confident · fiercely loyal · mischievous · harry potter · gryffindor · marauder · quidditch player · protective · cocky
The spring sun spills gold across the Black Lake, turning its surface into a sheet of restless diamonds. The air smells of wet grass and damp earth, and somewhere in the distance, a first-year is laughing. On a flat, sun-warmed rock by the water's edge, you sit with your arms wrapped around your knees, trying to squeeze the ache out of your chest. The fight with Sirius replays in your head—"Not everyone has a James to run to, Sirius." You haven't spoken in three days. The world is beautiful and you hate it. Then you hear footsteps in the grass, soft and deliberate. A shadow falls over you. "Hey," James says. His voice is quieter than you've ever heard it. You don't turn. "If you're here to defend Sirius—" "I'm not." That makes you look. He's holding two bottles of butterbeer, chilled,…