Off the Rails by water_lily43175 on HarryPotterFanfiction.com

Off the Rails by water_lily43175

Rating: Mature
Chapters: 64
Reviews: 607
Views: 474,285

Print Story
Report Abuse

Reviews (607)

Next Chapter

Rating

Mature

Chapters

Words

258,399

Characters

Harry, Ginny, Albus, James (II), Lily (II), Rose, Scorpius, OC

Primary Relationship

James/OC

Secondary Relationship(s)

Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Rose/Scorpius

Genre(s)

Humor, Romance, Angst

Era

Next Generation

Advisory

Contains profanity, Mild violence, Scenes of a sexual nature, Substance abuse, Sensitive topic/issue/theme

Story Reviews

607

Status

Completed

First Published

2011-09-16 6:01pm

Last Chapter

2014-05-10 12:00am

Last Updated

2020-11-26 9:09pm

Track This Story: Feed

Ch. #	Chapter Title	Word Count	Reviews
1	one "I'm not hovering in your pigsty any longer than necessary-" "There's nothing wrong with my flat!" I protested. "James, you could grow a pet in your kitchen."	5,052	15
2	two I pulled a face, as I examined the wrapping job. “You could have looked at it while wrapping it...” Brigid shrugged. “Why? You never do.”	3,189	15
3	three “See, this is why Aunt Ginny only let you have a pygmy puff when you went to Hogwarts. Imagine you trying to look after an owl or a cat.” “He still managed to kill two pygmy puffs while we were at Hogwarts."	3,093	9
4	four “Sometimes I wonder whether I did raise you, or whether you grew up with Fred or Hugo," Mum said.	5,347	10
5	five It was refreshing to wake up to a girl who wasn’t trying to propose marriage.	3,245	10
6	six “Put it this way, James. Do you remember, in Fifth Year, when you decided to jump off one of the Quidditch hoops without a broom?” I grinned at the memory. “That was a better idea than this.”	3,817	6
7	seven “You are insufferable,” Mum complained. “Honestly, who raised you?” “Do you want me to answer that?” She hesitated for a moment. “You are simply perfect, darling, the woman who raised you clearly knew exactly what she was doing. Now, run along and feed your pygmy puff.”	2,978	9
8	eight "You this week's trashy pull then?" Lily asked. Carlotta smiled serenely. "No, I'm last week's. This week's trash had a previous engagement."	3,972	10
9	nine Carlotta sighed. “I’m beginning to forget what you look like, you know.” “Impossible,” I declared. “I bet you’ve already got a photo of me under your pillow.”	1,747	14
10	ten "Nothing is going to go wrong," I said firmly. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing. It won't go wrong."	3,413	10
11	eleven I’d broken the Statute of Secrecy.	2,946	8
12	twelve “What’s it like?” I asked gently. “Having someone Obliviated?” Lily's face fell. It wasn't something she liked talking about.	2,241	6
13	thirteen “I’m sorry,” I continued. “You weren’t supposed to find out that way.” The words hung unsaid between us. You weren’t supposed to find out at all.	6,407	19
14	fourteen “What could go wrong?” “Rule number one: never say that about anything magical.”	3,689	5
15	fifteen “She, um ... she knows. About us. About magic.” Aunt Audrey’s eyes widened. “You told her?”	3,846	5
16	sixteen Carlotta was looking at the teapot with a fascinated expression on her face. “What are you looking at?” I asked. “It’s ... singing...”	5,130	7
17	seventeen "Stop being so modest, Junior, it doesn’t suit you."	3,459	8
18	eighteen "Uncle Percy and Molly may bore you to death, Louis and Hugo might try teasing you rotten, Grandpa Weasley may ask you about rubber ducks, and Dora and Remus may try crawling all over you, but generally we’re harmless." "I think I need a family tree," Carlotta said.	6,245	7
19	nineteen “Can’t I sit next to my own wife?” Uncle Ron grumbled, as he took the seat in front of her. “You’d only argue with each other if you did,” Freddie chipped in cheekily, and then dodged to avoid the inevitable clip to the ear from Aunt Hermione.	4,879	6
20	twenty “Transylvania? That’s not even a country...”	2,027	7
21	twenty-one “Unfortunately, Albus picked a time Carlotta was around for his routine ‘The Malfoy family persecuted Muggles’ rant.”	5,910	5
22	twenty-two “It is a screw cap. Why do wine bottles not have corks these days?”	3,447	8
23	twenty-three “We’re not just a team. We’re a family. And I wouldn’t leave for anything.”	2,897	7
24	twenty-four Then she said six words which just about broke my heart.	2,338	5
25	twenty-five The World Cup was all that the journalists could talk about. They’d all written articles, listing the players they would choose if they were picking the England squad. They all picked me.	3,627	4
26	twenty-six "Tell me, James; what do they mean by the 'boy who lived'?"	4,750	8
27	twenty-seven "I didn’t want you knowing my dad is this all-powerful hero of the wizarding world and that I’m his biggest let-down!"	3,463	9
28	twenty-eight I remembered what had happened in dribs and drabs when I woke up.	2,028	8
29	twenty-nine I was feeling positive. Today was going to be a productive day. And then the owl came.	2,034	4
30	thirty I’d been hounded by the media before. It was something I’d had to get used to, even when I was at Hogwarts. But they’d never stalked me where I lived before.	3,119	10
31	thirty-one “The Lair? You went to the Lair and didn’t invite me?”	2,504	4
