Chapter Text
James Potter wouldn’t describe himself using his full name, he always thought that sounded a little snobbish and God knows his mom raised him better than that.
He thinks the way someone describes himself can tell you a lot about themselves, and not only because of what they tell you they are like. He likes noticing the stuff they focus on about themselves, he thinks it’s interesting, how it shows the person’s priorities and the things they’ll probably focus on when getting to know you. He also thinks it can tell you how this person perceives themselves, if they’re confident, if they look comfortable talking about themselves, if they look sheepish or awkward, like they're trying to find good things to say about themselves, or if they look like they don’t know what to say, as if they didn't know themselves better than they know you, a stranger.
At job interviews, he’d describe himself by listing all his studies, explaining his all-time dream of working doing what he likes the most, art. If he was feeling especially confident, which he usually is, he’d show you one of his works. He’s gone through a lot of those, because, honestly, the job market is a very disturbing and scary place right now, especially for someone whose only degree is an art degree.
Interviewers keep getting bolder and James has found himself in very awkward moments—which is weird because James is a very social being— of them asking him why he chose something as low paying as art to study. And giving him back-handed compliments about how he’s “so brave for taking such a serious decision in such a carefree manner” or “how they wish they didn’t care about money like he does”.
Honestly, James doesn’t even mind anymore. Well, he does, of course he does, but he doesn’t wish any harm on the people who say those things to him. He knows it’s the way they have been raised which makes them behave this way, and if he hadn’t been raised by the two most loving and supporting parents in the world maybe he’d think that way too.
And, yes, James knows that he’s more than a little lucky, he knows if his parents weren’t middle-class people who can pay for him to study whatever he wanted, and support him when he can’t support himself, he’d probably be working on something else, something he didn’t like, and more importantly, something that wasn’t his calling.
So he goes through the interviews, he smiles at the bosses and goes through jobs like one goes through books when they’re a fast reader. And when they ask him to describe himself, he does in the most professional way he can and ignores the weird looks the other people with “serious careers” give him.
If you asked him, and you weren’t interviewing him at all, if you were his friend, perhaps, he’d probably describe himself saying he’s a good guy. Someone who cares very deeply about other people’s feelings. A person with morals.
If you asked him how he is now, he’d have to go with startled. One of the kids, Neville Longbottom, seems to have tried to open The Jar with very bad consequences. The Jar, in caps, because it’s a whole thing, it’s this jar that James hasn’t been able to open since he started working here, at The Art Corner, two years ago. It is(was, apparently) filled with navy blue glitter to the top, and the first time James had tried to open it for one of the students, his boss, Lily, said it was hopeless. The Jar hadn’t been opened since she had started working there, and she had been working there way longer than James had at the moment.
One time, when it was reading time with the kids, James had told them all about Excalibur, the sword stuck on a rock that only the rightful king could pull out, and a kid said “Oh! So, it’s like the jar of blue glitter!" Another kid had chimed in and said: "Whoever manages to open it is the best artist!” At the time, everyone had laughed, but, even if he won’t admit it, James now tries to open The Jar at least once a day. He never manages to. Well, now it doesn’t look like he’s going to try to open it anymore, seeing how it’s broken on the floor.
There are shards of glass scattered over the floor and the kids are on top of the table, all but Neville, who is standing on top of a chair, looking very guilty.
“Neville what did you do now?” Neville looks at The Jar, or what’s left of it on the floor, and then at James.
“NEVILLE TRIED TO OPEN THE JAR BY BREAKING IT!" Says this kid named Hannah. "YEAH! HE SAID IT WAS A LOOPHOLE, SO HE GOT ON TOP OF THAT CHAIR AND THREW IT!” A slightly younger kid, James thinks his name is Colin, says.
“Is that true Neville?” Neville nods, looking close to tears. James approaches the chair and picks him up to take him to the other room so they can talk, not laying him down so he wont step on the glass.
