𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐄 ʲᵃᵐᵉˢ ᵖᵒᵗᵗᵉʳ

one.

HEY JUDE ;
chapter one.
—————
" that girl is nothing
but a pain in my ass. "

JUDE COULDN'T say she was surprised to see James Potter drooling over Lily Evans after five minutes of being on the Hogwarts Express, considering he'd spent his entire time on the platform looking for her bright red locks. Jude was only shocked he'd lasted the entire summer without harassing the redhead in an attempt to get her to like him, which hadn't worked thus far.

"Merlin, already?" The loud huff coming from the door to the compartment made Jude snap her head up from her shoelaces to see one of her best friends, Juliet Gilmore looking down the hall with her arms crossed in disapproval to see James smiling smugly at Lily who already looked uncomfortable trying to entertain James' stupidity. "That poor girl."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius Black chuckled from his spot across from Jude, using her knees as a leg rest while staring in amusement at the Hufflepuff girl "You hate Evans."

"As she should." Jude smirked, slapping Sirius' feet away and turning towards the door, "That girl is nothing but a pain in my ass."

"Jude, we're not children anymore could you please mature a little bit?" Remus groaned, throwing his head back in annoyance, "It's been five years and i'm at the end of my rope."

"Fantastic." Juliet mumbled, throwing herself onto the seat across from the boy, her head in the lap of Rebekah Gallagher, who was too busy making faces at Lily through the window to join in on their conversation.

"Will you cut it out?" Remus snapped, kicking Rebekahs legs with his own, "She might see you."

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." She spat, leaning forward with her head in her hands, "That's the entire point."

"How long do you bet it'll take for James to give up on this silly chase?" Sirius questioned, grinning on the edge of his seat like a little boy.

"No. No more bets." Juliet huffed, putting her arm out to point in Sirius' direction, "I'm still broke from the last bet we placed on this relationship."

"Yeah, and what do you need the cash for? Daddy's money isn't enough?" Rebbekah grinned, leaning back in her chair watching the boys face fall into an expression of annoyance. It was often that Sirius fought with Rebbekah, but considering he was just so questionable she normally won every argument they had.

"Both of you, shut up." Remus groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. The group had only been together for a little over 15 minutes and Remus already missed the quiet summer away from the four, luckily James was too busy embarrassing himself to push the boy over the edge. Though, he might've spoke too soon.

"Well boys— and girls, I have fantastic news?" The messy haired boy beamed, standing in the doorway of the compartment, hands on his hips. Remus' head instantly banging on the wall behind him.

"Dear god, please tell me she didn't finally agree to go out with you."  Rebbekah prayed, looking to the sky as if she were begging to an invisible god.

"Not yet," James said shaking his head swiftly, ignoring the obvious insult and collapsing down next to Sirius who once again managed to put his legs back on Judes once more, "but she did laugh at my joke, which is a start."

"Merlin, I feel sorry for you." Jude snickered leaning her head against the window watching as James expression changed from one of success to confusion. It was easy to get a reaction out of James, considering his ego was built up so high it was easily crumbled.

"Why?" The boy whined, his brows creasing as he awaited an answer from the girl, "This a good thing, Harding."

"Trust me, I've been her dorm mate for four years, why do you think I sleep on the couch?" Jude reminded him, her tone laced with amusement, "I cant stand her, how could you possibly want to spend the rest of your life with someone so foul."

"She's not foul!" James defended quickly, his voice raising slightly only further amusing Jude who's favourite past time was triggering a James Potter meltdown. "I just assumed you spent your nights on the couch in the common room because your housemates couldn't stand your nauseating personality."

Jude roared, kicking her legs in the air while she threw her head back enjoying the filterless comments that came out of James' mouth when defending Lily. It was no secret that Jude Harding and Lily Evans were not friends. They were polar opposites. Jude was headstrong and disruptive while Lily's introverted and judgemental personality found her too rambunctious to handle for longer than two minutes. Jude was vocal about her opinions on Lily and of course, so was James. He and Jude were wonderful friends and had been since they met on the train their very first year, but one thing Jude knew that she would never be able to get over was that James would always defend Lily no matter how much he claimed to value Jude.

"Can we not start this now?" Remus cut in, leaning over James and placing his arms between his two friends. Remus was fully aware of the situation between Lily and Jude, and he knew Lily wasn't so innocent either, but there was no possible way of convincing James of that.

"Yes, please. You're giving me a headache." Sirius rubbed his head, using his other hand to block James and Jude from his sight.

"Okay, enough with the theatrics, Black." Juliet scoffed, swatting the boys hand down to his side, rolling her eyes when he flinched and pouted.

"Shove off!"

Jude couldn't say that James' insults meant anything to her, considering she never agreed with anything the boy ever said, there was no possible way his opinion on her was right in any way, shape, or form, but it did leave her wondering how much of a friend he really was if he couldn't trust her, his friend of five years, over a girl he barely knew who treats him like garbage. James was very loyal and Jude knew that, but sometimes she wondered if he was only loyal to people he truly cared about, and if she didn't make that cut.