the girlfriend experience, james potter
𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕

chapter twenty-one, FAN CLUBS AND MURDER PLOTS

✧ ━━━ · ✦ · ━━━ ✧

     "DON'T BE WEIRD."

     "It's so wrong that you're telling me not to be weird, James."

     Ever since James had learned that Lily Evans was in the library and he had made it his mission to be sitting at a table with her near as soon as possible, he had become quite on edge. As he and Bronwyn made their way to their newly decided study location, hefty bags stuffed with books and incomplete homework hanging from their shoulders, the girl in question sensed that James was anxious to be around Lily while also around his fake girlfriend.

     Come to think of it, Bronwyn doesn't think she and James and Lily had ever been in such close proximity since they announced their relationship until now. Bronwyn was more anxious about what Sirius would do once the two of them showed up together than how Lily would react. It was more than obvious that she and Sirius didn't get along.

     "It's just," James sighed as the two of them neared the library entrance, "you're a Slytherin."

     "Well spotted."

     "And, while I don't condone house discrimination—"

     "You need to practice what you preach, honey," Bronwyn scoffed.

     "I can't promise they won't either."

     "Do you think they'll segregate me to my own table because I'm not a Gryffindor? Or will I be shunned altogether?"

     "Hard to say."

     Bronwyn forced a pleasant smile to take up her face. "Lovely. I'm really looking forward to this." She nodded once, before pulling the large oak door open and stepping aside to let James lead the way.

     They found the rather large group quite quickly. They were the only students utilising an entire table and Bronwyn silently hoped that there wasn't going to be enough room for two more.

     There was. But it didn't look like anyone was particularly happy about it.

     "You alright?" James asked his friends as he casually took the seat at the end.

     Bronwyn hated how it was that easy for him. Of course, he didn't have to ask if it was okay if he sat down ─ this was his friend group. His three closest goons (as Bronwyn had so named them), Mary Macdonald, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes and of course, Lily Evans. James fit right in. Bronwyn, as James had rightfully pointed out, stood out like a sore thumb. And she wasn't even wearing her green robes to contrast their red.

     She cautiously approached the final vacant seat beside James, smiling sheepishly as she went. Sirius went out of his way to scowl. Remus didn't pay any attention but appeared to be the only one that was actually doing work. Peter smiled, and so did Dorcas and Mary. Marlene side-eyed Bronwyn suspiciously but it wasn't the first time the two girls had exchanged evils ─ that was just two Quidditch rivals sizing each other up. Lily wasn't happy.

     All in all, not the blood bath Bronwyn had been preparing for.

     Once Bronwyn had finally settled in her chair, items unloaded, still feeling like an intruder, she found James smiling at her encouragingly, almost sweetly. He motioned to the unfinished essay they had started in her dorm room as if telling her it was okay to carry on as normal. The rest of the group seemed to have moved on with the fact they had an unfamiliar newcomer ─ Lily, not so much ─ and it appeared that Bronwyn and James dating had become a new norm?

     "So, Bronwyn, how is everything?" Marlene asked, her expression strained revealing how hard it was for the blonde to smile as friendly as she could. Even then, it felt rude. "I feel like we rarely talk."

     Bronwyn knew what this really meant. Highlighting that they never usually communicate at all, so why start now just because she's dating their friend? Marlene obviously meant we never talk, so let's not start now. The politeness of the question was completely lost on Bronwyn because of the undertones.

     "Everything is okay," Bronwyn responded with a strained smile.

     "Good to hear." There was sickness in Marlene's subsequent smile.

     With greetings out of the way, the group returned to their work while Bronwyn and James continued on with the studying they had started in Bronwyn's dorm earlier.

     A muted snap then sounded out around their little segment of the library. The group looked over at the source, where Mary was cursing to herself. Her quill's end had just broken clean off.

     "Perfect," she sighed irritated before she lifted her head to look at the people around her. "Has anyone got a spare quill I could use?"

