As soon as Elsie ran out of the classroom after receiving the letter, the other 4 Marauders sent each other gazes of concern for their brunette friend. Not only had she abruptly left class, but she also looked as if she was about to completely fall apart. And as soon as her friends noticed that, they too stood up and ran out of the door in hopes of comforting Elsie. However, when they stepped out of the room, she was nowhere in sight.
James immediately went into a panic, knowing that he needed to be there for Elsie. He wouldn't let her go through whatever it was that she was going through alone. He's messed up far too many times to not go after her, he's been a terrible best friend far too long for him to leave her be.
"The map," James worriedly said, turning and leading the boys back to Gryffindor Tower.
Peter, who was slightly jogging to keep up with his other 3 friends, shouted out, "Wait, but doesn't she not want us to use it on her?"
"This is different, Wormtail," Remus responded with a concerned tone, almost surpassing James due to how large his strides were, "She needs us, we have to find her."
With that being said, the 4 worried boys quickly ran up to the Marauders dorm in order to find out where Elsie is. But when they walked in, they all drew a blank.
"Where's the bloody map?!" James exasperatedly asked his friends after seeing that the map wasn't in its usual place.
"It should be right there," Sirius rushed over to where James was standing and noticed that the map wasn't there.
James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus all looked at each other anxiously, not remembering who had the map last. Not even a second later, the boys wordlessly began turning their room upside down. For the next few hours, they searched the dorm from top to bottom for the missing map, unfortunately with no avail.
"Alright, whichever one of you gits had the map last is going to be a bloody goner," Sirius grumpily groaned while plopping down on his bed and resting his head on his pillow, "Making us search for it for 4 hours."
"C-can't we just accio it?" Peter yawned, tired from looking for so long.
"Already tried that," Remus pointed out while slumping onto his bed in frustration, "Something must be weighing it down."
James threw his hands up in the air dramatically before running them through his hair and exclaiming, "Well, I have fucking patrol duty with Lily in 10 minutes so you lot are going to have to find it. I'll come back after I'm done."
Sirius laid his head down further into his pillow as Remus, Peter, and James continued to flip out about where the map was. He took a deep breath and rolled onto his side. I'll kill whatever prat lost-
He cut his own thought off and let his eyes widen as he heard a crinkling noise sound from his pillow as he turned over. Don't fucking tell me...
The long-haired boy let out a groan as he reached his hand under his pillow and pulled out what had made the noise...the Marauders Map. As the other 3 boys were arguing still, Sirius opened it up and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
James was mid-sentence when he heard Sirius softly speak, "They're okay."
He quickly turned around to see the Black boy sitting up in his bed hovering over the map they've been searching for.
"Oi, where was it?!" He dramatically exclaimed while running over to Sirius' side.
"Doesn't matter," Sirius quickly shut down his question as he smiled at the map in front of him, "They-...erm...she's okay. She's at the Astronomy Tower."
James assertively nodded and started storming towards the door, when Remus noticed how Sirius was longingly staring at the map in front of him. He knew exactly why he was saying they are okay, there was only one person Sirius ever looked at like that. He got up a placed a hand on James' chest to prevent him from leaving.
The spectacled boy looked at at Remus in confusion until he questioned Sirius, "And, is she alone?"
"No," the long-haired boy shook his head, still refusing to tear his gaze off of the parchment, "She's with Regulus. I think we should leave them be."
Remus and Peter nodded their heads, both announcing that they would be going to sleep now that they knew where Elsie was. James, on the other hand, begrudgingly accepted that fact that he shouldn't go get Elsie and simply told Sirius he would be back after his patrolling was finished. He needed to check on Elsie, and he knew she would at least try to confide in one of the Marauders. So, he promised himself he would come back to check on her later.
He met up with Lily and began patrolling the corridors, secretly wishing that he'd run into Elsie on her way back. Unfortunately for him, they didn't see her whatsoever. At the end of their shift, the spectacled boy and the ginger girl stopped at the end of the corridor just before the Gryffindor portrait entrance, laughter bubbling off their lips from something James had just said. Lily looked at him, a curious stare in her eyes as she did so.
