PERFECT // JAMES POTTER

24. Old Friend

It was safe to say that Sirius was ecstatic at the news of James and Scarlet's relationship development.

So ecstatic, in fact, that he couldn't stop squealing and hugging the two for the next half hour. Eventually, he calmed down enough to go down to the Hall for dinner.

"It's Slughorn's Christmas party tomorrow night, isn't it?" Remus asked once they were all seated and eating.

Scarlet nodded. Earlier in the week, Professor Slughorn approached the Marauders and invited them all, saying that although they could be disruptive at times, they were all very good at Potions.

"Who's everyone taking with them as a date?" Peter asked.

In his mind, James kicked himself for not asking Scarlet to the party yet. They had just become official so he hoped that she wouldn't reject him. To gain the group's attention, he loudly cleared his throat.

"My dear Scarlet Anne Winters," He started and Scarlet already cringed at the use of her full name, "Will you do me the honour of going to the party with me?"

Scarlet raised her eyebrows at his request and smiled cheekily, "I'll have to think about it." She teased.

James visibly deflated before Scarlet let out a laugh and lightly slapped him on the shoulder.

"Of course, you doofus." She smiled.

James lit up again and smiled back at her while Sirius let out a small squeal.

"Stop it! You two are too cute!" He gushed.

Scarlet smiled, then looked down at her watch, "Oh! I have to go, I'm meeting Lily and Marlene soon." She said, standing up, giving James a quick peck on the cheek.

As she was leaving, she could hear Sirius' shrieks behind her. She smiled to herself and continued down the hallways to get to the courtyard that they had agreed to met in. As she rounded a corner, she collided into someone and fell down onto the floor. Grumbling to herself, she looked up to see the dark, cropped hair and slightly shocked face of Milo Sloan. 

She glared at him as he seemed to get his act together and offered a hand to help her up. Smacking his hand away, she stood up by herself and continued to give him a dirty look.

"Uh, hey, listen -" He stammered, bring his hand up to nervously scratch the back of his head.

"What do you want, Milo?" She bit out.

"I, um, I heard about you...you and James."

"And? What's your point?" She snapped, getting impatient.

"I just wanted to ask - why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just, why would you want to go out with someone like him?"

"Because although he can be a bit annoying and ignorant at times, at least he's kind and sweet. And he's always been there for me. Which is a lot more than I can say about you." She hissed, "I genuinely thought that you cared about me, Milo. I thought that you were different. But guess I was wrong."

"Scarlet, I -"

"And I know that James would never do anything to purposefully hurt me. He wouldn't treat me differently because of my blood, or who my parents are. He would never call me a 'Mudblood'."

With that, she brushed past him and continued on her way to the courtyard, brimming with anger. Once she was around the corner and out of his sight, she let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding. She stood still for a moment, calming herself down, before going through an archway and stepping into the courtyard. She immediately tracked down Lily's flaming red hair and walked over to them, plastering a smile onto her face.

"Hey Scar, you alright?" Marlene asked once she'd joined the duo.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Shall we?" Scarlet smiled, and the trio began walking down to the lake, talking and joking among themselves.

-=+=-

Later that night, Scarlet trudged into the common room with Lily and Marlene in tow, all three girls shivering quite violently. As soon as Scarlet set her eyes on the roaring fire, she was there in a second, shedding off her coat and practically shoving her hands into the fire. The four remaining Marauders, who were sat on the sofas surrounding the fire, raised their eyebrows in unison.

"Well good evening to you too." Remus said offhandedly.

Scarlet turned around sheepishly and smiled at them.

"Sorry, I forgot my gloves so my hands have been frozen all afternoon." She said, turning her attention back to the fire.

Lily and Marlene sat down beside her, trying to get some of the warmth of the flames.

"Save some heat for us, you know." Sirius chipped in, a teasing smile on his face.

Rolling her eyes, Scarlet stuck her tongue out at the boy, whilst James watched with a smile from a distance. Remus seemed to notice this and leaned over.

"What are you looking at, loverboy?" He teased.

James scoffed and pushed Remus away from him, as the three girls all stood up, feeling sufficiently warm.

"We'll be back down in a minute." Marlene said as the three walked up the stairs to their dorm room.

A few minutes later, they all came out again in pyjamas , completes with fluffy dressing gowns and slippers.

"Cozy?" James asked as Scarlet sat down next to him and cuddled into his side.

"Yes, thanks." She beamed.

Lily and Marlene took their seats, while Peter pulled out some cards from his pocket.

"Exploding snap, anyone?" He offered.

"I'll play you." Remus answered, sliding off of the sofa to join Peter, who was already sat cross-legged on the rug.

For the rest of the night, the group of friends laughed and played together, until the early hours of the morning, when the fire had been reduced to only embers and everyone was yawning loudly. Only then, did they call it a night and they all sleepily stumbled up the stairs to their respective dorm rooms.

Hello! I'm so sorry about my inactivity recently, I just really lost my motivation to write. Hopefully I'm back now, and updating a bit more regularly! Thank you all again for sticking with this book (and thank you for 100K reads!).