cigarette daydream || james potter

"You were only seventeen,"

The next morning, the grand corridors of Hogwarts were a chaotic sea of motion, buzzing with the frantic energy of hundreds of students realizing they had far too much to pack and far too little time. Trunks were being dragged clumsily over stone floors, owls hooted indignantly from their cages, and discarded cloaks were being shoved into overflowing bags. As newly minted prefects, Lily and Remus were swept up in the madness almost immediately, tasked with wrangling chaotic first-years and keeping the peace. This left Estella entirely on her own, navigating the bustling crowds down to the Hogsmeade station. It wasn't until the scarlet steam engine was idling on the tracks, belching thick white smoke into the crisp winter air, that she finally caught a fleeting glimpse of her brother's messy hair disappearing into a carriage farther down the platform.

White steam swirled around Estella's ankles as she hauled herself up the high metal steps, her fingers gripping the worn, rugged handle of her heavy suitcase. The narrow corridor of the Hogwarts Express was a battlefield of limbs and laughter. She shuffled down the carpeted aisle, peering through the glass panes of each compartment, looking for a familiar face or at least a quiet corner to decompress from the chaotic morning. Her search ended abruptly when she spotted Kiran sitting solo, staring idly out the window. Without waiting for an invitation, she slid the heavy wooden door open with a sharp rattle.

"Heard you lost," the Slytherin murmured, not even looking up at first, though a slow, insufferable smirk quickly spread across their face.

Estella let out a dramatic, irritated huff, the sound carrying all the weight of her bruised ego. "Don't remind me," she grumbled, using the last of her upper-body strength to heave her suitcase onto the overhead netting before collapsing unceremoniously onto the plush velvet seat opposite them.

They had barely settled into a comfortable silence when a sharp knock rattled the compartment door. Both of them glanced over to find Fatima standing in the doorway, her trunk parked right behind her heels.

"Can I sit in here?" the Ravenclaw asked, though her tone suggested it was more of a courtesy than an actual request.

Kiran barely blinked, shaking their head with a lazy, teasing smirk. "No."

"I'll rephrase that. I'm sitting in here," Fatima replied smoothly. Matching her words with action, she stepped right inside, slid the door shut behind her, and claimed the empty spot right next to Estella. The sheer nonchalance of it broke Estella's brooding mood, and she let out a muffled snicker, burying her face slightly in her collar.

Kiran leaned back, propping an elbow against the window sill, their eyes gleaming with pure mischief. "So, you excited for your date with Potter?"

"Wait, *what*?!" Fatima's eyes went incredibly wide, her standard Ravenclaw composure instantly evaporating as her head snapped toward Estella.

"Estella lost the prank war," Kiran explained, practically buzzing with delight at being the bearer of bad news. They leaned forward, hands gesturing wildly as the memory came alive. "Potter absolutely swarmed Slughorn's Christmas party with a small army of bats. The bloody things made everyone run out of the dungeon screaming! You truly should have seen it-Snape completely lost his footing and fell right on his arse, and I swear to God, one of the bats actually shat right on Malfoy's shoulder!" Kiran's voice rose with every word, their laughter finally breaking through until they were practically shouting over the rumble of the train engine.

Estella couldn't help it; the vivid mental image of Snape flailing and Malfoy's horrified expression completely ruined her attempt at brooding, and she dissolved into a fit of giggles.