𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜𝗜 ━━ 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘
079. captain james potter

          𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥'𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗬, 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 sat down by the Black Lake in honour of their pact from when they were younger, and this time, they planned a month of pranks they were going to torment Sirius Black with. Realistically, Everest could not be happier to see the Marauders absolutely bat-shit perplexed about who in the castle was making their friend's life so utterly miserable. Only Rosier found out, but then again, Rosier found out everything somehow. 

      Spring approached, and Black's annoying tactics and stalking methods decreased, he was not bothering Scarlet all that much which made it easier for her to revise for N.E.W.T.s. 

      When she was starting to get out of the Great Hall to go to the library, she noticed a crowd of students staring at something on the wall and laughing loudly. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the Marauders running off into a dark hallway secretively. McGonagall was furious at whatever was on the wall, and she screamed at everybody to move along. 

      Scarlet decided not to waste her time trying to see whatever happened and left. After a long evening of work in the library, she arrived back in her common room quite late when she saw a pink-haired girl pacing about, concern littering her face. 

"Ambrose," she greeted the girl in acknowledgment with a sharp nod before starting to walk off to her dormitory. 

"Bridget—uh-sorry, can I—?" she stumbled over her words as she called for her, closing her eyes for an inhale in exhaustion.

"Yes?" She tiredly replied, turning to the girl again. 

      Ambrose was a year younger, she was in Regulus' year and Scarlet never spoke with her. Barty seemed to grow quite an issue with her—claiming her skirt was too short, eyeliner forever smudged, hair forever unbrushed—which would cause Evan and Regulus to snap back at him angrily. The purebloods were indeed raised to accept the proper criteria of acquaintances which would often lead Scarlet to question why Regulus would be so quick to defend Ambrose. Rosier, however, it made sense—he always fancied reckless and opinionated girls... scratch that, Rosier fancied everybody. 

"Can I ask you something... a tad bit improper?" she gulped as the blonde nodded in agreement. "How do you do it—the careless facade, that calm smile even though your life isn't perfect—I mean, none of ours is." She stumbled over her words a little.

Scarlet fell silent for a second, and her head roared through all her thoughts. She shrugged, "It's sort of like fake flowers, I guess. You don't really know they're artificial unless you inspect them closely. Fake it 'til you make it, Ambrose." 

The younger girl nodded with fluttering eyes. "Fake flowers." 

"Pretty much it," Scarlet smiled softly, watching the wry expression on the 16-year-old. It was slightly miserable to see such agony and confusion in such a young girl.

Ambrose quietly spoke up. "And has anyone inspected you closely... noticed that your smiles are fake?"

Scarlet blinked, a sharp thud of her heart brought her back to life. Jaw clenched and her kind smile dropping, she shook her head. "Not that I know of, no."

It looked like the hope Ambrose was expecting to feel did not arrive. Not with Scarlet's words. You cannot possibly fake your way through the hellhole that was Hogwarts. The frown on her face made Scarlet sigh, it was clear that the younger girl was quite worried about something. She has never seen Ambrose upset, she could glide through the world without caring about anything.

"Ambrose—actually, can I call you Astoria?" Scarlet approached her.

"Of course," Astoria nodded vigorously. "Go ahead."

"It is up to you what you do with your life," she advised. "You cannot wait around for fate to make it easier, a soulmate to assist you, something there to guide you... life doesn't work like that."

Astoria suddenly looked more wise than Scarlet herself, with a soft smile and a lot of thoughts behind those big eyes. "What about love? I thought love changes everything." She said it with a joking tone, but Scarlet took her seriously nonetheless. "I thought love makes it simpler."

"Well, everybody says that but I have yet to feel that effect."

"Then, clearly, you've never been in love," another masculine voice sounded, and the entrance swung open. Evan Rosier walked in and stopped instantly, looking between the two girls with a puzzling expression. "'the fuck is going on?" Never in his life did he think Astoria Ambrose and Scarlet Bridget would be conversing. 

