closer to him than the opposing Seeker, Jones, and he doesn’t waste another second to drop into a dive, weaving between players and taking a sharp turn when the Snitch zips to the left.

A brief look over his shoulder shows him that Jones noticed the Snitch as well, or at least that something is going on, but he’s too far behind to catch up and if the Snitch doesn’t do something very annoying, he shouldn’t have much of a chance.

As if reading his thoughts, it suddenly changes directions and flies straight up. Gritting his teeth, he follows, ignoring Jones when he pulls close to him. There are only a few feet left before he can grab it and he curses under his breath when it pulls to the right, directly out of his path. He just thinks he’s going to lose after all when it flies back, back into his way and he can’t help his whoop of joy when his hand finally closes around it.

James touches down only a second after him and before he knows what’s happening, throws his arms around Regulus’ neck and pulls him into a deep, demanding kiss. His body is still soaring with the rush from winning them their first game and he simply clenches his fingers into the front of James’ robes, pushing against him and letting himself get lost in this marvellous feeling.

A hand lands on his shoulder, pulling him back and they break apart, for a moment just grinning at each other and then there’s a bright flash and Regulus whirls around, staring at the reporter holding a camera and wearing a self-satisfied smile.

It’s like dropping into the freezing Great Leak from hundreds of feet up in the air, his chest clenches and he balls his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms and teeth grinding together.

It’s only minutes of celebration until they’re free to go to the changing rooms but it feels way too long, thoughts racing through his head with only the burning need to get away really reaching him.

Bloody hell but he can’t do this any longer. It’s been fine when holding hands was all they did but this, this makes him go mad because the longer it goes on, the more often James kisses him, the more he realises that he’s long since past a simple crush.

All that time they spent together, in training, in their flat, talking about books and Quidditch and James making him laugh until his stomach hurt, it’s simply too much and he doesn’t think he can keep up this façade any longer; not even regarding their teammates or the public, he honestly couldn’t care less about that now, but he just knows that one of these days he’s going to break and tell James exactly how little of his affection he has to fake.

And if he’s certain about one thing, it’s that he can’t do that. It’s been obvious from the very beginning that this is all one great, hilarious prank to James and in the best case, James would simply laugh at him; in the worst, he’s going to be sorry for Regulus and he doesn’t think he could take that.

He needs distance, desperately so, and as soon as he’s out of sight and can slip away from his still cheering team, he apparates back to the flat and storms into his room, haphazardly throwing a few things into a bag and leaving again within less than 10 minutes.

He’s a bit surprised to find himself on Barty’s doorstep. They kept in touch after school, one of the few real friends he actually made at Hogwarts, but he realises with a start that it’s been some time since they’ve seen each other and it’s mostly due to him spending nearly every moment with James and Sirius.

They have that effect on people, he thinks, clenching his jaw – drawing you in, making you forget everything else, and he got completely lost in it.

Fortunately, it’s Barty’s mother that answers the door. His father never liked Regulus much, solely because of him being a Black, and he’s not sure he could have stayed calm and polite right now on top of everything else.

“Oh, hello Regulus, I didn’t know Barty was expecting you. No matter though, he’s in his room, just go on through,” she greets him with a kind smile, and he forces himself to return it.

Her worried frown tells him that he wasn’t all that successful, but he quickly ducks into the corridor, thinking that he’d probably break and spill everything if she asked him if he was alright in that motherly way he always envied a bit.

Barty’s sitting on his bed, surrounded by books and parchment with an ink-stain on his left cheek and a quill tugged behind his ear, getting a fleeting smile out of him.

“Hey,” he says quietly, staying in the doorway and suddenly uncertain what to say.

Barty’s head flies up in surprise but it’s quickly replaced by a bright smile. “Reg! Didn’t expect to see you, come in! Didn’t you just have your first match today?”

The tight knot in his chest loosens ever so slightly at the warm, familiar comfort of Barty’s company and he drops his bag to the floor where he stands before flopping down into the chair next to Barty’s bed. “Yeah, we won.”

“Alright – shouldn’t you be… I don’t know, happy about it?” Barty asks with raised eyebrows, slowly gathering the many pieces of parchment into a neat pile.

Shrugging, he looks away from him, pondering what to say. “Yeah I am – or well. It was a good match, at least,” he finally sighs, running a hand over his face, fingers lingering on his lips for a short moment.

Honestly, James Potter doesn’t have any fucking right to kiss him like he means it.

“Well, why are you scowling like someone killed your Kneazle, then?”

Grimacing, he blows out a long breath and closes his eyes for a moment. “It’s – I – James…”

“Your boyfriend?” Barty asks surprised, leaning back against the wall and stretching his legs out. “By the way, you could have told me that you finally got your crush to go out with you, you unfaithful git.”

He groans, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees before burying his face in his hands. “He’s not – we’re not together.”

“What?! Did he break up with you?! I swear to Merlin – “

A quick look shows Barty already half up from his bed, wand in his hand and a short laugh escapes him, and even he can tell that it sounds vaguely hysteric. “No, we were – we just pretend to be together. Pretended. Salazar, I swear this is such a mess.”

Barty stares at him for long moments before slowly sitting back down. “Do you mean to tell me that you thought it’s a good idea to fake-date the guy you’ve been crushing on ever since 5th year? Didn’t you even move in with them?”

He just nods defeatedly, feeling the beginnings of a headache.

“Merlin Reg, that’s so exceptionally stupid I wouldn’t even have expected it from your brother, much less you.” It’s a sober, clinical statement and he can’t help but agree.

“It’s not like I planned to, you know?” he says with another sigh and Barty just looks at him disbelievingly. “Really, we were in this Muggle bar and there was a guy hitting on me, not taking no for an answer. So I asked James if he could act like my boyfriend, thinking it would be a case of a few minutes. Well, turned out that he was the new Beater of our team.”

Slowly, Barty pulls the whole story out of him, his face becoming more sympathetic and exasperated with each passing minute.

“Well,” he says when Regulus is finally finished. “It’s still stupid and you could have ended it weeks ago, but I kind of see why you didn’t, you miserable sod.”

Regulus just opens his mouth to answer, he doesn’t even know what, when the door to Barty’s room opens.

Expecting to see Ms. Crouch, he startles violently when James is stepping inside, face flushed and slightly out of breath.

“No, absolutely not!” Barty snaps, already up and halfway through the room before Regulus even processes what he’s seeing.

It’s kind of cute and reminds him that Barty has always been a bit overprotective for whatever reason, but it’s also misplaced. He calmed down considerably since getting here and it’s probably better to get the whole thing over with rather sooner than later.

Getting up, he pulls Barty back from James who, for his part, has his hands raised in a placating gesture and looks terribly confused. “It’s alright, I’ll be back in a minute,” he says tiredly, gesturing for James to lead the way. “Let’s go outside.”

They’re silent until they reach the French doors leading into the garden and Regulus leans against the wall, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Bad habit he picked up from Sirius, he thinks, staring at it for long moments before sighing again and meeting James’ eyes.

“I just – Why did you… I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know it would bother you so much more than last night and I was just – “

Exhaling the smoke in a rush, he holds up a hand and shakes his head. “It’s not about that. I just – we should end this whole charade,” he says quietly, watching as the wind whips around white particles of ash before carrying them away.

“What – why?” James stammers, his voice somewhat rough and when he glances at him out of the corner of his eyes, he’s frowning and has a hand fisted into his hair.

Shrugging, Regulus looks away again, fixing his eyes on the forest at the edge of the grounds that are already becoming indistinguishable in the fading light. “It was never meant to go on for so long anyway, and the longer we keep it up, especially with – “ he gestures helplessly into James’ direction, “Stuff like you did today, the more complicated it gets.”

James huffs, staying silent for a moment. “But I’m – I mean it’s going well, isn’t it? I stop kissing you if you want – “

“For fuck's sake,” he finally snaps, glaring at James who takes a step back. “You had your fun, it’s all been a great prank, but I can’t – I don’t want to do this anymore, so you just have to find yourself a different pastime, alright?”

“It’s not been some prank for me!” James instantly shoots back, his eyes blazing.

“Oh yeah? Then what was it, really? And don’t tell me you simply did it because I asked you to, it’s been rather obvious how much you enjoyed this little game,” he sneers, burying all his hurt and disappointment deep underneath the anger and not caring one bit that he’s being a bit unfair here. Honestly, James could have simply left him alone, or at least agree to stop the whole thing and leave it at that.

“I enjoyed it because I like you! Because I’m – I have – “

“Oh great, yeah. I like you too, but that doesn’t mean that we have to pretend to be a bloody couple. You don’t do that with Sirius either, do you?!”

James stares at him incredulously, his hands balled into fists at his side and it’s a weird feeling all this provokes in him – it’s painful, fighting like this, but it’s also easier, better than this soft, intimate side he witnessed over the last few weeks, and the self-destructive, proud, stubborn part of himself wants to make it worse, wants to burn all the bridges they’ve built between them and only remember this because it would make everything so much safer.

“Are you – for Merlin’s sake Regulus,” James sighs, suddenly sounding tired, shoulders slumping and his hand messing up his hair for the umpteenth time. “I have a bloody crush on you, alright? Not even – I suppose it’s more than a crush and really, I should have told you earlier and not take advantage of the whole situation but it was just – at least it let me pretend, for a moment, that it – that we could be something more because, well… Nevermind, I should go.”

There’s a strange, rushing sound in his ears, he can feel his heart racing painfully in his chest and his mouth is dry as he watches James turn with one last, sad look at him.

“Wait,” he manages to choke out, the word coming out raspy and silent and he quickly takes two steps forward, curling his fingers around James’ wrist before he even knows what he’s doing, before he has any idea what he’s supposed to say.

James turns slowly, frowning and looking at the spot where Regulus is still holding his wrist. He lets go on instinct, wincing at the resigned look flashing through James’ eyes. Merlin but he’s absolutely shit at talking about feelings, there are a thousand things he wants to say and each and every one of them sounds more ridiculous and stupid than he can bring himself to voice.

The longer he’s silent, the more James’ face shutters, his lips pressing into a thin line and his shoulders tensing, and fuck he really needs to say something and maybe it doesn’t matter all that much what it is, exactly, in the end.

“I – Me too, I mean – it’s why I… Why I was so set on ending this because I just couldn’t – it’s too hard to pretend, all the time and you – fuck, why is this so hard?” he laughs hollowly, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. “I like you, like, a lot.”

James turns fully towards him then, taking a step closer and slowly raising his hands to Regulus’ face, thumbs running over his cheekbones and he closes his eyes, leaning into the touch.

“I should have asked you this much earlier, but can I kiss you, please?” James murmurs, so close already that his breath is ghosting over Regulus’ lips and he doesn’t think he could speak if he wanted to, so he simply nods.

It’s a soft, careful kiss, just a brushing of lips and completely different from their first two kisses but it makes his breath catch and a shiver run down his spine, much more intense than the others. He wraps his arms around James’ waist, pulling him closer and deepens the kiss, has to fist one hand into the back of James’ jumper because he feels like if he doesn’t ground himself somehow, he’s just going to break apart or drown, going to burst with the rush of happiness and disbelief and joy that’s threatening to overwhelm him.

James tangles his hands in Regulus’ hair, humming softly and bites into his bottom lip before running his tongue over the spot.

“Hey Reg, are you – oh.”

They only slowly break apart and it takes several moments for him to comprehend that Barty is standing in the doorway, looking at them with wide eyes. Regulus can’t help the laugh escaping him, his heart still racing and happiness bubbling within him. Really, he thinks, going through such a wide arrange of emotions in the course of half a day can’t be healthy, and he leans against James for support because he fears his legs might just give out in exhaustion.

“I’m fine, as you can see. We kind of – sorted it out,” he finally manages to say, knowing that he must look like an utter sap right now but he just can’t find it in himself to care.

Barty snorts, shaking his head. “I figured. So I take it you’re not staying?” he says with a smirk, looking between the two of them.

James' arm around him tightens at the mention, making his heart jump again. “No, thank you. But we should catch up soon, yeah? You need to visit us, or come to one of our matches,” he says, still remembering that he thought he should see Barty more often.

“Will do,” Barty says with mock-seriousness before pinning James with a look. “Don’t do anything stupid, Potter.” With that, he turns on his heel and disappears back into the house, and Regulus can only hide his laughter in James’ neck.

“Let’s go home,” James murmurs into his hair, and Regulus didn’t think something as simple as that could sound so terribly good.

[remywrites5]

This is hella late and probably not gonna be noticed but if you’re still doing prompts will you write a fluffy jegulus soulmate au I’m having cravings lmao. Lobe your blog!!

So yeah this didn’t turn out as fluffy as I meant it to. Sorry about that. Hopefully you like it anyway! 

***

           The words on James’ arm were not kind. They’d never been kind. When he could feel the words shifting on his forearm, he had begun to wince, knowing a new insult was going to be flung his way. He had no idea how his bloody soulmate could hate him so much. Didn’t that very much defeat the point?

           He had hoped it meant that Lily Evans was his soulmate. No one seemed to loathe him more than Evans and so the harsh words on his arm would make a lot of sense. But then in sixth year Lily and Marlene had discovered they were each other’s soulmate and there went that theory.

           James worried it might be Snape. He was the only other person James could think of that hated him so much,that would have nothing but cruelty towards his soulmate. He had never been more relieved than when he found out that wasn’t the case. Snape didn’t have anyone on his arm apparently, from what James had heard off Lily. Maybe that was why the greasy prick was so terrible to everyone.

He had been sitting in the Great Hall and he could feel the words on his arm constantly shifting. He rolled his sleeve up with a bit of trepidation.His soulmate was clearly at Hogwarts at that very moment, watching him. Sirius scooted closer and read over James’ shoulder.  

           Bloody bastard.

           Who does he think he is?

           Why does he never notice me?

           Does he even know I exist?

           James and Sirius shared a look and Sirius shrugged in response. Sirius turned his attention back to Remus – his soulmate – and the two of them continued to be disgustingly sweet with each other the same way they had since they discovered they were soulmates in third year. James would have thought he’d be used to it by now. Maybe it was the fact that he was still woefully unaware of who his own soulmate was that was causing the irritability. He only had a year and a half left at Hogwarts to figure it out.

           Why won’t he look at me?

           James glanced around the Great Hall and looked for anyone that was staring at him. Whoever his soulmate was had to be paying attention to him, right? It turned out quite a few people were looking at him, James realized with a puff of pride.

           Oh fuck. He’s looking for me.

           Shut up, brain. Shut up!

           He’ll never think it’s a Slytherin.

           James’ eyes snapped to the Slytherin table and raked down it looking for who it might be.

           Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

           James couldn’t help grinning to himself. He was so close – he could feel it. His soulmate was finally in his grasp. Why did there have to be so many bloody people in this school?

           He’ll never care about me that way he does about my brother.

           James glanced down at his arm and then his eyes snapped to Regulus, sitting at the end of the Slytherin table. When he caught James staring, he looked away quickly. It felt like a punch to the gut. Regulus fucking Black.

           It couldn’t be.

                                                           ***

           James flopped down across from Sirius and Remus in the Gryffindor common room. They’d been working together on the Potions essay because only Remus could get Sirius to actually buckle down and do his school work before the last possible second.

           “Alright Jamie?” Sirius asked, knowing his best friend enough to tell when something was bothering him.

           James tugged on the collar of his school shirt, feeling a little bit like he was suffocating. He had been since lunch that morning. “So you might kill me...”

           Sirius’ smile went dark. “What did you do?”

           “It wasn’t anything I did!” James said, putting his hands up in surrender. “It was fate or whatever.”

           Sirius raised a skeptical eyebrow. ‘If you’re going to start pulling pranks on me then you better come up with a better excuse than that!”

           James huffed in frustration and tugged his fingers through his unruly hair. “It’s not a prank! I think – no I know – Regulus is my soulmate.”

           Sirius laughed. “That’s a pretty good one, Jamie.”

           “Sirius,” Remus said, touching his soulmate lightly. “I don’t think he’s joking.”

           James winced as Sirius’ laughter was cut short and he glared at James. “Jamie, what the fuck?”

           “That’s what I’ve been asking myself all bloody day!” James said, feeling a bit like he was going mad.

           “How do you know?” Remus asked evenly.

           “Today my arm was going crazy and he said he was a Slytherin and I was worried it might be Snivellus or something but then he said something about me caring for his brother. Unless you or Peter have some Slytherin brothers hitherto unmentioned, it’s got to be Sirius he was talking about and that makes it Regulus.”

           “Did you just use the word hitherto?” Sirius said, his eyes bugging out in surprise.

           James groaned and tugged on his messy hair. “What am I supposed to do about this information? I’ve barely even spoken to Reg. He always just avoided me if he could. The only time I interact with him is on the Quidditch pitch.”

           Sirius jumped to his feet excitedly. “It’s that movie! That Muggle movie we watched at Moony’s last summer with the twins! The one your mum really likes!”

           “Parent Trap?” Remus filled in helpfully.

           “Yes!” Sirius said, snapping his fingers. “We’ll do a Parent trap!”

           James pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Am I meant to be trapping myself?”

           “Don’t you worry Prongs!” Sirius said, tugging James to his feet and resting his hands on his shoulders. “Moony and I will handle all the details. You just show up and look pretty.”

           James huffed. “I’m always pretty.”

           “That’s the spirit!” Sirius said, clapping James on the back.

                                                           ***

           James stepped in time with Remus under the invisibility cloak as they made their way downstairs to the kitchens after hours. He knew that with Remus involved nothing too terrible would happen to him. If it had just been Sirius planning everything then James might have been worried.

           When they got down to the kitchens, Remus pulled off the cloak and shoved James forward. There was a little private table for two set up with floating candles for atmosphere. Two plates of spaghetti were already set out for them. “Sirius was going to go for something a bit more intense. There were fireworks involved. I managed to scale it back a bit.”

           “Thanks Moony,” James said, smiling at him.

           “Ow you bastard that hurt!” James heard voices coming down the corridor. His heart started racing when he thought he was finally going to reveal to Regulus that they were soulmates. He pushed his glasses up and tried to think of something cool to say when Regulus arrived.

           He didn’t have time to come up with anything good because a moment later Regulus was shoved in through the door followed by Sirius. “Fucking bellend nearly bit me!” Sirius said, shaking his head at his little brother.

           “That’s usually how people react when they’re basically kidnapped from their bed!” Regulus snapped at him. “How do you even know how to get into the Slytherin dormitories anyway?”

