a/n: I tried making this as dramatic as possible, this is the closest to smut you'll ever get from me but there's nothing explicit, lots of suggestiveness though so if it makes you uncomfortable, please don't read on! Also, reader's not in gryffindor.
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It felt like cheating.
James had his eyes follow the group of girls, trying to find Lily and maybe grin cheekily at her like he usually does. So far he only spotted you, her best friend, so he figured Lily might be running late.
Every few seconds he looked your way, just to make sure you weren't joined by her yet. At one point, your friend said something and you laughed; eyes bright and bold. Somehow, he forgot to look away.
That's where the mess started.
"Mate, what are you staring at?" Sirius asked, trying to follow his gaze. As luck would have it, across the room, you met his stare simultaneously and frowned. James broke away from his trance and started fumbling.
"Was looking for Lily!" he said, a little too defensively. Even Remus looked up in confusion.
"Do you reckon she's finally going to say yes to a date?" James added, just to blow off any suspicion. He wanted to look up and see if you were creeped out or angry, but he also didn't want to risk having another eye contact. He felt strangely intimidated, even though you appeared as friendly as could be.
"Based on her last hundred answers? No." Remus said blankly, his focus going back to his book. James groaned, lightly hitting the desk with his forehead.
"Where is she anyway?"
"I'll go ask," Sirius stood up, and to James's horror, went straight over to your desk. It helped that Slughorn was yet to arrive in class, but James had a gut instinct to follow his friend. So he did.
"Hey Y/N," Padfoot began casually, pointing to the empty seat beside you. "Where's Lily?"
You blinked at the way James was avoiding your gaze altogether. He didn't want to make a fool of himself again, but you didn't know that.
"She's sick, oh nothing to be worried about! It's just fever but I asked her to rest for a day," you explained, shrugging.
"Ah," Sirius smacked James's shoulder. "If she's in the common room, you could skip the class and go talk to her! She might be lonely and craving a hot beverage anyway."
"Please don't annoy her when she's sick," you said threateningly.
"I won't!" James said, too quickly. "Tell her I said hi though, yeah? Thank you."
He grabbed Sirius's wrist and dragged themselves off the scene.
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You were still staring at the back of James's head in confusion.
Most of Hogwarts found James's infatuation with Lily entertaining. He always made a fool of himself when she was around, which made him even more amusing than he already was. You felt the same, except your laughs were always a bit forced.
I wish I could be her.
It was perfectly reasonable to feel sad considering you were secretly a romantic at heart — with too much love and no one to give it to — but if that was the case, why did you feel bitter? Why did you always stare at James a bit too much and get a sour taste whenever he asks you about Lily? Why did you feel guilty about liking someone who clearly had his interests spoken for? It's not a crime because you're only hurting yourself.
That's what you told yourself anyway.
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10.15 PM, COMMON HALL
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belladonna | marauders imagines
Fanfic↳ updated april 2022 | (x reader imagines; mostly fluff; fem!reader unless specified otherwise) ❝ 𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐲. ❞ includes - regulus black - james p...