A/N: I am going to be writing this story with a friend of mine considering we plan on it taking awhile-a LONG while-but this chapter is all me. I was away on vacation and started writing the beginning from James' side-and finished it. Next chapter she'll start working with me on this story.
--------------Before the Boy Who Lived------------
--------------------Chapter One-----------------------
-------------Before Hogwarts: James----------------
James rolled over onto his stomach and looked at his clock it was 11:53 PM he sat up with a jolt, he only had 7 minutes until his 11th birthday, only 7minutes to prepare for it. He crept downstairs and grabbed the box he had stashed in the broom cupboard, and crept outside onto the back porch, the side of the box read "Filibuster's No-Match, Wet-Start Fireworks".
James checked his watch; it read 11:57 PM. He crept back inside and got a pitcher of water, then stood on the porch and counted down the minutes until July 12th.
'GOD, this is taking forever' he thought as his watch struck 11:59.
Finally it was his birthday. James opened the box and poured the water into it setting off approximately 50 fireworks, then smiling James started to sing "Happy Birthday" as loud as possibly imagined could be accomplished by any human being.
He smiled even bigger and started to sing-if possible-even louder as he saw every light in a 5-mile radius turn on and there were shouts heard from every single wizard in Godric's Hollow who wasn't deaf.
He turned around as his parents, Katherine and Jack Potter, burst through the door trying so hard to be angry with their son, it was his birthday-but he did wake up more than half the neighborhood-it was kind of funny-but it was still wrong…
James got away with a 'fair' punishment. He was grounded for 3 days, after his birthday of course.
He lay in his room thinking about the success of this mornings' plan.
'It was so worth that 'punishment' I got from my parents, the looks on everyone's faces was PRICELESS! Especially Mum's, she looked terrified, angry, and tickled to death, all at once! This has definatly started out as the best birthday ever!'
James woke up later that morning, to find his mum in the kitchen-hopefully making breakfast, he thought. A second later his mother turned around with a heaping plate of all sorts of different flavored pancakes and set them down in front of her 11 year old.
"Good Morning Jamsie. Happy Birthday." James completely ignored her as he sat down and immediately started wolfing down pancakes.
Katherine waited about half of a minute then said to James in a mocking voice.
" Good morning to you too mum, thank you very much for the pancakes you made for me this morning." At this James looked up at his mother with his mouth as full as it possibly could go.
"Goomurnin mum, fanksfer dabrefust" Katherine leaned over the counter and ruffled James' hair as he pushed her hand away.
Then they heard a yell coming from the master bedroom
"Arrrggghh, you darned owl!!! James, your letter is here!" said Jack Potter as he came downstairs rubbing his head and muttering to himself.
"Stupid owl, couldn't have gone and found James, no it had to wake me up…I hate those stupid Hogwarts owls," Mr. Potter then looked up and saw his breakfast,
"PANCAKES!" He immediately sat down and started wolfing down pancakes next to his son.
"Good morning honey," stated Mrs. Potter as her husband looked up with the same expression James had earlier this morning.
Katherine let out a sigh that sounded suspiciously like "Men…"
Mrs. Potter left the room then came back with a huge box wrapped up in paper with a large red bow on it.
"PRESENTS!"
"Here you go James, but just so you know it was your father was the one who picked this out for you…Said you should be completely stocked up for Hogwarts"
His dad winked at him as James ripped the paper to find dungbombs, more fireworks, and other odds and ends used for pranking on the innocent.
"Thanks mum and dad! He said after giving them a big hug
"Hogwarts, fear the wrath of James Potter!!"
"Now James don't you go using any of this to land yourself in trouble or to injure anyone."
"Mmmuuuuummmm! You always ruin all my fun? If you didn't want me to use it to cause any mayhem, then why do you get it for me for my birthday?!"
"I didn't your father did. This is from me" She leaned over and reached under the counter and brought out a broom-shaped parcel
"You didn't!"
"I did." she said with a grin
James ripped opened the package to find the Nimbus 1500
"YES!!!" James immediately went outside to test his new broom, after he hugged his wonderful mum first of course. He was a natural at flying, and he always was ever since his very first toy broom.
He mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground and soared up into the blue cloudless sky, James closed his eyes just feeling the wind on his face and in his hair
Big mistake
"Oooowww! Geez, watch where you're going!" James opened his eyes to find a boy around his age with bright blue eyes and dark, raven colored hair also sitting on a broom, rubbing his side.
"Sorry mate, I was just enjoying my new broom, I just got it, because today is my birthday."
"Well happy birthday, by the way, my name is Sirius Black. What is yours?"
"Sorry my name is James, James Potter. Nice to meet you Sirius Black."
"Just call me Sirius, no last names, I'd like to stay as unattached from my family as possible. So, James, how old are you on this birthday of yours?"
"I'm 11 now, and I just got my letter to attend Hogwarts. What about you?
"Me too. Hey, do you want to go together to Diagon Ally to buy school supplies? I would like someone else there with me besides my brother quite frankly."
"Sure that'd be fun, when do you plan on going?"
"Probably the 2nd of August."
"See you then, and sorry again about running into you. I've got to go home for lunch."
"S'all right, me too. Bye" Both James and Sirius turned around and went to their respective neighborhoods for lunch.
---AFTER JAMES' "PUNISHMENT"---
"Hey mum, when were we planning on going to Diagon Ally?"
"I dunno James, sometime before September first I suppose."
"Then could we please go on the second of August?"
"Sure James…but why do you want to go that particular day?"
"Well 3 days ago when I was out on my new broom you gave me for my birthday, I kind of…er…I kind of…ran into this boy, and…"
"YOU RAN INTO A BOY?…"
"Well you see it's actually a very funny story, you see there was this clown…"
"…James Harold Potter! I cannot believe you were so careless with your new VERY EXPENSIVE…"
"Then I whirled around and saw him pull this knife out of his front pocket…"
"…I could have spent that money elsewhere like your school career…"
"…And as I was flying for my life from this blood-thirsty clown this boy flew out in front of me and I was waving my hands and yelling and trying to get his attention but he wouldn't move…"
"or I could have…Wait…Blood-thirsty clowns?"
"Yea mum, it's true, I swear…you see he was kicked out of the circus because of the horrible job he did with his tricks and the way he treated kids, and now he's out for his revenge from any innocent by-stander that supposedly ruined his career…"
"James, stop. Now go on then with what this boy has to do with your wanting to go to Diagon Alley on the 2nd of August."
"Well we got to talking and it turns out it's his first year of Hogwarts too. And he's going to Diagon Alley on the 2nd, and I was wondering if I could meet him there to buy school supplies."
"What is this boy's name?"
"Sirius Black"
"Alright then seeing as we have no other plans we'll join the Blacks"
---------------18 DAYS LATER: AUGUST 2nd-----------------
"LEAKY CAULDRON!" exclaimed James as he stepped into the fireplace.
He landed with a thud right in front of Henry, the bartender. Mrs. Potter was shortly after him.
"So where are these Blacks of yours?" asked Mrs. Potter.
James scanned the room looking for some sign of the boy he met a couple weeks ago. Then he spotted him with a rather tall woman with flowing black hair-not unlike Sirius' thought James. Sirius was also with a younger boy with short lighter brown hair.
"There they are mum!" The two Potters walked over to the three Blacks
"Hey James!"
"Sirius! Long time no see!"
"Yea. How've you been James?"
"I've been brilliant. Who is this?"
"This is my younger brother Regulus, he's only 9 and so he won't be joining us at Hogwarts anytime soon…thank goodness."
"I heard that Sirius! You be nice to your brother, he's littler than you!" interjected his mother as Mrs. Potter proceeded to introduce herself
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mrs. Black."
"You too, and please call me Patricia-Mrs. Black makes me feel old Mrs…."
"Potter, Katherine Potter. I'm glad to see that our sons hit it off. And I do apologize for my son crashing into Sirius."
"I'm the one who should be apologizing, the boy is not very careful at all, never looks after himself or his things, he expects me to do that for him."
"It sure sounds like your describing James over here" She ruffled James hair as he brushed her away.
"Well Katherine, are we ready to proceed into Diagon Alley." They were both obviously being overly polite, you could tell neither of them wanted to be there with the other. Mrs. Potter nodded as the five of them strode to the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. Where Sirius and James split up from their mothers and Regulus to shop for their school things and other odds and ends.