           “Please, we figured that out second year!” Sirius said with a grin.

           Regulus glared at his brother and then turned flickered his gaze at Remus and then James. “So what’s this all about then?” he asked, turning his nose up at them. “Going to hex me? Turn my hair pink? Make it so I forget how to fly a broom so Potter here can finally win at Quidditch?”

           “You little – “ James growled, but Remus grabbed him by the arm before he could advance on Reg.

           “It’s called dinner, you numpty,” Sirius told his brother, rolling his eyes. “You sit in a chair and you make polite conversation while you eat. Ever heard of it?”

           Regulus worked his jaw for a moment as if trying to come up with a retort. Remus beat him to it though. “I think Sirius and I had better get going. We’re going to take the map and leave you the cloak.”

           “You’re leaving me alone with him?” Regulus spat out, scowling at James. “Wait, what map? What cloak?”

           “Have a nice date you two!” Sirius sing-songed as he and Remus pulled out the map so they could get back to the Gryffindor common room without running into anyone they shouldn’t.

           “A date?” Regulus echoed as the door to the kitchens shut behind them. James sat down in the one of the chairs and looked at Regulus expectantly. Reg still had an unhappy look on his face but he sat down in the chair opposite. “If you try anything Potter I’ll make you regret it.”

           James sighed. “This isn’t a trick, Reg. The food hasn’t been tampered with. I just wanted to spend time with you.”

           Regulus narrowed his eyes at James. “Why now?”

           “I think you know why.”

           “I really don’t.”

           “Because we’re soulmates,” James said, trying to keep the annoyed tone out of his voice that Reg was being so difficult.

           “Pull the other one.”

           “I’ll prove it to you,” James said, shoving up his sleeve. Now they were getting somewhere. “Go on, think something about me.”

           You’re a prat.

           “See?” James said, letting Reg read the words on his arm. “Your turn.”

           “No.”

           “No?”

           “That’s what I said,” Regulus sneered at him. “No.”

           “Why not?” James said, dumbfounded. They were soulmates after all. Why was Regulus being like this? Shutting him out now that they’d finally found each other. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be easy.

           Regulus turned his face away and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “I didn’t have words on my arm until fourth year,” Regulus said, his voice hard. “Which means you knew me, for years, and didn’t think about me at all. Couldn’t even spare your best friend’s brother a passing thought, huh Potter? Do you know when the first time I had words on my arm? My first Quidditch game as seeker. I was chasing after the snitch and I felt my arm tingle. I was so surprised I nearly fell off my broom. The first words my soulmate ever though about me were ‘oh he’s actually quite good.’ The words have been few and far between since then. So no, Potter, I won’t be showing you my arm. And you can bloody well just leave me alone.”

           Regulus shoved his chair back and headed for the door. James jumped up in a panic and was reaching for his wand before he had time to think.

           “Petrificus totalus!” he shouted, pointing his wand at Reg’s back. Reg fell like a sack of potatoes onto the floor. “Bugger shitting fuck,” James cursed, putting his arms under Reg and lifting him up. He grabbed the cap and threw it over them before making his way up towards the Gryffindor common room. As they walked, James could feel the words on his arm shifting and changing. He gritted his teeth and ignored the fact that Reg was currently chewing his arse out for hexing him.

           When he got into his dormitory, he pulled the cloak off and his three friends stared at him in horror. “What the hell happened?” Sirius asked, jumping out of bed.

           “He was being a git,” James said and felt his words shift again in retaliation. He didn’t have to look to know what they probably said.

           “Why does Prongs have Sirius’ brother in his arms?” Peter asked, looking at his friends for clarification. James realized no one had filled Wormtail in on the whole soulmates debacle.

           “They’re soulmates,” Remus informed him.

           “Oh fuck,” Wormtail said, his jaw dropping. “Tough break there, Prongs.”

           James sighed and brought Regulus over to Sirius’ bed. Sirius hardly ever used it anymore anyway, electing to sleep curled up around Remus. “I didn’t know what to do,” James admitted, chewing his bottom lip. “He was going to leave and I couldn’t just let him do that.”

           “I mean you could have,” Sirius said with a shrug. “It’s not like you wouldn’t get another chance to speak to him. You should really be used to rejection by now, Prongs.”

           “This is different from Lily,” James said haughtily, shoving his glasses up. “He’s my soulmate. He’s supposed to, I don’t know, love me and shite.”

           Sirius rolled his eyes. “Classic Prongs. Moony, come over and explain things to this idiot.”

           “Hey!”

           Remus scrubbed his hand over his face like he always did when his friends were being unruly and it gave him a headache. “Sirius and I knew we were soulmates before we told everyone in third year. We actually figured it out on the train to Hogwarts but we were young and didn’t really know how to deal with that information. It wasn’t until third year that we kind of figured things out and told everyone.”

           “You kept a secret from me?” James asked Sirius accusingly.

           “Not. The point. Prongs.” Sirius responded in exasperation.

           “Knowing someone is your soulmate isn’t a guarantee,” Remus said, placing a hand on James’ shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. “It doesn’t mean you’re immediately in love either. It just means there’s potential.”

           James glanced down at Regulus. “I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry Reg.” James quickly did the counter curse and Regulus’ body relaxed.

           “Alright Reg?” Sirius asked softly.

           “Not especially, no,” Regulus said, rubbing his arms and legs to try and wake them up. “I’ve been kidnapped by my supposed soulmate and now I have no choice but to sleep in the Gryffindor dormitories. Not exactly my ideal situation.”

           “You’re staying?” James asked, unable to keep the hopeful expression off his face.

           “I don’t have much choice,” Regulus snapped at him. “It’s after hours and I doubt you’re going to let me borrow that cloak.”

           “Er, well…” James said, shuffling uncomfortably.

           “Exactly,” Regulus said, shoving the covers down and slipping under them. “Now piss off, all of you, and leave me alone.”

           James was the last one to leave Reg’s bedside, wondering if he should stay and talk a little. He thought about what Remus had told him and decided what Reg really needed was space. James barely slept that night, tossing and turning and thinking of Reg in the bed next to him. When he did finally fall asleep, it was hardly restful.

           In the morning Regulus was already gone.

                                                           ***

           James sat at breakfast, poking his scrambled eggs with a fork, what felt like a stone sitting in his stomach. He couldn’t stop thinking about Regulus and what a mess he’d made of things. He wished he could explain himself or apologize to the point where Reg didn’t hate him. There had to be a way to fix things after all. It couldn’t just end like this.

           James felt his arm tingle and he shoved his sleeve out of the way, greedy for whatever words might be written there, even if they were cruel.

           I don’t hate you.

           James glanced over at the Slytherin table and caught Reg’s eye. They stared at each other from opposite side of the Great Hall. James concentrated on what he wanted to say to Reg. Hoping that it would come out clearly. He was sorry and he’d make things up to Reg if just given the chance. He’d think about Reg every day and he’d never go without words on his arm again.

           We’ll figure things out.

           James grinned at Regulus and traced the words on his arm. It felt like a step in the right direction. It felt like forgiveness. It felt like a promise.  

[fandomlygay-prompts]

The transfer pt1

Draco hummed quietly to himself as he made his way into the station, scanning to see any of his friends. Without any luck, since he did after all come early, he pushed his sunglasses up and headed towards a student he doesn’t recognize.

“ Hey you must be the new transfer eh? From Ivermorny right?” He said tilting the front of his glasses down to get a good look at the sandy haired American.

“ Oh yeah! I am, if I would of known hogwarts was gonna have such cute people then I would of went here a few years back” the sandy haired male flirted eyeing the blonde, who was sporting his lovely boyfriends quidditch jersey that he made into a crop top with a pair of the tightest jeans he could find.

“ You flatter me so” Draco said holding back any sarcastic retorts he had” What house do you hope to be in? I’m in Gryffindor ”he asked sliding his hands into his pockets.

“ Well I was in Wampus back in Ivermony,and I heard for Hogwarts it’s the equivalent of Gryffindor, so i hope I get stuck there. I’m Mitchell by the way, Mitchell Langston. Wait those colours, are you in Gryffindor orrr..” he trailed off

Draco grinned proudly before turning around to show the words on the back of his shirt “ Well consider Potter is on the Gryffindor team, I would assume so seeing as I wouldn’t want to offend my own house.” He joked lightly ignoring the fact that he didn’t even pay attention

“ oh so you like Quidditch too huh? I’m gonna be trying out for the Gryffindor team, they’ll probably beg me to join their team. You’re a potter fan, eh? I’ve never seen his face to be honest.Once I start playing I’ll have to give you some of my merch to wear.” Mitchell said cockily.

Draco arched his perfect brow at him”

You seem confident that the co captains will let you join the team. They are pretty brutal. One of the co captains even throws bludgers at the ones that aren’t paying any attention to tryouts and practices.”

“ I’m sure they both will love me, don’t worry your pretty little head about it blondey.” He flirted

Draco internally rolled his eyes before hands slid from behind him to around his waist “Hey Sly. Sorry I’m late” Harry grinned planting a wet kiss on his cheek causing Draco to recoil in disgust.

“ Really prongslet, do remember you’re not actually part animal.” He wiped his face

“Oh... you have a boyfriend?..” Mitch said disappointed.

“ Yeah, gorgeous isn’t he, anyway I’ll see you at school. We should be finding our friends” Draco chuckled walking away hand in hand with Harry, heading over to Harry’s parents. Grinning he turned around to look at the transfer student” Hey transfer!,”

“ Yeah?”

Draco smirked lightly taking off his sunglasses “ This is Harry Potter, he plays as a seeker for the Gryffindor team. Also one of the co captains of the quidditch team, ” he paused as he watched Mitchell’s eyes go wide before continuing” And I’m Draco Black, nee Malfoy. I’m also the co captain that will hurl a bludger at you for not paying attention. I’m one of the beaters for the team.” His smirk widened as he watch the life leave his eyes.

“ b-b-bu... I-I-I-....fuck “

“ from what I saw, I’m not that impressed because you made a bloody horrid first impression. But, you have one shot at redemption. If you get into my house, try out for the team so we can see if you’re as good as you say you are . Hell if you are, ill even forgive you and not hex you for calling me pretty boy” he grinned

Harry rolled his eyes before dragging his frantic boyfriend to his parents “ don’t bully him Sly, he’s new.” He half heartedly tried to stick up for the guy

“ I could feel the cockiness from here, I think he could of done more” Sirius snorted “ Jesus he’s still staring longingly at you blondey “

“ the poor sap, doesn’t even know the boy he likes could split him in two with a snap of his fingers “ James joked

“ oh you two are so bloody stupid sometimes” Remus rolled his eyes at his husbands “ boy’s come along before we miss the train.”he said telling his lovers a quick goodbye before heading to the train passing the American boy

” My advice. Don’t make a fool of yourself when you try out and don’t flirt with Draco or you’re probably in for hell” the werewolf said in passing before boarding the train with a hum.

Draco and Harry both snorted before leaving after Remus. Sirius and James looked at each other before sighing “ He loves to pretend that we don’t actually teach at the same bloody school he does “ James rolled his eyes heading for the train with Sirius beside him.

“ Let Moony dream, prongs, it’s all the poor man has left.” He snorted boarding the train before finding his small family with James.

James and Sirius both smiled brightly as they heard Draco and Harry talking quidditch strategies. This year seems to be a good year already.

_____________________________

[littlemessyjessi]

James Potter : Fluffy ABC Headcanons: Plus Size Reader

Fluffy Alphabet (Shoutout to my lovely friend, Traenon! She literally saved these for me months ago from something she read and sent it to me through messenger.  So credit to OP for the prompts!)

James Potter  Headcanons James Potter x PS Reader

X Reader: PS Reader, Plus Size Reader

A = Attractive: what do they find attractive about the other?

Well, the mushy answer is your courage.  He's in love with that fierce "Mama Bear" thing  regardless of gender.  The fact that if someone even breathes a little angry at someone you care about...you just fucking lose your shit.   He's real into that ish.

Physically?  Hmm, probably them thighs!  Yasssss, he could stay there all day.   In a sweet fashion...or a naughty one, lol.

B = Baby: do they want a family? why/why not?

As an only child- yes he wants a herd of children.  I'm not joking.  He told you he wanted six.  You nearly killed him but he did say that he was ok with adoption too. The whole carrying a baby thing is fine to him but he's also cool with adoption.  He just loves you and wants to have kids around.  And to spoil them like he spoils you.

C = Cuddle: how do they cuddle?

Ha, good luck.  You're not going anywhere.  James is not above pushing the bed against the wall, forcing you to the inside and trapping you between him and the wall.  He loves you.  You're his favorite.  He's not about to give up one ounce of cuddle time.  

D = Dates: what are dates with them like?

He does love a good ride on the broom on a clear starring night.  I mean, that's just a perk.  But honestly?  Some of the best have been in detention.  He's purposefully gotten you both in trouble before just so you could hang out alone together, lol.

E = Everything: “you are my ____” (e.g my life, my world…)

You are James' inspiration.  You're his drive.  You are the light of his life and the fire to keep him running.   For you?  He'd do anything.

F = Feelings: when did they know they were falling in love?

When Sirius' mother showed up at the school and started screaming at him.  And you?  You hexed her six ways from Sunday.   It's your protective nature that really drove it home for James that day.  Also, sidenote- Sirius sees you as his sister and you're his favorite.  He steals you away from James all the time so you can hang out, lol.

G = Gentle: are they gentle? If so, how?

For all his boisterous personality, James really is a sweetheart.  he'd do anything for you.    You're amazing to him.

H = Hand/Hold: how do they like to hold? how do they like to hold hands?

Listen, if you're near James...You're fucking stuck.   That boy, lol.  Omg, I hope you're not sensitive about your fingers because he's threading them together and they're in a vise grip...forever.  If for some reason, you have to leave to I don't know- void your bladder- prepare to be yanked back into his chest and he'll whine for ten minutes.  Only when your bladder is on the brink of explosion and you unlease your rage will he let you go....and maybe not follow you.

I = Impression: first impression/s

Your first impression of him was that he was a git.  Second was that he was a pretty awesome quidditch player.  You didn't actually give him the time of day until about 5th year and even then you broke his nose when he swatted your bottom playfully.  He got the fucking message, lol.

J = Joker: are they into pulling pranks?

Please, he's the king of pranks.   He pulled one on you....once. You retaliated to the point of near death.   He got the fucking message.

K = Kisses: how do they kiss?

They're so random sometimes but super special and sweet.   Never fail to make you smile.

L = Love: who says I love you first?

He did.  He's been saying it forever anyway.   But the first time for real? He did and it was super cute because he was loaded with firewhiskey.   But he remembered the next morning 6 am when the hangover hit him.  Poor guy, pajamas barely hanging out and he's screaming up the girl's dormitorities until someone shoved you down to him.

"I just realized I said I loved you last night." "Yeah, I know James." you laughed rubbing sleep from your eye. "I was shit faced." he said. Your laugh was a bit dimmed, "Yeah, I know.   You weren't really all there at the moment." "No, that's not what I meant." he said taking your hands into his.  "I mean, - what I mean is that I do love.  I mean it.  I meant it then.  I've wanted to tell you for a long time." "James you've been telling me since we were eleven." you laughed. "Yeah, but not for real." he said. "And I mean it- for real.  I love you." "I love you too, you crazy boy.  Now go back to bed and sleep off your hangover.  And for the love of god brush your teeth before you try to talk to me again."

M = Memory: their favourite moment together

He adores the time you nearly beat someone on an opposing team to death because they cheated during a quidditch game.   He flew right into the stands to kiss you.  Both to quell your rage and because he loved you.

N = Nickel: do they spoil? do they buy the person they love everything?

He does but it's usually vintage finds.  Little things you come across together.  The both of you have this completely useless matching pocket watches.  They don't work and it gets stuck half the time but they match and they're special.

O = Orange: what color reminds them of their other half?

Well, he loves house colors on you of course.  But he also favors you in blue.  Just something about it on you looks amazing.  Doesn't matter the shade.  Just blue.  

P = Pet names: what pet names do they use?

He's totally a 'babe' person.  

Q = Quaint: what is their favourite non-modern thing?

James actually loves going antiquing with you.  It's a favorite thing. There's a whole cabinet of useless junk you never do anything with but he likes it.  And looking at it makes him smile because he remembers the little dates you went on when you got it and how you got whipped cream on your nose when the two of you stopped for ice cream.

R = Rainy Day: what do they like to do on a rainy day?

Whines.  He whines, lol.  Truthfully, he doesn't mind the rain.  He just doesn't want to be stuck inside.  So you drag him up the tower where you can be sheltered but still be outside, technically.  You cast a protective, warming, moisture wicking spell and it's all fine.  Until his love for you gets the best of him and he tries to get frisky.  You threaten to throw him over if he doesn't stop pinching your butt.

S = Sad: how do they cheer themselves/each o ther up.

He cheers himself up by sticking to you like glue.   You cheer him up by telling him how much you love him. He cheers you up with the most delicious treat to ever deliciously treat.

T = Talking: what do they love to talk about?

He's a whore of a gossiper, lol.  And he knows everyone so he's always got it.   As quidditch obsessed as he is, you'd think he'd talk about that.  But nope.   It's juicy gossip.

U = Unencumbered: What helps them relax?

Baking.    Honestly.  Baking.   A trip to the kitchen and a little experimenting.  Somehow baking up a cake or making some cookies puts him at ease.

V = Vaunt: what do they like to show off? What are they proud of?

Everyone knows he's amazing at quidditch but he loves to show you that he's intelligent.

Pranks are fine.  Quidditch is fine.  Magic is fine.  But he knows you're impressed with the mind and so he enjoys acing things and making you swoon.

W = Wedding: when, how, where do they propose?

When: Every day from the moment you started dating him.   Been calling you Mrs. James Potter since you were 14. The guys literally call you Mother Prongs or Mrs. Prongs.

But he really asks you one day seemingly out of the blue.  Truthfully, he's been thinking about it for ages.    

"I call you my wife.  Everyone says you're Mrs. James Potter.  But honestly, babe.   That's something I think about all the time." "Are you asking me to marry you?" "Honestly, woman.  I haven't even got the question out of my mouth and you're already questioning?" "James." "Give a lad a chance!" "James." "I mean-" "James Potter, if you don't ask me within the next five seconds I'm marrying Sirius." "How dare you!"

