Harry Potter Characters X Reader

There For You // (Young!James Potter)

That snitch is mine, (Y/L/N)! You can't have it!"
James gives you a side smirk as the two of you race towards the taunting snitch.
"Fat chance, Potter! This one belongs to me!" You return his smirk and speed up, your emerald green robes whacking his face as you pass.
"Oh I'll get you for that!"
You smile as your boyfriend speeds up and is head-to-head with you once more, reaching out for the snitch. Quidditch matches with him are always fun due to the joking jeers and jabs, not to mention that the both of you are very competitive, making for very exciting close-matches.
Despite it being fun though, this game was a little more serious to you. The jokes are bad enough when you're the Slytherin Seeker and you're dating the Gryffindor Seeker, but it's another thing completely when so far this season he has beaten you to the snitch at every match and he is thought to be dating you out of pity for "being bad at Quidditch".
In all actuality, you were actually a really good Seeker as well, but James got a new broomstick over the summer holidays and there simply was no beating it. Why couldn't people see that?

"James Potter has caught the snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" You hear the announcer call out, followed immediately by the roar of the Gryffindor's side of the stadium. You glance over to your fellow Slytherins looking glum and, letting out a sigh, you fly back down to the ground to be faced with whatever jokes will be thrown at you this round.
Immediately upon touching the ground, you're swarmed by Gryffindors all whispering and laughing at you. You block out their words as best you can, per usual, and push through them to get to the Slytherin changing rooms when one of them calls out, "Hey (Y/L/N)! You should get flying lessons from Potter! Maybe he could teach you how to be a Seeker! Ahh who am I kidding, you'll never catch a snitch!"
You stop abruptly and lower your head as a lump forms in your throat and your eyes start to burn.
From behind you, you can hear the Gryffindors snickering, and you feel stupid for letting them know that they got to you.

"Hey (Y/N)!" James runs over to you, leaving the rest of the Gryffindor Team to talk amongst themselves. "You played great today, you almost had me! I'm going to have to prac....(Y/N)?"
He stops mid-sentence, noticing your quiet demeanor.
"(Y/N)?" He questions again, slowly moving your hanging (H/C) hair away from your face, revealing your puffy (E/C) eyes. "(Y/N), love, what's the matter?" James takes on a worried tone as he places his hands over your warm face, rubbing your cheeks with his thumbs.
You hadn't told him about the teasing because you didn't want James to think you couldn't handle jokes. That's all they were anyway, right? Just jokes? Regardless of if they were or not, you finally couldn't just block them out anymore and even though you didn't want to admit it, you desperately wanted James to take care of you and do something about the whole thing so you wouldn't have to deal with it any longer. Even though you wanted his help, you were afraid it would just make you look weak to the bullies, so you kept quiet once again.
"It's.....it's nothing James. I'm okay." You say unconvincingly, quickly glancing back to where the taunting Gryffindors were, making tears slowly roll down your hot cheeks.
"Well obviously there is something wrong, love. You can tell me, you know? I'll always be here for you no matter what, yeah?" He wipes away the tear droplets and looks at you with his crystal blue eyes as you quickly glance back again. James glances over your shoulder to see the snickering gang, then looks back into your teary (E/C) eyes.
"Is it them? Is it those lousy third years?" James asks, becoming serious and defensive, "Are they making fun of you?"
You clench your jaw before squeaking out, "I....I gotta go. I'll see you later, James." You break free from his grasp and run towards the castle, abandoning all thoughts of changing.
James watches as you run away, and becomes heated as he turns around to face the Gryffindors once again.

"That's it. Nobody messes with my girl! NOBODY!"
Seething with rage, James starts to advance towards them when he's stopped by two familiar voices coming up from behind.
"Wait, Prongs, WAIT!" Remus calls out, grabbing one of James's arms, as Sirius grabs the other, trying to hold him back.
"AAHRG! LET ME GO!" James struggles trying to free himself so he can teach your bullies a lesson, "They're making fun of (Y/N)!"
"We know, we know! But you can't just go over there and beat them to a bloody pulp, Prongs." Remus consoles, looking over at Sirius and begging for help with as many head gestures as he could.
"And why not?!" James bellows, finally stopping his attempts at freedom, looking between his two friends with crazed eyes.
"Well....typically I'd say go for it, but Moony has a point. If we allow you to go over and lay it on 'em, we'll probably all get more than our usual detention." Sirius tries to explain, then being reassured by Remus's nod of approval.
"Don't worry, Prongs, we'll get them. We'll just get them OUR way, yeah?" Remus says, smirking and raising an eyebrow at his friend that has finally calmed down a bit.
"Yeah, you're right, it would be better to get them in typical Marauder's fashion...." James gets a devilish smile across his face and looks between his two friends that are sharing his expression, "And we'll need to make this one REALLY nasty. Come on guys, we've got some planning to do!" James says, leading his friends back to the Gryffindor common room. "Those gits won't know what hit them."

