Pride and Prejudice | James Potter

Chapter Twenty One

Rumors

"Is it true that James has a tattoo on his chest?"

"I heard it was a broomstick."

Elizabeth sighed. Ever since word had gotten out about hers and James's relationship, she had been bombarded with questions. She had been asked to confirm rumors about James's feet, tongue, and hair, and the rumors kept coming.

"To my knowledge, James doesn't have a tattoo on his chest." She said tiredly. The third year girls looked down, seemingly dissapointed.

"What about his back?" One of them asked, looking back up. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but decided to play along.

"He does have one on his back, but it's not a broomstick."

"What is it?" The girls asked eagerly. Elizabeth thought about James's patronus, a stag.

"It's a deer. Looks very majestic, really. Takes up half of his back. Shoulder to shoulder, you know?"

The girls nodded, entranced by the information Elizabeth was giving them.

"What about Sirius? I heard he's covered in tattoos."

"Oh, Sirius has a few." Elizabeth lied. "He has a dog, a lion, and a dragon."

"Where's the dragon?" One of the girls asked, a little too excitedly for Elizabeth's liking.

"On his upper arm. It's really not well hidden, I bet you could see it yourself on the weekend. If you ever get him to take his leather jacket off, that is."

The girls giggled to each other and thanked Elizabeth, running off together. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and started towards the Ravenclaw common room.

"Spreading lies about me, are we Thompson?" Sirius asked, coming from behind her. Elizabeth laughed.

"At least I didn't tell them you had a belly button piercing. Get on my bad side and I might. I now hold the power to spread whatever lies about you I wish across the entire student body."

Sirius chuckled, but became more serious when he noticed Elizabeth's blank look.

"Elizabeth, I have a reputation to uphold in this school. You really can't go around messing it up for me in my last year. I've held it together for so long. None of James's other girlfriends blackmailed me, you know." He said. Elizabeth shrugged .

"I like to be different. And if you get James and Remus to tell me to stop, I will. Frankly, I think you should be grateful. I've given your fangirls even more to fantasize about. It'll keep them hanging on you for longer."

"They don't need anything else, thank you. They're quite content with what I let them know about me." Sirius argued.

"Like that you're a player? I doubt that'll make many girls fall in love with you." Elizabeth commented. Sirius shrugged.

"You'd be surprised. Girls really like bad boys, and playing the field is incredibly attractive to a lot of them."

"Merlin knows why." Elizabeth said under her breath. Sirius laughed.

"Just because you don't understand the mindset of a crazy, hormonal, teenage girl doesn't mean they don't exist."

"And flock around you. Aren't you so glad to have such an educated and well-respected audience? I would if I were you. Shame I'm not." Elizabeth said, pouting sarcastically. They reached the Ravenclaw common room, and Elizabeth waved to Sirius before answering the riddle and walking inside. She found James sitting on one of the couches, reading a book. He looked up when she walked in.

"James, how did you get in here?"

"I answered the riddle." He stated simply. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and sat down next to him.

"Okay, why did you come here then?"

"To see you." He said, smiling and kissing her quickly before turning back to his book.

"What about?"

"Oh, well, I've heard a quite few rumors being spread about the marauders recently, and they all seem to come from the same source." He said, glancing at her. Elizabeth widened her eyes.

"Who would do that? I'll be sure to put a stop to it."

"Well, her name is Elizabeth Thompson, and she's said quite a few things that aren't true."

"How tragic. Are you going to press charges?" She asked. James put his book down and looked her in the eyes.

"No, in fact, I'd like to thank her for making the Marauders seem much more macho."

"Would you? And how are you planning on thanking her?" Elizabeth asked. James grinned and leaned closer to her.

"I was thinking maybe I could kiss her."

They both leaned in, their lips meeting, before a pillow was thrown at them.

"This is a public place, and I'd prefer if you took your relationship somewhere I don't have to watch. I'm trying to read, you see."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked at the culprit, a younger student by the name Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Oh, shut it Gilderoy. Find somewhere else to read your smutty romance novels."

Gilderoy flushed and stormed up the stairs to his dormitory, muttering about indecent displays of affection. Elizabeth turned back to James.

"He's just mad because he got turned down last week. Poor girl just wanted to finish her breakfast."

James smiled and stood up, offering Elizabeth his hand.

"Maybe we should continue this in my common room? The Gryffindors don't really care about 'inappropriate shows of romanticism'." He said, quoting Gilderoy's words. Elizabeth took his hand and stood up.

"Sounds good to me. I'd rather not get Flitwick called on us. That's definitely not a conversation I'm willing to have." She said, scrunching her nose at the thought of Professor Flitwick giving her and James 'The Talk'. James nodded and grimaced.

"Nope. I'd rather leave the school than go through that."

Elizabeth laughed.

"Agreed."