Misery Loves Company -- James

[Irina Rose Krum]

January had been a whalloping of a month. It started with the death of Irina's first real relationship, first real love and had ended with someone who Irina had looked up to as sort of a mentor of sorts, Abigail Shacklebolt.  She hadn't really known Adeline or Royal all that well, but she and Abby had always gotten on well and Irina had channeled her thrist for adventure within herself sometimes.  The Daily Prophet had been rather vague about the details, but it had named Abby and Theodorus Nott as two of the bodies found within the rubble.  Irina distinctly remembered more than once seeing Abby and Theo walking in opposite directions looking properly disheveled and it didn't take much to figure that one out.  She wondered if they had died there knowing they were together; a perfectly morbidly romantic idea.

Irina's destination that day was the Three Broomsticks; she was going to be spending the weekend with Magi and Nikolai at their house, but she knew they'd had the appointment to determine the gender of their child and Irina had no shame in admitting her curiosity was currently getting the better of her.  As she entered, she looked around for the familiar long brown hair, when she spotted someone else she recognized - another one of Abby's former closet-mates.  James Potter, who had been Abby's best friend and cofounder of Phoenix Rising.  In all the whirlwind of finding out what happened, Irina had forgotten that fact; she couldn't imagine what he was going through right now.  Whatever it was, he seemed to be finding solace with a stiff drink in front of him.  Unable to help herself, Irina made her way over to him.  "James?" she spoke softly, sitting on the barstool next to him.  She waited for her childhood friend to make the first move; to tell her to leave him be, to say something, or just continue to stare ahead.  She ordered a butterbeer for herself, and nursed it in silence, patiently waiting for a response from the boy next to her.


@jams

[Deleted]

It surprised James how soon he was able to leave the house. He had expected he wouldn't want to leave the house for quite some time after hearing what had happened, but it had been just a few short days and James found that he wanted to get some fresh air alone. His mother and Natalia had been great sources of support for him, but James found himself wanting to talk to Finn, or Alice, or Casey, or even Lily and Albus. But they all had their own lives; ones they couldn't as easily put on pause for things like this. So James had decided to head into Hogsmeade. Maybe he would run into his brother or sister there? With his hands in his pockets, James strolled down the cold street until he entered the Three Broomsticks.

James sat himself at the bar and ordered a firewhisky. James had never been a big drinker, often finding his pleasures in the simpler things like laughter, but right now he wasn't sure if he was ever going to be able to laugh again. He couldn't stop thinking of the last time he had saw Abigail, at St. Mungo's when they had all gone to see Casey. But when had Fred seen her last? He hadn't been hanging around them lately, and suddenly James hurt for Fred, too, because Abby had been friends to many more people than just himself. James took a long sip of his whisky and then he heard a soft voice say his name beside him. He knew the voice before he even set his glass back down. Slowly, James turned to look at Irina Krum. Naturally, James tried to smile at her but it came off very obviously forced. "Hey, Ri," he replied, his voice much more soft than he thought it would be.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina couldn't help but smile a little as James used her nickname; only him and Nikolai ever called her that. Dan too, but she was trying to think of him as little as possible, and right now was not the time or place for it.  Her heart broke at the sound of his voice; it was clear that he was still in a lot of pain over Abigails' death.  So instead of speaking, she took another sip of butterbeer, only glancing over at him from time to time to make sure he wasn't falling off his stool or anything of the sort.  After a few moments, she took a breath and spoke.  "I'd ask how you are, but I'm sure you've been getting that twenty-four seven recently," she said softly, taking another sip of her butterbeer.  Most of Irina's dealings with grief had been with the death of a grandparent, or of someone she sort of knew but wasn't close to them or any of their best friends.  Abby had been different though; not only had she been James' best friend, but she had been someone to look up to for many of the Gryffindors in the years below her, Irina included.  She'd heard of the blows James and Theo Nott had had during their seventh year as well; she wondered if he had read any of the articles involving Abigail and her demise, but she didn't want to ask.  "Do you...do you want me to see if I can track down Lily or Al?" she asked him, then quickly added on.  "I'm not well-versed in grief of losing someone so young but...I'm here for you.  Whatever you need James, I'm here," she told him, wanting to give her friend a hug but refraining as she was still unsure what the eldest Potters' state of mind was currently.

@jams