Forgive me for my spelling/ grammatical errors.

"James Sirius Potter!"

He's in trouble. Big trouble. James moaned. Not again. What did he even do this time? James honestly couldn't remember. To him it seemed that everything and anything was blamed on him, even if when he wasn't the culprit.

"I'm sorry, Mum. Don't kill me." He called weakly down the stairs before taking a few timid steps toward the middle aged woman eying him sternly.

Jame found it best to apologize immediately, even if he didn't know what crime he had committed. It usually helped to lessen the punishment.

"Why must you misbehave so much, James?" Ginny Potter sighed heavily as he rounded the corner. She loved her eldest son dearly, she really did but when he did stuff like this….she just wanted to throttle him.

"I don't even know what I did!" James protested, skipping the last few steps, landing heavily next to his mother.

James was mischievous. There was no denying that, but he was a good kid. It wasn't like he hurt anyone, or at least purposefully. He just wanted things to be a little more…fun. And what fourteen year old boy didn't, right? Right. Or at least that's what he always told himself.

"Don't try playing that card with me young man." Mrs. Potter did not look happy. In fact she looked far from it, with her hands placed resolutely on her hips and her mouth in a thin line. She had mastered this look over the years. Being James' mother was no easy task. What are you supposed to say to a boy who flies his toy broomstick to Africa and ties his little sister upside down or turns the whole entire kitchen into Jell-O? She still didn't know.

James had a good six inches on Ginny Potter and yet she still scared the bejeezes out of him. She was his mother after all and she had quite a lot of control over his life. Or at least during the summer. She dictated whether he could go to Diagon Alley with Fred or if he could get the Firebolt 2000 or stay up late. It wasn't just during the Summer either. She could always send him a howler at school. His social life depended on her and that was a bit frightening.

"I'm sorry Mum, but I don't recall doing anything that terrible." James ran a hand through his messy black hair, desperately wracking his brain for what he possibly could be in trouble for now.

"You don't remember turning my hair green?"

A livid, green haired girl stepped out from behind his mother, looking ready to murder someone. He wouldn't put it past her. It was Anna after all.

Oh. Well this was different now. Anna Elizabeth McAllister was a special case. As the boy next door James felt it his responsibility -no his duty- to make Anna's life interesting. It was an ongoing feud, nothing new. It started years ago when she was seven and James eight. Of course it continued at Hogwarts, the shouting in the hallways and trying to drown each other by the lake. James was not going to make a peace treaty any time soon. This battle provided a source of entertainment for him; it gave him something to do when he didn't want to do his Potions homework.

"I think it looks splendid Annie. It matches your eyes perfectly." James grinned at the fuming girl.

"My eyes are brown James." Hysterically, Anna stomped her foot on the worn oak floors.

James knew her eyes were brown of course. He knew her favorite color was yellow and that she baked cupcakes on Saturday afternoons. Anna had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast and her favorite popsicle flavor was strawberry and she hated Kool-Aid, especially the grape kind. Charms was her favorite class and she was terrible at Quidditch. Her owl's name was George and her older sister was a brat. James knew everything about her which made tormenting her all the easier. He knew just what buttons to push.

"Are they? I never noticed." James replied coolly, leaning casually against the stair railing.

"James Sirius Potter you will turn it back immediately!"

"How do you expect me to turn it back? I'm not a hair dresser!"

"You're a bloody wizard! Use your wand"

"Under age magic you idiot!"

Ginny Potter had smartly exited the room. No one wanted to be there when they fought. You'd probably just end up injured. So Mrs. Potter retreated to the kitchen to check her summer squash and zucchini sautéing in the cast iron frying pan. Smiling, she flicked her wand stirred the vegetables and scooping out flour into a bowl to make the cake for Albus' birthday party tomorrow. Anna was always the best punishment, the young girl knew exactly how to guilt trip James.

"It'll wash out Annie." James gave a shrug and brushed past the girl, approaching the screen door, leading out to the smooth deck, overlooking the messy yard of the Potter's house in Godrics Hollow.

