Arrival
Christmas break was approaching, and Rowan didn’t want to go home. His home life wasn’t necessarily bad, not as bad as the Black brothers’ was… granted it’s hard to top a home life as absolutely fucking horrific as theirs-
Either way, it wasn’t the arguably amazing homelife of James. Rowan’s parents were nowhere as caring or understanding as Euphemia and Fleamont are, and the violet-eyed boy often had to care for his drunken father while his mother went out to work at Gringotts.
Christmas was no easier, just more babysitting his father while his mother went out. She said she was visiting family, but Rowan knew better. She always came back smelling like her coworker's perfume and covered in cat hair. He doesn’t understand why she doesn’t just divorce his father- Rowan is seventeen, besides, he’s met his mother’s coworker. She’s a sweet woman, and she’s practically been a mother to him all of his childhood.
He shakes his head and goes back to his charms homework. He can’t blame his mother for staying with his father for his sake, Rowan just wishes his mother wouldn’t leave him alone with his father constantly. “Well, it’s whatever” he thinks, sitting up to dip his quill in ink before returning to the essay “I’ll just stay at Hogwarts for christmas. It’s not like it would make a difference anyways.” A bitter look crosses his face as he continues to try and focus on his homework, setting it aside after a few minutes of fruitless struggle.
James and Sirius were in detention again, and Remus was in the infirmary because of the full moon last night, so Rowan was alone. Save for Kamina, of course, but she’s not a human so she doesn’t exactly make for great conversation, the violet-eyed boy sighs as he gets up. It was cold, and he could really go for a warm mug of… something or other- Per usual, he’s not entirely sure what he’ll make himself, but he’ll figure it out.
He yawns as he gets to the mini-kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets. He’s decided a nice mug of earl gray with milk and honey sounds about right for the snowy december weather, there’s just one problem, all of the tea is gone. Now this doesn’t bother Rowan too much, he’s disappointed, sure, but unlike the pasty fuckers at this school he didn’t base his whole cultural identity on leaf juice.
The reason Rowan sets off to find more tea, however, is because of those pasty fuckers basing their whole cultural identity on leaf juice (and colonialism but shhh).
If the tea-addicted gryffindors come back to find that there is, in fact, no tea, they would immediately convince themselves that their headaches are from withdrawals instead of not drinking normal fucking water.
And then blame the slytherins, and the one thing Rowan really didn’t need right now was another house-war with slytherin. Sure it was pranks but war is war.
Rowan rolls his eyes as he pulls on his coat, was he really debating the Hogwarts politics between the two houses that have been rivals since the opening of this gods-forsaken shitshow of a school?
“At least Professor Dumbledore isn’t headmaster” Rowan thinks to himself as he pats Kamina goodbye and steps out of the portrait hole “then the school politics would really be going to shit-”
He walks down the hallway, boots clunking on the cobblestone floor as he follows the quickest route to the kitchens. He could always transfigure something into tea but the taste just wouldn’t be the same, besides, the kitchens should have tea. They’re in the UK for fuck’s sake, it would be unrealistic at best for Hogwarts to not have a stockpile of earl grey.
He’s walking past the History of Magic classroom when the door opens, James getting unceremoniously shoved through the doorway and into the shorter 7th year. Rowan can faintly hear Sirius’s laughter as he and James crash to the floor. “Pads what the fuck?!” James shouts from above Rowan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the shorter boy’s face is pressed directly into his sweater-clad chest. “Aw c’mon Prongs-! Merlin knows you weren’t going to make a move on your own- Ask him!” James grumbles as he gets off, helping Rowan stand “So… uhm… I was wondering… ah you know what you probably already have plans for the break and-”
Sirius cuts in “Would you like to come to the Potter’s house over christmas break, Whiskers?” He looks at James “See Prongs? It wasn’t that hard was it?”
Rowan is immobilized, processing the request as he stares into the abyss “Wait-” he looks to Sirius “So you planned to get Prongs to ask me if I wanted spend the break at his place, by shoving him in my direction and hoping it worked out-?”
“.... Well it worked, didn’t it?”
“Pads you actually asked the question- you know what forget it-” Rowan sighs “I got nothing I really want to be around at home so yeah, sure.”
