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Chapter Text

James sighs as he watches his mother’s car leave the King Cross station after dropping him off. She has an appointment soon and couldn’t walk him to the train but James doesn’t mind. People are busy sometimes, no one can change that. Actually, James wouldn’t mind if he didn’t have to be dropped off at all. He would have loved to stay home this school year, maybe learn how to video edit, make movies, or even record something. But, no. James is stuck going on the stupid Hogwarts Express to the stupid Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Again. For the fifth year in a row.

The curly haired boy walked into the station slowly. Maybe if he walked slow enough, the train would leave him. When he enters that station he sees a large family taking turns running into the pillar between platform 9 and 8. James never liked going through the pillar. It made him nervous that suddenly the pillar would become solid and he would fall right onto the tracks due to the impact.

James contemplated whether or not to wait until the family finished going through the pillar or just hopping onto another train until he hears someone calling his name.

“James! James Wilson! Hey!” James flinched at the loud, enthusiastic yelling of his friend Joe. A Hufflepuff who is also a fifth year student.

Joe is happily pushing his luggage cart along with his annoying pet chicken in his cage. Jamesy, Joe named it, just to fuck with the older.

Joe and James were friends way before either knew they were wizards. They both got their letters on the same day but one was much more excited than the other.

“Hello Joseph.” James greeted, nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm as his shorter friend.

Joe’s chicken clucks delightfully. James still doesn’t know how Joe was allowed a chicken into the school. However, there’s a possibility his cheerfulness and optimism always made Professor Sprout swoon.

“Aren’t you excited James? This year is going to be incredible! We’re finally going to take our O.W.L.s,” Joe bounces on the balls of his feet, “This is one of our most important years yet.”

“I guess,” James shrugs, “But I’m not really going to have a career in the Wizarding World so it doesn’t really matter what I get on the O.W.L.s.”

Joe gasps at the same time his chicken clucks, “But James, we’re supposed to be aurors together and fight crime.” Joe briefly steps away from his luggage cart and starts to make auror-like movements, waving his arms as if he was shooting a wand.

James rolls his eyes, “I don’t think I want to be an Auror, sorry Joe.”

Joe pouts, crossing his arm mid charade, “Fine, I’ll ask Jordan to be my auror partner.”

“Fine by me.” James glares at his friend’s chicken, the chicken staring right back.

“Don’t give Jamesy such a dirty look James! You might scare him!” Joe waves his hand in front of James’s face, breaking the eye contact.

“I still will not acknowledge that his name is Jamesy. There was no need to name it after me.” James crosses his arms and reverts his eyes back to the pillar, platform 9 and ¾.

“She’s not named after you, her name has a ‘y’ at the end.” Joe laughs.

“Hey! James! Joe!” Another enthusiastic voices calls out.

“Hello Jordan.” James and Joe say in unision. Jordan is also a Hufflepuff fifth year. Joe befriended him as first years and introduced him to James. The three then became friends, squishing James into an optimistic, enthusiastic sandwich.

“How was your guys’ Summers?” Jordan asks casually as his cat, Shepard, walks up and rubs against James’s leg. James reaches down and pets the cat, blocking out Joe’s rapid talk about skiing in the mountains of Colorado or surfing the waves of California. James heard these stories before, Joe never failing to write to James throughout the whole Summer.

Jordan nods thoughtfully through each story, “Ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” at the right moments. James continues scratching behind Shepard’s ears.

“How was your Summer Jordan?” Joe asks when he finally finished describing of his Summer adventures.

“Hold on, let’s get onto the platform before I tell you guys. The train might leave us.” Jordan starts walking toward the pillar and Joe rushes back to his cart too. Shepard turns away from James and starts to follow his owner, making James watch the cat strut away from him disappointedly.

“Let’s go James!” Joe grabs onto James’s sleeve, his other hand clumsily guiding his cart toward Jordan and the pillar between platform 8 and 9. James stumbles to the pillar, grumpily allowing Joe to tow him.

“It’s your favorite part James!” Jordan says jokingly, knowing very well this is one of James’s most hated parts of Hogwarts.

“You want to go first?” Joe offers.

James looks uneasily at the pillar, “No thanks. I’ll go second.”

“If you say so!” Joe runs directly into the pillar. James blinks; Joe’s gone.

“Your turn James.” Jordan pats James’s back in a fatherly way. Although James always found it annoying that Jordan felt the need to always act like a dad even though he’s younger, in this particular situation, he didn’t mind the small comfort Jordan offered.

James took a deep breath and quickly ran into the pillar, eyes closed. James prepares himself for the day the pillar solidifies and he doesn’t make it onto the Hogwarts Express. Nonetheless, today is not the day.

“You made it James!” Joe smacks James’s shoulder, making the older stumble.

James hears Jordan also go through the pillar, Shepard meowing behind him. He starts making his way closer to the train, Joe staying behind, talking animatly to Jordan.

James never found the train to be unpleasant in all his years at Hogwarts. In fact, it’s probably the best thing about attending Hogwarts, besides the fact that it’s an express train to Hogwarts. The train ride was always relaxing, stuffing his face with Chocolate Frogs, exchanging stories with his friends, and watching the beautiful scenery pass by. He wishes he could stay on the train forever.

Another smack between his shoulders knocks James out of his thoughts.

“Hey James.” Aleksandr smirks.

Aleks is a (now) fourth year Slytherin that James hated right before he befriended. A cliche Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry that ended up breaking due to their common interest in muggle video games.

“What’s up asshole?” James greets, grinning. Aleks grew a little taller, now a few centimeters taller than James instead of vice versa.

“Not much. How was your Summer?” Aleks grins back, keeping his hand hovered over the back of James’s shoulders.

Aleks knew very well how James’s Summer was. The two wrote letters back and forth constantly all Summer, talking about the latest video games and making plans to meet up but never actually going through with them. No matter how badly James wanted to.

“Same old, same old. Family vacations, dicking around on the internet, playing video games.” James shrugs.

“Your Summer sounds just as exciting verbally as it does written on paper.” Aleks jokes.

“Hello Aleks!” Joe waves from a few feet away, Jamesy also clucking loudly at the Russian.

“Hello Joe.” Aleks smiles waving back to the shorter. Aleks turns back to face James, “You know, I have something very important to give you later.”

“On the train later or at the school later?”

“Probably at the school later. There’s too many people on the train with us.” Aleks winks as Joe and Jordan walk closer to them.

James rolls his eyes, “Okay. But whatever mystery you have going on it better not be a fucking prank or god so help me Aleks-”

“Don’t worry James,” Aleks raises his palm in promise, “Our pranking days are over.”

Joe and Jordan laughs when they finally reach James and Aleks, “I doubt that.” Jordan says.

“Let’s get on the train before it gets too crowded.” Joe offers, already walking onto the train. The other three have no choice but to follow him, quickly entering a compartment.

James sits himself snugly in the corner of the train compartment next to the window. Aleks sitting beside him and Joe and Jordan sitting across.

“Hey,” Aleks kicks James’s ankle, grinning, “Are you going to buy me some Chocolate frogs?”

“In your dreams.” James says, leaning his forehead against the glass and watching more Hogwarts students file into the train. Even though he says he’s not going to buy Aleks Chocolate frogs, he always gives in. Something about Aleks made James give him what he wants. It’s probably a charm.

“I’ll buy you jelly beans.” Aleks kicks at James’s ankle again.

“If you have enough money for jelly beans then you have enough money for Chocolate frogs.” James points out, watching as a thin, mousy boy with glasses enters the train.

“It tastes better when someone else buys it. It’s like a gift.”

“Whatever.”

“James is just moody because he’s going to miss Summer.” Joe says, watching Aleks beg James to buy him a Chocolate frog.

“Yeah. I bet as the train ride progresses James would start laughing and joking with us again.” Jordan laughs.

James rolls his eyes even though he also knew that as soon as the train starts to move, his mood would improve tenfold. He slowly closes eyes, deciding to take a small nap before the train starts to move.

James feels like he had only closed his eyes for 2 seconds when Aleks stirs him awake again, “We’re moving James.” James nods, still slightly grumpy as Joe tells a story about a goat he met in Switzerland or something.

Just as Jordan predicted, James slowly opens up as each minute passes by. He jokes around with Aleks, tells a story about his trip to Texas with his mom, and laughs at Jordan’s screw ups. For now, he’s content. Content until he has to walk onto the school grounds.

Ten minutes before the train arrives to Hogwarts, James’s mood instantly changes again. He grumpily changes into his robes. He never liked the robes as uniforms; What year is it again? Aleks lightly hits James on the arm, “Hey, stop looking so angry. The headmistress might see you pouting when you get off the train.” He jokes.

“Good, let her see how miserable I am.” James reaches for his luggage from the top of the train compartment and almost slams it onto the train floor.

“Let’s go James! I’m starving.” Joe rushes out of the compartment, leaving Jordan, James and Aleks on the train. The trio file out of the train, James lagging behind. However, he was also hungry and Hogwarts never failed to please his stomach..

James always found the Great Hall pleasant. The long, wooden tables, the floating candles lights, and the random ghost that just float by as they eat always had some sort of mood that felt relaxing to James. He takes a seat at the Gryffindor table. Even though it was acceptable to sit at other houses’ tables during mealtime, on the first day back for the first years’ sakes, they all sit at their respective tables.

He watches the first first year walk to the front of the Great Hall nervously, Professor McGonagall waiting patiently to place the Sorting Hat on their head. When the first student is seated on the rickety stool and hat placed firmly on their head, James sees the Sorting Hat mutter something. Suddenly it shouts, “RAVENCLAW!” The Ravenclaw’s table immediately erupts in cheers.

James never really found the Sorting Hat ritual to be interesting, nor very efficient. There’s almost 145 students in each year and waiting almost two hours for every first year to be sorted out one by one is ridiculous. But Hogwarts has had this tradition for so long no one really wants to change it because, honestly, James thinks wizard and witches are afraid of change in general. He slowly starts to doze off to sleep when another Gryffindor, Henry Wen, lightly hits James on his side to wake him up.

Henry was also a fifth year, James’s roommate and one of the first friends he made at Hogwarts. He constantly kept James on check and tried to keep the other out of trouble (when he could that is).

