true loves poison • james potter

50

It was hard to grip that only a few minutes prior she'd been teasing him.

"I did." She admitted, standing her ground.

James raised his brows, unimpressed with her response.

"Is that the truth?"

The eye contact between the two couldn't have been broken with an axe.

"A partial truth."

"I want the whole truth."

If she blinked, it wouldn't have brought any water to her eyes.

"We're long overdue for talking to each other, but may I suggest we move to a less," She gestured lamely at the air, "Exposed area?"

James, clearly frustrated, pulled out his map saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." So fast she hardly recognized the individual words.

Walking quickly off in a seperate direction, James led them impossibly quickly to an empty classroom before he put the map on one of the desks. Casting a silencing charm on the room, James turned to her and leaned on the desk. "Talk." He ordered, before belatedly adding, "Please."

Moving at a far less rushed pace, Lorelei walked to the desk across the one James was leaning on and hopped on it. If she had to bear her soul, she would at least be sitting for it.

"I hated you in fifth year."

James scrunched his brows. "I didn't even know you until last year."

Lorelei's expression didn't change. "I had a boyfriend. And during fifth year, during a party, I found him snogging another girl. I was ridiculed and gossiped about for weeks. I kept waiting for you or Sirius to take the attention from me and back to you, but you were all conveniently silent that entire month."

Balking at the idea, James choked on his own spit, "Someone cheated on you?"

Lorelei, feeling a sudden tightness in her throat, nodded. Scratching the inside of her eye, she continued, "It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for everyone gossiping about it."

"What the hell was I doing?" James asked, clearly getting upset.

Confused st his anger, Lorelei answered cautiously, "I don't know. You and your friends were sick and couldn't speak for the whole month. Lucky for me, I got to be the schools play toy as they waited for their usual entertainment to recover." She finished sarcastically.

James paled. "That was you?"

Breaking eye contact, Lorelei looked at one of the windows. "Unfortunately." She whispered before clearing her throat and looking back over at him, "I hated you for that. I was relying on the fact that you or Sirius would come and sweep the attention off of me, and you didn't."

Silence smothered the room.

"It wasn't on purpose." James whispered, as if knowing his words weren't helpful.

"Last year I wanted revenge on you." She began. The thought of revealing her whole project to James felt daunting. Instead, she opted to leave out the whole truth. Staring at the floor, she started, "I didn't know how else to hurt you other than going for your social standing." A brief smile crossed her lips before she continued, "And when I decided I didn't want a social crown I felt lost."

It took her a moment to continue as she sat staring at the floor as if simply moving her eyes would cause her to cry. "I had spent so long hating you for what happened and because I'd convinced myself you were a horrible person because of the pranking and everything else. And then I spent time with you and realised I couldn't hate James the way I hated James Potter." A harsh, humorless laugh left her mouth, "And then I was confused how I felt about you, caught between hating you and feeling like your friend all at once."

An awkward feeling crept into Lorelei's chest, spreading to her hands as sweat. "And then I made everything so much worse for myself when I let you kiss me." Scratching her forehead with her thumb, Lorelei felt like she could only focus on how sweaty her hands and armpits were becoming. "Honestly James, I've changed my opinion on you twice in the past few days."

Wishing she had water, Lorelei took her house robe off and loosened her tie. She set her robe down next to her on the desk, watching as the hood swung slightly as it dangled off the desk.

After feeling a bit cooler she felt like she had to look over at James, lest the silence kill her.

His expression was contemplative.

And once she caught his eye contact, she couldn't look away.

"And what are you at now?" He asked quietly.

A laugh close to a scoff left her mouth.

The truth wasn't an option she even considered. "I want to stop hating you." She said, matching the quietness of his voice. "I don't even think I could anymore."

"Where does that leave us?" His voice echoed through the room, bouncing off the silencing charm around them.

Picking at a loose thread on her robe, she looked down. "I guess that's up to you." She paused and looked back up at him.

He stared at her with an emotion she couldn't identify. The only recognizable emotion being intensity swirling in his eyes like black dye dropping in water.

The silence between them stretched as James stared at her. The window turned black as night took over the sky, and yet James stayed quiet.

If Lorelei had to guess how long it took James to respond, she would have said a half hour.

"Are you planning on going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" He asked with the same intensity flowing through his eyes, although they seemed more calculating.

A but jarred by the turn in the conversation, Lorelei paused as her brain caught up. "I wasn't planning on going."

James nodded slowly as he out his hands in his pockets. Pushing off the desk he meandered slowly toward her, looking her up and down as he walked closer, "Lorelei?" He asked softly, pausing just short of an arms length away from her.

Humming in question at him, Lorelei tried not to lean away as he trailed his eyes up her body before landing on her eyes again.

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" He asked lowly, his voice taking up the space between them.

She was nodding before she even realised. "Of course." She whispered, unable to pull her eyes away from him.

Holding eye contact with her for a moment longer, James finally let a small smile onto his face. "Brilliant."

Turning away from her James stalked back over to the opposite desk to grab his map, giving her a momentary reprieve to try and breathe normally.

"Are you ready?" James asked after he grabbed his things, waving his wand to dismiss the silencing charm around the room.