INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Forty-Four

The Potter boy pouted, looking at her with a pleading look. She was almost surprised that his Animagus form wasn't a dog when he had such adorable puppy-dog eyes. "But we can snog here, right?"

"Oh, definitely," she agreed coyly, grabbing onto his hair to pull him closer once again. She knew she wouldn't be able to see him for hours after that, so she was going to make sure he could still feel her touch until the next time they saw each other.

Every time she tried to pull away, he kept giving her short, sweet kisses that made her giggle a bit too loudly, but she couldn't stop until she pushed him away. "I've got to change into my robes now. Actually change, I mean."

"You can do that in front of me," said James, leaning back against the wall of the small changing room with a deep smirk that made her grimace mockingly towards him. "I'm comfortable."

Lyra tried, to great difficulty, to keep from smiling, but he was too bloody adorable and sweet for her to keep from it. She reached out to push him out of the door. "I'll see you later. We can meet in the kitchens after the feast?"

He took a second to look at her, at her golden blonde hair and shining green eyes along with her brilliant smile. He wanted to stay so badly, but he knew they would see each other soon again. "Sounds great. I can't wait, love."

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Lyra had hurried to get dressed, because she knew she had already taken a suspiciously long amount of time to put on a pair of robes. But she got a bit careless with James, wanting as much time with him as possible. 

She tried to be calm as she walked into the compartment she shared with her friends, so they wouldn't suspect anything. But the minute she walked in, someone asked a question. "Why's your hair so messy?"

Another girl, a Ravenclaw, studied Lyra as she gaped, trying to come up with some excuse. But the Ravenclaw smirked a bit as she had an idea of what was going on. "And why do you look so flushed? You're bright red, Lyra."

"I, uh... fell," Lyra responeded shortly, trying brush her fingers through her hair to make it smoother, like it had been before she had started jumping James's bones. 

"You fell? On, what? A boy?" Lucinda giggled, making the other girls laugh as well. The brunette knew exactly what a person looked like after a snog, having had a few sessions of it of her own. She just didn't think Lyra was that person. As far as she knew, she had only ever snogged one person. 

"Shove off," the blonde girl muttered, turning her head away so nobody could see her burning cheeks. They only found it even funnier that she hadn't even bothered to deny it, especially as they all thought she was a bit of a prude. 

Once she finally sat down on Lucinda's right, a person walked by their compartment. Lucinda was the first to notice who it was and she took a deep breath to keep herself from yelling. "What the bloody hell is he doing?"

Lyra frowned, wondering what had gotten her so upset suddenly. But when she looked towards the door, she got the breath knocked out of her as Rabastan stood there. He nodded his head at her, trying to get her out to talk to him. 

But Lyra didn't want to talk to him. She wasn't sure if she was ever going to be able to see him in the same way after seeing him cast the curse she loathed the most, the one she considered the most horrible curse there is. 

Lucinda was the only one of them who dared try to make eye contact with him, although it was more her glaring and him rolling his eyes at it. She was even angrier that he was trying to talk to Lyra. She had always thought he had a thing for Lyra while she had a thing for him.