“James, if McGonagall catches you sleeping during the Sorting she’s going to give you detention and it’s only the first day back!” Henry warns as the Sorting Hat calls another house name.

“You know how I feel about the Sorting though…” James crosses his arms on the table and rests his head in the crook of his arms. The Sorting Hat was taking forever on this next kid.

“GRYFFINDOR!” The old hat finally says. James’s housemates cheer loudly, making him cover his ears in annoyance.

The small, blond first year takes the empty seat next to James. He still looked nervous even after he’s already been sorted.

“What’s the kid’s next to me named?” James whispers to Henry.

“Chris Mabbott.” Henry whispers back, “Don’t mess with him James. He’s only a first year.”

“Don’t worry I won’t do anything to him.” James reassures, turning toward the first year, “Hey Chris. Don’t look so nervous. You’ll probably have a lot of fun here.”

The small boy looks up at James, startled but relieved to be talking to someone during the Sorting, “Do you like it here?”

James bites his bottom lips instantly, forcing down his true answer: no. He decides, for Chris and all the other first years’ sake, he will lie, “Yeah I do. I learn a lot about magic and it’s really fun. I almost forget about home because of how much fun I’m having here.”

James literally sees the nervousness melt off Chris’s face, now replaced with excitement, “Really? Am I going to learn how to disappear like a magician?”

James laughs, “Something like that.”

Another first year is sorted into Gryffindor and Chris jumps out of the conversation to cheer also, Amanda Myrick sit besides Chris. The smaller grins at James, sending him a quick thank you and turns toward Amanda. The two instantly start talking about how much fun they’re going to have.

James does feel slightly guilty for lying, but in the end, he helped a first year stop being a little nervous and that’s all that matters.

“Hey, now I know why you’re not a Slytherin. You’re not a complete asshole.” Henry jokes.

James being sorted into the Slytherin house is actually a big inside joke among the Gryffindor common room (Mostly because, like many other Slytherins, he has a great fear of heights). As they kept joking about James being a Slytherin, many Gryffindors realized that maybe James should be in the Slytherin house. Aside from the fear of heights, James is trickily cunning, tends to take a lot of risks, and all in all has a Slytherin-like aura. Not to mention, many Slytherins love James way more than they do the average Gryffindor. Both boys and girls of Slytherin backgrounds love talking to James (or flirting with him); Many Gryffindors joke that that James is a “Slytherin magnet.”

Actually, if James remembers correctly, the hat did want to sort James into Slytherin but changed its mind last minute and shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!” James really didn’t care about which house he was in anyways. Every house had people who were assholes so to James, they were all basically the same.

Finally, the last first year is sorted (Ashok Zabkar, “RAVENCLAW!”) and the food appeared onto the dinner tables. James shook with excitement, grinning happily at the feast.

James grabbed a chicken drumstick off the magical plate, now happy enough to have a full conversation with Henry, “What did you do over the Summer, Henry?”

Henry happily told James about his trips around Asia, visiting family, hiking, all that Summer stuff people do. James listened carefully as he ate, making sure Henry knew he was listening. Henry didn’t really have time to write a letter to James so the two lost contact over the Summer.

At the end of their feast, James patted his stomach happily and burped loudly, making Henry lightly bump their shoulders and laugh. Students were starting to stand up to walk to their respective towers and sleep until classes started. James and Henry start to get up too, not really wanting to miss the Gryffindor tower’s password (for a third year in a row). Suddenly, a hand yanks James out of the crowd and into an empty classroom.

“Hey, what the fuck was that all about?” James finally says after he stumbles into the dark classroom with his unknown kidnapper. They flick their wand and the lights turn on. Aleks. That explains the rudeness.

“What’s up James?” Aleks asks, grinning and still holding his wand up.

“What do you mean what’s up? You just fucking dragged me in here.” James glares at the younger boy, “Why did you need me for?”

“Here, I got this for you.” Aleks holds up his closed hand. James curiously walks over to Aleks’s outstretched arm.

“I swear to god Marchant if this is going to explode on me I’m going to tackle you right here and now.” James warns, before he steps closer to the Russian’s enclosed hand.

“It’s not a prank, I swear.” Aleks finally opens his hand, revealing a silver, paper-like tube.

“A Christmas cracker?”

“A Wizard Christmas cracker.” Aleks hold the cracker closer to James, offering it for him to open.

James takes the cracker, examining it, “Did you put like an exploding whizz popper in here or something?”

“No explosives, I swear.” Aleks grins.

As James is about to open the cracker, Henry opens the classroom door.

“James! I thought I lost you!” Henry says. He then looks back and forth between James and Aleks, “Oh… Whoops… Should I?”

Suddenly Argus Filch sticks his head in the classroom door along with Henry, “What are you three doing in here? Get to your towers! It’s almost curfew!”

James and Aleks quickly rush out of the classroom, not really wanting to gain detention the day they get back. James says a quick goodbye to his friend, spotting a hint of disappointment on his face. Henry walks besides James, pace a little too fast for James’s taste.

“Henry! Slow down, dude. I just ate a shit ton of food.” James whines, clutching onto the Wizard cracker Aleks gave him.

“I think we missed the password again…” Henry then slows down, waiting for James to catch up, “By the way, what happened back there with Aleks? He looked pretty sad when you left. But I’m sorry for barging in, I couldn’t find you and my motherly instincts kinda kicked in.”

“No problem. I don’t think it was too important…” James shoves the Wizard cracker into his clock pocket, “By the way, how’s Amy?”

Amy was Henry’s Southern white-faced owl that James got for him as a gift in their second year on his birthday. James loved that owl but he knew Henry loved her more because he can never shut up about her when she’s brought up.

Henry rambles on about Amy’s nicely groomed feathers and how she made one of her first long distance trip over the Summer. James was only half listening though, still wondering why Aleks would look so dejected James couldn’t open the Wizard cracker.

The two finally make their way to the Gryffindor tower and walk up the stairs into their dorms. James flops on his bed, sighing in content.

“James, did you bring you glowing screen?” Henry asks, eyes almost glittering.

“You mean my laptop?” James hops out of his bed at the mention of his laptop and empties his cloak pockets, throwing the random items in his spare drawer. He walks over to his bag and excitedly pulls out his laptop. Even though there wasn’t any wifi at Hogwarts, James still brought some of his technology so he could work on his editing and possibly make a movie.

Pulling out his charger, Henry walks over to him in amusement, “Yeah, have you done anything new to it since the last time I seen it?”

James casts a charm that he likes to call an “outlet” charm. Something he perfected since Hogwarts doesn’t really have an outlet so he ended up having to create his own energy source. He attaches his charger to the magical outlet and grins at Henry, “I’ve added a bunch of new programs and games since that last time.”

“Fantastic.” Henry flashes an identical grin.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Henry gets distracted easily, especially by James’s glowy screen. That’s why the two stayed up until almost 5 in the morning the day before classes. Henry can’t keep James in check if James doesn't keep his laptop closed. It’s not Henry’s fault that he gets easily distracted by muggle technology.

“Fuck.” James says as he almost falls into his bowl of oatmeal for the third time. Jordan and Joe were sitting across from him, each with an amused expression on their faces. Aleks was sitting across from him too but he seemed to be almost ignoring James’s presence. James is too tired to deal with Aleks right now.

“Why are you two so tired?” Jordan asks while on the verge of laughing.

“We stayed up all night playing this game called ‘Gang Beast’ on James’s glowy screen.” Henry grinned, eyes almost fully closed.

“You guys played video games all night?” Joe laughs, “The day before classes start?”

“Shhh…” James mumbles something none of them can hear.

“James, can I see your schedule?” Joe asks, holding out his hand. James blindly reaches for his schedule, covering his lethargic eyes in the crook of his elbow. He finally finds his schedule, crumpling it a bit when he grabs it, and hands it to Joe.

Joe, Jordan, and Aleks look over James’s schedule.

“Hey, he’s got Care of Magical Creatures with us first!” Joe exclaims.

“Fantastic.” James mutters.

“You’ve got Potions with Slytherins after that.” Jordan points out.

“Crap, I do too. Now I gotta watch like ten Slytherins making heart eyes at James the whole period.” Henry groans, slowly lifting a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth.

“Jackson has Potions that period too.” Aleks mutters.

“Who’s Jackson?” Joe asks.

“He’s Slytherin’s Quidditch captain. I think Jordan’s talked to him a few times.” Aleks explains.

“Yeah. Like the fifty other Slytherins, he’s also got a crush on our James Wilson.” Jordan pats the top of James’s head over the table. Aleks looks over to James who is still hidden in the sleeve of his cloak.

James whines at the contact, “Jackson Liu does not have a crush on me. He’s just… Friendly.”

“Well, it’s almost time for class James. Let’s go! We’ll see you later Aleks.” Joe yanks James from the table to drag him outside of Hogwarts to Hagrid’s small hut. Aleks waves back disappointedly. James really wants to know why Aleks is so out of character but he’s too tired to ask.

Care of Magical Creatures goes by fast. Maybe because he slept through most of it but that’s besides the point. Care of Magical Creatures if one of James’s least hated classes at Hogwarts. He likes all animals, magical or not.

James walks into potion’s class, mood a little better after his nap in the previous class. He spots Henry and instantly sits next to him. Before class started, two Slytherin girls walk up to James: Amber Chiponia and Lindsay Escobar. James didn’t really mind that the two were trying to start a conversation with him, what really bothered him was Henry obnoxiously “coughing” and kicking his shins.

Amber tells James about her hiking trip around western Europe and Lindsay describes the adventures she had while interning at her father’s architecture firm. James realized he’s learning a lot about everyone’s summer this school year.

“This summer, you should really come hiking with me James. It was really fun.” Amber suggests, giggling and twirling her hair.

“Or you can come design buildings with me and my dad, James. The view from the company tower is gorgeous.” Lindsay leans over James’s desk and props her elbow on his potion’s book.

In all honesty, James never really liked hiking. If he walked for way too long such as on a hiking trip, his back would start hurting.  He also doesn’t really like heights, so spending a summer in a tall architecture building didn’t really sound appealing.

Suddenly, Jackson Liu walks up to James’s desk too. He holds out his hand to James, not really saying anything. James is a little confused but takes Jackson's hand anyway. Jackson pulls James into a handshake, “Hey James. How’s your Summer been?”

