Catharsis | James Sirius Potter

[ 07; lucy ]

"HOW AM I GONNA GET A SPIDER-MAN SUIT SO QUICKLY?!"

"Why'd you want to insult Spider-Man that way?"

"How do you muppets know who Spider-Man is?" Melody questioned.

"Cause I take muggle studies with you. Pop culture, right?" Thomas answered.

"And we saw muggle films with him this summer. Immersing ourselves in the culture of pop, and all," Lucy said, gesturing to herself, James, and Fred, "Thomas thinks he looks like him. As if."

"Mum said so, too!" Thomas said, ignoring Lucy's mocking tone, "Plus, Melody said it last year, didn't you?"

Melody's cheeks dusted an amber sunset as she twisted in her seat, "Uh– vaguely recall."

"I would make a great Spider-Man, I already have the— are you laughing, Lucy?" James asked incredulously, eyes wide at the monumental disrespect.

"Don't know why the bloody hell you'd want that—" Fred began, "—but as long as it is nothing offensive to your ancestors, I could probably get you it. Before term, me and my Dad were working on this suit that can look like anything you want it to be."

"My Dad and I," Melody muttered.

"For the Ravenclaw Hallowe'en thing, Fred. Nothing offensive. But, sounds wicked, if you could do it." Thomas nodded, a bit of a childish smile appearing on his face.

"Do we have to get costumes, though?" Said Fred, looking at Lucy for an answer.

"Well, you won't be kicked out if you don't." She shrugged in response, "But Mia said it's protocol, or something."

"You should make the most of it!" Thomas adviced brightly, "Dressing up is the best part of Hallowe'en, along with the sweets. We aren't getting another chance to wear costumes!"

"I'll go as a disappointment, won't even have to change anything up for that," Lucy said.

"Amen," Fred, Thomas, and Melody agreed.

"Don't say that." James furrowed his eyebrows, "None of you. That's not true."

"I can't believe in one phrase, you just managed better parenting than my Dad." Melody shook her head.

James straightened up eagerly in his seat, "Melody, dearest, I'll gladly be your stand-in Father if you have a bastard one. All I ask is to never be called Daddy, and if you decide to get married, I walk you down the aisle." The five of them shared a lighthearted laugh.

For a moment, Lucy forgot about the nagging I want a cigarette thought, for it suddenly felt like they were back to exactly three years ago, a time that felt worlds away from where they stood now, time in which she would've been shocked to learn the world didn't revolve around her, or Thomas, or James, or Fred.

But, it wasn't about the comfortable feeling of being with friends, inside the Gryffindor common room, looking at the fire, pretending they did not have a single responsibility. If anything, as the years progressed, that seemed to be more present each time.

It was something about what James said. Something unapologetically caring, and true in his words, it was like being surrounded in golden light. Something that brought her back, briefly, ephemerally, to that time, three years from then, when she desperately tried to hide, with any and all means she had, how she was rendered an euphoric, blushing mess everytime their hands brushed.

Back to the time James Sirius Potter made her heart helplessly flutter.