The Thrilling tales of James Potter
Book 1: Spawn of former evil
Chapter One
Finally, Graduation day. James had been waiting for that day in years! Looking back now, those years had been pretty uneventful… of course that was comparing to his dads time in Hogwarts, School of witchcraft and wizardry. Finally James could cut the tie and go on his own way.
"JAMES! CAN YOU PLEASE BRING DOWN YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY?" James' mother, Ginny, shouted to him from the bottom of the stairs. Well, that hadn't changed since his graduation. Nothing had. James wished people would treat him with more respect. He wanted to be treated like an adult, for heaven's sake. Anyhow, his mum treated him like he was thirteen, his dad wouldn't stop telling stories about the 'those days' and his brother and sister were twice as tiresome. In fact, if it weren't for Teddy, James' god brother, then James thought he could've possibly gone mad.
"JAMES! IM ABOUT TO TURN ON THE WASHING MACHINE AND YOU BETTER GET DOWN HERE WITH YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY OR YOU'RE GOING TO END UP IN THE MACHINE YOURSELF!" James really didn't want to get out of bed just yet. He was happy to stay there forever if he had to. But his mother's temper was not something to be trifled with, something which he had learnt with years of living in her household.
"MUM, DO I TAKE DOWN THE WHITES OR THE COLOURED?" James yelled back.
"No dear, you'll want the darks, and there's no need to shout the house down,"
James jumped and turned to face his mother. Now he was in trouble, he knew it.
"Sorry mum, I'll get that now,' he quickly grabbed a few random socks, t-shirts and underpants here and there, then made for the door way.
"James dear, those underpants are white. They'll get dyed in the wash." Ginny looked at James apprehensively, "put them down, I'll take them later. Come dear, sit here, we need to talk" she gestured to the space beside her on the bed. James sighed and sat a little too roughly than he intended.
"Mum, I didn't do it you know, it was Albus. You know he's always…" Ginny cut James off in mid-retort.
"James, this isn't about what Albus did, or what you did, that's all in the past right now. What I'm concerned about is the present. You're acting far more distant from the rest of the family than usual." Ah, so his mother had noticed. James had thought that the time he spent on his own comparing to the time he spent with his family hadn't had much of an impact. He thought that they couldn't care less to what he did nowadays. Obviously not.
"I dunno mum, it's just I'm tired and I wanted to spend some time on my own, you know, get used to the fact that I've left school?" James hoped this was enough to shadow the real reason he was hiding in his room.
"Well, please can you make an effort to appreciate your family? You're lucky you're not living with some dark wizard on the loose. In Voldemort time, we didn't know when the next family member was going next. We lost Tonks, Lupin and Dumbledore at the time, and we regretted not getting to know them properly. Please make the most of your time with the rest of us." With that James' Mum gathered the right coloured laundry and trod down the stairs to wash them.
Dinner time was awkward. Nobody spoke and the family cleaned their plates silently. Then, while the mother magically cleaned the dishes, the Dad spoke up.
"So James, have you considered what you want to do now that you've left school?" the father gave his son an expectant glance and went back to reading the newspaper.
"I've been thinking. I want to be a dark wizard catcher. I want to travel on my own catching dark wizards and teaching them a little lesson." The sentence had an instant effect on the atmosphere of the room. The dad put down the newspaper, his knuckles whitening. Mum broke a plate and span round to stare at James. Albus and Lily gave him quizzical looks. "What's wrong, did I say something?"
"James, I don't think that's the career you ought to be following," Mother looked anxious," why don't you get a nice job at the ministry, Hm? Or maybe go and work at Uncle Fred and George's shop? That'd be far better for an impressionable young lad such as you."
"Besides, you'll most probably get killed. You're not like me son. I had mentors. Anyhow, we're all grateful that there's no one posing a danger to us and you're going to go looking for trouble. Just how stupid are you?" James' father had stood up abruptly and slapped the paper on the table. He looked pained. "My mum and dad were killed by a dark wizard for me. The least I could do was stay alive for them. Now you're going to waste all those lives that died for you to live a life. Good luck with life, son, because I'm not going to be there for you if things go wrong." With that, Father stamped to the door and slammed it behind him, his footsteps echoing in the hall outside. The room remained silent for several awkward moments, and then Albus piped up, "well that went well."
Mother waved her wand to finish the dishes, sighed and whispered to James, "go to your room, no, please, just go to your room." That was the end of it. James left the room, his head drooping miserably.
Upstairs, Harry Potter threw himself onto the bed behind him. His head hurt and he was too upset to think. Why did his son have to be so reckless? Harry loved James dearly; just as a father should love his son, but he sometimes worried that James would become wayward. Tonight's event had only proved Harry's fears. He didn't want his son to go through the same horrors he had gone through.
The door creaked open and Ginny, Harry's wife, peered in.
"Harry dear, are you ok?" Ginny tested Harry to see if he was in a suitable mood for company.
"Come in Ginny, I'm fine. Here." He patted the bed, beckoning Ginny to sit next to him. She smiled and drifted into the room, turning on the light on her way.
"Sweetheart, please don't get stressed out over what James said, he's just eighteen, he doesn't know his path quite yet." Ginny soothed.
"I don't know honey; I just want him to stay safe. It seems he's inherited both of our sense for adventure, and that's going to get him in trouble. It did for us." Harry cradled his head in his hands.
"Dear, just don't think about it. You've got enough on your plate." Ginny tried yet to comfort her husband.
"But Ginny, we won't be always there to protect him. I need a guarantee that he'll stay alive, and I know you feel the same, don't you?"
"I do Honey. But we can't guarantee anything, you know that. We're all going to die at some point. We just experienced that fact in a more, disturbing way."
"What you and I experienced was far worse than disturbing. We watched our friends and family die in front of us. I don't want to even hear that James has died; it'll just be too much for me."
"But don't forget Harry dear, we still have the rest of our friends and family, don't ever forget that."
Harry sighed and whispered, "Don't worry, I won't ever forget, but that fact wouldn't replace James." Harry gently kissed Ginny on her forehead. With that they switched off the light and fell asleep.
James lifted his head from the floor. His parents wanted to guarantee his safety huh? Well, it seemed more like they were trapping him instead. He looked around the hallway. "I should probably get to bed now." James thought. Albus woke up at night to go to the bathroom, and James didn't need any questions. He carefully got up and paused to hear and disturbances. Then he tiptoed cautiously on the edges of the floorboards to avoid creaks. Thankfully, none sounded. James pushed his door open and shut it with a minute click. After that, he let out a breath of relief, realizing that he had held it the whole time. He sprawled out onto his bed, and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly. And he hadn't even removed his clothes…
