Losing Game/// James Potter

Chapter 68

As soon as the group landed in Diagon Alley, they split off in pairings to make their way over to Knockturn Alley, where Borgin and Burkes was. This way, it would be less obvious when surrounding the store and taking note of everyone who either exited or entered. The Prewett twins grabbed each other's arms at the same time that Rory threw an arm over Elsie's shoulder. James and Benjy, by order of Moody, were told to be put together and work out their differences. Instead, they ended up embarking on an extremely quiet and grumpy patrol.

Elsie and Rory, on the other hand, had no problem at all starting up an conversation, even during missions as dangerous as this one. After all, if they wanted to seem normal they may as well actually act like it.

"You're absolutely basic," he snorted out as he nudged her in the side, "You want to be an auror just like half the rest of Gryffindors."

"Just like my parents, mind you not," she chuckled while playfully rolling her eyes, walking in step down Diagon Alley with the boy next to her, "Well, what about you, Mr. Perfect? What do you want to do after the war?"

"Start a riot," he smirked while thrusting his wand in the air, laughing as Elsie pulled his arm down since they were supposed to be being discreet.

"Against who, you bloody nutter?!" She replied while eyeing him with a smile on her face, an expression she couldn't help but have around him ever since he started acting like himself again. It was nice seeing Rory be Rory, not the boy who lost everything.

"My family," he snorted while rolling his eyes at the thought of his overbearing parents, who practically believed his brother was better than Merlin, "I ought to open a pub just to spite them. They'd fucking hate that."

"So, why don't you?" Elsie excitedly spoke out, her eyes lighting up at looked at the building they were passing. She dragged him over the empty place that had a "For Sale" sign taped on the front of the door, pointing at it in awe, "Look! After the war, you can come back here and buy this place. Start your own pub, that'd outta show them."

"And you say I'm the nutter," he sarcastically scoffed at her while giving the building one last look over and beginning to walk towards Knockturn Alley once again, "I assume you have a name picked out for it too?"

She playfully shoved him before her eyes lit up in excitement again, "Riot...that's what you could name it. That way, you could actually start a riot."

Both of them laughed until the dark, eerie feeling of Knockturn Alley crept down their spines, a shiver causing Elsie's body to slightly shake. They shot each other a look and a nod before throwing the hoods of their robes over their heads, trying to stick out as little as possible. They settled down in a small pub that had a perfect view of the store, writing down each and every person that came in contact with it.

She just finished jotting down the name of a middle-aged man that she knew belong to the Travers family, when Rory ripped the parchment paper from her hands and stuffed it in his pocket. She looked up at him in confusion, but understood as soon as she heard a man speak out from next to her.

"Oi, beautiful," a thin man with graying hair and a large pint in his hand spoke while looking her up and down, a drunken glaze covering his eyes, "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Back the fuck off," a voice called out while walking towards Elsie, Rory, and the older man, "She's already taken."

Elsie held back a chuckle as she watched a steaming James Potter tower over the stranger with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed, forcing himself between the two and wrapping an arm around Elsie's waist. The drunken man nodded, in what seemed like a combination of regret and fear, before scurrying off.