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Protection
Of all the students in Hogwarts, James had never been sure why Severus Snape had been the one to cause him so much annoyance. He could trace it back to their first meeting on the Hogwarts express, where the greasy haired git had got on his nerves insulting Gryffindor. They had clashed over everything, including Lily Evans, and now Narcissa.
"What are you thinking?" Came a voice over his shoulder.
"What do you mean Padfoot?"
"You keep glaring at Snape, it's getting almost creepy."
"I just want to stop him from bothering Narcissa again. I mean…I know she can handle herself. But she shouldn't have to. She keeps acting as if our relationship is going to be the downfall of the entire Black family because of him, because of what he said. Besides, I can't be bothered with this potions homework."
"You're really not that important," Sirius half laughed. "Do you reckon we could get Moony to give us his homework?"
James looked down the library table at Remus. He was half hidden by a wall of reference books that seemed to be necessary for whatever homework he had moved onto. "Not a chance in hell. You've had all week to do that homework." Remus' voice emerged from beyond the tower of books.
"I have an idea," James suddenly realised, as he glanced at the table behind him.
"Narcissa, how are you getting on?" He asked, sidling up to the table the lone Slytherin was sitting at. He had suggested Narcissa come sit with them, but she had mentioned something about wanting to get work done, and that James and Sirius would distract her. To be honest he was more surprised Remus hadn't joined her.
"What do you want James?" Narcissa asked, smiling as she said it. How times had changed. Once it had been a frown that accompanied that question.
"Any chance Sirius and I could have a look at the potions homework?" He was chancing it, and he knew it. But he also knew Narcissa would have done it, she was oddly organised that way.
"Fine," she rolled her eyes at him. "But this is only because I don't want you to end up in detention tonight and ruin our date."
"I love you"
"I know," she laughed. "And don't copy it word for word, change it up!" Narcissa called after him, as Madame Pince glared at them both.
He returned to the table, homework valiantly in hand. "I come bearing homework"
"We could sick Bellatrix on him."
"…What?"
"Snivellus, I was thinking about it. Tell Bella he's threatening the 'Great Black Family', and she'd make sure he wasn't a threat."
"…What?" It wasn't something he had ever considered. Mainly because he was pretty sure Bellatrix would kill anyone she thought was threatening her family.
Sirius, shuffled, as if could he tell his friend's thoughts. "What was your idea?"
"I feel like having him bumped off by your crazy cousin might be a step too far." Although it was tempting. "I was just considering going to Dumbledore."
"And saying what? Snape's annoying my girlfriend, and threatening to tell Voldemort we're dating."
"…That's why I was only considering it, and hadn't actually done it."
"We could tell Bella not to kill him, just threaten him a little."
"Or maybe, and this is just an idea, the two of you could let Narcissa deal with Snape herself and give me peace to study." Remus interrupted without looking up from his parchment.
James glanced at Sirius guiltily, "I suppose we should let Narcissa handle things. Unless she asks for help."
"Maybe we could get him expelled?"
"But how…" No, James realised. He needed to support Narcissa, not fight her battles for her. She'd grown up with Bellatrix as a sister, she could defend herself. He just couldn't help but worry about her. "No Moony's right. We leave it for now. I'll talk to Narcissa, make sure he doesn't keep bothering her."
"You were the one who brought it up," came Sirius' noncommittal response.
James had just finally managed to put the final touches to the mass of homework that was due when a pair of hands covered his eyes.
"Guess who?" Narcissa whispered seductively. "Have you finished yet?"
"Bet that's not the first time you've had to ask him that." Sirius joked from across the table, as James tried to throw a book at him.
"Shut up, you're just jealous."
"Of my cousin? Hardly." Came his friend's response and he got up from the table. "Anyway, I'm away to eat, you lovebirds don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Not that that narrowed their options down.
As Sirius stalked away, James reached over and pulled Narcissa onto his lap, kissing her profoundly. It probably wasn't the subtlest of moves, but their corner of the library was empty anyway. Which was fortunate as James' hands started to drift lower, tracing the outline of Narcissa's body through her uniform. Narcissa pulled herself closer to him, her kisses responding to his touches. As she let out a small moan of enjoyment they both separated themselves hastily. Both realising that this was not, perhaps, the place for a full-blown make-out session.
"Do you want to get out of here? We could make it to the room of requirement while everyone else is having food."