Still didn't ask you for six days out of spite and protest. So you acted like you were marrying Sirius.  

He held strong until Sirius asked him to be the best man and he nearly killed him, lol.

X = Xylophone: What’s their song?

"My Girl" - The Temptations. And he sings it to you and whoever else who happens to have the unfortunate experience of being around..... Whenever, wherever. Quidditch? Hospital? Funeral? Grocery store?   Just know that if it strikes him...he's singing it and you'll have to bare witness to his one man concert whenever he feels the need.

Y = You’re the ___ to my ___ (e.g the cookies to my milk, the macaroni to my cheese)

"You're the snitch to my seeker, babe.  Can't keep from trying to catch you." "You're a chaser, James." "And you're a keeper. Get it?" "Be very happy that I love you. No one else would put up with this level of cheese." "You got it, babe."

Z = ZZZZ: How do they sleep? Surprisingly light and usually not for very long.  Years of quidditch has made him an early bird so he's usually up first.  You hear his ass blundering around.  But on the plus side, there's always hot tea for you when you do get up.

Hello darlings! Hope you enjoyed this little piece and have a wonderfully awesome day!

If you wanna see more of my content just check out my blogs! @littlemessyjessi is the main blog full of fandom fictions, imagines, headcanons and sickeningly sweet fluff! Yeah, I know, lol. Barf.  But hey, I like it. @witchyweirdness is the magical blog full of witchy content And last but not least !   @monsterbaesbymamakennysaurus is my monster blog full of all kinds of monster related content! So I hope to see you there! Love, Kenny

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Love, Kenny

[evanescoed]

Fake Love

Young!Sirius Black x Reader

Requested plot: can you do an imagine where everyone thinks the reader has a crush on someone, and to prove them wrong she asks Sirius to fake-date her until the rumors go away, and they start liking each other. This is so spesific sorry, but i love your imagines they are so sweet!

Word count: 2295 Disclaimer: I don’t own anything recognisable. Warning: None.

Masterlist

Lily sat down next to (Y/N). A weird sound escaped her best friend’s lips like she wanted to laugh, but her own surprise choked her. Lily turned around in the sofa, shoving (Y/N)’s textbooks and parchment down on the floor as she moved.

“What’s wrong?” a smile of bemusement covered her lips as she asked the question.

“Is it true?” Lily laughed, a mix of emotions hiding behind the expression.

“Is what true?” (Y/N) raised an eyebrow in annoyance, but before Lily could reply Jenny from the year above them walked over to the two best friends.

“(Y/N),” she sniggered, “it must be so hard for you, knowing that Potter’s in love with your best friend.”

(Y/N) opened her mouth to answer, but her words drowned in her throat.

“Jenny,” Lily snapped, “It’s just a rumour,” she explained, but her voice quivered.

“That’s not what I heard,” Jenny answered sharply, “According to Mary, (Y/N) told her that she’d been in love with Potter since the day he picked her as Seeker.”

“What?” A stream of emotions ran through (Y/N). First, she wanted to punch Jenny for even suggesting she was in love with James. The second feeling surging through her was aggravation – James Potter could be a pain in the arse, and she did not believe it was beneath him to make up something as stupid as this to get Lily’s attention, and she wanted to punch him for that. Lastly, a wave of guilt ran within her at the thought of Lily. There was an unspoken fact that Lily was just as much in love with James as James loved her.

“Now that’s just bloody stupid,” (Y/N) shook her head, “and why would I ever confess something like that to the biggest blabbermouth at this school?”

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jenny smirked.

As if the universe were conspiring against her tonight, the four inseparable Gryffindor boys walked through the great painting that marked the entrance to the Common Room.

“Jenny, leave it,” Lily defended her best friend at the same moment the nosy dimwit of a witch turned around.

“Potter, what a coincidence, I think (Y/N) has something to tell you.”

“I don’t, and this is getting ridiculous,” (Y/N) replied, holding up her hands in defence as she spoke.

James looked at Lily, who sat stiffly on the couch next to her homework, scanning the situation based on her emotions. Nobody said anything for a while, but the crowd built up around the group of teenagers.

“(Y/N) likes Potter!” Jenny laughed triumphantly, it was as if the girl had a personal vendetta against the younger Gryffindor girl.

“Merlin, Jenny!” (Y/N) cried out, “I don’t!”

The room quieted down as the dark-haired boy next to James took a step forward, his trademark smirk plastered on in lips. “I sure hope not, love,” he laughed, “that would definitely create some awkward tension in our relationship.”

(Y/N) was about to yell at him for making jokes, but as Sirius’ eyes met hers she knew she should play along with his weird plan.

“Yeah, it would, wouldn’t it,” (Y/N) chuckled, standing up from her seat, she cupped Sirius’ face in her hands, and kissed him. She had unquestionably stunned every teenager in the room, including Sirius who took a second before he moved his lips with hers.

It was a good kiss, it was Sirius Black after all, but (Y/N) had kissed enough boys in her sixteen years of age to know that Sirius must be a bloody good kisser when he wants to be. When she broke off the kiss, which had been innocent in its entirety, she noticed how everyone stared at them; eyes wide open.

“Good thing I don’t, I mean, don’t take me wrong, James, you’re pretty decent, but not my type,” with raced pulse and a smirk on her lips, she met her Captain’s dark eyes with a lopsided smile.

“Thanks, (Y/N),” James gave her an amused wink, before walking over to sit next to Lily, trying out another one of his o-so-clever pick-up lines.

Sirius slipped from his group of friends as the rest of the Marauders followed James to the couches.

“Can we talk?” (Y/N) took his hand and led him towards the boys’ dorms as he wouldn’t be able to get up to her room.

“People might get the wrong impression, (Y/N),” he chuckled, but he followed her towards the door.

“Oh, shut up, you absolute tosser!”

Sirius let out a roaring laughter, shutting the door behind them.

“You know how to make a scene, Black,” she shook her head at him as he sat down in his bed.

“You didn’t have to kiss me,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Well, I didn’t really foresee you confessing to be my boyfriend in front of everyone, also, why did you do that?” she asked angry and confused. Sirius brushed his fingers through his dark hair, it had grown past his ears and started to curl at the tips.

“I don’t know, you seemed so thrown off by the situation, I don’t know,” he bit his lips, “but.. um, do you?” he asked, “like James?” he suddenly seemed so uncomfortable.

“No!” she buried her face in her hands in frustration, “I do not like James!”

“Why not, he’s a great lad, one of the greatest really,” he teased.

“Funny,” she rolled her eyes at him annoyed, “but anyways, thanks for helping, it was unexpectedly nice of you.”

“Excuse me, I’m a nice person,” Sirius protested, which made the girl standing in front of him burst out laughing.

“You’re never just nice to someone, Sirius, there is always some sort of catch when it comes to you,” she explained. Sirius didn’t reply to her comment, but studying his face, one could see he was hurt by her remarks.

“There’s no catch to what I’m doing right now though,” he pointed out.

“No, because you didn’t have time to come up with anything,” she argued, but knowing the Gryffindor boy, she knew he probably had one of the sharpest minds at the whole school, he could have come up with something if he really wanted too.

“Remind me to not help you next time you find yourself in an awkward situation you can’t get yourself out of on your own,” Sirius huffed as he opened the door, letting her walk out in front of him.

“This is going to be interesting,” she remarked as the two teens walked back into the Common Room.

xxx

A fortnight later, and Sirius and (Y/N) had managed to keep their fake romantic act up around their peers. It did not take long for news to spread around the school, and (Y/N) had definitely noticed the nasty glances she received from jealous girls who felt like they now had lost their chances with the infamous Marauder.

She sat on a chair in the Common Room catching up on some homework when the four boys walked through the portrait of the Fat Lady. It was already past midnight, so she knew they had been up to something mischievous.

“(Y/N),” Sirius grinned, “You know what?”

“No, Sirius, I do not,” she replied, smelling his liquid confidence from a far.

Sirius sat down next to her, his fingers brushing soft against her arm, “You’re so bloody beautiful,” he whispered, his voice dead serious.

She laughed, she knew he was only playing their little game, but it still sent shivers down her neck.

“You’re not too bad yourself, babe,” she joked.

“Ok, lovebirds,” Remus rolled his eyes at the seemingly intimate scene in front of them.

“Yeah, is this when we leave so you can shag it out on the couch?” James mocked.

“You guys are pissed,” (Y/N) pushed Sirius away from her, “and I’m not shagging anyone on this disgusting piece of furniture anyways,” she joked.

“We’re not pissed,” James argued, but he burst out laughing just as he finished his sentence, “Okay, maybe we’re a wee bit wasted.”

“You can’t really be a bit wasted, Prongs, can you?” Remus asked confused.

“I dunno, stop asking confusing questions Moony, I’m too drunk to understand you.”

(Y/N) groaned as she listened to the boys discuss stages of drunkenness. She kept writing her essay, blocking out the slurred words around her. She felt Sirius’ fingers on her leg, and she tensed up again.

“You know, you don’t have to do that,” she whispered at him.

“What?” he asked, clearly confused by her words.

“Touch me,” she motioned to his hands, “like that.”

“Oh, sorry,” he nodded, pulling his hand away.

“I think I’m going to bed,” she told him.

“Cool,” he replied quick, and she noticed his face had turned a shade of soft pink.

xxx

“If you ask me, I think Lily should just give up that prudish act, we can all see right through it,” Sirius told (Y/N) who sat next to him by the lake.

She could feel his leg touching hers lightly, it was an innocent action, and she was almost positive Sirius hadn’t even noticed he’d done it. That scared (Y/N) more than the opposite. Sirius was a flirt by nature, but the past week she noticed him doing things differently than his more nonchalant flirting.

“I know, but she needs time,” she replied, trying hard to ignore the heat of his body against hers.

“Time my arse,” Sirius scoffed, “It’s getting a tad old.”

“If James weren’t trying so desperately to chat her up every time she walked past him, maybe things would turn around,” she laughed.

(Y/N) would never admit just how much she enjoyed these moments with her fake boyfriend. Just the two of them, being themselves. No lies, no acting.

“Sirius,” (Y/N) mumbled, lying down in the grass.

“Mhm,” he looked over at her, she was either going crazy, or his grey eyes sparkled in the sun as they met her (y/e/c).

“Should we end this?” she asked.

“End?” he questioned her.

“You know, the lie.”

“The lie,” he sighed, lying down next to her, “I like the lie.”

(Y/N)’s heart skipped a beat.

“Don’t do that,” she shook her head. She hated the feelings she knew were growing inside her. It was all the small things, like Sirius saying her name, or not saying her name, making up his own names. Sirius laughing at something she said; it felt extra nice when he laughed, like she’d accomplished something greater than just crack a funny joke. Sirius stirred up too many unwanted feelings in her stomach, in her mind, but most of all, and possibly the most frightening, her heart.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, confusion showing in his expression, “If you want to end it, I’m cool with that.”

“I do,” she bit her lip.

“Brilliant,” Sirius replied dryly.

xxx

At Quidditch practice, (Y/N) could barely keep her eyes on the Snitch. Her thoughts distracting her if she even caught a glimpse of the golden ball.

“Look alive, (Y/N)!” James yelled as he flew past her.

“Sorry!” She yelled back.

She grasped her broomstick, leaning forward to join the others in the practice game. She tried to block out all feelings that might be related to one of the team’s chasers. If she were in love with Sirius, that would be ridicules. She did not fancy Sirius.

“Nice one,” someone shouted at her, and she noticed that the tiny golden ball had passed her head again.

“Sod off!” She yelled at the person in front of her. Sirius.

“You okay?” He asked with a lopsided smile.

She ignored Sirius’ question, “I’m flying down!” she told her captain, racing past the Black boy.

“(Y/N)!” he shouted.

It didn’t take long after she reached the ground, before he landed on his feet too.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

“Clearly.”

“Piss off,” she snapped at him, feeling bad for her unjustified outburst.

“If I’ve done something wrong, you really have to fill me in on it, because I’m completely clueless on this one, love,” he sighed, his trademark smirk replaced by a sad look.

“I..” (Y/N) looked up at him, he stood so close she could swear she felt his heart beat against her own.

“You?” he waited.

“I don’t know,” she told him earnestly.

“Pardon?” he chuckled.

“I don’t know what you’ve done, but whatever it is, it makes me feel sick to my stomach when I look at you,” she could see his cool demeanour falter at her harsh words, “You make my heart beat so fast I think it’s going to break my ribs, Sirius,” she laughed at her own words, red heat running up her neck and cheeks.

Confusion fell over his face; his eyebrows grew closer together.

“Like you’re not sure if you wanna pin me against a wall and do unspeakable things with me, or just watch me fall off a broomstick so you never have to deal with my stupid face again?” he asked, but the way he said it made (Y/N)’s eyes fly up.

“Umm,” she pressed her lips together, “kind of, yeah.”

“You know,” he stepped closer to her, “I meant it.”

Their mouths were inches apart when she spoke next, “You meant what?”

“You’re so bloody beauti-”

Their lips connected before he could finish his sentence. Her fingers tangled in his dark locks, anchoring herself to his soft lips. Sirius stumbled backwards at the intensity of their kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. (Y/N) couldn’t help but smile between the heated kisses. Sirius tasted like cigarettes, but the bitterness was drowned out by the sweet flavour of sugar, giving her a taste of exactly what she had imagined his kisses would feel like; like she never wanted it to end.  

[carolinesbookworld]

How the Moon Fell In Love With a Star - Part 4

Fandom: Harry Potter, Marauders Era

Pairing: Sirius Black x OC (Remus’s twin sister)

Word Count: 975 (it’s giving me anxiety that it’s under 1,000 words)

Summary: Lilliana Lupin is just starting her seventh year with her twin brother and best friends. The only catch: she’s in love with one of them. When James hatches a plan to make both Lily Evans and Sirius Black notice James and Lillie, she is hesitant. Until it works.

Series Masterlist    Masterlist

A/N: I’m soooo sorry this took so long. This chapter is really more of a filler because the next chapter is actually what I wrote first and what this whole story is based off of. I just needed to get the first few chapters written so I had a foundation for the story and some context before jumping into the actual plot I wanted to get to. So again, I’m sorry this took so long. I promise the next part will be posted early so y’all will maybe forgive me. Eh, whatever, I’m super excited about the next part and I want all of you to see it, so it’ll be up in the next few days anyway ;)

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

“I can't believe him.” I paced back and forth in front of James's bed. He lay on his back tossing a Snitch in the air and catching it before it could fly away. “He said I was his best friend. He friend-zoned me. After all that and he still thinks of me as his best friend.”

“Maybe he doesn't,” James mumbled.

“I'm sorry, what?” I spun to face James, narrowing my eyes. “Maybe he doesn't? You're his best friend, you know all about what he thinks of me, don't you?”

James stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. “I...um.” He licked his lips and propped himself up on one hand. “I wasn't saying that he... doesn't think of you as his best friend. More that he thinks of you as...more?” James tilted his head at me. “You know, the way I feel about Lily.”

“Alright,” I said slowly. “But Lily knows how you feel about her. Has since you met. Besides, you two wouldn't even be friends if it wasn't for me. You're welcome by the way.”

James shot me a grin. “That's it! I haven't always been friends with Lily so it's been obvious to her that I've liked her all these years. You, on the other hand, have always been friends with Sirius so you haven't always been able to see how he feels about you,” James reasoned.

“Prongs, you aren't getting it. He said I was his best friend. That doesn't exactly leave room to say, 'Oh by the way, I love you even though you're my best friend and I probably made this super awkward.’” I resumed my pacing. I sighed. “This is pointless. You're no help. I need something to do.” My hand was on the knob when the door pushed open suddenly. I jumped back as if I had been burned and came face-to-face with my brother.

“What are you two doing up here?” Remus asked. I shot a look at James, who rolled his eyes.

“Talking,” I replied as James said, “Studying.” Remus gave us a look and shook his head. “Right. Anyway, Sirius is looking for you James.”

James hauled himself off the bed, muttering, “What on Earth does he need me for?”

The door closed with a satisfying bang. “Right then. Now that he's gone, are you going to tell me what you were talking about?” Remus asked with a pointed look.

I huffed a sigh. “I'm in despair, Remus!” I threw myself face-down on his bed. I muttered something incoherently, to which Remus said, “Pardon?”

Turning my face up, the light from the setting sun blinded my eyes. The rays streaked through the clouds, painting a picture of a blue and orange sky. When my eyes finally refocused, they met the identical eyes of my twin. “The sky is beautiful,” I stated.

“Yes, it is. Now are you going to tell me what you just said?” I shook my head and let my eyes droop, staring sullenly at the trunk with a gold insignia of the Hogwarts crest and a messily carved 'SOB’ on the lid. Remus followed my stare. His shoulders slumped as he looked back at me. “I hope you are surprised one day.” And with that, my brother stood, straightened his sweater, and limped out of the room, wincing in pain.

The last full moon had been extremely difficult. James and Sirius had barely been able to control both of us, and all five, werewolves and Animagi alike, were in pain.

At least Remus, Peter, and I didn't have a Quidditch game tomorrow.

----

James practically bounced around the common room the next morning. I yawned as I rounded the turn at the bottom of the dormitory stairs.

“Today is the day, lads!” James exclaimed. He threw an arm around my shoulder and tugged me to his side. “Today is the day we finally beat Slytherin.” I rubbed my eyes and leaned away from James's loud talking.

“It's barely 8, James. Can you quiet down? I'm going to get a headache.”

“Better not go to the game then, Lillie,” Peter suggested. I shook my head.

“I should go for you guys. I want to be there to support.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Really? I thought it was just because you wanted to see me shirtless at the end of the game.” My cheeks reddened.

James and Sirius had a tradition. After winning a Quidditch game, they would pull off their robes and painted across their chests were the words 'Gryffindor dominates the field! Potter and Black dominate your hearts!’ They started the tradition in third year when they found out that half the girls in the school were crazy about them. Remus thinks it's ridiculous. Peter wants to join in. I try not to care that all the girls swoon over a shirtless Sirius Black.

“Fine. I'll go. But I won't like it.”

----

Ten minutes into the game, rain started pelting the castle grounds. Peter, Remus, and I huddled under an old cloak Lily helped me enchant to repel rain. After getting ripped apart by werewolf claws and stitched back together, it wouldn't have been wearable anymore, so it became our rain cover.