James looks up at the grinning Quidditch captain, “It was really fun actually. I watched a lot of movies at the movie theater and edited a lot of videos.”

“Movie theater? What are those?” Jackson asks, obviously intrigued. Amber and Lindsay grumbily stand next to Jackson, who now overshadowed them for James’s attention.

“Well, you know how the pictures on newspapers in the Wizarding World move? Movies are just like that except they have a plot and they can talk.” James explains.

“And you can edit them?” Jackson asks, eyes sparkling in astonishment.

“Yeah. I can actually make my own mini versions of them. Movies are usually one or two hours but the videos I edit are typically eight or ten minutes.”

“That’s so cool… Can I see one of the videos you edited?”

James was about to answer until Professor Snape coughs, indicating the start of class. Jackson sheepishly turns to the Potion’s master and sends a nonverbal apology for not being in his seat, Amber and Lindsay having left for theirs minutes prior.

“I want to keep talking about your video editing James. I have Quidditch practice next weekend. Do you mind hanging out after?” Jackson asks hopefully.

“Yeah, sure. I wouldn’t mind.” James reassures.

“Awesome!” Jackson gives James another handshake and returns to his desk with a large grin on his face.

“And you said Jackson Liu doesn’t have a crush on you.” Henry teases.

James glares at his friend, blocking out Professor Snape’s speech about safety in the potion’s classroom, “He doesn’t have a crush on me. All he did was ask me to go to Quidditch practice so he can ask me more questions about video editing. That’s it.”

“Dude, like every Slytherin has a crush on you.” Henry points out, grinning.

“No they don’t.” James flips through his potion’s book to distract his face from flushing.

“You just got asked on like three dates in a span of ten minutes. Trust me you know you’re a-”

“Don’t say it.” James deadpans.

“Slytherin magnet.” Henry smirks.

James groans, “Can you shut the fuck up and pay attention to Snape?”

“Pay attention to Snape? I never thought I would hear those words from you.” Henry gasps, “Are you really James Wilson? Did dating Jackson Liu change you into a completely different person?”

“Wen!” Professor Snape snapped.

Henry instantly shut his mouth. Back straight, hands in lap, and facing forward. James grinned.

“Wilson, unless you want detention on the first day back to class, then I would wipe that idiotic grin off your face.” Professor Snape hissed. James ended up in the same position as Henry. This was going to be a long period.

The rest of James’s classes (History of Magic and Study of Ancient Ruins) go by in a blur. Especially since he was sleeping in both of those classes. James climbs up the stairs back to the Gryffindor tower, says the password to the Fat Lady’s portrait (Exploding bomboms), and sits himself in front of the fireplace.

James isn’t really in a rush to get in his room. He watches the fire flicker back and forth. The Gryffindor common room was always a comfortable place to be when there wasn’t any other loud Gryffindors in it. James leans in the arm chair and let out a big sigh.

“Hey.” Henry appears next to James’s armchair, “How was first day of classes?”

“It was fine. I fell asleep in like three of them though.” James shrugs.

Henry laughs, “I tried staying awake through most of them. Come on, let’s go to bed earlier today so you don’t die in Transfiguring tomorrow.” James agrees, standing up and following Henry to their dormitory.

He can’t help but feel like he forgot something.

Hands down, the second day of classes was much more easier than the first. Transfiguring with the Ravenclaws was James’s first class on Tuesdays. He sits himself next to a thin, mousy looking Ravenclaw with glasses that look almost too big for his face.

“Hey,” James holds out his hand to introduce himself, “I’m James Wilson.” James knew that he had to have a Ravenclaw partner for Transfiguring; It was one of his worst classes.

“Aron. You don’t need to know my last name.” Aron shakes James’s hand, looking almost bored.

“I’ve never seen you before. Did you just transfer this year?” James decides he should try to make conversation with his new transfiguring partner if he wants good grades on their future projects together.

“I’m a third year, maybe that’s why you haven’t seen me in your classes.”

“Third year? Why are you in a fifth year transfiguring class?” James eyes widen.

Aron suddenly leans down towards James, lowering his voice into a whisper, “I snuck myself in this class. I’m supposed to be in Care of Magical Creatures with the other third years.”

James eyes widen more, if possible, “Wha-”

“I’m screwing with ya,” Aron laughs, “Transfiguring is one of my strong points. McGonagall had me transfer two years up.”

“Oh wow, that’s really cool.” James relaxes, glad he’s not partners with some evil mastermind or something, “Hopefully you can help me then. I’m not really good at transfiguring.”

“No problem man.” Aron grins. James feels his and Aron’s newfound friendship budding and his transfiguring grade already raising.

By the time lunch rolls around, James is ready to pass out on the ground. He flops in the seat next to Aleks.

“Why are you always so fucking tired dude?” Aleks elbows James’s side, “That’s so unhealthy.”

“I’m telling you, Hogwarts drains the life out of me.” James grabs a ham sandwich from the middle of the table and bites it.

“How was transfiguring?” Jordan asks, knowing how bad James was at the subject having been his partner last year.

“It actually seems like it’s going to be okay. I have a smart third year Ravenclaw as my partner. He skipped two grades.” James holds up two fingers, emphasizing the amount of years of transfiguring Aron didn’t have to take.

“Oh, is your partner Aron? I heard he has a laptop likes yours. No wonder you two got along so well right away,” Joe says through a mouthful of mashed potatoes, “It took me weeks before Aron became my friend without being a complete asshole.”

“I never told him about my laptop though?” James didn’t know Aron also brought a laptop to Hogwarts. He wonders if the younger knew about his outlet charm. He decided to show Aron his charm the next time he sees him in Transfiguring.

Henry suddenly pipes into the conversation, “Dude, I swear James is part Veela because so many people like him.”

“You’re right,” Jordan agrees, amusedly, “You do have a seductive aura, James.”

“Ew you guys are disgusting. I swear I’d-” Before James could finish his threat, Jackson Liu taps on his shoulder.

“Hey James. I forgot to hand this to you yesterday,” Jackson Liu holds out a box of Honeyduke’s best chocolates, James’s favorites. Jackson nervously scratches the back of his neck, slightly out of character for a Slytherin, “You know, since we can’t really eat in the potion’s room.”

“Wow, thanks Jackson! That’s really nice of you.” James takes the box carefully, not wanting to crush any of the delicious chocolates.

“You’re coming with me to Quidditch practice next Saturday, right?” Jackson asks hopefully.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” James beams. Jackson waves goodbye to James and walks back over to the Slytherin table.

“You’re going to Quidditch practice next Saturday?” Aleks grumbles, “With Jackson?”

“Yeah, if you didn’t just hear our conversation.” James places the box of chocolates on the table, “Is there a problem?”

Aleks didn’t answer. Instead he chose to give James the silent treatment the rest of the lunch period. James doesn’t think he really did anything wrong, did he? But the dejected look on Aleks’s face makes him feel guilty nonetheless.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, the next two weeks goes by fast. Not much happens aside from Jackson’s potion exploding all over him (all because he was distracted by James, but James doesn’t know that) and Joe’s high marks on the hippogriff caretaking test that they for some reason had so early in the year. Besides from an ashened skinned Jackson and the future of Joe’s magical caretaker career, Aleks was still ignoring James since Tuesday. He missed joking around with the other and hearing Aleks’s dumb stories about his fourth year peers.

But James doesn’t talk it out with Aleks, too stubborn to even admit there’s a problem.

Saturday morning at 10am, James is awoken by the sound of knocking on his dormitory door. When he opens it, Jackson is holding a piece of toast and a couple of strips of bacon in his face.

“Hey James, Henry told me that you sleep in a lot during the weekends so I got breakfast for you to eat while we practice.”  

James gratefully takes the toast and bacon, having missed breakfast multiples times last year at Hogwarts due to his inability to wake up in time, “Thanks Jackson. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Jackson smiles down at James, making James slightly self conscious.

When the two walk onto the field, he instantly spots Aleks. James mentally facepalmed himself, he forgot Aleks was on the Quidditch team too. Is that why Aleks was mad at him? Because he forgot the Russian was on the Quidditch team? Whatever the reason was for Aleks’s petty anger at the older, it didn’t matter because James wasn’t going to say anything before Aleks does. But knowing how Aleks’s stubborn levels were just as high at his, neither boy will know what caused the tension between them.

James can feel Aleks’s glare bore into his forehead as they walk closer to the rest of the team. It makes James slightly uncomfortable so he avoids eye contact with his once (?) best friend. James climbs up to the bleachers before they start practice. He’s seen many Quidditch games before so he knew exactly where the best seats were.

Jackson’s smile is huge before the team takes off for flight. James watches as the team flew back and forth, doing their daily laps around the field as warm ups. After about their 18th lap around the field, James pulls out his laptop. He decided the team would probably take awhile so might as well do a little bit of editing.

Before he knew it, the Slytherin team finishes practice and Jackson calls James back down into the field so they can leave.

“Hey James, want to try riding my broomstick for a little bit?” Jackson offers handing out his broom toward James.

Before James could answer, the Slytherin Keeper Alfred Campbell, interrupts him, “That’s not the only broomstick he’s going to ask you to ride today!”

Jackson and James instantly glare at Alfred, who’s now smiling cheekily. James spots Aleks roll his eyes in annoyance.

James decides to ignore Alfred’s remark and turn toward Jackson again, “Sorry. I don’t really like heights.”

Jackson laughs, “That’s cute. It’s fine. Want to get lunch now?” He offers.

James nods, already starting to walk off the field with Jackson.

Suddenly, a broomstick is thrown between James’s legs and flies up, carrying James with him. James instantly panics, latching onto the handle of the broom. The broom is unusually fast, in a matter of seconds, lifting James 20 feet in the air and not showing any signs of stopping.

Jackson and Aleks both spring into action. They grab their brooms and kick off the ground to a panicking James.

30...35...40...45 feet. James can’t close his eyes, too afraid to. He can feel himself on the verge of tears, the rest of the Slytherin team getting smaller and smaller. Some of them pointing and shouting. He spots two figures coming closer to him, one with their wand out the other flying as fast as he could. James really fucking hates magic.

