𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑷 𝐌𝐄

they couldn’t say with absolute, unerring certainty – james’d lost their glasses, but it really hadn’t been through any fault of their own; that tended to be something that happened when a stadium started giving way beneath you when you were leaning over a railing instead of sitting calmly in your seat – but he was pretty sure that marlene was still there, if the burning sensation from the nails digging into the backs of his hands were anything to go by. distinctive claws, that one, which made it slightly more difficult than it normally would have been for james to simply hang on to the edge and hoist himself back over. but, then again, without those glasses, james was probably going to have had trouble doing that anyways, and knew it. still, he hissed (and pretty loudly too, for all the noise around them), giving in to the urge to whine, though now was certainly not the time. “ease up, would you? i’ve got a grip here, i’m not gonna fall unless the thing cracks.” he blinked a few times, trying to adjust the horrid blurriness the best he could, then cracked a grin. “hey, okay, this is ... this is not ideal, but! oh, this is the but to end all buts, mcknickers. when mum asks what the hell happened, we won’t be lying when we say we had no idea!!”

“  i’ve  been  told  .  ”  the  even  ,  deadpan  tone  of  voice  was  often  reserved  just  for  him  ,  and  while  usually  lily  wouldn’t  stick  around  to  chat  with  one  james  potter  ,  at  the  moment  she  found  herself  without  options  —  she  let  him  talk  ,  just  moving  to  get  the  man  his  pint  and  accidentally  (  well  ,  at  least  it  was  her  excuse  )  spill  some  over  his  sleeve  when  the  glass  was  pushed  his  way  .  "  first  off  ,  i  can’t  kick  you  out  —  unfortunately  for  both  of  us  —  and  second  of  all  i  truly  do  appreciate  your  .  .  .  concern  ,  but  i’m  quite  sure  you  can’t  surprise  me  anymore  .  your  stupidity  reached  its  peak  a  while  back  ,  now  it’s  just  sad  ,  y'know  ?  "  a  raised  brow  punctuated  her  words  and  the  wix  settled  against  the  counter  ,  moving  to  grab  her  discarded  cigarette  and  taking  a  deep  drag  ,  nearly  choking  at  the  mention  of  money  .  of  course  ,  out  of  all  people  in  the  world  ,  he  would  be  the  one  who  would  waltz  in  here  and  offer  her  what  she  could  only  imagine  was  an  idiotic  amount  of  money  to  put  up  with  him  .  it  made  her  gaze  turn  to  james’  face  again  ,  just  a  hint  of  fire  behind  her  eyes  that  she  attempted  to  quiet  with  a  long  exhale  ,  the  urge  to  put  her  cigarette  out  on  him  a  little  too  overwhelming  for  comfort  .  "  don’t  you  have  someone  else  to  torture  with  your  presence  ,  potter  ?  or  maybe  someone  else  to  throw  money  at  —  instead  of  coming  over  to  remind  me  just  how  much  of  an  overinflated  chucklefuck  you  are  ?  "

to their credit, james managed to keep a straight, stoic face as the redhead set about making him the most unwelcome welcomed patron in the building, but only just barely, and only, really, until the word ‘unfortunately’, at which point, he simply could not contain his smirk (or the perfectly tailored chuckle that went with it) any longer. “see, you say that now,” james said, even as they raised their arm off of the countertop, and brought it down to their lap, wiping the evidence of the splashes away without complaint, “but then i’m going to tell you the thing, and you’re not going to be happy. I already know you won’t be.” as soon as the words were out of his mouth, though, james reconsidered them, spitting more out immediately afterwards in an attempt to salvage his already rocky allusions before he oversold them, just on the off-chance that lily stubbornly decided today was the day she needed to prove him wrong about every conclusion he came to on his own. “okay, I don’t know, but I suspect,” he corrected, “that concerns of an apocalypse will follow in the wake of this ..... news item, i have for you today.” that was a good enough try, he decided, shrugging and lifting the pint to his lips. whether he’d come with ulterior motives or not, james did still want his drink, and if lily couldn’t – or perhaps wouldn’t, as he decided he’d prefer to hope – remove him from the premises, he was going to stay, and drink, and try to see how long he could linger, whether or not he continued to poke the bear, before she lost any last shred of faux patience she could pretend to hold and really let him have it. then again, though, james didn’t want to put lily in a position where she looked less than her best on any level, and certainly not where she worked, so as he continued sipping – and really, though it hadn’t been long at all, he knew that continuing to hold her gaze as he drank would irritate her faster than not, and he set the pint down once more, just in time to really appreciate how difficult it must have been for lily not to have shouted that at him. especially when, by all rights, lily evans should not have been made to be subjected to this kind of james potter attention for at least another week yet. “fortunately for you, evans, no. showing up where I am not wanted to remind you how much of an overinflated chucklefuck I am was the only thing I put on my calendar today. i’m all yours.” he gave her another grin, cheekier still than even the last, as if he could prove that he was as unflappable as she was flappable. “I also wanted to let you know that you are going to be seeing a lot more of me next term, and thought you might want a chance to get used to that, maybe.” he shrugged, folding his arms on top of each other once more as he settled into his next temporary pose. “don’t be mad about the money, thing, though, please, okay, i’m not being a jerk, I swear. I said that already, and really, in a few minutes i think you’re gonna look back on this exact moment here and think i had the right idea after all, tipping extra for what little patience you have left which i’m about to destroy.” that might have been the only thing james could safely have guessed he was right about, today, considering he still hadn’t spit it out yet. “I got the head boy spot.”

