Doorways and Avenues

Subject: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:28 pm

Date: 2 November 1975
Location: Prefect's Bathroom
Characters: James Potter and Narcissa Black
Status: Private

Incomplete

The heat rose in small, wispy, lazy spirals from the vast sea of bubbles that now covered the huge bathtub. James had never been sure why one person would need all this room to be honest, it was more akin to a swimming pool, but hen again he wasn't complaining. Maybe he could convice Evans to...

With a small shake of his head, he cleared his head of any ill-conceived thoughts towards his red-headed colleague. It was a practice that he'd been pursuing recently, more or less since they'd begun working together really. It wasn't just because he'd go mad if he didn't, being in such close proximity to her all the time, but...it was hard to explain. Because he knew her better now, it almost felt...weird...

Did that make sense? He didn't know. It did to him, anyway. He pulled off his Quidditch jersey, tossing it unceremoniously onto one of the marble benches near the edge of the bath. The cool air of the castle immediately assaulted his skin, turning it to goosebumps, causing it to contract and harden as it reacted to the change in temperature. Eventually though, the residual heat from the steaming water warmed him up once more, dispelling the sudden chill from the stone walls. He ran a hand through his hair before he reached for the knot of his towel, about to place his last covering to one side as well before he heard the door handle suddenly turn.

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:43 pm

Narcissa Black waked down the fourth corridor. She was quite exhausted after the very eventful day, week really. So much had happened lately and most of it not the least pleasing. Her sister Andromeda revealed to be a bloodtraitor, her altercation with Sirius Black in charms class and a few other not so pleasant things. Right now all she wanted was to relax in the over-sized tub in the Prefect's bathroom. To her, that was the only good part of earning this prestigious title. She certainly didn't enforce her duties, not unless it was someone in a house other than Slytherin, and even if it was a member of another other house, half of the time she just couldn't be bothered, had more important matters to attend to or more important people, Lucius.

She finally made it to the door of the room, turning the handle slightly, she entered the room and turned around to close the door. She ran a hand through her golden hair and removed her Slytherin robe, dropping it in a heap on the floor. She then turned around to face the tub and that's when something caught her eye. James Potter standing there in only a towel, and by the looks of it, he was ready to drop it on the floor where the rest of his clothes lay.

"You might not want to shed that just yet Potter," she told him, her usual smirk on her face as she walked a few steps closer to him, slowly, her curves moving along as she approached. "I believe that we have a bit of a problem here. We have both obviously come here with the same intentions in mind, but I am not getting in that tub with you, and I am certainly not going to treat you to watching me remove any further clothing."

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:54 pm

James let out a groan as someone entered. For goodness sake, he'd just about managed to escape the Quidditch Locker Rooms after practice to come up here for a wash in peace, and he couldn't even have that. Privacy charms, apparently, were just not allowed on bathroom doors these days.

"Black," He murmured, a hint of his usual disdain creeping into his voice. "I was here first, and I believe that I probably need it more than you. Don't you have baths down in the dungeons?" He paused for a moment, scratching his head. "Come to think about it, that would explain a lot about Snape..."

He chuckled, unwilling to return her obvious bait into a verbal sparring match. God, did that girl never run out of energy?

"As much as I hope and pray to see you undressed, love, I think I'll have to take that on the chin." He replied, shifting his weight almost imperceptibly as she approached. "Besides," He grinned, glancing at the still-steaming water. "You never know what you're missing. I've heard I'm quite fun in a hot tub, might show even you a few new things." He winked salaciously as he moved once more to the edge of the tub, nearer to where his Quidditch robes (and coincidentally, his wand) lay on the bench.

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:12 pm

She looked at him, her brow arching somewhere between intrigue and annoyance at him. "You may have been here first but I believe I need the bath more than you. You know how I strive for perfection and we wouldn't want a vision, such as myself to look anything less than perfect or worse, uncleanly. It's been a rough day, I need to relax. Can't you wait till I’m done? Shouldn't take more than an hour." She attempted to give him an innocent look, attempt to sway him into getting her own way but she was sure it came off as something between friendliness and sinistry.

"You show me things," she let out a laugh at this statement. "Fun in a hot tub you may be, as I am sure I could do, and show you things you never thought possible, things that your most vivid dreams are made of. It's too bad that you have to be who you are, it would never work between us." She gave him a slight smirk knowing damn well what she was doing. For some reason these were the ways things seemed to go with James and Narcissa. They had a bit of an unspoken friendship, though neither one of them would admit that. She saw him eyeing the spot where his clothes lay and for a moment she thought he was going to give in and leave so she could have the room to herself, then again, this was Potter. The fight would not be won that easily.

