ᴅᴀᴛᴇ ғᴏʀ ғᴀᴋᴇ → ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ

↳ 14: MOM ATTACK

IMAGINE HOW FIANA MAYWARD SQUEALED in horror as a sixteen, nearly seventeen, year old bespectacled boy arrived in her fireplace. She wasn't all thrilled when Freya had ask her if she could ask her fathers' men to fix up the fireplace to allow floo transport — of course, her mom was not in good terms with her dad — but she was underage and she needed an older wizard to do it for her. But if it was what it needed to meet her daughters first (as she knows of) boyfriend, she went with it.

           Fiana was still staring bewilderedly at the fireplace while Freya didn't knew how to react as she saw James standing in their living room looking so sharp in a maroon sweater, black jeans and brown boots. So, Froyce took it to his accord to drop down the Daily Prophet he was reading and to greet James. "Hell, yes! James mother freaking Potter, in the house!"

           James chuckled and the two shook hands and did their manly hug that Freya didn't know they even had. "Froyce, my man!"

           Froyce's language, however, seemed to have snapped the shock in Fiana's face because she immediately scolded her son, "Language, Froyce!" She then turned to James and a wide smile appeared across her face — talk about master morphing of emotions. "And you must be James! Oh, my, you're so handsome!"

          Freya rolled her eyes, finally deciding to move, as she saw the usual proud look on James' face. She walked to where James stood and wrapped an arm around his back, squeezing his shoulder as she said, "Yeah, let's refrain the compliments, Mom."

          James chuckled and placed a hand on Freya's waist so easily it was almost natural. In fact, the two were so used to it that it did feel natural. "Your daughter wants all the compliments, Mrs. Merse." And he kissed Freya's temple. Freya's insides swooned.

          "Oh, dear, call me, Fiona." said Freya's mom with eyes twinkling. "Judging with the sixty seconds you've been here, I could tell you'd be around a long time."

          James smiled and did a curt nod. "Of course, Fiona."

          Fiona smiled and then clasped her hands. "Alright, breakfast, shall we?"

JAMES SAT NEXT INCREDIBLY CLOSE to Freya, his arm casually draped around Freya's seat. Froyce sat in front of them while Fiana at the master seat at the end of the small table.

          "So, James," Fiona started. "How did you two meet?"

          Freya almost choked her food, remembering that her and James never discussed these questions. James, however, acted unfazed and turned to Freya. "You want to tell the story, love?"

          Freya forced a smile at her 'boyfriend' and shook her head. "My mom would want to hear it from you, hun."

          James chuckled and sat up a bit straighter. "Okay, well, where do I start?" James clicked his tongue. "Ah, well, we first met at first year, of course. Me and my best friend entered the compartment that Freya was in. And she kind of got pissed off at how noisy we were — she even pinched my ears."

          "What a sight I would love to see." Froyce commented with a smirk, making Freya scowl at him.

          "But I fell in love her when —" James stopped and suddenly looked at Freya. Her striking innocent brown eyes was all he needed to look at to form his words. "When we first visited Hogsmeade back in third year."

          Freya scrunched her eyebrows, having no idea where James was going. The lad only took a deep breathe before continuing, "She was with her friends in the Three Broomsticks and me and the table my friends were sitting at was at the other side in front of them. And even across the room, she — she mesmerized me so much."

          Freya's eye widened at James' sudden story. Yet, James only bit his lip and kept on speaking, "Her lips were covered with butterbeer foam. Her head was pulled back and she was laughing so hard at something her friend must've said. She looked so — so heavenly. She looked so carefree and natural. She looked so real yet unattainable. She was a real piece of art."

         Freya's eyes slowly melted as James' never removed his gaze from her. She wanted to slap him and to tell him to stop doing whatever he was doing but she was frozen. "It seemed like I was staring at a friend — because that was what Freya was to me, a friend. The girl who pinched my ears the first time she ever met me. But as I stared longer, it felt like I was staring at a completely different person. Something much more than the girl who hurt my earlobes."

          Now Freya couldn't remove her eyes from James even if she wanted to. Her head was in all places as she tried to decipher James and what he was saying, "And I felt something. And up to now, I still haven't quite figured out what it was. But I felt like I wanted to know her. I felt like she could be more than just a friend to me. I felt like I — that I —" James looked so genuinely at Freya as he said, "I just fell in love."

           The two didn't realize how they never left each others eyes as James spoke. Freya's heart was hammering so hard she could probably feel it through her ribcage. James didn't know where his words came from, but even he seemed as surprised as Freya with them.

          Freya, incidentally, toggled at the memory of them on third year. She remembered she was laughing at a very dirty joke Marlene had said for a thirteen year old. She remembered seeing the Marauders across the room. She remembered seeing James staring at their table. But, she also remembered thinking that James must've been staring at Lily because he's been in love with her since their second year. She remembered smirking at the bespectacled boy and pointing at Lily with a wink. She remembered James rolling his eyes playfully and sticking his tongue out on her. But she, for the love of Zeus, could not remember — or even picture — that James was staring at her. And it made her feel special to think about it.

          "Oh, wow, what a beautifu love at first sight story!" Froyce took it to his accord to speak (loudly) because the two seemed to have been frozen in front of him. "Let's finish breakfast, shall we?"

           James and Freya, finally, snapped out of it. Freya smiled uncomfortably at her mom while James said, "Yeah, so that's how I fell in love with her. And, I mean, of course, we were still too young and I didn't even know if it was love. I only had the courage to ask her now that we're all sixteen and graduating soon. But it's better late than never, right?"

          Fiona Merse was near to tears, smiling with a pout. She sniffled and said, "Oh, hopefully there are more men like you in this world."

         "Mom." Freya and Froyce said, rolling their eyes as they knew where their mother was going to.

         "What? It would be nice to have men more like this James fella than like those of your rotten father."

          James started shifting uncomfortably, for the first time feeling awkward with a compliment, as he felt he must have hit a red line. Fiona, however, continued. "Anyway, I like you, James. I could say you're a keeper."

          In a flash, the uncomfortable face of James was splotched with a wide grin. Froyce looked like he was ready to burst out of his seat laughing. James looked at Freya and nudged her shoulder with his hand. "Looks like, I'd be around for a while."

           "You don't say."

           Yet even in Freya pretending to scowl, James was smiling at her as if he had just won the lottery.