Aleks flicks his wand, using any spell he could to stop the rogue broom. When he finally finds a spell to stop the broom from rising, it jerks forward. James’s grip becomes loose and he falls off the broom, free falling closer to the ground. James never wished he was on a broom more than that moment. Anything was better than falling 50 feet above ground. Jackson quickly flies toward James, capturing the falling Gryffindor before he fell for too long. James grips Jackson’s cloak and buries his head in the taller’s shoulders. Jackson landed on ground as fast as he could, carefully letting James off the broom.

James is a shaken mess. If he ever thought he was going to rid his fear of heights before, now he never was.

He can hear Aleks shouting at Alfred who apparently was the culprit in jinxing the broom to lift James 50 feet in the air. Fucking asshole.

“It’s not my fucking fault he’s a bitch about heights.” Alfred shrugs.

“What if he fucking fell Campbell? Then his death would’ve been on you.” Aleks shouts, pointing accusingly at Alfred.

“But he didn’t die did he?” Alfred shrugs, “You and Jackson caught him. Think of it as an extended Quidditch practice.”

“You can easily be suspended Campbell. Then your dad wouldn’t be so proud of you anymore would he?” Aleks warns.

“You’re just fucking mad James is dating the captain and not your pathetic ass.” Alfred smirks. James quickly looks over to Aleks, confused. Aleks’s face turns red. From embarrassment or anger, James isn’t sure.

Aleks punches Alfred in square in the cheek, making the Keeper fall on his ass to the ground. James’s eyes widen. Jackson leaves his side to get in between Aleks and Alfred before they start an all out fist fight.

“Mason,” Jackson turns to one of the Slytherin’s Beaters, “Can you take Alfred to Madame Pomfrey?”

Mason nods, taking Alfred’s hand and lifting him to his feet, “Let’s go asshole. We have to fix your bruising cheek.”

Jackson looks over to Aleks, who’s standing off to the side looking at his captain guiltily, “Jackson I-”

“It’s fine Aleks. I probably would’ve done the same thing.” Jackson reassures, “But you know better than to just punch Alfred. If he saw it coming he could’ve easily put a hex on your legs or something.”

“I know…”

Jackson turns to James, “I’ll walk you to the Gryffindor tower, James.” James nods, still shaken from the broomstick incident.

The two walk in silence until they reach the portrait of the Fat Lady. Jackson places a hand on James’s shoulder, “I’m sorry Alfred did that to you. I should’ve been watching over you more.”

“Jackson, it isn’t your fault Alfred’s an asshole.”

“I know but…” Jackson pulls James into a hug, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you got hurt.” Jackson pulls away from the hug looking James in the eyes, “You’re not hurt, right?”

James laughs nervously, “Don’t worry Jackson”, he pulls the Quidditch captain back into the hug, “I’m fine. Thanks for saving me.”

Jackson pulls back again, looking at James with the warmest, most affectionate eyes James ever seen anyone have. Jackson kisses the top of James’s forehead, “I’m glad you’re alright.”

All confidence that Jackson once had melted completely in a matter of seconds, confident demeanor now replaced with an intense red blush. James face is also tinted pink, but thankfully not as much as Jackson.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know what came over me I just-” Jackson starts blabbering.

James pulls Jackson down by his cloak collar and kisses him, this time on the lips. Jackson’s lips are weirdly soft, but pleasant nonetheless, “Goodnight Jackson.” James says when they pull apart.

“Goodnight James.” Jackson’s grinning like an idiot and  walks away like a lovesick fool.

“Looks like things got a little spicy in front of the Gryffindor tower.” The Fat Lady taunts.

“Shut up.” James snapped, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

James throws open the door to his dormitory, no one in the room. He spots the messiness of Henry’s desk, littered with parchment paper and used quills, then suddenly remembers the amount of homework he has. Groaning, James throws open his drawer to look for a spare quill. While searching through the drawer, James finds a Wizard Cracker. The Wizard Cracker that Aleks gave to him on the first day back.

He thinks back from the last two weeks. Since school started, Aleks had been almost completely ignoring him, dismissing his jokes, and claimed he was busy every time James tried to strike up conversation. He only saw Aleks during mealtimes in the Great Hall so there shouldn’t really be any reason for Aleks to be tired of him already, right? James examines the Wizard cracker; Could this possibly be the thing that made Aleks so angry at him?

James holds the Cracker between his fingers. He pulls at the end, the cracker opening with a small pop. A small note fell out of the cracker along with a long green cup that squiggles in different angles. He grins at the cup, knowing that he told Aleks he wanted something like it when they saw it in the window of Honeydukes in his fourth year. James sets down the cup on top of the drawer and reaches down for the note. Opening it up, it read:

“I like you a lot James. Want go on a date when we’re both free?”

“Shit.” James mutters. This explains the out of character personality Aleks had since the first day of classes. It explains why Aleks hasn't been talking to James nearly as much as he usually does. It explains why Aleks looked so disappointed when James said he's going to Quidditch practice with Jackson.

Because James never even answered his note. Instead, James tossed it into his junk drawer and forgot about it for almost two weeks. Aleks must've thought James ignored his confession but even worst, James forgot about it. Aleks must feel heartbroken.

The Wizard cracker feels heavy in his hands, as if it weighs as much as the guilt he's feeling for ignoring Aleksandr's gift for two weeks.

James doubts he would be in this situation if he just went to some public school in Pennsylvania.

Chapter Text

Why didn’t Aleks confront him about it? Is he also way too stubborn to talk about his problems out with people? Since the damage was already done, James decides to just leave it. Maybe Aleks would realize how childish he’s being and talk it out with James for once. James carefully places the note and squiggly cup in his drawer.

Besides, even if he did read the note earlier, James probably wouldn’t even have known how to answer. He needs to think about it for a little bit.

James being James Wilson, he never gives himself the chance to think about it. For almost the next month, James avoids both Jackson and Aleks. During mealtimes, instead of sitting with Joe, Jordan, and Aleks like usual, James would sit with Aron at the Ravenclaw table (which was all the way on the other side of the Great Hall). He likes hanging out with Aron actually. Aron is one of the few wizards at Hogwarts he can talk to about technology without being gawked at or praised for having such muggle technology.

“You know,” Aron starts while writing something down on parchment paper, “The Ravenclaw tower has wifi.”

“What?” James exclaims, “And you never told me this before?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think you would be interested.”

“Dude, I’m like the only other student at this school that has a laptop. You wouldn’t think I would be interested in fucking wifi?” James grips onto Aron’s arm, “Please take me to the Ravenclaw tower.

Aron rolls his eyes, “Fine.”

Aron’s room is a fucking geek room. His dormitory is entangled with wires of all kinds, at least 6 computer screens lined up against the walls and poster beds pushed on one side just to make room for the computer and wires.

“Woah. The rest of your roommates have computers too?” James asks as his eyes trace the wires that follow outside of their dorm window.

“Well, before the school year started they got a computer after they saw me using mine last year. Then we decided to make our dorm into a mini computer center. We’re the top three in our year because of how easily we can type up our homework and get information.” Aron explains.

“Isn’t that technically cheating?”

“Yes and no. No one in else in the school has access to muggle internet but us. However, at the same time, it’s not like they can’t get muggle technology. It’s the Wizarding World’s fault for not expanding their knowledge to muggle technology and allowing it to make many other witches and wizards’ lives much easier.” Aron walks over to one of the computer screens, turning it on, “The Wizarding World has a lot of flaws.”

“Wow okay Gandhi,” James walks over to the line of computers next to Aron, “Are you muggle born?”

“Half blood. My dad’s a wizard and my mom is a muggle.” Aron types in a long, complicated password into his computer, “So why do you bring your laptop to school.”

James contemplates whether on telling Aron about his videos or not. Probably only like five people in the whole school know, “I uh… I edit videos.”

“What kind of videos?” Aron looks up at James curiously.

“I record myself playing games sometimes and post them on Youtube. But I can’t really do that while we’re at Hogwarts.” James scratched the back of his neck.

“That sounds cool actually. Well, if you want to post more videos just come to the dorm and use our wifi. Only if you can answer the riddle at the entrance, though.” Aron grins at James.

“Wow, thanks a lot Aron.” James claps Aron’s back in appreciation.

The next day at breakfast James is sitting with Aron again. The two discussing what could happen if you mix wizards and technology together. The endless possibilities.

Jackson walks up to them as James was buttering his toast while Aron was pitching an idea of a pulling an advertised product out of a screen, “Um, hey James. Can we talk in private for a bit?”

James gulps. If this was Jackson’s time to confront James for ignoring him, he wasn’t ready yet. James never really had friends that confronted him (Aleks) because they were both too stubborn to actually do anything about their problems and apologize or talk it out with one another. Apparently, Jackson isn’t like James or Aleks.

“Y-Yeah. Sure.” James stands up from the bench, setting down his toast and butter, “I’ll be back Aron.” Aron nods, watching James and Jackson go to a more secluded area in the Great Hall.

“James, I’ve noticed you’ve been ignoring me lately. Actually, you’ve been ignoring a couple of people lately,” Jackson starts. He looks calm but slightly frustrated, “I like you a lot James. But a lot of other people like you too and if you don’t like them you got to tell them or you’re going to be breaking hearts left and right.”

“A lot of people like me? What are you talking about Jackson?” James raises his eyebrows.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. James, like half the school is in love with you,” Jackson laughs, “You’re so oblivious sometimes, you know that?”

“I’m sorry Jackson. It’s just… Fifth year is so stressful, you know with O.W.L.s and stuff. I don’t think I should really focus on dating. But it would be nice to still be friends with you.” James looks up at Jackson, instantly feeling guilty for rejected the Slytherin.

“I understand James, don’t worry. Maybe uh…” Jackson grins, “Maybe we can study for O.W.L.s together. Flitwick says I’m a good tutor.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a really good idea. I would like that a lot.” James agrees, “Do Mondays and Thursdays sound okay?”

“Perfect.” Jackson grins, pulling James into a hug. James hugs back, sighing. At least he doesn’t have to avoid Jackson anymore. Maybe if Jackson was courageous enough to confront James, maybe James could heal whatever bruise he left on his and Aleks’s friendship. He’s barely talked to Aleks in the past month, really missing the presence of the younger Russian.

