A/N: Hello Dear Reader, and welcome to the tale of the (mis)adventures of James Sirius Potter. Gather 'round and watch as he makes his precarious way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Will he carve out his own niche in wizarding legend so that generations to come will remember his name? Will he become the master of pranks and deception such as his double namesakes? Or will he fall by the wayside, consumed and overshadowed by the achievements of his own father? Forge onwards and all will be revealed...

A bit of admin before we begin; this will be a seven-part story, one for each year of school, similar to the original Harry Potter series. Like the original series it will be a Fantasy Action/Adventure style with splashes of Romance/Drama along the way. If you are searching for an angst-ridden, woe-is-me style sop-fest, I kindly suggest you look elsewhere.

We are lore-friendly/canon compliant at the start of Book 1 (insofar as my lackluster research efforts inform me).

Standard disclaimer before we begin that the entirety of this world is owned by J.K. Rowling, and it is only by her unyielding benevolence that lowly peasants such as I may strive to reach such lofty heights using the very tools that she so lovingly crafted.

Updates will be weekly on Sat/Sun Australian time. A chapter or two per week. If you are enjoying the story, make sure to tell your friends about it so they can enjoy it too. If you hate it, make sure you tell your friends about it so they can form their own opinions. Either way, leave a review on the way out, and welcome, Dear Reader, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

With a whoosh of air and the brief sensation of suddenly being outside on a very windy day, James Sirius Potter stepped calmly out of an otherwise-innocuous, solid brick wall onto Platform 9¾. The scarlet steam engine squatted low on the rails, lazily puffing out silver smoke as it stood firm against the sea of chaos raging on all sides. James' head threatened to swivel right off as he spun about, taking in the waves of noise, colour and pure electrical excitement that was all around him.

His family appeared at the barrier shortly after he did, and he grabbed his father, Harry Potter, by the hand, navigating him through the press.

'Busier every year,' he heard his father mutter under his breath.

'Well you can't blame them,' his mum replied, her bright red hair swishing as she ducked in between extravagantly-dressed witches and wizards, holding tight to James' siblings, Lily and Albus' hands.

Harry muttered something that sounded to James like 'Baby Boomers.' He asked what that meant; it was a funny term.

'It means James, that after Voldemort was defeated, the Wizarding population rejoiced; we were finally free of a dark cloud that had been hanging over us for the past who-knows-how-many years. Whole generations had been brought up in fear of him, but now they were finally free.' His dad paused for a bit, unsure of how to carry on. 'So er, they got to celebrating, and now that it truly was a safer world to bring up children in they started having more. Lots more. Now those kids are all Hogwarts-aged, like you guys, and it means that there are so many more of you now than there ever were of us. It's great, of course, great for wizarding Britain, but it has meant that things will have changed around school a little bit from my day in order to accommodate it all. They'll fill you in when you get there.'

James thought this over, something didn't quite make sense. 'But dad, how does celebrating mean making lots more kids?'

His mother quickly cut in and wrapped him up in a very tight hug. "All right then James,' she gave a little laugh, 'here we are, time for goodbyes.'

It seemed to James like she was making dad avoid answering his question, but he let it slide with a shrug.

After his mum had kissed him goodbye and gotten lipstick all over his forehead, he hugged Lily next, and gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek, which she hated. She was looking a little sad about not being able to go, but James promised her to send her something from Hogwarts, Fred had once suggested a toilet seat. That made her giggle, and her green eyes lit up for a short moment.

Albus was stoic, but James could tell he wanted to come along too; they had done everything together for ten years now. This would be the first time they were to be apart for more than a week. James was a little nervous himself, he was glad he had his cousin Freddy starting this year too. Albus held out his hand, like he'd seen the fathers do, but James pushed it aside and wrapped him up in a tight, brotherly hug. 'I'll miss you, bro.' He whispered. Al didn't say anything, but James felt him nod his head.

When they pulled apart Al somehow got something in his eye, and needed mum's help to get it out.

Last of all James turned to his father for a final hug before setting off.

