TWO OF HEARTS ♧︎ ᴊ . ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

♣ KING OF DIAMONDS ♣

"AH, YOU'RE COMING TOO?"

"You say that like you didn't already know I was coming after overhearing me and Loki discuss it last week." Nicolas climbed aboard the carriage with James, Peter and Remus without any invitation, already knowing he was expected. He sighed at the only absent seat being beside the bespectacled Gryffindor. "Which, by the way, you really shouldn't have joined."

"And why not? It was only harmless conversation I just happened to overhear," James grinned, acting unconvincingly innocent.

"You don't know what we were talking about, James," Nicolas replied. He rolled his eyes at the boy, sending a frustrated plea to the other two with his eyes, hoping they would get it.

"Well, it's not like you two were sharing secrets or anything," James shot back, swinging his arm over Nicolas's shoulder.

"You never know, James," Remus hummed, raising his eyebrow with a slight grin, "Nic and Loki probably have some secret code."

"Or they've developed telepathy between themselves," Peter piped up, shrugging. "I wouldn't put it past them to figure out a way."

"Actually, that's plausible."

"Yeah, and we whisper to each other about how much Sirius is offering Lily to go out with you. And how much Regulus is offering Loki to go out with Sirius." Nicolas smirked when James glared.

"One of these days you'll come to see how much Lily and I are in love," James mused, placing his hands behind his head and lifting his feet onto Nicolas's lap.

"One," Nicolas began, shoving the legs off, "why aren't you in the carriage with her, then? And two," James placed his feet back with another god-like smirk, "I really hope you fall out of this carriage and flat on your ass, James Potter. Now get your feet off me!"

Nicolas shoved the boy's legs off him again, but, true to James's incessant nature, he picked them back up. The carriage began to move, but, surprisingly, James didn't fall like Nicolas hoped. Nicolas and James stared at each other, the former glowering while the other smirked with victorious glee. Peter and Remus shared a look of amusement.

"You know you love me, Jones," James cooed, finally removing his legs from Nicolas's lap.

"In your wildest dreams, Potter," Nicolas huffed.

James nudged the boy and shot him a wink. "Mh, you sure are." Nicolas turned away and gagged, ripping a laugh from Peter and Remus's throats.

♣

"I'M SO SORRY, LILY."

Nicolas earned a kick from James, which the Hufflepuff ignored. "I don't think enough pay is worth it," Nicolas motioned his head to the boy across from him. Lily let out a laugh. "Seriously, how much is Sirius paying you, and how can I sign up, too?"

"I wish Sirius were paying me," Lily giggled, glancing to her right at the boy glaring at Nicolas. "It would make my life easier."

"Maybe you could ask Sirius to pay you to fall in love with his brother," Mary Macdonald, who had been abroad the last year with her family and had come back for her final year, suggested to Nicolas with a shrug. "I mean, that's assuming you'd be okay with having to go through the trouble of converting this sixteen-year-old away from the beliefs of his family and classmates."