Time in a Bottle (A James Potter Love Story)

Chapter 4

The first year Gryffindor girl's dorm was lively on Friday night. Articles of clothing laid out across the beds, a bag of mismatched accessories to choose from, and makeup that Marlene had "borrowed" from an 5th year had the four girl's in a fit of laughter. One by one they had a mock fashion show, choosing blindly from the options thrown in front of them.

Music on a record player filled the dorm as the girls danced and sang their hearts out. Mary and Lily were in the middle of a heated dance off, while Aurelia taught Marlene how to play rock, paper, scissors. As one song faded into the next, someone yelling from outside the room stopped the party.

"Rellie!"

Mary lifted the needle from the record player. "Did you hear that?" All four girls went quiet as they listened for another sound.

"Aurelia!" The brunette stood up and slid on her slippers. Lily rolled her eyes when she realized who the voice belonged to. Aurelia opened the door and poked her head out.

James, in his pajamas stood at the bottom of the stairs. "Finally!" He threw his hands in the air. "I've been calling you for ages! I thought I would turn into a grandpa by the time you heard me!"

"James stop yelling! You're going to wake everyone!" She whisper shouted as she stepped out. Once both her feet crossed the threshold of the door, James smiled innocently. In a swift motion, he placed his left foot on the first step, causing the staircase to turn into a slide. Aurelia yelped as the floor beneath her changed. When she hit the ground in front of him, he started laughing. For a moment, she blinked up at him and decided her revenge.

Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes watered. She grasped her ankle with both hands. "Ow James, I think it's twisted!" The witch yelped.

His laughter immediately ceased and he knelt down. "You must be joking." She faked a wince and a tear fell down her face. The boy paled and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll take you to Remus! He should be able to fix this." The thought of Poppy sending a letter home to his mother that he injured a girl terrified him. "Let me look at it." Despite not knowing anything about injuries, he could at least tell if there was blood. Blood is bad.

Aurelia nodded and removed her hands from her ankle. When James leaned forward to look at the "injury", she used her foot to shove him backwards on his behind and nicked his glasses. She pushed herself onto her feet and took off running away. James stood up, wobbling a second and squinted his eyes. "Rellie get back here! I can't see!" The girl hid behind the couch, giggling.

"That's the point Jamesy! You shouldn't have made me fall!" He followed the sound of her voice slowly. His arms stretched out to prevent him from bumping into anything. The plan failed when he tripped over the edge of a rug that was sticking up in the corner. He landed with a loud thud. For a second, she felt bad. She moved closer to help him up when he started laughing. Her laughter soon joined as she pulled him up and shoved his glasses onto his face.

Lily popped her head out of the dorm. "Godric will you two be quiet!" The door was slammed and Aurelia flinched with a frown.

"I think I might have to stay with you boys tonight."

James led her up to their dorm when he remembered what he originally needed. "Oh! Have you seen my wand?" Aurelia furrowed her brows as she thought it over.

"Did you look in the trousers you wore earlier?" He nodded as they reached the door. "Your cloak?" He paused as his hand hovered over the doorknob. Without saying anything, he barged in and started searching for his cloak.

He finally found it, tucked into a corner of the room. With a firm shake, his wand fell to the floor and he picked it up, tossing the cloak back to the corner. "Thanks Rellie!" The boys, finally noticing her presence all smiled.

Except for Sirius. He jumped from his bed, wrapping the covers tightly around his body and shrieked. "What if I was naked?!" Aurelia wrinkled her nose and looked away, opting to ignore his outburst.

"Is it okay with you that I stay the night? I may have made Lily upset with how loud I was, and I don't fancy a lecture."

"Sure Rellie, what are you comfortable with?" Remus asked from his own bed. The witch looked around as James sacrificed one of his extra pillows. Peter snored softly, spread out like a starfish. She was still slightly disturbed by Sirius who was ranting about the way his curls were squished by the pillow. James was in the middle of laying out blankets on the floor at this point. When he finished, he gestured to the bed. "You sleep here." 

"Are you sure? I don't want to take your bed away from you." The boy shrugged and sat in his mound of blankets and pillows.

"It's all yours."

She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, turning to face him. "Thank you." He gave her a smile as she closed her eyes. It was until she started breathing slower and her mouth parted that he moved. He snapped his fingers in front of her face to check that she was asleep.

"Alright, it's time." Sirius and James stood up as Remus quietly woke Peter. They snuck out of the dorm, not making a sound. The portrait slid open and the four made their way across the castle to the Slytherin common room. The invisibility cloak was thrown over their heads to hide them from sight.

"Do you think she will be mad?" Peter whispered as Sirius rattled off random words that could be the password. Footsteps were heard approaching them, causing Remus to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Salazar!" He exclaimed, opening the door. They scurried inside just as the caretaker rounded the corner.

Sirius stared at the portrait of said Founder. "Why didn't I think of that?"

James answered Peter, "She won't be mad, she won't even realize we did it." He gripped his wand, as he searched for the specific dorm they needed. His eyes lit up when they reached their target. "Alright Remus, Peter, do you think you can stand watch?" The two boys nodded and threw up their hoods to hide their faces.

Sirius cast "Alohomora" at the door knob, the lock quietly coming undone. James and Sirius crept in and tiptoed into the bathroom. "Which one is his?" The searched the bottles of products lying about the counter.

James shrugged, "I don't know, we will just have to do all of them." When the job was done, they snuck back out successfully. The group sped walk the entire way back in excitement and adrenaline. As soon as they entered the Gryffindor common room, they burst into laughter. It took a minute to compose themselves so they wouldn't wake up their friend when they got back. As the boys settled into their beds, the adrenaline had worn off. Sirius yawned and pulled his covers up over him before he stuck out one foot. Peter fell asleep instantly. Remus stayed awake for a little while longer, wanting to read one more chapter. James looked up at Aurelia's hand dangling off the side. "I don't like seeing any one of us get hurt." He admitted out loud.

Remus placed his bookmark into the book to mark his page. He set it on his nightstand carefully before speaking. "We stick together." His voice shook slightly, going unnoticed by James. The question of if they would stand by him if they knew his secret was hidden in his words.

"We always will Remus." He took his glasses off and set them on the nightstand before tucking himself in. A guilty frown made its way onto the werewolf's face as he looked out their window at the moon.