-----------------

The next day, you sit out by the Black Lake feeling alone and cold in the winter air. You had successfully avoided any more Gryffindors since the previous day on the Quidditch pitch, and even made a point of trying to avoid James and the other Marauders.
You felt that either they would think you were silly for not being able to take jokes or they'd be upset that you hadn't said anything about it before. You couldn't handle your boyfriend or your friends being upset with you on top of the bullying, and you were afraid that you'd end up the butt of more Gryffindor jokes about how James was a better Seeker than you. You felt it best to just wait out the storm for a bit.
You sigh and rest your chin on your knees, staring blankly out at the lake, thinking about how much you wanted James to come comfort you.
"(Y/N), what are you doing sitting out here by yourself? You'll catch your death!"
As if he could read your mind and apparate on the grounds, James comes up from behind and sits next to you, radiating his body heat.
"Here, take this," James takes off his Burgundy fisherman sweater and hands it to you, leaving him in a much thinner long sleeved shirt.
"No no, I'll be fine, I want you to wear it. You need it much more than I do!" James cuts you off before you can speak, seeing your slight concern for his well-being. You put on his sweater and feel instantly warmer, "Th-thanks James." You stammer out, giving him a little half smile, then snuggling closer to his side as he wraps his arm around your waist.
"I missed you yesterday after the match," James says softly, rubbing his thumb along your side.
"Yeah I missed you too, James." You replied, feeling ashamed of letting your emotions get to you.
"I just....I didn't want to accidentally bump into those Gryffindors again..."
"Oh you won't have to worry about them anymore," James slyly smiles at you, "we took care of them."
You stare up at him with wide eyes, "Wh-what did you guys do?"
You couldn't help but feel curious and a little touched that he would get even his own housemates for teasing you.

"Well, first we switched out their shampoo for green hair dye which will last at least a month, but that really skinny one had really blonde hair so it might linger on him a bit longer. It was so funny when they all came out into the common room this morning in a panic! Everyone had a good laugh at their expense," you smiled shyly at James's remarks and he squeezed you a bit tighter before continuing, "And then we slipped them a potion in their drinks this morning at breakfast, making their faces break out with that continue to get bigger and bigger until they pop all over the place! Everyone is extremely grossed out by them!" You giggle a little, but scrunch up your nose at the gross image in your head, "Yeah I know, it's pretty nasty actually!" James continues, "And for added measure, whenever Remus, Sirius, and I see them, we hit 'em with the ol' levicorpus jinx just cause they're scum, and they never know where it comes from! You should see them flailing about all crazy! It serves them right for being little gits!" James finishes, looking at you with a sweet smile and his dreamy blue eyes. Your heart felt full and you could feel warmth coming up to your cheeks as you tried to fight back your smile.
"Thanks James," you say, nuzzling into his neck, "You did all of that, just for me?"
"Well of course! Nobody messes with my girl! Not on my watch! They're just lowlifes who wish they could play Quidditch as well as you can." You kiss James's jawline softly and you can feel his chest expand slightly as he breathes in.
"If anybody else messes with you, (Y/N), don't hesitate to tell me. I know you think you appear weak if you do, Moony was telling me he thought that was why you kept quiet, but you don't have to go at it alone. I'll be sure to show those bullies the wrath of the Marauders!"
You felt your heart sink a little, feeling the rush of shame once more, causing you to pull yourself away from him.
"You know why I'd do that?" He began, stroking your (H/C) hair.
"It's not cause I think you need me to protect you or that you're weak. It's cause I love you and hate when people hurt you. It hurts me when I see you hurt, and whoever does that to you has to pay for taking away your happiness. I'll always be here to help you and take care of you if you need it."
You look over at him and could find no words to say. Your heart rate increased and you felt like you wanted to cry. Nobody ever said they loved you before and you never felt like anyone truly cared for you. For lack of anything better, you throw yourself into James's arms and give him a soft but salty kiss. He pulls away enough to look at your face, "Now where is that smile I love so much?" He says, placing an extra small kiss on your forehead. You try to hold it back so he couldn't best you again, but his messy hair, crystal eyes, and sweet smile got the better of you. Slowly you let the corners of your lips turn up and your cheeks blush as you look away from him.
"That's my girl!" James gives you another tight hug before helping you up off the dry, crunchy grass.
"Now let's go find Moony and Padfoot. We want to show you how horrible those gits look!