The Collision
James rushes through the halls trying to get to Transfiguration before he's late, again. Minnie would have his ass if he was late three times in one week, but this time it truly wasn't his fault. He wasn't off pranking anyone, being distracted by his friends, or in any fights. This time he had truly had just overslept, which is extremely unusual for James. He was always the first one out of Marauders and would have already had his bed made and had done his morning run, ran through some quidditch plays, showered and then ate. However, this morning he woke up about five minutes ago, gotten dressed in the first uniform he'd seen as well as his signature red converse. His shoulder bag was banging against his hip as he ran through the halls faster than he'd ever run even after a prank. James was taking every hidden passage he could think of that would make the trip faster, yet he still felt as if he might not make it on time. His breathing was labored as he raced around the corner, he made it barely any two steps around the corner before he was running straight into a hard surface, the collision sent him falling forward, shoulder bag slipping from his shoulder and flying across the ground. He landed roughly onto of something hard and groaned slightly at the impact.
James stayed down for a minute while his mind finally caught up to everything that happened and as it did he scrambled to get up as he instantly started to profusely apologize, as soon as he was back up on his feet he offered his hand down to the individual he'd run into without a second thought, barely even processing who he had run into until James' brown eyes locked onto his face. They'd never spoken but James would know Evan Rosier anywhere, the beautiful golden curls that reached just under his ears, his sun-kissed skin, the bright ocean blue eyes that had a swirl of deep green in them. James knew who he was, he was a younger Slytherin only by a year and he was always seen with Regulus Black, Barty Crouch Jr maybe with both of them, Dorcas or his twin Pandora but no one else. They seemed like a closeknit group, and they never really seemed to like the Marauders but that likely had to do with the fact that Regulus' older brother was one of them, but regardless James knew who Evan was. He stood waiting for Evan to accept his hand maybe, or to acknowledge his apologizes but either way he continued to wait even as he realized that he was truly late for class now.
James' eyes sweep over Evan who laid there his limbs a mess from the fall, curls in his eyes as he glared up at James. James' eyes wander over the space behind Evan looking for his typical friends but finding none, and after a bit of waiting he leaned down slightly as he says softly "I truly am sorry, please let me help you up. I wasn't paying attention." He offered Evan a small apologetic smile, but all Evan did was glare up at him for a bit longer before shoving James' hand away slightly, the light hitting the rings on Evan's hand perfectly. But at the blatant dismissal, James began to frown a bit, so he backed off immediately knowing he wasn't welcome nor needed apparently.
While James' backed off, he had looked down instead of at Evan momentarily, he had gotten good at hiding when he was upset, angry or bothered in any sense of the word. He knew how to control his face; it was a habit he had gotten sometime in his childhood because he had felt like a burden and would rather have people see him as the happy person in their lives rather than a burden. What James didn't see in that moment was the way Evan's glare had softened or the way his face had changed slightly as well just because of the small frown that had formed on his face. It was a sight to see, if anyone had been around because James Potter was always happy. Never letting anyone see the sadness, anger or irritation, really anything that James preserved as bad emotions. Whereas Evan Rosier never let anyone see the soft sides of him, the little bits of him that he kept tucked away. The happiness, compassion and empathy, he only showed outwardly his anger, annoyance or distaste.
Before either boy could actually acknowledge that the other was wearing a mask of sorts, Evan had gotten up and started to collect his books that had been so rudely knocked from his arms in the collision. Even though James wanted to help him collect his possessions he knew better to offer right now; he didn't like the fact that Evan seems to dislike him but he figured if he was going to try and get on his good side that bothering him in this moment wouldn't be the best way to go about it. So instead, he began to collect his own books, his parchment and his ink cartridges silently. Once all of his things were collected, he turned back in hopes of maybe apologizing to Evan again but instead he found an empty hall, it seems as if Evan had just disappeared silently. It only helped grow the intrigue that James had for the younger Slytherin. There was something about the way that Evan was that had captured James' attention, and he knew it might not be the best idea, but he wanted to get to know him. Not only because he was interesting but honestly Evan was also so attractive and the way his blue-green eyes drew James in, he knew he needed to at least have a conversation with him.