“You guys can go to the door with Lily; she’ll get you back to your parents. Can’t wait to see you guys on Thursday! I’ll be right back to clean this up, be careful not to step on the glass please.”
He gets Neville to the other room, lays him down and crouches to talk to him.
“Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Neville’s eyes cloud with tears, big round tears only a child’s eyes are able to make, and sniffles.
“I wanted to open The Jar, so you’d know I’m a good artist. I just... I said I was doing well with with the watercolors you just gave us and Draco started picking on me.”
James is pretty sure Neville can hear his heart breaking a little when hearing this and he holds on to Neville’s small hands. This is not the first time Draco laughs at him, he's already had multiple fights with a bunch of different kids.
“So, you wanted to prove yourself?” Neville nods, glumly.
“Well, you know you don’t have to do that, Neville, you’re supposed to believe that all by yourself.”
Neville nods sadly. “I’m sorry James.”
“It’s fine, buddy, just remember that you are good. Really good.”
“You really think so? Even if I’m clumsy and I break stuff sometimes?”
“Of course! You’re great, and remember that drawing you made? The blue tiger, with the crayons your mom bought you? You can’t say that wasn’t amazing!”
“Yeah… but not everything I do turns out like that…”
“That’s the thing Neville, art is so precious and we care so much about it because it takes effort. If someone could paint perfectly all the time, do you think one of their drawings would be as important as your blue tiger?”
“Well… I guess it depends on how good their drawing is…”
“No, Neville, that’s where you’re wrong. Yours matters because you put time into getting better at drawing, it matters because you made it with the crayons your mom bought you; it matters because you got an idea and worked on polishing it. That’s what makes art art!”
Neville nods and dries the tears on his cheeks.
“And do you want me to be honest?” Neville nods. “You did open The Jar, buddy. Sorry to break the news to you, but you are the best artist of the class.”
“Really?!”
“Really.”
The little boy smiles and hugs James, while he pats the kid on the back.
After seeing Neville off to his mom, Alice, James goes back to the classroom with a broom and starts to sweep the floor carefully, so no glass is left there and no kid gets hurt.
When he spots Luna, the blonde girl with the soothing voice and the wild creativity that always astounds James, sitting on the floor next to the glass, he realizes he may be too late, since Luna’s index finger is bleeding onto the floor.
“Luna! Did you cut yourself?”
“What? Oh, yeah…” She says dreamily, like she’s just noticing it.
“Why did you touch the glass?! Does it hurt? Has it been bleeding for a lot?”
“I just wanted to touch the glitter... I always wanted to know if it was the same kind of glitter on the other jars.” She says while he drags her to the sink to put water on the wound.
“It doesn't seem to be bleeding too much… God, you gave me such a scare, don’t do that anymore please Luna.” He inspects the wound and it mostly looks fine, so his worry wavers a little.
“Did it, though? Feel the same as the other sorts of glitter we have?”
Luna nods, looking a little disappointed.
“Well, then you can draw hypothesis from that, like… Umm… Now we know The Jar must be as old as the rest of glitter jars here, right?”
That does seem to cheer her up, like she’s realizing the matter is not fully closed yet and there’s more to investigate. She’s such a curious kid.
“I think I have band aids, wait here.” He comes back with three band aid boxes, with cartoons on them, and holds up for Luna to choose. “This one?” He shows her the Bluey one and she nods.
When he’s done patching her up, he grabs her and starts helping her pack her things into her little Coraline backpack, which looks just tiny in his hands.
When he’s done with that, he goes to put the backpack on her. “So, what did you draw today? Can I see or is it private?”
Luna shows him a watercolor drawing of a man. Well, James can only assume, since it’s a kid’s drawing so maybe it’s another child? Just in case, he says. “Oh it’s so pretty, I love the colors you chose. The blue of the eyes is so bright.”
