Bad things happen in threes. So far in this peaceful generation however, the only thing James and the rest of the family have to worry about is who is king of the school and the dating scene. Now in his sixth year, an exchange student has come into James' life that could flip all of their lives upside down and bring an era Voldemort couldn't even imagine.
Author's Note: This is the first of a trilogy. This first story concentrates on James and Mindy. The second will be of course on the fabulous trio that is Rose, Al, and Scorp. The last will tie things together. Mostly fun times in the first two of course. Yes I know the picture is crap, anyone who wants to design one for me can contact me and be awesomely mentioned and loved forever :)
Prologue: Harry
Ask any person that has lived in Godric's Hollow more than 20 years and they would say that it used to be such a peaceful neighborhood. Really it still was, but occasionally there are noises. These noises are impossible to explain as they seem to come from thin air and from one particular part of the town. But if you just avoided that area, why this was still such a nice place to live.
Harry Potter certainly thought so after the war. There was a definite reason why many wizarding families happen to like this part of England. It was quiet and out of the way just in case of underage magic. It provided a nice mix of muggles and wizards so that kids would grow up properly and without prejudice. The weather wasn't too English and rainy. And to top it off, Potter Cottage already had all the charms needed to remain hidden. It had been a difficult process dealing with where his parents died and all, but Ginny was right when she said that the world needed a beacon of hope, a rebirth from the ashes. In this particular case, it had been quite literal. The cottage was almost identical on the outside as it had been when James and Lily were beginning their lives. However, with the family growing to an unusual size quite quickly, some consideration was taken on the inside and now Potter Cottage could now be considered more a Manor that was needed desperately on the holidays.
The famous Mr. Potter did love his new house and his wonderful family, but there were days when he almost wished Shacklebolt chained him to his desk to finish his paperwork so that he would have an excuse to miss the upcoming battle that was the first day of school. On this fateful day, he sat quietly at the kitchen table and enjoyed the paper which was surprisingly nonbiased after the war. A whole table of food sat in front of him that Ginny made last night to avoid the morning rush and he even swore that he could hear a bird singing though really there had been none living nearby since last summer's Troll Incident. Still, it was quiet enough to harbor hope that maybe this year; everything would go exactly the way that he wanted.
Unfortunately his kids seem to channel his knack for getting into trouble.
"ALBUS, IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED, I AM DONE. I WILL GIVE YOU TO AUNT HERMIONE TO BE LECTURED FOR A YEAR."
Harry flinched hearing his wife's beautiful voice that was cheerfully persuading her son to get ready for the train. James and Lily seemed to follow in his footsteps and were willing to get up at any time. On the other hand, Ginny and Al always seemed to compete in the best sloth impersonation competition. Unfortunately, when Ginny couldn't sleep in, there was no chance that she was going to let one of her sons get what she craved.
"Morning dad!" called a soft voice just a second before Lily Luna bounced into the kitchen and stole a piece of bacon from Harry plate while she gave him a kiss on the cheek. She considered the rest of the bacon for a moment before sitting down at her usual place. The little 13 year old Gryffindor was turning into a woman that was as feisty as her mother. It was almost surprising she was down here instead of irritating James.
He glanced up from his paper to give her a smile and held his finger over his mouth. "Let's not remind the rest of them that we're down here yet, okay?" he said in a soft whisper. His daughter only snorted and started to fill a plate up with food that Ginny made rivaling her own mother's. That was when Harry got a good look at what she was wearing; a skirt that seemed a little too short and a shirt that was a little too tight for a girl about to enter her 3rd year. "Lily, your mom does know you're wearing that correct? Do I need to tell you to get the robes on early?"
Lily only paused in her gathering to roll her eyes and whispered back, "Dad, you know as well as I do that the only boy who is gonna get me has to keep up with me on a broomstick and put up with our family of very manly men. Neither of which seems very likely at 13. Duh." She picked up her plate and flew out of the kitchen once again; hopefully to get her truck that hopefully didn't have any blackmail material in it. Hopefully.
There was more pounding on the steps. That only meant one thing. Harry hid his plate right before James strolled into the room. He fell into his seat and starting shoveling into the mound of pancakes that had supposedly been for everyone. Harry didn't even want to look at the insane amount of food James was inhaling, but he was the head Auror. He had seen worse things. Granted, not by much but James was his own son that had to count for something. He cleared his throat, "Er, James…"
"Dad! Hey, you're up! Listen, my truck is already downstairs and ready to go. No need for any last minute inspections. If I forgot something I'll just owl you!" James grinned. It was identical to another James Harry had seen in a pensive long ago right before he did something incredibly stupid.
