Apocalypse

    AT POTTERS' MANOR, laughter and whispers were heard from a young James Potters' room late at night. After a emotional Sirius coming onto the Potters' doorstep after a particular bad fight with his parents. Fleamount and Eupemia Potter happily accepted the boy into their home. Both James and Peter felt excited and happy their best friend was safe. But the boys felt incomplete without there dearest friend Remus who was staying a ST. Edmunds for the whole summer-they begged and begged for the Potters' to keep the boy at their home.

    After long talks with the Matron, Professor McGonagall and Ms. Pomfery, and made a few adjustments to their house. They finally took the boy in-who was reluctant and hesitant but quickly warmed up to the Potters' as they treated him like their own. Something he hasn't felt in years. If Eupemia had it her own way- she would keep him with her forever.

 Now the boys all piled up in James' room-Remus and Peter sound asleep. But Sirius and James stayed up-talking to one another.

"SHE BROKE UP WITH YOU?" Sirius exclaimed as he laid under his duvet-talking to James, who slept above on his own bed.  

"She did it through a letter-but it's not a big deal, and she had a very valid reason to end things." James shrugged, tussling his messy curls out of his face. "She dumps you on the first day of summer holidays. Evans is heartless."  Sirius exclaimed once again.

"Shush it! I'm trying to sleep." Remus  whispered, "What are you going on about Siri?" Remus said, sitting up. "Lily broke up with Jamie through a letter." 

"Okay? Why is that so shocking?" Peter spoke up, his messy bed hair in view as he rubbed at his eyes. 

"Why are you taking it so seriously?" James asked again, petting Oliver, James' golden retriever who slept at the end of James' bed, and Artemis, James' black cat who slept on top of his pillow. 

  Sirius sighed, sitting up to put his wet hair in a ponytail. "Jamie, you chased after her since forever! And you finally get together and you guys really liked each other but all of a sudden she breaks up with you?" 

     James shrugs once again, "I am a little upset but she has her own personal reasons for dumping me." James sat up turning on the lamp on his dresser next to him. "You're acting like I should have a extreme reaction to this. When you and Mary broke up- you didn't talk to anyone except Remus for weeks. " James said, rolling his eyes. 

Sirius glanced over at a half-awake Remus, a slight-smile danced on his lips as he examined the boy before turning back to argue with James. 

"That was different! We ended on personal reasons. What we had was nothing like what you and Lily had."

"Will you both please shut the fuck up! Peter and I are trying to get some sleep." Remus said with an aggravated tone. 

"There are other people at Hogwarts. He'll be fine, Sirius." Peter said with a tired expression. 

"Yeah, girls like Ariella." Sirius smirked, looking over at James. James widened his eyes, looking at Sirius. "First of all, she's Lily's best-friend. Second she hates me and lastly she's planning on becoming Ravenclaws' quidditch captain and I'm planning on being Gryffindor's captain. We would never work." 

"Can we just all go to sleep." Remus said once again-glaring at the two, as he brings up and to his coarse hair. 

     "Not so fast, you would date her if she wasn't Lily's friend and if she was interested." Sirius pointed out. "Did you forget the part where she hates me? Even though she is pretty and has nice eyes, we would never work." James said as he lays his head against the pillow. 

"You've said before she's hot." Sirius added. Both Peter and Remus nodded. James' fell agape. All the attention on him. He looked over at Sirius mouthing the words 'you're dead to me' causing Sirius to burst out laughing. 

"You have to admit, she is quite fit." Peter added, earning a look from James. Remus shook his head, "Can we not talk about Ella right now? Lets go to sleep, please." Remus said, the same aggravated tone from before. Both James and Peter are drifting off to sleep, both knackered. 

"Is Remy a little cranky?" Sirius fake-pouted.

"Shut up Siri." 

"Make me." Sirius smirked, looking directly into Remus dark brown eyes. 

   Suddenly Remus gets up from his small bed, getting close to the boy. Sirius eyes widen as the duvet covering Remus dropped to the floor, his eyes on the boys chest. The moonlight from James' wide window shining on Remus body. The dark-skinned looked into the curly-haired boys eyes. "Cat got your tongue?" Remus teased. 

Sirius was in fact tounge-tied, his eyes flickered to Remus' lips briefly before looking back into the boys eyes. "Now can I sleep peacefully?" Remus asked, tilting his head. Sirius quickly nodded.  Remus walks over to the lamp next to James, turning it off. "Night Siri." He said, before walking back to his bed. 

