James Potter

Marls peeled her head from the pages of her transfiguration book to look at her captain. To be honest, he was the last person she wanted to know that she was struggling with scholastics. “I’d much rather clean up after Sirius and you then write this stupid paper, honestly. My brain is fried right now. At least cleaning I can be on auto pilot and not have to think.

“Ah – be careful what you wish for, Marley.” James teased as he reached over to tug her Transfiguration textbook out from underneath her head so that he could have a look at what she was currently working on; he wasn’t going to sit and do the homework for her but he could help, if she needed it. He didn’t want her to fall behind on school work because he couldn’t afford for her to be told she wasn’t allowed to play, and James was good at Transfiguration. He’d finished this assignment himself two nights ago. “Will it help if I let you have a read through mine? Although I don’t reckon Minnie will be fooled by you copying it and just changing a couple of words.”

“Chocolate frogs, mate. Peppermint toads are bollocks. A total rip off of a classic.” Though Caradoc may have been biased seeing as they were his favorite (anything chocolatey was). He had several packs of chocolate frogs in his jacket pocket. “Maybe go for a mix of both, but certainly do not skimp on the frogs.” With the way he emphasized this, one would think he was giving the most important advice in the world.

“Both it is.” James decided with the help of Caradoc’s input, not that he honestly needed any encouragement whatsoever. He picked up one of the chocolate frog boxes, tossed it into the air and caught it again, before turning to glance at Caradoc with a grin. “Cheers for the help mate, I don’t think I could’ve made a decision like that without you.”

she hadn’t been hurt by the shattering glass, too deep into the quidditch shop to have been affected. she felt the cold trickle of dread go down her spine when everything got dark and without thinking she hustled some second years behind the counter with her. she didn’t dare move or poke her head out to see what was happening, she could hear it until it was deafening and she covered her ears. the girls with her were screaming and she could feel herself trembling as she wrapped her arms around them. she’d never known fear like this and she was grateful when it ended, when the sky cleared and it was bright and sunny again. she ushered the girls toward some adults and wandered outside. they’d been some of the last to be evacuated and she couldn’t make her feet move faster toward the castle, toward safety.

was this terror, still trapped in her body, what muggles and muggleborns felt all the time? she was already exhausted, every muscle taut and sore, how could anyone deal with this on a regular basis? she had a new understanding blooming but she’d have been happier to remain naive. a voice pulled her from her thoughts and her hand went to the wand tucked into her boot before she realized it was just james. without much thought she ran over and wrapped him in a hug, her emotions absolutely shot along with her nerves. when she pulled away she didn’t even apologize. “i’m okay, just — shaken to my core.” she admitted to him.

James was a little bit startled as she threw her arms around him, but he understood given the circumstances; everyone’s emotions were heightened, he imagined, his own weren’t an exception. He was glad that no one seemed to have been badly hurt, from what he’d seen, but he still hadn’t managed to find his friends yet and that caused an unsettled feeling to settle in his gut. Remus had been supposed to meet him at the Three Broomsticks after he’d been to Scrivenshaft’s but he hadn’t shown up yet; what if he’d been caught up in it?

He was pulled back to the present when he heard Emma speak, and he hesitantly wrapped his arms back around her, both an act of solidarity and comfort; he didn’t know Emma that well but they’d both been caught off guard by what had happened and he wanted to be sure that she knew he was there for support, regardless. “That’s understandable,” he told her softly, rubbing her arm soothingly before he pulled back to send her a smile. “Best be getting back up to the castle before a search party gets sent out, they’re probably serving tea in the Great Hall.” Tea fixes absolutely everything, after all. “And Merlin knows I could do with some of that, maybe something stronger.”

Some of his followers had given up hope, slinking back into the shadows like cowards, hiding away their beliefs because there were rumors He was dead. Not Regulus. He’d been asked if he regretted getting his mark and the answer had been a snide Of course not. There was no fear that the Dark Lord would rise again, not a doubt in his mind and that afternoon, when the wind started to increase and the sky became overcast, he felt vindicated. He’d watched it all go down with a smile on his face, ignoring the shoving from younger students as they rushed to safety. Despite being near a glass window, he’d managed to avoid getting hit with any of the shards as the windows shattered and remained completely unfazed by the broken glass that had been crunching under foot as he walked through the village after, trying to memorize every detail.

Until he’d been told by a professor to stop dawdling and return to the castle. It wasn’t until then that he noticed that Hogsmeade was almost devoid of students. Begrudgingly, he turned and headed for the castle, more lost in his thoughts and what this could mean than truly paying attention to where he was going. A voice snapped him out of his reverie and when he looked over, he saw Potter. Disgusting blood traitor. “Oh, definitely a stupid question. I’m in better spirits than I have been for awhile.” A quick glance over Potter said he didn’t get hurt. “You look like you managed to avoid injury. That’s a shame.”

James’ steps faltered and his expression darkened when recognition dawned on him; from a distance he hadn’t realised it was his best mate’s little brother—well, brother was a loose term, little pain in the arse might have been more apt—that he was calling out to. Conversations with Regulus were rarely worth it and more often than not infuriated him; the hostility between the two certainly ran deep. James detested the younger Slytherin, but he had always tried to remain civil, or at least as civil as he could manage, for Sirius’ sake because he never wanted to do anything that might hurt his best friend in the long run. Regulus had never extended the same courtesy.