"So James, where we headed first?"
"I dunno, where did you want to go" They past the joke shop turned to each other and grinned evilly, coming out minutes later with their pockets bulging from all the new pranks they bought.
"Hmmmm…."said James as he looked down at his list, "Shall we get our robes then?"
"Sure" The two of them headed off towards Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. Where they had robes fitted to them. While they where there they met up with a boy who was also getting new robes, he was very pallid and had a hooked nose.
"So, Hogwarts then?" Sirius asked the boy
"Yea. My first year, you?"
"Our first year too" said Sirius gesturing to him and James.
"What house are you planning on being in?"
"Gryfinndor" They said in unison. The hooked-nose boy gave them a huge look of disgust.
"I plan on being in Slytherin, by the way, my name is Severus Snape, what are yours?" He emphasized Slytherin with a very large sense of superiority.
"James Potter"
"Sirius Black"
"Oh, a Black? Hoping to be in Gryfinndor?"
"Yes."
"I seriously doubt you'll be in Gryfinndor, I know what your family's like."
"Don't you go saying things about me and my family."
"Why not? Is the wittle Black protective of his family name?"
"I'm nothing like the rest of my family, you just leave us alone and no harm will come to you, you little...you...Snivellus."
"Well I guess I'll be seeing you the first of September, whether I like it or not." He stated after paying for his robes and walking out.
"What a git."
"Agreed" James and Sirius also paid for their robes and left, then going onto buy a cauldron, a potion kit, wands, and books. Then both having some money left decided to go have a look in the Magical Menagerie.
"Ha, look at those" James pointed to three black rats doing acrobatic stunts in their cage.
"Cool. Hey I should get this!" Sirius pointed to a shrunken elephant, "Shoot, look at the price, 91 Galleons!"
"Wow, check these out" James pointed at the ceiling where a bunch of different amphibians where clutching to the wood paneling. Both of them had enormous fun pointing out animals and eventually Sirius walked out with nothing and James got himself a bright red owl.
"What do you think I should call him?
"How about Huey?
"Nah, hmmm…what do you think of Mercury the Roman Messenger God?"
"I like it but eventually we'll have to shorten it"
"Not necessarily"
"Alright, Mercury the Roman Messenger God it is" With that James and Sirius headed off to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor to meet up with their mothers.
"How did your shopping go? Get everything?" Said Mrs. Potter greeting the two boys.
"Yea, have a look at this fellow mum." James held up the shockingly red owl for his mum to see.
"Wow, what have you decided to name him?"
"Mercury the Roman Messenger God"
"What an…er…lovely name for your owl." They all ordered ice creams from Mr. Fortescue and sat down happily to eat them.
"Chocolate, Banana, Vanilla, and Pistachio Swirl with strawberry sprinkles?" said James questioning Sirius' choice.
"Yes, have you got a problem with it?"
"As a matter of fact Mr. Black I do…you forgot to add a cherry" James transferred his cherry onto Sirius' sundae.
After their scrumptious ice creams the Potters and the Blacks said good-bye to one another and left to head home from an exhausting day of shopping. Mrs. Potter and James had arrived home to find a 'starved' Mr. Potter waiting for them.
"Finally" said Jack Potter in some sort of greeting to his wife, "What's for dinner?"
"Hello Jack, I love you too, our day was lovely thank you for asking" Mr. Potter rolled his eyes as James tried to stifle a laugh.
"Welcome back Dear, I love you. How was your day out shopping with the Blacks
…what's for dinner?"
"Hello Jack, I love you too, our day was lovely thank you for asking."
"Well…what's for dinner?"
"Honestly I don't know why I even try," she said to herself as she tossed him a paper bag from the Leaky Cauldron. And left the kitchen.
"So James, pick up anything good in Diagon Alley?" James grinned at his father and pulled out a biting teacup and showed it to Mr. Potter.
"What does this do?" He held up the teacup to his face looking for the gag. The teacup then aptly bit him on the nose.
"Oooww! So that's what it does."
