Hey guys...I know you must be wondering why I'm starting this instead of working on my Charlie Weasley fic but the deal is I'm having major writers block on that one and i started this as a oneshot loosely based off of Taylor Swift's song Mary's Song (Oh my my my) and it kind of grew. So instead of posting it as one giant one shot I'm continuing it and making it a semi-long fic. If i get some interest I'll try to update like twice a week, so read and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Potters, or Seamus Finnegan, or the Weasley, or any other characters and places you recognize...but since this is a next gen fic I do have various OCs who will pop up in later chapters...I own them and the plot...but thats it.
The First Summer
Nearly ten years after the end of the Second Wizarding War two little boys, one of about four years with messy dark hair and hazel eyes, the other nearly two, who looked almost identical albeit his green eyes, held onto the hands of their parents, a tall man with equally messy dark hair and bright green eyes behind glasses, and a woman with long, straight red hair, big doe eyes, and a protruding belly, as the four of them walked up to their new home. It was white with a big lawn for James, Albus, and the new baby, and big enough for them to each have their own rooms as well as room for their various relatives to stay over. The little wizarding community of Ashleigh Knolls was close enough to London, the Burrow, and the little house Ron, Hermione and their little girl, Rose had moved into recently, to keep everyone, especially Molly Weasley happy.
Unnoticed by the happy family that had just arrived at their new home, a little girl of about three played with her father in the front room of the house next door. She peered out the window and saw the family walking up to the house that had been empty for as long as she could remember.
"Daddy," She looked up at her father curiously, "Who those boys?" He turned looking out the window to where she pointed, smiling as he realized who was there.
"Well Kelly, that man and that woman are old friends of mine from when I was little," He pointed at Harry and Ginny Potter.
"Little like me?" Kelly cut in.
"No, we were a bit older than you, like your cousin Rachel's age."
"But Rachel isn't little, she's a big girl." He sighed.
"Well, I suppose so. Anyways we were friends when we were your cousin Rachel's age," He looked at Kelly who nodded, "And those are their sons. They are all going to be living in the house next door. The older one, James is near your age; I bet the two of you will have fun playing together. We can go over and talk to them after lunch, how does that sound." Kelly seemed to be thinking the offer over but eventually smiled and nodded. "Alright, lets go find your Mummy, and we can all have some lunch."
Kelly Finnegan pulled on the hands of her parent's as she dragged them across the lawn towards the house next door. She looked up at her father for reassurance, and then dropped their hands, marching straight up to the door and ringing the bell. She stepped back, playing with one of her blonde braids, waiting for her parents to catch up to her. After a few minutes the door swung open revealing two little boys with messy dark hair.
"James! Albus! Who's at the door?" A female voice rang from somewhere inside the door. Kelly looked at the boys and decided since they didn't seem like they were going to say anything, she would take the opportunity.
"I'm Kelly Ann Finnegan," she declared proudly, "I just turned three." Her father chuckled from behind her, "This is my daddy, and this is my mummy," She pointed to her parents, "Who are you?" The older one looked at her, not wanting to be out done.
"I'm James Sirius Potter. I'm four. And this is Al, he's two," Kelly wiggled her fingers as acknowledgement to Al.
"James, who is at-" A tall red haired woman, rounded the corner with a big smile on her face, "Oh my goodness! Seamus! Emma! I haven't seen you two since the wedding. And this must be Kelly! Oh she is just beautiful!" Kelly looked up at the woman confused. "Oh of course, I'm Ginny Potter, an old friend of your father's."
"Say hello to Mrs. Potter, Kel," Her mother whispered in her ear.
"Hi Mrs. Potter, I'm Kelly Ann Finnegan," She looked up at Mrs. Potter who was smiling brightly.
"Well, its nice to meet you Kelly. I see you've met my two sons, James and Albus." Kelly nodded. "You and James can play outside right now if you want." Kelly looked up at her father, silently pleading that he would agree. She didn't have many playmates in her neighborhood because they were all older than six and didn't want to play with a three year old.
"All right, why don't you show him the fort we built, I think he would like that," Kelly gave a big smile to her parents, and tugged on James' hand pulling him towards the backyard.
"You have a fort?" James asked.
"Uh huh, and Daddy told me that when I'm bigger he's gonna build a tree house."
"Wow, that's cool." Kelly beamed up at James.
"Yeah, this is the fort," Kelly pointed to the fort she had made with her daddy after the big thunderstorm had knocked down a tree in their backyard. They had covered it with an old sheet from the closet and it became one of Kelly's favorite places to be.
"This is really neat," A grin covered Kelly's face, "Do you want to play hide and seek?"
"What's hide and peek?" She looked up at him, terribly confused.
"No silly, hide and seek," She slowly nodded, still unsure of how to play this new game. "Its really easy, you go hide anywhere in the backyard," She nodded again, this time enthusiastically, "I count to ten, and then I try and find you."
"Okay, that sounds fun" Kelly ran off to find a spot to hide as soon as James' back was turned. He found her quickly the first time, as her giggles gave her away, but she got much better at the game as the afternoon went on. By four, the two had collapsed, exhausted under the cover of the fort.
"They're probably in the fort," Her father's voice caused Kelly to stir. "Oh, yeah. Here they are," Kelly felt herself being lifted off the ground, and peeked an eye open to see that a man with the same messy, dark hair as James had lifted him off the ground as well.
"Looks like we're not going have to worry about these two," Harry and Seamus both chuckled.
"It's good for her," Seamus smiled down on his little girl, "She's always been the baby of the neighborhood, she needs someone to play with."
"I play with you, Daddy," Kelly piped up and he ruffled her hair.
"Yes you do, but now you have someone who can play with you even when I'm at work." That caught her interest, and she gave him one of her biggest smiles.
"I like James, Daddy. We played hide and seek," Seamus laughed.
"Did you really?"
"Uh huh." She nodded, "I'm sleepy," and snuggled back into his arms. And that was all it took, one warm late August afternoon and a beautiful friendship was born.
Well there you go...I hope you liked it. Let me know if you're interested in more and i'll get it up soon : )