     A series of sympathetic shrugs ensued, the Gryffindors shaking their heads.

     "Brilliant," Mary said sarcastically, her eyes briefly meeting Bronwyn's, who had yet to look away from the quill-less girl.

     After a few brief moments of working up the courage, Bronwyn finally retrieved one of the extra quills she kept at the bottom of her bag, along with a fresh pot of ink.

     "I do," Bronwyn said as she passed over the two items to the girl at the other end of the table.

     Mary seemed taken aback by the gesture but quickly smiled ─ one of the very few genuine smiles Bronwyn had received from any of them ─ and accepted the quill and ink appreciatively.

     "Thanks."

     "No problem," Bronwyn nodded, trying to act as nonchalant as she could, despite feeling several sets of eyes on her.

     Nobody spoke to Bronwyn for the next twenty minutes as they studied their various subjects. Nobody really spoke at all (it was a library after all) but still, whenever someone wanted to say something or ask something, Bronwyn would not be their first choice to direct their words at.

     James looked over at the girl beside him a few times, and only momentarily as if just to check in on her, but that was about it.

     Bronwyn had almost finished completely what she had set out to do upon this visit to the library when she heard James' voice.

     "Hey, Lily," James' whisper broke Bronwyn's concentration. He was stretching across the table to the redhead opposite him, lightly tapping her on her arm with his quill.

     Bronwyn opted to listen in ─ mainly because she found it impossible not to – but also because this interaction may be telling as to how Lily acts around James when they're alone.

     James then pointed at his History of Magic textbook and muttered something Bronwyn couldn't make out. Lily smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

     They spoke quietly for the next few minutes, James no doubt hanging on to Lily's every word as if he actually cared about the subject ─ the subject Lily Evans no longer even studied, by the way. Bronwyn managed to focus on her own homework somewhat during that time, but it was just as James and Lily's conversation was coming to a close, that Bronwyn was caught up, once again, in their hushed words.

     ". . . the Subcommittee of Sardinian Sorcerers were the ones mostly in attendance at the 1709 Convention, but it's assumed that many of the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards also contributed."

     "And this was the one where it's still unknown what was debated right?" James asked.

     "Correct," Lily grinned, before brushing his arm lightly. "See? You've got it."

     Bronwyn tried not to wince. She tried to ignore it and move on, she really did. But part of her couldn't just sit there and mind her business.

     "Sorry," she leaned in closer to James, "I don't want to overstep, but that's not quite right." Bronwyn did indeed grimace, sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere that followed. James sent Bronwyn a glare and Lily's brows were furrowing. Whether that was because she was confused about which part of what she had said was wrong or whether that was because she didn't know why Bronwyn was getting involved, Bronwyn hadn't figured out.

     "It was the 1289 Convention with the Sardinians as the event was international, not the 1709 one," Bronwyn said, causing Lily to look away and rethink her previous words. "The 1709 Convention debated dragon breeding."

     Bronwyn always liked being right. She wasn't the biggest fan of stepping on other people's toes and she didn't dislike Lily Evans but James was being told the wrong information and as someone whose parents wanted her to ace every subject (even the ones she eventually dropped . . .), Bronwyn knew her facts.

     "Right," Lily croaked.

     "But you don't do History, anymore, right Lily?" Bronwyn frantically added. The guilt of correcting the ginger girl was starting to set in and the Slytherin wanted to stop it before it came flooding in.

     "Exactly," Lily agreed, seeming relieved by the statement.

     Bronwyn turned to James, "All good then?"

     James nodded, his lips pouted. He felt at a crossroads. He came here to spend time with Lily but with Bronwyn close by. It was a jealousy ploy. He couldn't be mad at Bronwyn. Future James would be glad she was here in this moment when he didn't get this wrong on his exam.

     Unsure of what else to do, James smiled sheepishly and bowed his head low, scribbling something illegible down on his page so it looked like he was taking all of this in with great diligence.

