the nights are long [james]

[Deleted]

james sirius potter

luke shook the snow off his shoulder as he walked into the pub that his uncle owned. he shivered a little as the warmth his his cold skin and he shrugged out of his coat, letting the door close softly behind him as he hung his coat up on the hooks next to the door before he walked further into the quaint depths of the pub. it was quiet but the hour was late. he'd just finished his shift and was supposed to be meeting his cousin for a drink. it had been a while since he'd seen him and actually had the chance to talk to him. there had been a brief hello and a catch ya when his uncle harry had revealed himself to be alive but since then things had just been hectic. his uncle was around somewhere, he could tell because salt and pepper were hanging out in the bar. he grinned a little as he made his way over to them, "you guys still here?" he said, kneeling down next to the corgi and ruffling his ears before he reached to pat the whippet.

he'd always lived vicariously through the family members with animals. all he'd wanted growing up was a dog or a cat but his sister had been a huge roadblock when it had come to that and he'd never been able to have one. till now, he and virv had animals and he finally had his own dog. but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate these guys still. he could have sat at a table but that seemed like the worse option when he could just sit on the floor against the bar and revel in the affection from the two dogs. he'd get up when james arrived and for now he was happy being slobbered over by the two dogs as he patted them while waiting for his cousin.

[james sirius potter]

would you rescue me

when i'm by myself

January 12, 2026
@luke

When his father had told him that he was buying a pub to run, James had merely stared at him, wondering what in the world had happened to him in those many months he had been gone. Was this the same Harry that had been training Aurors and many people in Magical Law Enforcement to uphold the laws and work against the evil in the world? James had questioned it but had received the same answer. Harry wanted quiet. So, when James wasn’t working, he would stop by. Though he was more often at the Leaky Cauldron since it was close to work or spending whatever free time he had with Ariadne as they both had busy schedules that seemed to rarely have overlapping free time anymore. The previous year had brought more work on both of them, but they managed. Though it meant he didn’t see a lot of his family much either. Many of his cousins were also employed at the Ministry, as was his younger brother. It was hardly the same dynamic he had grown up with.

He’d run into his cousin Luke who was in training with Albus, and they’d decided to catch up at the pub. Luke was two years younger than James, and really James had spent more time with his eldest sister during school as they’d had many classes together and were the same age. But family was family, and James tried to keep in touch with all his cousins as best he could in these busy times. He walked into the pub, running his hand through his disheveled hair, trying to push any snow that had landed but only managing to get some of it. James could hear the tags' movement on the family dogs' collars and saw his cousin giving them attention. Immediately the corgi ran to James, and he stopped in his place so he wouldn’t accidentally trip over him. ”Hey Pepper.” He greeted the dog, who was happy to see anyone, really. Quickly he scratched behind his ear before walking forward. ”How are you baby cousin?” James teased with his usual grin on his face.

template by vee

[Deleted]

james sirius potter

luke sat there with his legs crossed, ruffling the fur of the dogs the potters called their own and he honestly had no idea how much time has passed from when he'd first sat down on the floor to when his cousin had walked in the door. he watched as pepper abandoned him in favour of james but there was a sting of pride, or maybe it was triumph that salt had stayed with him. he used the bar to pull himself off the ground as james walked over to him and he rolled his eyes and scowled a little at the 'baby cousin' that left the older man's mouth. he wasn't the youngest of the family but he was close. louis was the only one younger than him, though he always did forget who was older out of himself and lily. it got too hard keeping up with the birthdays and he did admit he relied a little too heavily on his grandmother to remind him when birthdays were coming up. he really did need to invest in something of a calendar to keep up, especially now.

"less of the baby thanks old man." he said with a grin as he moved to the closest table and he dropped into one of the chairs, lifting his foot to use it to push the chair across from him out for james. he felt the dogs sniff around the floor of the table and he did wonder just how quickly they'd get bored. with tully it seemed that the dog was never in one spot for more than a few seconds before he was off trying to explore somewhere else or sleeping on their mattress in the lounge. the dog was something of a quirk but he fit in well, especially for their first animal of what luke was going to assume was many. "drink?"

[james sirius potter]

would you rescue me

when i'm by myself

January 12, 2026
@luke

James noted how his cousin rolled his eyes at his statement, but it was the usual. James was not the oldest. His cousin Vic was with the closeness in age with most of his cousins. One forgot the order sometimes. Still, James and Harper had been in the same year and house, and he was certainly closer to her. James took the chair that Luke pushed out to him, settling in quickly as he slowly defrosted from the chill outside. The dogs sniffed around their feet, always curious where they had been. James traveled quite a bit locally due to his work, but soon, the dogs became bored and settled down. Luke asked if he wanted a drink, and James nodded. It wasn’t anything he’d ever turn down.

”How are you? How’s training coming along?” James asked, sitting back and crossing his ankle over his knee. Luke was still in his first year while James’ brother Albus was in his second, but James himself wasn’t familiar enough with the training to know how much they would interact. With his own training, he’d shadowed under experienced Hit Wizards, including Teddy, and he’d worked with Andy as well on some assignments. ”Are they sending any of you to that island? I’d love to go, but I don’t see them sending me anytime soon.” So far the forces had been made up of Aurors, Interpol and Cursebreakers, and even some Journalists he had heard.

