Twisted Love | James Potter

𝒳𝐿𝐼𝒳

The whole back porch dramatically cheered as they jumped up and down, finally telling themselves they did their part and that it was time for them to enter the warm house for comfort and hot cocoa.

Tonight was also the last night before the Christmas holiday which meant one very important thing to Sirius, Peter, and James; everyone was allowed one present.

As the fire soared in the brisk air, somehow, the strong flames were hardly affected by the battling winds as they wafted calmly yet fiercely. As Del admired what she made, the two other boys, who were now no longer cold, came down to the small realisation that this fire showed no signs of being put out anytime soon.

"Alright, Del, now all you have to do is extinguish it." Remus advised carefully as he began nervously stepping back from the growing flames. They only seemed to get taller and expand across the snow, melting it into puddles of water that soon dried up and allowed for the heat to attach itself onto the grass below the layers.

It wasn't possible the two men thought, the snow was inches thick, feet even. How could the fire somehow spread away from just the wood? That was the whole reason they came out here in the first place. Not so she could light up the whole valley.

Del's eyes widened as she too noticed the growing fire, she remembered the candle in her room, or all the possible cigarettes she lit. She never actually put them out. This is what caused her frenzie in the first place, it wasn't her starting the fire that she was worried about, it was her extinguishing it.

"Mates, not trying to sound like a twat here, but now isn't the time for a bonfire, let's go inside now, yeah?" Peter yelled out to the crowd once again. The lot on the porch couldn't help their complaints and their need to go inside for warmth, but even then they couldn't allow themselves to soak up the indoors while the three were still out there.

"No shite, you dimwit! We aren't done yet!" Remus yelled back before turning back around, "Don't let them pressure you, Del. It's all good, just do what you did in the living room." He reminded.

What did she do to put out the fireplace in the living room? All she knew was that she was overwhelmed and panicked; like all her nerves were attacking and alarms were sounding in her head.

Yet, it didn't feel that way at first, Del didn't know how to explain it, it was almost as if the second Cal left her room and she began playing with the small candle, she felt a euphoria she hadn't ever experienced before. It was like each flicker of light caused a rush of power through her veins, heightening all her nerves and emotions; butterflies would flutter in her stomach each time she succeeded, the high made her feel as if she could do anything.

Until it didn't.

The second it stopped, the second she lost control over the candle, and it no longer flickered or did the tricks she encouraged it to do or even extinguish by the force of her own breath, all the euphoria left and her high came crashing down.

Now she was stuck in this hungover-like trance where everything stayed hyper-sensitive. Every noise around her sounded magnified while the fire in front of her felt like each flame took a turn of harshly slapping the surface of her skin, even the own thumping of her racing heart felt as if it were a drum stick banging along her aching ribs.

"I think the fires getting bigger." Sirius thought aloud as he and Euphemia slowly stood up in concern as they watched the three figures slowly back away from the large flames. "Do you, Sirius?" Peter sarcastically replied, he and James following in the other twos lead as they began slowly venturing towards the small group.

If the fire seemed large from ahead, then were they sure surprised when they fully approached Remus and Fleamont who were on the opposite side from Del. You could hardly even see her from the angle they were from, yet as disappointed as any of them were to admit, they feared to be right beside her, not knowing or understanding what she was capable of just yet.