Bring The Lion Out² | James Potter

twenty

Then came another feeling.

He pulled away and started pacing the room. Andrea knew he was angry. She knew he wanted to yell at her. But he was holding back, for obvious reasons. She crossed her arms and studied him. Everyone had their eyes either on her or the pacing Potter. "If you have something to say, just say it."

He stopped pacing and looked at her. "Where were you?" he tried in a gentle tone, but it came out very strained. "Forest," she shrugged, making it clear to the Marauders that she was most likely in Bambi's form while out there.

James clenched his jaw, making it tick on one side.

"Why?" "Felt like it." It was clear she was challenging him, waiting to see how far she could push before he snapped. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his built shoulders rising and falling. "And who were you there with?" he said through clenched teeth. He already knew the answer. But he needed her to confirm before he lost his cool.

"No one. I went alone," she stated loud and clear, cocking an eyebrow at him. James turned his back on her, using all his willpower to calm down.

All the girls had fallen silent, not understanding what was making him this angry. While the boys looked on cautiously because they knew how much James wanted to explode right there and then.

Andrea pushed off the wall and approached him.

"What? You're not gonna yell?" she taunted him. He was quickly losing his patience, the demeanour he had managed to keep quickly slipping as she continued to push him. But she needed to push him. She needed her friends to treat her normally again.

"Come on, Prongs. I ran off, with no bodyguards, which I know you're responsible for by the way, and without telling anyone where I was going. I walked down there, all alone, even knowing the type of monsters there could be roaming these halls. And you have nothing to say?" 

She was trying to get a reaction out of him. She needed a reaction. She needed him to snap at her like he would any other person. Like he would've done to her if it was any other time in their lives.

Because she was not weak.

James figured out what she was doing and spun around so quickly she flinched away. But James didn't catch it. Instead, he glared back at the defiant look in her eyes.

"Don't test me, Russo," he got out through gritted teeth. "Or what?" she pressed again. James could see her shaking. Out of fear? Fear of him? He cautiously pulled back, not wanting to be a cause for her discomfort. But he also knew what she wanted him to do, so either go full in or pull back. 

Either way, it wasn't going to end with everyone happy.

Sirius noticed the shaking too and glared at James' back. "Stand down, mate. Now's not the time," he warned. His words weren't aggressive, but his tone held the promise of 'or I'll make you' in it.

"This is what you want to do, huh? You want me to yell at you so that you shake with fear like you are right now? So, I can go on and hate myself for making you feel this way? And then you can resent me for it later on? This is not how it works, Bambi."

She narrowed her eyes at him and stepped closer. "I'm not weak." She had tried to sound tough, but her voice ended up breaking halfway through, making all the anger James had building up inside him disparate in thin air.

He rested his hands on her shoulders. "I know you're not. But Andrea, I am, OK? Whenever it's something that concerns you, I am utterly and hopelessly defenceless, and I can't handle knowing that you are out there on your own and something could be happening any second. Looking at the odds, they're coming for all of us one by one, picking us off. Lily, Peter, you last year, Marlene and now you again. I can't handle it."