     A short time passed. Dorcas had left to get an early dinner and James had since desperately turned to Mary to use her Potions essay to "definitely not copy". She wasn't very happy about it but she knew better than to try and deny James what he wanted.

     It was then that the two girls James had encountered earlier, stumbled upon the group when they were passing by their table. Although, stumbled upon probably isn't the right phrasing as, when they did indeed pass, arms interlocked, expressions giddy, the two girls gushed a flirtatious, "Hi, James" as they passed.

     James felt himself blush but not nearly as much as earlier because this time, it wasn't a completely new phenomenon. Remus had explained that his relationship status had influenced his reputation and these were the same girls as before ─ it wasn't new territory.

     He gave them a courteous wave and they were on their way, giggling persistently.

     While Remus, Sirius, and Peter, as well as Marlene, barely paid any attention to James' fans, Dorcas and Mary shared a quick eyebrow raise before returning to their work. Lily tried to make it clear she didn't care but her attempt alone made it obvious she had paid considerate concentration to the little interaction. But Bronwyn had the most to say about it out of them all.

     She gasped dramatically as soon as the girls were out of earshot. "It's finally happened," Bronwyn gushed mockingly, causing his attention to be drawn to her. "You have your very own fan club!"

     James stared at her unimpressed as she brought her hands out and started clapping quietly at his achievement. He narrowed his eyes to hers. "Piss off."

     "What?" Bronwyn said, forcing her shoulders to slump in false disappointment. She began rubbing his arm jokily. "I'm happy for you."

     As Bronwyn slumped her chin into the palm of her hand, James edged in a little closer and whispered, "You should be. This is well deserved," he said.

     She could feel his breath on her nose and hadn't realised until the warmth of his whisper tickled her skin how close they had become. It must have been with every snippet of speech, that their legs swivelled to face each other, and their bodies leaned in.

     Without moving anything but her eyes ─ which swept down his body to where his knees rested against hers ─ Bronwyn said quietly, her face stony. "You're so close to me right now."

     She had voiced what they were both thinking. A fact they both knew was strange and needed addressing. And yet something both of them had caused. Even if subconsciously.

     James tipped his head slightly to the side. "That was my goal, yes."

     "You guys are adorable but, James, you've had my essay for twenty minutes." The words from Mary snapped the two out of their cocooned stillness, where their proximity had stolen them away from the rest of the library.

     They snapped apart as if someone had just thrown ice-cold water over them both and stuck a rod down their clothes so that their backs didn't slack even an inch. Mary stared expectantly at the boy.

     The rest of the table took the reaction to the interruption slightly weirdly ─ they knew they were in public, right? ─ but quickly moved back to what they were doing once James passed the essay back to Mary. To Bronwyn and James, the word adorable hung in the air, unaddressed bar the tense silence that ensued between them.

     Each of them silently supposed that at least their fake relationship was believable. But besides that, they both felt extremely uncomfortable that their acting had become so good that it deserved the adjective adorable.

     Bronwyn and James didn't say a single word to each other for the rest of their evening spent in the library, too scared to earn themselves any more grotesque descriptions about their fake relationship.

✧

     DESPITE THEIR RELATIONSHIP BEING SOLIDIFIED IN FRONT of James' friends while they all studied in the library, James noticed after about another hour how irritated Bronwyn was becoming. He knew she worked better by herself as it was, and he also knew that with all the work she had been set done, she felt useless and as though she was wasting her time, aimlessly reading from a textbook. No one but James had realised it was a textbook from a subject she didn't even take.

     He decided to be the good boyfriend and put her out of her misery.

     "We should probably head off."

     Bronwyn had never been so grateful to hear James Potter's voice.

     His head turned to hers, a quick moment where he was checking whether she was okay with what he had said and whether she agreed, and she was up on her feet in seconds.

     "Yeah," Bronwyn drawled, turning to the group, looking regretful. James saw right through her and almost wanted to smile. "It's getting late."

     "It's seven o'clock?" Lily pointed out with a puzzled expression.

