Title: Ignorance is your new best friend
Author: xNomii
Summary: Everything seems so easy in the dark, but it never is. What would you do when the real you only lived at night? Since they were younger, James had always felt an urge to protect Hugo, he just didn't know why.
Rating: Not sure yet
Chapter Word Count: 1964
Pairing: Hugo Weasley/James Sirius Potter, may be hinted; Scorpius/Albus
Will Contain: cousin-incest, slash, sexual content and language.
Beta: FeatheredxWings (big thank you!)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, but to J.K. Rowling. Title credits go to the amazing Paramore.
Ignorance is your New Best Friend
It was his first night back at Hogwarts. His first day as a fourth year had been over before he knew it. In the train he had stayed away from his family as far as possible, just to keep up the façade. He hadn't stayed around to say goodbye to their parents, aunt and uncle. James had ruffled up Hugo and Lily's hair and punched Albus in the arm and then boarded the train before someone would spot him with his family.
He had sat in a compartment with his friends, talked and laughed about the summer. At the Sorting Ceremony, he had met his brother's eyes for a moment, when it was Lily's turn to be sorted. Albus was sitting all the way across the room, at the Slytherin table. His brother making Slytherin had been a surprise at first, but his brother was happy there. He had his friends there. It had taken James a while to get used to it, but he was okay with it now. He had clapped even when the sorting hat called out Slytherin while being on Lily's head, the Fourth year wasn't even that surprised. She was the most sneaky eleven year old he knew. He had clapped even louder when Hugo made it into Gryffindor, his own house. But when the boy took a seat at the Gryffindor table, James went back to ignoring him. He joked around with his friends some more, charmed Scorpius Malfoy's desert so it blow up in the boy's face, which earned him an angry glare from both Albus and Rose and a detention from McGonagall. But it was so worth it.
No, during the day James Sirius Potter had mostly ignored his family. It wasn't until midnight, when his roommates were all asleep, James stopped ignoring. He wasn't asleep yet, and he heard his curtains move. James shot up and pulled away the curtain in one swift movement, only to reveal a nervous and slightly shaking Hugo Weasley at the edge of his bed.
James eyes softened, and without even talking to the younger boy he knew what was wrong. He lifted up his covers and waited for Hugo to crawl under them. The boy's breath was irregular and harsh. "I'm sorry, I had a nightmare and.." he choked out before James cut him off. "It's okay, just go to sleep," he said, and he started to rub circles on the other boy's back to even out his breathing. He felt Hugo relax under his administrations, which made him feel a bit victorious. It was just like the first night such a long time ago.
"He just won't stop crying," Hermione had said, her hand in her hair. She and Ginny were talking in the living room and six year old James was playing not too far from them. His brother, sister and cousins were all taking a nap, but James found himself too old for naps and he refused to take them. "I've put him in James room, so he won't wake the others," Hermione had continued with a sigh, something that had made James raise his eyebrows in confusion. Who had she put in his room? When six year old James was sure his aunt and mother were still talking, he had bolted for the stairs and to his bedroom.
In his bed he found crying three year old, Hugo Weasley. Tears were streaming over his cheeks and he was moving around in the bed wildly. James had stepped inside and closed the door behind him as soft as he could, but Hugo had still noticed him. The toddler sat up straight in the bed and stopped crying for a moment. James had made his way over to the bed and crawled onto it, sitting next to his younger cousin. His cheeks were red from crying and his curly red hair was tousled and messy. "Y'know, only little people cry," James had said, leaning against the headboard of the bed. Hugo had watched him with wide eyes and then placed his head back on the pillow.
"Mummy 'eaves me 'lone and I dun 'anna be 'lone," the three year old had muttered, still sniffing a little. "Well, yar in my room now, so I guess I could stay," James had said with a shrug, and the younger boy had curled up against him and nodded fervently. James started talking about the new broom he was going to buy when he had the money, and when he realized Hugo had fallen asleep he had decided to lay down too. Not for a nap obviously, no, he was too old for naps. He would just rest for moment. But of course, he had fallen asleep too. Hermione had been the one to find them, because she was so surprised when she didn't hear the crying anymore.
There were a few times Hermione had floo'd James over because she just couldn't calm Hugo down. But as soon as the toddler saw his older cousin, he would stop crying and relax. When he was younger, James just felt special. Because he could do something others couldn't. But as he grew older, James started feeling a strong kind of urge to protect his cousin. Not that he would admit this to anyone, though. When Hugo had a nightmare, he came to James and he would comfort him. When someone of their extremely large family was bullying Hugo, he came to James and James would scowl at them. Nobody messed with James, and when they realized that if you messed with Hugo you messed with James too, nobody messed with Hugo anymore either.