Sirius leans in, grinning as he pushes James in front of him “Yeah, sure what, Whiskers?”
“I’ll spend christmas break at Potter’s house.” Rowan mutters, trying to ignore the blush at James’s proximity. Pads didn’t know that James and Rowan were a sorta-thing, and if his reaction from when Reggie got a partner were any indication, he would be an overprotective guard dog if he found out.
Sirius lets go of James and cheers “Hell yeah! Now to convince Moony and Whitetail-” he murmurs, walking down the hall, presumably to find and convince Moony and Whitetail-
“He’s been teasing me about being nervous to ask you-” James mutters, face scarlet as Rowan laughs “Yeah, I figured- Remember that one time I was too nervous to get down from a tree and he shoved me off the branch?” James tries, and fails, to hide his laugh at the memory “and then that time where I had a test and was super nervous about it to the point I wouldn’t go into the classroom and he shoved me in?”
James leans against the wall, tousling his messy black hair “Shoving people at what they’re nervous about seems to be his default solution-” he mutters, grinning his stupid, arrogant prick grin as Rowan gets closer “I probably have a bruise on the back of my head-” he mutters, resting his forehead against the taller’s sweater-clad chest “gods we aren’t going to get a moment alone will we?”
James gently pets the back of Rowan’s hair “I’ll be surprised if we get a millisecond unsupervised by our favorite guard-dog-” Rowan looks up “Get your stupid, arrogant face down here.” he mutters, leaning up “I need to kiss that stupid grin off your face.”
The quidditch captain leans down to meet Rowan’s lips, grin melting as the kiss heats up- the past couple of days have been nothing but stolen kisses in various small spaces, what with Sirius practically guarding Rowan from anyone who shows interest, it’s been difficult to do much else-
Not that Rowan minds, he enjoys the kisses, and being pressed against the door to a broom closet, but he wishes he could go on an actual proper date with Potter.
He’ll ask James out later, the violet-eyed boy quickly losing his train of thought as James takes his bottom lip between his stupidly perfect teeth and sucks.
. . .
“This is it” He thinks as he boards the hogwarts express with the marauders, Sirius’s brothers, and possibly Moony’s closest friend, an American exchange student named Cryptic. “I’m not going home for christmas-'' Rowan sits in his usual corner of the compartment, eyes finding the bleak, snowy scenery of the Scottish countryside as it whizzes by, eyelids remaining open as the violet-eyed boy gets lost in his own thoughts. “How will mum react? She’s told me herself, the only reason she has me stay home is so my father doesn’t destroy the house in a drunken haze- but I don’t understand how that’s my responsibility-” he shifts in his seat a bit, James, Reg, and Hydrus, who are sharing the bench-like seat with him, engaging in lively conversation about something or other. “Maybe she’s been waiting for me to reach my limit with babysitting him-” He blinks, snow swirling into various shapes outside the window. “Well. It’s no matter, if she gets mad at me I just won’t go home. I’m done being responsible for a man who can’t even save his own liver”
. . . “Is someone calling my name-?” Rowan looks away from the window with a confused expression “Hm? Did someone say my name..?” “Yeah- The trolley’s here, what do you want?” Sirius repeats, shaking multiple galleons from his money pouch. “Ah… uhm… a couple of cauldron cakes?” Sirius nods as James distributes the sweets from the cart, the liveliness of the compartment soon starting up again.
In no time at all, the train was pulling into the station, and the group was disembarking, a smiling Fleamont helping get their luggage while Euphemia asks them all in turn how their year was and gives hugs. Rowan locks eyes with Calico- neither of the boys are used to this much positive attention from a friend’s mom- “Ah! And you must be the Rowan we hear so much about- Astoria, aren't his eyes exactly how Jamie described them?” A young, somewhat pregnant woman with long black hair and glasses walks over, brilliant green eyes looking Rowan up and down “yeah-! Didn’t he describe them as bainganee ratn kee tarah hona?”
Rowan blinks, smiling as he whispers to Calico “Hermanito, ¿Qué carajo acaba de decir? eres políglota dime-” The fifth year sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose “main apane bevakooph dost ke lie maaphee maangata hoon, tum spenish nahin bolate, kya tum?”
