something kinda funny ((lien))

Harry was hanging with friends, mum was at work, Lily was at the Burrow, and Albus would hopefully stay in his room doing nothing but studying; the last thing he and Lien needed was a snitch as they made their way through the house to make some easy money. Merlin, why hadn't he thought of stealing his dad's stuff for profit earlier?! Although he'd known for a long time that there'd be people who'd buy a jar of farts if the name Harry Potter was attached to it, it really didn't occur to him just how many would be major suckers like that. Lien was just so brilliant, and James wished that he would realize that! Well, James was going to make sure to split some of the money with him at the end of all this as it'd feel wrong if he kept it all for himself.

Now he just had to figure out where they'd start...

If only there was a Marauder's Map but of the house with every notable object in it...

Okay, maybe he didn't want that to exist.

While he waited for his boyfriend to show up, James was in the kitchen snacking on some biscuits mum had gotten from a recent trip to the store; he didn't realize he already scarfed down almost an entire sleeve. No point in staying hungry when he could eat whenever!

@Lien Chang

At least he didn't feel as nervous going to the Potter household this time around. From the sounds of things, most of the family were out or occupied, so he wouldn't be encountering any of them. It was just James, and that was the way he preferred it, honestly.

When he arrived through the floo network, he stepped into the empty living room which was still decorated the same as it had before Christmas. It wasn't time to pull down decorations, but Lien had a feeling his Mum was one of these people who kept them up well into January. There were only two places James could be: the kitchen, or his bedroom. Lien decided to try the kitchen first.

As he swept around the corner, his long, grey wool coat swirled about his calves. He smirked at James.

"I caught you."

@James Potter

Before he knew it, Lien had shown up. His hand had reached for another biscuit only for the sleeve to be completely empty. Oh well, he still had more for later.

He stuck both his hands up and playfully stuck out his tongue. "Ya caught me red-handed!" James chuckled before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Looking real sleuthy in that, aye?" Sherlock Chang... Mmm...

Compared to Lien, he dressed quite simply: a striped jumper and a pair of corduroy trousers that were just a bit tighter than usual. It was frustrating dealing with clothes not fitting like they used to, but it wasn't anything day ruining. He just couldn't be arsed to adjust them with magic.

Briefly grasping the collar of his coat, James ran his hand down his arm until he took a hold of Lien's hand and intertwined their fingers.

"I was thinking we check his office first, that's where I found the map!" Who knows what other treasures could be lurking there?! If anything else, he supposed there was always selling bulk paperclips...

@Lien Chang

The smirk grew wider still. When he came nearer to him, Lien watched intently as James grabbed at his lapels. He ran his tongue over his lower lip, and replaced it with a light clinch of his teeth. "I'll keep it on, then."

It wasn't blasting hot in there, but he'd try to keep it on for as long as possible. At least, until they inevitably made love. They couldn't really be around one another without something happening. They both had a lot of pent-up energy and insatiable appetites to satisfy. It wasn't like he was complaining. He liked the sort of back-and-forth chase of implied sex they had.

"Does he even bother to lock it?" Lien questioned, wondering if Harry was as trusting as his children than he made out. "It's probably our best bet, and the master bedroom." He said it with a straight face, but it did feel strange to invade in Harry and Ginny Potter's bedroom. He just wasn't going to tell James about that. He wanted to appear cool and collected about all of this.

@James Potter

"Mmm, good..."

James was convinced that Lien could wear a potato sack, and he'd find some way to eroticize it. He looked good in literally anything that it was a wonder how he managed to resist ripping his clothes off the moment they were in the same room. His brain frequently stirred with ideas of what he'd do to Lien and what he'd want done to him. It was difficult not to!

"Er, not really, I've picked the lock sometimes. Not hard," James answered. "He only bloody locks it when nobody's here." Now that he thought about it, it was strange that Harry didn't do anything to make it difficult for him to access the office. He might as well exploit that while he could.

His eyebrow rose effortlessly at the mention of the master bedroom. "Aye, we can probably find some stuff in there!" Plus he'd like to show Lien the master bath! To him, it felt straight out of a castle compared to his en suite!

Pulling him in for a kiss, he led Lien to the office which was, unsurprisingly, unlocked. It was spacious, yet sort of busy with various family portraits and news articles spanning the walls. Did any of the portraits talk? James wasn't sure actually. "I found the map in one of the desk drawers. I dunno if he realized I stole it months ago."

@Lien Chang

Caught up in a whirlwind of being kissed and swept off to this office, Lien followed behind James and kept an eye on the back of his neck. He was glad James seemed excited about sneaking around and taking things, because Lien also got something out of it as well. It was certainly gratifying to be inside Harry Potter's office, but more than that, they were going right behind his back.

To trick such a wizard.

"Hmm. Definitely check there again, then."

Lien opened a cabinet at random, and some papers fell out. He picked them up. There was an old newspaper clipping of Dumbledore, and it seemed to imply he was going senile. He rose his brow. Then he found something else. "There's a programme here for the 1994 Quidditch World Cup." he said, leafing through it and smiling. Quidditch may not be of interest to him, but history certainly was.

@James Potter

He'd forgotten the thrill of stealing things; before he got his guitar, James would frequently steal various songbooks and all sorts of loose guitar picks as they were easy to smuggle without setting off the trace. There was also something enticing about being a bad influence to a former prefect; it was like he was corrupting him. He had no plans of stopping that as they both obviously enjoyed it.

James dashed straight to the desk and took a seat in his office chair as he jimmied open one of the drawers. He ended up pulling out what appeared to be a broken golden snitch and an old notebook that lied underneath it. Looking towards Lien, James scooted the office chair in his direction to glance at the leaflet. 'Aye, ain't that the one where the Death Eaters came back? My folks don't really talk 'bout it..."