“And James?” Jackson says when they pull apart from the hug and dragging James out of his thoughts, “Can you fix Aleks? He’s been really bummed out lately and I miss our sarcastic, reckless Seeker and I think you can help him.”

Jackson was all the confirmation he needed to finally talk to Aleks again after a month. He nods confidently, “I’ll try my best.”

“Thanks James. You’re the best.” Jackson walks back to the SLytherin table, waving goodbye to James.

The burst of confidence James had while talking to Jackson instantly died out when the other left his side. Maybe he’ll talk to Aleks during lunch.

When James was about to walk back toward the Ravenclaw table, Aleks walks up behind him, tapping his shoulder.

“Hey James.” Aleks tugs on the end of his sleeve.

“Aleks.” James whispers. Looks like he doesn’t have to wait until lunch now, “Aleks I-”

“It’s okay James.” Aleks interrupts, “We don’t really have to talk about what was in the Wizard Cracker if you don’t want to. I mean, you haven’t really said anything about it for like a month now. I just kinda want to forget everything and talk like we used to.”

“I missed it too Aleks. I missed you.” James admits, looking at the floor.

“Please don’t do this to me James,” Aleks begs, “You can’t just ignore me for a month then say you miss me.” Aleks sounds completely heartbroken and James can’t help but feel responsible.

“Aleks I-”

Aleks sighs loudly, sounding tired, “James. Let’s just pretend the last four weeks didn’t happen and just be friends again, okay? I’d really like that.”

“O-Okay Aleks.” James looks at the younger, both of their faces looking too tired.

Aleks shoots James a small smile, “I’ll see you at lunch then?”

James mimics the smile, “Of course.”

The next few months until Winter break were very uneventful. However, two tutoring sessions with Jackson every week seemed to raise James’s grade increasingly (which made his mother happy). Just like Professor Flitwick said, Jackson is a really good tutor.

Sometime in the beginning of November there was a Hogsmeade trip. James, Jordan, and Joe all went to restack on candy supplies in their respective dorms. When they entered into Honeydukes, James instantly walked over to the chocolate frogs, picking one up to buy for Aleks. He also buys Cauldron Cakes for Jackson and Ice Mice for Aron.

Getting closer to break, Slytherin had a Quidditch game against Hufflepuff (James decides to cheer for Jackson and Aleks instead of Jordan because Jordan Is an asshole). James’s red and gold scarf stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd of gray and silver. From the field, James was easy to spot. Jordan, Jackson, and Aleks all laughed and pointed at James just to fuck with him. James pouted, even though he knew that the three Quidditch players couldn’t really see his facial expressions. The three laughed even harder.

When the game ended (Hufflepuff won to Jordan’s delight and James’s dismay) James met Jackson and Aleks in the locker room. Each team member's’ faces were red from both exhaustion and the coldness, a layer of snow forming on the field.

Jackson looked in amusement as James entered the locker room in his large, brightly colored scarf that is now askewed around the Gryffindor’s neck. He walks up to James and fixes his scarf, “You’re really cute, you know that?”

“I’m not fucking cute.” James crosses his arms but still allowed Jackson to adjust his scarf.

Aleks walks up to the two, joining the conversation, “You are kinda cute James. You’re like a child.” Aleks pulls out a black beanie from his locker and shoves it on James’s head, “You looked cold out there so you can have my hat.”

“You two are the worst.” James grumbles as he adjusts the beanie on his head and buries himself deeper into the scarf.

When winter break rolls around, James had never been so relieved and disappointed to be home at the same time. He missed his friends greatly but he also missed the comforts of his home. As soon as he got home he greeted his mother with a big hug then rushed to his room to fling himself onto his own bed. Grateful for not have to hear Henry snore for two weeks in a row.

Christmas morning, James is awoken by an owl tapping on his bedroom window. Groaning, he turns to his side and decides to ignore it. Apparently, that was the wrong move. The owl instantly starts screeching for James to get up, not really wanting to stay out in the snow. James finally gives in to the owl, who now looks pleased, and he walks over to the window.

The owl taps on the window again, it’s big amber eyes staring right into James’s soul. James opens the window and the owl flies in, dropping a wrapped present at the foot of James’s bed (with the rest of them) and flies out of his room. He looks curiously at the small pile of gifts at his bed, wondering which presents held gag gifts and which one actually held sentimental ones.

James opens the first present which was wrapped in blue wrapping paper with yellow stars. The note read, “ From Jackson .” He tears open the gift which revealed a mini corgi. James set the mini corgi down and allowed it to curiously explore the rest of James’s room. Still keeping an eye on the small pet, James continued looking at the rest of the present. A book called, How to Video Edit for Dummies! Which also came from Jackson. The inside cover read, “I found this in a muggle shop and thought of you!” James laughs and reminds himself to write a letter thanking the Quidditch Captain and wondering if his gift to the other sent arrived to him yet.

The next present was wrapped messily in newspaper, obviously the person didn’t really have too much experience with wrapping gifts. Despite the abundant amount of newspaper that came along with the gift, the gift was still easily spotted. It was a picture frame. James tore away the newspaper that revealed a picture of Shepard, Jordan’s cat. James sifted through the newspaper to see if there was an attached note but there was nothing. Did Jordan really just send him a photo of Shepard and nothing else? Not even a note? James almost wants to laugh at how bad Jordan was at gift giving but decided to later taunt him about it in a thank you letter.

The next gift was in a small bag. James removes the tissue and takes out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a steam gift card. A note attached to the back of the gift card, “I found a new game called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Let’s play it together!” James didn’t even have to read the name to know who this one was from.

Another gift was a huge bag of over two hundred fortune cookies from Henry and the last gift was a How to not be a Dummy for Dummies from Aron. Even though James very dearly loves home and dislikes Hogwarts with a passion, he sure does miss his friends a lot. James grins at the small pile of presents and makes a mental note to write a letter to each one later in the day. Then tell them about Skype so it would be faster to contact them all.

Chapter Text

Although James really missed his friends over break, going back to Hogwarts was almost hell. Watching Ein watch him leave out the door with the saddest look on her face. Waving goodbye to his mother as the train back to Hogwarts began to leave almost made him cry (this train ride was even worst because all of his friends were being dropped off to Hogwarts by their parents and James sat in a compartment alone). Walking out of the Hogsmeade train station didn’t really make him in happier. Other students who took the train back to Hogwarts bumped and bustled right into James multiple times, making his mood even more irritable.

He walks into the castle and marches straight to his room, not really wanting to talk to anyone. He spots Henry sitting crossed legged on his own bed and smiles at James.

“Hey, James. How was break?” Henry stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, deciding to work on some project he’s been talking about for a few weeks.

“Great. Really great.” James flops onto his bed, head down. He’s glad he doesn’t have to go to classes for another three days. Henry notices James’s gloomy mood and decided not to try to pry. If James continues acting like this, he’ll ask but for now he needs his space.

The next day at breakfast (a Saturday, thankfully) James is still gloomy. Only taking small bites out of his toast. He sits between Aron and Aleks, cradling his chin in his palm and sighing loudly.

“What’s up with you? Santa gave you coal for Christmas?” Aron asks while taking a big spoonful of oatmeal.

“No… I just…” James looks at his friends, all of them waiting for him to answer, “I just miss home already.” James nervously laughs.

“But it’s only been like, one day?” Joe looks at James curiously.

“Don’t so insensitive, Joe.” Jordan glared at the short man, “It’s okay James. You’ll be home during Spring break.”

“I don’t know if I can last that long.” James says, only half joking, “I should just drop out haha.”

Joe’s eyes widen, along with Aleks’s and Jordans. Aron just looks at James carefully, as if trying to figure out if the older would actually drop out or not.

“James, don’t say that!” Joe suddenly whines, “I want you to graduate with me and Jordan!”

“I was only joking, Joe,” James takes another bite out of his toast, “Maybe.”

James notices Aleks suddenly being very quiet. Before Aron asked James what’s wrong with him, he was flinging his food at Jordan and half-yelling jokes across the table toward Joe. You know, Aleks being Aleks. But now, Aleks looked like he was scrutinizing his oatmeal raisins, eyebrows scrunched up.

“Hey,” James poking Aleks’s side, “I was only joking about dropping out. Don’t look so confused.”

Aleks shakes out of his transfixion, “I wasn’t…” Aleks bites his bottom lip, “Okay. Good.”

“Alright,” James gets up from the tables and taps Aron’s shoulder, “Me and Aron and gonna do some editing in the Ravenclaw tower. We’ll see you guys later.”

Aleks suddenly gets up too, “Yeah, I’m going to go too. I’m going to go to the Potion’s room.”

“Why?” Jordan looks up at the Russian.

“I’m going to make something.” Aleks rushes out of the Great Hall, James and Aron looking at him in confusion. They shrug and head toward the Ravenclaw tower.

“You know,” Aron finally says after a few minutes of walking in silence, “If you’re homesick, you should take a break. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“We just had a break. I don’t know. I’ll see once we get deeper into this semester.” James shrugs, “I just… Really miss my house when I’m here. Especially after being there for so long and then being dropped off at Hogwarts again.”

“Yeah, I get you. And many of the students already had magic incorporated into their lives and since you’re a muggle you’re more foreign to it.” Aron stops in front of the eagle knocker.  

“I don’t know? Maybe?” James shrugs again, “It’s complicated I guess.”

The eagle knocker awakens. As soon as it spots Aron it glowers at him, “Oh. It’s you again.”

“It sure is birdie. Now let me in.” Aron crosses his arms.

“How many roads must a man walk down?” The eagle knocker says, ignoring Aron.

“I thought you didn’t want me to go through the other entrance anymore?”

The eagle knocker sighs, “You’re not even supposed to know about that entrance.” It murmurs and opens the door for Aron anyways, despite not answering the riddle. James smirks at the knocker and walks right into the Ravenclaw tower common room, excited to start editing a new video.

James and Aron don’t attend lunch, being too invested in editing a video James is working on and simply forgot to. James was too tired to go to dinner, instead, opted to go right to bed. He tiredly walks into his dormitory, thinking no one would be in the room. However, Henry is at his desk, working on some type of writing assignment.

“Hi Henry.” James greets, sitting on his bed and shoving off his shoes.

“Hey James. Did you eat dinner?” Henry asks, not even looking up from his assignment.