Harry pushed back the memories of last year when a few not so legal things made it into James' trunk and instead just said, "I know that your hair is bad, trust me I really do, but don't make it worse by adding egg."
James looked slightly confused before reaching up and touching his messy locks he inherited from his father with the trademark auburn color that marked him half Weasly. Sure enough, a piece of scrambled egg was dangling in the middle of his forehead. "Whoops," he muttered, "I just miss mom's food when I'm gone." Somehow, he also missed the egg hanging on the frame of his glasses, but at this point it was a lost cause.
"That's a very nice sentiment dear, but really, Claire will really have a cow if she sees what her boyfriend has resorted to," announced Ginny as she marched into the kitchen and right up to Harry before whispering in a not so quiet voice, "It's your turn next year, don't forget it." After James' first year, the two had realized that they needed to take turns for being in charge on the first day of school. That way there would still be a sane person left to answer any police questions. Surprisingly, this tactic did come in handy two years ago in what the kids were calling The Inside Job.
Harry resisted the urge to groan. Ginny smiled (it really only had a hint of evil in it) and went into the foyer to start counting the different pieces of luggage. They seemed to multiply each year. James and Harry stared after her then at each other. James ran his hand though his hair and simply said, "Dad, you are the bravest man I know."
Somehow, the whole fighting Voldemort and winning thing had stopped impressing the three after James turned about 5. Yet, maybe there was a sign of hope if they recognized how difficult they made their parents' lives. They were growing up now. This had to be the maturing thing that all the other parents were talking about. So Harry simply said, "James, you know the usual rules for public outings with the family. Now go get ready, and remember no kidnapping attempts this year."
"But food…"
"But your mom's temper is about to explode. Go." Harry resisted the strong urge to laugh at his oldest son looking at the food with a longing that his girlfriend didn't even bring out in him. Of course, that could just be normal; Harry really didn't have a sense of what a normal relationship entailed. But finally, the wrath of Ginny outweighed any of the food left on the table and James got up dragging his feet as he went to the fireplace.
Harry conceded defeat and put down the newspaper to help out his wife. He put together a small plate with a variety of food before he stood up stretching unconsciously rubbing his forehead where the famous scar had faded to a pale pinkish color that only stood out when he got a tan. He mindlessly gathered all the dishes together and put them in the sink (the years of practice with the Dursleys were good for something) then waved his wand. A soapy sponge sprang from the counter and began to clean up. He grinned; that spell could have saved him hours of picking up after Dudley when he was little. Now, his kids just took it for granted. Of course he would never wish that on his kids. Most of the time.
Somehow the walk to the fireplace required every ounce of courage that Harry had left. He held his hands up to his face right before going in but was pleasantly surprised when nothing exploded this time. Instead, Ginny was busying straightening James up while Lily poked the owls one at a time and Al just looked miserable sitting on top of his trunk.
He slid over to Al and handed him the plate of food that was from the kitchen. Al gave his dad a grateful look before starting on it with a little less gusto then James. Harry couldn't help but smile; Albus had to be the most like him. Sure, part of it was the looks with the messy black hair, green eyes (though without the curse of bad eye sight), and slight build but Harry knew it was something more. Al reminded him so much of himself when he was going through Hogwarts and was perhaps the kid that Harry could have been if other things hadn't gotten in the way. This was a little scary considering Al was entering his 5th year as a Gryffindor and Harry still cringed remembering his emo year. Harry reached over to mess up Al's hair even further than it already was and Al grumpily sat there taking it. He would be alright, Harry knew that, but a dad could worry.
"Come on, let's go, your aunt and uncle are probably already there," said Ginny ushering her wayward children to the fireplace. She watched each like a hawk as they each took their own trunks, threw the powder in, and shouted, "King's Cross!" Right before she grabbed her own bit of floo powder, Harry crept up behind her and spun her around then gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "Getting better at that, Mr. Potter," Ginny laughed and kiss him back quickly on the lips.
"I've had a few years of experience, Mrs. Potter. And tonight is the first night we've had completely alone all summer. I mean, I'm just saying…"
"That you have to go to work tomorrow and I have to edit the edit on my piece that's due at 8am sharp," Ginny sighed and turned around.
"Oh come on, can't we just say we saved the world so they should give us a break?"
Ginny snorted and threw the powder on the flames. Right before stepping in, she faced Harry and said, "I think I may have an hour or two for the savior tonight." She winked and stepped into the flames.
Harry grinned. Merlin's beard, he loved her.
