𝐌𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 ∗ 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐬

    She looked up at him again with an annoyed face, her head already beginning to hurt from his enthusiastic personality.
    The smile on his face grew wider as her expression softened, "fine" she groaned, gaining a loud clap from the dark-haired boy.

-

    "Best snog?" Sirius asked as he flipped through the pages of a muggle fashion magazine, Eleanor was scanning the bookstore for a book she promised she'd pick up for Alice and Romeo on the healing properties of plants.
    "That's a hard one, if we are talking guys it's a tie between Caradoc and Remus, but if we're talking about girls-"
    "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear the Remus part! But you've kissed girls!" He asked losing his page in the magazine as he looked up with a look of shock.
    "I've done a lot more than just kiss girls" she teased, Sirius' jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "but for girls best snog would be Lily Evans, although I don't overly enjoy her presence she is a fantastic kisser"
    "How?"
    "Very intense game of seven minutes in fourth year."

    At that exact moment, Sirius nearly rolled off the beanbag he found himself enclosed in and onto the floor, his head about to explode from the amount of sheer shock and excitement coursing through his veins.
    "Wait till James finds that out, his enemy, slash future wife, and the girl he's been pining after for years have snogged" he laughed making Ella stare in confusion.
    "Why am I his future wife?" Ella looked disgusted at the boy who was now sitting on the floor waiting for her to find the stupid plant book so he can leave the bookshop.
    "You two have some weird sexual tension," he said with a look of seriousness on his face.
    "We do not have sexual tension!" She whisper yelled, bending down to smack him in the shoulder with the paperback in her hands.
    "Sorry, I meant weird chemistry. You can try to say you don't but anyone with half a brain can sense it" he said rubbing the place she hit him with as if he had been properly wounded.

    "I found it!" She yelled out grabbing the book from the shelf and displaying it for Sirius, "oh shit sorry" she whispered as she realized the number of angry glares she had gotten from the people around the room.
    "Idiot" Sirius laughed gaining a glare from the girl.

-

    Eleanor and Sirius made their way into three broomsticks, both of them psychically cringing at the number of couples with their tongues down each other's throats.
    "So Mr. Black it's my turn to ask, who were your favourite snogs?" she asked as she placed two butterbeer on the table in front of them.
    A look of concentration was plastered on his face as he really thought about the question, "well no doubt, the best bloke over ever snogged was Remus" his eyesight travelling over to the two boys who were sharing the corner booth.

    They were laughing and holding hands without a care in the world, things that Sirius and Remus had always done in private.
    "He looks happy y'know" Ella frowned as she turned to look at the two boys.
    "I'm sorry"
    "Nothing to be sorry for, I'm happy that he's happy, he's all that matters" Sirius gave a weak smiled and took a sip from his mug.

    Ella watched as he picked at the skin of his fingers, his eyes travelling back up to the couple who filled the room with the sweet sound of laughter. Her eyes caught Romeo's who smiled at her gratefully, she felt a pang in her chest as she returned back to Sirius who let out a deep breath.
    The air in the room seemed rather tense after it, the smell of cinnamon filling her sense as a plate of cake was delivered to the table across from them.

    "Anyways, enough of the sappy shit, best female snog Mary MacDonald in fourth year" he grinned, a small smile made its way onto her face remembering how much Mary raved about the kiss for weeks.
    Ella's eyes got distracted by the couple sitting right across the room, her eyes landing on a certain redhead and a boy with unruly-looking hair.
    James caught her eyes for a second and gave her a tight-lipped smile before returning back to his conversation.
    Weirdly a feeling of jealousy arose in her chest, suddenly watching him have small talk with lily made her want to bang her head on the table.

    "What's wrong Pettigrew? Prong and Evans making you jealous?" A mocking tone dripped from his tongue as he poked her in the cheek.
    Her harsh glare landed on the long-haired boy, "oi, I was only taking the piss out of you, no need to get angry" he said trying to make her evil eyes stop.
    "I'm not jealous, I'm just observing" she muttered her eyes now landing on the half-empty mug of butterbeer in front of her.

-

    James pulled lily's chair out for her before ushering for her to take a seat, his palms sweating as he took a seat across from her, guilt filled the pit in his stomach. He fully intended on coming on this date to smooth talk her into getting back together, but something didn't feel as right as he thought it would.

    "So what did you need to talk to me about?" lily said with a sickeningly sweet smile, typical lily to look so angel-like when James is having the worst time trying to form proper sentences. Her eyes looked at the boy who awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
    "I wanted to um- well I wanted to apologize" he confessed, not quite sure where was going with this conversation, his lips forming a straight line as he looked at the girl.
    "For what exactly?" she asked confused, her brain flipping through all the reasons that James would ever need to apologize for.
    "For you know- the last few years, it's come to my attention just how much of a prat I've been. I'm sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable" he said looking at literally everything else in the room except for her eyes.

    Lily stared at him as if he had just grown two heads, her eyebrows furrowed trying to figure out if he was joking or not.
    But after reading his face, she noticed that he was being serious.
    "Well thank you, really, you never made me uncomfortable just extremely annoyed" she joked making them both laugh, "but in all seriousness, it is very mature of you to realize you're in the wrong" she smiled at the boy who shared the host of a smile.

     "Since we are apologizing, I'm sorry for the whole breakup. I just wasn't in the right headspace, and to be truthful I viewed us more as friends" she admitted, her hand reaching forward to hold his.

    He nodded along with her but didn't hear a single thing she said, his eyes travelling over to Sirius and a blonde girl laughing in the booth across from them. The blonde's hand reached forward to clutch his as she laughed at his joke.
    Her face turned to look at his, Eleanor's green eyes caught James' brown ones, the evidence of a smile had left her face as she looked at him.
    Her hand was no longer in Sirius' as she straightened in her seat turning back to the long-haired boy.

    "I see you've moved on" lily joked as she looked at James' line of vision, her eyes landing on Ella and Sirius, "and to think that I thought you came here to ask me out" James smiled madly embarrassed at her confession, "but really, you should go for her."
    "Me?" he let out a loud breath of air, "no- definitely not, especially with her" his eyes now burning holes into the table trying to ignore the question.

    James now knew for a fact that he had gotten over lily, and there was a possibility of feelings arising for other girls, but it felt wrong to talk about this with his ex.
    "Sure," she said leaning over the table to further observe James' flustered state, his face burning a deep shade of pink, "cause I didn't just see you oogling Eleanor Pettigrew" she tormented him, knowing one way or another he would spill his feelings.
    "I don't fancy her, not one bit, I was simply observing my surroundings" he shot back, lily practically dying from laughter at his terrible lying skills.
    "You're a shit liar, y'know that?" she poked fun at him. 

    James stared at the table contemplating his choices, he could either suppress this feeling forever and move on with his life, or he could confide in lily. His eyes on the remaining drink in his mug, the warmness of the beer called down, no longer as joyous as it once was.

    "And if I were to like her, would that be such a bad thing?"

    James had been so confused since his attempt to get over lily. He could officially say that the feelings for the most part had left, but now he was left utterly troubled. He had never really fancied anyone other than his beloved lily-flower, that's the problem, he didn't know how to like anyone else.
    It was all too new.

    "James, if you liked her, hypothetically of course. That would be okay" Lily whispered and motioned toward a laughing Ella,

    James' eyes travelled back up to the blonde, and for once he realized just how pretty her smile was.