laughter bubbling at the sight of the chaotic boy turning – “i see you’re still quick on your feet” allowing herself to get wrapped up in a hug, godric it had been ages, “i do see that – when did you get so tall?” she mused, he’d always be the lanky mischievous boy she grew up with, but she couldn’t deny that she felt older in this moment. 

“grown i’ll take – sane and rational? my parents might disagree–” the sly smile etched at her lips only grew – what else could they say about their twenty two year old already engaged – pregnant – and tying the not more than likely sooner rather than later, “if you didn’t think i always have time for you or wasn’t missing you - do you even know me, mr. potter?” it was all in good fun as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into her side. “how about i treat you to a scoop? you can tell me all about the mischief you’ve been up to lately –”

the warm, kinetic energy of molly was inescapable, not that james had any desire to flee, far from it. the stretched out chaser was more than happy to fold her into the biggest hug he could manage, forever trying to outhug the master of hugging, and the laugh that fell out of him was almost as bright as the smile he was wearing when he pulled back to deliver another stream of nonsense, hot and fresh. “still quickest on a broom, though, but that’s I mean.... that’s probably ... that and the height, carry the one ... divide by seven.. yeah, that’s all gotta come back to all the nights the lads and I spent sneaking into filch’s abandoned torture chamber to stretch me on the rack, right? it’s the only thing that makes sense, that’s gotta be it.” maybe some things never changed; james never really seemed to, that was for certain.

    𝑎  𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙  -  𝑜𝑛       grin  plasters  itself  over  sirius’  face ,   barking  a  quick  laugh  at  the  response  he  garners .     he  shrugs   noncommittally   and ,   without  further  greeting ,   grabs  at  james’  shoulder  towards  the  row  of  shops  behind  them .        ❛    why   yes   i  am .    there’s   the  answer  i’m  looking  to  hear .    ❜         sirius  states ,    a  quick  hop  in  his  step .        ❛    first  stop’s  the    junk  shop ,   then .    see   —   i  may   be  lacking  on  some  metals   scraps .    i’m   thinking   about  putting  my  alchemy  classes  to   some   sort  of use .   no    fucking  idea  how  i’ll  go  about  until  during  the  year   —   but  what’s  a  couple  hunks  of  iron  laying  around  a  dorm  full  of  boys ?    mcgonagall  has  seen   worse .    ❜          he’s   rambling   a  bit  absurdly ,    both   forgetting  to  put  context  where  in  needs  to  be  and   adding  to   the  mystery .    not  to  mention  simply   itching   not  to  talk  about   anything   that  goes  between  school  and  school .    after  all ,   what  good’s  planning  a   scheme   if  you  don’t  get  to  experience   some   of  the  surprise that  comes  with  it ?

