James ran his hand through his always-messy red hair and observed himself in the mirror. That should do. He thought.
Everything was set. His trunk was in the car his dad had recently learned to drive, everyone was dressed in Muggle clothes, and James, Albus and Lily were ready for Hogwarts. Okay, maybe Lily wasn't all that ready. It was her first year and she was nervous as hell. She was afraid her smarts would end her up in Ravenclaw.
Albus, on the other hand was starting his third year and looked forward to all the Hogsmede visits after all James had told him. He was so excited to be able to spend his savings on sweets from Honeydukes, butterbears from The Three Broomsticks, and even buy stuff from Zonko's and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Now James wasn't new to anything. He'd been sorted. He's been to Hogsmede. He's even done his O.W.L.s. All he was looking forward to this year was finally making a move for his best friend, