"I'm thinking about becoming a vegan," Florence said, flipping through the latest edition of Witch Weekly lazily. The Hogwarts Express was trundling through the countryside. Poppet watched as trees and fields zipped by. The sun was shining and the carriage in which Poppet, James, Roxanne, Jocelyn and Florence were sat in was getting very warm.

"A vegan? Do you hate yourself?" James snorted before chucking a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans into his mouth. He shuddered. Vomit flavour.

Florence shot him a glare, "I don't hate myself, dickhead. I was reading about it in some muggle magazine over the holidays. It doesn't look too difficult."

"But Flo, there's no bigger advocate for bacon than you," Jocelyn pointed out.

"I do like bacon but I feel like being a vegan could be a really good detox for me," Florence said, setting down Witch Weekly in her lap.

"A detox from what, exactly?" Roxanne asked.

"From my old life," Florence replied, simply.

James rolled his eyes. "You old life? Florence, you only get one life. Don't ruin it by becoming a vegan."

"I want a change," Florence snapped, "I think becoming a vegan would be a good thing for me. You know, I'm fundamentally against killing animals for our own selfish gain. We can get the proteins we need from beans and lentils and then there's no mindless, senseless murder involved."

"You weren't 'fundamentally against killing animals' when you were scoffing that steak on the last feast we had before the holidays. As I recall, you were complaining because it wasn't rare enough," Poppet pointed out.

"That was the old Florence," Flo said, defensively, "I am the New Florence now. New Florence is a vegan, who doesn't take shit from anyone."

"If this is something to do with Blane-" James started but he was cut-off mid-sentence.

"Why do all of my actions have to be explained to you people? It's nothing to do with Blane. I'm doing this for me. Is that so hard to believe?" Florence picked back up her copy of Witch Weekly and stared at it with an angry, steely expression, turning the page forcefully.

A look of confusion was shared between Poppet, Roxanne, James and Jocelyn. Yes, it was so hard to believe. Meat was Florence's favourite food and second to meat was dairy. Both of these things Florence would have to stop eating if she became a vegan. She had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch every day, claimed that salad was the food of sinners and Poppet swore she'd never even talked about lentils before, let alone eaten any. However, as her friend, Poppet felt like she could be supportive. She didn't know the true reason as to why Flo had decided that a vegan life was for her then Poppet wouldn't discourage her, as weird as it was.

"Okay, Flo," Poppet said, kindly, "I support you."

Florence looked up at her from over the top of Witch Weekly and smiled. The front cover this month was of Will Grimes, a Chaser for the Appleby Arrows. He was very attractive with ashy blonde hair, a chiselled jaw-line and cheekbones that were sharp enough to kill a man. He winked on the cover of the magazine and then laughed, fixing his hair with his hands. The caption under his face read 'WILL GRIMES TALKS WOMEN: WHAT DO STAR QUIDDITCH PLAYERS LOOK FOR IN A GIRL?' Poppet smiled to herself. Witch Weekly was pure trash, but it was trash that nobody could get enough of. She found herself weirdly compelled to find out what exactly it was that Will Grimes looked for in a woman.

"You're barking, Flo," James grumbled, "I reckon veganism is a form of self-harm."

"Don't be a twat, James," Poppet said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not being a twat. We're all allowed our own opinions, aren't we?" James asked, turning to face his girlfriend who stared at him with her very best warning expression.

"We are, but if they offend someone we should keep them to ourselves," Poppet reminded him, not dropping her 'say anything out of line and I'll drop kick you all the way to Dorset' glare.

"I'm not very good at keeping things to myself," James said, smirking.

Poppet was not amused. "Just try."

James continued to smirk. If there was one thing that annoyed Poppet about James it was his inability to take her seriously. He needed to realise that not everything in life was a joke and once you say something, even if you meant it as 'banter', it can't be unsaid. She ignored him, pulling a book out of her handbag and began to read it. She could feel James watching her before he gave up and turned back to the bag of snacks he had by his side.


