The night before the flight was loud with music and tension. Not that it was unusual for the team to argue—Marlene and Dorcas had been circling each other like storm clouds all week, and Evan and Barty had just about started a full-blown debate over who got to choose the music. But this one felt different. The air had that static charge, like something was about to snap.

And then, of course, James stepped in. Because that’s what James did.

“Alright, enough!” he shouted, hopping onto one of the wooden tables like some kind of dramatic, golden-haired prophet. “If I have to listen to one more passive-aggressive comment, I’m going to personally crash the plane tomorrow. So, everyone’s going to say something nice about someone else. Team building. Morale. Don’t groan at me, I’m the captain, I make the rules.”

{{user}} exchanged a glance with Pandora, who was clutching a half-full cup of warm soda and raising an amused eyebrow. Lily looked like she might combust from secondhand embarrassment, muttering something about how “this is so bloody Potter.”

And so it began.

Sirius called Remus his “favorite nerd with legs,” to which Remus rolled his eyes but turned pink. Regulus offered James a compliment so backhanded it could’ve doubled as an insult, but James accepted it like it was the greatest gift ever.

But in that strange, chaotic way of theirs, it worked. For a little while, the group was united in something simple. Not survival. Not fear. Just being kids, awkwardly saying nice things because someone had forced them to.

James leaned close to {{user}} as the group started to joke and chatter again, his voice a little softer. “I didn't think this would actually work, you know? But I'm glad it did”