Chapter Text
James Potter knew he’d led a charmed life so far. He’d excelled at pretty much everything he’d put his hand to and, on top of that, he could honestly say that he’d managed to avoid getting a swelled head about it as well.
He was a good student, not brilliant but solid; he was popular and had a great set of friends. He’d kept out of trouble enough to end up as Hogwart’s Head Boy and he liked to think that the rest of the student body felt that they could talk to him if they needed to. As for his future prospects, he’d been lucky to inherit his parent’s skill at Quidditch and he was pretty sure that he’d get offers from both the teams they’d played for when the scouting season started in a few weeks time.
He even liked the way he looked. He was tall; he was athletic; his reddish brown hair was nether too red nor too brown and he’d inherited his father’s green eyes, including their sparkle. All of this meant that when he’d finally started to find girls interesting he’d found it pretty easy to score himself his first girlfriend. True, breaking up with Kirsty had been painful, it had hurt a lot, but he’d eventually got over it and moved on, and he was fairly proud that they’d managed to stay pretty good friends.
So, all in all, life had been a smooth ride. He had no complaints.
He had to admit, though, that this year there had been a couple of hiccups. Firstly his Quidditch team had started dropping like flies. It had started when he’d lost Martin Creevey; he’d never really liked Creevey but it had to be acknowledged that he’d been a bloody good chaser for the Gryffindor team. Losing Simon Crimshaw was a bigger blow though. Yeah he’d been an excellent beater but he’d also had leadership qualities and James had been grooming him to take over as Captain for the following year.
He’d got Hugo and Fabian as replacements, which was great, but Hugo had never played in competition Quidditch before and Fabian had warned James that he was rusty. They’d both need some heavy training and Gryffindor was currently languishing in third place on the points tally. Still, there were four matches left to go in the season and they could catch up to Slytherin and Ravenclaw if they worked hard.
And then there was Jane. Somehow the last few times they’d gone out together, it hadn’t gone too well. They hadn’t argued but James had found himself thinking of other things and he was pretty sure that Jane had been a bit bored as well. They just didn’t seem to click together the way they’d used to and James was starting to think that maybe he’d be better off ending the year with a fresh start as a single man. Particularly as Jane was starting to drop hints that she was thinking about studying in America next year. She’d tentatively suggested that he look at playing for an American team if he could, but James knew that he wasn’t really interested in doing that. The American Quidditch league was far too small.
So, the whole situation with his brother Albus and Scorpius Malfoy had been a rather enjoyable distraction. The rumour that Simon had started about them had annoyed him, but he knew himself well enough to admit that the thought of pushing his brother into a corner was too much fun to miss. So, he and Fabian had come up with their crazy plan and steamrolled Al and Scorpius into going along with it.
After the excitement of all the tricks they’d pulled on Martin Creevey, it actually looked like this was going to be another interesting week, and James was still grinning to himself about it as he followed Fabian out of the Slytherin 6th year dorm. They stopped off in the common room to tell Rose and Al’s other friends about the plan and then they finally escaped the rather gloomy Slytherin dungeons. Honestly, James wondered how someone as fond of the outdoors as Al was could stand it, but there were quite a few things about his Slytherin brother that James didn’t always understand.
“So, what now?” he asked Fabian as they ambled along the corridor to the main stairs.
Fabian turned and looked at him and James’ heart sank at the sombre look on his face. It was unusual for Fabian to look like that, usually his blue eyes sparkled with good humour and mischief, and it made James realise that giving up Scorpius had been harder for Fabian than he’d let on. He was, after all, a damned good actor – he’d originally given up Quidditch for the Drama Club – and he’d already been accepted into next year’s class at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
“Firewhiskey on the old Astronomy tower?” Fabian suggested and James gave him an agreeing nod.
“I’ll fetch the cloak,” he said.
They used the invisibility cloak to sneak up to the old tower. This had once been the astronomy tower but the year before a new tower had appeared at Hogwart’s and the Astronomy classes had transferred over to its better facilities. This meant that the old tower was usually deserted, except for the occasional snogging couple, and James didn’t know how he did it, but Fabian usually had a bottle or two of firewhiskey stashed up there somewhere.
Being late January, the tower was fairly chilly and therefore empty. Fabian fetched a bottle from his hiding place behind one of the stones in the wall and they found a sheltered space to sit, wrapping themselves in the cloak with a nice warming charm for extra comfort.
James figured they must look odd, two heads hovering in the air with no bodies attached, but fortunately there was no one else there to see it. He took the glass Fabian offered him and studied his companion as Fabian filled his own glass. In the moonlight, Fabian’s face was pale and his eyes appeared more grey than blue. His shoulder-length black hair looked even darker than usual and even though he’d tied it back into a short ponytail it looked like an inky stain around his face.
“What shall we drink to?” James asked.
“Hmmm,” Fabian pondered, and then, to James’ relief, he grinned. “Rumour-mongering. For once being the instigator and not the subject.”
James laughed, touched his glass to Fabian’s and drank. The firewhiskey sent a warm trail down his throat that spread through his stomach to eventually reach his extremities. He loved that feeling that came with firewhiskey – it was a kind of warm, glowing euphoria.
