ADDICTED | j.p x oc

63

With 'James' now in a charm-induced slumber, El and Lily sat on the floor in the lounge with a large map of Britain in front of them. It was a map The Order had been using a lot—the properties of many pureblood families were circled in red, along with several abandoned houses Order members had been instructed to look round.

They looked at the map with a distinct lack of hope—there were a lot of possibilities for where James could be.

"Now what?" Lily sighed.

El thought for a moment, then removed the lid from a blue pen, "well we know Malfoy Manor is currently occupied, so is Grimmauld place, Avery Manor and the Lestrange Manor." She circled each place in turn, "Voldemort is probably staying with a family that is loyal to him." El then swapped the blue pen for a green one, "Burke house is technically abandoned since Belvina died, and there's the old house we found Death Eaters in when i got stabbed, along with the house Peter and James were looking round when he went missing, which was somewhere near St Albans." She circled each location in green pen then paused her speech for a moment.

"But he could also be at the Mulciber's, Parkinson's, Yaxley's, Bulstrode's, Carrow's or Flint's Manors," She circled the rough location of where she knew those to be. "Fuck, he could be fucking anywhere," she threw the pen on the ground, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

"You know who might know where James is?" Lily suggested. "Whoever that is in your bedroom."

"Because he's gonna cough that information up willingly," El scoffed.

"It doesn't have to be willing. We could use veritaserum."

"Violence might work better but that's not actually a terrible idea," El said thoughtfully, "we have a Death Eater in my apartment, we could send them straight to Azkaban."

They sat and formulated a plan late into the evening until they parted ways and went to bed so 'James' didn't get too suspicious. He was sprawled across the bed so comfortably it seemed as if it were actually his own.

El crawled into bed, staying as far over to her own side as she possibly could. 'James' twitched in his sleep, it was difficult to hate whoever it was when they looked so much like the man El was in love with. His sleep was no longer charm-induced, so we woke when El had to move his limbs in order to not fall off the edge of the bed.

He wrapped both arms around her torso and pulled her in close, a gesture that she was used to James doing, but now felt off. She tensed, it took all her effort to not let her natural reaction show.

"Where have you been?" he asked, voice cutting through the dark room.

"Me and Evans were just talking—y'know. . .girl stuff," she dismissed.

"I thought you'd want to celebrate the fact that i'm back," 'James' began to kiss down her neck, holding her body so close to him it was difficult to move.

El pulled back, "i'm tired now, let's do that in the morning," she tried her best to disguise her facial expression at the thought, planting on a fake smile.

'James' groaned against her neck, "i don't know if i can wait that long," his kisses trailed down her shoulder, towards her breasts, his hand going between her legs.

El squirmed, moving so 'James' would stop his movement south, "James," she cautioned, pushing his hand away.

The next kiss was firmer than the last, taking her skin between his teeth, "El."

She managed to distance herself just enough to turn over, but he still held her uncomfortably close, his hand stroking over the scar just below the left side of her rib cage. She closed her eyes, hoping that feigning sleep was the best way to avoid the situation.