ERIN BURNE ░ @fightcrblood ░ 001.
♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕
LILY WAS A BLABBERMOUTH ─────── james was sure his whole family would know about the fight before the sun rose again tomorrow. in fact, he’d be lucky if there wasn’t some sort or article or news published about his problematic behaviour at hogwarts, probably somehow managing to twist it into blaming his father and mother for it. at least he could count on the QUIBBLER to be fair, which was. . . something. PROBLEMS seemed to follow him recently though, whether at home or at school, and he felt an unusual exhaustion take over as he stripped off his bloodied t-shirt. by the time it was over his head, a reddened cinnamon gaze was already glued to him, shrouded with misplaced GUILT. erin stood only a few steps from the fireplace, and he looked away from her to sigh. ‘ don’t even go there.’ it wasn’t her fault; no more than it was his for being a dickhead or yaxley’s for being a total fucking prick. he lifted a corner of his mouth, trying not to move the sore part of his face.
BUT HE’D BE DAMNED IF HE WAS GOING TO MADAM PINCE. the infirmary had never been his favourite place, but his hatred of it had only gotten worse since the attacks. when she came closer, james relaxed under her gentle touches, even if there was still a nervous undercurrent flowing through his body; a remnant of the earlier surge of adrenaline, he was sure. ‘ it’s not your fault, BURNE. besides, my street cred was getting kind of low. it was threatening my whole bad boy vibe. something had to be done about it. ’ jamie had been the first to tell him that girls liked when boys fought, and he hadn’t forgotten it since ─────── flashing erin a PAINFUL, BRILLIANT smile as she confessed to spilling the truth to her friends. ‘ good. ’ it was relieving for him too. she had been suffering alone with a very heavy thing for too long, and he wasn’t the best at prying or helping, although he TRIED. he found himself genuinely happy, even though WARY, too.
‘ YES, I AM AN AMAZING FAKE BOYFRIEND. ’ he was better at it than he was at being a real one, recent events aside. he ran his thumb over her cheek just for a moment, used to the easy touching their ruse allowed, when he caught himself. james stepped back to lean on a nearby desk, groaning like a big baby as muscles ached. ‘ i think you give him too many excuses, but i don’t want to talk about HIM. ’ he really didn’t ─────── partly because they would disagree, but also because he was sure a guy like yaxley didn’t deserve to have erin pining over him, let alone heartbroken over him. ‘ what did the girls say? in fact. . . what’s the next move for you? ’ he supposed now that she had jamie and scarlet back, they might have to stop PRETENDING. james tried not to focus on how that made him FEEL. spending time with her, even if it had all been to create an illusion, had been a happy distraction from everything else he had going on. but this wasn’t about him. . . it was about her.
JAMES CROSSED HIS ARMS. ‘ YOU BREAKING UP WITH ME? ’ A HIDDEN SMIRK. ‘ . . .MAYBE HEADING OFF TO VAMP CAMP? ’

















