It was March. James could tell that it was March based on three simple observations.

The snow had finally completely melted the week before, yet there was still frost on the grass in the early mornings. He knew this because the best Quidditch practice was before 9 o'clock. Sirius had begun acting suspiciously around him, proving that he was once again attempting to throw a surprise birthday party for James. And James didn't have to wear a coat when he went outside anymore.

Could he have used a coat? Yes. Did he catch a cold around March 8th? Yes. Was he going to wear a winter coat in March? No.

It was March and James had scheduled an early morning Quidditch practice. He also scheduled to have a smoke just before. It did not require an actual partner, it just required a time and a place. James marked both in his makeshift calendar. Truly, it was only a bunch of parchments, which had messily written out dates, magically glued together.

March 11th, 8:30 in the morning, Quidditch pitch.

He threw the bud towards the frozen ground and stepped on it before walking into the locker room. James coughed, the room was stuffy but the rest of his teammates were not scheduled to arrive in another ten minutes so he left the door open. They would be mad at him. The locker room would be freezing by 8:50, but at least they would not choke on the stale stench of sweat that was left behind.

At precisely 8:51 James was dressed and levitating the Quidditch equipment towards the centre of the locker room. At 8:52 Marcus Stebbins walked into the room.

"Oi, do you want us to freeze to death here?" James let the trunk fall to the ground with a sound clunk.

"It'll wake you right up," the captain replied with a smirk.

"It'll freeze my balls of that's what it'll do." The Keeper complained. "Bloody insane, you are."

"Stop complaining," James grumbled, the two Chasers walked in at this precise moment, "and get dressed."

"James, mate it's—"

"Freezing, I know. Better than smelling like Slytherin sweat." He grabbed his broomstick. "Get dressed, get ready, get outside. You have punishment laps to fly because you were late."

A set of groans spread around the locker room just as the rest of the team walked in.

"I was on time." Stebbins quipped.

James shook his head and swung the Nimbus over his shoulders. "Two minutes late, mate."

"Bollocks."

"I know."

When the practice was over James had an impromptu meeting. A cigarette was what he needed to warm his lungs up after the cold air bit harshly through them.


Sirius Black was throwing a party. This news was not new, nor was it unexpected.

Lily Evans was throwing a party. This, however, was a novelty.

The two could be found huddled in the corner of the Gryffindor common room that morning. One had a book opened and was scribbling down a neat essay due in two days. The other had a crumpled piece of paper and was vigorously compiling the list of things needed.

"I don't know what to get him, Sirius." The red haired girl whinged.

"He'd love a box of Bertie Bott's vomit only beans from you, idiot." Her friend replied frowning at a piece of parchment. "This won't do."

She leaned over to look at his messy notes. "What is it?"

"We can't have this much Butterbeer for the party." He tucked a loose strand of his hair away only for it to come falling back down and obstructing his eyesight.

"Is it too much?"

Sirius scoffed. "Too much? No. It's not enough." He tried tucking away the loose strand once again.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Perhaps some students do not have a wish to get obliterated via a mild alcoholic drink."

"That's why we need mead and Firewhiskey, doll face." The boy grinned and then scratched out a few things on the parchment. "That's better." He added a few more items to his list, and attempted to put away that loose strand of hair yet again.

"I can't believe what I got involved with." The girl next to him sighed. "And for Merlin's sake tie your hair if it's bothering you that much."

Sirius scoffed. "I won't… Also, you ordered James and got the whole bunch. Good deal, Evans."

"Beginning to doubt that." She smiled softly, looking over at him just in time to see the frown appear once again. "What is it?"

"You'll have to go to the Kitchens with Pete, it's the Lunar cycle…" He paused. "I will have to be with James because I'm big and he can see me, but Pete sometimes runs off. He can do it this time and help you get the food." He scribbled a few words down. "And then just store it in your room till the afternoon next day. We start early."

The red head nodded returning her attention to the essay at hand. "Alright. I have to finish this now. And you should put away that planning paper because the Quidditch practice is over and he'll be coming back any second."

"No, he won't."

"It's 11 o'clock, he should be." The girl argued.

"You know he'll go smoke a cigarette and contemplate life. James gets philosophical like that."

Lily groaned. "He does. He smokes all the time. It's horrible."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, at least he's been eating mints now so you aren't kissing an ashtray anymore."

"And what an improvement that is." She returned to her essay only slightly bothered by her boyfriend's bad habits.


James Potter did not smoke more than one cigarette after the Quidditch practice. He returned to the common room at a quarter to noon. When his girlfriend asked him where he had been, he shrugged his shoulders and winked.

She concluded that he had been smoking. He was, in fact, drinking tea in the kitchen.

James Potter had a sore throat and the next day he wore a coat as he walked towards the greenhouses with his friends. He even wore a scarf.


AN:

So, I've decided to make this into a multichapter story with quite short chapters that are supposed to give you flashes of scenes in their Hogwarts life with the general motif of James smoking. Most chapters will be happening in a chronological order and will have about 1,000-1,500 words because this gives me a chance to update fairly regularly. Hope you like the concept and the feel, I am trying to make them sound a bit different compared to other things I've written. If you prefer I am posting this same story on AO3 under the same nickname, so you can go read it there if that's your preferred site. :)

Reviews are appreciated,

Love,

Maja