"Girl talk. Get out." Scarlet ordered, watching as Astoria snickered under her breath, and Evan rolled his eyes, walking off to his dorm. Scarlet turned to Astoria, and folded her arms, "What is going on, Ambrose? Is someone bothering you? I'll handle them."

"That's the thing, it never bothered me before, you know, the slut-shaming," Ambrose shrugged, and watched as Scarlet arched a brow graciously. Ambrose scoffed, "Come on, Bridget, I know you know about all of that. The entire castle knows. I know what people think of me."

"I do, and I don't really care." In hindsight, it was not a polite thing to say and anybody else would curse her for her lack of empathy. Thankfully, Ambrose understood the slight hint underneath those words—Scarlet does care about slut-shaming but whoever Ambrose sleeps with is not Scarlet's business.

"Neither do I; I don't care if people think I'm a slut, or whatever," Astoria threw her arms up in the air, pursing her lips, "At least that's what I thought, and all of the sudden... it just started to hurt."

"I'm sorry, does this have something to do with the commotion by the Great Hall?" Scarlet interrupted, raising a finger to make the younger girl pause for a moment.

"It does," Ambrose squinted her eyes sharply. "And?"

"I did not get a chance to look at it,"

"Well if you must know, someone spray-painted 'Slutty 'Storia' on the wall by the front door to the Hall," Astoria rolled her eyes. "They must've thought the title was so clever, it was fuckin' mental."

The blonde's heart dropped, and a pang was shot through her heart. Then, the crease between her brows deepened. "And the spray paint was... red?"

Astoria slowly said, "Yes." 

Scarlet nodded, biting the insides of her cheeks harshly in fury. "Of course. Bastards."

"You know who did it?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Scarlet placed her hands on her hips, a sudden urge of wanting to protect the girl's reputation coming to her heart and she did not know why. Astoria did not mean anything to her. "Do you want to handle it yourself or should I?"

"I'm not wasting my time with these low-lifes. If you want to, go ahead." Astoria winked flirtatiously, and Scarlet could not help the way the corners of her lips tugged up. 

"Astoria," she called after her, and the red-headed girl turned over her shoulder, "A girl's reputation is very important. But so is the respect you hold for yourself—don't be too hard on yourself, you're only sixteen."

"I understand," she sent her a tight-lipped smile in return. "Thank you, Bridget."

"Would you like..." Scarlet suddenly started, pursing her lips and staring at the girl. "A hairbrush?"

"GOODNIGHT!" An offended Astoria exclaimed, not wanting this conversation to be dragged along any longer. It was weird for her to ever speak to Scarlet Bridget as it was, and having her give her fashion tips would be equivalent to a petrifying nightmare. 

"Goodnight, love." Scarlet turned away with a tiny snort of laughter and stomped over to the Gryffindor tower with an anticipated need to break someone's neck. 

      On her way, she ran into a fragile-looking Regulus with whom she still had not had a pleasant conversation ever since the night he revealed his dark mark. What was it about Scarlet and unpleasant conversations with the Black brothers? Head full of messy black hair and jaw clenched, he neared her from the opposite side of the corridor with a scowl on his face.

Squinting in the dark and trying to acknowledge his presence, Scarlet's eyes quickly fell on his bloody knuckles, "Regulus?"

"What?" He swiftly turned around, trying to get away from the hallway for good.

"What the fuck happened?"

"It doesn't matter to you, does it?" Regulus snapped back.

      With a scoff, Scarlet let him burn in rage on his own before more diesel to his fire was added by the girl's unthoughtful and insensitive questions. She started to stomp over to her initial destination. 

      "DON'T YOU EVER DISRESPECT ANYONE FROM MY HOUSE like that again!" Scarlet exclaimed, watching the Marauders jock going into the Gryffindor Common room, laughing about some nonsense. She was glad to capture them so easily, and the moment Peter noticed the Slytherin making her way up the stairs, he ran into the portrait, practically terrifying. "How dare you do something like that to that girl?" She yelled.

James was standing there beside Sirius who zoned out as he stared at the girl in green, and Remus was trying to drag Potter away into the Common toom by the collar of his robes.

"Prongs, let's just... go!" Remus huffed, and Potter shoved his arm away.