'Now make sure you behave yourself Jamesy, and study hard, like Aunt Hermione says. Don't be too upset if you don't make the quidditch squad in first year, and don't whatever you do listen to advice that Fred said he got from his dad, ok?'

'Ok Dad,' James mumbled into his father's coat. He must have got something in his own eyes too; they were starting to sting.

Finally James broke away from his father, who tussled his hair and handed over his trunk. With one last watery smile and a wave James Sirius Potter set out for the Hogwarts Express, and his next great adventure.

James found himself dragging his bulky trunk awkwardly behind him as he negotiated his way through the press on board. The train was so busy. All the carriages that he peered into were full, or had older kids sitting in them.

An angry whirring sound caught his attention and he looked up just in time to see a particularly vicious-looking fanged Frisbee flying straight for his head. In a moment of panic, James shoved open the nearest compartment door and dived in, hitting the unforgiving wooden floor with a dull thud.

Hogwarts is dangerous, he thought, as he dusted himself off, feeling the top of his head to make sure the Frisbee hadn't left him with a bald spot like his dad was getting. He didn't even notice the girl sitting in the seat across from him holding a book upside and giving him the strangest look.

'Oh! I'm James Potter,' he said, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, as he held out his hand. She took it in a soft grip that made him feel like he should do a little bow and give it a kiss. Odd.

'Cassandra.' Was all that she said.

'Cool, like Cass, or Cassie?'

The girl, who had just picked up her book again, lowered it and gave him a very stern look, like the one his mum would, when he had done something bad, like the time he had set the cat on fire.

'I do believe I introduced myself as Cassandra; etiquette would therefore dictate that you refer to me as such.'

James closed his mouth, which had slipped open while she spoke. 'You use a lot of big words.'

She stared at him, her eyebrow cocked, as if waiting for something.

'Well?' She said.

'Well what?'

'Well I was wondering if you were going to follow that most astute of observations up with an equally astounding inference of any kind, but it does appear that was all you had to offer.'

James liked this girl and her big words. 'We should be friends,' he offered.

That brought her up short. Her mouth worked wordlessly for a second before she gathered herself.

'I know who you are James Potter.'

Of course she did; he'd only just introduced himself. He said as much. He received an exasperated roll of the eyes in return.

'What I mean is that you are Harry Potter's son; you are rich, famous, and bound to be a magnet for all sorts of trouble, and trouble gets people like me killed, or expelled, or handed some other fate of equal detriment to my otherwise peaceful learning experience.'

All the big words was making this conversation hard, so James changed tack.

'What's that you're reading?' He asked earnestly.

This, too, took Cassie aback, and James saw her give a small shake of her head before she showed him.

'It's about dragons; a recent publication on origins and evolution of the species throughout Europe.'

James' eyes lit up, 'I love dragons! Did you know a Hungarian Horntail can breathe fire at over 2000 degrees? That's hot enough to melt rocks!' He plopped down on the seat next to her to get a close look at her book, grabbing her arm in the process. She opened her mouth, no doubt to tell him off, but her expression softened as James pored over the Swedish Short-Snout hatchlings she had been reading about; she had to hold the book upside down so they could climb up their mothers tail in the image in the book.

The two of them passed the time waiting for the train to leave by flicking through Cassandra's dragon book, before they were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open.

A short whip of a boy sidled in, and stowed his trunk underneath one of the seats. James thought that this was a good idea, as he didn't look big enough to lift it up to the overhead racks.

He flashed a grin at James and Cassandra, and offered his hand. 'I'm Clip.'

James thought that was a bit of an odd name, but shook the offered hand with a smile. Cassandra did that odd little limp-hand thing again and Clip looked mighty uncomfortable. She introduced them both.

'I'm Cassandra, and this is James Potter.'

'Just James is fine,' he added, he didn't need to be going around telling everyone who he was exactly.