Gryffindor was up by 130 points. Slytherin did not have very good chasers this year. The first game for our House and we were probably going to win. Which meant after party. Which meant I sat in the corner and ignored everyone.

James scored three more times in a two minute time span. Then Regulus Black, Slytherin's Seeker, snagged the Snitch and the game was over. Like I thought, Gryffindor won by 10. True to tradition, James and Sirius pulled off their robes. The paint on their chests was just streaks of color from the torrents of rain.

All of Gryffindor left for the common room. The party had officially begun.

Part 5

Please please please send me ideas for future parts if you have any ideas I don’t know where I want to take this in the future.

Tags: @paradoxical--intentions @knowledgeisthebomb @watson-38 @athenamalfoywinchester @bestillmystuckyheart @annino112 @siriuspadfoot14 @xsuperwholockaddictx-blog @ghostgirl1609 @whysoseriouspadfoot @bubblesbts @sly-vixen-up2nogood @sleepingalaska @nicolebeaudry @saynotodrugsyestotacos @mysweetcookie99 @mrstomlifford @shootingstarsaretearsofheaven @avengersassemblee

Send me a message or comment down below if you want to be tagged in future parts :)

[futurewriter2000]

The Perfect Potter

A/N: Okay so this is like the newest request but since I wrote like the cutest scene betwen the reader and James in Combatants I’m really feeling this. (I placed her in Hufflepuff) and oh my god we had 4 powerouts today. 

Request : Hi, I was wondering if you could write something where the reader is James’ little sister and she doesn’t feel like she’s good enough for the family and is just really down about it when one Remus or Sirius find out and comfort her and they tell James and he talks to her? If not it’s okay!

Pairing: Remus x reader x Sirius? (It’s not a pairing but just a mention)

xx

Being James’ younger sister was a torture. Since the first day you came to Hogwarts you were in his shadow. Not only in school but at home too. He was always the golden boy. The true Gryffindor with great friends and Prefect badge. Most people didn’t even know your name, mostly you were known as James’ little sister and you hated it. 

It’s not that you hated James. He was a great older brother. Yes he was annoying like other brothers but the two of you went along just fine. Sirius was your brother just as much as James’ . You loved to have him around. He was a fun person, but never you thought of him as more. You knew his reputation way too well. 

Even if you were placed in Hufflepuff, you still hung out with all of his friends, but every year it got harder. It got harder hiding the jealousy. Since the day he became Prefect everything was about James. 

‘We are so proud of our James. Such a smart and hardworking boy. He became Prefect this year and we hope next year he’ll be Head boy. Since the day we heard he was placed in Gryffindor we couldn’t be happier for our little boy.’ your parent’s words echoed in your head.

It was a torture. Honestly. You hated it. 

---

You were staring at the piece of paper for five minutes. You couldn’t believe it. Four words and one letter. “I failed.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I bet McGonngal will give you an essay or something to fix it.” comforted you friend, who got and O.

“I got a P. Poor. That’s impossible.” you perplexed and looked over to your friend.

“Just talk to McGonngal. She loves James I bet you can get an easy pass on this.” 

There it was again. James. Always James. You were so full of it. 

You grabbed your books and your quill and stormed out of the class. You felt tears rolling down your cheeks and now you were already running. How could you fail Transfiguration? That wasn’t possible. 

Suddenly when you were about to turn around the corner you bumped into someone. You looked up to see two Marauders with a big smile on their faces. 

“Sorry. “ you mumbled and pushed past them. You couldn’t deal with them right now.

Remus and Sirius looked at eachother and decided to run after you. You heard their steps behind, so you quickened your pace and started wiping your tears away. Not them. 

But they were too fast for you and cought on. Sirius grabbed your arm and turned you around. “ (y/n)?” he asked, seeing your red and buffy eyes. “What’s wrong?” 

You put on a fake smile and looked at the both of them. “I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look fine.” said Remus and glanced down at the crumbled piece of paper you were holding in your hand. 

“I’m fine okay. Just leave me alone.” you snapped and turned around to walk away but was stopped again by Sirius.

“You are supposed to be in class, not wondering around Hogwarts. You don’t want James to know you’re not in Transiguration, now do you?” 

Merlin, again with the James. You couldn’t take it anymore. “I don’t give a bloody damn what James knows! He already thinks he’s better than me! Everybody does! Oh look  it’s (y/n), James’ little sister. Oh look James became a Prefect along with his two best friends, we are so proud! James, such a great Seeker! James with all the perfect grades! James this, James that! I AM JUST SO SICK OF HEARING IT! So what if I didn’t get in Gryffindor and became Prefect. There’s no way I’ll become now with this P in Transifuration!” you burst and threw the crumbled paper in Remus chest. “I guess I’ll never be good enough.” you finished and stormed out 

“(y/n)! Wait! “ yelled Sirius but was pulled back by Remus. “What?” he asked and looked at Remus.

Remus showed him the exam. “She  got a P.” he sighed.

---

They walked in the dorm to see James trying to comb his hair. “Give it up Prongs, it’s useless.” said Peter, throwing small blue ball in the air. 

“James?” asked Remus, holding on to a crumbled piece of paper.

“Mates, today is the day Evans will finally say yes!” he beamed and walked over to his bed to grab his Gryffindor tie. 

“Prongs, I think you should talk to (y/n) first.” said Sirius, glancing at Remus who shared his expression.

“I was meaning to, but she just sent me a letter, that she’s busy.” said James and tried to fix his tie. “Where’s my Prefect badge?” he wondered and started looking around the room.

“James! You need to talk to your little sister.” snapped Sirius and stepped closer to James. 

James shot up his head and looked at Sirius. He saw their expression and knew they were both serious. Something was wrong. “¸Why?” he asked suspiciously and noticed the crumbled piece of paper in Remus’ hand.

Remus didn’t break his gaze from James when handed him the paper. As soon as James looked down at the paper, Remus put his hand on his shoulder. “You need to talk to her. She’s going through a rough time. It’s time to be a big brother now.” he added before leaving the room.

James couldn’t believe it. You loved Transfiguration and you always got O’s or E’s at it. “She got a P?” he looked up to Sirius.

---

You were sitting in the Astronomy tower and kept looking at the stars. You kept looking at the Big Dipper. Where’s the Little Dipper? you wondered, but of course it’s probably somewhere behind the Big one... standing in his shadow.

James walked in and saw you sitting and looking up at the stars. “Hey.” he spoke quietly and walked closer.

“Hey.” you simpered and turned your gaze back at the stars. “How did you know I was here?” you asked and looked back at him. He pulled out a piece of parchment and showed it to you. “Seriously. That map is creeping me out.” 

“Talk to me, (y/n).” he spoke softly and sat down next to you.

“I’m just so exhausted.” you sighed.

“Of what?”

“Being in your shadow.” 

He chuckled and looked at you with his hazel eyes. “Are you serious?” he continued to laugh.

“ Why are you laughing?” you furrowed your eyebrows.

“Because it’s not true.” he smiled and sat in a criss-cross position across you. 

“Yes it is. Do you know people don’t even know my name. They keep calling me James’ little sister. And you are mom and dad’s favorite, with all your Prefect badge and your perfect grades. And then there is me-” 

Before you could finish the sentance he immediately interrupted you. “And then there’s you. The smart, funny and charismatic Hufflepuff. People love you. Every time we have those parties and everybody keeps attacking me with questions you’re the one who pulls me out before I say something I’ll regret.  Or remember the time Sirius and I blew up mom’s favorite vaze. You covered for us.” he said and nudged you a bit, making you smile. “And the only reason they refer you as my little sister is because of me. Do you know how many boys I threatned already?” 

“Oh my god. That’s why they don’t do anything more than just flirt.” you suddenly realized.

“Who’s flirting with you? I swear if it’s Gibbons I’ll kill him.” he raged and looked at you seriously.

“Stop.” you giggled and leaned your head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I just feel I don’t belong in this family.” 

“That’s weird. Sometimes I feel like a terrible older brother, who doesn’t deserve a sister like you.” 

“I thought you were here to cheer me up not to talk down on yourself.” you chuckled.

“I’m serious. You are just so amazing, always helping me with anything. Even Lily likes you and continues to hate me. Proffesor Binns hates my guts since the day Sirius and I blew up his desk. He keeps saying how much better you are and how should I look up to you.”

“You blew up his desk?” you asked him and gave him a serious look.

“First year, for giving me a T.” he glared at the wall as he remembered his first exam he failed.

“You got a T?” you gasped and looked at him. “I didn’t know that.”

“I’m not perfect (y/n). Never was and never Will be. You aren’t perfect either. You keep trying to be but a piece of parchment doesn’t define you. You are a smart, hell you are the smartest  here.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to keep up with you.” you smiled.

“I’m terrible at cheering you up aren’t I?” he huffed. “Being an older brother is hard.”

“No. I actually feel better. I got an O on that History of magic paper in First year. “ 

“Okay, I’m done cheering you up now. I said too much.” he said, standing up and grabbing your hand to pull you up.

“I might ask Gibbons out since I know he’s never going because of my brother.” you started to tease him.

“Shut up. I’ll just get rid of him.” he smiled.

You wrapped your arm around his and walked out of the Astronomy tower. “Remus is pretty cute too.” 

“Seriously (y/n). It’s not funny.” 

“I heard he’s falling for Hufflepuffs.” you continued to tease. 

“No. Stop.  You are not going to date my best friend.” he huffed and glanced at your smiling eyes.

“Yeah you’re right. I bet Sirius is far much better kisser.” 

“Oh hell no.” he said and covered his ears. “I don’t want to hear another word from my younger, innocent sister.” He yelled and walked away from you. You ran after him, wrapped your arms around his torso and started giggling. “I hate you.” he added when he heard you giggle.

“I love you too big brother.”

[padfootagain]

All That The Wind Carries

Chapter  1 : One Year, Two Schools

So... this is a story I’ve been posting on fanfiction.net, but I have a massive writer block on it. So I’m trying to edit it to get back to it. I’ll be posting the chapters here too as I edit them, I’m sure It's going to give me some motivation.

This is an AU. It’s Jily and Blackinnon. It’s gonna be a long ride... I hope you all like it. Tell me what you think about it :)

Word Count : 5350

It was strange not to go to back Hogwarts.

It was strange not to go to the train station, not to run through the wall to the platform 9 3/4, not to hear the sound of the train as it was about to start its trip to Scotland.

It was strange not to walk with Sirius through the Muggle crowd, not to hug Remus and Peter on the platform after weeks without seeing his best friends, not to recognize Lily's hair coming out of the blue through a cloud of smoke.

It was strange to think that he wouldn't be at the feast this year, nor play a few pranks at the new students, nor see the Sorting Ceremony.

It was strange to think that he would not walk to his dormitory in the Gryffindor Tower, relieved to abandon his robes for his pyjamas, and claim a good night of sleep in the welcoming school he loved so much.

Instead, James was walking in Muggle clothes towards the portal of a private High School in London.

A Muggle school.

All around him, no one was wearing robes, nor holding wands. They were in uniforms, but only with a black tie, a white shirt and black trousers. No one was wearing gold and red, nor blue, yellow, or green. He knew that they didn't have schoolbooks about charms or potions in their bags, but chemistry and literature.

He didn't recognize anything as he walked through the wooden gates and into the schoolyard. The walls were all made of stones, and there were trees that grew through the paved yard, just like they did at the magical castle, but it wasn't his school. He couldn't find back this feeling of coming home that he felt every time he walked into Hogwarts.

Clearly, Saint Peter School was nothing like Hogwarts.

Although, there were some things that never changed...

"Well, that's what I call a statue," Sirius said, whistling and nodding towards the impressive statue of Saint Peter that seemed to watch over the yard, its serious figure staring at them with a disapprobative glance. "Even in Hogwarts, this lad would look proud."

"It would make a good friend for Mourning Myrtle," James answered.

Sirius laughed, but the boy on their right merely rolled his eyes.

"We haven't been here for five minutes, and you're already being stupid," Remus complained.

"Come on, Moony, you can't deny it was funny!" Peter protested, finally catching up on his friends.

There was a flash of red, like a wave of fire through the crowd, and even if James could only see it for a second, he recognized to whom this hair belonged in an instant. His heart started to beat faster into his chest, and he felt his stomach doing crazy flip-flops.

"So... Ginger Devil's already here, hey..." Sirius said, a mischievous smile badly hidden on his face.

James merely walked on his friend's foot purposefully.

"Don't start, Padfoot."

"Come on, Prongs, relax. I'm sure you'll finally manage to seduce her this year. After all, she didn't jinx you that much last year... she only made your head swell once, okay, but it wasn't that bad..."

"If this was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't, Pads."

"You're always so touchy when it comes to Evans..." Sirius complained.

"Well, I don't know, perhaps it's because I've tried to convince her to go out with me for years and that all I ever received from her are shouts and jinxes."

"You don't have the most delicate techniques though."

"Oh, shut up!"

Remus chuckled, patting James's shoulder.

"Don't worry. You're Head boy now after all. And she's Head girl. You'll have plenty of occasions to hang out with her, and chat, and... try to seduce her."

James heaved a sigh.

"I hate you, guys."

"We know you don't, Prongs," Peter replied, laughing.

Sirius finally recognized the group of Hogwarts students that stood in a corner of the yard.

"Looks like we've found our classmates," he said, walking towards them, his friends following close.

They shook hands with Frank Longbottom and Caradoc Dearborn, along with some Hufflepuffs who played in the Quidditch team. But when James recognized Severus Snape in the crowd, apparently talking to Bellatrix Black, he couldn't help but frown.

"I didn't think we would see any Slytherin here," he mumbled.

"Apparently, they all came," Frank said.

"Why?" asked Peter.

"Trouble I guess," the Hufflepuff Seeker answered. "I'm sure they hope to fuck up the whole program. You know?' Muggles and Wizards will never be able to live peacefully together' and all the shit."

"Yeah, I bet they're hoping it will go ill..." Remus nodded gloomily.

"I don't reckon it would have been easy even without them..." Sirius said, nodding towards a group of Muggle students who were staring at them like they were animals in a zoo.

"I'm sure it will be fine. I guess... we all have to get used to it, that's all," Remus reassured him.

"Hmm... not so sure."

"Don't be pessimistic, Padfoot."

"All I'm saying is that... if there are some students coming from Hogwarts who want to make all of this fuck up because they're too stupid to think that we could all live as equals and in peace, you can be sure that some students from this High School will think exactly the same. We'll have allies and foes on both sides, and it's naive to think the contrary."

"It freaks me out when you actually speak intelligent things, Pads."

"Fuck off, Moony."

"Here, sounds more like you."

On the other side of the schoolyard, another group, made this time of Muggle students, had formed. They were looking at the Wizards and Witches with curious expressions...

"You think they're the students that we're going to study with?" Frank asked the four Gryffindor boys.

"I guess," James shrugged."Apparently, they started class yesterday, they already know who their referent teacher is."

"And we didn't have our traditional feast..." Peter complained.

"I guess we'll just have to follow them to class then," Dearborn said.

James merely shrugged again in response. But the suspense was not to remain for long. Soon, Albus Dumbledore, followed closely by Professor McGonagall and a Muggle woman who seemed to be the Headmistress of the Muggle school, walked into the yard.

"Your attention, please, children," Dumbledore said, in his loud and warm voice.

All the Wizards and Witches approached him in an instant to listen to his speech, though the Muggle students seemed more hesitant. But they approached anyway, and listened as well to the Headmaster of the Wizarding school.

"All of you who are gathered here have volunteered to be part of this program, that I hope, shall prove to the world what we all believe in. That Wizards and Muggles can live in peace, together. It's been five years now since our existence was revealed to the eyes of Muggles. And I'm sure that there is no need to remind you that the situation between our two communities have never been more uncertain. Many of us, in both sides, have suffered from all this hate, and I am sad at the thought that we all shall suffer from it again before it is all over."

He paused, letting his words sink in.

"But this is our chance to show the World that hate can be overcome," he went on. "This is our chance to show to all who still doubt that we can live peacefully, and that we all have things to teach and learn from each other."

The Headmistress of Saint Peter school stepped forward, and came next to Dumbledore.

"Until February you shall all study here, at Saint Peter School," she said in a very high-pitched voice. "During this time, you shall spend half the day together, studying Muggle classes. During the other part of the day, the Wizards and Witches will follow their own classes, so they can get prepared for their NEWTs. After February, you will all be sent to Hogwarts, the Wizarding school, where you will all follow Wizarding classes half the day. Muggle students will next be separated from Wizards to follow their own lessons and prepare their own exams that are coming at the end of the year. Thus, both Muggle and Wizarding students shall be ready to pass their own examinations."

"I hope you will remember," Dumbledore went on, his tone serious, but full of hope as well, "that this is a chance that will probably not occur again before a very long time. And if things were to turn ill, the tensions between our two communities would only rise. So, even if I know that you are only children, I expect from all of you to behave like the adults you have already started to become..."

He stared for a moment at the Gryffindors, his electric blue eyes fixed upon the four boys.

"Now, I guess we should all get to work," he added, and there were sparkles of mischief back in his eyes.

It was McGonagall's turn to step forward.

"Before I tell you which class you are going to follow this morning, and thus with which Muggle students you're going to study until February, I'd like to remind you that as long as you are studying Muggle classes, you cannot use Magic."

She intensely stared at Sirius and James.

"Is it clear for everyone here?"

They all nodded, though it was hard for the two boys not to laugh.

"We can begin then," Dumbledore nodded, but he was awful at hiding the smile that curved up his lips.

"The four houses shall be mixed with four classes from Saint Peter School," McGonagall said. "Ravenclaws shall follow Mrs Arthur's students to Mathematics lesson."

The Ravenclaws followed the group of students who started to leave the yard and head for the stairs.

"Slytherins shall go join the class of Mr Lewis for English literature."

The Slytherins followed the second group of Muggles that left the yard in silence.

"Hufflepuffs will follow the class of Mrs Willows for Physics and Chemistry."

The Hufflepuffs disappeared as well. And now, there were only the Gryffindors left, along with ten Muggle teenagers that stared at them as if they were in a circus...

"Gryffindors, you shall go to History class with Mrs Hamilton."

When James turned around towards the Muggle students they were already leaving the yard, and heading towards an impressive wooden staircase that climbed into the main building directly to the third floor. They then turned left and walked down a corridor, that seemed dusty and smelled like moist.

