I was driving down the motorway in the middle of London. It was a hot and sticky day in the middle of July. This caused me to have the windows down as I sped at 161 km/h. The wind was rushing through my hair as I drove, rather well considering I was only eleven. I went fast around a turn and quickly changed lanes so that I could narrowly miss another car. I was surprised I hadn't been pulled over yet by a policeman since I was too young to drive. The law said you had to be at least sixteen in order to drive. I, however, not exactly being a part of the world of course didn't listen. I say I'm not a part of their world meaning the muggle world. A muggle you see is a person who doesn't have any magical powers and is part of a family that doesn't have magical powers.
I am part of the wizarding world. Of course I am because my parents were probably some of the most famous in all of the magical world. You see my parents are Harry and Ginny Potter. My father defeated Lord Voldemort and is the Chosen One, he is the Head of the Auror department, and he is one of the strongest wizards of all time right after Merlin and Dumbledore. My mother is the quidditch writer for the Daily Prophet, she used to be on the Holy Head Harpies as their star chaser, and she too is extremely powerful. I come from a rather large family. I have a lot of cousins. Too many to count actually but I love it. You don't mess with the Potter/Weasley clan because family is one of the most important things.
Oh I never did tell you my name. My name is James Sirius Potter. I was named after my Grandfather and my Father's Godfather. Both were two of the greatest pranksters to ever live. Both died honorably and proudly for my father. They were brave men and I want to be just like them. I too am a prankster and I hope to live up to my name someday.
Now back to the present. I was driving having narrowly missed another car. I felt great. The adrenaline was pumping keeping me going. I looked in the rear-view mirror to see no one behind me. The cars looked like little specs since I was far in front of them. I didn't even think about Mum or Dad needing the car. I was too caught up in the moment to really care. I looked around and spotted Strigo, the family owl. He was flying towards me like a bullet. A pure white bullet. I saw that he was carrying a letter and I wondered briefly who would be sending me a letter. There was my cousin Fred who was my partner in crime but we were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house soon so there was no point to send letters.
I decided to continue driving as fast as possible. I wanted to be like they were in the cartoons. I pretended that Strigo was the bad guy following me and I increased my speed higher. I kept looking back and pretending to shoot things at Strigo not really paying much attention to where I was going. As I looked back at the road I saw cars stopped in front of me. It was a blocked road. A giant wall in my way and I had to find a way around it. I swerved to the left to avoid them. I was off road and I looked back to see the pure white bullet still after me. I swerved and this time hit a tree. There was a sickening crunch of metal on wood. It was almost slow motion though as if time itself had slowed to decrease the impact of the crash. My head and body still lunged forward hitting the steering wheel and then the seat again. As my head hit the back of the seat my vision started to dim. It seemed almost as if the sun was disappearing from the sky or that I was suddenly becoming blind. The last thing I saw before closing my eyes and fainting was the Hogwarts seal.
I woke up awhile later to my mother screaming "JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! I cannot believe you would do something that stupid!" I looked up to see that I was in the sitting room of our family home, Grimmauld Place. I looked at Mum to see her face a scary shade of red and she was baring her teeth like and angry dog. I half expected her to spit fire. "I cannot believe you stole our car so that you could go driving! Did it ever cross your mind that it's illegal?! Did you even think of how you could've been hurtz?! If it wasn't for your accidental magic you wouldn't even be here!" she was glaring fiercely at me and I shrank back. Mum was incredibly scary when she was angry. Of course I should be used to her yelling at me, since she did it everyday. It still didn't make her less scary. I looked at Dad who was just shaking his head. He too when angered was scary but he didn't get angry as much as Mum.
"I'm disappointed in you James" he said still shaking his head at me. "I see you got into Hogwarts congratulations but I'm very upset with you. Did you not think for once what could have happened if the muggle police was called on you? Bad enough when we got there we had to do a mass obliteration. And to find out it was my own son? I'm disappointed and ashamed of you." I hung my head. When Dad was disappointed or ashamed it was bad. I wished he could have yelled at me like mum. The guilt trip that he did was probably worse than him screaming.
"You are grounded until the end of summer" Mum continued "that means doing extra chores here and at Grandma and Grandpa's house." I frowned at hearing this.
"But Mum! That's not fair!" I cried "I was going to play quidditch with Fred. And Uncle George was supposed to tell us stories!" Her glare intensified.
"You should have thought of that before you went off driving and crashed our car!" Mum snapped. I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off "Now get upstairs and pack so we can go to Grandma and Grandpa's."
"Yes Mum" I sighed. I stood up and slowly trudged up the stairs. I stopped halfway up when I heard laughter coming from behind one of the doors. I turned to see my younger brother Albus standing there laughing. "What are you laughing at Ally?" I asked glaring at him getting ready to torment him because it would be fun.
"Good job on making Mum mad" he chortled "You really know how to push her buttons."
I push him into the wall making a loud thud and say "Shut up you stupid Slytherin."
"I'm not going to be in Slytherin" he growls but I just laugh. It was fun teasing him.
"Oh I think you will be" I say seriously "You have a lot of the qualities that Slytherin prized in himself."
"You wouldn't even know!" he cried "You aren't even at Hogwarts yet!"
"Yea so but Teddy told me all about the houses" I reply. I then put on a mock serious face and say "You are after all cunning and ambitious and maybe a little bit self-preserving."
"I am not!" he cries but then screams as if almost to prove my point "MOM! James keeps saying that I'm going to be in Slytherin!" He then looks at me and grins and I roll my eyes at him. What a big baby! I mean seriously?!
