weep little lion man

Sirius chuckled and shook his head, “I’m the most attractive of you lot, I bring the average up.” he joked wrapping his arm around his best mate, “We can revisit it, but not repeat it. How does making his penguin suit, actually make him like a penguin?” he offered with a smirk. “We can try with other gits too.”

“I can’t believe you said that! Clearly I’m more attractive, but I’ll let you believe what you want to if it makes you feel better.” James shook his head in disapproval and pushed lightly at Sirius’s arm before giving in to the laughter that he couldn’t quite hold back. “That’s got promise, but we’ll have to be careful in who we pick. We’re not at Hogwarts anymore, and I really don’t fancy making some of these stuffy Ministry officials mad.”

Rita laughed lightly. “Oh, Potter. You’re so young. You have a lot to learn. There is no such thing as bad attention.” It was all about control. “See, you have to learn how to manipulate people, how to use the attention to your advantage. Take me for instance. A lot of people don’t like me. They think I’m nothing more than a gossip. But, that doesn’t change the fact that they all read my column. They all want to hear what I have to say. Because, it doesn’t matter if they like me, they want me to like them. That’s why gossip is so popular. Because people care what I think of them, whether they admit it or not.”

There definitely was bad attention; James had been on the receiving end of it at school. And in public like this, actually. But he doubted arguing with Rita Skeeter would be a worthwhile move, and James had learned to pick his battles. Probably too many of them, but he could do it. And it was true, people did devour her columns and being mentioned in them was something of a badge of honor. “You make an excellent point,” he said, nodding.

“Your poor mother,” Lily teased with a grin. She had met the woman at Christmas, and immediately gotten along with her - something that she hoped was a good sign. All the same, it wasn’t surprising to hear that she had rather strong opinions about James’s hair. She wondered, briefly, if her own mother may have made a comment about her hair, or about any of it. Lily had purposefully keeping the woman in the dark. She knew that Lily had a flat, that she was training to work in medicine, and that was all. It was safer that way, or at least, that’s what she had to tell herself.

“Is it odd to feel like a child here? I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like this. Ever.”

“My poor mother, dealing with such a wonderful son?” James winked at Lily, although he knew his mother had earned a sainthood after dealing with him, and Sirius, for all these years. It was a shock that Lily had been willing to do so for even as long as they’d been dating. “Oh, no. I always feel like a kid when I have to dress up.” He didn’t exactly feel out of place, but he’d grown up doing this - attending galas and functions with his hair slicked back under what felt like a mountain of Sleakeazy’s.

“It’s not anything to get worried about though,” he said, squeezing her hand and moving toward the table with the drinks. “Mostly there’ll be a lot of talking. I think there’s an auction later on? And maybe some dancing. But it’s mostly small talk. Unless you want to spice things up with me.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” Amelia replied with a smile and a small nod. “And yeah, I’m enjoying it well enough thanks… These things aren’t really my cup of tea, but it could be a lot worse.” She let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. “I feel like you’d have a lot more people disapproving if you did try anything, but my all means, don’t let that stop you… I’m sure it would give all the snobs something to tut loudly about.” 

“Yeah but the other people don’t really matter, do they?” Chuckling, James glanced around to see if he could spot Lily anywhere. “Besides, most of the stuffy purebloods are used to this from me.” It wouldn’t be the first time he’d caused a ruckus at some event. His parents weren’t even here tonight to be disapproving. Just Lily.

“I still have Remus and Peter to keep me company.” he joked taking another drink from his glass, “I haven’t, they’ve seem to start this evening’s celebrations without me.” he teased looking at the crowd. “Remember when we got Malfoy to turn red like the punch?”

“I cannot dispute you on that. We are a ridiculously attractive group of men,” James said, nodding sagely. His lips quirked a little, although he made a mental note to look harder for their other two mates. And the memory of that particular prank made a full grin cross his face. “That was a really good one,” he said fondly. “I would say we should revisit it, but I don’t like repeating pranks.”

“Well, now you’re speaking my language.” She said. “But, it can’t be something childish. No stupid pranks. Those are lame.” She couldn’t stand lame pranks. “No, we need something big. Something people are going to be talking about for weeks to come.”

James nodded, although there was a little voice in the back of his head reminding him that he had to be smart - if he did anything. Much as he enjoyed a good prank, doing something here at a Ministry function seemed a little risky. Besides, he was trying to prove to Lily that he had grown as a person, and he didn’t want to do something to ruin what they had. “You have to be careful with that though. Don’t want to draw too much negative attention either.”

Lucinda could not do anything else than to roll her eyes at the words of the man in front of her. “You do know that your self-esteem is too large to be legit. I mean… I wouldn’t exactly call your presence dazzling or sparkling.”

