Lions Inside¹ | James Potter

twenty-one

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(Line Without A Hook//Ricky Montgomery)

10th of October, Thursday, 1974

Thursday had been a long day and James had put in his best efforts to try and catch Lily's attention again. He even tried to impress her with his Muggle Studies information and interest, but she walked away before he could even tell her.

Entering the Common Room, James spotted his friends on the couch by the fire. He halted slightly at the sight. He was so used to getting Andrea's attention all to himself, so at the sight of her explaining schoolwork to Peter, very closely one might add, James immediately pouted.

Stomping over to them, he shoved Peter onto the rug on the floor and flopped into the space beside Andrea, placing his head in her lap. Shocked, Andrea looked from Peter to James. However, as she saw the devastation on James' face, she decided not to scold him for pushing Peter just yet.

"What's got you down, clown?" she giggled quietly. "I don't like clowns," Peter grumbled to himself. "No one does," Remus said, not lifting his gaze from his book.

James grabbed onto Andrea's wrist and placed her hand on his hair, wordlessly telling her what to do.

Andrea chuckled and did as she was told, running her fingers through his hair and trying to help calm him down. "I just wish Lily looked at me the same way Sirius looks at himself," James grumbled, pouting furiously.

"HEY!" Sirius protested. Remus didn't look up from his book yet again when he chimed in, "He's not wrong." Sirius shot Remus a scowl.

"Traitor." Remus looked up then with a smug smirk directed to Sirius. "Yeah? What're you gonna do about it? Give me thirteen pieces of silverware?" he mocked.

"How do I get her to like me? Could she even like me?" James went on. James would never show anyone else this, but to his closest friends, he wasn't afraid of being vulnerable sometimes. But they all understood that Lily's constant and harsh rejections were getting to him.

He put himself out there every single day, sometimes more than once a day, and he got nothing in return other than insults or rejection. Sure, he would never show Lily this, but it was definitely getting to him.

"Per chi ha fede, nessuna spiegazione è necessaria. Per uno senza fede, nessuna spiegazione è possibile." James looked up at Andrea in confusion.

"I understood some words there, but what the heck does that mean?" he asked in frustration. Andrea giggled. She went to answer but was interrupted.

"'To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible'," Sirius recited. James sat up and all the other Marauders gaped at him.

"Since when do you speak Italian?!" Andrea questioned. Sirius shrugged nonchalantly. "Since this summer," he said, smiling smugly. "È brillante!" Andrea cheered, jumping up to high-five him.

"Next question, why did you learn Italian?" Remus asked, studying Sirius. They all knew Sirius never enjoyed school holidays because he had to stay home for most of them. Especially after he snuck off to James' last Christmas without telling his parents.

Now they would barely let him out of the house when he was home. The two days they all visited Andrea near the end of the holidays was the first and last time they got to see him before the train to school.

"Got bored. Figured I'd learn another language and Italian was at the top of my to-do list," he said casually, winking at Andrea.

Remus shook his head as he looked at him in awe. "You're amazing, you know that?" he blurted out. Sirius grinned like a Cheshire Cat, glowing from his compliment. "Hold on, you just sat down and decided to learn another language?" James asked.