Harry Potter One Shots [x Reader]

James Potter

Title: Illicit Affairs

Pairing: James Potter x reader

Summary: Deep down, you always knew it was going to end like this.

Word Count: 2.4k

You had watched them fall in love. What was only a few years ago but what felt like a lifetime ago, you had watched James Potter and Lily Evans fall in love. He had always loved her from the start, he chased after her from the very beginning. While the declarations of love and constant badgering to a date at Hogsmeade was a daily occurrence to everyone and amusing to almost every student at Hogwarts, it was a heartbreaking cycle that slowly chipped away at your heart subtly that you hadn't even noticed it for years.

There was something about him from the very first time you saw him - the confidence, the talent, his humor - it all had enraptured you to him slowly when it was barely noticeable until it became devastatingly fast when it was unavoidable. It was only when you really noticed what you felt for him that they had fallen in love. There's a muggle saying that goes 'there's a very fine line between hate and love'. It seemed that Lily Evans was right on the line and it went over to love instead of hate. James had finally gotten the girl of his dreams, the one he's been chasing after for years, when you fell in love with him.

The unrequited heartbreak you had was perhaps the most painful type of heartbreak. You never told your friends how you felt about him seeing as everyone knew that he would only ever love and want Lily Evans. So as your heart broke when you saw them go on dates, laugh together, cuddle in the common room, kiss - no one knew your pain except yourself. You watched them get married and have a home together. They were building a future together and it hurt you that the boy that you secretly loved as a girl had broken your heart without even knowing it, was building a future with the woman of his dreams while you were still heartbroken over him like the same foolish girl.

You had always known but now knew for certain you could never even have him. You would never have him, that was never in the cards for you. It was two years after leaving Hogwarts that you were at a point in your life where you felt that you were content where your life was headed. Besides, it was years after Hogwarts and you weren't 17 years old anymore. You were now near your twenties. You enjoyed your job in the ministry and even 2 years after graduation found yourself going down a path in your job that could lead to success.

You were happier, content - that should have been enough for you when it happened.

It happened one night at a work party at the ministry. You saw many familiar faces from your days at school seeing as most people ended up working in the Ministry of Magic in one way or another. The first person who had dragged you into conversation was Sirius who had always been fond of you back in your days in Gryffindor House. It was evident seeing him that leaving school and working has not changed his exuberant nature. It wasn't soon after you saw him talk to Remus, that you saw two friends of theirs - James and Lily Potter. They married less than a year after graduating, you found out.

It had made sense - it was logical - that they were together and had married. James will always love Lily and Lily would always love James. You tried your best to smile genuinely at them and make play conversation as someone who is just catching up with two people they used to go to school with. But this wasn't easy, not at all. It wasn't because you wished you could be Lily or that you could be in her place. It was the fact that you knew that a part of your heart will always remain broken by him the unrequited love you had for him and the fact that you just wanted to move on - to find someone that would love you like he loves her, like he couldn't love you. It wasn't that you wanted him like you had when you were in Hogwarts, it was that you wanted what he found with Lily.