Love Languages

Pairing: James Potter x Ravenclaw!Male!Reader

Requested: Yes

Request: “James Potter falling for his sweet gay Ravenclaw tutor?”

—–

James Potter had never really been all that concerned with his grades. Brewing potions practically ran in his blood and he was a natural study when it came to Transfiguration and Charms, but apparently skating by with decent grades in most of his classes didn’t mean that McGonagall wasn’t willing to remove him from the Quidditch team if he was failing a class, even if it was one as pointless as Muggle Studies tended to be. He’d asked what he could do to avoid being barred from the team, but Minnie’s response had been a deadpan “find a way to raise your grade” and suggested that he look into finding a tutor before the test the following week.

His first thought had been to ask Evans, but he’d abandoned that idea almost immediately when he thought about how awkward it’d been between them since they’d broken up a few months prior. Then he thought of Remus, but he knew that meant that Sirius would be around and if Sirius was around then they’d be too busy planning their next prank to get any studying done at all.

Once he realized that looking for a tutor outside of Gryffindor was probably for the better, the answer to his problem made itself obvious. He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder as he headed for the portrait hole.

You were in James’ year, but not in very many of his classes, since you tended to prefer the more academically inclined classes, while he stuck with pretty much anything else. He’d run into you several times though as you were leaving the library or one of your classes and he was running from Filch or one of the professors after a prank. He couldn’t say that he knew you well, but he knew enough to not be surprised when the Marauder’s Map led him to a small table hidden behind several towering bookcases in one corner of the library.

As James rounded the corner you looked up from one of the massive tomes spread out before you, visibly puzzled by his presence and seeming even more befuddled as he dropped into the seat across from you and set his book bag in front of him.

“Um, hello?” you said slowly, brows furrowed as you looked at him. “Can I help you with something?”

James smiled, that same mischievous grin he always had when something was going exactly as he’d hoped, “Well, now that you mention it, I could reallyuse some help with my Muggle Studies homework.”

The unimpressed look on your face wasn’t exactly what James had been expecting though, “I’m not doing your homework for you, Potter.”

James blanched, waving his hands in front of him frantically, “No, no, no, you’ve misunderstood me.” He laughed, flustered by the assumption, “Honestly, I just need some help. I missed some classes and now I don’t understand what’s being covered. Their world is so different from what I know it’s like another language.”

“So you just need a… translator?” You asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

He nodded slowly, an embarrassed flush prickling at his cheeks. “I mean, I was going to say tutor, but yeah. I suppose I should’ve just led with asking you like a normal person, shouldn’t I?”

“That would’ve probably worked a little better, yes,” you replied with a grin, “But lucky for you, you’re cute and I’m feeling generous, so I’ll help you anyway.”

James’ eyes widened and he moved to push up his glasses to hide his darkening blush, “You think I’m cute?” He fumbled with the clasp on his book bag and pulled out the first textbook he touched.

He hadn’t ever really thought about other people romantically aside from Lily Evans before they’d gotten together, but ever since the break-up he found himself attracted to guys as well as girls. But to hear that people- that you- had had similar thoughts about him-

“Tell you what,” James started, lips twitching up into a pleased grin as he tousled his hair, “You help me pass Muggle Studies so McGonagall doesn’t boot me from the Quidditch team, and I’ll take you out for butterbeer on the next Hogsmeade trip? Maybe, um, maybe as a date? If that’s something you’d want too?”

“Sure, Potter,” you said, “I’ll let you take me out. But, uh, if you want to pass Muggle Studies, you might need a book other than your Transfiguration textbook.” You bit out a quiet chuckle as you nodded toward the book in his hands, before turning back to your own schoolwork.

James flushed further as he realized that he really had grabbed the wrong book- too busy trying to woo you to pay attention to the details. “My bad,” he said. James retrieved the right book and forced himself to keep his eyes on the page, even as much as he wanted to look up at you. Maybe having you as a tutor wasn’t going to be great for his grades, but when he chanced a look up at you and found you smiling at him, he knew it would be worth it either way.