𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 ( james potter! )

iii. COURTYARD

CHAPTER THREE
( COURTYARD )

☽

ESTELLE WALKED INTO the Courtyard alone, looking for a quiet and scenic place to read. All she was met with was noise and rowdy groups of students in every direction. She wished Piper was with her and not stuck in Arithmancy, probably sleeping. There wasn't even a point in taking that class—Piper was barely passing anyways because she mostly used that lesson to catch up on her sleep.

She had opted to take it again in sixth year despite her best friend's pleas not to, which made for a rather pissed off Estelle when they had gotten their timestables the first day of classes, which had been two weeks ago, and she saw that she had a free period alone. Estelle didn't mind some time to herself– but the timing was terrible. It wasn't long enough for her to go back to her dorm without getting carried away, and it was also when a lot of the older students had their free periods.

"She always does this to me," Estelle sighs to herself, currently wishing she had more than just three or four friends. "Absolutely full of rubbish, she is."

She scanned the area for a vacant bench or hell— even a tree stump, if it meant she could sit down and tune out the rest of the world. But it seemed that the benches were occupied, and there weren't really any tree stumps lying around.

Mumbling something about loiterers, she made her way to the nearest tree and curled into its roots. The novel she'd picked today was a Muggle one, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte. She had read it ten times already, but it didn't matter. Estelle had read a lot of books ten times, the ones she found the most captivating with lovable characters, a good and decent plot, suspense, and maybe a bit of romance. Or a lot of romance (she was a little lonely sometimes).

She was so immersed into her fictional world that she didn't notice James Potter come over and sit down beside her. She only realized he'd been sitting there five minutes after he'd arrived, once he asked how she was liking her book.

"You seem pretty engrossed in your reading there, Elle," he comments, making her jump and hit the back of her head against the tree trunk. "Good book?"

Estelle glares at him, rubbing the back of her head furtively. "Don't do that, you asshole." She scolds, a deep-set frown on her lips. He only chuckles at her expression, fueling her frustration. "Don't you laugh either, James! Merlin, you're simply impossible."

The Gryffindor boy shrugs, giving her an effortless grin. "Mum says I'm a handful, I say I'm one of a kind."

She snorts at the statement, "Hmph. Definitely not wrong there."

His mouth opens slightly as he nudges her with his shoulder. "Don't be rude, Estelle."

"You sound like my parents," she tells him, looking up and giving him a bright smile. "Only, my parents aren't annoying little shits who scare innocent people and go pining after the same girl for years..."

This time he full-on punches her shoulder, making her laugh. Estelle smiles widely when she laughs, and the sound is mellifluous, like a music box. It catches James off guard for a moment, and his glasses begin to slip off his face. He only realizes he was staring when she speaks to him again, "No offense, James. You know I didn't mean it like that."

He smiles, pushing his glasses back up his nose before the fall off completely. "Course not. You're too much of a Hufflepuff to do any real damage,"

She gapes at him. "I am not a Hufflepuff!"

"But your brother was, wasn't he?" James prods.

Dammit. That was true. Elliott, Estelle's older brother had been a Hufflepuff through and through at Hogwarts. Last year had been his seventh. "Yeah, Elliott was a Hufflepuff but how—"

"He's the best beater Hufflepuff ever had! I know how kind he was, but bloody hell, he knew how to hit a bludger."

Estelle shook her head with a smile, not even surprised. "I should've known that it would be because of Quidditch. Merlin knows there's nothing James Potter loves more,"

"That's not true," He argues, completely serious. "I like chocolate frogs and having matching pajamas with Sirius as well."

She giggles again, wondering how James, and all the Marauders, really, could go around and say things like that with a straight face. It was truly a talent. She could never do it.

     "That's wonderful, Jamie." She says, patting his shoulder lightly as he grins again.

"Certainly is," he replies, his eyes drifting towards her still open book. "Shouldn't you be doing homework instead of reading?"

"No. I don't have any I need to do, I finished everything I was already assigned by this morning." She answers, taking her book and marking her page before putting it inside her bag. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"How did you manage to do four classes worth of homework yesterday in addition to what we already had?" He asks, mouth agape.

"I was bored, so I figured I'd get ahead rather than waste time doing nothing." She shrugs, not seeing what the big deal was.

James looks pained as he hears this and she rolls her eyes. Bloody drama queen. "Merlin, Elle, if that's what you do when you're bored, I need to get you a social life."

"I'm perfectly fine not having one," she says, "People don't like me all that much anyways."

"But I like you," he frowns, holding up his head with his hand.

"That's sweet and all James, but you're not everyone. I'm just not someone people enjoy being around." She smiles softly, finding his disbelief rather adorable. It seemed to her that James always managed to find the best in people (unless they were Snape or a downright asshole), and when others couldn't, it confused him. She was no exception to this.

      His frown only deepened as he made eye contact with her. "But I still don't get it," he says, "You're smart, and pretty, and funny, and kind. And you tell good stories. What more could people want?"

     "Wow, James, I think my heart just exploded," she says sarcastically, to which he laughs and shoves her. "No, really. That was awfully sweet of you to say, you didn't have to do that."

     He shrugs, "It's only the truth."

     "Whatever," she rolls her eyes, but the smile stays on her face.

•••

5/15/18

wOW this took way too long i'm so sorry!! schools a pain in the ass, as usual, but that's not excuse.

sorry this is a little short too, I'm hoping to be able to write longer chapters in the future!

i rewatched stranger things and it recently and can i just say wow i love the casts? they're so talented and cute. i don't know if any of you watch st or have seen it, or are familiar with the cast but i kind of have a jaeden lieberher social media fic in the works? and maybe some stranger things fics too

if any of you are interested in reading them, let me know!

em :)