Cottage Roads ° james potter

-xii. material girl

❛ Cottage roads ❜

It was only tradition for the fifth year and above Gryffindors to throw a party after a good win. So that's what they were doing. Hannah despised these however because last time she went to one she got wasted and well, the night didn't end well. She felt bad for Claire who had to babysit her the whole time even though Hannah's usually the mom friend.

But, reluctantly, she put on a bright smile for Riley, who was beyond excited for the night and helped her convince Claire to dress up for her Lover Boy. Claire wasn't too thrilled with this change of character from Hannah. She was supposed to help convince Riley she was insane. But nope, there stood Claire in front of the mirror in their dormitory, staring at the outfit she had on.

It wasn't anything too ridiculous. Light blue mom jeans and a cropped pink sweater that showed a lot of her stomach due to it only being buttoned once and made Claire rather uncomfortable. She wore her white Nike shoes that were pretty beat up just so she wouldn't look completely Not-Claire.

The girl in the mirror frowned at the outfit. She wanted to smile but she wouldn't give her friends the satisfaction. She'll admit. She looked good!

"Oh, cheer up, Claire-Bear, Potter is going to drool when he sees you," Riley said, from where she sat on her bed, tying her boots. Riley wore black skinny jeans and a red cropped tank top that fit her perfectly. Anyone would be an idiot to not fall at her feet at the sight of her.

"Stop, I do not want to get a big head. Besides, Evans is gonna be there and-"

"Who cares if Evans is gonna be there? James is dating you, remember?" Hannah said as she walked out of the bathroom, straightening out her blue floral skirt. Claire turned back to her reflection.

He won't be dating me for long.

The music had already begun to blare about thirty minutes ago so it was now safe to go down. You never want to show up at a party you're expected to be at on time, always be fashionably late. The three were always expected as well, so it was only right for them to take their time getting dressed.

"Come on, we wouldn't want to keep Jamsie-Poo waiting," Riley teased.

"Shut up," Claire said rolling her eyes. They made their way down the stairs of the dormitory chatting about the awful song choice that was playing. "They could at least play Madonna once, ya know?"

"Yeah, Material Girl does something to us, doesn't it?" Hannah smiled. They had made their way to the common room now and as they walked through the crowd, they got compliments and hugs from many of their fellow peers.

"There's Potter, he's calling you over," Riley said into Claire's ear, pointing at the boy who was indeed beckoning her over. Next to him were his friends who were simply chatting amongst themselves.

"Come with me," Claire said, pulling on Hannah's arm and leading her to the boys. Riley had already ditched them and was socializing with a tall fifth-year boy.

James' face lit up when he saw her, "You look great." Claire's stomach churned.

"Thank you." she scanned him up and down and scrunched her nose, "You look, eh."

He nodded with a smirk, "Thanks." Hannah had surprisingly engaged herself in a conversation with Sirius and Peter so it was only Remus who was left to sit all by himself. James caught her staring at him and took it amongst himself to make up an excuse, "I'll go get you a drink."

Before she could protest, he was already gone. She walked up to Remus and muttered a hello.

"Hey, you look nice," he complimented.

"Thanks." They were engulfed in silence. She cast a glance at him and spoke up, "Are you alright? You look pale."

"Oh, no I'm fine, a bit tired I suppose."

She let the topic go when he quickly changed the subject to something else. He seemed rather eager to stop talking about himself so he only began talking about her and James' relationship.

It wasn't the fact that their relationship was fake that made it an uncomfortable subject for her. It was the fact that she was supposed to like Remus and wasn't only lying to everyone else in her life, but she was also lying to James.

"Well, he-" Claire was about to answer his question about how James asked her out when Riley ran up them. She was beaming.

"Material Girl!" she exclaimed. Claire stopped for a moment and tuned into the music only to find that she was correct. "Come on!" Riley pulled on Claire's arm and dragged Hannah away as well. Claire shot Remus an apologetic look but he only laughed in response.

James had arrived with her drink and when he saw she wasn't there, he turned to Remus, "Where'd she. . ." He trailed off when he followed Remus' gaze and his eyes settled on Claire who was laughing hysterically with her friends. A smile formed on his lips but he turned away when Sirius snatched the drink out of his hands.

"Here comes Evans," The curly-haired boy grimaced before he chugged the whole cup. Lily strolled over to them with an innocent grin on her face.

"Hello, Potter. Where's Labelle?" She asked.

"She's with her friends, shouldn't you be with yours?" He responded.

Her smiled falter for a moment but she shook it off and continued, "Well, I saw you all alone and I figured we could talk."

"I'm talking to Remus."

"Remus doesn't mind, does he?"

The boy with scars frowned and began walking away. James wanted to stop him but Lily had already struck up a conversation. James doesn't quite remember everything. Something about him playing well in the match.

He tried his best to keep up with what she was saying, he really did. He was just so confused. He felt so weird. Something was off.

When he looked down at Lily, it wasn't the same when he looked down at. . . Claire?

Oh, no. No, no, no! He thought. He was internally panicking. He couldn't fall for Claire, he just couldn't. It wasn't right. She liked Remus and he loved Lily.

I love Lily. I love Lily. He tried convincing himself. He looked back at the girl who was still running her mouth. He nodded along to what she was saying but his eyes wandered back to her.

For a split second, he convinced himself it was only the firewhiskey that was making him think these things. It wasn't the firewhiskey.