bruises - james potter

forty-one

Her once dreamless sleep was now filled with nightmares. The girl hated her mind for coming up with such awful things that woke her up in the middle of the night; her body covered in a layer of cold sweat, her teeth chattering despite the hot air that was coming in through her open windows.

Her body would be shaking, aching for some form of physical contact that she had gotten so used to. Hugs from Lily when things got to tough and she felt like breaking down, the ginger girl just knowing when she needed a hug rather than someone asking her to talk about the battles going on in her mind. Marlene giving the girl piggy-back rides around the school, the two of them laughing like mad men as they dodged students coming from class. The way Cassie would braid Alices hair as the Gryffindor read all these muggle novels to the girl, introducing her to a whole new world of literature that she couldn't wait to explore. She missed the way Sirius would lay his head on her lap as the two of them talked about absolutely anything, not caring where the topics led as they just enjoyed being in his company.

She missed James.

She missed his messy hair, that she would always mock, but secretly she loved it. The way his glasses were never straight on his nose, making her smile everyday when she saw him, leaning in to fix them and giving him a small kiss at the same time. She missed the way that he would wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him as they sat down in the Gryffindor common room (James giving anyone who gave the Slytherin a dirty look a glare) She missed the way he would never think twice, doing whatever first came to his mind, no matter how big the consequences. She missed how his hand fit perfectly in hers, the way their fingers entwined as they walked down the corridors of the schools. But mostly, she missed the way that he made her feel. The smile that would plaster itself on her face as she saw him walking towards her, the butterflies that still showed up in her stomach each time James called her love.

But James wasn't here. None of them were.

She had to deal with this alone.

With shaking hands, Cassie picked up a clump of her hair, and then she picked up the pair of scissors resting on the edge of the sink.

She took a deep breath, opening the blades of the scissors and placing the handful of hair between them.

Without a second thought, she quickly brought the blades of the scissors back together, large strands of her almost waist-length hair falling to the floor.

Cassie let out a small laugh as she looked at the hair on the floor, and then the hair that was still in her hand.

She rose the scissors again, and got cutting.

･・･☽✥☾･・･

"She's amazing mum." James said, sitting forwards in his seat on the sofa as he talked excitedly to his parents.

Fleamont and Euphemia watched as their son talked about his girlfriend, matching smiles on both of their faces as they loved seeing him this happy.

They couldn't get him to shut up about the girl, not that they wanted to. The way his eyes lit up as he remember some other detail about her, not waiting to finish what he was saying before adding in more random facts. Even some facts that his parents didn't need to know:

"When she's on her period, she always craves strawberries."

Sirius had left the room after that, not wanting to heat anymore about his sister, and someone he considered to be his brother, dating.

He had left the room with his hands pressed tightly over his ears as he yelled the words to a Queen song, not stopping until he was up the stairs and a safe distance away from a swooning James.

"You'll love her, honestly." James said, taking a breath and looking up at his parents, his smile wide and toothy.

"She sounds amazing James, honestly." Fleamont spoke up after a few seconds, making sure that James had finished speaking this time.

"We can't wait to meet her." Euphemia added, standing up and walking over to her son. She placed both of her hands on either of his shoulders.

"I love seeing you this happy James." She whispered, pulling him in for a hug.

Fleamont let out a chuckle as he too stood up, walking over to his wife.

"Family hug!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the two of them, kissing his wifes cheek.

James pushed his parents away from him and rushed to the bottom of the stairs, where he put his hands around his mouth and yelled.

"Oi, Black!"

"The fuck- I mean fudge do you want sister kisser?" Sirius yelled back, his head appearing over the banister, his toothbrush in his mouth.

"It's a family hug you dipshit, get down here!"

James let out a chuckle as Sirius placed a leg either side of the banister and slid down it, his toothbrush still in his mouth and a piece of paper in one of his hands.

"Fuck, that shit hurts." He said, looking at the way his arms now had red marks lining them, but he only shrugged as he ran past James and into the Potter Manor living room.

"What are you waiting for Prongs?" Sirius asked, his head popping around the door as he sent James a smile.

James rolled his eyes as he followed Sirius into the living room, joining in on the family hug.

They must have stayed there for a few minutes, before Sirius chirped up.

"As much as I love these family hugs, and they should definitely happen more often." He said with a smile, as Euphemia and Fleamont let go of the two boys and took a few steps back.

"I thought you may like to see a picture of-" he gulped- "James girlfriend." He pulled a disgusted face as he turned away for a second.

"This must be incest?" He asked no-one in particular, turning back around and handing Euphemia the piece of paper.

She unfolded it, smiling as she saw the moving picture of Cassie. She looked up at James.

"She's beautiful James." Euphemia passed the paper to Fleamont, who smiled down at it.

James furrowed his eyebrows together as he caught a glimpse of the paper.

"When did you take that?" He asked Sirius, his head gesturing towards the picture.

It was a picture of him and Cassie, the dark-haired girl laughing as she pointed her wand at the goblet infront of herself, her mouth moving saying some words that James knew then weren't the actual spell.

He was staring at her, a smile on his face as he was obviously trying to suppress his laugh, his face turning more and more red as the picture continued to move.

It wasn't hard to tell from the picture that James Potter was in love with the girl. The way he looked at her said everything he wasn't yet ready to say.

"Just before Valentines day."

･・･☽✥☾･・･

HELLO
IT'S ME, AGAIN
I'M SORRY THIS CHAPTER
IS KINDA LATE TODAY,
I WAS VERY LOST ON HOW
TO BEGIN IT, BUT WHEN I STARTED
WRITING IT, I COULDN'T STOP-

I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOYED
THIS CHAPTER BECAUSE I'M ACTUALLY VERY PROUD OF IT!

CASSIE MY POOR BBY

AND JAMES, MY LOVESICK
PUPPY 🥺🥺

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU
THOUGHT AS YOUR FEEDBACK
HELPS ME IMPROVE (:

AND UNTIL NEXT TIME

- Emily xx