Welcome Back To Hogwarts
James Potter wanted nothing more than for Dumbledore to start his speech and finish it so that he could gobble up the delicious food that laid in front of him. Dumbledore stood in front of the school, wearing his funny looking robes and James swore that the old man’s long white beard had grown even longer during the holidays.
“I mean, look at him! Does his beard not look longer?” James pestered Remus who stared at him with an amused glint in his eyes.
“Why would I notice Dumbledore’s beard?” Remus asked, concern written all over his face.
“Psst!” exclaimed Sirius, catching Remus’ and James’ attention. Sirius fiddled with his hair. “Does my hair look good?”
Remus rolled his eyes as James grinned and boosted Sirius’ already high ego. “You look ravishing, Padfoot,” the Marauder winked at him. Sirius smirked and Remus rolled his eyes once again. Eye rolling had become Remus’ new hobby. Especially since Sirius was getting more and more vain by the day.
Peter tilted his head and squinted his eyes as he looked at Sirius up and down. “You look the same,” commented Peter. Sirius pouted.
“Welcome! Welcome back to Hogwarts!” exclaimed Dumbledore. The Marauders immediately stopped talking among themselves and tried to listen to his speech. “I know how eager we all are to feast on the food before us but first, I would like to go through the rules of our school. Curfew must be followed and all students must be in their dormitories by 10 pm. Secondly, students are strictly forbidden from entering the Forbidden forest. Anyone who is planning to sneak out to pay a visit to the forest will face disciplinary actions…” Dumbledore glanced at the Marauders and James and Sirius started giggling among themselves, recalling the time where they used the invisibility cloak to go to the forest.
“No going towards the Whomping Willow and lastly, no reading from the Restricted Section in the library,” finished Dumbledore.
Peter leaned in towards his friends. “Why have a restricted section in a library if you don’t want people to read it? Why not just not put it there?”
James shrugged. “I don’t know, mate. But honestly you are right. I wonder what kind of books they have there..”
“Maybe horror stories about how Snievillus applies grease into his hair everyday, hoping he would become handsome,” Sirius snickered. His friends giggled among themselves.
As Dumbledore continued to rave on and on about other school matters, James found his eyes making their way to the Slytherin table. His dark brown eyes searched for a boy with hair as black as night. Heat rose to James’ cheeks when he spotted Regulus Arcturus Black adjusting his Slytherin tie. The boy’s pale and slender hands fidgeted with his tie. James’ lips parted slightly as he continued to drink in Regulus’ presence. The Black boy’s hair was now more wavy but his skin was lacking colour which deeply worried James. The previous school term, Regulus was healthy but now it seemed he had become sickly.
If James could just walk over to the Slytherin table and ask Regulus if he was alright, he would. But he would rather not face the wrath of Regulus and his friends and also the wrath of Sirius if James were to randomly talk to his younger brother. It was already difficult enough to keep Sirius from questioning him about who he fancied. So James was not going to let Sirius know about his crush on Regulus.
James knew that his non-existent relationship with Regulus would never develop into something more but a part of him keeps hoping that their paths would cross and fate would pull them together. However it seemed stupid. Especially since James was cursed. A curse had befallen onto him when he entered Hogwarts. A curse in which James fell for people who did not like him back. The amazing Lily Evans was the one who captured his heart first with her astounding beauty, intelligence and she was also the kindest person in the world.
James had chased after Lily since their first year. And let’s just say, Lily did not see James in any other way than platonically. One day, Lily had a talk with James. A rather heartbreaking yet beautiful one at that.
“You’re going to have to move on from me,” said Lily. “For me and for you.”
James remembered his shoulders slumped at those words. “But I-”
Lily shook her head. “I’m not the one for you, James,” Lily interrupted. “And you’re not the one for me. I’m sorry but this is true.” Lily was always so honest. James adored that about her.
James looked at his shoes, his head hung low. “I’m sorry,” said James.
“What are you sorry for?”
“For being a git and trying to make you fall for me. I realise it now. I realise how horrible I was and I’m sorry.”
Lily grabbed James’ hands and held it in hers. Her hands felt soft like wool but at the same time, it felt foreign. Her hand did not quite fit into his. “You are not a git. Only stupid at certain times,” said Lily, causing James to laugh. The ginger girl’s lips curled up into a smile. “One day you will find the one, James. And whoever they might be, I hope you will be happy. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”
“As do you, Lily. You’re one of the people I cherish the most and I’m grateful to have you in my life,” said James.
“You always had a beautiful way with words,” Lily remarked.
And after that day, James accepted that they were just not meant to be.
“Oi, you okay, Prongs?” Sirius asked, snapping James back to reality.
James fiddled with his hands. “Yeah I’m fine. Just thinking about something,” he said. Sirius did not seem to notice anything unusual with James’ behaviour and carried on with talking about some girl. As much as James loved Sirius, the older boy was rather dense. Yes he does notice when his friends are upset but when it came to Remus going green with envy, Sirius did not seem to realise the effect he had on Moony.
“You’re a Prefect? Is that why you randomly disappeared when we were on the train?” James heard a girl say. His eyes wandered to the source of the question and he saw a dark skinned Slytherin girl who sat across Regulus. James recgonised her to be Dorcas Meadows, an incredibly talented witch whom Regulus was friends with. James had an admiration for Dorcas, although he had a feeling that the admiration was not mutual.