"Night Remy." Sirius said softly, not hearing his own voice over the sound of his racing heart.  

☾☾☾

 "YOU'VE BROKEN UP WITH HIM THROUGH A LETTER?" Ariella exclaimed, as she sat in between Marys' legs as her hair is being braided into two dutch braids. Lily nodded, looking up from Marlenes' hand. "I couldn't face him, I mean before I talked to him about my feelings. . . and how I felt and he understood that, I-I wanted to do it before we left for summer holidays but I couldn't." Lily said hesitantly, chewing  the inside of her cheek. 

       "That's good! You've talked to him about your feelings." Marlene nodded, smiling at the girl. "And now you are a free single woman! Like the rest of us" Mary smiled as she carefully brushed through Ariella's untamed curls. "Speaking of love, Ariella are you still hesitant about dating anyone this year?" Mary spoke as she messaged through the girls scalp gently-her delicate fingers almost made the girl sleep against her friend's thigh. 

   "I'm not against it or hesitant. I just want all of my attention on becoming quidditch captain not on some bloke who turns out to be an arse!"Ariella huffed as others chuckled, wincing as she touched her side. She injured herself while on her broomstick. Her father told her to be careful but being stubbron she didn't listen and ended up hurting her side. "If we are talking about love then we should talk about Marlene's undying love for Dorcas Meadows!" Ariella said, as she gave Marlene a smirk. 

"There is no love for Dorcas Meadows. Only pure hatred— She's only self-absorbed, arrogant and-" 

"Frustratingly beautiful?" Lily spoke up, interrupting the girls rant. "Anyway-Mary, how about you?" Marlene quickly changing the subject. "Well, maybe. It's confusing." Mary sighed, finishing the last braid on Ariella's hair. 

     "How confusing?" Ariella asked, turning to the girl. "Well, I've never felt like this with someone before. It's like a different kind of feeling. Every time I'm with them-I never want to leave their side. Every time they look at me with those eyes I just-can't say anything but just think 'oh so this is what it feels like' And I feel like a fool because I don't want to ruin anything between us. I can't lose them." Mary sighs, glancing at Lily who glanced back at her. They lock eyes for a moment. 

  "Mary, darling you're in love." Marlene smiled at the girl. "Our Mary is in love." Ariella smiled as Mary flopped against the bed. "Girls, get to sleep! We have to get to the Potters' early tomorrow." Julius, Ariella's father shouted from the bottom of the staircase.  

They all shared knowing looks. They quickly gather up their things and head to their beds. Both Marlene and Ariella slid into Ariella's bed while Lily and Mary slid into a bed next to the two other girls. 

"God night" Ariella whispered as she turned off her lamp. 

"Night." They all say. 

    Lily stayed wide awake, gazing at Mary who slept soundly, her face all relaxed. She didn't realize how radiant Mary looked in the moonlight.  She brings a hand towards her face, moving the girls hair out of her face gently.

 Mary stirred, mumbling in her sleep as she scooted closer to the redhead, putting an arm around the girls waist. Lily hitches her breath, her heart beating faster. Lily quickly recovers, letting out a sigh she closes her eyes.

have you ever crave someone so much that you ache? 

☾☾☾

   "THIS IS JAMES' HOUSE?" Mary said in amazement as they stood in front of the Potters' Manor. The house was quite tall, towering over the girls as they look around the estate in shock. tendrils of vines wrapped around the side of the house. All they were surround by was trees, only trees. 

Trees in different shapes and sizes. Ariella turned her head to the side, seeing a small courtyard filled with flowers-mostly roses in a shape of a star, in the middle stood a tree sculpted into a deer.

"Julius!" A man said, opening the door with a wide smile. Ariella's father returned the smile, hugging the man tightly. "Monty!" Julius said with a chuckle, "It's been awhile, how are you?" He said as they go inside the house. "Fine, fine. Oh is this Ella?" Fleamount stopped and turned to the girls who stood awkwardly to the side.

"This is my daughter and her friends. Ariella, Lily, Mary and Marlene." Julius said, pointing to each of the girls. "It's nice to meet you!" Fleamount nodded to the girls-giving the girls a friendly smile. Ariella glanced back at Fleamount, who continued to talk to her father as they headed to the sitting room. James really looked like his father. Fleamount was quite tall, with a head full of messy curls and greying beard. The same smile that reached to his eyes like James. Everything.