"Yea. I plan on giving it to the Head Girl filled with this" James pulled an orange bottle that had 'Kirkwoody's Hair Supplement' written on the side. "It'll give her a mustache for about a day and a half."
"OoooOOo, a double whammy I like it! …But don't tell your mother I do." Unfortunately he was too late and she heard the whole thing.
"Honestly I don't know what I'm going to do with you…you two act more like brothers than father and son!" she looked at them and saw the grins on their faces, "and that is NOT a good thing."
James did a lot of planning with Sirius by owl before the 1st of September, they kept in touch by using James' new owl, Mercury the Roman Messenger God, and before he knew it, James was staring at September first on the calendar the Potters kept downstairs.
"James, time to go!! We're going to be late!" came the voice of his mother from the living room.
"Coming Mum!" And they were off to King's Cross.
They arrived at King's Cross with 15 minutes to spare.
"Alright James, like I said, just walk right through the barrier. Don't be afraid you'll into it though, that's the reason muggles can't get in."
"Okay." Then James turned and ran at the barrier going through to platform 9 ¾ . Although he made it through the barrier with out crashing into it he collided with something else, or rather someone else. A black haired blue eyed something else. Sirius. Again.
"Aarrgghh, Geroff me!" James climbed off of his friend and Sirius turned around to see who his attacker was.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Sorry Sirius, it was an accident." Sirius stood up and started brushing himself off.
"Yeah, sure. I personally think you're just clumsy." Just then Mrs. Potter came through the barrier.
"Good day Sirius."
"Hello Mrs. Potter"
"None of those formalities Sirius just call me Katherine."
"Ok, Hello Katherine"
"She hates feeling old" James muttered to Sirius who laughed
"What's funny?"
"Oh nothing Katherine, James here was just telling me what happened to some people who couldn't find good seats on the train." Obviously Sirius was quick on his feet when it came to white lies. Which would be good considering in the many letters sent using Mercury the Roman Messenger God they had both conspired to become the most famous pranksters in the history of Hogwarts. "So, we're off to find seats so we don't end up like them." The 2 of them turned to leave.
"Oh no you don't Jamesy-poo" James turned around 2 face his mother red from embarrassment.
"Don't call me that," he said through gritted teeth
"Aww, Don't be a spoil-sport I rather like it…Jamesy-poo." Sirius added
"Come over here and give your mother a hug good-bye." James reluctantly went over and hugged his mum-but he made it quick it was bad enough she called him -that name- he couldn't be seen hugging his mum in public.
"Bye mum"
"Bye Jamesy-poo, I love you!" James hurried Sirius away onto the train, where unfortunately there was only a very small compartment left.
"Shoot, James I tried to tell your mum, but no, no one listens to Sirius Black."
"Shut up Sirius I've got the stuff."
"Good I dislike small compartments." They sat and talked about miscellaneous things until the train left then crept 2 the back of the train where all the bigger compartments are.
-BOOM-There was a shriek and a run for the compartments in the front of the train. They had let off some dungbombs in the back of the train. Sirius and James then emerged wearing bandanas on their mouths and noses and James was spraying a substance he called "Undung" a discovery of his father's when he was at school.
The two of them brought their stuff to the largest compartment, and removed their bandanas.
"Hey Sirius look here."
"What is it Jamesy-poo? James glared at him.
"You know that pale boy and his buddies-not that he deserves any-were in this compartment right?"
"That's right Jamesy-poo" more glaring from James.
"Well, he forgot to take his sweets." James pointed to the far left corner of the compartment where there was a humungous pile of sweets."
"Excellent." They both sat down and began devouring the sweets. Then someone slid open the door to their compartment.
It was a girl about their age, already in her school robes, with red hair, and a burning fire in her emerald green eyes. She stood there with her hands on her hips with a scornful look on her face.
"I can't believe you, my dreams finally come true, and you're already trying to ruin them. Well listen up, because I'm here to tell you that I'm not going to let that happen." With that said she turned around and stomped off.
Other then that the rest of their train ride passed rather uneventfully.
A/N: Can you believe it-11 pages on Microsoft Word…wow!
We plan on updating once a week, just so you know-it's hard to find time to get together.
Also does anyone out there know how to make italics? I you do, and you wish to review this story-please let me know how!!!
Review!