𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒, james potter

17. you're a what?

March 2, 1975

SOMETHING WAS WRONG with James Potter.

Nesrin didn't know what it was or what he was hiding, but she did know he was hiding something.

For the past few months, ever since he had started tutoring her and she had started to see him practically everywhere, she had noticed how he acted strange near the end of the month. Several times, she had caught him sneaking out of the castle. Just a few nights ago she had seen him leaving the castle quietly, suspiciously.

She didn't know where he went or why he did, but she knew that something wasn't right.

She was determined to find out what he was up to.

She knew it was none of her business, but she couldn't help herself. She wanted to know.

This was what she was in the process of thinking about when James snapped his fingers in front of her face and frowned at her.

"Fadel. Are you listening?"

Nesrin blinked. "Huh?"

James huffed. "I was talking about conjuring bluebell flames. What you have to do is—"

"Do you sneak out a lot?"

James furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Nesrin shrugged and spoke in what she hoped was a casual tone. "You know, like in the middle of the night or something. Do you ever sneak out of the castle?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Not really? Anyway, the flames will sometimes—"

"Where were you the other night?" Nesrin cut him off again, losing all patience and giving up on being discreet.

James frowned. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "I saw you sneaking out toward the Whomping Willow."

He froze. And Nesrin was now absolutely sure that she wasn't just assuming things and that James really was hiding something.

He cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Nesrin's mouth tugged up into a half-smirk as she raised her brow at him. "Oh, really? You were sleepwalking then?"

"Well...actually, you know, that doesn't seem too far-fetched. That's probably what I was doing. I've been told I sleepwalk a lot actually. Yeah, Sirius tells me all the time. You probably just saw me sleepwalking."

Nesrin stared at him in silence. She didn't say anything for so long that James looked up and met her eyes.

The side of her mouth twitched. "Has anyone ever told you that you ramble when you lie?"

James's eyes widened. "I don't...I wasn't lying."

"Sure."

"Seriously, I wasn't," James said more forcefully.

"Okay."

"I'm serious, Fadel. I'm not joking."

"If you say so."

He scoffed. "What? You actually thought I was sneaking out? Why would I do that? It's not like I'm an animagus or anything like that. That's absurd."

Nesrin's eyes widened. James stopped talking and looked at her, his eyes also widening.

He quickly scrambled out, "Wait! That came out wrong—"

"You're a what?"

"Shit, shit, shit." James ran his hand through his hair.

"Potter, are you joking?"

"Fuck." His whole body was tense now.

"Wait, are you registered? Because if not, you're in so much fucking trouble—"

"Nesrin," James stopped her hurriedly. "You can't tell anyone. Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"James, this is serious. You can't just not register. That's a crime—"

"Nes. Please. Promise me."

Nesrin looked over his face. She hadn't seen him be serious that many times, but when he was, there was this strange sort of thing that happened in her stomach. Weirdly, it kind of resembled butterflies.

"Okay," she said after a moment of pause. "I promise."

James let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders finally relaxing.

And Nesrin could not, for the life of her, understand how James could trust her so easily. She had never done anything that could remotely come close to gaining his trust, and she found that she actually really wanted it. In fact, she craved it.

And this new knowledge scared her. What was she doing?

James didn't notice her getting lost in her thoughts.

"Thank you," he said, smiling at her.

Nesrin bit down on her lip hard, hoping that the pain would stop her from thinking about that feeling she seemed to be getting an awful lot recently around him.

"I'm not cruel," she half-joked.

James leveled her with an intense stare. "I know you're not."

They regarded each other for a moment before Nesrin cleared her throat.

"That still doesn't explain what you were doing sneaking out."

James let out a nervous laugh. "Sometimes, you just have these urges to transform and run free, I guess?"

It sounded more like a question than anything, and Nesrin couldn't help but narrow her eyes in suspicion. She saw him swallow, and for some reason, she let it go. If it were anyone else, she would have pushed until she got the information she wanted.

But it was James.

So she didn't.

Instead, she asked, "So what are you exactly? Like do you turn into a bear? Or a lion? Oh, or a—"

"A stag."

Nesrin's blink was slow. "...a stag?"

James nodded, grinning. "Yeah. Why? Does that not fit your standards, Fadel?"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, now that you say that, I can see it."

James raised a brow. "Really?"

Nodding, she said, "I've heard they have poor perception and can't focus on one thing with both eyes."

He knitted his brows together. "What does that have anything to do with me?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, looking back down at her notes. "You too have poor perception. Even after nearly three years, you still can't see that Lily would never go for you."

James groaned. "I hate you so fucking much."

She grinned. "I hate you too, Potter."

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

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