Smoke | James Potter

。forty 。

☆

a few weeks had passed since astra's 'accident' during quidditch and she was back to training, preparing for the final against whoever won the ravenclaw and hufflepuff match. surprisingly, the dicks of the team had gotten over the lack of salem malfoy fairly quickly, choosing to just get on with beating the team they'd play in a few weeks. they'd got their own back, anyway.

leo had mentioned what happened to dumbledore and who knocked him off his broom. that resulted in him gaining a black eye and broken leg, both of which came from 'falling down the stairs'. however, astra had to look for another new teammate due to the fact her attacker had been, luckily and unluckily, kicked from the team. that messed up the practice a little, but it would eventually work out. she had a plan.

currently, astra was lay across the sofa in the gryffindor common room, dada book open on her chest as she stared up at the high ceilings, hoping for professor grimm's demise. sirius was slumped in an armchair, snoring loudly, somehow still obnoxious even while unconscious. harley and lily were sat on a table together, the red head helping her girlfriend with her herbology, splotch perched on the table, watching with interest.

"stuck?" remus asked her, coming down from the boy's dormitory with james following. peter was asleep on his bed.

astra huffed, "bored."

"it's hardly the most dull subject." remus scoffed, sitting over on the wide armchair with sirius, who choked on his snore and woke himself up. "for someone so focused on his image, you sleep so unglamorously."

"i sleep like an angel." sirius yawned, throwing his legs over remus' lap, leaning into him.

"sure." remus remarked sarcastically, smiling to himself as he opened his book. "why're you bored?"

"because our prick of a teacher has made me read this book four times over!" astra groaned, squinting at james' amused smile. "what?"

"so dramatic." he teased, lifting her legs to sit down, placing them back across his lap.

astra stared at him blankly, "you nearly cried because splotch went to sit on sirius' lap and not yours."

"well, i'm warmer and better so i had a right to feel sad. sirius just had food." james shot back and she pouted mockingly at him. "what's it about?"

"patronuses." astra grumbled.

"why is making you read that four times?" james asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"because i still can't produce one." astra mumbled. "i get this blob of an outline and it fucking disappears again."

"you're getting close, though. maybe your patronus is just a big blob." james smiled and she huffed a small laugh as the portrait swung open.

"hello!" sophia beamed, having gotten the password to the common room from remus earlier in the day. everyone returned the greeting and splotch pounced from the table, across the room to rub against sophia's legs, giving his own version of a hello. "what's happening?"

"astra's bored of reading." sirius answered, busy twirling remus' hair through his fingers, knowing that if he tried to do that to him, he'd throw a hissy fit.

"really? never thought you could be." sophia mused as she headed over to the sofa.

"it's good old professor grimm work." astra replied and sophia hummed in understanding.

james shuffled over on the sofa, letting sophia sit down at the end while he lay astra's thighs over his, "take a break, do something else."

"she's been taking a break for over an hour." sirius spoke up.

"'cause you put in so much effort into your work." astra scoffed.

"remus—"

"don't look at me, she's right." remus interrupted.

"you asked phoenix yet?" sophia inquired.

"no, i'm trying to figure out how to. he's a good flyer. he's my only hope, if i'm honest. i refuse to have anymore cunts on the team." astra mumbled.

"he'll say yes. he loves an ego boost." harley spoke up, sitting in front of the armchair lily plopped down in.

"he's always been hesitant, though. if he says no, i'll figure it out." astra said. "give one of you polyjuice."

"i'd struggle not to punch warrington and bole." james hummed.

"you think i don't dream of doing that? it's reoccurring." astra joked.

james smiled, a mumbled conversation forming between the pair, astra's dada book flopping to the floor, forgotten. splotch replaced her book and curled into a ball on her stomach comfortably, purring when astra's ringed fingers began to stroke his fur. sophia leaned closer to lily's armchair and thanked her for lending her a quill earlier in the day, handing back to the red head.

the familiar feeling of goosebumps pricked the back of astra's neck in a way that made her hold back a smile when james's fingers began to trace patterns over her bare thighs below her skirt, mindlessly rambling about something that excited him. she nodded along, giving short mumbles of input when he paused for her thoughts or asked a question. remus shared a look with sophia, harley and lily, all of them silently agreeing how obvious they were. sirius just eyed them, gaze flicking between the pair.

the subject of summer rose and excitement was buzzing in the room again, allowing them to relax for a while. they got to forget about the war ready to break, the fact that their exams would inevitably be just around the corner after summer. enclosed in the warm, cosy common room, the group of teenagers got to be teenagers. they got to slag off their teachers, complain about the endless homework, chat shit until their stomachs hurt with laughter.

{936}