     "Darling, who's here?" A woman spoke, coming from another room with an apron on. She was quite beautiful. Eupimeia was a breathtaking woman for her age. She had the same doe eyes as James. Her hair tinkling her shoulders as she walked into the room. "Oh, hello Julius! It's so good to see you!" Eupimeia said with a wide smile, giving Julius a warm hug. "Effie, it's good to see you. Looking beautiful as ever." Julius said returned as the broke away from the hug. "where is Rosie?" Eupimia asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "She's visiting her mum today at St. Mungos." Julius answered as, Eupimeia nodded in understanding.  

Eupimeia turned to see the girls sit close to each other, talking amongst themselves. "Oh? And who are these beautiful ladies?" Julius looked up, says, "My daughter Ariella, and her friends, Lily, Mary, and Marlene." Eupimeia smiled warmly at the girls, giving each and everyone on of them a warm hug. "Lovely to see you! Lily, I've heard a lot about you." Eupimeia said as Lily looked back with a nervous smile, "Really?" 

     "Jamie talked about nonstop! But don't worry it's only good things." Eupimeia said, giving the girl a wink. "You girls don't have to be here with us- you can see the boys outside in the back. You don't want here us talk about bleak and gloomy things for hours." Eupmeia said, leading them outside to see James, Sirius playing quidditch, tossing a small pumpkin instead of a snitch. 

    "Boys, we have visitors!" Eupmeia shouted as the boys  turned their heads to see the girls and James' mother. "Hello, girls." Remus said, as he got up from reading a book under a tree. "Remus!" They all smiled warmly, giving the boy a hug. James and Sirius quickly got off of their broom sticks as Peter followed behind. "Ladies." Sirius said with smirk, shaking his sweaty hair in their faces. "Sirius, you're disgusting!" Mary shouted, slapping the boy against his shoulder. 

They all gave Peter a smile as he made sure to give each and every single on of them a warm hug. James gave the girls and a wave, stopping at Ariella who gave him a blank face. 

"What are you lot up to?" Marlene asked as they walked towards the never-ending field. "Playing quidditch with a pumpkin. Whoever loses has to give the winner a hundred galleons each." Sirius  said, leaning against his broomstick.

"Can we play?" Marlene asked, pointing to herself and Ariella. "Sure, I don't see why not." James shrugged, running towards a small shed, coming out with two unused broomsticks. Ariella and Marlene take the broomsticks from the boy. "Get ready to lose a 100 galleons, Sinclair." James  teased as they all flew up into the air. "You wished, Potter." Ariella smirked.

    Remus looked up from his book as he sat in the grass with Peter, Lily, and Mary. Pete, who was cheering the boys on and Mary shouting encouragements with a wide smile. With a teasing smile, Sirius playfully knocks into Marlene as he flew passed her, earning a glare from Marlene as she flipped him off.  

A slow smile appears on the werewolfs face, watching Sirius grumbles to himself as the girls win another point. Sirius quickly recovers, a glint in his eye as he plays again, the same smile on his face. How can someone be so captivating? Sirius Black, the one who shined bright in the darkness. Like the stars, he gleamed proudly for everyone to see.  

"You okay, Remus?" Lily turned her head, seeing Remus smiling to himself. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. I should be asking if you're okay since-" Remus said, gesturing to James Potter. Lily nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I'm fine. We both think we're better off as friends." Lily said as Remus nodded, they both look up-seeing Ariella glaring at James, who smirked wickedly. 

"Oh, c'mon Potter, it's nothing personal." Ariella said, circling around the boy, James glared at the girl, chasing after the pumpkin in Ariellas' hands. Annoying the boy more, the girl brought her broom up all the way up in the sky, doing various spins and circles. 

     "We won!" Marlene said proudly as the girls cheered, doing a little happy dance.  After an hour of quidditch, the boys were close to winning but the girls made a comeback, winning the two-hundred galleons. "You cheated!" Sirius complained as they walked over to where the rest of the group was sitting. Both James and reluctantly handed the girls their galleons. "Exactly how did we cheat?" Ariella asked, ruffling the boys hair. "I-Okay you guys won fair and square . . . I guess." Sirius said with a huff, sitting next to Remus with a sigh, resting his head on his shoulder. 