"Shut up! Let me see━!" James' words were cut short when Scarlet flickered her wand strongly. Sirius flinched at her action even though she did not cast any spell on him, the force of the charm knocked both Lupin and Potter into the portrait, and the moment the two were out of sight, the Fat Lady closed the portrait hole. 

"That was bloody disgusting, what you did," Scarlet told him, not even frustrated but merely disappointed. The Marauders always played pranks to make people laugh, and they were rarely harmful. However, slut-shaming a Slytherin because Black was given a hard time by a mysterious Slytherin crossed a line (although it should have been easy to guess it was all Bridget's doing).

"What are you talking about?" Sirius scoffed. "I was just starting to leave you alone, and now that you approached me..." he trailed off, and Scarlet noticed he had a bit to drink which was clear due to the way he almost fell over and then hiccuped. "I didn't do anything!"

"I'm talking about your hideous actions—"

"I just want you back in my life." His tone went high-pitched suddenly, ignoring whatever she mentioned earlier.

"You don't, and you made it very clear!" Scarlet was growing frustrated, not wanting to change the topic to their troubles. She was here to call him out for something very different.

"There's nothing you can do that'll drive me away, Scarlet—you–you're perfect to me."

"Is that right?" Scarlet raised a brow, wanting nothing more than for him to drop his act. "Nothing terrible I do matters to you?"

"Nothing at all, I want you the way you are." He confirmed. 

A twisted part of Scarlet's mind was going to tug at her sleeve and lift the concealing charm off her forearm to show him the mark that would drive him away forever. She did not do that. Instead, she went ahead and ━

"I kissed Evan Rosier." 

      The look that flashed the strong features of his face could break even the strongest. Multiple emotions roaming through his silver eyes. Betrayal. Defeat. Regret. Above all, pain.

"What, you're gonna call me a slut too—?" Her accusation was cut short by his interruption.

"I want you ━ I need you," he whispered utterly gently. Scarlet held a wide-eyed gaze, as though she was not expecting him to say that at all. "Please." In her entire life, she did not know anybody would be begging to be with her—to keep her in their life.

"I don't wish to speak to you," she shot back. "I don't want to be with you. I am perfectly contemptuous without you in my life." The biggest lie she had ever uttered, but he was never going to know. 

"Blonds, you don't understand—"

"No, I understand this perfectly," she snapped, "Now that you've finally cracked me and solved the challenge you found in me, now that you know everything about me, now that you're done fucking me, you don't need me anymore so you're gonna toss me aside like a rag-doll— trust me, I understand everything, Black."

"That's not at all how I feel," he looked at her in disbelief, finding it unbelievable that she could even think such a thing. "That's not what it was about—you mean more to me than someone to take to bed—that's not even—"

"If you ever try to stalk me again around the castle, I'll get Everest to beat the shit out of you again," she swiftly turned over her heels and did not look back once before slithering down the stairs and vanishing away. 

      TAKING SIRIUS' ABSENCE AS AN OPPORTUNITY, Potter forced Lupin and Pettigrew down and listened to him. A small black-board was floating in the air and James held a chalk in his hand.

"Do you even know what exactly happened to them, Prongs?" Remus asked genuinely, and the question alone made James look like he was about to cry.

"YES!" exclaimed the boy, "I have been on this mission for a month now, of course, I know!"

"But it seems like," Peter started, turning to him. "You don't even know yourself and that's why you're confusing the shit out of us."

Remus's eyes widened in agreement, and he grinned. "I agree."

"Listen to me, idiots. The ship is not sinking. It's sunk, like—at the bottom of the ocean at the moment, just like that titanium Lily talks about."

"Titanic?" Remus corrected, hiding a laugh.

Furious James pointed his enormous ruler towards the board again, tapping on it. "Captain Potter is speaking, don't talk over me!"

"What do you want us to do," Remus groaned, "It's over. It sank. You didn't even like the two of them together."

"Yeah," Peter chimed in. "You said you hated them together because she was Slytherin—"

"I'm a changed man now, Wormy, I clearly am," James pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and put his hands on his hips, and the two boys gave him a blank stare. "I adore them—did you see Pads whenever he's with her? It's like—nothing else matters."