Astoria and Euphemia look surprised, Effie wrapping the fifteen year old up in a massive hug, turning to shout to her husband “Phlemont! kya ham use rakh sakate hain? krpaya? vah hindee bolata hai- aur usake pyaare chhote chehare ko dekho- bhagavaan dvaara vah vaastav mein dubale-patale dikhate hain- chalo ghar chalate hain taaki ham use khila saken!” Calico’s face flushes from embarrassment.
“Effie- We can’t adopt every child our son brings home-” Fleamont calls back, stacking the luggage on a trolley “But I do agree- he does look rather thin..” The brunette looks to where Calico and Rowan are, pausing his conversation with Remus to do so “We’ve got all the luggage so let’s go”
The group all piled into a minivan, chaos erupting as soon as everyone got inside- about twenty conversations were all happening at once, even though there’s only about five people talking-
Then there was music blasting as well as the heater, they were packed like fish inside a tin. At least Crypt was letting Rowan use his headphones for the ride over-
. . .
After what could have been an hour, if not more, the minivan finally pulls into the driveway of a fucking giant house- Rowan knew that the Potters had money, sure- but he didn’t know that they lived in a motherfucking mansion- By the look on Crypt and Calico’s faces neither of the boys sitting in the back row with him knew either-
He pulls the borrowed headphones down to rest around his neck and on his shoulders “Dios mío-” he mutters, removing them and handing them back to Crypt with a nod “You seeing this, man?” the fluffy-haired boy nods “Yeah mate- Moony’s told me about James’s pad but jesus christ-” he shakes his head. “Ah well, more room for… what like ten kids plus Prongs’s sister?”
Rowan shrugs as the car stops, everyone scrambling to escape the confines of the car and into the snow-covered driveway. James immediately makes a beeline for Rowan, tousling his messy hair before leaning against the side of the car, flecks of snow looking like stars against the inky black of the night sky. “No- stop waxing poetic- all you’ve done is kiss, Ro-” He smiles up at James, calling him an idiot for not wearing a thick jacket “you don’t even know if he actually wants to date you.”
“So, what do you think of the place so far?” He asks, stupidly pretty brown eyes practically glowing with excitement like the rest of his dumb face. “It’s… big, for one-” Rowan responds, leaning against the car as well, snow drifting peacefully past the group as Sirius and his brothers challenge Remus, Calico, and Crypt to a snowball fight. “Definitely pretty….” He shakes his head at the chaotic yelling coming from the rest of the group. “Can’t be prettier than you, though.” James grins, this big, stupid, goofy grin “Nothing can be prettier than you, Ro.”
Rowan blinks, face flushing as he looks away “I- well- shut up-!” “You’re blusshininng~” “I said shut up, Potter!” James leans in, his goofy grin morphing into that fucking cocky smirk that made Rowan fall for him in the first place, “Now why don’t you make me, Whiskers~?”
Rowan grits his teeth and grabs James by the collar of his stupid sweater, pulling him around to the other side of the car and pinning him against it “Taunting me now, Prongs~?” He leans up, glaring at James as he starts to laugh. He only laughs harder when Rowan stops trying “I-I’m sorry Ro-! You’re just-” he wipes a tear from his eye “You’re just so chhota~!”
Rowan huffs and frowns, pulling James down to deliver an open-mouthed kiss, the taller boy kissing back and pushing him against the car this time. After a few moments, Fleamont decides to get the luggage from the car, and can’t help but to notice the fact that his son is aggressively making out with the boy he’s constantly talking to his mother about against the side of the car. “Well bloody hell- I owe Effie 20 bucks-” he mutters, clearing his throat “James? Care to help unload the luggage since you’re by the car?”
James pulls back like he was bitten, face red as his father stares pointedly at him “I- uhm- y-yeah-” Fleamont raises an eyebrow “s-sorry- dad-” James mutters, causing his father to laugh and shake his head “It’s no matter, just maybe save it for inside- I owe your mum 20 bucks because of this-” Rowan might be redder than James at this point.
“See you inside~?” James murmurs as he passes by, guiding luggage through the air with his wand, Rowan punches him in the shoulder in response, rolling his eyes before muttering a “sure, you arrogant prick” and following him.
