ꜰɪʀᴇʙɪʀᴅ |ᴊᴀᴍᴇꜱ ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ

chapter 18 - anger and annoyance

Since the kiss between James and Ember, life had been a little hectic to say the least. First of all, both parties had been avoiding each other like the plague. The reason for this avoidance being, one thought it was just a spur of the moment and that it never meant anything. The other thought since the other finally got what he wanted, he would just get up and leave. 

Their friend groups were miserable...

It was just past curfew when James walked into the Gryffindor Common room. He looked up from the marauders map, after sitting in the library and staring at Embers name for the past two hours, to find Ember friends sitting around the fireplace staring directly at him. When his eyes met theirs, he turned abruptly, trying to avoid confrontation. He was unlucky.

Lily yelled out, "Ah, nice try Potter. But do you really want to do that, i'm going to think not!" James huffed in annoyance, sulking over to the group of three girls.

He knew not to ignore any of them, because you should never mess with them. ever. If you did, you were playing a dangerous game. 

Lily was the leader of any riot they produced, and bloody hell she was scary. James once saw her chase down Sirius because he took her quill without asking, and ended up breaking the quill. Lily was pissed. Anyways, then there's Marlene. She's like the war organizer, her and Ember both pranked mercilessly when provoked. The marauders learned their lesson during second year, it wasn't pretty. And Alice, the sweetest of all of them. She reminded James of Remus, the mastermind behind it all. But don't tell Remus he said that, who knows what it would do to his ego. 

He was drawn out of his thoughts by Lily. "Potter I swear, you better go talk to Ember or I will drag you to her myself." Lily scolded the confused boy. He looked up at the redhead, his hazel eyes showing pure confusion. 

To be completely honest, James had no idea what was going on for the past week. He was confused, with himself, Ember, everyone. 

"I'm not ignoring Ember, Evans." 

Alice scoffed in response, "You literally ran away from her screaming that she had cooties Potter. I think you just might be ignoring her." James sighed sadly, still wondering why he was so scared to talk to the girl he loved.

"Fine I am ignoring her. Happy now?"

"No, James obviously she's not happy, and neither are we, do you even listen to us? Merlin I swear your deaf," Marlene yelled, muttering the last part under her breath. 

James finally decided to meet their gazes. "What should I do?" The girls smacked their foreheads, shaking their heads at his obviously confused state.

Alice sarcastically spoke, "Oh I don't know James, maybe just bloody talk to her!" 

James surprised at the girl's bluntness, put his hand up in surrender, "Alright geez, i'll talk to her tomorrow. Happy now?"

"Yes but only if you actually have a conversation with her, not just saying hi in the hallways! got it?"

James nodded his head, desperately trying to escape their wrath. 

Marlene nodded curtly, standing up in sync with Lily and Alice, "Okay James, we'd better hear that you spoke to her, or there will be consequences."

James nodded frantically once more, staring into the fire, as the the girls walked away. Then he was left with thoughts on a burgundy couch, at 11:07 PM, on a Wednesday during November.

* * * *

It was now Friday, and Ember had seen James acting as a personal chauffeur towards her friends since breakfast. Her friends always winked at her when they passed her, while James avoided all contact with the girl. It was bittersweet for Ember. But Ember felt annoyance more than anything, because after the school figured out they were ignoring each other, girls and boys began to come up to both parties. 

The boys annoyed James, so Ember flirted with some of them once they approached her. And girls continued to come up to Ember, some flirting, some asking if they could go out with James and some talking of her fear in this situation, how James never loved her and she was only a game. 

Whenever a snobby girl came up to Ember, asking about James, she punched them right in the nose. Leaving her with bruised knuckles, and the random girl with a broken nose. So far the punch count was 20, and she still hadn't been given detention so that was pretty much the only positive of her week. 

Ember had gone as far as ignoring all of the Marauders. Which the latter were not happy about. Remus continued to try and find the girl through the depths of the library while Sirius trailed the corridors in search of her bright red hair. 

The boys hadn't figured out that Ember had been coping with physical pain. So that was good, because who knows what would happen if they found out. Ember could only control her emotions for so long before she exploded, so she reached out to the room of requirement. 

Ember was a few steps from the hidden room. She began to think of what she wanted with the room;

"I want a place to release my anger"

"I want a place to release my anger"

"I want a place to release my anger"

She opened her eyes, looking at the double doors revealing themselves in front of her. Her heels clicked on the cold cobblestone floor, as she reached her arms out to push the doors wide open. A training room was revealed in front of her. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on a particular corner of the room. It looked old and tattered. She walked over, taking off her heels at the door once she had shut the doors, sealing her from the outside world. As she looked closer she saw plates and knives mounted up against the wall. She picked up a note that laid to the side,

Do what you must with these items

Ember shrugged at the vague note, picking up one of the knives and examining it carefully. She looked around the room, seeing a target across the room. She took her wand out of her skirt, adding a picture of one of the girls she had punched today. She held her hand back, poising it at the center of the girls face. She threw the knife with such force that the knife embedded itself so only the handle was visible. Once she hit the mark, a devious yet gleeful smile appeared on the girl's face. 

And for once in her life she let go.

a/n: hi guys! i'm back, i honestly have no idea where to lead this story, please drop some ideas below! thank you and i think you look beautiful don't let anyone tell you differently. bye my loves see you next time!