   Ariella smiles proudly as she sat under a tree, watching as Peter drew on each of the girls hands, listening to Mary ramble on about something. Remus and James look at James' sketches as Sirius slept against Remus' shoulder. The sunlight beaming on her as she slowly closed her eyes. Her body slowly relaxed as she drift off to sleep. "Only five minutes." She said to herself, as the world went dark. 

☾☾☾

  JAMES POTTER sighed, playing with his pen as he looked up at the clouds. James was bored, all they did was sit there in the field for the past hour. He glanced back at Ariella, who slept calmly. He sat up looking at his other friends, Sirius and Remus were talking to each other as Sirius played with Remus fingers. Peter sat crisscrossed in front of Marlene as she did his hair. Mary and Lily giggled and talked as Lily layed her head in Marys' lap. James was itching to do something, while watching Ariella sleep, he comes up with an idea. He giggled to himself, as he got up from the grass. "What is it?" Sirius questioned with a raised brow.

   "Look, how calm Sinclair looks." James smirked. "Yeah and it will stayed like that, if you don't bother her." Remus said, watching James slowly walk into the manor. "Jamie, what are you doing?!" Sirius shouted as James shot him another smirk, running into the manor.

      The group of teens watch as he comes back at with a small bowl of water. "James, what are you doing?" Lily asked, sitting up as she layed on Marys lap, who played with Lilys' ginger hair. "Just waking up Ariella." James shrugged, slowly walking towards the girl. "She's going to kill you, mate." Peter said as they watch James slowly pour the cold water all over the girls hair.

"What the fuck!?" Ariella shouted, quickly standing up. James bursts out laughing, "You should've seen your face." He continued to laugh. "I'm going to kill you, Potter!" She shouted as she chased the boy around the field. "I only got water in your hair" James said, smiling as the girl chased him around.

"A bunch of children they are." Mary spoke up as they watch Ariella and James tumble down a hill. "Should we stop them?" Remus asked, but the group just shook their heads. "They're fine." Marlene said and they all turned back to what they were doing. 

It was a normal occurrence to see Ariella and James bickering. It could over anything.  Ariella being high-tempered and James Potter being a smug bastard. The pair are always being thrown together in attempts by their friends to quell their rivalry, from the classroom to the Quidditch field.

"The dramatic mannerism — is it an aesthetic or books were your only friend when you were a child?" James said as Ariella held him in a head-lock. "Lets not talk about 'dramatic mannerism' when you, James Potter is the most dramatic person I've ever known." Ariella said, rolling her eyes as she held on to him tighter.  "Pft, yeah right. Just because you cried over a quidditch game, once in your lifetime it makes you dramatic. " James scoffed. 

"It's just quidditch." Ariella said, letting the boy go. She lays down against the grassy hill, letting out a long sigh. James joins her, laying in the grass, keeping a distance. "You should be the last person, talking about quidditch and calling it 'dramatic'." James said, turning to the girl.

"Really?" She said with a raised brow, he nodded, "You have the weirdest obsession with it." James said, pushing his glasses up from the ridge of his nose.

"It's not my fault I'm a good player. A good player that could make it to the Quidditch Leagues." Ariella smiled, closing her eyes.

"Keep dreaming, Sinclair. I would make it to the big leagues, even become your captain. " James jokes, smiling at the girl who wore a ghosted smile.

 After a few minutes, James speaks up, "Ollie?" James said, siting up on his forearms. The golden retriever runs up to the boy, licking the boys face in happiness. "Ollie!" James giggled. 

   "Is this your dog?" Ariella asked curiously, as she rubbed the dogs' belly, who smiled with happiness. "Yeah, my mum gave me Ollie and my cat, Artemis when I was about eight yeas old. They didn't want me to be lonely. Before I met, Peter, Marlene, Remus, and Sirius, I was quite lonely." James said as he looked up at the sky. Ariella hummed, understanding completely. Being the only child, was very lonely. 

  Ariella only ever had her Mother and Father. No one to rant to or even play with growing up. She was forever grateful to her mother when she was introduced to Marlene and Peter at Marlene's birthday party, years and years ago. 

"Girls, it's time to go!" Julius shouted from the doorway of the manor. The girls scrambled up, saying goodbye to the boys.