“No. Too tired.” James flops on his back, staring at the top of his four poster bed.

“Oh,” Henry turns to James in his seat, holding out a drumstick, “Have some chicken. I brought some up because I know I was going to be busy with McGonagall’s transfiguring homework.

“Thanks Henry, you’re the best.” James gratefully takes the chicken, now noticing the small grumbling of his stomach.

“Aleks was looking for you in the Great Hall, by the way. Said he wanted to give you something.” Henry mentions as he turns back to finish up his homework.

“Yeah? I’ll see him tomorrow at breakfast then. What is it?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t let me look at it.” Henry scratches his forehead, “He seemed pretty determined about giving it to you himself.”

“Huh.” James chews on a piece of chicken thoughtfully, “Alright, I guess I’ll see what it is tomorrow.”

When James flops into the breakfast table next to Aleks, a large, waxy object was shoved into his hands.

“Here.” Aleks holds out an green candle with silver swirls, Slytherin colors.

“Um… What?” James takes the candle out of Aleks’s hand, hoping it doesn’t explode in his face or makes him room smell like farts.

Aleks shrugs, wordlessly, and grabs a piece of toast. He shoves it in his mouth before James could ask anymore questions. James looks at Aleks skeptically then smells the candles. It smells like Ein after a shower. He sniffs it again, it smells like his living room after his mother vacuumed the whole house. Sniffs again, it smells like his room, dirty clothes lying all around but a hint of his favorite deodorant. He smells it one last time, it smells like home .  

“Aleks, what is this?” James holds up the candle to the younger Slytherin.

“It’s a candle.” Aleks answers simply, taking another bite out of his toast.

“It’s not just any candle. It smells like… It smells like… My house.” James shifts the candle between his hands, “Did you make this yourself?”

Aleks pauses his chewing before answering, thinking about how he should answer, “Yeah. I did. The candle smells like what you miss the most and apparently in your case, it’s your house.”

“Holy shit Aleks.” James looks up, eyes widening at the younger, “And you made this by yourself?”

“Yeah…” Aleks picks up his fork and starts poking at the eggs on his plate, “For… You.”

James’s stomach was doing backflips for some odd reason as he watched the slightly nervous Aleks look for a reaction to the candle, “This is amazing Aleks, holy shit.” James stares at the candle in awe, “But, why?”

“You said you were missing home. So I tried making something that would make you feel a little less homesick I guess.” Aleks shrugs.

James holds himself back from jumping on top of Aleks and hugging him. The magical candle was one of the nicest gifts he’s ever gotten from the wizarding world. He can feel his stomach flopping for some reason. James mentally tells his stomach to calm down, he stares at Aleks not sure what to do next.

“Why are you just staring at me like that?” Aleks nervously looks away from James, tugging on his own sleeves.

James couldn’t restrain himself anymore, he wraps his arm around Aleks’s neck, bringing him into a tight hug, “Thank you very much Aleks. I love it.” James whispers in the younger’s ear.

He feels Aleks’s arm wrap around his waist, “No problem James. Anything to help get you through the rest of the year.” James grins against Aleks’s neck, squeezing even tighter.

Chapter Text

Weekly, James finds himself walking around the Hogwarts Castle with Aron, Aleks, and occasionally Jordan to mindlessly talk just about anything and everything. They walk around until there’s nothing to talk about anymore and then they climb up to the astronomy tower, where their minds freely roam the night sky.

Sometimes, their conversation would start back up again when they all reach the top of the tower but other times, they would sit there together, silently. All watching the stars that sprinkle the night sky.

This time was no different. James watched the moonlight shine down on him and his friends. He always preferred the moon from the sun, only because he can actually look at the moonlight without going blind. His back is up against the cold wall of the astronomy tower, sitting between Aleks and Aron. Jordan retired early this time around, hoping to get some studying done before his test the next day.

“James? What are you going to do after Hogwarts?” Aron suddenly asks, forcing James to tear his eyes away from the moonlight to answer his question.

“I don’t… I don’t know,” James tugs at the end of his sleeve, “I was thinking of not even taking a job in the wizarding world.”

“If you don’t take a job in the wizarding world, then what would you do?” Aleks pipes up, looking at the older carefully.

James didn’t even have to think about Aleks’s questions, already knowing what he wanted to do, “I want to make Youtube videos. You know what I do on my laptop? Yeah, I want to do more like that. It’s really fun recording and editing them.” James looks back up at the moon, “It would be really cool to do that for the rest of my life.”

“I’ve seen some of your videos James,” Aron looks up at the moon too, “They’re really funny. I think you could go far with that career.”

“You think so?” James smirks at Aron, “In another universe, I am a Youtube famous. Probably with some stupid ass nickname like…” James looks up into the night sky again, “Nova.”

“Nova doesn’t sound like too bad of a name.” Aleks admits, “I bet I would come up with a stupider name like… Immortal or some shit.” He laughs.

“Nova and Immortal.” James murmurs, letting the two names slide off his tongue. Secretly, the two names don’t really sound too bad at all.

“Yeah. We’ll record videos together and have millions of fans.” Aleks grins at James. James grins back, stomach suddenly flopping again. All because of Aleksandr.

Aron scoffs, “Millions? Yeah right, and Jordan would be my boss in that universe too.” Aron crosses his arms.

“Hey, you don’t know. Anything's possible.” James laughs along with Aleks and finally, Aron joins in too.

Chapter Text

The next Quidditch game was a Slytherin vs. Gryffindor game but James didn’t care and still cheered for Jackson and Aleks anyways. He sits in the middle of a sea of Slytherins (again) but none of them mind, James is basically a Slytherin anyways.

He watches as Aleks searches the field for the snitch from across the field. James always thought watching people fly was mesmerizing, that’s why he always went to Quidditch games. But for some reason this time, James can’t keep his eyes off Aleks. Recently, Aleks got a haircut, it was much more shorter than his previous hair style. Honestly, the short hair suits him. He spots Aleks’s tattoo peeking out from his Quidditch uniform and his forehead scrunching up as he looks for the snitch. Aleks gracefully weaves through his teammates, trying to avoid getting hit by the quaffle.

The Slytherin Keeper is now hovering in front of James. Aleks looks through the crowd, as if the snitch would be anywhere near the audience. He spots James and  waves sheepishly at him before flying off again, still searching for the snitch. James’s stomach is doing back flips again and it’s always Aleks’s fault.  

“Fucking Aleks.” James mutters under his breath, crossing his arms and hugging himself tightly.

James continues watching Aleks fly, witnessing him almost getting knocked off his broom by a Quaffle. James laughs to himself as Aleks straightens himself out on his broom and continues searching for the snitch.

James doesn’t remember who won that game, but the image of Aleks gracefully flying through the crowd sticks with him even after he leaves the stadium.

James is waiting outside the castle for his friends to go to Hogsmeade. He should’ve came later because knowing his friends for so long, they were always late to pretty much every event. Surprisingly, the person who is always late to everything, was actually on time for once. James watches as Aleks takes out his wallet to count his money and sighs. Where is everyone?

Suddenly, a small owl flew on James shoulder, handing him a small note.

“Hello Amy,” James greets, “Is this from Henry?” James asks, as if the owl could answer him. Amy stares at him with large amber eyes, waiting impatiently for him to take the note off her foot. Aleks looks over curiously at the owl and steps closer to James in attempt to pet the owl. Amy steps away from Aleks and closer to James’s face, wearily staring at the tattooed boy.

James laughs, “It’s okay Amy. He’s cool.” James unties the note from Amy’s foot and has her hop on his finger. He lifts Amy closer to Aleks. Amy looks curiously at the Russian and Aleks hesitantly pets her. The owl nuzzles into Aleks’s finger, small hooting noises coming from her tiny bird throat.

“Henry’s bird?” Aleks asks when Amy hops back onto James’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” James opens the letter, quickly scanning the crumpled note.

JOE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO GIVE ME A U-NO-POO AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD FUNNY TO GIVE HIM LAXATIVES. WE’LL HAVE TO MEET UP NEXT TIME.

James groans, “Henry and Joe have stomach problems because they’re both fucking dumb.”

Suddenly, James spots Jordan’s cat walking toward them from across the field.

“Isn’t that Shepard?” Aleks points out.

“Yeah… It is.” James crouches down and notices a note tied on Shepard’s collar. He scoffs. Jordan never thought it was practical to get a bird to deliver his notes, he thought they were untrustworthy. Even though Shepard only delivered notes to James and only when he wanted to.

James quickly scratches behind Shepard’s ear and unties the note from him. Aleks crouches down too, happily petting the cat, “You’re like, the animal whisperer today James.” Shepard purrs under Aleks’s touch.

James reads over the note from Jordan:

Studying for History of Magic. Stefani told me there was a test tomorrow?? How come no one told me?!

James rolls his eyes, typical of Jordan not remembering a big test right before they have to go somewhere, “Welp, that just leaves you, me, and Aron I guess.”

“Aron?” Aleks looks up from petting Shepard, “I saw him while coming down here. He was chasing his rats because they ran off somewhere. Said he’ll meet us up later. Whenever that would be.”

“So it’s just us?” James’s stomach is being floppy again. He hates it.

“Seems like it.” Aleks starts walking toward Hogsmeade, “Let’s go to that music shop we never go in because Jordan says the music is garbage. What was it called again? Dominic Maestro's?”

James walks faster to keep up with the younger, “Yeah, I believe so. Maybe we can go to Zonko’s after.”

“Yeah? We can prank Jordan for ditching out on us.”

James grins, “Exactly what I was thinking.”

After Dominic Maestro's and Zonko’s joke shop, Aleks and James head into Spintwitches, a wizard sporting shop. James watches in amusement as Aleks eyes literally sparkle at the new line of broomsticks and Quidditch playing gloves.

“Holy Shit, James. Look at these,” Aleks holds up a pair of black and grey gloves, “These look sick.”

James looks over the gloves. They don’t look too special and nothing different from any muggle sporting gloves he’s seen, “Are there any magical properties on them?”

Aleks examines the gloves, “Not really. Aside from them having grip.” Aleks lifts the price tag attached and suddenly puts the gloves down, “Just kidding. These gloves are expensive. 7 galleons and 15 sickles? Do they think I’m rich?”