"Since we are both in here and neither of us intends to give into the other, how are you? Things going well?"

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:30 pm

He laughed. "No, we couldn't have that. But equally as bad would be to let an adonis such as myself suffer through sweat and grime when I could be the radiant picture of manliness I usually am." He raised his own eyebrow in return at her, arms folding across his chest before he remembered that one was holding his towel together. Hurriedly recovering, he quickly retied the knot.

"Oh come on Narcissa," He grinned. "We're a match made in heaven. Regular star crossed lovers, you know? It'd be romantic, if it weren't so absurd. Besides," He glanced at her, looking her up and down in an appraising way. "You're not my type, honey."

He was lying through his teeth of course. Every red blooded male in the school, except for Sirius and Regulus (although he wasn't sure about the latter sometimes), would say yes to Narcissa Black. He just enjoyed knocking her down a peg, even if he infrequently succeeded. He did actually rather like the girl, truth be told. He could, and wouldn't, ever acknowledge that publically, not least because of the violent retribution he'd be sure to suffer from his best friend.

But yeah, underneath all that blood supremacy rubbish, she was alright really.

"I'm alright." He responded cordially. "Getting a little more time to myself now I've figured out this whole delegation thing. And you? How's Malfoy...still batting for the other team?" He asked the last part with a smile, not really trying to bait her. He just really didn't like the Slytherin boy. Well, man. Well...thing.

"Put any more thought into what you're doing after Hogwarts?" All of this was purely small talk, of course. They both knew exactly what the other would be doing, and where their loyalties would lie. Like their friendship, or whatever this was between them however, that remained unspoken for now. James wondered if that was the attraction between them. When they interacted one on one like this, it was sometimes easy to pretend that the future wasn't as set in stone as it seemed, as if two people from different sides of the divide could, conceivably, get along. Of course, reality often intruded to shatter that illusion.

But occasionally, it was nice to indulge it.

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:55 pm

"You an Adonis? Possibly a Hercules given those muscles acquired with all those quidditch matches and practices but definitely not an Adonis." She gave him a bit of a smile, running her hand once more though her golden hair, her eyes drifting back over to the tub she so desperately wanted to get into, just not with him here.

She saw the way he looked her up and down, this of coarse something she was used to. She had quite a way of attracting a wandering eye, though in most circumstances she didn't pay any attention to it, unless it was Lucius of coarse. James and her in the past had had a bit of fun flirting, over the past few years of school. It was something she knew would never go anywhere but it was always nice to have the power, in a sense to entice someone. She could do that and do it well. "It's probably a good thing that I am not your type Potter, you know damn well you could never handle a creature such as myself. A woman of my stature, of my, let's say make-up needs so much to be completely…pleased. I am sure that it's a bit more than you could deal with."

She knew this last thing she said would definitely spark some kind of a comment. She expected it. As much as she liked to use her art of seduction with him, she would never act upon any kind of advances he made towards her. It was just a fun game, the art and power of seduction, it could get her quite a few things she was certain if she let it go far enough. She loved Lucius though and would never do anything to go against the relationship that he had. She just hoped that he realized he wasn't the only one in the school who would be more than happy to be with her. She did think that highly of herself.

"I'm doing well for the most part. Classes are murder as always, we had a few events unfold recently, let's call them family matters that I have had to deal with, but other than that it's been alright." She didn't want to say anything about the altercation with Sirius the other day, that would just get her and James a bit offish with each other. The truth was, she liked talking to him, in a way anyway and she never did or could understand why.

She shrugged her shoulders, looking him in the eyes. "After school? I have a few ideas about what I want to do, haven't really decided yet." She gave him a bit of a teasing smile, he knew damn well what her intentions were. "Quidditch, your team doing well? I know you had to make a few changes this year."

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:27 pm

He rolled his eyes. Not an Adonis. Pshhhh.

"Believe me love, I'd be up to the challenge." He commented off-handedly, batting an errant bubble away with the back of his right hand as he began to pick his carelessly discarded clothes off of the floor, stretching as he stood up again. He knew that she knew that this was just a game. He also wondered if she thought that were it not for her staunch morals on the subject, he would happily fall into her bed given half the chance. There was certainly a spark of sorts between them, that much was certain. However, it had grown from years and years of exchanges between them, from initial adolescent loathing for each other based on family ties, to adult loathing for each other based on family ties...amongst other things. But they did have a certain respect for each others' wit and abilities.

