#{james001}

Being busy was good. Keeping her mind occupied was good. Unfortunately though, everything had just been a bit too quiet for Phoebe’s liking. The staff at the paper were clearly perturbed by her sudden insistence on helping with any and all tasks round the office, and she had to blink back tears when someone asked if she was okay, because she was acting strange. 

She was, she insisted. She was fine.

After that, they gave her the afternoon off, and she decided to go see if the professor running the creative writing seminar she had signed up to attend was in, or to at least find out their office hours. When that too turned into a fruitless endeavor as they were in class, Phoebe unexpectedly found herself lost. And alone. And susceptible to thinking about the last forty-eight hours. 

Then it was like someone somewhere answered her prayers when she spotted James Bennett walking across the campus and in her direction. She didn’t know him that well outside of being Nilay’s friend, and then felt a pang of guilt when she remembered the comments Eli had made about the curator working a lot more than usual lately, but couldn’t pinpoint why. So wrapped up in her own bubble, she didn’t even know what was going on with her friend. But maybe James did, so she waved him over when he happened to glance up. “Hey! James, right? Fancy seeing you here!”

It wasn’t going pretty well for James that day. Well, he was indeed overly excited about his date-if he could call it that. He had a weird history with exes, and he still wasn’t sure if he should call it a date. But they were going to that cute restaurant where  they went on their very first date. That was a good occassion to reunite, right? All those thoughts didn’t stop moving in his head, as he was getting ready for that. He was going to use the subway and then walk from there. He did feel quite insecure, because that distance he had to walk wasn’t very safe, but he always ignored it and see, nothing has happened so far. He arrived in front of the restaurant, waiting for the man of the hour to arrive. He started bouncing on the balls of his feet, mainly because of the cold combined the excitement that he was feeling. 40 minutes in and the ex-hoping-to become-something-more-again hadn’t arrived. James had already leaned in against the wall and started checking his social media...until a message popped up saying that he isn’t going to make it. He huffed....it was quite predictable. Without replying back to him, he started walking back to the subway. 

The downtown was so loud, people were walking up and down the street. It suddenly felt safer. One of his skills was to walk and look at his mobile, so he casually did that. He didn’t know why he was torturing himself by looking at his photos with exes together. It didn’t help at all. Suddenly, he listened to screams and it was like someone fired a gun. He was taken away from his trance of being-single-forever sadness and looked at the opposite side of the road. Someone was actually shot...and they were pointing a gun at someone else now. He let out a small scream and stopped thinking as survival mode kicked in and started running. Not knowing where, just ran and ran, until he fell on someone. “Run for your life”, his voice came out so squeaky and desperate, as he tried to think clearly. The sound of the gun shots was throbbing in his ears; he didn’t know if there were more of them or it was just the previous ones in his head.

Jamie was having a bit of a lie-in. As much as Meridium would allow anyway. Soon enough there was sun streaming in through the porthole, and he opened his eyes reluctantly, stretching, and climbing slowly out of bed. 

He dressed without any real intent - a black vest and a pair of shorts - stopping to eat a bit of mango (what harm could it do now, after all; his attunement had already been stolen), then headed for the door wondering what had taken Teak out so early. He supposed he’d find his brother sooner or later and made his way out onto the deck of the Leander, sighing contentedly as the sunshine warmed him and the island breeze brushed past. It was another beautiful day, and even though he was still processing the loss of his earth attunement, the magic he’d only just learned how to efficiently command, he had a lot to be thankful for. Glancing down at his scarred sandaled feet and his one spoilt shin, Jamie gave a little snort. Well. Maybe he didn’t need to be thankful for jellyfish stings. You had to draw a line somewhere, after all. Even Joaquin would agree with that.

Heading down to the beach though, Jamie noticed a rather good-looking bloke not quite skulking, but definitely examining the ship, perhaps looking for a nonchalant way to come aboard; and Jamie smiled, happy to be playing welcoming committee again, knowing Tomas and Iyaz would forgive his lateness this morning; and he called out, “Oi! Are you looking for someone, mate? Maybe I can help.”

“Well, man– I think you look great. I loved the shirt, by the way,” he really did. It wasn’t a case of James lying to someone’s face in order to make them feel better. And he would often feel it was cruel to say anything negative about someone’s looks when they didn’t have the chance of changing clothes. “My daughter chose this for me, so I also hope I’m not looking so bad either,” he stated, looking back at the floral shirt and the checkered pants.

“I’m usually wearing suits, but Maya would kill me if I decided to use it at a festival,” he chuckled. Besides, it was better to be comfortable while watching concerts happening in different stages through the club. “It’s a warm day you might even see a few people choosing to be topless at some point. So, just enjoy yourself.”

