Summer Fling

Chapter 1

It was the 16th of August, a sunny day during the summer holidays and Albus Potter's fifteenth birthday. At the Potters everything was going haywire. Ginny Potter was busy preparing the garden party that would start in a few hours. While she was baking the birthday cake she tried to get James and Lily to help with the cleaning and decorating. She groaned in annoyance when they made a bolt for it.

James grabbed his broom and took off high into the air to escape his mother and get away from it all. He was in a bad mood and not up to celebrating. It's bad enough Albus ended up in Slytherin, but does he have to invite his Slytherin friends over during summer hols? the sixteen year old Gryffindor thought.

Yes, James wasn't happy at all to have to share his home with some Slytherins. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was still very much in existence and putting them in close proximity of each other was still not a good idea. But the worst thing was Albus' best friend – Scorpius Malfoy, who would stay with them for the last two weeks of the holidays.

James flew until the first guests arrived, ignoring the angry shouts of his mother. He knew he would have to pay for it later but thought it was worth it. When he flew he could forget about the horrible two weeks lying in front of him.

The first guests to arrive were Teddy Lupin and his wife Victoire. They had married a year ago and were now expecting their first child. Victoire wasn't showing yet though because she was only three months along. Forgetting about his bad mood for the moment James landed and ran over to greet the man who was a big brother to him.

"Teddy! What's up?" James asked and grinned at his big brother in all but blood.

"Hey, How's it going, Jamie?" Teddy replied and ruffled James' hair.

James glared at him. He hated it when people called him Jamie and ruffled his hair even though he often did it himself. He wasn't a child anymore!

Teddy only laughed and looked around.

"Where is your brother, the birthday boy?" he asked.

"Probably in his room" James grumbled.

"Then please go tell him to come down" Ginny ordered him and her tone indicated he better follow her order or else.

Still grumbling James followed his mother's order. Slowly he walked up the stairs to the first floor and to Albus door. He knocked and entered without waiting for an answer. The Gryffindor found his brother sitting on his bed, reading. Albus looked up when James walked in.

"Teddy and Victoire are here. Mum says to come down, the others will be here soon" James relayed and went back down.

Albus and James had never been particularly close even though they were close in age. It had become only worse after Albus had been sorted into Slytherin. Sometimes Albus regretted not being as close to him as he was to Teddy and Lily. Teddy was only their father's godson but he was their brother in all but blood.

When Albus came down two more people had arrived, his grandparents Molly and Arthur. Molly as always had brought a lot of food although Ginny had assured her she would take care of it. Instantly Albus was pulled into a hug by his Grandmother who nearly squeezed him to death.

"Happy Birthday my little darling" she said, still holding him in a tight embrace. He was glad when she finally let go of him so Arthur could congratulate him, too. His Grandfather hugged him, as well but it was only a short hug that didn't deprive him of air to breathe for which he was thankful.

"All the best, Al" he said. Then he took Molly's arm and led her out to the garden where everything was prepared for the party so she wouldn't try to chase Ginny out of her own kitchen. Since it was a nice sunny summer day it was best to celebrate outside.

One by one the rest of the Weasley family arrived as well. It was a big family and soon a lot of redheads were running around the garden with only the occasional fair or dark hair in between. Among them were Neville Longbottom and Luna Scamander with their families. They were still good friends with Harry and Ginny and were Lily's godparents.

Of course Albus had invited his two best friends as well. Scorpius Malfoy and his cousin Lucas Zabini were the reason for James Potter's bad mood. James couldn't stand his brother's two best friends and had gotten into fights with them at Hogwarts a few times. Especially Malfoy got on his nerves with his arrogant, proud attitude. Although in his opinion he didn't have anything to be proud of. Well, maybe his good looks.

Quickly he went over to Fred and Roxanne, his best friends and Gryffindor sixth years like him. The Marauders were their role models and together with the Marauder's Map, his father gave him for his twelfth birthday, they pulled a lot of pranks on Hogwarts inhabitants. Sometimes he wished he had the invisibility cloak as well but Albus had got it on his twelfth birthday.

James, Fred and Roxanne hid in the old tree house that was barely used anymore to plan new pranks for the coming school year and to avoid the Slytherins. If James started a fight today his parents would ground him for the rest of the holidays.

"I can't believe I have to put up with Malfoy for the next two weeks. School hasn't even started yet and now he has to ruin my holidays, too" James complained when they had finished planning.

"Bad luck, mate" Fred commented.

"Why don't you come over to ours for the next two weeks? I'm sure Mum and Dad won't mind" Roxanne suggested.

"Good idea, Roxy. Then we would have more time to plan our pranks, too" Fred agreed instantly.

"You are right, that would be great. Come on, I want to ask Mum" James called already on the ladder.

Fred and Roxanne followed him quickly. James found Ginny sitting on a table together with Luna, Angelina, Hermione, Fleur and Victiore.

"Hey Mum, can I stay with Fred and Roxy for the rest of the holidays? You know Malfoy and I don't get along" he tried to convince his mother.

"No. You will stay here and try to get along with Scorpius" Ginny decided.

"But Mum!" James started.

"Why not, Ginny? George and I wouldn't mind having James over" Angelina chipped in.

"Normally I wouldn't mind but James still has to be punished for shirking his chores today, instead flying around for hours" Ginny explained.