All along, no one talked. No one really knew how to start a normal conversation. No one really knew what they were supposed to do, except walking to class. And so they did just that, and James tried to memorize the map of the school already. He guessed it was just a reflex after all these years spent mapping Hogwarts.

First one corridor on the left, then turn right, second door on the left, climb up a flight of stairs, and then the third door on the left.

A Muggle boy opened the blue door, upon which the old paint was cracking, letting guess the colour of the wood under the worn-out colours. But instead of stepping inside, he turned towards the rest of the students.

"Hi," he breathed.

He sounded like he was afraid of these unknown faces. Lily merely smiled at him, a reassuring warmth in her green eyes.

"Hi," she answered, a little laugh in her voice.

She sounded amused. James had stopped looking at the Muggle guy. He could never look at anything but Lily when she smiled anyway...

"Mrs Hamilton won't arrive before 15 minutes," the Muggle boy went on. "Apparently, they thought it was best if we explained how the school works before our first class."

Remus smiled and nodded, encouraging the boy to continue.

"To make sure that we would all interact with each other, our teachers have already decided for us where we would sit in class."

James and Sirius exchanged a horrified glance... If McGonagall was involved in this, they would never be able to sit next to each other this year...

"So, the list is here on the teacher's desk. Let's go and find our seat, shall we?" the boy went on, before stepping into the classroom, and heading towards the long and old wooden desk at the front of the classroom.

Everyone gathered around him to take a look at the sketch of the room, searching for their names on the piece of paper.

And McGonagall was most definitely involved in this...

"Oh, Fuck!"

They all turned towards Sirius. His eyes were round, he looked absolutely horrified.

"I'm on the second row! I'll kill McGonagall for this!"

James finally spotted his name. He was on the first row, next to the door, on the right of the classroom. Sirius was on the second row, on the opposite side, next to the windows. There was no way they could interact during classes without being noticed.

"Shit, man... She's got to be kidding me!" he breathed.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"We've been in class for less than two minutes, and you're already complaining..."

"It does suck, though..." James replied. "I bet you won't be particularly happy to learn that you're at the back of the class either, are you?"

"What!?"

Whilst the Gryffindors were complaining about their position in the classroom, the Muggle students had all walked to their seat, without a single word.

"At least we're together Lils, look," Alice reassured her.

Lily smiled at her friend.

"You're right. It's not that bad."

Meanwhile, Sirius had walked to his seat, and let himself fall in his chair with a desperate sigh. Remus merely chuckle when he walked next to him to reach his own seat.

"It's not that bad," he told Sirius, as he sat two rows behind the boy.

Sirius merely glared at him.

"I hate you," he said, which only made his friend laugh harder.

Marlene McKinnon sat right before Sirius.

"Oh, wonderful..." he sighed, but this time his tone wasn't annoyed, it was mischievous. "Now, I even have an arse before me."

The blond girl turned around, glaring at him.

"Don't start, Black."

"Start what?"

"Calling me things like 'arse'. Don't you know you're not supposed to insult people every time you open your fucking mouth?"

"Language!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I just said you were an arse..." Sirius went on. "...And a lovely one too, by the way."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Don't start."

"Start what?"

But she merely turned back towards the board, and chose to ignore him.

"She doesn't seem to like you very much."

Sirius turned towards the black haired girl behind him.

"Nah... she likes me," he answered.

He offered the girl his open hand, staring right into her big blue eyes.

"I'm Sirius, by the way."

"Angel," she answered, shaking his hand.

He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was...

"So... how is that teacher of yours?" he asked.

"She's okay I think."

"Yeah, she's a kind woman," the blond boy next to Sirius added.

"Is there any teacher we should be worried about?" James asked from the other side of the classroom.

"Arthur is very strict," the boy answered. "And Mr Howley is completely crazy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he teaches biology. He's fucked up. You'll see. We have class with him right after Mrs Hamilton's lesson."

"When will we have our time tables ?" Lily asked.

"No idea," the boy shrugged. "Probably this morning."

They were finally all talking together. For sure, of not very important things, but still...

It felt good to see the ice melt between them all.

It was the moment their teacher chose to walk through the door and enter the room. She was young, not older than thirty, with long blond curls falling on her shoulders. She grinned at the sight of the teenagers all talking together across the room.

"Ha, I can see that you're talking together already. Perfect, I was scared you would all be a bit shy at first."

She walked to the desk, and put her coat on her chair, before sitting on her wooden desk, rearranging her blue dress.

"I'm Mrs Hamilton, and I teach History. I will also be your referent teacher in the Muggle school," she added for the Wizarding students. "So, if your Head of House is not at Saint Peter, it is me you have to call for. Before we start, I'd like you all to quickly present yourselves to the class. Let's start with you."

She pointed at James, and the boy merely shrugged in response, getting up and saying his name.

"What is your favourite class at Hogwarts, James," she asked.

"Transfiguration," he answered without an hesitation.

"What is it?" the teacher asked, an obvious curiosity in her voice.

"It's the Magic used to change the form of objects."

"Could you make us a demonstration?"

James shrugged again, and took his wand out of his pocket. In the back of the class, Lily cleared her throat.

"We are not supposed to use Magic during Muggle classes, professor," Lily told her.

"I'm sure your teachers will forgive you if I am the one who actually asks to use Magic, Miss..."

"Evans, Lily Evans."

The teacher nodded, before focusing on James one more time.

"So... could you show us?"

James turned towards the Muggle girl sitting next to him. He pointed his wand at her book, and with a quick flick of his wand, the pages turned into feathers, and a beautiful raven was soon walking upon her desk.

All the Muggles in the class looked at the animal in awe.

"That's beautiful, James! " the teacher clapped.

Another flick of his wand, and the bird had disappeared, the history book back on the desk.

"Well, thank you, James," Mrs Hamilton nodded. "Now, please, everyone, when you present yourself, tell us also what your favourite class is, and for the Wizards and Witches, a demonstration is more than welcome."

All the students rose one by one, and spells were cast (Sirius's firework in the shape of a dog was clapped for a long while), until it was Remus's time to stand and tell his name.

"My favourite class is Defence Against the Dark Arts," he explained.

"Dark Arts? What are these?" Angel asked.

"Dark Magic. Magic can be used to hurt people as well. And there are some magical creatures that use this kind of powers against humans too. It teaches us how to defend ourselves."

"But, you mean that only creatures can use Dark Magic?"

"No. We are taught how to defend ourselves against dark creatures. But we are also taught how to fight."

"So... you can use your Magic to hurt people as well..."

A rumour shook the Muggles gathered in the room.

"We are not supposed to. But there are evil people in both the Muggle and the Wizarding world," Remus tried to explain. "If we have this kind of class, it is to avoid that people could use Magic with evil means."

But it wasn't enough to stop all the whispering.

"Could you show us one of the spells, Remus, please?" the teacher asked.

He thought for a moment, before closing his eyes and raising his wand, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"Expecto Patronum," he said.

And all the whispers died out when a white wolf came out of the boy's wand and walked across the room in mid-air. It was like light in the shape of an animal. When Remus made his patronus disappear, the whole class clapped, and it seemed that the mention of Dark Wizards was forgotten.

But not quite yet...

"What do you use this spell for?" the black haired boy next to him, called Joey, asked.

"It's used to repulse Dementors," Remus answered.

"Dementors?"

"They are Dark creatures, they nourish themselves on happy memories. They steal all the joy from the world around them."

"How lovely..." Angel snorted.

"They are also the guardians of the Wizarding prison here, in Britain. It's called Azkaban."

"So... you have a prison especially for Wizards?" Joey asked.

"Yes, of course."

"So there are dangerous Wizards out there..."

"Like there are dangerous Muggles," Sirius answered in Remus's stead.

"So it's true what they say..." Joey went on, ignoring Sirius's remark. "About this Wizard and his followers."

Remus took a careful look at Marlene.

"Yes, it's true," he said slowly.

"Like the Free Minds Movement is real on the Muggle side," Sirius added, but he was once again ignored.

"So... there are Wizards who want to kill Muggles," Joey insisted.

"And there are Muggles who want to kill Wizards," Sirius replied.

"There is evil in both the Muggle and the Wizarding societies. It doesn't mean that we can't show everyone that there is nothing to fear in sharing our two worlds," Lily said.

"I know, it's just..." Joey stuttered. "Don't get me wrong, if I'm here it's because I want to learn about Magic and everything, but... It's still scary to think that some people are ready to do pretty much anything to make sure that we will never live together in peace. "

"But... I heard that some Wizarding families were attacked as well by this... Voldemort or something..." Angel asked.

Peter winced.

"Don't say his name," he shrieked, and Angel blushed as she saw terror in his eyes.

"It's just a name, Peter," James replied, his voice deadly cold. "Don't react like that, like you were just a coward."

"James is right," Marlene said slowly. "It's just a name. It is this kind of reaction that have led us to this situation. To fear and sorrow..."

All the Gryffindors stared intensely at her, and there was a moment of silence, broken by the teacher when she cleared her throat. None of the Muggles could understand why they were all staring at her this way, but it was obvious that something terrible had happened, or would happen...

"Let's continue," Mrs Hamilton said. "Maggie, it's your turn," she added to the girl sitting next to Remus.

Once everyone had been introduced to the class, Mrs Hamilton jumped down from her desk, and picked up a white chalk, turning towards the blackboard.

"Alright, there isn't much time left for the lesson, but we'll start anyway. Please, take out your notebooks and pencils. This year, we'll start by studying the 1920s..."

She turned around as the class was shaken by a wave of whispers.

"What is it?" she asked her students.

The Wizards and Witches had picked up their parchment, quill and dark ink from their bag, and the Muggles couldn't refrain their chuckles.

"Wait, are you serious?" Maggie asked Remus.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"You use quills?" Joey asked, aghast.

"Yes..." James answered, narrowing his eyes. "What about it?"

"Why do you not use pens and pencils?"

"I don't know... we all use quills and parchment," James merely answered with a shrug.

"When you will be done with talking about quills and paper," the teacher interrupted the two boys, an amused smile curving up her lips, "let me know, so we can begin the lesson."

They immediately stopped talking, and turned again towards the blackboard, to copy the title of the first chapter they would study that year.

"So, what happened during this period?" the teacher asked the class. "And for the Wizards and Witches, you can tell us about this period too of course. It is History class, and I intend to study both History of the Muggle and the Wizarding World with you this year."

As always, Lily's hand was the first to rise.

"Yes Lily, go on," the teacher nodded.

"The 1920s were mostly marked by the raise of the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald. He was very active in Europe and America during this period of time. It was also the period of rebuilding after the War..."

"Wait... do you mean that you fought during World War I?" Joey asked, aghast.

"And World War II," James nodded.

"Really?"

James nodded.

"What kind of fighting did you do?" the teacher asked.

"Normal fighting," Sirius shrugged.

"The British Communication Center is known to have been the most efficient and the safest service for the exchange of information during the two World Wars," Lily answered. "The British army was also most feared for its knowledge in dragons warfare."

"You used dragons?" Angel gasped.

Lily nodded.

"The British army was very good at it," she said, but there was a bitterness in her voice, like she didn't approve the use of magical creatures.

James smiled. It wasn't surprising that someone like Lily would not approve...

"What about this dark Wizard you were mentioning?" the teacher asked Lily.

"Gellert Grindelwald was a Dark Wizard. He wanted to reveal the existence of Wizards to the Muggles, because he thought it would provoke a war between us. And he thought Wizards could win it."

There was a heavy silence across the classroom for a moment.

"Why did he want to do that?" Mrs Hamilton asked.

"He thought that Wizards and Witches should not have to hide and be afraid of Muggles. He thought they were more powerful. He saw Muggles as enemies."

"Why did you hide in the first place though?" Angel asked.

"There are less Wizards and Witches in the World than Muggles," Peter answered. "To protect ourselves, and our traditions, we thought it was best to hide."

"By separating the two communities, it insured a certain peace," Remus went on. "Muggles usually don't like much Wizards and Witches."

"It was a long time ago though, the time when we used to burn Witches," Joey said.

James laughed.

"You never burnt any Witch. An elementary spell allows us to be completely protected of fire."

"You only killed Muggles this way, not witches," Sirius nodded.

"But the persecution was still there. Witches and Wizards were always hated, and they grew afraid quickly," Remus said. "It was best for everyone to separate the two worlds."

"What was your reaction when your society was revealed to us?" the teacher asked the Wizarding students.

James shrugged.

"It changed many things on a daily basis, that's for sure. I don't think they changed for the worst though. We don't have to be as cautious as before."

"What about you?" Mrs Hamilton asked Lily.

The girl shrugged.

"I'm a Muggleborn, so..."

"A what?" Angel asked.

"Both my parents are Muggles," Lily explained. "Although, I have Magical abilities."

"So... even with Muggle parents, you can be able to make magic?"

"It is quite rare though," Lily nodded.

"So you already knew everything about us," the teacher smiled.

Lily nodded, smiling as well.

"Now I can practice my spells in my garden without fear of being seen by my Muggle neighbours during the Summer," Lily smiled.

They were interrupted by the ringing of a bell, signalling the end of the class, and soon everyone was walking towards the door. But Sirius couldn't help but notice that Marlene was taking her time to pack up her things.

A bit too much for it to be natural indeed...

"Hey, McKinnon, you're okay?" he asked.

She looked up at him. He seemed genuinely worried, which was rare enough to be noticed. Sirius was never worried about anything. He was the always-confident-always-reckless-and-childish Sirius Black.

Or at least, he never showed his worry to her...

"I'm fine, Black," she answered.

"You'd better hurry, or you'll get lost throughout the school without your Muggle guides," the teacher told them, smiling.

They both hurried out of the classroom and into the corridor, and soon found back their classmates. But Marlene didn't seem so keen to join the rest of the students, and so Sirius remained with her, a few strides behind their friends.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Her tone was cold, and defensive. It was a tone he knew only too well. He had used it for years with James and Remus. It was the tone that allowed him to run away from conversations. It was the tone he used when he didn't want to answer a question.

It was the tone he used to avoid talking about his family.

"Look," he said slowly, "with all you've been through this summer..."

"I don't want to talk about that now, Black."

"I know, I just mean..."

"I don't need your pity, Black," she spat.

He stopped her before she could follow their classmates into the new classroom.

"It's not what I meant..." he added. "Pity is not what I had in mind."

She looked up at him. To prevent her from joining the others in the classroom, he had caught her by the arm. His hold was firm, but gentle as well. It was reassuring, somehow, like the gesture of a friend.

"I... I won't say that I know what it is to lose your family, to lose both your parents..." he went on, in a low whisper, making sure that no one could eavesdrop their conversation. "But I know what it is to find yourself in the home of a friend, and to have to act as if it was your own."

She could see that he was confessing something very personal, something he had probably never told anyone. She was transfixed, merely able to stare at his hypnotic grey eyes.

"I know what it is to unpack your suitcase in the home of your best friend," he went on, "and to have to start over. So... if you need to talk about that, you can come and see me, okay?"

She wanted to laugh. Sirius Black offering her his help... it was hilarious. Or well, under any other circumstances it would have been. The subject of their conversation was everything but funny though...

She gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you, I'll think about it."

He nodded, letting go of her.

"Let's go for a new adventure then," he said, his mischievous smile back on his lips, as he pointed at the classroom.

"What is it supposed to be about again?" she asked.

"Bio... something."

"I have a bad feeling about this class," she shook her head, starting towards the open door.

But Sirius was frozen on the spot, staring at something down the corridor, a serious frown on his face. Marlene followed his gaze.

Down the corridor, some Slytherins were talking together and he could easily recognize them from where he stood : Snape, Avery, Lestrange and Bella Black. Anyone who didn't know them would have thought they were not less innocent than any teenager in the school. But Sirius knew better. He had seen through their games a long while ago. He knew they were playing a game of appearances. They were wearing masks of innocence, only to hurt more in the end.

When he spoke again, his voice sounded stern and cold.

"I have a bad feeling about this entire year..."

*******************

Tag list : @brien-odylan , @geeksareunique @giggleberts @justanothermaraudersblog @sad-orange-thoughts @aylinnmaslow @haritini2000 @ladyblablabla @drinix @joelynnp @mxrihollxnd @mikeselevennn

[thelem0npie]

Libraries, Quidditch and Detention

A rewrite of the first fic I ever posted.

Y/N and Remus were studying together for their history of magic O.W.L in the library and they weren't alone. It might have been nearly a month until exams but the library was already filling up with fifth years who occupied in every chair in the place, some had even taken up camp in the middle of the floor with pillows and blankets and everything.  

The library was full of the sounds of pages turning, quills scratching against parchment and the occasional outburst from a student who was failing to understand what they were supposed to study. Y/N was pretty sure a few sixth years had made some galleons selling 'brainpower snack boxes' and 'thought enhancing remedies' to these poor desperate souls.

But she wasn't ready to judge, if it wasn't for Remus Lupin she would probably be one of those desperate souls selling their life for a bottle of brain power.

"That literally makes no sense." Y/N stated, her eyes fixed on her close friend. "Like, at all."

"It makes perfect sense, Y/N." Remus sighed, shaking his head slightly in amusement.

"But how!?" She cried in frustration.

Remus, somehow remaining calm in the stressful atmosphere that seemed to hang around every single fifth year student at Hogwarts, patiently explained the parts that Y/N was struggling with.

Almost an hour later and the crease between Y/N's eyebrows had vanished and she was grinning happily, eyes lit up the way they always were when she'd accomplished something. "I get it now! Thank you so much Rems." The girl threw her arms around her friend. "You should take over from Binns, people might actually stay awake for an entire lesson for once." She chuckled and poked Remus' cheeks when a blush crept up on him.

"MOONY!" A voice called through the library, immediately followed by the hushings and the stern voice of Ms Pince telling the owner of the voice to "Be quiet or I'll drag you from my library by the ear."

"I take it your friends have found you." Y/N chuckled, slightly amazed that they'd been uninterrupted for so long.

"Not yet, maybe they'll bugger off. We haven't even gotten started on the Goblin Rebellions." Remus sighed, getting up to put away the book on Giant wars.

Y/N cleared up her notes and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, playing absentmindedly with her quill while she awaited her friend's return.

When he did reappear, a large volume tucked under his arm, he wasn't alone.

James Potter seemed to have been the one to call for him and was now following the poor lad, hounding him for something no doubt. Y/N gritted her teeth, why did it have to be him. Any of Remus’ other friends she could have dealt with; Peter, with his quiet nature, was easy to get along with. Black, although he was a horrid flirt, could often be great company. But James freaking Potter was, without a doubt, the most irritating, big-headed arse to walk the halls of Hogwarts.