Luna smiles and looks at the drawing as well. “His eyes are really that blue, Uncle Reggie has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“The blue is sort of dark, like the glitter on the floor… Is that also a reason why you were trying to grab some of the glitter? So you could sprinkle it on your drawing’s eyes?”
Luna nods. “Yeah, but its fine, he doesn’t need it, the watercolor is already pretty blue.”
“You’re right as always Luna…” James smiles at her, endeared by the child’s way of talking and mannerisms. “You said he’s your uncle? You’ve never mentioned him before.”
Luna smiles giddily. “Yeah! He’s coming to pick me up today! I asked him to, so he’d see where I go after school!”
Well, it’s a little late… James worries that this guy will be late and break Luna’s little heart, already sort of disliking the guy for showing up late for a girl as bright as Luna.
But then he turns around and is struck by the most beautiful pair of eyes anyone has ever seen. Ironically, his first thought is that they are the same color as the glitter that used to be on The Jar.
They really are, dark blue mixed with grey and a shine on them that makes them look like the sea on a calm day, the sort of day when James would have gone surfing with his dad, back in California.
And even if that’s a happy memory, the color that these eyes have does not make you feel happy per se. They seem to have so many layers to them, just like the ocean does, a wild enormous body of water that, even if it can grant you happy memories with your parents, is also capable of calming you down just by looking at it. When James used to go to the beach he’d love looking at the way the waves move. Like a constant that made all his worries seem petty and stupid, when compared to something that big.
James looks at them now and never wants to get out of the water again. He wants to be underwater forever, feeling the tides come and go, even if he can’t breathe anymore. It seems like it would be worth it, maybe he wouldn't even notice the lack of air. Just like when he was five and he had got his first snorkel glasses, his parents had had to pretend they were leaving him there in order to get James to get out of the sea. He had stayed in the water for so long that the skin of his fingers had wrinkled, but he didn’t want to leave, he had found a small group of fishes, and he couldn’t leave his new friends now, could he? But this time, the feeling is not entirely like that, because he hasn’t seen all there is to this ocean, and now he needs to explore and find all the mysteries it’s hiding, he just has to.
“Luna!” The man, owner of the eyes, James presumes, says. “Are you okay? What’s that band aid for?”
“Oh, nothing, I cut myself trying to grab glitter for your eyes from the jar that was broken on the floor-”
“WHAT?! Are you hurt? Why was there a jar broken on the floor? What do you mean glitter for my eyes?! Who broke a jar and why did your teacher not do anything? Is he crazy?”
“Hi, still here, not crazy.” James says a little awkwardly. “I was just trying to solve other problems, but she’s fine, just a little cut, no big deal, right Luna?”
Luna nods, and for a moment it looks like the guy is about to shout at James for not being careful enough with her but after a second looking at him, he seems to soften and his shoulders slump a little.
“Well, maybe you should be a little more careful when there’s literal children on your hands.” He tells James with a scowl.
“Yeah, you’re totally right, honestly, but I was just dealing with a lot of stuff at the moment, and I told Luna and the kids not to touch the glass but-”
“Yeah it seems like they took your advice really well, seeing how my goddaughter now has a cut on her finger-” James can’t hold back a snort, just a very small one. This guy looks so composed and serious, with his high cheekbones and regal bone structure, but he’s losing it completely over a small cut on his goddaughter’s finger? That's sort of adorable.
“ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME RIGHT NOW?!” He seems really outraged, but the way his eyebrows are rising so high has him looking like a very petulant child right now, so James can’t help but be endeared.
“Nope. Not laughing. Not even a little. You’re right, totally right, sorry.”
“Well of course I’m right, because Luna could have been badly hurt, or she could be bleeding out right now-”
James looks at him as if saying “seriously? Bleeding out?” But the guy doesn’t seem to notice this and keeps ranting. Meanwhile, James decides it’s the perfect moment to observe this guy, because he has never seen him before and apparently his eyes and cheekbones are not the only pretty things on his face.