“Those gloves look exactly like regular sporting gloves that aren’t usually over $30 in the muggle world. I can get you some if you’d like.” James offers.

“Woah, really? How much is $30 in wizard currency? I’ll pay you back.” Aleks promises as they walk out of the store.

“Nah it’s fine. You don’t have to pay me back. They’re just gloves.”

“Aw, what? Don’t make me ask Aron to convert it for me. He’s going to tell me to answer a riddle or something. Maybe even make me do his homework.” Aleks whines.

“Aron probably wouldn’t ever let you touch his homework.” James laughs.

“I’ll feel bad if you just buy me gloves. Let me take you out to eat or something.” Aleks offers.

“Sounds tempting but if you couldn’t even afford to buy a 7 galleon glove then how are you ever going to pay for my exquisite taste in food?” James jokes.

Aleks thinks, looking around Hogsmeade, “I’ll take you there.” Aleks points at the small, pink tea shop that displayed numerous of tall cakes and delicate looking tea pots in the window.

“You want to take me to Madam Puddifoot’s?” James looks skeptically at the tea shop, “I don’t even like tea.”

“It’s cheap and I heard they have really good biscuits.” Aleks grins at the small shop, “Look how cute it is in there. I’d bet you’d love it.”

“And why in the world would I love to go in there?” As they continue walking past the shop, James see a couple of students from Hogwarts. One couple was cuddled together on one side of the booth and feeding each other biscuits. James wouldn’t have said it outloud, but the two looked very comfortable and seemed to be having a good time. James imagines him and Aleks cuddled up in the booth on a cold day, sipping warm tea together and feeding each other biscuits.

James shakes himself out of his thoughts. He doesn’t even like tea. And he doesn’t even like Aleks. At least he thinks he doesn’t like Aleks.

“I don’t know.” Aleks admits, “I just think that you’d like going in there. Next time there’s a Hogsmeade trip, I’ll definitely take you.”

“Fine, whatever.” James grumpily agrees but for some reason the thought of going into Madam Puddifoot’s with makes the flutter return to James’s stomach again. Secretly excited by Aleks’s promise, James walks shoulder to shoulder with the younger, a small grin on his face.

James continues study lessons with Jackson on Mondays and Thursdays as O.W.L.s continue to get closer. Soon, Jordan and Joe tag along to their study sessions because Jackson really is a good tutor. The studying lessons with him stick way better than when his actual teachers try to teach him. However, as O.W.Ls get closer and closer, Jackson becomes stricter and stricter. It’s okay though, because each lesson makes James less nervous about the O.W.Ls all thanks to Jackson.

Chapter Text

Spring break finally rolls around and James invites Aleks over to his house through a Skype call.

“This is still weird. You’re coming out of a screen!” Aleks taps his webcam, “How did you even fit in there? Can you see me too?”

James laughs, “Yes, I can. And I’m not directly inside the screen. It’s just a moving video of me.” James watches in amusement as Aleks continues examining the webcam and Skype window. The younger’s curiosity was almost cute. James has to ignore the butterflies in his stomach again.

“Speaking of video, you should take me to one of those movie theaters you were talking about that one time. The one with the big room with tons of seats? I googled a picture of them once and it looks like fun.” Aleks grins through the screen.

“You want to go to a movie theater? I mean sure, I’ll take you. If you actually come to Pennsylvania that is.”

“I can floo there! You have a floo network right?” Aleks leans excitedly toward the computer screen.

“Yeah actually. We installed it during winter break because my mom thought it would be helpful,” James looks carefully at the overly excited younger, “You really want to come to Pennsylvania and watch a movie with me?”

“Of course! That sounds sick, dude. We can watch any movie you want. I’ll even bring my own wallet since I have some muggle money left from when I visited California.”

Stupid Aleks, making his stomach flutter constantly, “Yeah man. I’m free Tuesday. Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah man! I’ll ask my dad about it. I’ll talk to you later okay?” Aleks excitedly waves goodbye to James and hangs up the Skype call, leaving James smiling stupidly at his computer screen.

Tuesday afternoon, James nervously waits by his fireplace. He bites his bottom lip, anxiously waiting for Aleks to appear through the green flames. The fire crackles loudly, signalling Aleks going through the floo network. James steps back and out pops Aleks, covered in soot, grinning like an idiot.

“Hi James.” Aleks grins, looking around James’s living room, “So this is what a muggle home looks like.”

“What’s different about it?” James asks casually, trying to still his rapidly beating heart while Aleks walks around his living room.

“Nothing at all, I think.” Aleks taps the TV that’s hanging on the wall, “What’s this?”

“A television set. We can watch shows and stuff on it.” James explains.

“Is this where we’re going to watch the movie?”

“Uh, no. We’re going to the movie theater which has something like that but it’s about 60 times bigger and has many more seats.”

“Woah,” Aleks looks at the TV in amazement, “Sixty times bigger than this? That sounds crazy!”

James laughs, “It really is amazing, actually.”

James and Aleks make their way to the movie theater through the public transportation. Aleks watches in amazement as James pays for their bus ride through a small card and stands excitedly on the crowded bus, gripping onto the bus handle. James can’t help but laugh and admire Aleks’s amazement at all the muggle things. It’s cute, almost.

They watch some action comedy movie Aleks picked because he thought the movie poster looked cool and they took their seats in the very front of the screen (Aleks wanted to be as close to the screen as he could). Aleks ‘ooh-ed’ and ‘aah-ed’ at every explosion and laugh thundered at every attempt of a joke the actors made. About halfway into the movie, Aleks starts complaining about how his neck was straining.

“It’s because you forced us to sit so close to the screen.” James points out, shoving a nacho chip into his mouth.

“Because I wanted to see every detail.” Aleks complains, rubbing the back of his neck.

“But if we sat more in the back then we would’ve been able to see the whole screen.”

Instead of admitting James is right, Aleks throws a popcorn kernel at him. James throws it back in retaliation. Aleks smirks and dumps the rest of his popcorn on James, laughing.

“You piece of shit!” James collects as many popcorn pieces he could find and starts throwing them at Aleks. The front row of the theater turns into a mini popcorn battlefield and James and Aleks walk out of the theater covered in popcorn butter.

“Ugh. You’re the worst.” James groans, picking pieces of popcorn off his clothes.

“No, you’re the worst.” Aleks laughs.

“I’m not inviting you back here ever again.” James pushes open the front door to his house, ready to take a shower.

“Hey wait, you don’t mean that right?” James turns to look at the younger who actually looks worried James wouldn’t invite him back to have muggle adventures. James rolls his eyes.

“Of course I’m kidding, idiot.”

The worry in Aleks’s face instantly melts, replaced with eagerness and excitement, “I had a lot of fun today James.”

James walks Aleks to the living room and turns on the Floo Network, “I’ll see you when we get back from break.”

Suddenly, Aleks hugs James, grinning, “Thank you for inviting me James.” Before James could even react, Aleks pulls them apart and waves goodbye. He steps into the fireplace with a grin and a popcorn kernel in his hair.

James thinks his stomach is acting up again.

Chapter Text

When they return to Hogwarts in the Spring, Jackson immediately dumps Jordan, Joe, and James into O.W.L. studying. James doesn’t mind it that much considering how less scared he is about O.W.L.s now but it does burn him out more easily. Occasionally, Aron would crash their studying session and try to distract James by showing him funny videos on his computer but besides that their study sessions are usually very productive.

Along with studying for O.W.L.s, James has been hanging around in other houses’ dormitories rather than his own. Usually, James is seen in the Ravenclaw dormitory with Aron and working on a video or maybe even recording something. If he’s not with Aron in the Ravenclaw tower, he’s in the Slytherin common room with Aleks. The two would play wizard chess, watch a movie on James’s laptop, or just constantly mess around.

“Are you really even a Gryffindor? Or are you some weird Ravenclaw/Slytherin hybrid?” Henry joked once during dinner. Though, he only really said what people were thinking.

“Maybe I’m every house.” James grins, “I’m just that talented to be in every Hogwarts house. Watch, you’re going to see me in the Hufflepuff basement next week.”

Jordan laughs, “You? In the Hufflepuff basement? Professor Sprout would have a heart attack! A non-Hufflepuff hasn’t been in the basement for thousands of years.”  

“Calm down, calm down. I probably wouldn’t even go in there anyway. Badgers make me nervous.” James jokes.

“You’re scared of badgers when you constantly hang out with the houses who are eagles and snakes?” Henry shakes his head, “Snakes sound way scarier than badgers.”

Aleks looks over at Henry, finally entering the conversation after being spaced out for a few minutes, “Hey! What’s wrong with snakes?”

“They’re just scarier than badgers is all I’m saying.” Henry shrugs, stuffing a spoonful of corn into his mouth, “They have sharp teeth and venom.”

“This snake isn’t scary,” Aleks points to himself and scoots closer on the bench toward James. He slings an arm around James’s neck, “Isn’t that right James?” James hopes Aleks can’t hear his heart beating because for some reason, it chose this exact moment to speed up.

“What are you talking about? Aleks is the scariest Slytherin I know.” James smirks while leaning closer into Aleks’s arm.

“Yeah? Then you’re going to freak out if you ever see a real snake.” Aleks smirks, removing his arm from around James. James is slightly disappointed by the loss of contact but grins back anyways.

“Please. You’re much scarier than a real snake.”

Aleks cuts a piece of steak and shoves it in his mouth, “By the way, are you coming to the Slytherin dungeon after dinner?”

“What for? So you can patronize me more?” James lightly elbows Aleks side, “No thanks.”

“No, no. I mean, maybe a little bit of patronizing. But I want to show you the Slytherin Dungeon at night.”

“There’s something in the Slytherin dungeon I don’t know about?”

Aron grins, “I think I know what he’s talking about. I think you’ll like it.”

James looks worriedly over to Aron, “If Aron’s in on it, I don’t think it could be something good.”

Aleks and Aron laughs but James is still a little worried. The last time Aleks showed him something, Aleks ignored him for a couple months. James hopes he doesn’t screw it up again.

At the end of dinner James and Aleks wave goodbye to their friends and make their way to the Slytherin dungeon.