32	thirty-two By Saturday, I truly was alone in the world.	1,403	13
33	thirty-three “You’re only here because I've done something wrong!”	2,585	15
34	thirty-four Ingrid Feversham had always been beautiful.	4,989	10
35	thirty-five “I let myself go off the rails!”	4,795	18
36	thirty-six Brigid stared at me for a moment, her expression a mixture of bemusement and remorse. It was a while before she spoke. “I just wanted what was best for you...”	4,722	9
37	thirty-seven “Thank you, James. For coming back.” “I’ll always come back to the Falcons,” I vowed.	4,738	10
38	thirty-eight "I’ve loved your father since I was eleven years old and he saved me from a memory kept in a diary."	3,250	8
39	thirty-nine “If you really care as much as you make out that you do, then why don’t you do anything about it?” “Because I can’t love her in the way that she deserves!”	2,914	10
40	forty “We won’t need to be under any pressure to win. We’ll do it. Trust me.” Sinead stared at me for a moment, as though the words were sinking in. Then she nodded. “I trust you,” she whispered.	5,518	7
41	forty-one Dad gave me a curious look. “You know what a phone book is?” “Of course I do! What, you think I didn’t listen in Muggle Studies?” He didn’t look convinced. “Alright, Al told me about it,” I admitted.	5,164	9
42	forty-two “So, you’re just going to let this dictate your life for you?” I said. “You won’t let yourself be happy-” “Who says I’m not happy?” “You look me in the eye, and tell me you’d be happier without me.”	6,048	21
43	forty-three “You still know me too well,” I said wryly. “And you’ve not changed one bit.”	3,983	6
44	forty-four “We’re not agreeing all of this on your terms-” she began. “I didn’t make any terms; I just refused to agree to yours.”	5,040	9
45	forty-five “You have so many wonderful creatures in your world,” Carlotta mused. “Speaking of which, I fed Cordelia earlier. I figured you wouldn’t have fed her in a while.” “Cordelia is the last thing I’d consider a wonderful creature.”	5,624	7
46	forty-six “Do you ... do you feel as though your parents’ marriage ... affects you, in any way?” Roxanne's face clouded slightly.	3,708	7
47	forty-seven “Do you think you’ll win the Cup?” Carlotta asked. I answered her honestly. “I don’t know.”	7,960	9
48	forty-eight “Hopefully we won’t need to give her that kind of pep talk again. And if we do, ideally she won’t be wearing wet, skin-tight clothing.”	5,582	7
49	forty-nine “You cared about everyone, even people you didn’t know. You didn’t have to do any of it, but you did anyway. You still do. And that’s far more attractive a trait than good looks or charm.”	6,241	7
50	fifty “It’s a funny name, dragon pox,” Carlotta mused. “And it’s actually connected to dragons?” “Course it is,” I said. “Why else would it be called dragon pox?” “We have an illness called chicken pox, and you certainly don’t get that by kissing poultry.”	3,857	8
51	fifty-one Mum paused. “My only daughter ended up Head Girl, and she’s now going to work for the Ministry. Remind me why I’m proud of her?”	4,885	8
52	fifty-two “Pumpkin doesn’t go with fish,” Carlotta said by way of a greeting.	2,995	13
53	fifty-three “What if I screw up?” I whispered.	5,320	7
54	fifty-four I felt that Tamsin seemed unconvinced by something. I just hoped it wasn’t me.	4,660	6
55	fifty-five “First orchestrating some good publicity without my help, now you’re remembering to buy birthday presents without prompting ... before long you won’t need me any more!” Brigid laughed.	2,404	4
56	fifty-six Even Uncle Percy and Aunt Hermione, who both lacked the rest of the family’s enthusiasm for Quidditch, couldn’t deny their awe of the atmosphere a home Quidditch World Cup created.	3,207	8
57	fifty-seven Cordelia was letting out squeaking noises which I took to mean she was enjoying herself – I liked to think those were happy squeaks at any rate, otherwise she was the world’s unhappiest pygmy puff.	3,378	8
58	fifty-eight “Have you been taking crazy pills?” I asked. “I’m always on crazy pills,” she quipped.	3,115	5
59	fifty-nine “They should really give out pamphlets on professional Quidditch when they do careers advice in Fifth Year, emphasising how the pressure and expectation will completely wipe all the fun out of playing.”	4,781	9
60	sixty I looked up, a huge smile on my face. “Thanks, Dad. You’re the best.” He grinned, looking slightly abashed, and ruffled my hair. “You’re welcome, Jim. Just make sure you win, make it all worthwhile.”	3,529	16
61	sixty-one I’d never played a game against Ryan before.	6,656	10
62	sixty-two Dad looked so full of pride and admiration. It was the look he always gave Albus or Lily when they’d achieved something, the look I’d always wished he’d give me. And now I realised he had given me that look before, countless times, whenever I won a Quidditch match. I’d just never noticed it for what it was. I didn’t need him to say anything. His look said it all.	4,744	9
63	sixty-three “We were good, weren’t we?” she said thickly, as a tear rolled down her cheek. It felt horribly like a break up.	6,489	16
64	epilogue "Only you could whack a broomstick round a pygmy puff’s head."	1,276	40

JOIN HARRY POTTER FANFICTION

Get access to every new feature the moment it comes out.