Catharsis | James Sirius Potter

[ 13 | firewhisky made me do it ]

"It's the start of a new, glorious era for the team, I am calling it now!" He declared, passing her one of the infamous red cups, as he raised his own. "James, mate, any words?"

Standing by the front of the crowd, James flashed an easy grin that only he could muster, "Well, well, we know who's pulling everyone together, right?" A hard thing to tell, especially over the loud cheering and laughing, but his speech had begun to slur slightly, "But, really, it's such an easy calculation. I've got the best bunch. They might be a wee late, lookin' a bit like shite, but they're the best. Here's to us."

"Us." Lucy echoed, immediately breaking eye contact she didn't realise she was making, taking a long, bold sip of the burning, cinnamon tasting Firewhisky, before clinging her cup with Fred's. Us. Such a little word for such a big meaning.

"Will you come off now? I didn't even give you your winner's hug." James held his hand up, brushing past the crowd.

"Actually, Prongs, you have, but cheers for the hand," Said Fred distractedly, accepting his hand to climb off the table.

"Did you eat clown for breakfast?" James sent him an incredulous look, which Fred answered with a very unusually innocent shrug.

Lucy had already managed to light up a cigarette. If she was already there, better to go all the way. Even the worse things. "Endearing." She pointed out, with a simple jump to the ground, a few drops of her cup spilling.

"Curse Dumbledore, you're back with that again?" Fred protested, swatting away the smoke, before excusing himself (most likely to see if Aurora wanted to drown him in compliments).

Drinking whisky as though it was fresh water, Lucy took one good look at James, his hair spiking up messier than usual, dark brown eyes alight with affection– when had he ever grown so much? She had the brief impression she was looking at someone else, not James. Not James Sirius Potter, who tried to eat his feet while his mother wasn't watching, who threw mud at her and laughed because 'you look uglier than Loch Ness monster!' This... whoever this was in front of her... he made her feel. Was it a rush of energy or a rush of blood throughout her body? Never mind that, she did not like it. She didn't like it one bit.

"What?" He asked, sounding somewhere between amused and sincerely confused.

"Goddamit," Lucy muttered, attempting to rub her temples, "You're so handsome."

"I am?" James cocked an eyebrow, not bothering to bite back a grin, "Didn't know you felt that way, Stewart." He ran one of his hands through his hair, as if it needed to be even messier.

"It's more of a complaint, Potter." Lucy corrected, "And there's no feel." She downed the rest of her drink, throat immediately burning afterwards. "I need to get more of this."

"I'll go get it!"

"Oh, please, I can—"

"We won thanks to you, c'mon!" He insisted, taking her cup from her hands.

She was going to let him that time, she'd stopped forcing about, just in time for Mia to basically skip to them, placing herself right in the middle. "James! Bless Rowena you're here, we need to–" She made some sort of beak shape with her hand, moving it about, "–talk."