'Cool,' said Clip, and settled down opposite Cassandra on the bench seat. His eyes lit up when he saw Cassandra's book on dragons come out. 'Is that the new Scamander book on dragons? Awesome, I love that one, though I disagree on his theory about Horntail hatchlings though, he had anecdotal evidence at best that they incubate them in active volcanoes, and don't even get me started on that female-to-male transformation nonsense.

James saw Cassandra's eyes light up and he rolled his eyes, pressing his forehead against the cool glass. Great, now there were two smart people in here using big words.

The whistle sounded and the train lurched into a rumbling crawl. James waved enthusiastically to his family as they slid by on the platform. Al still looked a little forlorn, there all by himself, his dad's hand resting on his shoulder. Excitement really started flooding through James now, Hogwarts was really happening, he was finally going to make it!

As the train forged on ever northwards Clip had tired of discussing dragon breeding habits with Cassie and curled up in the corner, snoring quietly. James was alternating between casting him strange looks, and trying to Catch Cassie's eye to talk to her again. All of a sudden James seemed to not be able to think of anything to say. He wanted to ask about which classes she was looking forward to, but she would probably just roll her eyes again, and go back to that book, like she did when he had asked to see her wand.

James began fidgeting, and was contemplating getting up to go find the other members of his family, when the compartment door slid open yet again and a really tall girl walked in. She had long blonde hair down below her waist, and brilliant blue eyes, which fixed on James. She gave a nervous smile, and a little half-wave. 'Hi,' she said. 'My name's Kattala. Is it ok if I sit with you guys?'

'You're tall,' said James, and clapped his hand to mouth. Oops.

Cassandra tsked, she was very good at that, and did the introductions again. She introduced him as James Potter yet again, much to his chagrin.

Trying to make a better first impression James offered the seat next to himself. 'So Kattala, is that right? Or can it just be Cat? Three friends already, Cat, Cassie and Clip. I like it.' He offered Cat a winning smile, which she returned in kind. Cassie tsked again.

Cat looked thrilled. 'Friends already, mum will be so happy!' She practically squealed.

James was eyeing up her hair in sidelong glances, trying to figure out if it was longer that he was tall. He asked Cat to stand up so he could check, which she gladly did. He was taller than her hair by three hand widths, he counted. Cassie also said he was denser than her hair by a good margin too, but he wasn't really sure what that meant.

Cat seemed surprised that they all had their trunks with them; apparently she had left hers somewhere back up the train. This coaxed Cassie into talking again.

'You do realise that anybody could just go through all your things, and take what they want, right?' she said, not unkindly.

'Oh it's ok,' Cat replied, 'I put a lock on it, and wrote my name in magic marker so they won't. They will know it's mine.'

Cassie held out her wand. 'We are witches you know, Kattala. I dare say a lock would hardly stop them.'

Cat got a sort of dreamy look on her face as she stared back up the train, the way she had come from. 'Oh. Right. Well, it should be ok, Princess will take care of my things anyway. I asked her specially to look after my favourite socks.'

James got the feeling that asking who exactly Princess was might not be such a good idea.

'Who is your mum anyway?' He asked instead.

Cat flashed him a smile full of shining white teeth. 'Luna, my mum is Luna Lovegood.'

'Oh,' said James, as Cat pulled out her own book and flipped it upside down, earning an uncertain frown from Cassie. Well, that explained it.

James had heard his parents and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron talk about Luna. Uncle Ron stilled called her 'Loony' sometimes. He knew that they had been friends at school, but Luna had left shortly after the war (James pulled a face at the thought of the war) and went searching for fantastical magic animals. His dad had said that she met someone called 'That Arsehole' in Sweden, and had Kattala. But when she returned That Arsehole never came back, and she married the guy who wrote their school books instead. Someone Scamander. James was good with remembering peoples' stories.

He and Cat passed the time trading tales; he told of all the places around the world his dad had travelled to on top secret Auror business, and she responded with adventures she had gone on with her mother and father and two half-brothers, Lorcan and Lysander, who were three years younger than her. James' eyes nearly popped out of his head when she told him about the time they went to track down an illegal Yeti-importing business in Scandinavia, and somehow ended up narrowly avoiding getting trampled by a reindeer stampede by escaping on a Norwegian Ridgeback that her mum called Norberta, of all things.

