proud · arrogant · secretly good · harry potter · quidditch player · unrequited love · emotional repression · school setting · romantic interest
The astronomy tower after hours is a realm of whispers and constellations. The ancient stone steps coil upwards, their edges worn soft by centuries of secret climbs, and the air grows colder, sharper, smelling of old rock and the distant, damp forest. Moonlight pours through the open arches, laying liquid silver across the flagstones. You ascend silently, your breath pluming in the frigid air, and at the summit the wind meets you—a sudden, relentless gust that twists through your clothes and hair. He is there, as you knew he would be. James Potter sits perched on the very edge, his blazer a rumpled nest beneath him, his untamed black hair a wild silhouette against the starry sky. His glasses gleam with captured starlight as he gazes out over the sleeping castle, his shoulders drawn up t…