IN RUINS- James Potter

chapter twenty

It's been a week since the students of Hogwarts have heard about Nora being in a relationship— it may sound like it's sarcasm, but the girls and lads were deeply disappointed or jealous of Nora ( or James ). Oh yeah, and Nora had to say James this entire week, wanting to gag every time. Some of the girls were proud to know Nora was able to move away from studies and be in a relationship, no matter who it was.

James however was having the time of his life, twirling Nora in the corridors and showing off Nora to everyone around them— when Sirius wasn't near the two. Nora wished she could tell Sirius it was fake, however the whole point of this deal was to James' friend and all of Hogwarts that he was over Lily and was finally free from the red head.

Noras' stomach finally stopped going into knots when James would smile at her, or whenever their hands were locked together. It did take a while, however they were the PDA couple anyways so it was quite easy to change subjects.

Breakfast and dinner were the only times Nora was able to be with her friends, finally getting to talk to Evan again, after he tried to make new friends, clearly not working. Betty however kept her distance with Atticus, having things be awkward with the two still. Regulus however enjoyed the fact chatty Betty wasn't there; having the peace and quiet he loved, and Nora hated.

"Do you think the house elves like being at Hogwarts more than the manors?" Regulus asked his sister, eating hash browns from Atticus' plate. "Probably Reg, I once saw Kreacher smile in the kitchen, I was mortified." Nora said, having her body shiver dramatically.

"You've never seen Kreacher smile?" Regulus asks, shocked to be hearing this. Nora shook her head, coming to the fact that Kreacher probably only smiled at Regulus, quite offended.

The group went back to being quiet, enjoying their presence and Nora went back to reading her book with regulus, one page ahead of each other. "Did you get to the—"

"Shush! No i don't want to know!" Regulus blabbed, covering his ears while having his elbows hold the book down. "Fine okay." Before she put her eyes back to the book, Nora scanned the Gryffindor table to see James already staring at her with a smile creeping up on his face.

It was weird for Nora, she still wasn't used to the looks, especially from the Slytherins, trying to adjust. Giving him a little nod; Nora looked to the left of the Slytherin table to see Severus staring in the same direction of Nora, obviously looking at Lily Evans. Snape took notice of Nora, quickly looking at the candles above them and going back to the hash browns  all the Slytherins got.

"Evans and Snape are a couple right?" Nora whispered to Atticus, gesturing to Snape who was still looking at the red head. "Definitely not, though Snape wishes." Atticus said, leaning backwards to see the greasy haired boy.

"That's sorta sad." Nora said, not thinking much of it, going back to their food. "It's quite weird." Atticus said, eating her strawberries.

"Are you going to be sitting with me or Pothead?" Atticus asks, looking at the time to realize they had ten minutes before potions class first thing in the morning. "I'm going to sit with- James." Gaging a little bit, Nora wasn't fully used to it yet, always mentally saying other words as nicknames. "I hate love." Evan growled, telling regulus to get up so the two could leave.

When the younger boys were out of ear shot, Atticus looked at
Nora with a confused look, confusing Nora for a brief moment. "Why didn't you tell Evan it's a set up?" He asks, getting up and handing Nora her book bag. "I already told three people, James doesn't know o told you: and no offence to Evan but he's Regulus' best friend— not ours."

Beginning to walk out of the great hall, Nora knew what was going to come, warning Atticus. "Ah my love; how are you?" James came to the two, kissing Nora's forehead. "Fuck off." Nora groaned under her breath, desperately looking at Atticus.