Tongue tied- Grouplove
James found himself watching the Slytherin table across the hall, searching for the delicate boy he had been paired with for potions. They had worked in near silence for the remainder of the class which had been entirely theory as was the habit for the first few weeks. James had of course asked more questions, but they had gone ignored. Regulus had simply made a shooing gesture with his hand and continued reading something that James assumed wasn’t course material – he had no way of knowing for sure as the text was in French which Sirius had taught him no more of than a few basic cusses.
He groaned. No matter how much James scanned the Great Hall, he couldn’t see Regulus.
“What’s up mate?” Sirius asked sliding into the seat beside him propping his feet up on the opposite bench only to be shoved off as Remus dropped down across from him. James grinned at the two, momentarily forgetting the person his thoughts had snagged on as Remus and Peter struck up conversation about some new strategy in wizard chess. He glanced over at the Slytherin table again before turning and gathering the other three with a beckoning wave. They all leaned closer.
“Okay, what do you guys know about a fifth year Slytherin called Regulus?” James whispered and the other boys all shared a confused look before shaking their heads slightly.
“I mean, Regulus is the name of the star at the heart of Leo. You said he’s in Slytherin right? Oh gods. Might be one of my lot.” Sirius cringed at the idea of James having to put up with one of his relatives no matter how distant.
“Never ‘eard of ‘im mate.” Remus shrugged, “You’d be be’er off askin Mary – she always seems ta know everythin ‘bout every’un.”
Before James could reply an arm was slung over his shoulders,
“Askin bout yer new potions par’ner Jamie?” Mary chuckled; her accent more pronounced due to her teasing tone. Marlene draped herself over his other shoulder,
“None of his crew are at dinner tonight, my bet is the lot of ‘em are hanging around the Slytherin common room. According to Rita they do that a lot.” Marlene drawled.
“Well haven’t you been busy Marls?” James laughed as she shoved him, her cheeks flushing heavily.
“I’m so lost right now it’s not even funny.” Sirius moaned and James turned to explain to him but was cut off by Lily dropping down between them, perching herself on the edge of the table, booted feet on the bench.
“Marlene is lovesick for Dorcas Meadowes, James is curious about his mysterious new potions partner he gained by playing matchmaker with Dorcas and Marls and Mary is – as always – gossiping.” She stated blowing a playful kiss to Mary who pretended to catch and pocket it while laughing.
“Sometimes I think you two ‘re secretly datin and jus ‘aven’t told the lo’ o’ us.” Remus sighed,
Everyone laughed but there was something strained in Mary’s smile and Lily’s grin didn’t quite reach her eyes as she joked,
“But then who would our dearest Jamie admire? We all know he’s too loyal to go after me if Mary laid claim.” The tremble in her voice caused the joke to fall flat. In the moment of quiet that followed James was suddenly desperate for any subject to break the tension. Sirius, his saviour, gasped.
“Wait. Dorcas Meadowes? Ain’t she one of Estrella’s friends? Yeah yeah, her and Crouch. And the Rosier twins. I never trusted those two, the Ravenclaw girl always kinda gave me the heeby-jee- aah! Hey!” Lily had smacked him upside the head,
“Don’t be rude!” She hissed.
Sirius moaned but shut his mouth for fear of another reprimanding strike. The group went back to chatting, the conversation flowing between subjects in a way that caused James’s brain to hum pleasantly, satisfied by the stimulation and the company.
Dinner appeared and Lily hopped off the table. The three girls pleasantly asked a couple first years to shuffle over which they happily did tittering about how cool the older girls were. Lily sat down beside James and Marlene squished in beside her then threw what felt like her entire body weight against Lily, sending her careening into James and forcing him and Sirius about half a foot further down the bench. James caught Lily easily and wondered what had changed in him over the last few years.
Had this been him in third year, Lily Evans – the love of his life – crushed against his side, he would have been a blushing stuttering mess, instead he made a quick quip about her falling for him and set her upright. There was still the little flutter in his chest and stomach, but he now knew Lily enough to know that he wasn’t what she wanted, and he respected that. It didn’t even hurt as much as he thought it would. Perhaps he would always feel this way a little bit, but he was okay just being friends. If anything, he was more scared of losing her as a friend than he was of never having her as more.
His thoughts were interrupted by Peter’s shriek of glee as he pulled something out of the bag he had been rummaging through for the last few minutes.
“I haven’t a clue how to use it but look what I found!” He announced.
“What is it Pete?” Sirius raised an eyebrow.
“Issa muggle cam’ra.” Remus replied making grabby hands at the box shaped object. Pete passed it over. “A Pol’roid.”
He lifted the box to his eye and pointed the dark circle on the other side at James and Sirius.
“Say cheese.”
“What the fu-” The box flashed, blinding Sirius before he could finish his sentence. Remus lowered the camera as a paper strip printed from it. He pulled the piece of blank card free and passed it to Lily who began to shake it like a lunatic, getting a lot of odd looks and nearly decapitating James with her elbow.
“Merlin’s beard woman! What on earth are you doing?” Sirius’s exclamation went ignored as Lily paused to look at the piece of card which was no longer blank. She grinned and handed the photo to James. It showed a mildly horrified looking Sirius next to a slightly agape James whose eyes held a green sheen as he stared at the camera in what looked like a trance. Sirius snatched the photo.
“Why Jamie, you might say you look like a ‘deer in the headlights’.” He snickered and Remus and Peter roared with laughter as the girls watched on in deep confusion.
Lily grabbed the camera and passed it to a student walking past, asking them to take a photo of the group and showing them how to use it. She hurried back to the rest of them, and they all turned to the camera.
“Everybody smile.”