And the feeling was mutual, as soon as Remus had returned to his seat and James had noticed Y/N's presence the energetic grin faded from his lips, replaced by a flat look of annoyance.

"James."

"Y/N."

"Can we help you with something?"

"You can't, my friend can," James said childishly and turned his full attention to Remus. "Moony, I need your help with something."

"Yes, Prongs?" Remus smiled in his usual sweet and patient manner.

"Word is Ravenclaw have a new seeker but no one is saying who. I figured, seeing as you obviously have connections in Ravenclaw," James shot a quick, accusatory glance at Y/N as if it was her fault his friend was talking to people outside his own house. "Maybe you can do some digging and find out for me before the match this weekend. Pads and I have a little…. Initiation planned for him."

"What makes you think it's a him?" Y/N interjected, eyebrow raised as she glared at James.

"Hah, yeah, that's cute Y/N. Hilarious, really."

"Excuse you? What's so funny about a girl being on the Quidditch team?"

"Girls don’t like Quidditch as much as boys! They don't even know the rules!"

Y/N's eyes narrowed angrily. "Rule 1. Players may not cross the boundary lines of the pitch but are permitted to fly as high as they want. The Quaffle must be turned over to the opposing team if a member of said team breaks this rule. Rule 2. Timeout can be called by the team captain and can be as long as two hours only if the match has gone for more than twelve hours. Rule 3. Penalties are taken by a single chaser flying from the central circle toward the scoring area. Only the Keeper may try to prevent a penalty shot. Shall I continue or are you satisfied?"

"Impressive, and where did you read that, little miss bookworm?" James snickered and Remus looked at Y/N, an apologetic look gracing his gentle features.

"Prongs, leave her alone."

James rolled his eyes but obliged. "So will you help me?" He asked Remus impatiently.

"Mate, you just offended my only Ravenclaw friend who might actually know." Remus chuckled and started reading his book. "Ask her yourself." He added with a sneaky smile.

James' head turned to Y/N so fast it surprised her that he didn't get whiplash. "You're on Ravenclaw's team?"

"Don't sound so surprised." Y/N spat, beginning to pack away her things. It was obvious she wasn't going to get much more studying done now.

"B-but… How!?" James spluttered, disbelief written all over his face.

"Remus, I'll see you later yeah?" Y/N, ignoring James, addressed her friend who nodded distractedly, eyes skimming the pages of the book.

"Yeah, laters love." He murmured, not fully aware of his surroundings as he lost himself in his studies, completely ignoring James as he hounded his friend for information.

Many hours later and the interrogation still hadn't ceased. "Moony, c'mon you know her! Just ask her who the new seeker is." James begged his friend, who was finding it increasingly more difficult to enjoy his dinner what with James flicking peas at him and whining every few minutes.

"What's this?" Sirius, having just finished a detention with Peter, plopped into the empty spot beside James and started piling food onto his plate whilst listening to his friend.

"Moony knows someone on the Ravenclaw team but he won't help me find out who the seeker is." James pouted as Peter squeaked a hello and took his usual seat on Remus' side.

"Who?"

"Y/N freaking Y/L/N." James groaned. "Who could believe it right? That bookworm being on any kind of sports team." His eye flickered over to the Ravenclaw table briefly and found her. Hair windswept, her nose and cheeks red from the cold icy winds outside. She'd just come back from Quidditch practice, there was no other explanation for her appearance.

Which meant the new seeker would have been there too! James stood up in his seat, knocking the table and disturbing a goblet of pumpkin juice, and scanned the Ravenclaw table for all the students who looked like they'd just come inside from the cold weather.

"Prongs? Prongs!"

"What?!" James snapped, eyes falling to Sirius who looked amusedly up at him.

"You're obsessed mate. Just go ask her yourself."

"I can't." James sulked, sitting down hard on the bench and pouting. He wasn't used to not getting his way. "She hates everything about me." His arms folded on the table and he buried his head in them.

Sirius threw his head back and let out a loud bark of laughter. "I can't tell what's upsetting you more, the fact that you don't know who the new seeker is or the fact that Y/N doesn't like you."

James' head snapped up indignantly. "Shove off! I don't give a rat's arse about Y/N's emotions. I want to know who that damn seeker is so I can figure out the best way to beat him!"

"Prongs, you really can be so thick sometimes." Remus said with a laugh and continued with his dinner, a sly smile playing on his lips.

"GODRIC, HE KNOWS WHO THE SEEKER IS!" James screeched, drawing the attention of everyone around him.

"Mate, calm down, you look like you're about to shit yourself." Sirius said worriedly.

"Do you? Know who the seeker is?" Peter asked Remus.

"Obviously." He replied in a tone that implied it was rather obvious.

"Why would you say that?" Sirius sighed, glancing at James nervously. The boy was practically vibrating with anticipation, a wild gleam in his hazel eyes as he waited expectantly for Remus to share the news.

"I'm not telling you."

James froze, all the light fading from his eyes. "Why not?" He whined.

"Because I promised not to."

"So? Friends don't keep secrets from their friends!"

"Friends also keep promises to their friends and I promised I wouldn't tell."

"You promised to help me find out who the new seeker was!"

"I never made any such promise."

James sunk down into his seat and resumed his former position of burying his face in his arms. "Life is so unfair." He mumbled, much to the amusement of his friends. "Y/N is somehow a respected member of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Remus is keeping secrets from us. Lads, it's the bloody apocalypse I swear."

Sirius patted James on the shoulder before ignoring his friend completely and chatting away with the other boys at the table. The three of them were used to James' bouts of moping when he didn’t get his way and had decided a long while ago that the best way to deal with it was to simply ignore the problem.

The next few days passed by agonizingly slow for James' liking and it was spent with him constantly jumping Remus with questions about the Ravenclaw seeker in an attempt to catch him off guard.

But he was annoyingly stubborn, wouldn't let any information slip.

No one knew who the seeker was, Ravenclaw's team had somehow managed to keep it a secret for the entire week, it seemed like Remus was the only non-Ravenclaw who knew the big secret. James and Sirius had snuck down to the pitch under cover of the invisibility cloak a few times to watch the practice but the horrible weather had obscured their vision, it was impossible to tell whether the dark shapes flying around were people or birds.

Friday dragged on slowly until it was the night before the match and the four Marauders were sprawled out on their favourite couches in the deserted Gryffindor common room with bottles of fire whiskey each. It was tradition to get James drunk the night before a match or he would never get any sleep what with his mess of nerves and excitement.

"I jus- I don't see why you can't t-tell me." James bumbled, hiccupping slightly in his intoxicated state and stretching out in his armchair, swinging his legs over the armrest and head lolling over the other side.

"Even if I told you now I'm not so sure you'd remember it." Remus said in amusement, watching James attempt to take another sip of his drink and end up pouring half of what was left on his face.

He blinked in confusion, wondering why his face was cold and his bottle was empty, as Sirius fell off his couch in fits of loud drunken laughter. Peter, the soberest one of them all, rolled over on the floor to face Remus. His feet swinging wildly in the air as he rested on his front, cupping his chin in his palms and looking up at the boy.

"Hey Moony, I've been thinking…. About who Ravenclaw's seeker is."

"Mmmm?"

"Is it-"

"SHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell Prongs." Sirius snickered, crawling back onto his couch and slopping some of his drink onto the floor.

Peter got up and loudly whispered something into Remus' ear which Sirius, being seated beside Remus, managed to hear.

"NO! THERE IS NO WAY IT'S-"

"Yes, it is." Remus interrupted Sirius' rant. "And you're not going to tell anyone, are you?

"Holy…"

"I knew it." Peter grinned triumphantly.

"Ok, n-now you guys are just being mmmean."

"Oh hush up Prongsie." Sirius hiccuped and downed the rest of his firewhiskey. "You'll find out in the morning."

"Can you tell me now?" James begged his friends as they walked down to the pitch. Three out of four of the Marauders were in their usual Gryffindor robes and the other was in his scarlet red Quidditch gear.

"You're going to find out in exactly twelve minutes." Peter pointed out.

"That's twelve minutes of not knowing!"

"You've survived an entire week, you can go a bit longer." Remus reasoned.

The group split up when James left them to go to the Gryffindor change room where the rest of his team was, all of them in an uproar about Ravenclaw's new seeker.

"Who is it? Did anyone get a look at Ravenclaw's team?"  

"Potter! Did you find out who the seeker is?"

James glowered and said that he had no clue who the seeker was.

"The match starts soon so I guess we'll find out on the pitch. We've practised for this, it doesn't matter who their seeker is, we're still going to destroy them!" The captain's voice sounded loud and clear, soothing the team's worries.

The captain, Royce King, was part Veela, which helped when he was named captain. James would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of the attention Royce got so effortlessly but he couldn’t deny that the guy was a phenomenal chaser who had certainly earned his position.

The team grabbed their broomsticks and headed out onto the pitch. The Ravenclaw team was already out there and in the place where the seeker should be….

"No… You're kidding me," James exclaimed. "Y/N freaking Y/L/N?!" And in that moment, James finally understood every single one of the subtle hints Remus had been dropping all week. Finally understood how much of an idiot he really was.

Of course it was her! She met his infuriated glare with a wave and a dazzling smile that stunned him. How dare she add to his humiliation by even managing to make the horrible Quidditch gear look less horrible when she was smiling at him like that. His distraction made him miss the whistle by a second and by the time he had risen to the air, everyone else was already in motion and Y/N... She flew beautifully. It no longer shocked James that she had been chosen as seeker, the only shock was that it hadn't happened sooner.

A Bludger flew right past his face, barely brushing his nose and reminding James that he was floating hundreds of feet in the air because he was here to win. With his mind half on the game and half on Y/N as she darted past in a blur of blue and silver, James flew into the fray.

"Twenty minutes into the match and this is the third time Potter has crashed into another player. Folks, I think it's safe to say that Gryffindor's golden boy is turning silver after this performance." The commentator's voice boomed across the pitch

Y/N smiled to herself, eyes scanning the pitch for 'Gryffindor's golden boy' and spotted him across the field looking dazed as if he couldn't quite figure out where he was.

A very distinctive difference from his usual attitude on the field. "Who knew I could have this kind of effect on you, Potter." Y/N called as she flew past him.

"Shove o-" His words were cut off with a low grunt of pain.

"AND POTTER IS KNOCKED OFF HIS BROOM BY A WELL AIMED BLUDGER FROM RAVENCLAW'S BEATER! NICE SHOT HUDGENS!"

Y/N spun her broom around and dove after James without a second thought. Other players had also flown after the falling boy but none had been as close as Y/N. She reached out her hand and grabbed his, slowing their descent until they his feet touched the ground.

The second James' toes hit solid ground he released Y/N's hand and stumbled away from her. "Don't do that!" He said angrily.

"Do what? Save your life? Are you too proud to admit that you were saved by a girl?" And before he could form any kind of response she kicked off the ground and flew back into the game.

"I'll show you 'too proud'. Accio broomstick!" The fallen broom flew into his outstretched hand and he was off, this time flying with a newfound determination. Their brief interaction reminded James that no matter how angelic Y/N might appear to be, she was still the most annoying, stuck-up brat in the entire school.

And he was determined to beat her.

"James Potter is back in action! It seems like all Potter needed was a good life-threatening situation to find his talent and boy is he using it! King passes the Quaffle to Potter who- WHAT A GOAL! POTTER IS BACK PEOPLE!"

Y/N listened to the match play-by-play while she scanned the pitch for any sign of the gold flash that came with the Snitch. She watched James Potter fly around with the usual confidence he held when playing Quidditch, catching the Quaffle and darting past players and Bludgers with ease – one of the very few things she admired him for. And then there it was, flitting past the Gryffindor goals. The Golden Snitch.

The Gryffindor seeker was watching Y/N closely so she didn't let on that she'd found the snitch. Instead, she began a straight downward dive.

"IT LOOKS LIKE Y/L/N HAS SEEN THE GOLDEN SNITCH AND PATRICK IS HOT ON HER TAIL!"

The ground flew toward the girl, closer by the second. At the last minute, she pulled up and shot along the grass toward where she could still see the snitch still flittering about. A crash and a scream signified that Patrick had hit the ground, hard. "MERLIN'S BEARD, Y/N PULLS OFF A PERFECT WRONSKI FEINT AND, IS THAT? IT IS! SHE HAS CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH! THE MATCH IS OVER! RAVENCLAW WINS 230 TO 90!"

"I hate her," James growled, his hand clutching his broomstick so tightly that his knuckles were turning white as he watched the cheering crowd of Ravenclaws carry Y/N back up to the castle. The other Marauders were trailing behind their leader, quietly laughing, while he stormed through the change rooms in a rage. "Gryffindor hasn’t lost a match since I joined the team. And now this…. Bookworm is somehow allowed to play and the entire order of things is lost."

"You mean the order where you always come out on top?" Peter asked with a silent laugh.

"YES!"

"I think Y/N was allowed to play because she's good." Remus remarked, thoroughly enjoying his friend's distress. "Did you see how she was flying?"

"That… wasn’t good that was luck." His voice raised a few octaves higher than his normal tone. "Pure. Beginners. Luck." He muttered, walking faster. He threw his broomstick in with the others and changed his clothes furiously.

"You seem tense." Sirius commented when James ripped his undershirt in his rush to change.

James went on as if he hadn't heard Sirius' remark, clearly meant to upset him further. "She cheated. It's the only explanation. I don't know how but she did and I'm going straight to Dumbledore with this. She must've enchanted her broom or-or conjured up a fake Golden Snitch to pretend to catch. I'll bet she even bewitched that Bludger that knocked me off my broom!"

"You're being an idiot," Remus said. "You know she won fair and square now hurry up and change, you need to go straight to the hospital wing."

"I'm fine." James snapped, yanking on his shirt and storming out, leaving his friends behind.  

Three days later found James Potter roaming the night darkened halls of Hogwarts under the safety of his invisibility cloak. He usually preferred to leave his studying to the unnoticed hours so he could be alone but recently he'd taken to doing nearly everything after hours. Everywhere he went people were talking about the 'incredible' match on Saturday and how Y/N had pulled off the perfect Wronski Feint on her incredibly lax school issued broomstick.

James was sick of it. Every time he saw her she was practically glowing from the praise and the attention. Remus had chalked it down to jealousy and ignored any other conversation about his new BFF.

Sirius and Peter had suggested humiliating her with a surprise hex to turn her teeth blue 'In honour of Ravenclaw spirit' as Sirius had put it but James wanted nothing more than to ignore her very existence.

Something that proved to be very difficult, she was EVERYWHERE. On the posters people had hung up around school, apparently someone had gotten pictures of her catching the Snitch, of her pulling out of the Wronski Feint and letting Patrick hit the ground (an injury he was still recovering from) and some idiot had thought it would be brilliant to plaster pictures of her 'saving' James' life, as if he couldn't have gotten back on his broomstick if he wanted to.

Her face was everywhere he went.

Even, it seemed, in the very back corner of the library where James had intended to hide in at the dead of night. He'd been hoping for some time alone to study in peace without having to hear about stupid Y/N and yet there she lay, sprawled out on a pile of pillows, reading a thick book by wandlight.

"Are you serious!" James snapped, forgetting that she couldn't see him.

"Stupefy!" The spell hit its mark and sent James crashing into the wall and the cloak sliding to the floor. Pain rippled through his back, setting off his bruised ribs from where he'd been hit by that stupid Bludger during the match.

"BLOODY HELL! STOP ATTACKING ME!"

"Oh, Merlin I am so sorry!" Y/N rushed over to him and tried to help him up only to be shoved back.

"And stop helping me!" The girl stood back and watched him struggle to his feet, wincing each time he did.

"I'm really sorry, you just came out of nowhere and I'm usually alone when I come here and I couldn't see you so it was like a reflex in case you had bad intentions and I am so, so sorry." Y/N rambled on, fading to a whisper when she noticed the dirty look he was giving her.

"If I didn't come here with bad intentions I certainly have them now." He spat, moving to pick up his cloak and wincing again in pain. Stupid Y/N with her stupid timing and her stupid face.

"Sweet Rowena, I really hurt you didn't I?" Y/N watched his progress, regret written all over her face.

"No. I'm fine." James stated, too proud to admit how much pain he was really in but Y/N was having none of it.

"You're lying, come sit down until you feel better." She helped him over to her pile of pillows and settled him in carefully, ignoring his angry refusals.

"Can't you just leave me be!" James snapped.

"You're the one that snuck up on me!"

"And you shot me!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't fix my bloody ribs now does it!"

Y/N winced. "Are you badly hurt? Do you want me to get a healer?"

"I'm fine." James snapped then immediately regretted being so harsh. "It's not your fault." He admitted in a quiet voice, despite not wanting to believe a single word it.

"It's at least 20% my fault."

"Only 20! It's 80% your fault!"

"You really do complain a lot, don't you?" Y/N sighed. "And would you mind being a little quieter, I've no intentions of being caught out of bed at these hours."

"Why are you out of bed so late? I'd have thought that goody-two-shoes Y/N was too afraid to break any kind of rule."

"What I'm doing here is none of your business."

James raised an eyebrow and gave her a charming smile. "I'll tell if you do?"

She pondered this for a moment, before agreeing. "Only if you go first."

"I asked first!"

"If you don't tell, I won't either so what'll it be, Potter?"

James sighed in defeat. "I came here to study. Now spill."

"Promise you won't laugh."

"Heavens woman, what more do you want from me."

"Promise!"

"Alright, alright, I promise not to laugh now tell me."

Y/N took a deep breath as if she was about to tell him some horrendously embarrassing secret. "I come out here after hours to read."

"You're joking? That's the big secret?"

Y/N nodded once. "That's it."

"What are you reading?"  

"Nothing you'd be interested in." She said too quickly, sliding the book out of James' reach.

James reached for his wand. "Acc-" Y/N's hands flew to cover his mouth, accidentally punching him in the face.

"OW!"

"I'M SORRY! It's just, do you even realize how stupid that spell would have been? You were going to summon a random book you don't know the name of in a library. Can you imagine the disaster that would cause?"

"You punched me in the face!"

"It was an accident!"

"Stop injuring me!"

"I can't help it!"