"Where are you going?" Stomping after him, she dug her fingernails into her palms, balling her hands into fists. She could punch him right now. He'd never see it coming. But she wouldn't, both of them knew she wouldn't. She was considering hexing him but she didn't have her wand on her. And of course there was the whole underage wizardry thing.

"I don't know."

"You can't just walk away. You just turned my hair green!"

"Actually that wasn't me."

"You're such a liar."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"I'm not getting into an 'am not' 'are too' fight with you Anna Elizabeth McAllister."

Anna was fuming, steam practically coming out of her ears. She knew he was lying. He had to be. James was the cause of most of her problems and he always knew just how to mess with her. Always. He was terrible and horrid and disgusting and if he wasn't one of her best friends she'd probably have killed him already.

They had to be friends. They were too close to just be enemies. James wasn't all teasing and pranks and hair dying and mischief. Despite popular belief at heart he was a sweet boy. He knew when to back off, when you had a bad day.

Young Mr. Potter might be pouring maple syrup in your hair one hour and the next wiping away your tears and bringing you homemade chocolate chip cookies after your grandfather died. They were awful by the way. James was the boy who would switch lollipop flavors with you because he knew you hated the root beer kind, even though he hated it too. He was the kid who sat with you on the train your first day of Hogwarts even though it was "uncool" for a him, a big second year. The one who always said hello to the house elves, the kid who asked you to dance at the Yule Ball when no one else did.

Hating him was easy and being friends with him was inevitable. It was a package deal. If you wanted the nice James you had to put up with the teasing one too.

"Why are you so annoying?" Anna huffed, collapsing next to him on weathered steps, leaning back on her elbows to bask in the Summer sun.

"Why not?"

"Because it makes me not want to be friends with you."

"Sorry. You don't have to be friends with me if you don't want to."

"It doesn't matter what I want. You're never going to leave me alone. I figured that out a long time ago."

He wasn't. It was common knowledge. Reasonably Anna had figured that if he was always going to be tormenting her, always meddling in her business she might as well befriend the boy. Plus when she needed someone to get back at her older sister she knew James would always be up for the job.

"Sorry."

"Why do you keep saying sorry?"

"Because I died your hair green." James picked absentmindedly at the peeling white paint.

"I thought you said you didn't."

It had been easy for James, just switch the shampoo with the hair dye and he had infuriated her. Pure brilliance. She didn't even see it coming

"I lied."

"You're stupid and I hate you. I hope you know that."

"You don't hate me." It was a statement. James knew she didn't hate him.

She paused to think for a moment. No, she supposed, she didn't really hate him. Or at least not all of the time.

"Only sometimes."

"I hate you sometimes too."

"That's okay."

"The dye just washes right out. Don't worry."

Anna just nodded. Calming down, she crossed her legs and faced the lanky boy staring at something in the backyard. Sometimes she really did hate him. There were some days when she honestly felt that she could kill him. But whenever she declared she hated him he'd do something to make her not.

"Hey Anna?"

"Yeah."

"You're my best friend. I hope you know that."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it."

"I'm emotionally incompetent."

"That's because you're a boy."

"I have trouble displaying my feelings."

"I know."

"And so I dye your hair green."

"I understand."

"I apologize."

"Apology accepted."

They settled into a comfortable silence, lying flat on their backs. Right now they were friends, sure, but tomorrow she was going to get him back and it would start all over again. The teasing, the fighting, the hexing in the corridors, the weeks spent grounded, the days spent playing Quidditch in the backyard. It was all part of being them.

"I'll get you back tomorrow."

"I'll be expecting it." James paused for a moment before jumping lightly to his feet. "I'm going to go let my mom ground me. See you tomorrow."

He held out a calloused hand to her which she took without a bit of hesitation, allowing herself to be pulled up. Then she kicked him where it counts and laughed. "You deserved it Potter."

That one he felt he did deserve and so he didn't complain. He just grimaced and walked away after sticking his tongue out. But getting out of the shower the next morning with bubble gum pink hair. That one he was going to kill her for.

Please please review. It would seriously make my day. Over and out.