"James?" Lily called out before the two parted ways, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
He looked up at the girl who was standing right in front of him as she continued speaking, "We could've been good together."
"Yeah, we would have," James nodded in agreement, because it was true.
They would have been good together, there was a reason he never stopped chasing after her for all those years. But no matter how perfectly they would have worked, James Potter no longer craved perfection. He craved life, messy and sloppy and daunting, but so full of color. He craved Elsie. She was his sunrise, and he promised himself that he'd choose to get up and watch her beauty unfold before him every single morning, even if he couldn't touch it.
Without needing to hear him say anything else, Lily understandingly nodded at him, taking a step closer and pulling him into a hug. She locked eyes with James as an appreciative smile formed on her face.
"In another life, it would've been you and me, James. And I know we would've been so happy because you're a great guy," she whispered, completely understanding the answer he had given her, "But, this isn't our story. I hope you get your happy ending."
Lily stood on her tippy toes while bringing her hands up to James' face and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, as if it was a goodbye. A goodbye to a love that would never be.
"Thank you for always thinking about me," she began walking backwards away from James, a smile plastered on her face while sending him a wink, "And by the way, I no longer believe you to be...what was it I used to say...an immature, arrogant toe rag."
James let out a hearty chuckle as he watched her disappear down the corridor, neglecting to notice the brunette girl who had just slipped down the opposite corridor and through the portrait entrance.
After her and Regulus parted ways, Elsie found herself casually strolling back to Gryffindor Tower. She knew her friends were worried about her and it wasn't right to keep them on edge all night. So, she had a set plan in mind. Go to the Marauders dorm, tell her friends what had happened, then find James and talk to him. She needed her best friend back, so much so that she no longer cared about having to explain her previous love for him. She just needed James Potter back in her life.
However, when she turned down the last corridor to get to the Gryffindor common room, the sight she saw blew her plans into shreds. Lily was huddled close to James with her lips on his cheek.
Elsie didn't know what had come over her. Maybe it was the fact that she felt as if love were practically mocking her at this point, or maybe it was the fact that she may have never actually been over James. But, seeing that sight made her want to crawl into a pit and never come out. After seeing that and everything that had happened today, Elsie needed an escape. So, she suddenly had a new plan.
She ran through the portrait entrance and sprinted up to the Marauders dorm, not even bothering to knock on the door before quietly entering. If this was going to work, she needed to go unnoticed. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw all three boys were tucked into their beds, Remus and Peter with their curtains drawn. Elsie carefully tip-toed over to Sirius' trunk and found exactly what she was looking for.
The small brunette sat down on the floor and carefully took a singular cigarette out of the box, placing it between her lips. She was just about to light it with her wand, when it was snatched out of her mouth by the boy standing behind her.
Elsie grumpily crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, "Will you ever let me have just one?!"
Sirius let out a chuckle as he sat down next to her, booping her nose with his pointer finger and placing the cigarette in his mouth instead, "Never."
She rolled her eyes as he reached under his bed and tossed her a bottle of Firewhiskey, smirking while taking one for himself, "I assume this will help ease the pain while telling me what happened today?"
A light smile tugged her lips upwards as she took a sip and started telling her friend everything that happened. Sirius was never the best with words, but he always knew what his friends needed most. And by the way Elsie looked, he knew she needed an escape. So as the night went on, the two friends sat there talking with each other and getting drunk off of various bottles of firewhiskey.
Meanwhile, James walked into the common room and made himself comfortable on one of the couches. He had assumed that Elsie hadn't come back yet, so he sat there waiting for her, oblivious to the fact that she was currently drinking away her problems with Sirius. As hours passed and he realized Elsie wasn't coming, James trudged his way up to his friends' room to see if they had heard from her.
"How could you have never even thought about it?!" Elsie drunkenly exclaimed, pointing over at a sleeping Remus on his bed.
Sirius felt his cheeks burn a light shade of red, but he blamed it on the alcohol and responded to her, "Because he's a bloke, I couldn't-,"
"He's our Moony," she cut him off, "We both know he's practically perfect."
