pure ; james potter [marauders era]

f o u r ;

[ october 17th, 1976 ]

It was the middle of the day now and no one had classes as it was the first quidditch game of the year. Gryffindor were playing Ravenclaw and James (being the captain of the team) had made the Gryffindor players trainer harder and longer for the past two weeks. He had his heart set on starting off the year with a bang and showing the school how amazing his team were. For the whole four years Sirius and James have been on the quidditch team, Octavia had never missed a game. They are her best friends and she loved showing off her support by attending every game, practice and speech in the locker rooms. The two boys appreciated it greatly, and loved it even more when she stepped in to help them train.

Remus, Peter and Octavia took their time getting to the quidditch pitch. They talked about how excited they were for the first game of the year and how Sirius and James had been non-stop practicing over their break. When the three friends got to the field they took a left and sneaked into the Gryffindor locker room. James was in the middle of a team pep talk when his eyes landed on his best friends. He chucked them a cheesy smile before turning his attention back to his team mates and continuing his speech.

Not being able to control himself, his eyes swept over Octavia every once in a while. She looked amazing, her hair was lazily thrown into a ponytail and she was wearing barely any makeup, but she was still able to unknowingly take his breath away. Her smile could light up a room, and he kept having to force himself to look away before he lost his train of thought and embarrassed himself in front of his team.

When James finally finished his long, well rehearsed (and quite adorable, in Octavia's opinion,) speech, the team cheered loudly and started leaving the room one by one. James walked next to his Octavia as his friends began leaving. He lazily threw his arm around her shoulders and daringly asked, "So, how about a good luck kiss?"

This caused Peter and Sirius to smirk at each other. They thought James' charm would win their friend over in a second. Remus knew better though. He knew Octavia couldn't resist Prongs' charm, but at the same time she thought all of his shameless flirting was just a little joke. She thought he loved the idea of annoying her, and found his way through flirting.

Boy, was she wrong.

"Shove it, Potter." Octavia said as she smacked his arm away from her. Octavia felt herself swoon a little. It was an adorable gesture, she just wished he actually meant it.

James could hear a girl from the team sigh from behind him, "I hate to admit it, but they'd make an adorable couple." He ignored the comment, but loved how other people thought so too. James took it as a little confidence boost.

"Well, don't let them hear," Remus said loud enough for both Octavia and James to hear intentionally, "But they both fancy each other very much, they're just too shy to tell each other. Well, that and they're too dumb to notice the other one returns their feelings."

James huffed in annoyance, and turned to glare at the boy. He hated it when Remus said Octavia liked him back. Not that he didn't wish it to be true, but he thought the werewolf was mocking him. Attempt upon attempt to flirt and win over Octavia, she always pushed him away. If that wasn't clear for Remus to see she's not interested, James didn't know what was.

Nevertheless, the young Seeker was sure that one day, he'll make her fall absolutely and uncontrollably in love with him. It would just take time... and maybe a few million love potions.

Without warning, the young metamorphmagus turned to James and pecked him on the cheek, catching him by surprise. "Good luck!"

She walked away quickly with Remus at her heels. Just in time, too, because the pink coloring of her hair started to spread slightly; just enough to be noticeable if you looked hard enough.

"Ayy!" Peter cheered, nudging the stiff James. "There's a sign."

"Where's my good luck kiss?" Sirius screamed from a few meters away, earning an elbow to the ribs from James.

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"That was brilliant!" Octavia exclaimed to James and Sirius as they finally walked into the locker room.

She practically jumped on them, excited about their first win of the year. It was brilliant. James especially. He was the star of the game and something in his smile told Octavia he knew it. Gryffindor were already up by one hundred points when he spotted the snitch. He dove down on his broom and a terrifying speed and just as he was about to hit the ground, he pulled up.

He fell off his broom, but the decision to pull up only seconds before changed the impact of his fall dramatically. He rolled onto the ground giving everyone (Octavia especially) a heart attack. But everyone, no matter what house, stood up and cheered for him when he layed on his back and held the golden snitch up the the sky. An adorably big smile spread across his entire face.

"Not as brilliant as you, Knight." James said, stepping slightly closer to Octavia. She looked away from James, ignoring the look of encouragement Remus was giving her.

"Oh, sorry, did you think I was talking about you?" She asked, feigning innocence, "I meant Sirius was amazing."

"Ouch," James said as he looked at Peter, "She just keeps breaking me down, ay?" And although James knew his friend was joking, he felt quite disappointed that Octavia wasn't impressed by his win earlier. He was hoping she would be more excited for him.. or show it, at least.

Peter was about to respond when Sirius decided to cut in, "So rumor has it that Fabian and Gideon Prewett snuck out of Hogwarts and brought back heaps of firewhisky."

"Sounds like a celebration!" James called out, excited to party and celebrate Gryffindor's victory with his house. James took off his top and smirked to himself when he saw Octavia checking him out from the corner of his eyes. He took off his pants and Octavia quickly left the room, pulling at Remus' arm to come with her.

Her cheeks were flushed and Remus was laughing at her. She tried to play it off, "What? I just wanted a head start on the firewhisky before Sirius drinks it all."

"Mhm," Remus mumbled, trying not to burst out laughing. "That's why you left the change rooms. I'm surprised you didn't stay any longer to watch Prongs tak-"

"Cornish pixies." Octavia squeaked the password to the fat lady.

Back in the change rooms Sirius and Peter were absolutely pissing themselves. "Jeez Prongs," Sirius gasped out between laughs, "At least make sure the girl likes you before whipping your wand out in front of her."

The play on words made Peter laugh even harder.

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published [15/1/2017]