Hogwarts has been socially run by the marauders for five years, Lorelei intends to change that.
Meanwhile, Voldemort rises to power.
(It's a very slow burn, buckle up)
(Also, not a happy ending)
James Potter x OC
started: June 13, 2022
finished:...
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Every muscle in Lorelei's body was taut.
She was putting every ounce of her focus into trying to act casual as James was sitting right behind her.
Trying to force her ears to listen to the professor, Lorelei felt like she was balancing a bowl of soup on her head as her back stayed straight as she tried not to think about the boy behind her.
Her plan was horribly backfiring on her as trying not to focus on him only put him at the forefront of her mind.
Reaching without looking, Lorelei slapped her hand across the empty table before silently finding her quill. With her quill in hand, a naive part of herself felt more in control of the room, despite the item's only function being to hold ink.
Slowly she maneuvered her head to look down, trying and hoping desperately she attracted no attention. Letting out a slow controlled breath she met the parchment in front of her with the tip of the quill.
Writing slowly and precisely, she copied down the words on the board. Meaningless to her at the moment as her brain refused to compute their meaning, she wrote each word without comprehending any of the bigger picture her professor was trying to convey.
Her mind was still so astutely focused on James Potter that as her quill moved she could only manage to hold each word in her mind for a few seconds. She even tried to read the words in sequence on her parchment, but hard as she tried to rip her focus away from him, it was a futile attempt.
She could have been reading the secrets of the universe and it wouldn't have mattered, her brain seemed to deem anything outside of the Gryffindor boy unimportant.
"Miss Byrd?" A voice pierced through her thoughts.
Looking up she met her professors eyes. "Yes?"
"What are the three steps to successfully completing a spell?"
Blinking slowly, Lorelei begged her mind to convey the simple answer. Luckily panic was a good incentive and her thoughts generated the answer without too much resistance, "Focus, precision, and intent."
"Very good. Ten points to Ravenclaw-" The professor was promptly cut off by the ringing of the bell. The sound of rustling filled the room as students hurried to shove their things in their bags so they could leave. The professor yelled over the chaos, "Remember your homework!"
Lorelei, as relieved as the rest of the class to be done, shoved her things in her bag before standing with the intent to follow the class to the door.
Privately she recited in her mind as she walked with the crowd, Almost there, almost there, almost, almost- her thoughts became more and more persistent as she neared the door.
She was so close to the freedom that leaving the room would provide. Freedom from the ever increasing heat of the classroom. Freedom from the tension she was sure only she felt. Freedom from worrying if James was looking at her, and if he was worrying about what he was thinking.
Breaking through the doorway with students surrounding her felt less freeing then she'd been imagining, but soon the heat that had been pressing in on her from every wall in the classroom was already leaving her in the light air of the open corridor.
Soon she was able to start breathing more easily as the crowd swept her down the hall. She even had the freedom to start thinking about how she would spend her free period.
But start was all she got before a hand pressed down on her shoulder.
Reactively, she turned to look who it was.
"James," She said softly. She had the clarity to be grateful she said so without thinking. Thinking would have led the word to be coated with emotion.
Emotion.
She thought of it as almost a dirty word.
"You weren't in any of your classes yesterday." He pointed out as he led them to the edge of the corridor lest they be swept away by the crowd completely.
Feeling stupid wasn't something Lorelei was comfortable with, or familiar with.
But as she stood staring into James's eyes, that was the only thing she could manage to feel about herself. Stupid.
His eyes seemed to consume her without him having to try at all. He didn't even seem to be staring at her in any particular way other than maintaining friendly eye contact. Contact. The word seemed to lead her mind to one moment. One moment she'd been trying to convince herself was a mistake.
"I wasn't feeling well." She admitted, reminding herself it wasn't a lie.
"Are you alright?" James asked, concern crossing his features.
Her heart fluttered, making her want to scream.
"Fine."
The word felt limp in the air between them.
Of course it wasn't enough to convince him.
"Fine?" He repeated as a question.
Nodding, Lorelei looked down. "Yeah, I had a pretty bad hangover."
Her mind begged her to look back up at his expression, and like magnets her eyes complied to meet his.
"Did you speak with Poppy?" He asked, concern still marking his features.
Nodding after she realized who 'Poppy' was, Lorelei said softly while looking to the side at the sea of students, "Her remedy only worked halfway."
James was quiet.
Her eyes once again locked with his.
She wished briefly she could decode his thoughts.
Especially his thoughts on one particular-
"I'm glad you're feeling better."
What else could she do but nod?
James gave her a flat smile before he walked past her, joining in the never ending stream of people.
Watching him disappear into the crowd, she wished she could figure out her thoughts.
It was almost painful to her that in a world full of magic and spells and potions for nearly every ailment, there was no remedy for confusion. Even with spells as powerful as Legilimency, they weren't useful to her.
