HP: Love at First Sight in the Marauders Era

[Marauders-era coming-of-age + holiday adventures + slow burn + canon-pairing breakup]

Vera Quick is a Hufflepuff dessert prodigy and hopelessly directionally challenged. She can fold seven layers of pastry at four in the morning, but can never find her way from the dormitory to the Astronomy Tower. She can understand animals, but not James, the clueless Gryffindor, when he confesses his feelings. After all, no star chart could predict that the idiot who always gets between her and trouble during their nighttime escapades would use “my hands are cold” as an excuse to touch her wrist at least twenty times.

James Potter is the Quidditch captain and hopelessly blunt. He can win matches, but always says the wrong thing in front of Vera. Then a rune that burns hot appears on his chest.

What starts as a silly school life full of bickering between a stubborn little badger and an awkward golden retriever turns serious when an ancient gate beneath the Black Lake is on the verge of opening and conspiracies close in from every side. Memories are fading faster than anyone expected. And the idiot who always says the wrong thing gives her the most steadfast answer with a shell button: “If you forget me, I'll just woo you all over again. I've got plenty of stamina, so you won't get away.”

The collection currently includes the main story and several AU extras: “Half of It” (business rivals × anonymous online friends), “Boundless Love” (a one-day school-skipping adventure), “The Perfect Partners” (a murder mystery in a picture-perfect town), “The Coin Bet” (an independent video store owner tames a beagle with a single coin), “Cat and Mouse” (a battle of wits between a genius forger and an Auror)...

This is a story about desserts, adventures, divination, magical creatures, and how a stubborn Hufflepuff and an awkward Gryffindor find their way to each other through the cracks of the wizarding world.