Going Soft | JAMES SIRIUS POTTER HP NEXT GENERATION

iii || annabella

Annabella was sitting by the lake with her friends, and a soft breeze blowing through the air was ruffling her hair slightly.

Her friend Olivia cleared her throat to get Annabella's attention. She turned to see Olivia looking up at her from where her head was resting on Natalie's lap.

"Yeah?" Annabella asked her friend. "What's up?"

"So what's going on with that James guy. The Potter." She questioned, with a smirk on her face. "And what does Tommy think about all of this?"

Natalie tugged on Olivia's short strands of blonde hair. "Mind your own business." She whispered.

Annabella rolled her eyes. "Absolutely nothing, Via. He's a right prick." She paused. "What do you mean what does Tommy think of it? Why would he care?" She asked, confused.

Via pursed her lips, in thought. "To the first thing you said, his friends definitely are, yes. But he doesn't seem like much of one." She said, and a grin stretched across her face. "And as for why Tommy would care about it—" She began and was cut off.

Natalie gave Olivia a warning look. "Don't go there," she said, and Olivia pouted.

"Fine." She relented.

"If the people he hangs around are, he is too." Annabella replied, ignoring the subject of Tommy, because she had no idea what her friends were going on about and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"He seems nice though." Natalie spoke up, defending him. "I've seen him with Albus and Lily, he's such a sweet older brother."

"And I'm sure he is, until his friends call Albus slurs behind the poor kid's back and James does nothing to defend him." Annabelle fired.

Natalie raised her eyebrows and Via sat up. "Oh seriously? That's not cool." Natalie frowned. "Did you hear that firsthand?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah, I did. On the way to Herbology a couple days ago."

"They don't ever say anything to Grant like that, do they?" She questioned, probably concerned for her twin brother. "I mean, if they can call their friend's brother slurs, couldn't they do the same to Grant, because of our dads? Or even because of me and Via?" She explained. "I mean if they did that to him or he knew they were like that, he wouldn't still hang around them, would he?"

"As far as I'm aware they keep the homophobic comments to a minimum when Grant's around. He might not even know they're like that." Bella assured her.

Natalie nodded, still frowning, and Via put her arm around her shoulder.

"Nat, look at me." Via said quietly, and Natalie looked up at her girlfriend.

"Don't think for a second that your brother would hang around those pricks if they ever made comments to him about you, me, your dads, or even about anyone. He probably has no idea. But if you want to talk to him about it, I'm sure you can." Olivia told her.

Natalie sighed. "I suppose you're right. Maybe I will." She said, giving in.

Footsteps sounded, coming near them, and Annabella turned to see Tommy jogging up to them. He sat down next to her, facing Via and Natalie.

"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" The curly haired boy asked.

Via smirked. "Oh not much, just talking to Bella about her new boyfriend." She said smugly.

Tommy's expression fell slightly as he turned to Annabella. "What do they mean? I didn't know you were dating anyone." He said, unable to hide the disappointment from his voice.

Natalie elbowed Via harshly in the side, glaring at her because of what she did to Tommy.

Annabella furrowed her brow. Why did Tommy care? She wondered to herself, before answering her friend.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to them, I'm not dating anyone. They were just joking about something going on between me and James, although I've only spoken to him a couple times, and can't stand him."

Tommy's expression lifted back up, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Oh, okay. I don't like him much either." He agreed.

"I thought you two were friends?" She asked him.

Tommy shrugged. "Eh, not really. More acquaintances, I suppose."

"If you say so," Annabella replied. "I should get going though, I've got to work on my charms paper. Haven't even started it yet."

She threw an arm around Tommy's shoulders and pulled him in, hugging him goodbye. She wiggled her fingers at Olivia and Natalie, as she stood up and started walking back to the castle.

"Bella, you are so oblivious to everything." Olivia called out after her.

Annabella turned back, confused, as she noticed Natalie whacking Olivia's arm and Tommy ducking his face towards the ground, cheeks aflame.

"What?" She asked.

"Never mind." Olivia sulked. "It's not my place," she said in a whiny voice, most likely mocking her girlfriend.

"Okay..." Annabella said, clearly still confused, as she made her way back to the Ravenclaw dorms to start her paper.

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