He shakes his head slightly to gather his thoughts and when he does, he rushes off in the direction of class now nearing ten minutes late, Minnie would chew his ass out or give him detention at this point and it's not like he hasn't had detention before, but he'd rather not have to have one alone. Nor would he really liked to be yelled at right now, he was still a bit overly tired, he knew he needed to sleep more but he'd been struggling not that he'd admit that to anyone. He runs through the rest of the halls as he tries to push those beautiful eyes out of his head, or the luscious curls but it proves to be harder than he would like to acknowledge, the image of them still clear in his mind as he pushes the door harshly open and walks into Transfiguration. Instantly he looks to Professor McGonagall as he says "Min- Professor, I'm truly sorry. I woke up late and then I uh I ran into someone and had to get all of my stuff collected." His explanation rushes out of his mouth quickly as he rambles on, he notices the slight glare she sends him and shuts up instantly with a sheepish smile.
"Sit down, Mr. Potter now. Or I'll have to give you a detention for being late and holding up my lesson right now." Professor McGonagall replies strictly. James wastes no time in scampering to his seat, he grabs his materials for the class and quickly tosses his bag under his seat before looking up to the front of the class, his dark complexion making it difficult for anyone to notice he's blushing in embarrassment which really works out in his favor because no one ever truly notices anytime he's blushing unless their paying extremely attention to his facial reactions or if they're in his personal space but neither happen to often so he's truly lucky there.
Luckily for James no one was bothering to pay him much attention other than Sirius who was constantly bumping his elbow against James' in an attempt to get his attention, but James was already on Minnie's bad side this morning and didn't really want to add to it, nor to his stress levels at the current moment so he chooses to ignore Sirius which was also never something he typically did. Apparently today was going to be a long one, with many times that things he didn't normally do which only increases James' anxiety and nerves but hopefully this gut feeling was wrong. Maybe everything would be okay, who cared if you didn't sleep well enough or that you were late and running into gorgeous younger Slytherins, and Sirius well he'd get over it. His mind was running through all the possibilities that could be different today, it's not that he didn't like different it just made him anxious and he preferred that the differences were under his control. As he continued to worry silently Sirius eventually stopped nudging him and groaned in slight annoyance as he turned to pester Peter instead who happily allowed the distraction.
James was zoned out for most of the class in all honesty, a bit too stuck in his thoughts but he was fairly good at Transfiguration if he said so himself. His grades alone could prove that, so he wasn't too worried that he'd miss too much with this lesson but eventually he was able to pull himself from his thoughts with great difficulty but once he had he focused on what was up on the board. He quickly began to scribble the notes down on his piece of parchment, at first it was pretty but the longer he wrote the more the letters started to combine causing his notes to become half in cursive something that typically bothered anyone who wanted to borrow his notes. Mainly just Peter because Sirius barely studied and Remus' notes were always perfect since he actually paid attention the most out of the four of them, the only time Rem ever borrowed James' notes it was after a full moon.
James continues to write his notes, copying everything from the board down onto his parchment. It didn't take long before he had finished, and he saw out of the corner of his eye the way Sirius was about to start pestering him again and truly it didn't normally bother him, but he really didn't want to get on Minnie's bad side more than he already was. James made the split-second decision to just start writing down doodles or small notes on the side of his already finished notes while he listened to Professor McGonagall teach this lesson. It seemed to work, maybe a little more than James had meant for it to because Sirius turned from James with a slight pout. James knew he'd have to explain later just to make sure that padfoot understood there was no problem between them, and James wasn't ignoring him out of spite or anything it was purely to stay on Minnie's side, well and to try and figure out what excuse to give the boys about why he had overslept and why he was so late. Without admitting that he was struggling nor bringing up Evan. James know that bringing Evan Rosier into the conversation would one cause suspicion and it would likely send Sirius into a spiral. What type of spiral was unclear in this moment, either a rant about how all Slytherins were evil and bad, or about Regulus.
James begins to get lost in thought all over again, this time more to do with how he's going to explain everything that happened to him this morning with the least amount of lying. Along with how to say it, seeing as James wasn't the greatest liar. His facial expressions kind of give him away most of the time which is ironic seeing as he's able to hide his pain, anxiety, depression, and manic episodes pretty well but the moment he needs to lie about anything else it's like he loses all ability to control his face or his mouth. He has no clue how many times he's talked his way into a deep hole that he can't even begin to try and dig his way out of. It was a nervous habit of his to just ramble on until someone told him to shut up and even then, sometimes it was like his mind and mouth weren't even connected, the words spew out of him in the worst moments sometimes and then he sits there and worries himself sick over it afterwards.
James has no clue how much time has passed and doesn't even notice when over half of the class gets up to leave the room, not until Remus is shaking his shoulder slightly in an attempt to get his attention. Which works pretty well as James' head snaps to the right and looks up at Remus with slightly widen eyes that show how startled the slight movement had caused for him. James gives a sheepish smile as he says in a tone very unlike his normal loud and happy tone "Sorry Moony, bit stuck in my head again."
