Losing Game/// James Potter

Chapter 54

After that night, Elsie had started to process everything that had recently happened to her. Her parents were on the run, Benjy had left her, her and James were still not on speaking terms. It was almost as if everything Elsie had centered her life around suddenly disappeared from her hands, and she had no idea how to handle it all. So, she did what she does best: shut her emotions off and keep to herself.

The next few weeks were torture for all of her friends because the happy, loving girl they all knew was gone, replaced by one who lived on half smiles and barely talked anymore. They didn't know what the cause of this sudden change was, seeing as Elsie had only told Sirius, Remus, and Peter about Benjy. But what they did know was that Elsie needed some space, and nobody wanted to be the one to take that away from her.

As the end of April came to a close and May sprung into action, Elsie's smile started returning little by little. She began hanging out with her friends more as the girl they once knew started coming back to life. But even so, she never lingered around long enough to notice the pair of sad, flustered eyes gazing at her constantly.

James was frustrated. He thought that after that one night they would talk and make up with each other, but almost the exact opposite happened. Whenever he tried to look for her to pull her aside and talk, she was either in her room or spending time alone. And of course he respected that, but he didn't know why she was doing it. Nobody had told him about Benjy. So as the days went on, James kept getting more and more frustrated. When he started to notice that she began to seem more like herself, he reached his breaking point. He needed to talk with her. He needed to make things right. He needed to see her smile again. He needed his best friend back.

So, as the first week of May came around he decided he wasn't waiting around anymore. He was fed up, he missed her, he was tired of being avoided, but most of all, he was mad. Mad at the fact he let himself go this long without having his best friend by his side.

"What are the plans for after class?" Sirius casually asked his 4 best friends while walking to DADA, the group's last class of the day.

Without missing a beat, Peter shrugged his shoulders and excitedly suggested, "We could have a picnic!"

"Yeah, right before dinner. Great idea, Wormtail," Remus sarcastically chuckled at his small, blonde friend.

A mischievous smirk formed on Sirius' face as he threw an arm around Elsie's shoulder, "We could always streak the castle. Wouldn't you like that, Els?"

Elsie's cheeks burned red at the words her friend had said. While Elsie didn't remember anything from that night, Sirius had apparently remembered everything. And, he never failed to remind her about how she wanted to go streaking and how he saw her naked.

"No, bloody git," Elsie playfully shoved Sirius' arm off of her while rolling her eyes, "I still don't know how you remember any of that."

He shot her a wink, as two eyes glared at him from the left, "That's something I'd never be able to forget."

Remus, who had noticed how James was practically steaming at the exchange between Elsie and Sirius, interrupted their conversation and knowingly asked, "Oi, Prongs. You've been awfully quiet, any suggestions of what we should do?"

In that moment,  James couldn't sit there and listen to Sirius talk about Elsie being naked any longer. Not only was he still mad about that situation, his frustration from the past few weeks was starting to boil over. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I have plans," he gritted through his teeth, locking eyes with Elsie, "With you."

Elsie's eyes went wide and her cheeks tinted pink as she realized he was angrily speaking to her. They haven't talked in forever, let alone hang out. And as far as she knew, they still weren't on speaking terms. What does he mean with me?