Sunshine on a rainy day
Gently closing the door to the dorm, James silently crept into the common room. It was almost 3am, surely it’d be empty by now. He stared emptily at the walls of gryffindor common room that had once been the object of his adoration, when he was just a first year student entering his first wizarding school. Away from home, his parents, his other friends. But he doesn’t miss it. Right now, James doesn’t miss anything. A blank look passes his face, no emotion, no anger, no sadness and no joy. To anyone who knew James, he looked surreal. James, the golden boy, with no ounce of emotion. Even the gold and red walls, the welcoming fireplace and the warm atmosphere did little to change James’ mood.
So when James emerged from the stairs into the common room to find Lily Evans of all people sat reading in the window, she of course immediately shot him a concerned look. But he wasn’t in the mood for it. Not today. James “always smiling” Potter could not muster the shadow of a grin nor even an awkward laugh.
“James?” Lily asked in concern. “Are you oka-“
“Not now Lily.” James seethed, clearly upset. With that, he stormed towards the entrance, climbed out of the portrait hole, and allowed it to bang shut behind him.
~~~
Lily Evans was very smart indeed. Top of her class (of course) and supposedly the brightest witch of her age. Despite this, she found it incomprehensible why “golden boy” James Potter had just stormed out of the common room as though there was a fire to escape. Now, it was well known by almost the entire population at Hogwarts that Lily Evans did not like James Potter. Romantically (ew) or otherwise. After his many (many) love confessions that served to only humiliate her, Lily was certainly not a fan of him. But she isn’t heartless. In fact, Lily was quite curious. It took a lot for James to get angry and in their 5 years at Hogwarts Lily had never seen James act like that. So of course the logical thing to do she decided, was to follow him. Closing her book and noting down the page number, she hopped up from the window seat and crept quickly out of the portait hole. To see the sunshine when he’s having a rainy day.
~~~
What was he thinking? He should’ve never started again. If he’d just waited a few more hours he wouldn’t have made Sirius find out. Sirius will never leave him alone now. He’s got to think of a good lie. Except one issue: James never could lie to those he loves. It was easy with his mum and dad, being at school all of the time. But Sirius? Now he knows something, there’s no hiding it. It’s not a big deal if nobody knows. Except now Sirius will find out.
He stops in his tracks. Looks around. Where is he even going? Wrapped up in himself, James found himself walked aimlessly along the corridors, nearby a random charms classroom. He slips into a little cove next to it. It’s one of his hiding places he found in 3rd year when he was struggling. You can see the whole school from up here. The quidditch pitch, the forest, the courtyard and everything beyond. It calms James. Knowing there’s a whole world beyond him and his own issues. Looking up into the sky knowing that each tiny star could be an entire galaxy thousands of years away, or a planet, a star amongst the vacuum of space.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded nearby. He popped his head out of the alcove quickly to see- no one? And then a hand gripped his shoulder and Lily bloody Evans stared back at him because of course she bloody did.