"What?! I'm grounded for two weeks just because I didn't help you today?" James asked incredulous.

"You aren't grounded. Fred and Roxy are welcome to visit for a few days. You can even go visit them for a day or two, but not the rest of the holidays. Understood?" Ginny said.

"Yes, Mum" James replied crestfallen.

"Too bad, you're stuck with Malfoy after all" Fred said while they walked back to their tree house.

All the while Albus, Scorpius, Lucas and Rose were sitting away from the others talking about Quidditch and the new school year.

"Do you know who the new Quiddtich captain is?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I am" Albus announced. "The badge came together with my Hogwarts letter. James got one, too. He's the new captain of the Gryffindor team."

"Really? Cool! It will be fun seeing you play against your brother" Lucas laughed.

"Congratulations, Al" Rose said. "I'm one of the prefects by the way" she told them proudly.

"Me too" Scorpius remarked.

Congratulations you two but that's really no surprise" Lucas commented.

"How about we play a round of Qudditch? I'm sure we can convince a few of the others to join us" Albus suggested.

"Ok, we need enough players for two teams, so ten more people. Who should we ask?" Rose inquired.

"I will ask James, Fred and Roxy. Rose, you ask Lily, Lorcan, Lysander and Hugo. And Scor and Luc you can ask Dominique, Louis and Teddy" Albus decided.

It didn't take long until everyone had gathered and they were organising into teams.

"Who will be the team captains?" Louis asked.

"Albus! It's his birthday" Lily called out.

"And James! He needs to practice" Fred shouted.

"Alright Albus and James, choose your teams" Rose said.

"Scorpius!" Albus chose first.

"Fred!" James decided.

"Lucas!" Albus called out.

"Roxy!" James said.

"Rose!"

Louis!"

"Teddy!" Albus chose and earned an angry glare from James.

"Dominique!"

"Lily!" Again James glared at Albus.

"Hugo!"

"Lysander!"

"Lorcan!"

With that the teams were complete and they only needed to appoint positions.

"I will play seeker, Luc, Scor and Lily are our chasers, Lysander and Teddy play as beaters and Rose will be our keeper" Albus decided.

"Louis, Dom and I play chasers, Fred and Roxy are beaters, Hugo is our keeper and Lorcan as seeker" James ruled.

Then the game began. It was only a game between family and friends but they fought as hard as if they were playing for the Hogwarts Quidditch cup. The chasers chased each other over the field with daring moves, especially James and Scorpius clashed often. The beaters sent the bludgers into the middle of the fight and the keepers were quite busy guarding their goalposts. The only ones not in the thick of it were the seekers, Albus and Lorcan. They flew high above the others watching out for the snitch.

Damn Malfoy. Why do I have to put up with him even during Quidditch? Why does he have to play chaser like me, of all the positions available? James thought annoyed as Scorpius snatched the Quaffle away from him again.

Of course he instantly chased after him and with some daring moves managed to get the Quaffle back before Scorpius could score a goal. Some form of contact was unavoidable in the process and it disturbed James slightly that he noticed Malfoy's build and muscles in a way that had him all hot and bothered.

As soon as Albus had caught the snitch, James stormed into the house and into his room to calm down and think about his new reaction to Malfoy. He despised Malfoy, he was sure of it. Then why do I think about his good looks? he wondered.

Just because I can admit he is handsome doesn't mean I fancy him! James argued with himself. Groaning he burrowed his head in his pillow. He couldn't fool himself.

Alright, so I fancy Malfoy. He is still an arrogant prick. A good looking one but still an arrogant prick, James decided satisfied. He could live with that. Relieved he went back to the garden.

There everyone was now eating cake and Albus was unwrapping his presents. From his parents he got a new broom – a reward for becoming Slytherin's Quidditch captain – while Lily and James gave him a new broom servicing kit and new Quidditch gloves. Scorpius and Lucas got him a lot of sweats from Honeydukes and a yearlong subscription for a Quidditch magazine. From George, Angelina, Fred and Roxanne he got as always the newest inventions of WWW. He also got new dress robes from Bill and Fleur, a book – 'Quidditch captains of Hogwarts and their career' – from Percy and his wife Audrey, some detective and adventure storys from Ron and Hermione and more.

James watched Albus unwrapping his presents, while he sat down beside Fred and Roxanne.

"Hey, where did you go so fast earlier?" Roxanne asked him.

"Nowhere, I just needed to use the loo" James lied.

Fred and Roxanne were pretty sure that it was a lie but dropped the subject. They sat together on one of the tables, enjoyed their cake and watched Albus unwrapping his presents.

A few hours later everyone had gone home – apart from Scorpius of course – and James finally had some time to mull over his realization this afternoon. He locked himself into his room so no one could disturb him, especially that damn Malfoy.

Again he threw himself onto the bed and burrowed his head into the pillow. It always helped him think for some reason.

Do I really fancy Malfoy? He is good looking for sure but he is still an idiot. Good, at least that hasn't changed. Then I would really need worry about my sanity. But what do I do now? James wondered.

Nothing, was the simple answer. If I ignore it long enough it will go away on its own. It's just a slight attraction. When we get to Hogwarts I will find myself a boyfriend and forget all about him in a heartbeat, James thought.

He wasn't worried about being attracted to a boy. He already figured out he was gay two years ago. Satisfied with the result of his musings he fell asleep.