Enchanted | James Potter

Chapter 3: The Most Insufferable Person.

Flora hated the marauders just as much as Lily. Her reason was that after meeting at the Hogwarts Express, she also became friends with Severus Snape. He might not be very friendly or welcoming but she liked that she could do her homework with him at the library or they could discuss what they learnt at Hogwarts with each other. He was intelligent and Flora liked that about him. He often hung out with his friend Edward Rosier from Slytherin so whenever Lily and Flora were alone, they were joined by Severus and Edward. The four were an odd group but they had a good time together. Marlene, Alice and Evanna did not like them much so they stayed out of it.

The marauders were always pranking Severus and Edward mostly because they hung out with the Gryffindors. James and Sirius outright hated Severus and Edward and bullied them at every chance they got. Flora hated James and Sirius the most for that.

The gang had decided on a prank for Marlene. They were gonna pour green paint over her when she entered the common room. Simply yet effective to irritate someone. Especially a fierce Gryffindor. The marauders set up the paint box over the common room door and hid with their marauders map.

Flora was in a pleasant mood after talking with the stranger in her diary. She was going to the common room with Marlene ahead of her walking faster, after their walk, when suddenly Marlene realized she left her scarf outside and ran away to fetch it. The marauders had seen Marlene coming towards the common room on the marauders map and they immediately closed it to prepare for the prank. They did not want to miss the expression on Marlene's face so they immediately closed the map. 

As soon as the door opened, James turned the paint bucket upside down not realizing that it was Flora who had entered. She screamed immediately and the marauders watched in her horror. James went up to her to apologize but could not stop himself from laughing when he saw her. She saw James in utmost anger as he apologized laughingly to her. There was nothing she could have done. She slapped him and all the laughter stopped as everyone watched bewildered. James could not believe that someone just slapped him. His hand was still on his cheeks and he could feel the sting of the slap as he turned to her. The expression on her face scared him. He knew she hated him for bullying Severus and Edward but he had never seen her so angry.

"You are the most insufferable person I have ever met" she screamed at him in anger and stormed past him shoving Mathias out of her way as he was coming up to her to apologize. Everyone watched in horror as James just stood there in shock over what happened. Mathias put a hand on his shoulder but he pushed it away and ran out of the common room.

Flora was fuming with anger as she ran to her room and started crying. Her day went from good to extremely bad real quick. She felt embarrassed and humiliated. Soon Lily, Alice and Evanna joined her. Evanna went to hug her and she started crying even more. “I hate him. I hate all of them so much. I wish I never had to see their faces ever again.” She calmed down after a bit and went for a shower. The incident had reminded her of when her step sister, Kimberly poured orange juice over her when they were in elementary school. It was the worst day of her life at that age and today’s incident had reminded her of her home life. 

She tried her best to forget her family when she went to Hogwarts but incidences like these always brought her back to it. Her friends knew that family was a sensitive topic for her although they did not know the entire picture. They did not know that her real family was dead and she lived with her step mother and half sisters who treated her poorly. They drowned her in household chores when she came on holidays and threatened to kick her out if she ever complained. They were her only relatives now so she had no other option. She lived and suffered. And now those stupid marauders had the audacity to prank her like this. She had decided that she would never talk to any of them ever again. She had good relations with Remus and Mathias but now she will not stand them. They could be with stupid James and Sirius. Peter was blameless but his association with the marauders made him her target of hatred too.  All five of them were now her enemy.

James almost cried when he reached the Black Lake. She had called him the most insufferable person. Flora. He had always liked Flora. She was kind and sweet to everybody but she was also very intelligent and brave. She was a friend everybody loved. Her only fault was that she hung out with Snape and Rosier like Lily. He knew about Rosier’s crush on her. Of course he did. He could not believe how her and Lily never saw the way he looked at her like it was just Flora and him in the world. That was why he bullied Snape and Rosier so much. 

James felt really upset and angry when she slapped him and called him insufferable. He wanted to be a nice person. He really did. He wanted to be nice and kind like her. But he had made her upset now. She was probably crying because of him. He was annoying, arrogant and insufferable. The mystery girl was right. After sitting for a few hours, he went back to his room, said nothing to any of his roommates as they looked at him expectantly and went to sleep.

The next morning he was woken up by Sirius hovering over his bed. “Mate you are up. I was waiting for you” he paused. “Look, I am really sorry. It was all because of me and my stupid idea. You did not deserve that. Granted you should not have laughed at her face but still, I’m sorry. Mate, say something?”

“Not your fault. I am insufferable. I deserved that honestly. I'll apologize to her today” James said.

“Oh sure. We all will” said Sirius.