A smile painted on his lips as relief washed over him with a sigh at the comment. “Thank you. I wish I can take credit for it, by a friend of mine chose this for me. They have great taste in these sorts of things.” If it were up to him, Tuah would simply put on a simple white t-shirt over a leather jacket and black jeans, since that was what he wore usually when he was not working. But it was a festival, and he wanted to try something different for a change. “Floral shirt and checkered pants? Your daughter has an exquisite taste. Not everyone can pull it off, you know.”

Laughter escaped him at the comment. “I agree. It’s not a bad look when you’re doing mayoral duties, but I think everyone deserves to see the fun side of you, no.” Tuah dared a little wink before hiding his smirk behind his red cup. “Although I did see someone wearing a full suit coming here, you know.” He thought he recognised the person who wore it, though he only caught a glimpse of them before they disappeared in the crowd moments after. At the comment, however, Tuah could feel his cheeks warmed, glad that half of his face was hidden behind the sunglasses. “Well, I suppose some things never change.” He tried to play it off, chuckling to himself. “I admit I’ve never heard most of the artist’s present here, but then again I haven’t been keeping up with the latest trends. Any recommendation on who to look out for?”

Edgar had been buzzing all day with the promise of the new Order members finally joining. He loved what the organization did as much – and as passionately – as he believed in it, but there was no denying that they needed numbers. Numbers and energy, and the new recruits had it in necessary spades. For the most part. 

It would do no good for Edgar to pretend he didn’t know why he had a bee in his bonnet about James Potter.  So he just refused to acknowledge it instead, pleased to think about the positives of the day (Getting some of the smartest kids he’d known back at school, Evans and Lupin and McKinnon and Meadowes! to their cause! Moody almost seemed like he was in a good mood! Tomorrow was a day off work for both of his identities!) for as long as he could. 

His face practically hurt from smiling at everyone, making pleasant conversation and issuing warm, rambling welcomes to all the recruits who came by and introduced themselves, hands out and minds open. 

But as the room cleared out and it became time to hit the bricks, Edgar decided that it was time to suck it up and give the warmest welcome he could to the one person he hadn’t gone out of his way to cross paths with all day. 

“You should be feeling mighty lucky right about now,” he said as he finally strolled up to James Potter and, well – it wasn’t the worst that could have happened. Probably. “It’s not often Alastor Moody gives out second chances, especially not to people who went out of their way to turn him down the first time.” 

Another beautiful day in Khatanga meant another day spent outside for Ausra. She couldn’t understand how so many people here could coop themselves up in the library all day. It seemed like such a waste to get caught up in fiction or things that had happened a hundred years ago when life was passing you by just outside. She fully believed in ‘to each their own’, there was just a part of her that also wished there were more people like herself around. 

After the delightful walk out to the stables, Ausra pulled up short of the main door. It sounded like someone was in there and she was half hoping for Rhiannon. She didn’t know the woman that well, but she rather liked her, and definitely wanted to get to know her better. Poking her head inside though, she instead saw a man. The princess had seen him around the stables before, but she’d never properly met him. ‘No time like the present’, she thought before grinning broadly. “Hey, I don’t think we’ve met yet.”

She had left the hospital in a daze, completely overwhelmed by the day’s work. It was impossible to tell if she’d done good or evil today. It hadn’t felt like a choice in the moment - she’d seen Bellatrix dying in front of her and reacted. Only afterwards had she doubted herself, felt horror at what she’d done. Concealing it as well, felt wrong, perhaps it would have been better to admit what she’d done and accept any consequences. But there had only been one person she wanted to talk to. James. Any other words coming out of her mouth had been placeholders, meant to cover up her feelings while she waited to escape. Years ago she’d disdained James, lectured him, but somewhere along the way he had become her standard of goodness. Unconsciously become the face to come to mind when she longed for comfort and forgiveness. 

In spite of that, for a while she sat in her living room, face in her hands. For more than a year now he’d been her best source of comfort. Lily longed for it now but it also came with fear, her worst fear, losing all the respect, maybe even the love, he had for her. 

Tossing powder into the fireplace, she knelt down and placed her face in the flames. It had become second nature after a while, although she’d intitially struggled with the concept. Now she barely noticed what she was doing. “James,” she called out, hoping he was home. And that none of the Marauders were there, she didn't want any of them to know. At least not yet.  “James. I need you. Please. Come over, please.” She’d fallen into repeating herself, still in shock.  

Twisting the knife around her fingers, Daiyu practiced some of the most basic movements, slipping it in and out of her sleeves, making it disappear in one hand and appear in another, and of course, throwing it across the room, inches away from someone’s face. 

“Like what you see?”