bittersweet history

Chapter Five - Jamie

Al had started to become friends with the Slytherins in his year; mainly Regulus Black, but still, a friend. Which was... inconvenient, to be said lightly. Only for now. Later, it would be quite useful for the friendship of the person who knows the location of Voldemort's horcrux and would ultimately turn against him. Hell, if everything goes right, he'll never side with Voldemort in the first place.

Right now, though, he seemed stuck to Al's side. In fact, all of the little Slytherin group he's made friends with are stuck by his side. Regulus, Rosier, Crouch, and Pandora. (It blew Jamie's mind to learn Luna's mother was a Malfoy and a Slytherin). It made dragging Al away to talk privately incredibly difficult. It came down to snagging Al after Jamie's Transfiguration class since mini Black would be meeting Al in the dining hall since he had Arithmancy and Al would probably be distracted in the library. Not to do any actual schoolwork, but to hide from people. It was Al's favorite spot in their time as he and Scorpius huddled in there (Scorpius did his schoolwork; Al drew different plants) to escape the whisper and stares. A Malfoy and Potter spending time together — the insanity of it all. Their brains were melting with incredibility.

It was a foolproof plan as Al's old habits die hard and mini Black wouldn't know of it. He could only cross his fingers and hope none of the other Slytherins would be there as well. He wasn't in the mood to deal with a group of children today.

So why the fuck was Marlene McKinnon sitting next to his little brother on the floor of the library? Neither were talking and neither were studying; neither of them were even reading. It was something Jamie couldn't understand because he studied all the time in his fifth year, and even now he studied quite a bit. The only reason he cut back on it was because he wasn't fucking from this time. That didn't explain why McKinnon wasn't doing any schoolwork and was instead spending time with his little brother, embroidering a deep red sweater. Al likely didn't care much about his OWLs since they would eventually be going back to the future and they wouldn't even matter. Still, he should at least want to learn about these topics. The two of them will have to have a talk about it later.

Hopefully McKinnon would be less sticky to Al than Regulus.

"Al," Jamie whispered. Al kept his eyes on his sketch, added a few lines, before blinking up at him. Oh Jamie hated him. Hated how he had everyone wrapped around his damn finger because he could blink once and look like a damn puppy, or maybe a rabbit. Even a kitten. A cute animal. Everyone fell for Al Potter without him doing a single thing. He didn't have to say a single word and everyone loved him.

So why could people only love him when he tore himself into pieces for them? He made himself bite size and digestible to their pallet, tore out different chunks for each person and created a new special for their tastes. They have never loved him. Not a single person in his life has loved him. They loved who he could be, the version of himself he spun to make their mind whirl and cement in their brains. The easy parts to love and write him off as another tale. The boy who was never dull; who had a shiny personality which never dimmed. He became whoever they wanted; so why could Al do nothing and be loved greater than him? How could he just exist and be loved deeper than Jamie could ever wish for?

"Yeah? What's up?"

He couldn't exactly blame them; he loved Al more than himself as well.

"I need to show you something. I'll see you later, McKinnon." He hoped he could just hurry them out before Marlene could say a single syllable, but that was obviously too much to hope for.

"Hold up. What are you guys doing? Can I see? I'm nosy."

That was apparent.

He crushed down his annoyance and glanced to see how much longer it would take Al to pack up. Oh, how Jamie would kill for a nap at the moment, but they had more important things. Not to mention, the damn diadem was digging into his side. "It's a French thing," Jamie excused before he dragged Al from the library. McKinnon would probably think she'd see them at lunch or maybe she'll sit there and continue her embroidery; Jamie really didn't care either way.