the Horcrux Thief, james potter

iii. i'm not going anywhere

Then she pulled away. She went home and though he followed he was called back by his parents to relate what happened at the Pub, at the flat. Ninny assured him Amaya was alright when he got home, that she was already asleep. That night James barely slept.

Neither did he sleep the following nights. Amaya had holed herself in the library for days. Sirius was pissed at him for hiding Regulus' branding from him and didn't allow him time to explain and tell him about his plan with Dumbledore. Remus was trying to stay out of their way and James was fucking pissed.

During those days, he spent the majority of them flying, exhausting himself, and researching in his father's office to no avail because he knew he wasn't welcome at the library. He also wrote a letter to Dumbledore, requesting that he update him on the Regulus situation because he needed something to tell Sirius.

On the third day, he'd been sitting in the living room with Remus and Sirius had walked in, scoffing at his mere presence. Again, James tried to explain to him the situation and once more, like a child, Sirius blew up on him.

"He's my brother! You should've told me—"

"I know, you prick!"

"Prick? You prat! You're mad at me?"

"You won't let me talk—"

"Because you're a prat and every word out of your mouth is a lie—"

"For fuck's sake, Pads. You know what? You're a fucking cunt—"

"Oh, very classy, Potter. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth—"

"Please, this is getting embarrassing," Remus had muttered.

So yes, perhaps both James and Sirius were children. But Sirius was a petty little shit he was.

That was also when Amaya had walked in, looking mighty annoyed at herself as she asked them for help. And despite every negative thing, James couldn't help but feel his heart flutter at her trusting his friends and allowing them to be part of the research.

In those last few days before he and Sirius had to start Auror training, something James was simultaneously looking forward to and dreading—because that meant being away from Amaya—everything had become a bit better. Amaya wasn't pulling away anymore, even if things weren't back to the way they were before, she was smiling at him again.

Even Sirius had mellowed out with the research, at times forgetting he was mad at James and laughing with him before remembering he was harboring a stupid grudge and flipping James the bird before keeping on with whatever he'd been doing.

The night before the first of September, when the training started, dinner was quiet as everyone was mostly quiet, but it was nice. Since Sirius and Remus had moved in dinners weren't quite the same, not to say they were bad, but it allowed Amaya to close in on herself as the attention was drawn to others—not that Mum let that happen for too long.

After dinner, his parents had left for an emergency talk with Moody about the attack, and everyone else went to bed. They were all exhausted after a full day, so for the first time that week, when James got to bed he fell asleep within minutes.

Only, later in the night, a scream pierced through his sleep—a blood-curdling scream. He shot out of bed, his wand in hand as it echoed in his mind. His mind went to the worst as he charged out of his room; Amaya was the one screaming, and he'd kill whoever dared hurt her. Her scream had faded into pained whimpers, though he could still hear it in his mind.

Remus and Sirius each came out of their rooms looking worried. Even Ninny showed up with a pop outside of Maya's door, her eyes watering.

"Miss Maya has locked Ninny out. Ninny cannot get to her." Ninny sobbed as she ran to James hugging his leg. "Master James must help!"