"You better not be teasing your brother up James or you'll be grounded even longer" Mum yelled up the stairs. I sighed again and glared at Albus.
"You're lucky this time Ally" I say giving him a noogie. He swats my hand away but I laugh and walk up to my room. As I enter my room I sigh. It wasn't fair that I was grounded. I didn't see what was wrong with driving that fast on the motorway. Yes granted I did crash the car and I did get caught but it wasn't that bad. I wasn't using my magic on innocent muggles and I was only having fun. Now I can't play quidditch with Fred or listen to Uncle George's old pranking stories. It's just not fair! I'm a kid I'm supposed to have fun.
I started to pull clothes out and throw them on my bed. I pulled several pairs of pants, a few shirts, a couple pairs of socks, and some underwear. I smiled at my work and sat down on the floor sorting through all my pranking materials. I smiled at some of the things I had gotten from Uncle George and put them into the pile that I was going to take with me. Suddenly I heard a knock on the door. "Come in" I sigh. I knew that it would probably be Dad. He always came in after Mum yelled at us and spoke to us sternly but also more understanding. Dad got mad too but not as bad. He said that he used to have a bad temper like Mum but after auror training it got better because he needed to remain calm and collected on missions. I saw Dad walk in just like I expected and he smiled slightly at me. "What do you want Dad?" I ask sounding annoyed. I knew I should have asked nicer but I was mad and I wasn't in the mood.
"I'm upset that you would do something like that" he says but he's still smiling "Now I'm not going to lie your Uncles and I flew your Grandpa's old car a few times when we were younger and we stole it and got yelled at by Grandma. Your Mum got her temper from Grandma" he pauses and we both laugh. It was true Grandma really did have a very bad temper especially when Uncle George tested one of his knew products around us. She was all for the joke shop but she hated when he scared her like that. "I just want to say that you should be careful. I know you want to drive but there are reasons why the law says you shouldn't drive before the age of sixteen. It's not safe and you can barely see over the steering wheel as it is. I just don't want you to get hurt."
"Yea because you did that enough when you were a kid" I snapped at him but all he did was smile again. I hated it. He was too understanding sometimes. I guess that was the problem when your Dad and his friends did almost everything imaginable from saving the world to pranking people.
"Yes actually I did do that enough when I was a kid" he laughs "I know it sounds hypocritical coming from me but please behave or well at least try to. I don't mind you pranking people as long as it's not mean. I know you won't stop pranking and I'm not going to ask you to. I'm going to ask you to be careful and to make sure that you think things through before you do them." I nod at him knowing that he means well. I sigh because he's just trying to look out for me.
"Alright" I say "I will Dad." He smiles at me and I slowly smile back. "So did you ever prank when you were a kid?" I ask and he laughs.
"I would've if I wasn't to busy saving the world" he pauses to let out a chortle and then continues "Your Uncles did though George and Fred. Gred and Forge..." he trails off. A sad smile playing on his face. I knew that Uncle Fred died fighting Voldemort and his Death Munchers so I was proud to know another prankster that was also a brave man. Cousin Fred is proud to be names after him and for good reason. "If you want to be like Uncle George" he continues after a moment of silence "then that's alright with me. Just try not to give your mother a hard time." He then winks and says "but I do say that you should pull some tricks while we're at the Burrow." He stands up and walks to the door.
"Thanks Dad" I smile. He always seemed to know what to say. He said he used to be awful at it. That he had absolutely no tact like Uncle Ron. I guess that sort of thing comes with age for most people.
"You're welcome James" he exits but then pops his head in again and says "Oh and please actually fold your clothes before your mother skins you alive."
"Yes Dad" I call and stand up sighing. I pull out my rucksack that Hagrid gave to me for my ninth birthday and started to pack my clothes carefully. I was already in trouble and I guessed that Dad was right. Maybe I should at least try to be good. Well at least until I got to the Burrow.
Later that day we were all gathered around the fireplace. Mum was holding the floopowder in one hand and was holding Lily's hand in her other. "Now" she starts "I want all of you to behave when we're at Grandma's and Grandpa's house. There will be a lot of people there..."
"Of course there will be a lot of people there. It'll be a little like the circus" I smile earning a small smile from Dad and an exasperated sigh from Mum.
"Alright you first Harry" Mum smiled at Dad. It was common knowledge that Dad hated traveling by floopowder.
"I hate floopowder" he grumbles like a five year old while grabbing a handful off powder. Mum gives him a glare and he quickly amends his statement by saying "It's not too bad of a way to travel it just isn't my favorite."
"Mum has you whipped Dad" I laugh making Lily and Albus laugh with me. Dad rolled his eyes and throws the powder into the fireplace before saying 'the Burrow' and then vanishing in a whirlwind of fire and smoke. I smiled. Even though I grew up in the wizarding world I was still amazed by magic. It was fantastic and incredibly fun.
"You next James" Mum said and I grabbed the floopowder in my left hand while holding my pack in the right hand. I looked at my pack and smiled a sudden thought in my mind.
"Hey Mum?" I ask "Can we go camping?" she laughs at my question. I know the answer and Albus and Lily look really excited.
"No James we can't go camping" she smiles trying her best not to laugh "You know that your Dad doesn't like camping and quite frankly I don't blame him." I sigh and throw the powder down saying 'the Burrow' before getting engulfed in fire and smoke and feeling the similar rush I always did when I traveled by floopowder. Dad thought that I was mad. He didn't understand how I could enjoy the sensation but I thought it was awesome and thrilling almost like a roller coaster. I smiled I was on my way to Grandma's and Grandpa's and it was going to be the best end of the summer.