“Sorry to disappoint,” he replied, Regulus’ words bouncing off him as if James’ skin was made of rubber, although his talk of being in good spirits after the attack didn’t go unnoticed. “You want to be careful what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to, kid; don’t be getting brave just because some of that scummy lot are starting to climb back out of the wood work.”

Mary couldn’t be as optimistic as James. Even though Voldemort was gone, she was still waiting for someone else to take his place and the Death Eaters to rise again. It was as if she felt like she could never stop looking over her shoulder. So, when James’s voice broke through her thoughts, her eyes widened momentarily before she returned the smile. “Don’t say it like that. It sounds so bittersweet,” she whined, giving him puppy eyes, “I’m right as rain. Yourself?” Right as rain if rain was purple and on fire inside. 

James furrowed her brows as he regarded her for just a moment; he hadn’t missed the slightly startled expression he elicited from her when he spoke, almost as if she was on edge with the way her eyes grown wider before she relaxed. “You ever thought about what a weird expression that actually is?” He mused out loud as he fell into step beside her. “Rainy days are actually a bit miserable, if you think about it. You sure you’re doing okay?” He paused for a moment, before nudging her lightly with his arm as he sent her a smile. “I’m Head Boy now and I regret to inform you that this means it’s actually against the law to lie to me.”

“You’re going to make me blush, Prongs,” he said, faking a swoon as he fanned his already flushed cheeks from the alcohol.  He knew there was going to be hell to pay tomorrow what with the cleanup and a hangover that he already knew was going to rival one of his transformations but the warm buzz that was clouding his mind made it all seem unimportant.

“Horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said on a laugh before taking a generous swing from the bottle of firewhiskey, barely feeling the burn anymore.  “First night back and the Head Boy’s off getting the students drunk,” he continued, wiping at his mouth as he passed the bottle back.

“Says the prefect who needs no encouragement whatsoever.” James quipped as he took the bottle back from his best mate, tipping it to his own lips as he took a deep gulp from it before resting the open bottle back in his lap as he leaned back against the common room wall. Grinning, he nudged Remus’ shoulder gently with his own, “This Angel act might have ol’ Minnie fooled but it won’t wash with me, Moony. A right terrible influence, you are.”

He remained in the village even after the evacuation, having wanted to stick around to offer a hand with the clean up, but he was quickly dismissed by the teachers present and told to head back up to the castle where he would be more useful. Begrudgingly, he agreed, and began the walk back up to the castle, but when he spotted someone a little way ahead of him he jogged to catch up; he thought everyone would have been back at the school already, “Hey; are you alright?” He paused for a moment to consider this, before huffing out a laugh that held no trace of humour, “A stupid question, probably.”

“Come on, Jamesie, we both know that if I wanted to hit you, the quaffle would have hit you,” she argued, rolling her eyes but that Marlene smile was ever present on her lips. James Potter was one of her favourite people, not that she would ever tell him that. A compliment from her would go right to that big ol’ head of his. He was almost as bad as his best mate. She watched as he used the charm, eyebrows rose slightly. Huh. Why didn’t she think of that? She stared for a moment until it fell to the ground with a small thud and she returned her attention to the captain in front of her. “I was trying to prank some snakes,” she admitted with a defeated sigh. “I think they caught on though. Ha ha, jokes on me, right? I also might be a little bit tipsy,” she admitted, holding up a hand with her thumb and index finger very close together to emphasize what she meant by little.

“Save that fighting talk for our first match.” James replied as he nudged her lightly with his shoulder, before walking down the corridor to go and retrieve the Quaffle; he should probably return it to the Quidditch shed before Madam Hooch noticed it was missing. He thought a Quaffle vanishing would be much more obvious than the snitch he’d nicked a couple of years ago, which still lived in the inside pocket of his school robes. “Doubt they’d have caught on, most of them are much too dim for that; what was it you had planned?” He asked curiously, tucking the Quaffle under his arm as he walked back towards her. “You almost wiped out the whole sodding corridor, it’s a good job you’ve got a decent set of lungs on you and this lot could hear you screaming from about ten miles away.” He tossed the Quaffle towards her, underarm and lightly, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, though; come on, let’s get to dinner so that you can sober up.”

“You sweet talker, I bet you say that to all the boys,” he teased, smiling wide as he caught sight of James.  He couldn’t help but laugh though as he noticed James’ bored expression and the little pile of confettied paper all around him.  “But, nah, even I wouldn’t head up tonight - there’s too much to celebrate,” he added as he took the bottle from him.  

“Probably why I’ve drank more than I should’ve,” he admitted with a laugh as he took a seat next to James, jostling his shoulder playfully as he did so.

“Oh, only the pretty ones.” James quipped, grinning at Remus as he sat down beside him; in his heart of hearts, he knew that—being Head Boy—he really ought to start ushering people off to their dormitories, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. People were excited to finally be back with their mates, celebrating, and nobody was causing any trouble, so he saw no harm in letting them have their fun.

And on top of that, he really was much too drunk to bother.

“Well at least you won’t be suffering the hangover alone Moony, we can spend tomorrow feeling exceptionally sorry for ourselves—so drink up.” Reaching a hand up, he placed his forefinger on the bottom of the firewhiskey bottle as Remus held it, tilting it up towards his friends mouth.