Sirius ignored the bubbling sensation in his stomach and the heat radiating off of him, and instead playfully rolled his eyes, "Let's forget about that and do something fun."
"Alright, like what?" She replied back, hesitantly moving on from the subject.
"Any ideas?" He said while standing up, almost tripping over his bedpost.
Suddenly, Elsie shot up with excitement, clapping her hands together while slurring out, "Let's streak across the castle! Lily and I did it once, it was terribly fun."
A huge smirk formed on Sirius' face as his eyes lit up, "That's the best idea you've ever had."
Elsie excitedly smiled while beginning to strip herself of her shorts, earning a wide-eyed stare from a drunk Sirius.
"Well, don't just stand there," she winked at him, sliding her panties down her legs and tossing them to the side, "You have to be naked to streak, isn't that right?"
Sirius nodded his head enthusiastically, obeying her words as if he was a lost dog. He threw his shirt off and tugged down his pants and boxers in one go, leaving him completely exposed. He continued to watch as Elsie got rid of her shirt and slowly unclipped her bra, letting it fall to the floor.
"Bloody hell, Els," he smirked while mumbling under his breath, staring in awe at the naked girl before him.
She confidently puffed out her chest, letting the alcohol take over her. Her mouth opened to speak when someone came barging into the room.
"Oi, Pads, have you seen-," James' jaw dropped as he became completely speechless at the sight in front of him.
His eyes flickered between the beautiful, naked girl in front of him and his exposed best friend. He wanted nothing more than to stay there and stare at Elsie's stunning body, the one he had been so lucky to have explored before. But, he couldn't because his blood began to boil at the way Sirius was staring her down, and without an explanation as to why the two were naked, he stormed over to Sirius.
"Bed. Now," he seethed while picking up Sirius' clothes and tossing them at him angrily.
The long haired boy pouted while whining, "B-but we were going to streak around the castle."
James anger soothed a little bit when he heard the reason for why they were undressed, but still hated the way his friend was ogling Elsie.
"I don't fucking care," he spoke affirmatively, pointing towards Sirius' bed, "Bed. Now."
"Fine," Sirius drunkenly grumbled while tearing his sheets open and settling down underneath them, not bothering to put on his clothes.
The spectacled boy clean up all the bottles of Firewhiskey, trying to avoid staring at Elsie at all costs. He was too scared to look, because he knew that once he started there was no stopping. So, he busied himself, hoping she would take it upon herself to get dressed.
"You're avoiding me," Elsie intoxicated you cooed, twirling a piece of hair around her finger while staring at James.
James nervously gulped while scratching the back of his neck, still refusing to look at her, "I-I...erm...n-no I-,"
His sentence was cut off when his breath got caught in the back of his throat as Elsie began slowly walking towards him, a smirk on her face. She got as close to the frozen boy as she could, so the tips of her breasts were brushing against his shirt. Elsie grabbed his face and brought it centimeters away from hers, the alcohol fueling her confidence.
"Not so confident now, Jamesie," she smirked at him, warmly breathing onto his skin.
"Bloody fuck," he mumbled under his breath as his eyes began trailing down her bare body, before shaking his head and snapping himself out of the trance he was in. She's drunk, this isn't right...
He took off the jumper he was wearing and carefully pulled it down over her head and onto her body, "Come on, love. You can sleep here tonight, we'll talk tomorrow."
Elsie nodded and slipped under the covers of James' old bed, her eyes widening as she watched him start to walk away.
"Y-your leaving?" She whispered sadly towards her best friend, as he turned around and locked eyes with her, "P-please don't leave, everyone does."
James' heart practically broke at seeing how sad she was, even if it was the alcohol speaking. He walked over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, laying down next to her, "Not me, Els. I'm never leaving you."
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AUTHORS NOTE:
Hehe just a little fillerrrrr
Y'ALL THE NEXT CHAPTER, I-...THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR IT I CANT WAIT TO FINISH IT!!! Hmmm I wonder why;)
Also, I have this story backed up on google docs so if it gets taken down I still have it and I'll still finish it. But, that's only if it gets taken down. So for now, enjoy!!!