James rushed under the invisibility cloak, clutching the Marauders Map in one hand, and his wand in the other.
Earlier, he had been lounging in the dorm room, looking at figures moving around in the castle. He was observing Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be scolding a group of boys, when suddenly, something had flown into the room. Right onto James’ face.
He rubbed at his forehead, not feeling a bump, thank Merlin.
The letter had fallen into his lap.
He recognized the familiar chocolate-brown envelope, with shimmery gold writing.
It was Crouch’s.
Now, why would Crouch send him a letter when he could easily sneak into an dorm, or get someone to summon James?
James opened the letter, and he did an double take at what he saw.
“Help needed.”
The two words were all James needed to sneak out into the Forbidden Forest, where Crouch’s name appeared.
-
The Marauders were still charting the grounds aside from the actual school, so James had to be extra careful. Fortunately, his cloak helped him sneak past an herd of centaurs, an large web with an even larger spider and other such magical creatures.
Crouch’s name didn’t move on the map, it stayed stationary.
James feared the worst.
He continued his trek throughout the forest until, he was just an couple meters away.
From… An clearing?
An clearing.
With proper fields of grasses and flowers, and even an creek in the back.
In the midst of it all, was Barty Crouch Jr, laying down on an patch of grass.
James stepped on an comically-placed branch, and Crouch turned to look at him.
He smiled, and called out to him.
“Finally, get over here Potter!”
James resisted the urge to strangle him the closer he got.
He kept glancing around, wondering, maybe this was an puzzle, an test. Maybe Crouch was tricking him.
But the other boy just laid there, staring at James.
“…What is the meaning of this Crouch?” James questioned, raising an eyebrow, while sitting down next to Barty.
He shrugged, before getting up and pulling something out of his robe pocket.
It was nail polish.
James was even more confused.
“Didn’t you get my letter? I said I needed help.” He rolled his eyes, as he continued to take out more bottles of various colors.
“What exactly is the help the top student at Hogwarts needs?”
“I want you to help me choose what to paint my nails”
James felt a headache coming. He groaned in frustration, letting his head fall back into the grass. He shut his eyes tightly, almost expecting to wake up back in his dormitory, but no. When he opened his eyes again, Barty was studying him, a small grin apparent on his face.
“Okay” he sighed out, getting up and stretching his arms.
Barty pushed different colors infront of him ranging from hues of moody purple to hot-pink. James didn’t really know why it mattered to Barty whether or not James chose the colors, but Barty had called, and James had come. He wouldn’t leave without fulfilling Barty’s desires.
“Is there a limit to how many colors I can chose?”
“Nope, but I do only have 10 fingers…”
“Can it be any color?”
“That’s why I brought lots.”
“What if I choose an color and you don’t have it?”
“Their enchanted Potter. Just describe the color and it’ll change to that. But only variants of colors based on the bottle color.”
“Wow, you’ve really thought this out, huh.”
Barty’s face gleamed with pride and James suddenly didn’t feel too bad about picking colors.
“Well, for starters, you should have Gryffindor Red.” Barty shoved James, but nevertheless, he conjured the color. “And your own house color, so Ravenclaw Blue.” Barty kept conjuring, as James kept talking.
He chose gold, to complement the red. And silver to complement the blue. He told Barty a brown that was similar to his eyes. And a blue gray for his own eyes. And of course, a nice black. Finally, a glitter dark purple.
As Barty painted his nails himself, James stared at him.
He watched as Barty concentrated very hard, cringing when he messed up. He brushed an strand of hair, falling into his face and relished the softness of it. When Barty had finished, he shoved his hand in his face.
James looked at it, staring at each individual nail color.
Colors he had picked out.
Barty had painted the last three remaining fingers with the brown the color of James’s eyes. His heart fluttered, and Barty knew it did, because he smirked.
“Like them, Potter?”
“Of course, I chose them after all Crouch.”
They intertwined hands, and laid on the grass, waiting for the polish to dry,
They could’ve cast an spell, or created wind somehow.
But they didn’t.
They talked, about anything. James’s quidditch, Barty’s marks. Getting detentions, homework, trading gossip. They talked and talked and talked.
The polish dried, but the conversation was far from done.
“James, I need one last thing before your free to go.” Barty spoke.
“Anything for you, Barty.” James responded.
He didn’t expect it when Barty’s lips met his, but he didn’t push away either.
Barty moved back, and he had a faint pink blush on his cheeks. James was sure he too did have something similar.
James kissed him again first, and this time, they stayed kissing. Somewhere along the way, James’s tongue slipped into Barty’s mouth, and it didn’t come out for a long time. Things became heated, as Barty rolled over on top of James, straddling his hips. His hands on James’s neck traversed into his hair and gripped tight. James’s hands were never in one place, exploring familiar crevices of Barty, from his neck to his collarbone, to his waist, to his hips, to his thighs.
And if anyone saw Crouch. walking back to the castle, with a limp, he’d tell them he encountered something in the Forbidden Forest.