𝕊𝕦𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕧𝕖. - 𝙹𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙿𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛

𝒙𝒊.

James' parents, finally, make it downstairs to see Sirius on the couch. Euphemia Potter, James' mom, pops into action.
"James, go with your father. Brew the healing potion." Euphemia tells him.
Amelia steps in and wipes her tears, "I'll do it. You'll need all hands on deck."
"I don't know if having a student-" Fleamont Potter starts.
James cuts him off, "She's at the top of our class. She's doing the potion master's potions."
"Okay, James, you help her." She instructs.
They both nod and James leads them to where she can get started. She starts pulling ingredients as James gets the supplies.
"What happened?" James questions again.
Amelia eyes widen, thinking back, "I used magic out of school."
James puts down the cauldron and turns to her, "What!"
"James, keep going. I'll explain it." Amelia tells him, making sure that they hurry for Sirius.
"Amelia, you could get expelled," James warns her.
         "I don't think I could. It was nonverbal magic in a house full of wizards. I didn't use my wand." Amelia informs him.
        "You did a nonverbal spell? We aren't even supposed to learn that till 7th year." James runs his hands through his hair, "Why did you do the spell?"
         Amelia puts the wormwood in, "We were at the party. We were just socialising as our parents expected and Walburga made an announcement."
          James looks over at Amelia as she stops talking, "What was the announcement?"
          Amelia was about to say, but then stops, "I Uhm-"
          "James, is the potion almost done?" Fleamont calls out.
           "Yes, sir!" Amelia yells back.
           Amelia takes the potion and pours it into a glass.
𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎
         The Potters let Amelia stay at their house that night. She didn't want to go back to her parent's house. It made Amelia upset to know that they didn't tell her what they were planning for her life. 
        Did they just expect her to say yes? Well, obviously, they did. It's not like Amelia didn't know her parents were going to force her to marry Sirius, but she thought she would get a heads up. She knew Sirius would never go along with it and if they had told her, she could've avoided all of this.
        Amelia breaks down crying in the guest bed, "Do my parents hate me?"
          James, who was practically stalking her, heard her crying. Without a second thought, he went into her bedroom. All he knows is she is crying and her crying is truly his weakness.
         "Amelia, you have to tell me what the announcement was? Obviously, it's important." James tries to convince her.
        "Walburga announced Sirius and mine's engagement. We are supposed to get married as soon as we leave Hogwarts." Amelia tells him.
        She cries into James's shoulder, "Why didn't they tell me? I knew they always wanted me to marry a pureblood, but I thought I could choose who I wanted."
        "Mia, you can. You don't have to listen to them. You can run away and-" James tries to give her options.
       "I can't. Maybe you're right and I don't have to listen to them, but they're not bad people. I love them." Amelia sniffs.
        "So if Sirius doesn't marry you, who are they gonna talk to next?" James questions.
         "Probably Regulus, but I don't love him either." Amelia shrugs, "I don't know what to do."
          James sighs and puts his arm around her, "You don't have too."
           Amelia looks up, "Aren't we supposed to hate each other?"
           "There's just no point in hating someone you love." He tells her.
          A blush crept up on Amelia's face, "This can't happen, James."
           James shakes his head, "But it can. I'm a pureblood and your parents love purebloods. They want you to marry one. Well, you can marry me."
        Amelia laughs, "James-"
        "You'll be happy too because I'm rich and we used to date too," James tells her.
         "James, we are way too young to get married." Amelia reminds him. "And you're parents would never agree."
        "Oh, no. They love you. After I told them you're the best in potions class, even above me, they made a pact to make us get together." James informs her.
       "Even above you? Obviously, I'm above you." Amelia states.
       "Oh, I'm amazing at potions." James scoffs.
        "Wait... you purposely failed potions so I would tutor you?" Amelia asks him.
         James scratches the back of his neck, "Well, not on purpose, but it was the only class where a pretty girl was my partner. I had trouble focusing."
         Amelia rolls her eyes, "Don't blame me for failing, Jamsiepoo."
         James rolls his eyes at the nickname, "Let go of that."
        Amelia shakes her head, "I think that is your new name."
         James groans, "Now, I know why Sirius won't marry you."
          "Oh, please, we both know he either has feelings for Remus or Marlene." Amelia insists.
         They both enjoy each other's company the night before Christmas day. They talk all night about random things. All Amelia can think is Jame loves her and wants to marry her. All James can think is how determined he is to get this girl.
𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎
       "𝘞𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘛𝘰𝘮." 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮.
       𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨."
   "𝘈𝘮 𝘐?" 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦." 𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴.
𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴, "𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮."
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘈𝘋𝘈 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥." 𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵.
𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎
Amelia wakes up with another headache. This is not the first time that she had dreamt about a man named Tom. For some reason, that's all she seems to think about when she's sleeping.
In most of her nightmares, Tom is doing evil things. This one is new. She had never seen Dumbledore before. Her dreams couldn't possibly be real.
She thinks back to the nightmare. The DADA is a cursed position. No teacher has occupied it for more than a year, but if this was real, then when was Dumbledore just becoming headmaster?
A body moves beside her, which snaps her out of her thinking. James, quickly, sits up and looks at her. He notices her deep breathing and pale complexion.
"What happened?"
"It was just another nightmare." Amelia waves it off as she gets up.
James gets up too, "I thought those stopped last year."
"No," Amelia starts remaking the bed, "I just said they stopped last year, so the professors would leave me alone."
James shakes his head, "They're looking out for you. We were worried. I am worried."
Amelia straightens out the pillows, "This one wasn't bad at all. Just a lot to think about. Stop worrying about it. It's Christmas!"
             The cover over James' chest falls a bit more revealing that he has no shirt on. Amelia's eyes widen as she stares at him, shirtless. She quickly looks away.
           "Why are you shirtless in my bed?"
            James smirks, "Because I get hot while I sleep."
          "Was that consent to look? Because I looked and I would hate for it not to be consensual. You know what? I'm gonna leave."
Amelia runs out of the room and downstairs to see Sirius yu and the Potters. They see her red face and she quickly covers it. The smell of bacon surrounds her. Is this what a normal Christmas is?
"Glad to see your both awake." Euphemia greets as she sees Amelia and James. "I made Sirius wait for you both."
"Oh, that's okay. I don't have any gifts here anyway." Amelia brushes it off.
Fleamont and Euphemia look at each other, "Your parents dropped your stuff off and we went to the Black house to get Sirius' things."
Amelia's smile falters as James puts his hand on her shoulder, "They dropped off my stuff?"
"Well, we contacted them. We told them about what had happened and that we wouldn't feel like responsible adults if we let you go back there without an explanation." Fleamont confesses.
"They told us that-" Euphemia almost bursts into tears for the young girl in front of her.
"They told us to tell you that you shouldn't bother coming back. That you disgraced their name." Fleamont didn't try to sugar coat it.
Amelia takes a step back when James' dad says that, "Oh, well, I'll just.."
Amelia walks back upstairs. The tears already pouring out of her eyes. James looks at his parents then back at Amelia. Sirius looks down, knowing this is all his fault.
𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎𒊹︎