prologue!

"How's your essay going?" His voice echoed through the room as he trailed kisses from her shoulder to the back of her neck, making her shiver. "Cold?" He teased.

Daphne snorted, "If you would please stop trying whatever you're doing so I can get going with this bloody essay," she replied teasingly as he smirked, kissing her cheek. "After that I'll be all yours."

"Ah, sounds like the absolute dream," he said dreamily, pulling a chair to sit next to her.

"What are you doing?" She chuckled, watching him.

He shrugged, putting on his glasses, "Helping you," he answered, his shoulder grazing hers softly. "I'm not going to sit there and wait hours for you to finish."

"I thought you liked it," Daphne whispered before kissing right underneath his ear, making him gasp quietly. "So...I need to write an essay on non-verbal spells."

He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat, "Yeah, alright...er..." he grabbed the book and read while Daphne stared at him. "We won't get far if you keep looking at me like that, Daph."

Bitting her lower lip she chuckled, "I'm sorry, I can't help it," she admitted, her hand landing on his thigh and he jumped lightly at the touch. "You've distracted me earlier."

"That's it," he muttered, snapping the book close and turned to face her, as he grabbed her legs and threw her over his shoulder.

Daphne let out a loud squeal, "James!" She shouted, laughing.

Her laugh—James could listen to it forever. At night when it got hard to find sleep, her voice and laugh would rock him to sleep. Her face was all he could see in his dream—most of the time, they were happy dreams; dreams about the future sometimes, he'd see her shout and cry but he couldn't get close nor hold her. Maybe it was a bitter reminder that they wouldn't get a lot of chance to live happily ever after. He hadn't planned to fall in love, was it even love? It felt like it. But again, what was love? He thought he loved Lily but this—this was so different. Heavenly.

His kisses felt like bliss, thought Daphne as James kissed her neck. His hair are softer than they appear, less messier—that was what she had noticed in the past months, they were actually soft curls that she loved running her fingers through. She never thought she'd fall for a Gryffindor, well this one—James Potter. But, now that they were kissing and getting lost in each other, she realised that he was everything she ever wanted. Something she was supposed to never have but she got lucky, anyways.

Why was everyone saying Slytherins and Gryffindors were supposed to be enemies? It worked so well between them.

It all started with a small glance during Quidditch matches and one day he had found her in an abandoned classroom, and had talked to her—though now, she suspected him to have used the map but she didn't care. He had found her. They'd meet in secret whenever they could, it had started with unpleasent conversations that had turned to become her favourite ones of the day.

James Potter was the answer to all of her problems because when she was here, at Hogwarts, she was with James—not her mum or dad, or Narcissa and Bellatrix...she was with James.

He was hers and she was his, in all secret of course.

James' finger on her forearm snapped her out of her thoughts as she glanced down at it, a sick feeling settled in her guts as she reminded herself how it would be scarred with the mark, "What's going on?" James asked, his hand dancing on her naked waist.

"Nothing," she replied, scooting closer to him.

Months ago she would have been horrified with staying naked in bed with a boy—but of course, he made it enjoyable, safe even. Daphne could have felt vulnerable, at his mercy but instead all she felt was peace and the feeling of being home.

He kissed the top of her head, "'M gonna miss you over the holidays," he told her. "Are you sure you don't want to come to my house?"

"No," she replied, trying to make her tone sweet but she couldn't help but make it sound firm too. "We've talked about this, James."

He sighed, "I know, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I guess—I guess I just would have liked the idea of kissing you under the mistletoe and all that," he admitted rapidly.

"Me too," she murmured against his chest.

For once, Daphne meant it with all her heart.

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authors note, please tell me if you liked it because i genuinely love them so so much 😩