The last time Hugo had come to him had been almost a year ago, which was why James had been a little surprised his cousin showed up today. He had been certain that that day would have been the last time. The whole family had come to the Burrow to celebrate Grandma Molly's birthday. And since the Burrow wasn't that big, they had to share rooms. Albus, Louis and Fred shared Uncle Ron's old room, Lily, Lucy and Dominique shared James' mum old room and James and Hugo slept in Uncle Bill's old room.
They had fallen asleep in separate beds, after a long day of playing Quidditch, talking, laughing and eating a lot of food. But later that night James had woken up, after having a quite intense dream about a girl in fifth year at Hogwarts, when he felt the mattress of his bed dip, and felt Hugo climb in bed with him. The boy didn't speak and just made himself comfortable against James. He probably had had a nightmare, or just couldn't sleep. It wasn't so weird for them to sleep in the same bed when they had the chance. James found he always slept a lot better when Hugo was there, so at first, he hadn't minded the younger boy climbing into bed with him. But then he realized. James realized that what he had been dreaming had a little more impact on his body than he had thought. He was just a thirteen year old, what would you expect.
So currently he had a hard-on and his ten year old cousin was curling up against his side. Great, juuust great. James scooted away from Hugo, and the boy let out a groan and moved closer again, clearly not happy about the fact he was being left alone. "Hugo, you can't be here," James hissed, finally feeling how it felt to feel a little hot under the collar. The ten year old seemed to be fully awake now and lifted his head. "Why, did I do something wrong?" he muttered, his eyes sad. James immediately felt guilty. "I.. No, you didn't. It's me, just not today, okay?" James continued, feeling more and more uncomfortable every the second.
"But why?" Hugo said, moving closer so he could look at James. The pleading look in his eyes made James forget why he was sending the boy away for a moment, and he didn't move away. Unfortunately, that also meant the ten-year old came in contact with his current problem, which made James realize why he was sending the other away again. "James, what is it that is.. Oh!" Hugo started, but then he realized it. He may be just a ten year old, but he wasn't completely daft. He gasped and nearly jumped out of the bed. James face had been even redder than his mother's hair and he had buried his head in his pillow in shame. Hugo had went back to his own bed, and they hadn't said a word about it afterwards.
After that night, James hadn't thought Hugo would come to him if he couldn't sleep again. He felt quite horrible about it. He felt like he was letting someone down. And had he still felt the strange need to protect his cousin, and he wouldn't be able to do that if the younger boy didn't feel comfortable around him anymore. For almost a year, things had been awkward between them. But now Hugo was here, curled up against James' chest.
During the day you would never see James Sirius Potter help Albus with his homework. Or tie Lily's shoelaces for her. You would never see him hug one of his many cousins. You would never see him cry. No, the real James Sirius Potter came out at night. When there was no one there to judge him. When it was just him and Hugo. At night he cursed himself for not helping his siblings, but he knew it wouldn't change a thing. Everything seemed so easy in the dark, but it never was.
James listened to Hugo's even breathing, hoping it would help him fall asleep. He was somewhat happy his cousin had decided to come. Even if there was a chance his roommates would find out, but he didn't care. It meant Hugo wasn't uncomfortable around him anymore, which was nice. From all his cousins, James had always been closest to Hugo, but of course he only showed that at night, like right now.
James reached for his wand, which was on the bedside table, and managed to do so without waking Hugo up. He charmed the curtains shut, it wasn't that weird, he and his roommates did it more often. They would probably think that he felt like having a wank or something. Maybe he could even convince them a girl had paid him a visit.
He also placed a silencing charm around his bed, but he wasn't quite sure if it would hold. Silencing charms weren't really his strongest point, luckily he and Hugo weren't making that much noise, so it didn't really matter. At last he put up a charm his mother had thought him, because he wasn't that good at waking up in the morning. It was an alarm charm that would only wake the caster, it had taken a while but the fourth year had finally mastered it. He set the alarm at six, because he knew that none of his roommates would be awake then. It would give Hugo enough time to go back to his own dorm without being caught.
Hugo appeared to not have noticed any of James spells casting and was still sleeping. James tossed his wand back on the bedside table and relaxed in his bed. Lying in bed with his cousin was probably not supposed to feel this comfortable, but James would never know. And he wasn't going to ask Louis to sleep in the same bed with him to find out.
James listened to Hugo's regular breathing and slowly slipped into a peaceful slumber.
A/N; Well, that's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! I think this story is going to have three or four chapters, and I'll try to update as soon as possible!
Anyway, thanks for reading! Maybe leave a review on your way out? I would really appreciate it! If you have any tips for me, please leave them behind too!