“A Prefect? Since when were you a Prefect, Reg?” said Evan Rosier, a blonde boy who too was talented and one of the smartest people in their year if he only just put in a little more effort into his studies. Regulus is a prefect? James thought. When did that happen?
Regulus did not seem interested in the conversation. He stabbed at his food with his fork. “I got the badge over the holidays,” he deadpanned. James strangely found his bored expression to be very attractive. How can one be so darn attractive? James asked himself.
“Prongs,” called Sirius. James reluctantly turned his attention back to his friends. “Please back me up here. Pete thinks I should break up with Kiera. But you agree with me, right? That I shouldn’t break up with Kiera?”
James raised his eyebrow in confusion. “Um, who is Kiera?” he asked. James never really bothered to keep up with the long and growing list of girlfriends that Sirius had. Especially since the only person Sirius should be with was Remus Lupin. However neither Sirius nor Remus wanted to admit their feelings for each other. Which left Peter and James to endure having to watch their two best friends pine for each other.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Kiera Winston? My girlfriend? Do you not remember her?”
James shrugged. “You have too many girlfriends, it’s hard to keep up. Is she the one with atrocious pink hair?”
“No, that's Christie. Kiera is blonde.”
“Of course she is.”
***
When they were dismissed, the Prefects had to guide the First Years to their respective houses, which meant that Remus unfortunately had to leave his three friends and help Lily to manage the First Years. The remaining three Marauders met up with the remaining two Valkyries: Mary Macdonald and Marlene McKinnon. “Marlene, my love!” Sirius exclaimed as he threw an arm around Marlene who ruffled up Sirius’ hair.
“Glad to see you too, Black. Did you miss me?” Marlene teased.
“Not as much as you missed me,” Sirius winked.
James chuckled and met the dark brown eyes of Mary Macdonald. “Hey Mary,” he greeted. Mary broke out into a smile and wrapped her arms around James, bringing the boy into a hug.
“How was your holiday?” Mary asked.
Oh, it was quite fun. I spent most of my time fantasising about Sirius’ younger brother and also accidentally wrote a few lame poems about him. Oh and guess what? He doesn’t like me whatsoever. Barely looks at me actually. The only few times he does look at me, is to glare at me. But damn, I still fancy him for some reason. I think it’s his eyes. Have you looked into his eyes before? They’re so beautiful. They remind me of the stars. “It was okay,” said James, yelling at his inner self to stop rambling about how amazing Regulus Black was. “Um, how was your holiday?”
Mary suppressed a wide grin and for a moment, James saw her eyes darting towards Lily who was comforting a First Year who was crying. “It was… Nice,” Mary said. James suspected there was more that she was not telling him. “How’s life?” Mary asked as the two friends walked side by side through the halls of Hogwarts. Sirius and Marlene and Peter who were several feet in front of them, were now singing at the top of their lungs, annoying the portraits that they passed. “Is there anything exciting you’re looking forward to? Or anyone you fancy?” Mary questioned.
James immediately thought of Regulus. “N-no one. I tend to fall for people who don’t like me back so my luck is currently down in the drains,” he said.
“I’m sensing a lie. You do know that one of the benefits of having friends is that you get to open up to them, right?” Mary said.
James sighed. “I know but.. Okay, hypothetically, let’s say that I do fancy someone. However they don’t feel the same way and we barely talk. Hypothetically, what do I do?”
Curiosity danced in Mary’s eyes. “Well firstly, do you want to get rid of your feelings or do you want to get closer to them?”
James bit his lower lip in thought. He pictured him and Regulus side by side. Talking and laughing. James wanted that. Even if Regulus was never going to be interested in him, James doubted he would ever stop liking him. If James was not going to end up with Regulus, the least he wanted was to be friends with him. James craved to know all about Regulus. What his favourite book is, what kind of music he likes and also why he keeps glaring at him whenever they meet eyes. He wanted to get to know Regulus more than anything. “I want to get closer to them,” said James. “I feel like a fool though. I’m popular, I’m cool and I’m good at starting conversations but when it comes to them, I can’t- I can’t seem to find the words.”
“Sounds to me that this isn’t hypothetical at all.” Mary smirked. James blushed furiously. “Look, I’m not going to ask who they are because firstly, it’s your business and secondly, I’m sure you’ll tell me in your own time. So here’s my advice. If you want to strike up a conversation with them, try to find something you both have in common. Use that as a conversation starter. Talking about a shared interest always works. Get to know them, become friends, and eventually when the time is right, make a move.”
James’ shoulders slumped. “But what if I make a move and they reject me?”
“Then just say it was a dare. It usually works.”
“Hey slow walkers! Hurry up!” Marlene called out to them.
Mary looked at James with an endearing look in her eyes. “You’re a good guy, James. I’m sure they’ll like you.”
James nodded. “Thank you Mary. For everything.”
A smile tugged at Mary’s lips. “I’m a love therapist for a reason.”
A chuckle spilled from James, washing away all worry he had. “Love therapist?”
Mary winked at him. “The very finest.”
The two Gryfinndors giggled between themselves. Thanks to Mary’s advice, James felt more at ease and confidence built up inside him. James was going to find a way to talk to Regulus. Even if there was a possibility Regulus might reject him and James gets his heart broken in the process. But besides, if he wasn’t going to try now, when will he ever?