James pressed a hand to his chest and screwed his face. “You wound me! I’m known for my sparkling presence and witty banter! And if nothing else,” he continued, his expression melting into an amused smile, “I’m better than over half the stuffy old men here. Most of them can’t carry a conversation in a bucket.”

where: the ministry summer gala when: early evening status: open to all

Letting her hair down was something that Amelia rarely allowed herself the time for. In her mind, there was always something else more important that needed taking care of, so it took a lot of convincing for her to step out of her office and in to a dress for the summer gala. 

Grabbing herself a drink from one of the various bars that had been set up around the gardens, she turned around to find someone approaching her.

“Oh, hi. You doing alright?” She asked in greeting. 

“I can’t complain,” James said with a grin. The evening was going pretty well, he thought, although he really only came to spend the time with Lily, and his mates. It was hard to imagine not accomplishing that goal. “Are you enjoying the night? I feel like it could be a little livelier but I think my girlfriend wouldn’t approve if I tried to spice things up.”

“Right, whatever.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of boring, actually. I’m hoping for something exciting to happen. But, with a crowd like this, there’s bound to be some drama. Drunk people, lots of money being spent, it’s a night where anything can happen. And I love it.”

“Well, when it’s boring you have to make the exciting things happen on your own,” James said. It had always been his philosophy, although he liked to think he had outgrown his more childish stage. And also someone like Rita Skeeter would be above that - presumably.

“Lucky me, do I get to shag you tonight or you’ll go with her?” he teased taking another drink looking around. He forgot that almost all magical world would be there, including his parents, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“You wish you were lucky enough to score this,” James scoffed, gesturing at himself. “But sadly for you, I’m a one-person kind of guy so it’ll be Lily or no one.” He grinned and nudged Sirius, not missing the hint of concern on his face. “You seen Moony or Wormtail yet?”

“You say that like these tossers weren’t boring.” he rolled his eyes looking around, “Where’s Red? How come you aren’t attached to her?”

“They can be boring and still supply the alcohol,” James said in a reasonable tone. It seemed to be true enough, in his experience - boring Ministry events, or pureblood galas, still provided drinks. “She’s not here yet, so lucky you - you get my attention all to yourself. Until she shows up.” 

Lily had been running a bit late, and she hated it. She knew, reasonably, that this wasn’t the sort of thing that one had to be precisely on time to. Certainly the Minister wasn’t taking timed attendance. Her dress had taken a little longer than anticipated, some of the charms not cooperating right away. Still, she made it, and after a quick scan of the crowd, her eyes landed on James, and her face lit up. “James!” She took his hand in a mixture of excitement and security. A small part of her still felt a bit wrong being her, but with James nearby, it would all be okay. She just had to keep telling herself that. “Thank you,” she blushed a bit at his compliment, before getting a good look at him. “You clean up well, Potter!” With her free hand, she reached up and gave his hair a quick tousle, a few strands returning to their naturally messy state. “There. Now you’re you.”

Beaming, he squeezed her hand. He’d grown up attending events like this, of course, but they had become immensely better when he and Sirius became friends and they could make mischief. Now he had a feeling that being here with Lily would be even better than being with Sirius - no offense intended toward his brother, of course. “Ah, thank you. I tried to make my mother proud but it just too so much Sleakeazy’s to get it manageable. Next time, I’ll just embrace the fact that she won’t be happy with my hair short of some miracle.”

Rita glanced at the person who had spoken to her. She didn’t know him personally, though he seemed familiar to her. She was sure she knew his name. Probably from some random piece of gossip she’d read or written. Frowning, she wracked her brain until she got it. Potter. “I like to make a statement.” She replied. “It’s Potter, right? Jordan or Joshua or something?” She shrugged, nonchalantly. She didn’t really care what his first name was. She didn’t need it to write a story. Besides, he’d likely correct her anyway if she was wrong.

Upon second look, James did recognize Rita Skeeter - he thought anyone from the wizarding world probably would, given her reputation. “Potter, yeah,” he said easily, adding, “But it’s actually Algernon, not Jordan or Joshua. Close though.” He reached up to run his hand through his hair, thought about how that would ruin all the work he had put into it, then decided it didn’t matter; it wouldn’t stay neat anyway. “Are you enjoying the night? Seems like a good place to get some gossip for you writing.”

James and Lily had come separately, on account of not living together, and he was bouncing on his toes as he waited for her to arrive. It still didn’t feel real to him that they were dating - he wondered if it ever would. Because Lily was so amazing and he definitely did not deserve her in his life at all. He was very glad that she had given him a chance though. He finally caught a glimpse of her and pushed through the crowd - gently, he didn’t actually push - and grinned when they finally met up. “Lily! You look -” He paused to glance at her dress, although he didn’t need to see it to know she looked incredible. “You look amazing,” he finished, reaching for her hand. It definitely didn’t even begin to express how beautiful she was, but it was a good start.