template by vee

[Deleted]

james sirius potter

he watched as james sat down in the chair that he'd pushed out for him. he let his foot fall back to the ground after using it to move the chair and he felt a nose sniff the cuff of his jeans and he glanced down, grinning a little as he reached down to clap his hand lightly against the corgi's side as the dogs seemed content that he and james smelled at least somewhat normal and they lost interest and settled down at their feet, still close enough to pay attention to what was going on but far enough away that they weren't underfoot. perhaps they'd been stepped on one to many times but drunken patrons who had drunk one to many and misjudged where the dogs had been. the offer of a drink was accepted and luke raised his hand to the bartender who seemed far too familiar with them and before he knew it two drinks had appeared in front of them.

he lifted his drink up and took a long drink as james asked how training was going. well it was something that's for sure. it had been great, more than what he'd thought and not what he'd expected in the slighted but it had been a challenge and that's what he loved about it. though there had been more challenges thrown his way in the last few months that topped anything his job had been able to throw at them. "at this rate i'm sure i'll be a fully fledged auror by the age of fifty." he joked as he set the glass down and folded his arms against the table. "it's been great though, learning enough to make my brain explode." he wasn't joking. though he knew that james would understand. he wasn't training to be an auror but a hit wizard would be just as challenging and hard.

"they wanted to. i didn't go though." he said as he spun the glass around slowly. he'd wanted to go but he and virv had talked about it and had both decided that they couldn't do it. not now, not without knowing anything about it. "you didn't try to sneak there?" he said with a quick grin. "where's the james i grew up with." he teased a little as he took his hand from the glass and tucked it back under his other arm on the table. "speaking of growing up ... i do have some news that's kind of big." he did pause for a few seconds after he said that. mainly because james was the first person he was telling besides his own parents and it was still a little surreal to be telling people.

[james sirius potter]

would you rescue me

when i'm by myself

January 12, 2026
@luke

It had never been a stretch of the imagination to see anyone in the extended Weasley family in the Auror training program. James had considered it until Teddy had shown him a different direction and that after he’d even considered Quidditch. It would have been funny if he had gone professional as his childhood neighbors had their eldest child in the professional leagues. ”It can’t be that bad, can it?” James drank his ale as he recalled his own training. ”I thought my training would never end. My work schedule was worse than what it is now.” Trainees, the grunts—do what you’re told if you want to make it to the end. Al had never complained about it, at least not to James.

James shook his head. It seemed that Hit-Wizards were not meant for such adventures. He supposed that’s what Aurors and Interpol were for. Though even Claire had warned against it. ”If I wanted my mother to drag me back to shore by my ear, there are easier ways to get her attention.” Ginny Weasley was a force to be reckoned with. He loved his mother but was not jealous of Lily’s situation of having her mother as a Professor where she could glare at her from the where she sat in the Great Hall. James always figured she had gotten that spirit from their grandmother. But then the conversation shifted in tone, and James' expression grew a bit more serious, and he sat up in his chair a bit more. ”Everything alright?”

template by vee

[Deleted]

james sirius potter

when james asked if it was really that bad, luke shook his head. it wasn't really. well he knew that they were the grunts who would get the shit jobs whenever they came up and they were the ones that were going through the learning experience and that there were certain aurors that were training them that seemed to take great delight in watching them struggle. he did figure that itself was part of the training, it wasn't supposed to be easy work and he was sure that they were being hard on them to try and weed out the ones that couldn't handle it. to see how they worked under pressure and when things didn't go their way. to see who could adapt and survive and who would break and pose a threat to their own and everyone else's safety. "it's jsut hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now." he said as he took a drink.

he laughed a little when james said he could find easier ways to have his mother drag him home. that would be a sight to see, ginny weasley dragging james potter back from the island by his ear. he could just picture his aunt doing that. he himself wouldn't have to worry about his parents dragging him home but he could just about picture their grandmother doing it to any of her grandkids that dared trapes to the island. "oh but it would be so entertaining." he joked as he took another sip. then he dropped that he had news to share and he felt the shift in his cousin and the seriousness that filled the air. "it's nothing bad." he said quickly, not wanting james to think there was anything wrong. "there's just going to be another weasley in a few months." he said, his grin growing across his face. "the first of the next generation." he said as he chuckled a little and he raised his glass slightly. "merlin help us if they're anything like we were."

[james sirius potter]

would you rescue me

when i'm by myself

January 12, 2026
@luke

James knew the feeling that Luke spoke about, and he figured that his own brother might feel the same way. The Law Enforcement training was tough, and many that didn’t cut it as Aurors or Hit-Wizards often attempted the Cursebreaker training. Some made it through and found a new career, while others continued to wash out. The Academics was only a singular part of the entirety of the training. It was something that both his father and mother had stressed, especially when he was overly concerned with getting his hair to look the right amount of disheveled and Quidditch rather than his assignments. In the end, James knew when to step up, even if he couldn’t help but be himself. The normal sight around the Potter home was his mother shaking her head at one of her children’s antics. Though she would certainly do more than shake her head if James decided to head to that island.

Luke reassured James that the news was nothing terrible, and James relaxed only slightly, still eyeing his younger cousin with suspicion. And when Luke finally explained, James blinked a few times and registered the words. And then he repeated it in his mind again. Another Weasley? Oh. Oh. And then it clicked. ”Do you mean—“ James sat up in his chair again but more out of excitement than before. ”Are you—“ So many questions, and his brain couldn’t pick one to ask. ”Merlin, congratulations, baby cousin.” A giant smile lit up James’ face. It was a shock, but he supposed it was bound to happen at some point. ”I’m surprised Harper didn’t tell me unless you swore her to secrecy. How did Uncle Charlie react?” Honestly, James hadn’t known that Luke was seeing anyone that seriously, and as far as he knew, their grandmother had only met Teddy (obviously), Ariadne, and a couple others. This would certainly be big news in the family. "So, who is she? When do we get to meet her?"

template by vee