A few minutes later and the Potter caravan had finally gone through the brick wall. The ever elegant Hogwarts Express was as awe inspiring as usual, at least to Harry. For the kids, it was business as usual. James immediately started looking for Claire while Lily had already begun talking to some boys who seemed to be enjoying the view a little too much. But before Harry could intervene, someone shouted, "HARRY. IT'S BEEN FOREVER."
Immediately, Harry turned and found the rest of the Weasley/Potter hoard. Ron was waving and clearly the one who had called out as Hermione was busy with Hugo who would have liked nothing more to avoid his fussy mother's kisses. The rest of the family was scattered down the platform finding their respectful year. In fact, James and Fred had already found each other. "Bye dad," James said walking over to Harry and stuck out his hand. Harry snorted and took the hand which then turned into an embrace (only made slightly awkward by the fact that James was a solid 4 inches taller than Harry at this point). As they let go, James only slightly muttered, "Dad…"
"Do I really need to go on my speech about loving the family you have and all that?" Harry said. James shook his head quickly before Harry said, "Good, now have fun and avoid a criminal record. They tend to frown on that stuff when they are looking at your application to the Auror department." Then James was off to say bye to his mother and sprinted to catch up with Fred.
"They look like they're up to something already," Ron grumbled. Harry only snorted. Apparently Rose had made her way over with her father and was already informing Al on all the drama he missed. Al was looking very, very tired. "Look mate," Ron started, "That paperwork…"
"Will be done by tomorrow morning. That's great, thanks Ron! You know Kingsley has really been bugging me for it. Thank God you are such a great friend and get everything done on time."
Ron frowned before shrugging, "Eh, worth a shot." Al and Rose waved over at the two of them before heading over to the train to find a spot. Lily was already gone. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Days like today made him wish he could go back and be a normal student for once at Hogwarts with no problems. "Harry, you know that if we went back as normal students, we would be extremely bored," Ron said then sighed as well.
"Trelawney gave you some mind reading tips?"
"Nah, it's all Hermione. She had to talk me out of sneaking in somehow. You would think that Miss Brainiac would want to go back to school." As if suddenly knowing she was being talked about, Hermione looked up from her conversation with Ginny and glared over at the two of them. Suddenly, Harry really did feel like he was back at Hogwarts and just forgotten to do a Potions essay. "Still, ten galleons James and Fred will wind up getting into some major trouble this year with that exchange student."
Harry frowned at Ron before turning his attention back to the train and waving at Lily who was hanging out of the window. "Now what makes you say that?" he asked out of the side of his mouth.
Ron grinned at Hugo and stuck his tongue out just to make Hugo feel even more embarrassed. He said, "I swear my new goal in life is to give Hugo the same complex Fred and George gave me. Seriously though, the boys are in the same year as her and she's pretty which means Fred will be all over that. Plus, James loves being the middle of things and with her, this opens up the whole possibility of solving the Witch Hunter problem…"
"He isn't going to solve it," Harry said a little too loudly. Thankfully, the train chose that moment to whistle and begin to move. Harry ran his hand through his hair once more and pinched his nose, "That particular problem is for the Department of Magic in America. Across the ocean. And she isn't even a part of it, her parents are. There's no way she could ever bring that problem to James. Besides, she's in Ravenclaw according to McGonagall. James doesn't even touch books as his own personal religion. There's no way that they'll even be connected."
Ron shrugged, "Don't know mate. All I'm thinking is that somehow we're going to know what it felt like being the Order of the Phoenix trying to watch over us. I have a feeling that it wasn't entirely sunshine and unicorns all the time."
Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Hermione and Ginny had begun walking over and there was no way he was going to get Ginny worrying about James more than she already did. Besides, Harry had fought so hard as a teenager to get life in the wizarding world back to normal for everyone else. It was only fair that his kids only had to worry about the normal things in life like pranks and boys. Unfortunately, there was a nagging voice at the back of his head reminding him that Potters always managed to find themselves in trouble. No, it wouldn't be a problem during this school year. It couldn't be. Harry ran his fingers through his hair once again, frustrated that he was actually beginning to worry about this. Unfortunately, Ron sometimes had a surprising talent for predicting the future whether he was serious or not.
Nah, nothing would happen. Still a letter to James couldn't hurt. First thing on his to do list tomorrow. After he spent some time with Ginny. And he did all of his paper work. And met with Teddy about the proposal plans. James would be fine. Potters were always curious. In fact a letter might just make him more nosy. "Merlin's beard, Ron," Harry groaned.
"I know," Ron said with sympathy, "It sucks to be the adults now. It's all up to them." And strangely, Harry knew that Ron was right.
It was their turn.