The Ladders Of Love: James Potter

09

her new friends

"HEY REESE." James Potter sat down at the Slytherin table opposite the girl, casually grabbing an apple from the middle of the table.

Clarisse's head snapped upwards at his presence, scowling entirely before standing up, walking around the table and dragging him up off of the table by the ear.

"Ow! What the fuck Reese?!" James shouted annoyingly as the girl shoved him onto the nearly empty Gryffindor table.

It was too early for most students to get up and there were practically no students at breakfast yet, and that's exactly how Clarisse Russo liked it. She enjoyed the peace and quiet in the morning.

"Are you insane?!"

"Uh," James stuttered, "I don't think so-"

"If you sit at the Slytherin table someone will skin you alive!" Clarisse whisper hissed. "These people aren't a joke! They learn the unforgivables whilst we learn lullabies!"

"I highly doubt they learn Crucio at age 3-"

"I'm not joking James." Clarisse huffed as she sat opposite him, her eyes deadly serious making him quieten down. "I can sit with you but you can never sit over there. You will become a target."

James nodded slowly, the relief flooding onto Clarisse's face making the boy feel a little guilty. "So you'll sit with me for breakfast?"

Clarisse nodded as she leaned over the table to grab a mug, shoving a piece of buttered toast onto James' plate.

"Hey! I don't eat in the mornings, you know that!" James said as he pocketed the apple that he stole, shoving the plate away from him as he grabbed a mug and willed it full of tea.

Clarisse rolled her eyes as she made a coffee. "Of course I know that, I'm breaking your unhealthy habit." She muttered as she shoved some eggs onto his toast.

"You aren't my mum, Reese." James whined as she pushed the plate towards him.

"Thank Merlin for that."

"Hey! I was a great son!" James exclaimed as he began to eat the toast, attempting to divert her glare.

"Was?" Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "I feel bad for your mum."

"Well now she not only has one James, she has a Sirius too!" Remus exclaimed loudly as he dragged the raven haired drowsy looking boy to sit down opposite them. "James you're never up this early."

"I wanted to catch Reese before she disappeared." James explained. "She always eats breakfast early."

"You never eat in the morning." Peter piped up with a strange look as he sat down, shoving some food onto his plate.

"Clarisse wants to break my 'unhealthy habits.'" James quoted.

"I'm right here you know." The girl murmured as she sipped on a coffee, a newspaper in her hands as her eyes skimmed over it.

James stuck his tongue out at her childishly, grunting when she kicked him underneath the table. "Ow!"

"Don't be dramatic."

"Ooo, mummy and daddy are fighting!" Sirius was now wide awake with a teasing smirk.

"Ew, never say that again." Clarisse made a face.

"Is the idea of dating me that bad?"

"No, but hearing Sirius say 'mummy and daddy' is."

Clarisse missed the triumphant smile that graced James' face. He found this an accomplishment, she wouldn't find it horrible dating him.

But why did he care so much?

✤

"You need to learn to wrap up warm." James scolded the girl and he wrapped his red scarf around her neck as they walked side by side to Hogsmeade. The rest of the boys had wondered off somewhere and James was adamant on taking Clarisse out to the village.

"I underestimate the weather." Clarisse shrugged as she sent him a grateful smile which widened when he placed his arm over her shoulders. "Aren't you going to get cold though?"

"Nah, I'm like a radiator."

"How do you know what that is? It's muggle." Clarisse asked curiously as they walked in sync through the woods.

"I take muggle studies." James offered a hand as she clambered onto the carriage which pulled itself along. He clambered up onto it after helping her, sitting down and letting it move. "So where exactly do you want to go?"

"The only place I really need to go to is a cosy shop by Zonko's called 'Jane's'. It sells knitting gear and I've ran out of baby blue wool."

"You are so Clarisse." James lifted up his hand and rubbed her cheeks with a cheesy smile.

"What does that even mean?"

"Take the compliment and shut up."

✤

"So how did you become friends with Regulus and Barty?" James asked as they warmed up in a booth by the fire. The duo had entered the Three Broomsticks a few minutes ago and quickly found a warm seat.

Except some of Clarisse's friends had already inhabited the pub, glaring at the boy from a different booth. James decided to ask about their friendship, the overprotectiveness of Regulus and Barty confusing him a little.

"Well I didn't really have many friends in Slytherin house-"

"You're friends with Pandora." James interrupted.

Clarisse rolled her eyes as she sipped the butterbeer that he had bought her. "She's not in Slytherin, Antlers, she's in Ravenclaw."

"Oh yeah." James' eyes lit up. "Continue."

"Well because I didn't have many friends I liked to talk to the first years and make sure they had a smooth transition coming into school so they wouldn't turn out friendless like me."

James leaned back in his seat, his face frowning as he listened.

"One day, a first year came up to me and asked where the toilets were. I was in second year and didn't exactly know where the male toilets were so I went to ask a boy in my year when I got tripped up by some girls. My dormmates to be exact."

"Bitches." James swore, encouraging the girl to nod along.

"Well the first year got very angry and hexed them with very dark curses, before introducing himself to me. Since then Regulus Black and I have been friends. Barty just comes along with the package." She said cheekily and loudly making Barty send her the finger from the other booth.

"That's really sweet." James murmured as he stared at the raven haired boy with curious eyes, ignoring the cold icy eyes he was receiving.

"He's like a little brother to me." Clarisse murmured. "I have two older brothers and have always wanted a little sibling and he just sort of fits."

James smiled lopsided as he sipped on his drink. He loved that Clarisse was such a kind and loving person.

"You have two older brothers?" James snapped back into reality with a dramatic gasp making the girl nod. "How come I didn't know this? Tell me all about them!"

Clarisse giggled before opening her mouth. "Well they both went here - there's Carlo, he's eighteen now and works as a curse breaker. Cosimo is our eldest brother, he's twenty and he's an unspeakable-"

"Your brother is an unspeakable?!" James whisper shouted with an excited look on his face. "That's like next level auror!"

"I know, it's kind of cool." Clarisse smiled dreamily. "They were both in Slytherin too."

"I've lost all respect for him." James joked making the girl roll her eyes and smack his head.

"HEY!"