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Pillow Forts in Ruin

James grinned as he stacked pillow upon pillow. Surely, he thought to himself, this was the largest, grandest pillow-fort anyone had ever made. As he reached for another pillow out of his pile, he noticed that the pile rather appeared to be breathing, and his grin widened. He could make out little bits and pieces of his five year old sister through the cracks between pillows, and immediately sobered his expression, reaching down and pulling away a pillow with the utmost of seriousness.

"Boo!" She jumped out at him, and he stumbled over and cried out in feigned surprise.

"Whoa, Lily, you scared me!" he lied, sitting up to better watch her giggle hysterically beside him on the floor.

"I scared you!" she managed out between laughs.

"You did," he agreed, and went back to making the perfect fort as Lily's giggles subsided.

James found that the pillow fort looked perfect, even with a few pillows left unused. Deciding to make use of them, he threw a couple of the softer ones at his little brother's head. Both collided with a thud, and James silently commended himself on his aim.

"What?" Albus looked up from his book. It was a chapter book about unicorns, or something, and James couldn't imagine why he'd bother reading if there weren't any exciting books at his level.

James rolled his eyes and replied, "The fort's ready, Al. Put down your mermaid book and play with me an' Lily, she's been asking all day."

"Unicorn book," Albus corrected indignantly as he set it down on the ground and made his way over.

-x-

"You're joking, right Lily?" James tried to keep the anger he felt out of his voice. Lily looked a little frightened, though, so perhaps he didn't completely succeed. He watched her across the table, hoping to anything that she'd burst out laughing and admit she'd been kidding. She had to be kidding.

"What do you mean? I really wanna be in Ravenclaw," Lily answered softly, careful not to break eye-contact with her oldest brother but desperately wanting to all the while.

"But you've always wanted to be in Gryffindor!" he realized a little late that he'd let his voice rise, so he added, more calmly, "Like mum, and dad..." he trailed off.

"Not always, James," she finally gave up and looked down at her milkshake, which was looking much less dangerous than her brother.

"Always, Lily."

"No! I mean, I changed my mind, is all. I don't see why it's a problem."

"When did you change your mind, the beginning of last year?"

"So what if I did?" she looked up at him, trying to appear as innocent as possible. James watched her for a while, struggling for the right words, then threw his hands in the air in desperation and stalked off.

Lily frowned down at her milkshake and took another sip.

-x-

"So, what're we gonna play?" Albus asked, looking from his sister, who was sitting inside the fort, to his brother, who was sitting proudly next to the entrance.

"Castle!" Lily replied, "I'mma be the Queen!"

"What'll we be?" Albus asked, hoping Lily would assign roles before James could call the best one.

"Um, the King and the Evil Dragon, a'course!" Lily answered, grinning at her own good idea.

Albus and James exchanged glances.

"Right then, you can use those pillows over there for fire," James began as he stood up, but Albus cut him off before he could continue.

"Oh, it's fine, you can," Albus reasoned, "I'm gonna be the King, so..."

"No you're not!" James cried.

"Says who?"

"Says me! I'm older!"

"So? I'm younger!"

"I'm braver!"

"I'm smarter!"

"I'm handsomer!"

"I look more like dad!" Albus smirked as he saw the near-defeated look on James' face. Albus did look more like Harry.

-x-

"Ah, yes, I saw little Albus working on his toast yesterday," Molly murmured with a fond smile on her face. James' first thought was that Albus was hardly little any more, after that his head filled with questions surrounding the word 'toast.'

"Mm-hmm," Ginny nodded whistfully, "He's such a responsible young man. You know, he only found out he was going to make a toast a few days ago, but it wouldn't surprise me if he'd already written it."

James slunk away from the table, relatively unnoticed by the group of giggling female relatives. Why hadn't Lily asked him to make a toast? It wasn't that Albus wasn't an excellent writer, he was, but James had always been better at speeches. He had a way with speaking passionately about anything from house-elf rights to breakfast options and he also had a natural confidence about him that seemed to disarm people whenever he was paid attention to. Surely he could present a better speech.

Why hadn't he been asked to make a toast? Why Albus?

He wandered out of the kitchen, hands in his pockets, wishing more than ever he knew the answer.

-x-

"So? I'm named after Granddad!" James replied after a few moments of consideration.

"I'm named after the greatest wizard ever!"

"Yeah, but you look more like a dragon!" James could have easily overpowered his brother, who was just two years his junior, but allowed himself to be tackled onto the ground. He knew Albus wouldn't be able to hurt him, and probably wouldn't really try. The two rolled around for a while before a high-pitched scream stopped them. Freezing in place on the carpet, they looked up to find their short, harmless little sister glaring down at them.

"Mommy says no hitting!" she scolded them.

James moved away from Albus on the rug. "But Lily, we were rolling," he corrected.

"Mommy say no rolling, too, Jamesie."

"No she doesn't!" Albus said, "We're allowed to roll."

Lily frowned in thought, then crossed her arms and replied, "Well, I'm Queen, and Queen Lily says no rolling."

"Fine," James held up his hands in surrender, "But who gets to be King?"

Lily looked from one brother to another. "Albus does," she replied, "And you can be the Evil Dragon who tickles, Jamesie."

James glared at his brother. They looked a lot alike, except Al was a little paler and less freckled, and he had darker hair and brighter eyes, and his nose wasn't as straight. He didn't think Al looked any better than he did, though. He looked at the open book and the pillows next to it. Maybe Al was a better reader, but James could build forts better. Finally, he looked at his little sister. "Why Albus?" he asked.

Lily replied by tickling him, and soon the roles were forgotten and the pillow-fort destroyed.

-x-