The sky outside turned from blue to steely grey as the day wore on, and just after the sweets trolley rumbled past (from which James liberated at least one of everything), his cousin Freddy, Fred Weasley II, poked his head in the door.

'Freddy!' James exclaimed, jumping out of his seat, scattering sweets all over the floor and startling a chocolate frog that was making a break for the open window. Cat, who had been slowly falling asleep on James' shoulder, jumped nearly a foot in the air and let out a noise that sort of went squee!

Cassie just raised an eyebrow and tsked again.

After all the introductions were made Fred squished in between James and Cat, and leaned forward conspiratorially, inviting the other to join them.

'Guess what I heard,' he stage-whispered with a grin. 'Someone managed to smuggle a boggart onto the train, they let it out in a third-years carriage; it's wreaking havoc down there! I saw at least three girls crying. Victoire is down there with some other Gryffindor prefect trying to get rid of it, but they're having a hard time; it can't seem to keep a shape for more than a second. It's hilarious!'

James saw Cat shifting uncomfortably in her chair. For some reason she was looking really nervous all of a sudden.

Clip let out a loud guffaw, which made them all jump. 'I like you Kattala,' he said. I think Hogwarts is going to be interesting with you guys this year.'

Even Cassie gave a nod of assent at that statement.

Cat seemed to suddenly decide that the buttons on her dress were very interesting, and left it at that.

A light drizzle was misting the windows of the Hogwarts Express as it pulled into Hogsmeade station that evening. James was sitting with his faced pressed up against the glass, trying to catch a glimpse of the castle. He was abuzz with excitement; he and Freddy, and sometimes Clip, had chatted about quidditch the whole rest of the way to school. James was especially excited about the new format, where every house played the others three times! That was nine games of quidditch for each team. His dad said that they only played three back when he was at school.

First-years still weren't allowed to play, which sucked, but they were allowed on the teams practice squads, and James already couldn't wait to try out for it. He'd been practicing on his broom all summer. He was going to be a chaser of course; they had all the action, and got to score the goals. His dad had been a seeker he knew, but that seemed a bit boring for him, just sitting on the broom looking for a tiny golden ball. James loved the wind in his hair, the thrill of being run down by an angry bludger, and most of all, the exhilaration of slotting a perfect throw through the hoops past Uncle Ron.

As the doors opened and the whistle blew, the five first-years piled out, careful to avoid a particular third-year carriage, in their travels. James got bustled about a bit in the press, and Cat grabbed his hand when they stepped off the train so they didn't separate. James made to reach out to Cassie, but she gave him that eyebrow-look again, and he thought better of it.

Hagrid's voice was thundering over the clamour of eager students, calling out for the first years, and James made a beeline towards its source.

'Firs' years! Firs' years over 'ere, come along now!'

'Hagrid!' cried James, and ran up to give him a hug, momentarily forgetting that he was dragging Cat long with him. Warm hands and a scratchy overcoat enveloped them both, and Cat staggered back with her hair sticking up from all the static electricity.

'Excellent,' she said.

Cassie has stopped a few paces back, and was staring at Hagrid. Her eyes were huge. James laughed a little. That snapped her out of it, and she gave him a very frosty glare. James poked his tongue out and winked. He'd fix her yet.

The march to the boats was a quick one, to try and keep as dry as possible. Cat grabbed his hand again, and James happily strode along with his four new friends, awaiting his first glimpse of his new temporary home.

The group rounded a corner to see a fleet of tiny boats bobbing obediently on the water, flickering paper lanterns, defying the inclement weather atop their collective bows.

But James hardly even saw them.

Argent light of a waxing moon bathed the ochre sandstone spires of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. She was resplendent atop the cliff-face, buttressed towers reaching arms out, inviting them in, offering the safety, warmth, and a part of the sheer unyielding legacy that was Britain's most illustrious institute of magical education.

James had finally made it.