IN RUINS- James Potter

chapter thirty six

Warning; your girl is using Google translate cause I never took French in hs; so please correct me in the comments, if wrong:)

James Potter was a mater at disguising his feelings, when he was sad he made sure to put on a happy face, no matter what; his instant reaction was to pretend he was okay, not wanting people to worry about him, disregarding his own emotions. Sitting in the library and trying to focus on learning French, he began to become frustrated, why was the girl he liked so hard to understand?

When he liked Lily, he could read that red head like a book, favourite book, food, muggle artist, you name it; James knew it. He hated the fact of how he compared Lily to Nora Black, a raven haired girl with a sharp personality, one minute she is ready to kill, and the next minute she wants to do nothing but sleep.

Nora Black was simply different from the infamous Lily Evans, she was short tempered, has always been on her own since she was born, and the disappointment due to being a daughter.

James thought he had known everything about Sirius' sister throughout the years, only hearing the negatives when the family would fight, and yet in this last year of knowing the girl, she was just as broken as his best friend — maybe even more. It was awkward for James to know he switched from pining on Lily for years to suddenly be interested in a girl whose hated him since he met Sirius.

The lad tried his best to not let anyone know about the fact he is soon going to date his best friends sister, a girl who is from a high status family, a slytherin and the second smartest girl in his year. His life almost felt like one of those muggle movies.

Learning French seemed to be the most hardest thing he could do, and he was only on the first page trying to say hello in a very bad, heavy French accent.

"Ça a l'air horrible." Looking up from the textbook, James' tense face soon relaxed when he saw Nora peek through the books and shake her head at him. "What?" He asked, realizing she didn't speak English.

"You sound like an idiot." Nora said in a harsher tone, having a mischievous smile. James rolled his eyes, closing the book as Nora came around to see what he was up to. "Well aren't you funny." James bitterly said, winking at Nora.

James saw the way Nora's eyes twinkled whenever he was around, blushing a little, seeing her smile as she leaned on the chair. "Why are you here? Waiting for Lupin or something?" Nora questioned the boy, raising her eyebrow.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere." James waved it off, collecting his books. "So you came here? Voluntarily?" Nora giggled a little, not believing it whatsoever. James stared blank at her, trying to not enjoy the moment where he gets to see her smile.

"James Potter? Am I rubbing off on you?" Nora asks, after finally stopping her giggling. James didn't confirm or deny, winking at Nora before he grabbed his stuff and came to stand in front of Nora. "You are working wonders on me, Nora Black." He whispered, coming closer to kiss her cheek and feeling her face begin to be warm under his touch.

"There's a party tonight if you want to come, open to everyone to celebrate the new school year."

Trying to divert the conversation away from the fact James had just publicly kissed Nora on the cheek, he began to become awkward and blurbed out the Gryffindor party that was open to everyone— except Slytherins.

James could see the confused look on Nora's face, grimacing a little. "Open to Slytherins as well?" She asked to clarify, frowning a little. "Open to you?" James suggested, getting a little push to the shoulder and laughing a little.

"What time is it at? Because if it's super late, then it's cutting into my bedtime." Nora's voice dripped with sarcasm, giving her best act to sound annoyed to know it was a little last minute. "After dinner, so around 8 come to the common room." James said a bright smile, seeing her still hesitant.