He has very dark curly hair, and it’s long in a way that frames his face but not long, just the perfect length to grab, James thinks. His skin is very pale, like a vampire's, but it looks good on him. He also has freckles all over his cheeks, and he has one barely there mole in between his eyes.
His nose is straight and elegant and those beautiful, stunning eyes of his are framed with long dark lashes, curled at the corners, that make the guy’s eyes look sort of feline.
“... and I could have this place sued you know? There has to be somewhere in the law where it says something about leaving children alone with safety hazards like glass— Are you even listening to me right now?!”
“Yeah! Yeah most of it, umm lawsuit, children… Something about a hazard?” He says sheepishly and smiles.
“You’re not even listening!” He rolls his eyes and grabs Luna, turning to leave. Wait, no, this isn’t how this is supposed to go. James wants to know this guy’s name, is it Reggie? Luna called him Uncle Reggie.
“Wait! Reggie? Is that what you’re called? Can I call you that?”
If looks could kill, this one would have had given James an instant death. Well, it nearly has, actually, because it’s almost given him a heart attack.
“Only Luna can call me that. Don’t call me that, I wouldn’t like that.” He says, his tone flat.
“Well... What can I call you?” James says with a flirty smile.
“Nothing”
“Nothing?” The man, Nothing, nods. “Okay. Well, bye, then, Nothing!”
The man glares at James in a way that makes him question why he’s enjoying pissing someone off so much. It’s just so funny.
“No, that’s not my name, I’m not called Nothing.”
“So soon and you’re already trying to get me to use nicknames on you? That’s cute.”
The guy covers Luna’s big blue eyes with his hand and flips James off while leaving.
“Hey! No! Don’t just leave! Now you have got to tell me your name, or I’ll start calling you Uncle Reggie!” James shouts through the doorframe.
“I didn’t know you had such a strong death wish, you could have just asked, you know?” The guy turns around, with Luna in his arms.
“Oh, while I’m sure it would be a great way to go, I don’t think you’d do that.” James says assuredly.
“What do you know about what I’d do? You don’t know me.” He’s frowning now.
“Instinct.” He says with yet another flirty smile.
“And what do you think I’d do?” He asks annoyed.
“You'd tell me your name.” He says just it like that. Smiling smugly.
“Is that so?” The man says looking at James with a slight quirk in his smile that James decides to believe means he’s amused.
“Yes. I’d like that.” What does he want James to do? Beg?
“Well how sad.” He says flatly and moves to turn around.
“Come on! I’m being so nice.” James shouts, trying to get his attention.
“If by nice you mean an annoying pain in my ass then—"
“Just your name! I’m not asking for your phone number or anything…”
“Regulus.” This time, the voice its not James’ or the man’s, Regulus, apparently, but Luna’s, who sounds exasperated with the exchange and is looking at them like she’s much older and wiser than them. “His name is Regulus.”
Regulus glares at her. “Well how loyal you are Luna! I thought you were supposed to always be on my side!”
“Well, you obviously did mean to tell him eventually, I know you, if you didn’t you’d already have walked away.”
“Is that so?” James asks her, holding back a laugh and looking at Regulus smugly.
“Yeah, he's got his “act cool, you got this” look on his face, that’s cause he wants to look cool for—”
Regulus covers her mouth fast with his hand. “Shutting up now, okay Luna?”
“But you didn’t let me say bye to James!” Luna says, struggling with Regulus' hand, her voice sounding muffled under it and Regulus looks at her like he’s contemplating jumping off a balcony, but thankfully they’re already on the street.
“Oh, is that his name?” He says flatly.
“Yeah.” James tells him smiling, trying to look nice.
“How basic.” Ouch. But also, it’s sort of cute that he’s being mean to James. Why is he liking this random guy being mean to him?! He must be going crazy.
“Come here Luna.” He hugs Luna goodbye and watches her and Regulus leave. He has this strange feeling that he doesn’t want him to leave. That’s kind of odd.