The feast that evening was very impressive. It was a large Sunday roast, with beef, greasy potatoes cooked in goose fat, honey-roasted carrots, squidgy Yorkshire puddings, steamed broccoli, sweet potato mash with cheese on the top, crisp green beans and lashings of red wine gravy. Poppet poured the steaming hot gravy over her plateful of food, her stomach growling ravenously. She looked up and down the table. Roxanne, James, Jocelyn, Albus, Rose Lily and Hugo all had similar platefuls to her, piled high with the delicious elf-made food. Florence, however, had only broccoli and beans on her plate and she didn't look happy about it.

"Alright, Flo?" Poppet asked across the table.

Florence looked up at her. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"That's good. You're not having any potatoes?" Poppet indicated to the crispy, golden potatoes that swam in a sea of gravy on her golden plate.

Florence shrugged. "They have goose fat on them. I can't that, remember?"

Roast potatoes were another firm favourite of Florence's. "No carrots either?"

"I'm not sure about the... rules around honey. It comes from a bee, which is a living organism, so I'm not sure if I can have that," Florence said, pressing her lips into a fine line.

"Where's your dinner, Flo?" Albus asked, joining the conversation. The rest of the Wotters drew their attention to Florence, who was sitting sulkily in front of a plate of greens.

"Oh, didn't you hear, Al? She's a vegan now," James said, smirking as he held up a piece of beef on his fork and popped it in his mouth. Florence scowled at him. "One meal down and she's already struggling."

Florence grimaced. "You know, James, if you weren't dating my best friend I would kick you so hard in the balls that you'd black out."

"Do it; I don't care," Poppet said, dismissively.

"Hey!" James exclaimed. "You're meant to side with me. You love me, after all."

"I do love you, but I don't love your attitude right now. You're being rude, James. Let Flo live her life. She wants to be a vegan and that doesn't affect you," Poppet said, carefully. Florence beamed, sticking her fork into a bean and made a show of eating it.

"That's right, Poppet. You put him in his place," Albus said, clapping wildly. Poppet laughed. James frowned, his brow furrowed.

"I was only joking," James huffed.

"Jokes are meant to be funny," Florence retorted.

"Remember that chat we had on the train, James? About how jokes can be hurtful, even if you don't mean them to be?" Poppet chided.

"Vaguely," James said, nonchalantly.

Poppet glowered. "You didn't take me seriously again? Quelle Surprise."

Everyone around the table remained silent. Poppet felt kind of bad for making everyone feel awkward but hopefully saying it in front of everyone would make James listen. Humiliation was James' biggest fear. He hated to look bad. He hated being embarrassed. Hopefully, being embarrassed in front of his family would actually make Poppet's words stick in his mind. She was sick of him not seeing the serious side of their relationship. She wondered if Jeanette had this issue. Maybe they should swap notes. Or maybe not.

Dinner wasn't soundless for much longer. After Professor Clearwater made her 'welcome back' speech, dessert was served and everyone started chatting again. Poppet put her hand on James thigh under the table and he knocked her lightly and playfully with his arm. It was a small gesture of a mutual apology that nobody saw and that's what made it sweeter. Dessert was another difficult time for Florence. She ate a bowl of fruit silently while everyone else enjoyed cream cakes, pastries and treacle tart.


After dinner, everyone made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower for bed. They sat in the common room for about half an hour before deciding it was time to go to sleep. They said their goodnights and made their way to the respective dormitories. James caught Poppet by the wrist as she was about to escape up the stairs to her dorm. She told the other girls to go on and they scampered up the stairs without her.

"You're not coming to bed with me?" James asked, his familiar crooked smile etched on his face.

"What about Lars and Tom? They hate me," Poppet said.

"Oh, they usually don't sleep in the dorm. They go and sleep in the seventh year dorm with Tobias and Blane and Adam and I get Logan and Greg in with us. Since, you know, they can't stand me," James said, laughing coldly.

"Well, then I guess it would be okay," Poppet said, smiling.

"Excellent. Go and get your stuff. I'll wait here for you," James instructed and Poppet dashed up to her dorm to get her pyjamas.

She burst through the door and moved swiftly to her trunk.

"What did twat-prick want?" Florence asked.

"He – uh – wanted me to sleep in his dorm tonight," Poppet blushed. It was true but she felt like it was the wrong answer.

Florence sighed. "I guess I can't expect you to break up with him over a few jibes he made about vegans."