A thud echoed through the library, making both of them fall silent. James pulled a piece of parchment covered in a map from his pocket, a new creation he and his friends had recently made, and scanned it quickly before putting it away. When he looked up at Y/N to assure her that it was nothing his mind seemed to blank when he looked into those Y/E/C eyes. How could one girl do that to him? Instead of saying anything he found himself taking in every detail.

"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain."

James blinked and the spell was broken. "Probably because someone threw me into a wall not ten minutes ago."

"You said you were fine!"

"I'm not!"

"Oh I'm sorry, did I damage your delicate ego or something?"

"Now that you mention it, yes!"

While he ranted, James leaned toward Y/N who seemed to be too annoyed to even manage to look at him. His fingers ran along the cold floor searching for…. Got it!

He whipped the book from behind Y/N and held it out of reach as she tried to grab it. "James! James give it back!"

"Not until you tell me why you're reading..." He paused when he tried to read the title of the book, an opportunity for Y/N to snatch the book from his hands and hold it securely against her chest, glaring at him as if daring the boy to try and steal her book again. "That's from the restricted section, no wonder you're reading it in the middle of the night." He laughed and dodged Y/N's attempt to clobber him over the head with the thick volume.

"You promised not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry but, Godric, what a joke, leave it to you to risk expulsion for a damn book." James said amid his constant giggles, Y/N tried to look angry which lasted for only a few seconds before her own musical laughter joined his. It occurred to James that it was the first time he'd made her laugh, and even worse, he was actually beginning to enjoy her company.

Boring old bookworm, Y/N was proving to be more exciting than she let on.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Y/N asked when she'd stopped giggling like a small child.

"Only if you promise not to tell anyone about my secret."

"I don't even know any of your secrets."

James' lips spread into a soft smile without his noticing. "Okay, I'll tell you one so that we're even."

Y/N tilted her head, matching his smile with her own. Her actions only brought James' attention back to how stunning she truly was. "Yeah? It better be good."

"Oh, it is." He leaned in closer to her, heart racing in his chest. "My secret... is that I'm dying to kiss you right now."

Her breath hitched and those mesmerizing eyes darted down to his lips for just a second. "That's... an interesting secret." She whispered.

"May I?" He whispered, thoroughly enjoying the effect his words had on the girl as she visibly shivered. She leaned toward him slightly before gathering up her things and speaking rapidly again.

"You know it's getting really late and I-" James grabbed Y/N's wrist as she was about to stand, pulling her back down beside him and grabbing her chin gently so that she faced him, effectively cutting off her by kissing her.

The moment their lips connected James felt as if he'd left his body behind and he floated in and out of this newfound euphoria that came with kissing Y/N. The feeling of her lips moving against his could only be described as every single great moment of his life all compiled into one touch.

His hand moved up to tangle itself in her soft hair, wanting nothing more than to feel her against him.

Then it was over, far too soon, as Y/N pulled away from their embrace. Her eyes were widened in shock. She squeaked out something about being tired before practically running off.

"Shi- Y/N! Wait!" His pain long forgotten, James picked up his cloak and bolted after her.

He ran out of the library and collided with someone in the hall who definitely was not Y/N.

The someone let out a triumphant laugh and grabbed James by the arm when he tried to dart off the other direction. "ANOTHER ONE!" Filch's voice cried out gleefully. "I hope you two enjoy detention."

"I can't believe the nerve of that boy! We hate each other, I mean I'd literally just stunned him and then he- he just…" Y/N trailed off mid-rant, suddenly caught up in the memories of that night. The softness of his lips… The feeling of his hands on her… Even the memory of how he'd looked was causing butterflies to wreak havoc on her appetite. Those brilliant eyes... His hair and the way it seemed so perfectly messy and how she had been aching to run her fingers through it...  

"Y/N?" Claire, a fellow Ravenclaw waved her hand in front of her friend's face in an attempt to snap her from her trance. "Y/N?"  

"What?" Y/N fell back from the memory and looked around frantically.

"Where did you go just now?" Claire asked. No one knew about the kiss, or at least Y/N hadn't told anyone.

She wasn't so sure if the same could be said for James because every time she walked past him and his friends they'd all start elbowing him and whispering things that were surely about her, a thought that set her anger off in flares, she was so annoyed at his very existence that she'd even been avoiding Remus on the off chance of running into James.

"Daydreaming, sorry, I didn't get much sleep." Which wasn't completely false, Y/N had had a hard time getting sleep lately.

"Stress?" Claire said sympathetically.

"Something like that…" In truth, her dreams had consisted of nothing but James freaking Potter for the last two nights since their kiss. Dreams that always left her breathless when she woke up and thanking every deity she didn't talk in her sleep.

"Well, I would suggest we go study tonight but you have your detention." Claire sighed, her sympathy so obviously fake this time. Y/N knew very well how amusing the whole event was for her friend.

Y/N's first detention, Claire was treating it as if it was some kind of rite of passage. Claire's humoured expression was wiped away with one of barely hidden annoyance. "Potter alert." She hummed, nodding her head in the direction of the hall's entrance where, indeed, the Marauders had just walked in.

Three of the boys made their ways to their seats while one of them stopped to scan the hall. James was searching the place for someone, and Y/N had a sneaky feeling she knew who. Her suspicions were confirmed when Claire squeaked in surprise. "Why is he coming over here?!" She hissed.

"Merlin knows." Y/N muttered, suddenly finding her half-eaten dinner very interesting.

"Hey, Y/N. Claire." James sidled into the seat beside Y/N, effectively drawing the attention of the students sitting around them.

Barely hushed whisperings spread through the crowd like fiendfyre and soon enough the small trio had attracted the prying eyes of nearly everyone in the hall.

Brilliant. Y/N ground her teeth together in annoyance. If there was one thing she hated it was being the centre of false rumours, which was bound to happen after this meeting.

"Can I help you with something, Potter?" Y/N tried her best to keep her sight fixed on the plate before her but her eyes betrayed her and latched onto him like magnets, drinking in the sight before her. And boy was it a sight.

He had obviously just come inside from the rain because small droplets of water clung to his perfectly messy black hair – Y/N had to physically restrain herself from reaching over and smoothing it down – and a stray droplet of water was slowly making its way down his cheek. His cheeks were flushed and his hazel eyes were alight with an excited gleam. His clothes were ruffled like he'd thrown them on in a rush that morning.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that thing that we have." He replied in a cheery tone and helped himself to a chicken drumstick. He pointed his drumstick toward the door, an unspoken sign for her to follow him. There was no way in hell she was going anywhere alone with him, it'd just be another chance for him to besmooch her.

"Can't, sorry. I've got to go see Professor Slughorn about the potions O.W.L." She grabbed her bag and walked away as fast as possible, the second she was away from the prying eyes of her fellow classmates she broke out into a run.

In her rush to escape the great hall, Y/N had run to the other side of the castle before nearly collapsing from the aching stitch in her side. A glance at her watch had determined where she would go next, detention started in ten minutes. A whole hour she would get to spend in a classroom with Professor McGonagall and James and, hopefully, some other people would be there so she could place them between herself and the boy who seemed so desperate for her attention.

She reached the classroom with plenty of time to spare. As she walked in her heart dropped down to her stomach, not only were there no other students in the room but McGonagall herself wasn't present yet.

Y/N sat in her usual seat in the front of the class, right by the teacher's desk, and settled in for what was, no doubt, going to be a mind-numbingly boring hour. The door opened and Y/N didn't even have to look to know who it was.

"I'll see you after detention! Let ya know how it goes." James called to someone outside the room before the audible sound of the door swinging open marked his arrival.

Curse you, James Potter. The one time you arrive before the professor.

The door shut with the usual dull thud and then James was dumping his bag onto the desk and slouching into the empty seat beside Y/N.

What a surprise.

"You do realize there's an entire classroom of empty seats, right?"

James stared at her as if not understanding her point. "But none of them are next to you." He replied in that same damn cheery tone.

"That's kind of the point." Y/N muttered grouchily as Professor McGonagall finally arrived.

YN had never been so happy to see the woman.

"There will be no talking, no whispering, no humming, complete silence. You will write the following lines," A long paragraph appeared on the chalkboard at the wave of her wand. "Any complaining or tomfoolery," Her piercing gaze was fixed on James when she said this who simply smiled back sweetly. Sweet Rowena, it was cute. "And I will add another hour onto your detention. Understood?"

The pair nodded and so began Y/N's first detention ever. 

Only fifteen minutes of silence and the door burst open. "Professor! Come quick! Sirius Black and his friends have released the owls into the library and they need all the professors to help round them up!" She was up and out of the room the moment the student had mentioned Black's name.

"And she is McGonegall." Y/N muttered without thinking and was surprised when someone laughed loudly.

The boy beside her had been so quiet she'd completely forgotten he was there. "I'm going to kill Pads, that owl trick was my idea."

"If they ruin the library I'm killing you both."

"Relax, your precious library is safe." James snorted. "Remus would never let us do anything to harm his beloved books."

"At least one of you has some culture."

Instead of shutting up at the harshness in Y/N's voice, as she'd hoped, James simply smiled adorably again and shook his head out of amusement. "I can't believe I used to find you annoying, you're just too damn cute." Y/N blinked, completely at a loss for words. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that oh Godric." James ran a hand through his still damp hair. "I wanted to start this by saying I'm sorry for kissing you, I should have waited until you said it was okay or something. I completely misread the signs and I'm sorry."

His apology stunned her more than the compliment. "It's okay. You're surprisingly good at kissing anyway." She shrugged, turning her attention back to the lines they were supposed to be writing and hoping he would drop it.

"You liked kissing me?" A huge grin graced his features and Y/N hated the fact that when their eyes met he made her nervous. Of all the emotions she was used to feeling around James Potter (annoyance, anger, pure hatred and more along those lines) she had never felt nervous around him.

"I didn't say that." She said quickly. "Just that you're a good kisser."

"That's basically the same thing."

"Hardly."

"Will you go on a date with me?" Smash. Y/N had been dipping her quill in ink when James had blurted out the question, shocking her so much that her hand jolted and knocked the inkwell to the floor. Ink splattered their shoes and glass flew everywhere but all Y/N could think about was the words that had just come from James Potter's lips and he still wasn't finished. "I don't know how but in three days I've gone from hating you to something completely different and I really don't understand what the hell is happening. All I know is that I really enjoy being around you and arguing with you about silly little things and if you give me a chance I'm completely certain that you'll feel the same way."

"Are you… being serious?"

"No, I'm being James and I guess I'm asking the girl I like if she likes me too."

Y/N dropped her quill, moving on instinct, she grabbed James by the tie and kissed him. Once more his touch sparked fireworks behind her eyes, her entire body felt the way his lips moved against hers, felt the warmth of his hands as they pulled her closer. And this time she wasn't holding back, she finally ran her fingers through his hair just as she'd been dying to do for so long. James was the one to pull back this time, he had to, no longer being able to keep the huge smile off his face long enough to kiss her.

"That's a yes, by the way." Y/N whispered.

"Did it work?" Was the first thing Sirius said when James exited the classroom with Y/N following closely behind, the boy frantically signalled for his friend to shut up but it was too late.

"Did what work?" Y/N asked suspiciously, eyes darting between the two.

"Good luck." Sirius whispered to his friend before darting off like the amazing friend that he was.

"James?" Y/N crossed her arms, staring him down inquisitively.

James breathed out slowly and messed up his hair absentmindedly while he spoke. "Don't get mad… But theguysmayhavereleasedtheowlstogetMcGonagalloutofdetentionsothatwecouldbealonepleasedon'thurtme."

"In English, please?"

"The guys released the owls to get McGonagall out of detention so that we could be alone... Please don't hurt me." He winced as if preparing for Y/N to punch him but, to his absolute surprise, she laughed.

Masterlist

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 113: Dumbledore's Army

Regulus found himself being slammed into something even harder than a wooden desk, though he hadn't thought that possible, but his ears still rung from the metal clang. When his eyes finally settled, he found himself face first against a locker. He didn't even know Hogwarts had lock- he gasped so loudly Peter looked over at him in concern as he kept rubbing at his own head until Regulus shouted, "we're in the Quidditch locker rooms!"

The captain of his team, Craig Sloper, had let him be a reserve Seeker this year, but so far he'd sat on the benches during practice while the actual Seeker, Aubrey Bertram, shot around perfectly managing to catch the Snitch every time; nobody had bothered letting him even get in the air for practice. They were all fifth year and above, and had shooed him away any time he tried to follow them into the locker rooms, now nobody was going to stop him getting a look around!

He opened the one he'd landed against eagerly to see the scarlet Gryffindor robes with Weasley on the back, though it didn't specify which one. There were three long, low benches and a chalkboard across from that on a wall, separating the two bathrooms, and he promptly took off to investigate those.

"Who gets that bloody excited about a locker room?" Lily asked, starting to wonder if she wasn't the only one getting hit on the head one too many times around here.

"I sure am," Alice said, getting stiffly to her feet once more, and like him making her way eagerly towards a hot shower. Lily followed at once in concern, but Alice's brief little rest seemed to have done her some good, she didn't stumble once over the small step into the girls' section and opened the first stall door without hesitation, so Lily politely turned away and began shucking her own clothes as she investigated the place. Across from the seven shower stalls were another set of stalls for toilets, and the same amount of sinks lining the wall where they'd entered. She got a funny laugh for a moment imagining all seven players and even seven reserve players all being in here at the same time as she turned on her own hot water.

By the time they stepped out they felt like singing, they were actually clean again, even if Lily's charm still had their school robes unsoiled at best. They stopped in surprise though to see Sirius Black and Lupin apparently hadn't joined the amenities yet, but were the only two in there still.

Black had apparently been trying to pace again and muttering something while Lupin held his hand, but the girls barely registered any of it as the two immediately shied away from each other upon seeing them. Then Black gave them a saucy smile and swaggered right up to them. "Evening ladies, sorry I couldn't join you."

Lily groaned in disgust and stalked away, as if she needed another Marauder idiot panting after her, but Alice laughed in surprise, she was absolutely positive he was joking.

Sirius Black seemed delighted at her response, and smiled winningly at Alice, only causing her to laugh harder until someone cleared their throat behind him.

Lily watched Black turn on the spot and glower at Frank once more, his blonde hair looking more brunet as it still clung in a wet plaster to his scalp, hands still itching to cause some kind of violence, even though the odd sight of Frank holding apparently every towel in this place and having to crane his head around the pile just to see was worth a question.

Lupin came up and grabbed the back of his shirt though, hauling him just slightly around Frank like a scolded puppy, and adding to the effect by saying, "come on Padfoot, bath time."*

They walked into the steam-filled room, only to find the others already wrapping up, James literally with a towel as he prodded at his grungy clothes miserably. "I think I'll burn these when we get back, should have grabbed a change of clothes like you did when I had the chance Sirius."

"I can't believe I actually managed a shower before him," Peter was still rubbing a towel in his hair, "when's that ever happened? You two feeling alright?"

The two stayed awkwardly silent, it had been a while since they'd had to realize how perceptive they knew Peter to be, and if he suspected anything.

Sirius stomped off without response, losing an article of clothing shamelessly with each step until he was at the last stall and slamming it closed behind him. Remus plucked uneasily at the hem of his sleeve and avoided eye contact. He'd never liked changing clothes in front of his friends even though they knew about the scars now, and especially with Regulus still in here, his long hair still dripping water onto his clothes.

Peter and Regulus thankfully left in the awkward silence regardless, Regulus had agreed with the other two when they'd decided against going out to see what the holdup of Sirius and Lupin following in was considering he'd almost been caught in the future again and he probably hadn't wanted to show to anyone he was worried about it. James still wanted to check on him, but now honestly worried he'd just get brushed off again, but wanting to check on him somehow, he lowered his voice as the water squeaked on and the steam doubled. "Is everything alright with him?"

James hated he was having to ask someone else that, he was usually the leading expert on Sirius, but Padfoot wasn't talking to him?!

"Not really," Remus whispered, ruined slightly by cringing away from even Prongs, it only just occurred to him why James looked so defeated at having to ask this. Sirius had been avoiding him a bit lately, and he leaned closer to try and vaguely explain this instead. "He's, had a lot on his mind lately, you know that, and well, he's trying to find a new way to cope with it."

He was really hoping the room was actually as hot as his face was at the end.

James seemed to find this a reasonable enough answer at least, but still gave one last dejected look to the seventh stall before finally changing into his grungy clothes, but just tucking his glasses into his pocket as he left. They weren't doing any good in this steamed room.

Remus slowly peeled off one layer at a time, down to his boxers, and dithered if he should do what his mind prompted him to. They could be back any minute...nope. He definitely wasn't.

He couldn't make himself turn on the shower yet though, and instead found himself just leaning against the door Sirius had hid himself behind and tapping his bare feet impatiently. Finally, after starting and stopping several times in his head, he simply asked, "Would hitting him have really made you feel better?"

"Yes," Sirius instantly replied.

"Really?" He stressed the word, trying his hardest to keep the accusation out of his tone. "Think about the last two times you did something without thinking first Sirius, has that actually made anything better?"

He couldn't actually see Sirius, but he'd swear he could actually feel him twitch uncomfortably.

"Look, I'm not happy with Longbottom either," he continued when no response seemed to be coming for that. "Merlin knows I'd love it if nobody ever assumed I was some bloodthirsty animal again, but Sirius did you ever think, maybe he actually doesn't know better?"

"That's ridiculous-" his biting words were already edging towards incredulity, but Remus cut in insistently.

"Sirius, you know better than anyone what others think of me, but you three actually got to know me before you found out."

Sirius mulled that over for a moment before he retorted, "wouldn't kill the guy to ask then rather than treating you like that!"

"Have we really given him the chance?" Remus asked in exasperation. "I know I haven't exactly stepped up and offered to be their guinea pig if they have questions, I doubt you lot have." He thought for a moment and amended, "maybe Peter's been saying something to Regulus, but I kind of doubt it." At least, he wasn't vain enough to think that's what they were talking about now.

Sirius went so long without answering again, Remus got off the door and sighed in defeat. He had his hand on the next stall door though when Sirius spoke, "alright Moony. He, well, you're the one wronged here. If you really think a lecture is the punishment he deserves, well, I'll back you up on that. It's probably worse than what I could do to him anyways."

Remus's heart stuttered in surprise, and then he abandoned such a thing as caution as he went back and pushed his stall door open before closing it firmly behind them.