“Aleksandr if this is some elaborate prank I’ll never forgive you.” James warns when they reach the Dungeon wall. Instead of answering, Aleks murmurs the Slytherin password (eunectes murinus) and drags James into the common room.

The dungeon was empty around this time; Everyone was either at dinner are in their dormitories. James always found the Slytherin dungeon to be peaceful. The room was tinted green (James’s favorite color) due to the clear windows that showed the lake. However, James would never want to do his homework in the Slytherin common room because aside from the lake and the very dim lights hanging above the ceiling, James could barely see in there. He doesn’t know how Slytherin students’ eyes don’t burn when they walk back into Hogwarts’s hallways.

“Okay, what did you want to show me, Aleks?” James crosses his arms, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room.

“Come over here.” Aleks grabs James’s elbow and drags him to one of the windows that displayed the lake. James  never really went near any of these windows when he was in the common room because he was afraid the window might break and the whole Slytherin common room would flood.

As the get closer to the window James spots a figure in the window. Immediately, he stops and pulls Aleks back.

“What the fuck is that in the window Aleks?” James points out.

“A mermaid.” Aleks gently places a hand on James’s back and guides him closer to the lake window. James can now see the silhouette more closely.

“Why are you showing me a mermaid?” James looks curiously at the mermaid. It’s face was mimicking James’s expression of curiosity. It has a pointed face, yellow eyes, and blue like skin. Nothing like how popular culture in the muggle world portrayed mermaids. But James thought they were still fascinating nonetheless.

The mermaid’s eel-like hair floated around it’s head, still staring at James. It looked back and forth between James and Aleks. Aleks waves at the mermaid. The mermaid stares at him blankly then turns it’s head back to James.

“Some of the mermaids in the lake know sign language. Occasionally they’ll talk to us.” Aleks does a few gestures to the mermaid when it finally takes its eyes off of James. It does a few gestures back.

“I didn’t know you knew sign language.” James watches the two gesture back and forth.

“Jackson taught me a bit.” The mermaid gestures something vigorously at Aleks and Aleks scrunches up his eyebrows, “She wants to talk to you.”

“Me?” James points to himself, the mermaid nods. James steps closer to the glass, not sure how to communicate with the mermaid since he doesn’t know any sign language.

The mermaid points at James’s beanie and crosses her forearms repeatedly, “You want me to take my beanie off?” James gestures removing his beanie.

The mermaid nods eagerly, swimming even closer to the glass. James takes off his beanie and out pops his hair. It’s gotten amazingly long lately, James hasn’t had it this long in years. He hasn’t really had the time or energy to shave it off. Plus, he likes how it looks.

The mermaid looks lovingly at James’s curls, tracing her finger around James’s head, tracing his curls. Aleks laughs, “I think she likes your hair dude.”

“Seriously?” James runs a hand through his hair, trying to tame it just a little. He steps even closer to the glass to allow the mermaid to look at it more closely.

“I bet she thinks it looks like eels.” Aleks jokes.

“Haha. Very funny Aleksandr.” James crosses his arms, “I think my hair looks cool.”

“Hey wait,” Aleks places a hand on top of James’s head and ruffles his hair, “I think it looks cool too. It’s actually pretty cute.” Aleks laughs.

James can’t stop his heart from fluttering at the compliment.

Chapter Text

“James?” Jackson says suddenly in the middle of one of their study sessions. This time without Jordan and Joe because the two decided to help Hagrid with feeding the Hippogriffs instead of studying for O.W.L.s.

“Yeah?” James looks up from his Astrology homework, placing his quill down to give Jackson his full attention.

“Do you like Aleks? Like, as more than a friend?”

James stiffens at the question. He never really allowed himself to wander into those thoughts. Aleks is his best friend, sure. Aleks makes his stomach flop and heart flutter occasionally, yeah. And sometimes he thinks about kissing and holding Aleks’s hand along the Great lake, fine. But liking Aleks? James doesn’t really know.

“Um… I…” James struggles with the question, not sure how to answer.

“You know,” Jackson sighs, “Aleks looks a lot more happier now that you guys are talking again. And honestly, you look a lot more happier too. I’m happy for you guys.”

“Really? Do we really look happier?” James bites his lip.

“Yeah, you guys really do.” Jackson reassures, “You two really bounce well off each other. It’s really hard to find someone like that.”

“Jackson-”

“James,” Jackson looks at the Gryffindor seriously, “You know seeing you happy makes me happy. Like, your happiness is the most contagious thing in the world. So please keep being with things that make you happy, like Aleks.”

“Oh Jackson.” James stands up from his seat and walks over to Jackson, engulfing him into a hug, “You do so much for others Jackson.”

Jackson hugs back tightly, “Not as much compared to you James.” He laughs.

When James pulls back he can see a hint of disappointment hidden in Jackson’s eyes but all in all, he truly does look like he meant what he said. James grins back, flashing a blinding smile at the Slytherin.

Chapter Text

James is leaning against the headboard of Aron’s bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory when Aron pitches the best idea James has ever heard.

“What if…” Aron starts, “We introduce wizard technology. Can you imagine all the new technology we can create if we combined muggle technology with magic?”

“Holy shit Aron. That’s a really fucking good idea,” James removes his laptop from his lap and looks up at the younger,  “We could do so much shit. Like we can make devices where the batteries never run out.”

“Yeah! And imagine how much the Wizarding World can actually advance you know? School work would be so much easier for people if they had the access to so much more information instead of just through outdated books.” Aron continues.

“You’re a fucking genius Aron. I think you’re on to something.” James grins.

“No, we’re onto something.”

James thinks he might know what he wants to do when he graduates from Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

The day O.W.L.s roll around, James isn’t as nervous as he thought he would be but nervous nonetheless. The day goes by in a blur. But with the help of both Jackson’s study sessions and Aron’s knowledge throughout the year really prepared him for the test. Aside from Divination and probably History of Magic, James thinks he got at least Exceeds Exception on the rest of his tests. He exits out of his last O.W.L.s test confidently.

He spots Aleks waiting outside his classroom, promising to take him out to eat at Madame Puddifoot’s after his last O.W.L.s test. Aleks gives him a thumbs up and a goofy grin. James allows his heart flutter for Aleks this time, only because he just finished a series of hard tests.

That day, James received a shy kiss in the back of Madam Puddifoot’s that tasted like bitter tea and sweet biscuits.

Chapter Text

Out of all his years at Hogwarts, James hasn’t ever been this much disappointed that school was over (still relieved nonetheless). He exits the train with Aron, walking onto the platform.

“We should pitch some magical muggle technology ideas to each other over the summer because that sounds really cool.” Aron suggests.

“Yeah dude. Of course. We’ll make cool ass shit I swear.” James traps Aron in a hug before he could run away, “Call me on Skype, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll keep up.” The two pull apart and Aron walks to his family who’s waving at him from the other end of the train platform.

James looks around and spots Jackson helping Joe place all his luggages into a luggage cart. James looks up and waves at James. He walks over to the two and looks at Joe’s chicken.

“See you next school year Jamesy.” James murmurs. The chicken clucks back.

“Hey!” Joe drops the bag he was holding and points accusingly at James, “You called him Jamesy!”

James rolls his eyes, ignoring Joe and faces Jackson. Jackson flashes James a small smile, “Next year, I’ll bring a DVD player so we can watch some movies in the ravenclaw common room.” James offers.

“Woah really? That sounds really cool James. I can’t wait.” Jackson’s smile grows.

“See you two next year.” James waves, now looking for his mother.

“Hey.” Someone calls out.

James turns and spots Aleks, “Did you forget to say bye to me too?”

“I didn’t forget,” James walks closer to Aleks, grinning, “I just didn’t want to.”

“Aww, don’t hurt your boyfriend’s feelings.” Aleks tries to step closer and hug James but James swiftly dodges it teasingly.

“But hurting your feelings is the best part about being your boyfriend.” James laughs when Aleks finally catches him and engulfs him into a tight hug.

“I’m gonna miss you.” Aleks whispers into the nape of James’s neck.

“Actually,” James pulls apart from the hug and takes out a golden wizard Christmas cracker, shoving it in Aleks’s hand, “I got this for you.”

Aleks stares at the wizard cracker in his hand and laughs, “Maybe I should ignore it for two weeks before I open it.”

“Hey,” James lightly hits the Slytherin’s shoulder, “That was an accident. And this time we don’t have Filch distracting us.”

Aleks pops open the wizard cracker. A pair of athletic gloves fall out and a small note, “Woah! You got me the gloves,” Aleks shove on the gloves and flex his fingers, “They’re perfect.”

The younger picks up the note from the platform floor and reads it outloud:

I’m going to miss you over the Summer. Want to go to muggle theaters during the break?

Aleks looks up from the note and grins, “Of course you fucking dork. It’s a date.”

“James!” James hears his mother call. He turns around and beams, he’s missed his mom so much. He quickly pecks Aleks on the cheek, waving goodbye, and jogs to his mother’s side.

She immediately embraces James and James hugs back just as tight because he’s a momma’s boy and he knows it, “It wasn’t that bad this year, was it?”

“Maybe it wasn’t that bad.” James admits as they walk toward the pillar and exit the King Cross Station.

Chapter Text

“How’s your Summer so far?” Aleks asks through the computer. James scans his desk, doodles and ideas of the magical muggle technology he’s been brainstorming with Aron for the past two weeks. The drawings for a prototype of a tablet that could transform from the size of a keychain to a clipboard in a matter of seconds was in the making, James can’t help but be proud of his and Aron’s work.

“Fantastic. It’s going really well so far.”

“You know that candle I made you?” Aleks suddenly brings up.

“Yeah. It’s on my desk right now.” James grabs the candle from the corner of his desk and holds it up to his webcam, “See?”

“What does it smell like?” Aleks props his elbow on his desk, resting his chin in his palm, grinning at his newly acquired boyfriend.

James sniffs the candle. It smells like Hogwart’s breakfast and old textbooks, it smells like a sweaty Quidditch team, it smells like the dampness of the Slytherin common room, it smells like Madame Puddifoot’s bitter tea and sweet butter biscuits. It smells like Aleks and everything about him.

James scrunches his nose, not realizing how much he missed the younger, “It smells like shit.” He finally says, laughing at an offended Aleksandr Marchant through the computer screen.