Besides, this was just play for the both of them, like two cats toying with a mouse (that, incidentally, could turn out to be quite dangerous if it were not tightly controlled) between each other. He was too infatutated with Lily at any rate to possibly pursue anything with Black, and too loyal to her cousin to even try.

"Yes, I heard about your family matters." He murmured. Poor Andromeda and Sirius. He supposed he was lucky that he came from where he did, having the views that he had. He didn't think that he would have lasted half as long in the Black household as Padfoot did.

"Well, I'm sure some inspiration will hit you sooner or later." He replied, giving her an equally saccharine smile, that eventually turned into a genuine one. Ah, so they did have an understanding. They would not talk about the war, or the future. They would idle, they would flirt, they would make small talk. But they would not cross certain lines.

James could work with that.

"Yeah, we're doing great." He said, his hand automatically moving to cover an area of his ribcage where some of the more malicious (or less experienced, as he'd said at the time) beaters had "accidentally" stopped him from scoring again during match practice. She didn't need to know that however, and he didn't need to mention it to her. In fact, he dropped his hand, moving to where his clothes and Qudditch gear were now neatly stacked. "A few squad changes, but that's to be expected. People want to be concentrating on their NEWTs. I should be concentrating on my NEWTs." He sighed, glancing longingly at the bath tub one more time.

"Look, have it if you want." He said, "I should really have showered at the locker rooms. Just erm...turn around, while I get changed." He motioned with his hand, the other going to the knot of his towel as he grinned. "Unless you want to look, then we can discuss options."

Subject: Re: Doorways and Avenues Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:45 pm

"I am quite sure that you would be up for the challenge. Whether or not you could succeed in your endeavor, we shall never know." Once again a sly smile spread across her face. She did so enjoy these times talking to him as much as she hated to admit it. Not because she liked him in a wanting way, because they understood each other in a sense and did have a few things in common. Lucius would cringe and most likely attempt to hex James, or worse if he saw his Narcissa talking to James, or worse, James talking to her. He was protective of her, this was a given, proven time and time again especially when Sirius had insulted her in Charms class. She wasn't complaining, she rather appreciated the fact that he cared so deeply for her that he would stop at nothing to assure that they always remained together and that no one spoke to her in anything less than a pleasant manner.

"The family matters are a bit upsetting, though I am sure that you wouldn't understand the severity of the actions. It's a bit of the way that we do things and I know that your way of thinking is different. This is just who I am, what I come from." There was so much more she could say. Rant about how she felt about her sister, shout lash remarks about who she was associating with but this would only cause an argument. She was tired, she wanted a bath and then she wanted to go back to the common room and relax on the dark green sofa by the fire, her favorite spot to be in when in the sub-levels of the school.

"You know Potter, believe it or not, I rather like quidditch. Of coarse I always route for Slytherin in the games that they are in but there is just something about seeing all of you, up there on your brooms, making those fantastic aerial movements that I find a bit exciting, intriguing. If it wasn't for my constant worry about keeping myself looking my best, I may have actually considered playing. Wouldn't want me to break a nail or anything though, I mean, that would be dreadful." She laughed a bit at the thought. She was sure he was unaware of her mild liking for quidditch. "Of coarse the best part about the game is the competition, you know that I do so love a challenge." She gave him a bit of a mischievous smile and shifted her weight a bit, leaning more towards her right.

"N.E.W.T. preperation is nothing short of exausting. I honestly don't know how we are going to survive it really." She scrunched up her face a bit at the thought of it. She knew it was going to be rough but it was rediculous how much homework they were getting. "I think I will be alright. I usually can catch onto things pretty quickly at least though this years Transfiguration class is proving to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be." The more she talked to him the more It looked like she was never going to get into that bath, that was until he spoke to her once more.

She smiled when he told her she could finally have the bath tub, she would never have given up until she got it, Narcissa never backed down, would have stayed there all night if she had to. He asked her to turn around and she started to do so, that was until he made his little comment. "Options?" she asked, a curious look on her face. He had certainly walked himself into this one. "First off, why would you assume that I even wanted to look? Secondly, if I did, and I am stressing if here, you would be unable to handle my reaction to seeing you without towel, and like we discussed not moments ago, you couldn't handle it Potter." She gave him a playful smile and then turned herself around, making sure that she couldn't see him as he put his clothes back on. Had that been Lucius, there would have been no need for all of this talk. They would have taken pleasure in being in the room alone together, putting a colloportus charm on the door to lock it from any and all who tried to enter. She knew James would love the chance to prove her many times she told him he couldn't handle her wrong but seeing the different backgrounds that they came from and her love for Lucius and his getting closer to Lily, it was never going to happen, nor should happen.