"Including us."

"Don't be ridiculous, he'll always love me more." Potter scoffed.

"Funny you said, 'me' and not 'us'." Remus wistfully snapped back.

"That's it. You're on time out, Moony." James pointed angrily and then continued. "Now, you two are helping me pull this ship up from the bottom of the ocean—"

"—but..."

"'BUT!'" James exclaimed, putting an end to the interruptions, "this is non-negotiable."

"I'd rather sit through a full moon—"

"Why don't you want them together — do you want her? Is that what this is?" James shouted, and Remus was about to protest with a wide-eyed gaze when he was interrupted again. "Or is it Sirius that you want, what exactly is your problem—?"

      That was when the door burst open, and Remus quickly picked up his book and hid his flustered face in it. It's not everyday he gets accused of fancying both Black and Bridget. Peter picked up the tray with crackers and cheese and started to munch on it, looking rather innocent.

      Sirius glanced at each and every one of them slowly until his eyes laid on the chalkboard, clearly stating in bold letters:

OPERATION S.B.
BY CAPTAIN JAMES POTTER

"What are you guys doing?" Sirius asked slowly, feeling left out all of the sudden. His recent encounter with Scarlet only left him crestfallen—and seeing his best friends plotting something and then deciding to hide it from him felt more than just disheartening.

"Nothing."

"Really?" Sirius squinted his eyes and turned to Remus. "Your book is upside-down."

"Just trying something new," he shot back quickly, eyes wide.

Sirius had an unexpected frown on his face as he turned to James, "Are you guys planning a prank without me?"

"WHAT? No!" Peter scoffed, rubbing his hands together due to the coldness. "Of course, not."

"It seems like it," Sirius continued, drunk-Sirius was confused and highly emotional, "have I done something wrong—?"

"We're just trying to..." James guiltily admitted; chin pointed downwards. "We were hoping you'd get back together with Bridget."

Sirius noticed that he did not mention her name on purpose but even the idea of her made him flinch slightly. "I told you to stay out of it."

"I know, I know," James stepped forward. "I just wanted to help. You used to look so... happy."

With an annoyed and loud scoff, Sirius marched out of the dorm room, and Remus gestured for Potter to follow him.

When Sirius noticed James behind him, he instantly started to ramble.

"You know, I went to see her, and she said the one thing that should've driven me away but it didn't," Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at them harshly. "It's like my self-respect has flown out of the window."

"Yeah, because you're in love with her—" Potter started.

"Don't," Sirius glared, pointing a finger, "don't start that shit again."

"It's not shit, it's the truth," James spoke honestly, eyes wide and lack of tiredness in his hazel irises. "What did she say?"

      Sirius looked hesitant before saying the next words, as though he was dwelling on whether their crestfallen encounter was even real, he would rather think of it as a mere nightmare than acknowledging the hurtful truth.

"She snogged Evan Rosier."

At least ten different emotions flashed through James' round face, and the expression of shock and confusion and sadness rising to the top.

"Maybe, it was a lie—"

"I saw the look on her face, Prongs, she wasn't lying," Sirius slumped down onto the couch beside his best friend, palms on his face in an exhausted manner. "I don't know what I have to do to get her back."

"Tell her the truth,"

Sirius turned to him with a look that said he could punch him at the moment. "What the fuck do you think I've been doing?"

"I don't mean apologies to her, she knows you feel bad—I bet she feels bad about the whole, you know, almost-hexing-your-head-off incident as well," James rambled on, shrugging in the process. "Just tell her what you feel. Why do you want her back—why you wish for her to be the one."

Sirius folded his arms thoughtfully and looked at the ceiling, "You sure know how to get the girl, Prongs, I wonder who taught you that."

James ignored his small smirk, and could not help the heartbeat that skipped and how his smile flattered slightly. Not that Sirius noticed—he was staring into space. "Will you take my advice or not?"

      Feelings. It was the one thing Sirius Black was not good at. Fuckin' feelings.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

double updates? who is she...