Smoke | James Potter

。twenty-two 。

(warning: salem, mentions of past sexual assault)

☆

astra made her way towards the library, a small plate holding a crisp sandwich. she hadn't eaten lunch, having had to rush to the slytherin dorms to find her DADA book before she went to the lesson with no help. turns out, one of the other girls in her and harley's dorm had taken it to borrow without asking and had left it discarded on the floor in the common room, so close to the fire that it could have lit.

finding the darkest corner of the library, astra placed her bag of ingredients down as well as her late lunch. she pulled out a chair and sat down, rummaging through her bag to find the book slughorn had given her so she and james could create the love potion they had been ordered to make.

the chair beside her scraped at it was pulled out from underneath the table, but astra was too engrossed in finding the needed ingredients in her bag to look. she pulled out the last of the ones she and james would need for today before taking a bite from her sandwich. she opened the potions book to their needed page.

"did you bring the cauldron?" astra questioned.

"oh, yes, dear, i always carry one on me." a malicious voice spoke up and astra looked up from her book at salem, fear hidden behind the annoyance in her gaze. "shall i use the black or the grey cauldron? i always find it so hard to choose."

"fuck off." astra muttered, sighing to herself as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"you should be careful, you'll put all that weight back on." salem grimaced, causing her to pause chewing. "d'you really need that?"

"yes, i haven't eaten since 8 in the morning. that's not healthy." astra replied. it was approaching half past 4 now.

"wouldn't have hurt to leave this one out." salem hummed. "you're not as desirable with the extra... padding, shall we say? but i suppose i could push through that in the future."

astra scoffed, "you won't need to, believe me."

"what's stopping me, hm? your parents don't care, your brothers don't care, you friends don't know, as if they'd be able to do anything anyway. you didn't even try very hard to stop me. if anything, it looked like you enjoyed it." salem taunted.

astra didn't say anything, she just blankly ignored him, scribbling down onto a piece of parchment.

"your silence proves my point. you're too weak to fight back. it's so pathetic you even try to fight. you should accept your place. you want to. it would be so much easier than what you try and do." salem smirked, pulling the parchment from under her quill, causing it to rip jaggedly. "or maybe you like the fight. i know i certainly enjoyed it."

with thoughts flooding her mind, astra straightened her back out before standing up. she gripped the front of salem's shirt, ramming her fist into his nose harshly multiple times until she was certain she'd broke his nose again. she sat back down calmly as salem stumbled to stand up, blood dripping onto his robes. as he left the library to go to the hospital wing, astra made sure to send a spell his way that made his legs turn to jelly.

james found astra at the back, seeing her staring down at the torn piece of parchment with a glazed look to her eyes. her breaths seemed to be fast and short, her fingers balling into a fist and then out of the fist and then back into a fist, over and over, trying to stop the sense of panic in her chest. he placed down the cauldron onto the table before gently placing a hand to her shoulder, mumbling her name softly.

"what?" astra whispered back, not looking at him.

"i bought the cauldron." james said, sitting down in salem's abandoned chair, pulling it closer to astra as she continued to stare at the torn parchment, worrying james. "are you okay? did you rip some homework?"

"no, no, um... sorry. i was trying to think of something but it must've slipped my mind." astra forced a small chuckle, grabbing some new parchment.

"we can do this another day." james offered.

astra shook her head, sighing through her nose and she placed the cauldron in front of them, standing up, "the quicker we start, the less time it'll take. it's a rather long process. it has to brew for a few weeks. and i'd like to do something now. occupy my mind a little."

"yeah, sure." james nodded, albeit hesitantly. "what's first?"

"chop up the heart into tiny bits." astra ordered, handing him the jar. "i'll measure out the slime."

"it's not exactly romantic when you find out what goes into it." james hummed. "well, i suppose the heart."

"i was never sure why the heart was used as a symbol of love. emotions come from your brain, so that means love stems from there." astra muttered, pouring a thick, blue sludge into the cauldron.

"you make a good point. although, when you're with someone you love, your heartbeat speeds up a lot." james suggested. "but if you're with someone you hate and it does that you should probably go to a doctor."

"yeah, probably." astra smiled slightly.

"done! what's next?" james asked, handing her the bowl of cut up heart.

"slice this bone thinly." astra recited from the book in front of her, pouring the pieces of heart into the blue slugs, seeing it turn into a chocolatey-brown colour. she grabbed the ladle from her bag, stirring it anti-clockwise 5 times before doing it clockwise 7 times. she then just had to do it anti-clockwise for 10 minutes straight.

"should i put it in now?" james questioned, having sliced it.

"weigh out half of it. the other half goes into it afterwards." astra replied and james complied happily, adding the equal half of it which turned made the potion turn white for a split second before it went back to the chocolate colour.

"is it supposed to do that?" james asked, standing back from it slightly, hiding behind astra.

she chuckled, "yes, that's normal. thanks for letting me be your human shield, by the way."

"well, i need to protect my precious locks." james said, brushing a hand through his hair, messing it up even more for dramatic effect.

"no, we wouldn't want them to get burned." astra remarked sarcastically. "speaking of burning hair, could you pull mine back or tie it up, it's close to burning and i can't stop stirring this."

"sure. have you got something to tie it up?" james asked.

"yeah, there's a bobble in my pocket." astra mumbled. "just reach and get it."

james did so, his fingers slowly and gently pulling her long hair from the front of her face. it was so soft and silky, running through james' fingers without a single knot as he carefully pulled it up to tie it into a rough bun on the back of her head. goosebumps erupted on the back of astra's neck when his fingers brushed her skin, but they weren't the type that made her skin crawl, they made an odd sensation appear in her stomach. a sensation she'd have to get used to when around james potter.

{1241}

i couldn't find instructions to make amortentia so this'll have to do lmao