Beside him, Fabian sighed.
“You really liked him, didn’t you?” James asked before he could think better of it and stop himself. “Scorpius, I mean.”
“Yeah, I know who you meant,” Fabian replied. “And yeah, I did. I think I could have fallen for him, you know, if we’d had more time. I think it’s better this way, though. After all, we would have been separated next year anyway. Damn, he’s hot though, and half the allure was that he doesn’t even know it. Terribly sweet, too.”
“You don’t think he might have been too sweet for you, though?” James asked curiously. It was something he’d wondered about Fabian’s interest in Scorpius before.
Fabian frowned at him as he topped up their glasses. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” James said thoughtfully. “I really like Scorpius, he’s a lovely guy, but he’s not the most outgoing person. I think he’s outgoing enough for Albus, and Albus will help to bring him out even more. But you? Well, you’re another level of crazy. Don’t you think that you might have got bored eventually, or that Scorpius might have ended up feeling overwhelmed?”
Fabian stared at James for a long moment, and he couldn’t see for sure in the dim light but James was pretty certain he was being glared at. He shrugged and tried to look apologetic.
“Fuck you, James,” Fabian eventually said, but there was a note of humour in his voice that James was relieved to hear. “You have the worst sense of timing for your words of wisdom out of anyone I know. Don’t you realize that this is the time for wallowing? This is the time for sympathy not common sense. Don’t ruin my pity party, thank you very much, or you can bugger off and find your own whiskey.”
James laughed and waved a hand at Fabian in as regal a fashion as he could. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “Wallow away as much as you like.”
“Thank you,” Fabian said with fake gratitude. “Your permission means the world to me in my hour of need.”
“There, there,” James said, patting Fabian’s knee. “You’ll be all right.”
“I shall remember this, James,” Fabian assured him. “For next time you’re in the middle of a maudlin moment.”
James thought about Jane and sighed. “That might come sooner than you think.”
“Oh?”
“Just… you know… Jane,” James replied. “I have a feeling our relationship is going nowhere.”
“Well, have you talked to her about it?” Fabian asked.
James took another sip of his whiskey, relishing its smooth taste and comforting warmth. Fabian certainly knew how to choose well when it came to firewhiskey.
“No,” he said. “Not yet, but I’ll have to soon, I know.”
Fabian nudged him with his elbow.
“Quite a pair, aren’t we,” he said, and James nodded his agreement.
The moon rose higher as they continued to drink, flooding the top of the tower with a pale glow that made everything look slightly washed out.
“Funny to think,” Fabian broke the silence with what sounded like a slightly slurred voice and James eyed him expectantly.
“Funny to think what?” he asked, after Fabian continued to stare absently into space.
“Oh,” Fabian turned to look at him with a smile. “Funny to think that in a few weeks we’ll be leaving Hogwarts. I’m looking forward to Wada but I’ll miss it here all the same. Life will be… different.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’ll be living in London,” James replied.
“That’s the idea,” Fabian said. “And you’ll be out in the wind and rain, training your arse off. But are you going to live at home as you start your glorious Quidditch career?”
“Don’t jinx it, you idiot, I haven’t got onto a team yet. And I hadn’t thought much about where I’d live… well, I originally thought that maybe with Jane… but she might be somewhere else…” James fell silent, well aware that he’d been kind of babbling. Also, he was pretty sure his toes were going numb. He haphazardly renewed the warming charm and sensed Fabian jerk slightly beside him.
“Merlin, James,” he swore. “A little warning next time, or at least a little more finesse. I think you may have burnt all the hair off my legs and it’s not a look I would choose, thank you very much.”
“Sorry,” James grinned. “Might be a little tipsy.”
“Sodding twat,” Fabian said fondly and they smiled at each other for a moment.
James’ eyes lingered on Fabian’s face and he couldn’t help thinking that Fabian looked stunning in the moonlight. He’d always thought Fabian was handsome but at this moment the light seemed to glow from his skin and his eyes seemed to sparkle in the moonlight.
“Huh?” he said, suddenly becoming aware that Fabian had been talking.
“I said, you deaf twit, that I’d thought of asking if maybe you and Jane might like to share a place with me in London. That way we could get something larger… but if she’s not going to be with you… well, on the other hand, you still might like to live in London anyway. What do you think?”
“Huh?” James repeated.
“Honestly, I’ll get you a sobering potion if you don’t start paying attention,” Fabian sniped. “I asked if you’d like to share a place together in London? It’ll be easier for me going to Wada, and you’d have to apparate to a practice ground wherever you were, and London could be a lot of fun, particularly if we’re both going to be single.”
“Yeah,” James smiled. “That does sound good.”
Their eyes met again and held, and some sort of shiver of warmth went through James’ body. It didn’t feel like a warming charm, more like a spark of electricity that seemed to come from Fabian’s eyes. James blinked, noted that Fabian was starting to look puzzled, but he couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward, moving closer.
His eyes dropped to Fabian’s lips. They were slightly parted, full and inviting, and James suddenly wanted nothing more than to press his own against them.
So, he did.