     "You are indeed correct," Bronwyn replied awkwardly, speaking slowly to buy herself some more time to think of what to say in response. "But, we've got things to do and . . .," she trailed off, looking to James for support.

     James gulped. He really didn't want his friends to think he didn't want to spend time with them, even if he was leaving for his girlfriend's sake. "Yeah, I'm hungry and—"

     Sirius shook his head in disgust. "Okay, go, Merlin, we don't need any details."

     Bronwyn felt all of the blood in her entire body flood to her face. Even her hands heated up.

     "Sirius, what did you think I meant by that?" James asked dubiously.

     "Jesus, James, don't ask that," Bronwyn spat, repulsed.

     James went the same shade as the strawberries his mother grew in their garden back home. Another gulp ─ this time, audible. "You're right. We should just go."

     He and Bronwyn were hurrying away a second later ─ as normally as they could make it look ─ just as Sirius' called back to them, "Keep it PG please!"

     As the two of them practically bolted to the door, James threw Bronwyn a look, which she immediately scowled out. "Don't you dare say anything."

     The sharp finger pointed in his direction was enough to tightly shut James' lips up. He surrendered his arms. "Wasn't going to. Although," Bronwyn's brows shot up at this suspicious-sounding word. James gave her a look as if to say let me speak as he held the door open for her. "It is hilarious that we're not even dating and managed to get our friends to say such outrageous things."

     "Your friends," Bronwyn corrected.

     "Right. My friends," James nodded in agreement.

     Ignoring what had just happened, the pair soon stepped out of the library, leaving Sirius' words behind them, trapped behind the large double doors.

     Almost as soon as he could, James turned to Bronwyn and grinned, flashing his hands at her. "And she lives!"

     Lightly chuckling to herself, Bronwyn said, "Barely. They definitely spent those two hours planning my murder."

     "Well, I do believe first-degree murder is a longer sentence," James pointed out as they began walking away from the library, "so at least justice will be served."

     "I hope you will avenge me, Potter," Bronwyn said with joked severity in her tone, continuing their little skit regarding how little James' friends liked his supposed girlfriend.

     "Wouldn't be much of a boyfriend if I didn't, would I?"

     "Maybe you should be the one with The Boyfriend Experience," Bronwyn said in mock deep thought. "That right there? You've just nailed it," she teased.

     "Hard work pays off."

     Bronwyn hadn't been paying much attention to where they were walking. She just knew the route to the Slytherin common room like the back of her hand so when they finally made it to said lounge, the only thing that surprised her was that James was still there walking with her.

     James, on the other hand, had very much been paying attention to the journey they were walking. He knew his destination was the Slytherin common room. Not because he had any intention of going inside but because he knew that was where Bronwyn was going, and he wanted to see her inside. He didn't mind walking back to the Gryffindor common room alone if it meant she wasn't walking alone to the dungeons.

     After finally noticing that James had planned to walk all the way to the opposite side of the castle to where he needed to be, Bronwyn decided not to say anything. But even then, she couldn't help but feel a little awkward as she turned to face James from where they stood outside the stone entrance to the Slytherin common room.

     "Well," she said quietly, "this is me." Her lips automatically formed a straight-lined gauche smile. James slid his hands into his pockets and began rocking on his toes.

     The silence was killing her. Did he want to go inside or something? Was her uncomfortable smile not enough of an indication that this interaction was over? That he should just go to bed now?

     "Did you want a goodnight kiss or something?" She snapped all of a sudden, her expression turning sour.

     There was the Bronwyn that James had missed all night. Probably because she was around his friends and probably because she had to pretend to be a girlfriend that James could put up with, but Bronwyn hadn't been herself since they set off for the library. Or, at least not the insulting frenemy he knew her as.

     But now, away from his friends' nosy eyes, she was back again.

     Smiling like an idiot, grateful to have a sense of normalcy back in his life if only for a brief moment, James said, "Absolutely not."

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