fundamentals of love ; james sirius potter

1. the perfect meet-cute

"You can't keep going for men twice your age"

My best friend, Isla, grins at me and takes a sip of her champagne. She's in some green slip dress and staring down at a man, who I swear is the dad of one of our classmates. To her pleasure, he's been glancing back at her and if I don't intervene, she'll be spending the night with the greying man.

She leans towards me and whispers, "If Steve Carell walked in at this moment, would you sleep with him?"

"That's completely different." Then look away, frowning because she's got me. "Of course, I would."

Isla nods, happily. "Colin Firth?"

"Well, yes."

"Hugh Grant?"

I shake my head, "Do I look like Bridget Jones to you," I ask, before adding. "I would though."

You know, those three are acceptable older men to be in love with. Nobody can make fun of those three because who can blame me? But, if Vonnie was here, she'd bring up Phil.

Here's the story, when I was younger, all the cousins, Vonnie, Jimmy, Austen, and I. We'd go over to our nonna's house and just spend the entire day watching T.V. Everybody argued all the time, but there was one thing we all loved. Modern Family. It was the holy grail of favourites and nobody complained when it was on.

Everybody has a childhood crush, and mine was the dad from Modern Family. Which isn't even that bad because I'd risk my life for that man. He's just so funny and caring and maybe I just want the idea of a happy stable family. It's honestly up for interpretation.

Isla has started her hunt and she's walking over to the divorcee at the bar and I wonder if she'll actually end up marrying an older guy or if this is more of a phase.

He's buying her a drink.

Oh, god. I'll be going home alone tonight and crying to Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind for the second time in 24 hours.

Morgan Lockhart, my boyfriend of two years, broke up with me because "Long distance never really works out, does it?" He was a seeker for the Chudley Cannons and spent most of his time on the field or travelling over the country for games; while I was in healer school with an equally busy schedule but just less travelling. Our schedules never coincided and truthfully, I'd known it wasn't working out but I wasn't sure how to keep going without a person who'd been so important in my life for such a long time.

It's not as simple as Morgan was my boyfriend, there was more. But, the most important people in our lives never have those simple histories.

We couldn't stand each other for most of our lives. Him being the Slytherin seeker while I was the one for Hufflepuff. All that we between us was rivalry and too much witty banter. But there'd be moments sometimes, we'd notice the other was having a bad day and be a bit kinder. Occasionally even dare to ask what was wrong.

Then it was the summer before the seventh year, we were both single for once. Bumped into each other at some quidditch game, ended up spending the entire day together, then the next, then the week, then the entire summer with each other. 

(It rained a lot that year. When it's cold, well, it's easy to seek warmth in others.)

Even when we weren't together, we were still together in some symbolic sense. I loved him and he'd loved me a lot, I feel as if you can't get over something that important so quickly.

Yet, he started dating Alice Longbottom not even a month later after our break up. 

She's the most gorgeous girl you'll ever see. With golden hair, a perfect smile, and extremely long legs that make all of her clothes look a million times nicer. But, the worst part is that Alice is too damn nice.