Just how many old newspaper clippings was in here?!

@Lien Chang

"That's the one."

Feeling James move next to him, he glanced up briefly to look at him with a warm smile, then they went straight back down again. This was a very interesting part of history. His fingertips moved over the once-glossy pages. Viktor Krum was scowling up at him, but he looked the same age as he did. Turning the page, he froze on the part about Bulgarian mascots being full-blooded Veela, and was staring at the moving photo of them for a fair while before snapping the booklet shut.

"What's that you've got?" he asked, pointing at the notebook.

@James Potter

"Yeah, I only learned 'bout it 'cause everybody kept bloody asking me. They didn't bloody like the fact that I didn't know much 'bout it other than people died and Viktor was in it."

They expected him to have come out the womb having his father's entire history memorized! It was insane!

James glanced down at the notebook. "This? Some kinda notebook..." It was probably going to be boring, but he opened it up anyway to see what was inside. He landed on a spread of pages that detailed horcruxes.

"Er, something 'bout a locket and RAB?"

How long ago was this written?

"This was on top of it."

James shook the broken snitch before shoving it into his trouser pockets.

@Lien Chang

Looking at the notebook and the broken snitch in James's hand, Lien thought they could have struck gold here.

"Is there anything in the notebook that says about a golden snitch?"

It could have been something to do with a Horcrux. Although they weren't taught any details on Horcruxes at the school, nor was there any literature on them, he seemed to recall reading something about Dumbledore's death in a history book. There was definitely something about a locket in there, and that it was a fake. The real locket had been taken by Voldemort, which he could only assume - putting two and two together - that the real locket may have been one of the Horcruxes.

"Does it say anything in there about Horcruxes?" he asked quietly, leaning in and having a look for himself. "That snitch could have been one..."

@James Potter

James glanced down at the pages and then flipped through the notebook a couple of times.

"There's something 'bout a ring? Not seeing anything on the snitch..."

Of course, he could've just easily missed it. "The pages are about horcruxes if ya wanna look at it." James handed him the notebook, bending over slightly to kiss the top of his head.

This was their first chance to really learn about horcruxes even if it technically wasn't proper literature! Journals were literature? Could it even be considered a journal?

"It's bloody weird seeing a snitch broken like that..."

As Harry had nothing growing up except vast wealth he was unaware of, it felt like his office doubled as a storage space.

@Lien Chang

"Careful with that..."

He was cringing. Where he almost cradled books and sparingly turned their pages, James was ripping through it as though it was a magazine or something. He was glad when he handed it over, and gave him a kiss. He was smiling at him, but was looking over the edge of his glasses severely.

Pushing them up again, he turned through the pages carefully, mouthing words as he read through them.

"The snitch contained a ring... with the Resurrection Stone set into it," he said excitedly, beaming at James, "That would be almost priceless, you would've thought. Be careful with it... here..."

He took a clean handkerchief out from his pocket and handed it to James to wrap it in.

"If we're already finding things like that, imagine what else there is around here!"

@James Potter

He was never the gentlest when it came to handling things; James never really felt the need to much of the time with how repairable magic made various objects be.

Smiling ear to ear, James slouched and watched his boyfriend attentively in his excitement; he ended up moistening his lips and slightly adjusting how he sat while his mind began dwelling elsewhere.

He snapped out of his lustful daze when a clean handkerchief was handed to him. For the snitch? Right, the broken snitch! Stretching out, James was careful to not hit anything with his legs as he retrieved the broken snitch from his trouser pockets.

"Y'know, he might have a bloody horcrux in here! I dunno which one..."

Was this like having a shrunken head made from an adversary?

Historical artifacts were just collecting dust at home all of this time instead of being given impeccable upkeep at a museum. Would museums give them money for donations?

"I dunno if he kept the stone..."

@Lien Chang

He smirked at him.

"Hufflepuff's Cup, Ravenclaw's Diadem, Tom Riddle's Diary... any of them would have incredible value."

He was imagining actually holding Ravenclaw's Diadem in his hands, seeing the jewels gleam on it, and got rather carried away. Materialism wasn't something he was used to, as he always believed he would just 'have enough to get by'. Could it actually be a possibility to live in the lap of luxury?

But wait... these things were from James's parents. So James would live in the lap of luxury, even without his inheritance. Lien glanced over at him. He had to calm down and not get too ahead of himself...

Opening a cupboard, there was a sack inside of there. Inside the sack... a broken broomstick. Nimbus 2000.

"If this belonged to your Dad, even if it's broken, it probably has some value."

He set it to one side.

@James Potter

So much money could be made from the founder's artifacts alone. So, so much money...

Tom Riddle's Diary...

"Mum told me 'bout how possessed she was by it after I came close to cursing Alayna... She thinks I was just scared..."

Wait. Wasn't the diary destroyed? James rested his chin on the palm of his hand thoughtfully as he watched Lien pull out one of Harry's old broomsticks.

"That's his very first broom. We still don't know what happened to his Firebolt. Mum said they would've given it to me 'cause my second namesake gave him it..."

He felt more knowledgeable about the stuff he wasn't able to receive than the content of the office.

"We could probably donate that one to a quidditch museum and be compensated. No bloody point in having those splinters gathering cobwebs!"

Getting up from the chair, he stretched his arms and glanced around until his eyes fell on a sword hanging on the wall. "Mm, Lien, how much do ya think that sword would be worth?"

He never looked that closely at it as he assumed that it was some generic, decorative sword.

@Lien Chang