Remus gives James a reassuring smile as he says teasingly "When are you ever actually fully paying attention Prongs?" Remus' statement causes a bark of laughter to leave Sirius as his mouth rises in a teasing grin, while James playfully rolls his eyes. Peter can be seen behind Sirius as he shakes with silent laugher, but eyes are shining with brightness that only sparks in Peter's eyes when he's laughing.
"Oh piss off Rem, I pay attention to plenty of things." James says in response as he begins to pack everything up in his bag before slinging it over his shoulders. "I just haven't fully woken up yet, so of course I'm a bit slower on the uptake right now."
James walks over to his ragtag group of friends and slings his arm over Remus' shoulder the moment he's in range. The four of them leave the class and head off towards the library the same way they always do for their free period, the moment they get to the library the group heads over to their normal table placing all their backs onto the table. The moment James is settled into his chair all eyes are on him, not that it was surprising to him. He knew it was coming.
"So lovely Prongs, what happened this morning? Why were you late, why were you ignoring me all through class? What is wrong with you?" Sirius rapid fires his questions without so much as breathing, his face was a mix of several emotions ranging from suspicion, irritation and a bit of sadness. James sits there like a deer in headlights, no matter how much he's overthought what he'd say, it seems that he still wasn't fully sure what to say. But if he takes too long to answer it's just going to make everything so much harder for James. Because Sirius will be on him for weeks if he doesn't answer in a way that Sirius actually believes or agrees with, not that Sirius has to agree with everything but honestly if Sirius is being left out of something he deems he should be involved in, he'll do anything to make sure that he is involved. Of course it's not really all that bad, it's just part of his trauma responses from growing up the way he did, he feels as that if he isn't involved, he will be left behind, so James understates even if Sirius tends to overstep sometimes.
Again, James blanks for a bit as he gets lost in his thoughts, which all his friends have noticed happens quite often, but it doesn't make them worry. Typically, they'll wait for James to focus back in, talk amongst themselves, or slowly bring him back into the conversation themselves. This time Sirius reaches forward and shakes his arm softly saying "Prongs".
The soft calling of his nickname drags James' focus back to them as he says "Sorry Pads, all good. I just overslept this morning; I didn't go to sleep early enough last night. I was busy running quidditch plays and I went over some of my notes from classes to prep for the O.W.L's." James watched their faces as he spoke, the thing is he wasn't exactly lying, he was just withholding part of the truth. That being that he only focused on those things because of the fact he was having issues sleeping. But they didn't need to know that and by the looks on their faces they seemed to believe him; James always found it easier to lie if he was giving half-truths instead of a whole lie.
Sirius eventually nods before saying "You told Minnie that you ran into someone, and had to collect your stuff? Was it someone important or something?" At this James freezes momentarily but the only one of the three boys in front of him who seems to notice is Remus. But before Remus can say anything James begins speaking again.
"Nah, nothing like that. I just was running to class, and I took a corner too fast without paying attention and ran into some younger student, don't even know who they were. I dropped a bunch of my stuff and had to pick it up but it's fine. Also Pads, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you in class. Well, I mean I did, but not because I was mad or anything. I just it's the third time I've been late to Transfiguration so I'm not exactly on Minnie's good side. I just didn't want to add to it." James explains in a rush, for one he wanted to reassure Sirius, but he also wanted to make sure Remus had no time to question the moment he froze nor the anything about his explanation.
The explanation seems to be enough for Sirius who just nods his head in understanding as he leans back in his chair while Remus tilts his head slightly in confusion, likely going to ask a question about everything James had just said. But before Remus can say anything he's cut off by Sirius "Ah, makes sense Prongs. Next time one of us will wake you up before leaving, it's just I think we all assumed you were gone already."
The conversation seems to die down after that, causing each of them to focus back in on the reason their in the library. Remus pulled his homework and notes out, while Sirius pulled out his own parchment, yet had no plans to study. He always used this time to write down plans for their next pranks, or to ask Peter and James to help him with pranks. While Remus continues to work on his homework, Sirius turns to Pete to have him help with his newest prank idea while James pulled out his potions essay and set to work. The four of them spend the entire free period wrapped up in their own projects and assignments, everything was back to normal other than the lingering thoughts of a certain blonde haired younger slytherin. The rest of the day seems to fly by faster than the last few days had this week for James and that honestly might be because of his newest infatuation.