Siblings
To an outsider, it seemed like James Potter did not care much for his siblings. Sure, you could see the you're-my-family-so-I-have-to love that so many siblings had, but no sheltering, no protectiveness. But this was to an outsider. If you were in James' small group of very close friends, you saw differently.
You saw how his back straightened when his brother Albus was called up to be Sorted. You saw his relief when he became a Gryffindor. You also saw how proud he was of his brother.
James and Albus fought constantly, but it was all a facade. There were underlying tones of love to their arguments, and if you happened to venture down to the common room past midnight after one of their fights, you would see the brothers talking and laughing next to the fire.
When Lily came to Hogwarts, the dynamic between the Potter children became even more complex. The boys shared the same worried look upon her Sorting, and then wore matching grins when she was also Sorted into Gryffindor.
Lily's fights with the boys were more violent than the ones between James and Albus. They would escalate into gigantic screaming matches, and their fellow Gryffindors began to dread being in the common room-or even the dormitories-when the siblings were in there together. Once again, if you ventured down after hours, they would usually be found in a tight embrace, one of them apologizing, the other then cracking a joke and both of them falling to the floor in laughter.
It was discovered that the Potters acted the same way at home that they did at school. Usually, Harry and Ginny could break up the fight and make their children apologize to one another. They knew that this apology would be forced and resentful, but soon enough one would come knocking at the other's door and the real apology would come out.
There were two things that would unite all of the Potter children. The first was their family, and the second was Teddy Lupin.
They often heard insults from other students (mainly Slytherins) about their Aunt Hermione being a Muggle-born, and about their Weasley heritage making them blood-traitors, but, most of all, they heard insults about their father. This enraged them to no end. Albus, the calmest of the lot, was once driven to hexing a fifth-year Slytherin in the corridor for a particular remark. He received a week's worth of detention, a very angry letter from his parents, and a high-five from James for this act.
Teddy Lupin was the more obvious thing that united them. To them, he was another sibling, everyone's favorite. They loved him unconditionally, and he loved them back. On one particular occasion, when Teddy was visiting Hogwarts on some sort of business, he was spotted in the Great Hall by the three young Potters. The children ran, shouting, towards Teddy. He was tackled to the ground and was not let out of their sight the entire time until Headmistress McGonagall said that she would deduct 30 points from Gryffindor each if they did not leave her and Mr. Lupin alone this second, thank you very much.
Teddy knew of their attachment to him. Unlike most people would, he cherished it. When he talked about them, he referred to them as his younger siblings with no sense of reluctance. Because that was what they were.
To an outsider, James Potter looks as though he doesn't care about his siblings. This is completely and absolutely false. He loves his siblings more than anything else in the world. And they feel the same way. Because siblings are something sacred. No one understands you quite like them, and no one ever will.
A/N: Well, that was interesting. Lots of fun, also. The thing at the end about siblings came straight off the top of my head. It's pretty much the way I feel about my siblings. This whole fic is how I feel about my siblings. Weird.
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Less than three,
Rachel