𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒, james potter

10. ten points from slytherin

IT IS NEARLY midnight when Nesrin sneaks out of the Slytherin common room. She makes her way quickly and quietly down the hallways and up the stairs in order to get to the Astronomy Tower.

She hasn't been there since before she left school at the end of fifth year.

She soaks in the cool breeze indicating the start of autumn and revels in how it whispers sweet nothings onto her skin. There is an aching promise in its consistency. Something so dependable about the way there will always be this breeze this time of year, how it will never go away even when everyone in her life does.

It is refreshing, being out here alone this time of night.

The last time she was here, there had been an undeniable grin on her face as she stood beside a boy with hazel eyes and a devilish smirk.

When she feels ready to step out of this dream she has found herself in, she leans away from the railing and turns to walk to the door leading to the stairs. It isn't until she reaches the bottom of the staircase that she looks up and is just barely able to catch herself before she runs into the body standing mere feet away from her.

Her eyes lock with the same ones she had been just thinking about moments ago, and her heart somersaults. He stares down at her with a set jaw and an unreadable look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, his voice cold and emotionless.

"I..." Nesrin loses her train of thought as she follows his Adam's apple bob down once and back up again.

James clears his throat, and Nesrin's eyes shoot up to look at him again. She can't read the look on his face.

Her face warms as she stumbles on her words. "I was just going to the Astronomy Tower." Her voice is quiet. She doesn't know how James will react to those words.

She doesn't have to wonder long because not even an ounce of emotion flickers across his beautiful face. He is a brick ball, and Nesrin has to force herself to stop expecting anything from him when she doesn't deserve it.

"You can't be out here past curfew," he says. "Ten points from Slytherin."

She eyes the badge on his chest, glinting in the moonlight. Head Boy. She almost wants to laugh when she starts to wonder why in the world Minerva McGonagall ever made James Potter Head Boy.

She wants to ask him. She can't. They aren't the same as they used to be.

She blinks. "But—"

"You know what? Detention as well. Dungeons. Tomorrow after classes."

Nesrin furrows her eyebrows. "I—"

She doesn't even know what she was about to say. Thankfully, she doesn't have to think about how she would have made a fool of herself because James intervenes.

"Head back now. Unless you want me to take away even more points."

His expression is still inscrutable, so Nesrin takes a deep breath and then nods silently, brushing past him carefully so as to not touch him.

She barely takes two steps before a warm hand wraps around her wrist, an instant warmth wrapping around her entire being as if it were summer and she was laying on the sand, allowing the grains to paint her skin.

It's honestly ridiculous, the way he still affects her even now. Even after everything.

Slowly, she turns back around, hesitating for a moment before her eyes meet his once again.

Her entire body is hyper-aware of where his skin is touching hers. Where his palm is burning right into the place where her hand meets her wrist. Her heart beats rapidly.