Fleamont opens the door for the two “Rowan, right?” Rowan nods “You’ll be rooming with James over the break, he’s been talking incessantly about inviting you over, so I’m glad you were able to” He smiles and holds out his hand to the short boy, Rowan hesitantly taking it before smiling back “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Potter”. Fleamont squeezes Rowan’s hand before letting go “Oh, feel free to call me Fleamont, I’d say dad but given what I’ve just witnessed that would make things more awkward-” he lets out a good-natured laugh “come in, come in- Effie and I have been baking since last week, James’ll show you around”
Rowan smiles with a nod before shooting a glare at James, who’s about as red as a baboon’s right asscheek. “Cara de idiota-” He mutters, shoving James’s shoulder before taking his hand and leading him down a hallway- there had to be a closet somewhere in this giant place. “Where are you trying to lead me, Ro-?” James asks, laughter dancing in his stupid, pretty brown eyes. “To a fucking closet- I’m not having your family walk in on us again-” James abruptly stops and raises an eyebrow “¡Tú idiota-! What are you-” James points to a door “oh-”
“How-” “I live here..?” “... oh-” “Dude I literally invited you to my house-” “cállate y déjame besarte-” James laughs and lets Rowan shove him into the small space of the closet, pulling him down to his level by the collar of his sweater and crashing their mouths together in a messy open-mouthed kiss. James lifts Rowan up, his legs wrapping around James’s waist as the kiss is deepened, tongues exploring the other’s mouth while Rowan’s hands tangle themselves in James’s messy, slightly damp hair. The snow on their heads and shoulders melting in the hot confines of the coat-closet.
After a few moments of this, James pulls away, the two of them breathing heavily as their gazes meet. “No time better than the present, Ro-” He takes a deep breath, leaning in to nibble at James’s neck “B-Be honest with me, puta de ciervo-” he breathes, placing a soft kiss on the underside of James’s jawline “If… If I were to ask you a question… what would your answer be?”
James tilts his head in that stupidly adorable way he always does when he’s confused- it really makes Rowan’s heart ache- “What’s the question, chhota?” he murmurs, teeth digging into his lip to stop involuntary sounds at Rowan’s kisses. “Here goes fucking nothing-” Rowan thinks, willing the butterflies in his stomach to settle down, but, since they’re little shits, they obviously don’t as he opens his mouth to speak “Hypothetically- if I had a big fat fucking crush on the gryffindor quidditch captain, do you think he would say yes if I asked him to date me..?”
James stiffens, pulling back with a frown. “If you have feelings for someone else why would you be doing this with me…?” Rowan blinks, then blinks again “James. Prongs. YOU’RE the gryffindor quidditch captain- maldito tonto-” James’s eyes widen “OH-! Oh- uh- well I think he would say yes.” he clears his throat, face crimson once more. Rowan rolls his eyes and nips the soft spot behind James’s ear, face aflame. “G-good” Rowan smirks, leaning in to nip James’s pulse point, James beginning to make these fucking adorable little whimpers as Rowan moves across his collarbones, then the doorknob turns. James moves Rowan to the wall of the closet, both oblivious to the door being opened until it’s too late, light from the hallway spills into the coat closet, revealing the two engaging in very not platonic hickey-giving.
Cryptic stands in the hallway, holding the puffer jacket that he wore during the snowball fight. The three just stare at each other for a few seconds before the blonde speaks “So- Are you two finally dating?” he asks, lips quirked up in that dumb little smirk he always wears. James is too flustered to speak, so Rowan speaks for them “Sí, eres drogadicto-” the violet-eyed mutters, trying to get James to put him down. “Aw~ ahora eso no es muy agradable, Bigotes~”
Rowan shoots him a glare as James sets him down “Anyway-” the blonde continues “Remus is trying to break his record from last christmas and eat every single baked thing in the first five minutes, and I plan on getting fucking stoned, so you two better hurry up if you want to eat something other than eachother’s faces-”
Rowan tries throwing a jacket at Crypt as the taller boy laughs, darting away as the two emerge from the coat closet, James somehow more red than a baboon’s left asscheek- somehow-
“Well- you heard la mierda, let’s go get some of those fucking pastries-” Rowan leans up to kiss James on the cheek before finding his way to the kitchen, successfully leaving Prongs in the hallway as he tries to catch his breath.