directional prompting is truly the only thing left that’s necessary, because the extra note of mischief in sirius’ laugh only served to cement to fact that whatever the elder black son was up to, the only potter son always wanted in. already, james’ mind was working on filling in the gaps sirius left for him as he listened to his favorite person speak on the agenda he seemingly had already created for them; if he’d been the only piece of the puzzle missing (and in his mind, he clearly was), it was up to james to ensure he fitted himself seamlessly into these plans. “well, we’ll burn those bridges when we get to them,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and not even worth giving proper thought to, “between the pair of us alone, we’ll come up with plenty of places to stash whatever we can manage to scrounge up and haul back with us. and with all those suits of armor, surely, if you get in a supply pinch mid-term ... who would notice if one or two of them went missing? no one!” it didn’t matter to james, yet – nor would it at any point in the foreseeable future, really, and he couldn’t see all that well to begin with – that he hadn’t even the faintest idea what sirius had been plotting during the span of their most recent separation (hours, days, what did it matter, it was all painful, as only being parted from the other half of your brain could be) or even that, quite possibly, sirius had already thought so much about telling james the plan that he’d forgotten he hadn’t actually done so yet. no. what mattered to james was that there was a plot, or the makings of one, or of a series of them, and he was getting in at as close to ground floor as he could. “what do you need on my end, babes? name it, and prongs’ll make it happen. help me be the best help to you that I can be.”

                    ❝      it   doesn’t   work   like   that   james   ,      have   i   not   told   you   that   a   thousand   times   ?      and   i   still   can’t   tell   you   who’ll   win   the   world   cup   either   while   we’re   on   the   topic      ❞         a   show   of   huffing   at   him   marred   by   giggles   ,      better   that   than   dwelling   on   the   new   parts   of   her   gift   emerging   ,      the   little   snapshots   of   moments   that   lasted   barely   seconds   and   yet   robbed   her   of   minutes   .         ❝      you’re   just   going   to   shove   me   in   the   river   ,      i’ve   solved   this   little   guessing   game      ❞         arms   floundering   in   front   of   her   till   she   met   his   .

“it doesn’t work like that, james,” came the mocking, regurgitated words, automatically, and at a glorious two octaves higher than billie herself. “I know it doesn’t work like that william, but if we can’t laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? pete doesn’t like it when we laugh at him, and he’s asked us a bunch not to do it anymore. you’re not gonna let pete down, are you?” he asked, voice, normal once more, dripping with the saccharine coating of affection that was clear, even in long-distance teasing, that james held for his mates. “you are really bad at this, maybe I should just take the blindfold off of you, I almost feel bad,” he told her, though he had no plans to do that at all when they were so close to billie’s surprise. it wasn’t much longer of a wait after that; a few minutes more, saw james loosing his grip on his mate’s sibling, and reaching to hold open and guide the girl through a door she couldn’t even see, before taking the blindfold off to reveal the sight so far unseen of the strange muggle museum of garden gnomes he’d stumbled across himself only a few days prior. “no alligators, and no rivers, either. plenty of gnomes, though. cool, right?”

“little potter, is that you?” smile as bright as the sun as she caught sight of the boy in the bustling streets of diagon alley - her cupboard was short mandrake root and a few other things that weren’t so kind to her nose, “you don’t pop in - you don’t write –” 

@jimmyjcms​

the way james whirled around at the sound of his name, or, well, a name for him at any rate, was not exactly graceful, but james was grinning when he came to a stop, gesturing to himself from bottom to messy, curly top. “not so little anymore, mols.” he gave her a shrug, far from feeling the need to defend himself but happy to see her, so he moved forward a beat later, arms open in his aim to give her a hug. “you’re all busy being a grown, sane, rational adult. didn’t think you had time for hooligans and marauders, anymore. this your way of saying you miss me?”

“i’ll treasure it forever,” he says to make up for it before rolling his own eyes playfully. “you promised me a free drink mate, you’re the rich one out of the two of us and i plan to make do on that promise, yeah?” he teases, placing it in his pocket as they begin to walk again. “feels like i haven’t seen you in ages. what have you been up to?” he questions, he had seen sirius the most, he missed remus more than words could say but summer had always been a bit bittersweet when it came to the boys, peter had been working for most of the summer so that took away a lot of his hang out time but his mum needed the money so he couldn’t complain too much. 

“go ahead, peteykins, go ahead, mock me, laugh. I don’t mind.” he grinned, because, really, he didn’t mind in the least. “but know this : one day ... one day, you’re going to be going through hell, and you’re gonna look down at that snowman in your hand, and you’re gonna say ... fuck that was a great drink.” he laughed harder for a moment before shrugging, unsure what, really, there was for him to update peter on. “same as ever, mate, honestly. i just wake up and go wherever the wind blows me, unless dad has a delivery. the life of the unemployed – we do everything, and nothing, all at once. you haven’t missed much, pete, never fear. did sirius tell you the news, then?” james might not have seen much of peter during the holiday, but he knew pads had. “you’re getting lots of free drinks tonight. as many as you want. we are celebrating and mourning.”