"I thought you would never ask," Narcissa responded, her face flushed from enjoyment. "Hold on, though, what about our homework, should we just leave it here?"
"Yeah…it'll be fine. We can come back and get it later."
They were barely two steps into the room of requirement before James was kissing Narcissa again. They had both developed a rhythm over the past year of meeting up in secret, although this was more frenzied that normal. Narcissa was trying to unbutton James' shirt, as they both fell over someone's shoe. Then Narcissa tripped on her skirt, falling into James awkwardly, causing them both to laugh.
"You would think we were in a rush." Narcissa said.
"Maybe one day when we're old, and have kids, this is what it will be like all the time." He paused, he hadn't meant to say it, but it was odd. He really did see a future together.
Narcissa didn't seem to pick up on his hesitation though. "Maybe, we could always just get Sirius to babysit them." And then they were both laughing again.
"Just what I want, my children turning into wannabe bikers." James replied, with images of baby versions of Sirius in his head. It was an amusing picture.
They finally disentangled themselves from their clothes, and Narcissa reached for James, straddling him as she kissed him. Usually when they had sex James was on top, but he was enjoying Narcissa taking charge. As they started moving into a rhythm his hands danced over her skin, tracing her breasts, which, in James' view, were perfect. He could watch her respond to his touch, enjoying the view. Yes, all in all, James decided this was a much better position to be in.
And luckily, it was the one part of the night that was not rushed, although eventually Narcissa collapsed on top of him, both of them, exhausted and spent. It was odd though, James had the small sensation in the back of his mind, as if they had forgotten something.
"That was amazing."
"You say that every time," Narcissa laughed.
"Would you disagree with my assessment?"
"No, that was amazing. I just wish we didn't have to sneak around." Narcissa replied, stretching as she reached over to start getting dressed. "It'll be better once we graduate and can do whatever we want without people judging us."
"They'll still be judging us." But James couldn't help but feel the same dissatisfaction at always having to hide what they were doing. A part of him wanted to start living his life, fighting this fight instead of being cossetted up in school. "But I know what you mean. I'm tired of the hiding as well."
"Speaking of which, has Snape still been bothering you?" It wasn't exactly the subtlest of ways to drop it into conversation, but then subtlety had never been James' strong suit. That was more Remus' remit.
Narcissa fixed him with an even look. "Not so much, it's still just the occasional joke or sneer. I can handle it, I told you that."
"I know, but I just wanted to ask. Make sure there wasn't anything I could do."
"You keep trying to rescue me, but I told you I'm not some damsel in distress." James was getting the sense that he was starting to annoy Narcissa. He just felt uneasy about how unprotected she was in the Slytherin common rooms.
"I know that. I just…worry, about my girlfriend. That's not so crazy, is it?"
"I get that. But seriously, what could you do, that I couldn't?"
Rugby tackle him, James thought. Although he realised in time that he probably shouldn't say that aloud. "I don't know. But Bellatrix has contacts…" Not the right thing to say, he realised.
"So now even Bellatrix needs to protect me! God, do you actually have such a low opinion of my abilities? I owled Bella about Severus when he first became an issue, for advice – nothing else! She said to ignore all his blustering. That our family was in good standing." She was pacing around like a caged animal.
"This isn't just about your family though." It annoyed him, how much importance Narcissa placed on her family sometimes. "If he goes after you in your common rooms…he has friends there. You don't!" They were both shouting now. How could something could go from good to bad so quickly. And of course, it was James' fault. He could remember now how Sirius explained that Narcissa had always been babied at home. Always treated like she couldn't protect herself. No wonder this had pissed her off.
"He's not going to hurt me in school. And even if I'm not the queen of Slytherin anymore, I still have friends there. Hell. I'm related to half of them, if I needed help, it would be there."
"He's cornered me before when I was alone. Don't underestimate Snape."
Narcissa just stared at him. "I'll be fine. I can hold my own in a fight, if it comes to that."
"I know…this…it isn't about you. It's me. I have this ridiculous need to protect everyone I love. I'm sorry, I know you can protect yourself but I'll always want to make sure you don't have to." It was, thankfully, the right thing to say and Narcissa's face softened.
"If I need help, I will ask for it. But I'm not going to go running to Bella, I don't want to push her down a darker path than she's already on." Narcissa sighed. "I'm sorry if I over-reacted."
"No, I'm sorry."
"For wanting to protect me?" She smiled weakly.
"Yes? I don't know, for being an idiot." And he kissed her again.
