Loverboy

We were so worried.

When Defense Against the Dark Arts was over, Ollie and her boys left the classroom. They had another two hours until they had to go to their next class, through arranging their schedules carefully. Ollie, of course, still had Arithmancy, but she still had an hour until then.

There was a distinct air around the three boys and Ollie, one of worry. James had blown off Defense class, which he never did. And what made it even more troubling was the fact that he had told them he would join them in class. But he never did.

That wasn't normal for James. Sure, he'd be late, and he'd occasionally ditch History of Magic (though he no longer had that class, so he was pretty good about attending his studies now), but he would usually tell his friends if he was going to do that. And he never told them he would do something then didn't.

So, of course, they were all incredibly concerned.

"I hope he's okay," Sirius said as the group approached the Fat Lady. "It's not like him to blow us off like that."

He said the password, and the group climbed into the Gryffindor common room. It was sparse, and James wasn't in sight. That only made them more worried.

A quick look exchanged between the four, and they all began racing up to the sixth year boy's dormitories. Sirius barged in, Ollie's head poking out from beside his shoulder, Remus looking over his head, and Peter on the opposite side from Ollie. It looked like a sitcom. Their eyes all frantically scanned the room, all of them seeing James as soon as they looked at his bed.

He was sitting up, and facing away. Of course, the sudden intrusion broke him away from his thoughts, and he turned to the group just as they all ran over to him. Ollie threw herself onto him, giving him a hug and squeezing surprisingly tightly for her small size. Sirius jumped onto James from his left, doing the same thing Ollie did on his right. James wrapped an arm around both while Remus and Peter were visibly relieved sitting beside their other two friends.

"What happened?" James asked, looking at his friends who were clinging to him. "Are you guys okay?"

Ollie pulled slightly away so she could more easily face James. "You blew off Defense after saying you would be there. That's not like you, James," she said, reaching up and cupping his face. "We were so worried."

James looked slightly taken aback. "I must have lost track of time," he half-lied. "Sorry for making you guys worry."

"Are you okay?" Ollie asked, carefully examining his face.

Knowing that James was at least safe, he allowed his eyes to focus on anything other than James. And as he glanced around, taking in the peculiarity of the clean room and still-made bed that all five of them were sitting on, he couldn't help but gaze at his friend for a moment.

The way Ollie was looking at James so carefully, searching his eyes for an answer. The way her delicate hand was holding his face still. The way her lashes were so long, and the way her eyelids closed partway when she looked at James from the angle she was sitting. The way her freckles were dotted across her face. Even the acne on her cheeks and forehead, and the blackheads on her nose. And the way her lips rested just so slightly parted, the lip gloss she wore glinting in the light from the window.

Her hair falling forward as she leaned toward James. Her eyebrows furrowing just a little bit. Her clear nail polish shining. The moment felt almost like time had stopped as he took her in.

And just like that, the moment passed, and Ollie was leaning away from James, and the group was rising once more. They all went down to the common room again.

James had looked preoccupied when they found him in the dorm, but his friends were careful to not pry. They knew James would tell them when he was ready to. And he still seemed somewhat nervous as they all sat in the common room.

To ease his clear stress, Peter had disappeared to get James some hot tea- Earl Grey with two spoons of sugar and topped off with milk, his favorite- while the others stayed with James. Ollie was curled up beside him on the couch, leaning against him and holding his hand gently.

Sirius was on the other side of James, with Remus beside him. They were all quiet. When Peter returned, James took the tea and sipped on it.

After a minute or so, he spoke. "What do you guys know about Veela?"

They all looked at him with surprise. "No more than you do, why?" Ollie replied.

"Oh, I was just curious," James said, again not telling the whole truth. He looked at his watch when nobody responded. "Ollie, don't you have class in ten minutes?"

Ollie looked at James's wristwatch. "Oh, yeah I do," she said, swinging her legs off of the couch and picking up her bag that she'd had in front of her. And she gave James one more hug, and blew kisses to the rest of them as she darted away.

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this was mostly filler but you have to have a little bit of characterization every once in a while, you know? anyway sorry for not updating. I wish i could say it was because i've been doing my summer homework (american public schools, amirite?) but i've barely started on that (I have less than a month to get so much done PLEASE)

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