"No, you cannot," Poppet said, "I should start calling you Roxanne."

"Oi," Roxanne said, "I've been nothing but supportive of you and James. However, I'd rather not know that you were sleeping in his bed tonight."

"Relax, Rox," Florence said. "It's not like they're having sex. They wouldn't have their first time here, would they?"

"Well, it won't be our first time," Poppet said, awkwardly, "so, it'll be fine."

"What?!" The three of them said this at once.

"Look, I have to go-"

"You've been dating all of five minutes and you already gave him your flower?" Jocelyn said, in a shocked whisper.

"I didn't lose my virginity to James," Poppet growled, "I think virginity is a social construct anyway but-"

"He was that bad, huh?" Florence nodded, as if she understood.

"No! I'd had sex before... You know what? We're not having this conversation. I have a very handsome boyfriend downstairs waiting for me," Poppet said, striding across the dorm room to the door. "See you later, bitches."

"It's cute she's taking her pyjamas," Florence snorted, "I don't think she'll need them."

Poppet shot them all once last departing death stare before running down the stairs, two at a time. James was waiting in the common room. He'd taken a seat on a soft armchair that faced the stairs up to the girls' dorm and he stood up as she entered the room, like she was The Queen.

"You took bloody ages," James complained, walking towards her.

"I'm sorry. I was grilled by the girls. Jocelyn asked me if I'd lost my 'flower' to you," Poppet said, chuckling.

"Fucking hell, that girl needs to get laid," James mumbled, leading Poppet up the stairs.

"I like how you say that but a week ago you were a little virgin boy yourself," Poppet snorted.

"Alright," James said, turning around so that Poppet nearly head-butted him square in the chest. He took a step down and cupped her cheek, grazing her skin with his thumb and he kissed her. She relaxed into him. When he pulled away, she longed for more. "That was just in case Lars and Tom are in there and shit goes down. That was my pre-apology for an event that may not even happen."

"Okay," Poppet said. "You better hope they're not in there because I want to continue that kiss."

"I know you're always hot for me but please can you try and control it? It's embarrassing," James teased, opening the heavy wooden door to his dorm.

"You're a piece of shit," Poppet grumbled.

James let out an audible sigh of relief when he saw Greg and Logan sat on the beds that Poppet believed to be Lars and Tom's. They let out small whoops when Poppet walked in. She smiled awkwardly. James put his arm around her.

"I wondered when this would start happening," Adam said, laughing to himself, "I had my money on sooner."

James smiled, getting his wand out of his pocket and casting spells on his bed, which he had drawn the curtains around. Poppet always thought that having curtains around the beds was a very strange thing but now she was thankful for their privacy. James told her to get in and she did, wishing the other boys a goodnight before she did so.

"Nobody can hear us, right?" Poppet asked in an undertone as James hopped in bed next to her. Like her own bed, it was slightly larger than a single bed but not by much. It wouldn't fit two people comfortably. It was a long way from the king they'd shared at Shell Cottage.

"Nope," James said, "I just wanted to check you were okay with just sleeping in here. I mean, you're probably uncomfortable about it but I think we can find better, more private places to... well, fuck each other basically."

"You're so romantic," Poppet said, sarcastically. She was relieved James had said this though. She really wasn't comfortable sleeping with James knowing that she was only a curtain away from three boys she hardly knew.

"You're not in your pyjamas," James said, ignoring her.

"I know," Poppet grumbled. She was still in her jeans and t shirt. Her pyjamas were in her arms. "Oh well, I don't need them." She slipped off her jeans and chucked them on the floor. She then removed her bra and pulled it out through her shirtsleeve.

James looked impressed, and did much the same. Although he wasn't wearing a bra, obviously.

Poppet climbed into the bed and James slid in next to her, spooning her. She readjusted herself to fit around him and then relaxed, sighing. James pressed a line of soft kisses up her neck and behind her ear. She shuddered. "Goodnight, Hastings."

"Goodnight," Poppet whispered as she shut her eyes and tried to match James' breathing. In and out. In and out.


AN: Just a disclaimer... The views expressed about vegans are purely what James thinks, not what I think. James is just an ass sometimes, we ignore him. I love James and Poppet. Review/follow/fave if you do too!