Regulus yawned and cracked his eyes open, and immediately began shuffling around uncomfortably. Evans had done them a kindness by embedding a cushioning charm into the hard marble floor, but still he woke up cradling his head on his arms instead of a pillow and it wasn't exactly comfortable. Peter was a few paces away, on his side and snoring. Potter was half hanging off a bench and grimacing even in his sleep at that awkward position.

On the other side of the room, Longbottom had built Alice a little mini bed out of towels and all the Quidditch robes, but she'd half pulled him on top of that and the two were tangled up together in a sickening display of affection. Evans had herself propped up in the corner, likely to have a crick in her neck for that, directly under the light switch where she hadn't bothered to move from once they'd all agreed a nap even in this uncomfortable place was better than nothing.

He didn't spot his brother or Lupin though, which was odd as he'd swear he heard the water turn off about the time he was falling asleep. Stretching uncomfortably he made his way back towards the showers, plus he really had to take a piss.

He'd relieved himself and was walking back before he spotted the two, propped up in a corner as well, but tangled up like the couple. It was the most bizarre thing he'd ever seen, and he'd once watched Davey Gudgeon try to swallow an ostrich egg whole.

It's not like he could blame his brother wanting to use someone else as a pillow, and maybe the two really had been as exhausted as everyone and barely decided to get dressed before dropping to sleep where they were. He eyed the two for a few moments more before just walking off, Sirius had always been the odd one, and he'd been given the impression long before now werewolves could sleep in any environment, and they weren't to be woken up under any circumstances.

He cringed at his own thoughts as he stepped back down into the locker rooms, now thoroughly understanding better than ever why Sirius had flat out refused any more of their parents' lectures this past summer with a friend like that.

He went snooping, quietly, through the rest of the lockers proper now before finally coming across the book in Harry's. Appropriate enough at least, but he didn't feel like waking anyone else up yet as he settled back down on the floor and thought through the blank pages.

It was surprising, thinking back, that there was no 'mystery' going on in Harry's life this year, unlike the first four where attention had frequently been captured by trying to figure out who was attempting to murder this kid. Instead, that weapon had not been mentioned once since Grimmauld Place, so it was likely not at Hogwarts or Harry would have stumbled into some way to investigate that by now. Instead they'd been dealing with the horrid effects of Umbridge, and no matter who plotted what, nothing they said or did was getting rid of her.

Instead, his eyes wandered back to land on Alice and Longbottom curiously, and his stomach tightened in unease. He'd never really talked to girls, though there were a few in his year he thought pretty enough he would, but Regulus also knew his parents already had an arranged marriage set for him. As far as he knew they hadn't picked anyone yet, but it had been brought up once or twice and he hadn't asked further.

Sirius had already made it very clear he'd have no part in that, not that Regulus could really blame him when they'd made mention of him and Bellatrix at one point. That had made his skin crawl so bad he'd almost thought about excusing himself from dinner before just putting his spoon down and cringing at the following fight. He'd hide in the attic for a week after that one.

His eyes switched to Potter and Evans, any first-year knew the first had a huge crush on the latter, but also of the results. Regulus huffed and squirmed, now eyeing the book in his hands in distaste, he blamed this stupid thing for where his thoughts had jumped to. Harry's crush on Cho had been mentioned so often this year, and it was just confusing.

He momentarily considered going back in and kicking Sirius awake, but he still wasn't even sure if he wanted to talk to Sirius. It was starting to feel like he wasn't going to get much of a choice though. He liked talking to Peter, he'd actually say with confidence now he was probably the first friend he'd ever had considering he could barely talk about Quidditch with anyone from his house without someone inevitably trying to bring up the Dark Lord. He didn't know how Severus could stand his apparent double life where he'd so smoothly discuss this and then apparently go hang around Evans where they talked about Merlin knew what, but surely not that.

Peter was two years older than him though. Would it be too odd to ask him about something like this? It still felt like a question he should ask his brother, if he could stand talking to him again, he still wasn't sure of that. He still didn't want Sirius to just start talking to him just because they agreed on the Dark Lord now, he wanted his brother to talk to him like old times back before they'd even been to Hogwarts. That was still probably a childish dream he was clinging to.

Potter startled and crashed to the floor out of his own dream, groaning and cursing loudly enough everybody else began murmuring and looking around blearily for this disruption. It must have been loud enough to wake up Sirius and Lupin too, because the pages he'd been idly flipping through suddenly had a chapter title that caught his eye almost halfway through the book. Dumbledore's Army, how strange.

"You alright Prongs?" Sirius came bounding in, awake and aware as if he'd been there the whole time. "Sounded like someone was cutting your toes off."

"I'll get a pair of shears and do it to you, arse," he huffed, but his upside-down smile held no hint of a threat. Sirius at least seemed in a better mood today.

Regulus watched the two for a few more beats with longing, Sirius never joked around with him like that anymore. As he started reading about the trio's worry of Umbridge getting ahold of Harry's mail though and Sirius looked genuinely touched at their worry for a moment before loudly brushing that off, Regulus still felt more like getting up and kicking him in the shins for still being an idiot.

At least he and everyone cheered the Gryffindor team was officially back in action, even if it was ruined only moments later by that arrogant little muggle-born accusing Sirius of living vicariously through those teenagers.

"Hey," Sirius looked genuinely hurt for the snub, and Regulus had to remind himself Sirius was glaring at the book like that, not at him, again.

"It's not as if you discouraged them," Evans huffed, rubbing her neck in the corner. "I don't blame her for thinking like that."

Regulus looked to her in confusion, turning her words over in his head as he realized, did she not think that of him? She actually hadn't been yelling and telling them off nearly as much lately now that he thought about it.

He still avoided the argument as much as he could, or at least didn't want to live through two at once, as Harry properly defended his godfather and the whole thing was interrupted by Peeves and Katie Bell starting a miniature war.

Even as he kept going though, right into this locker room and the boys preparing for a practice, Regulus kept absently watching the three and saw none of them had really taken Hermione's comment to heart. It was heartening they really did seem to not be judging Sirius anymore, especially after that last awful thing these books had implied he'd done.

Remus finally came out of the bathroom himself, waiting until Regulus took a pause for breath before flushing the toilet, and having splashed around the water in the sink far longer than he needed to, but still rubbing the heel of his hand into his eyes like he'd only just crawled off the floor. Sirius and James were now snooping through the rest of the lockers and had come across the little orange pill that had apparently put boils where no human would want them.

"Dare you to eat it Moony!" Sirius said as if he'd been there the whole time.

"I'm sure my physiology isn't so unique I wouldn't get those boils too," he grimaced in disgust.

Regulus looked at him in surprise, but it was Evans who piped up in confusion, "what's that supposed to mean?"

He went a little red around the face again, even his smile looked more forced than friendly, but he also didn't immediately shy behind Sirius or Potter like usual as he tried to answer, "ah, some things don't affect me like they do others, I don't get common colds, and certain potions have strange effects on me."

Sirius reached over and popped him on the neck, but lightly, there was no force in the gesture or in his teasing tone. "I thought when you threatened to lecture them, you were going to start with something more interesting than that."

Peter's mouth was hanging open slightly, and Potter was watching the two like someone really was fixing to go at them with garden shears.

It wasn't having much of a good effect on their intended person anyways, Frank scrunched up his face in dislike that apparently some of the texts were true then and werewolves really were other. What else was so different about him that half-breeds needed post scripts about potions?

Lily though found what he'd said fascinating, she'd never have guessed at such a thing and now burned with the desire to ask just how many potions, which exactly, and what quantities he'd taken to know such a thing? She suddenly recalled that wolfsbane potion all the way back from the third book, and her eyes lit in delight as she half asked, half accused, "that wolfsbane potion though, did you know what that was?"

"No," he said honestly, "I've never heard a thing about that, but I also said it was something new in that time."

She nodded in fairness, but was already formulating a list of ingredients in her head, she'd have to ask him specifically if he knew which did and didn't have this effect on him. Was this why he was such a lazabout in potions? She would have wanted to know every detail of this if it were her.

James shifted about uneasily, when had Remus and Sirius decided on this approach? He didn't like the way Longbottom was still looking anywhere but at Remus, and now Evans was apparently going to start scrutinizing him like she would a potions text.

Regulus exchanged a bewildered look with Peter, who merely shrugged. Remus had been comfortable with them for years though to discuss this, but seeing him try to do it with the others was bizarre and he had no idea what to make of it. Regulus went back to reading rather than letting the awkward silence linger, all the way up to something thoroughly distracting, Harry's scar burning once more, and he knew it to be because the Dark Lord was angry about something.

He shivered through the following exchange between Harry and Ron over this, feeling like he needed another shower already by the end. The idea of having to deal with someone else's mood because of a cursed scar was just creepy, let alone who exactly Harry was connected to!

Regulus's stomach continued to swill with unease as Harry continued to brood over everything this could mean. At least whatever that weapon was still seemed to be out of the wrong side's hands, but as he fell asleep over his homework worrying about this, and Sirius, and even that strange dream of a locked door again, and the entire confusing mess of his life, it was almost a relief to get interrupted by Dobby turning back up with Hedwig.

He stopped at the small interruption and glanced up to see nobody looked very distracted. This, thing, between Harry and You-Know-Who was just plain weird, and kept getting more so as time went on. Regulus's eyes flitted to Lupin and back to the book though as he decided they weren't doing any good sitting around worrying about it. This had been done to Harry, the poor guy was just suffering through the consequences.

The house-elf was admittedly a very good distraction, as Harry confessed his problem of spacing issues with his group, and the elf seemed to have an answer for this? Muttering broke out amongst all the older students, but Regulus watched carefully and saw it was all amazement and curiosity, no recognition though, so kept going loudly and even bouncing a bit at the end as Harry got a message to where this would be taking place, and finally described how to get in.

"This is amazing!" Potter squealed, dancing on the spot like he was fighting the urge to wrench that away from him now, and Regulus held it a little tighter to his chest. "I can't believe, how did we never, Merlin's pants!"

"You never knew about this either?" Evans looked genuinely astounded he was admitting such a thing.

"You just heard Harry check the map, of course we didn't!" He seemed so stunned at this new development, he seemed to miss the one going on right in front of him of Evans actually asking a question directly to him.

"The Room of Requirements, can you imagine all the possibilities?" Sirius was practically drooling at the notion of this.

"It's even right on our floor, around the corner from our dorm apparently!" Peter bemoaned, leaning over his shoulder to get a look at this himself.

Nobody could stop themselves muttering in delight at this new discovery right in Hogwarts they could actually go to right now if any of them had still been mad enough to bother trying a door. Regulus sighed as he glared at it again for the first time in ages, wishing he had free rein so he could sprint up there right now, but finally conceded and read out over everyone to keep getting as close as he could to this place in the meantime.

It was of some mild comfort to the Marauders the twins were even in their seventh year now and apparently had never come across this place either as anything other than a one-way broom cupboard, according to them anyways as Filch hadn't been able to get it open but they'd left, and the four exchanged hopeful looks maybe in their last two years something similar would have happened to them as well by then, it was driving them nuts they'd have left the school and never even gotten a hint of this.

James pulled his map out and eyed right where he'd put it in, then he paused and considered to himself if they even should. Since they now knew exactly where it was, it would function the same as the rest. He'd have to add the charm telling how to activate the location, but that would take seconds. He smiled and rubbed his thumb over the spot as he listened to Harry in there, being a brilliant teacher he wouldn't deny, and how his boy was doing so much good for his fellow students.

He glanced up to see Remus and Sirius with their heads close together, laughing at how the name of this group came about. He looked over and saw Peter and Regulus laughing about mock dueling each other later, and then Frank and Alice beaming and cooing at Neville's first disarming charm on Harry.

Finally he looked up and saw that even Evans was enjoying all of this, laughing quietly at Harry's disjointed interactions with Cho while combing out her hair with a brush she'd clearly nicked from one of the Chasers.

He tried to tell himself this was an improvement, it seemed the first time since all of this had started they were all feeling good about something. He still sighed and tried to brace himself as much as he could when Sirius's little brother warned the chapter was almost done.

*  The smut is posted separately

[theimagineparadise]

Silly Love Songs

Original Imagine

James didn’t even know how to play a guitar, but here he stood in a store in Hogsmeade, looking over the many musical instruments it had to offer. “What about this one?” Padfoot asked, holding up a Cherry Sunburst Les Paul, but James shook his head. He wasn’t looking for flashy and hardcore, he was looking for something romantic. 

After a time he came across a nice acoustic made out of maple. He didn’t know if it was a good guitar or not, but it looked nice, so he decided he would buy it. He brought the guitar up to the wizard who ran the place, and fished the required 20 knuts out of his pocket. With his new guitar in hand, he and Sirius made their way back to Honeydukes. 

“Why did you buy that again? It a blooming lot!” he said as they walked through the bustling streets of Hogsmeade. Sirius hadn’t asked much questions when James asked him to sneak over to Hogsmeade with him after lessons, but not he was getting curious. “Do you even know how to play that?”

James shrugged, “I know you hold a string down and pluck it and it makes noise,” he said. “How hard can it be?”

Sirius shook his head at his friend, “There’s a lot more to it than that,” he assured his friend as he opened the door the sweets shop. 

“Well if you know so much, why don’t you teach me?” James said in a loud whisper as they walked to the back of the store, and when nobody was looking slipped the invisibility cloak on. 

“I’d much rather like to see you try yourself,” Sirius whispered back, earning a glare from his friend. Sirius noted that he never got an answer as to why James had bought the guitar, but he would ask again later.

In their dorm, a few days later, James sat on his bed, trying to play his guitar. “It sounds like rubbish,man,” Remus told his friend with a slight chuckle, “Maybe you should see if there are any books in the library to help you.”

James shook his head though,”No, I’ll get the hang of it, I don’t need any books,” James was adamant that he could figure this out all by himself. After all, if muggles could do it surely he could. 

“Why don’t you just use some magic-”

“No, I have to do this for real,” he cut off Peter, before plucking at the strings once more. 

Sirius came into the room now, his hair messed up, and his clothes disheveled. Remus and Peter exchanged looks, but James was either too busy trying to figure his guitar out, or too used to this by now, to notice. “You’re playing it wrong,mate” Sirius pointed out the obvious as he came to sit next to his best friend. 

James turned to look at Sirius, giving him a look that said, “no shit.” Sirius nodded to the instrument, running a hang through his hair, “You’re supposed to out your fingers on the frets, not between them,” when his friend gave a blank expression Sirius elaborated, “it’s the little silver pieces.”

James took his friends advice, and for the first time he actually played something that sounded like a chord. His friends let out whoops and applause, more because they were happy that they didn’t have to hear the wretched sound that had been James’ playing, than because they were happy for their friend.

After that James insisted that he could play the guitar, no matter how many times his friends told him otherwise. With “learning” how to play the guitar down, he now began to write his song. He spent countless hours in the library- that’s right the library as it was the only place he could find peace and quiet- writing down lyrics and getting yelled at by Madame Pince every time he played a few notes on his guitar.

It was on one of these days that Sirius wandered into the library and took a seat from the table, turning it around and plopping down in it, resting his arms against the back. “You never did tell me why you’re doing this,” he said to his friend.

James looked up from his piece of parchment, twirling his quill slightly between his fingers, “(y/n) said she liked musicians,” he said simply. James had always fancied you, and he had heard you talking with your friend in the corridor about how you thought musicians were so hot, so James thought maybe if he learned how to play something he could win you over. 

“Ahh, so that what this is about, I should have known,” Sirius and the other marauders knew all about (y/n) and how much James liked her, and in all honesty he should have realized sooner that James was doing this for a girl. “You’re really hooked on her, aren’t you mate?” Sirus asked, patting this friend on the back.

James nodded, “I really am, man, I really am.”

A few hour later James placed his quill down and stretched his arms before standing up and quickly packing away his quill and ink. He was finished! After several days of sitting in the library trying to think of just the right words and letting his charms grade suffer, he was finished! Now all he needed was to present the song to you and sweep you off your feet!

Just after dinner, as you were making your way to the common room, Remus approached you asked that you might come with him down to the Great Lake. “Why?” You asked. You didn’t want to fall victim to one of the marauders pranks, and besides it was about to be curfew pretty soon, and while you weren’t against sneaking out past curfew, you didn’t want to get caught either. 

“It’s nothing bad,man, I promise. You’re gonna wanna see this, trust me,” out of all the marauders you thought Remus was the most trust worthy, so you took his word for it and let him lead you down to the Great Lake. The walked was rather silent, and by the time you were near the lake the sun had already gone down. 

You were not prepared for the sight that met your eyes when you arrived at the Great Lake. The trees had been enchanted to sparkle as if adorned with fairy lights, and under them sat James, sitting on a blanket with a guitar. He had spent the last several hours fine tuning his song and now he was ready to present it to you. Remus gave you a smile and retreaded- you presumed- back to the castle.

“James, what is this?” you asked with a small laugh, looking around you.

“Just sit down, “ James sent you a wink, and you did as he said. This all seemed awful romantic, and you wondered if James felt the same way about you as you did about him. You didn’t want to get your hopes up though, James could probably have any girl in the school, why would he want you?

“I wrote this for you,” James pick up his guitar and got comfortable, before he began to play. You watched on in confusion, and then wonderment as he began to strum and sing. You were surprised how good his voice was. His playing was nothing intricate, but you could tell that he really tried, and despite it being simple, it still sounded good.

You were completely mesmerized by his playing, and the fact that he had done all this for you was unbelievable. “I didn’t know you could sing...or play guitar.” You were astounded by his talent, especially with singing. You had never seen it coming. 

“Well, I kind of learned for you,” he said, a blush coming to his cheeks. “I wanted to do something special because I really liked you, and I was wondering if you’d like to go to hogsmeade with me next weekend. And perhaps be my girlfriend.”

His eyes searched yours, desperate for your answer. Your own eyes lit up and you smiled at him, “Of course, I’ll go to hogsmeade with you, James! It sounds like a great idea, and so does being your girlfriend.” A smile broke out on the seeker’s face and you heard some whoops and cheers to your right. 

You both turned to see the other three Marauders had been hiding behind a shrub the whole time. They ran over now, to join you, sending congratulations to the both of you and slapping Prongs on the back. You and James exchanged a look before you started laughing yourself as you scooted closer to him, to make more room. James placed an arm around your shoulder and you leaned against him as the boys chattered around you. James placed a kiss on your forehead and smiled down at you. This was how it should be.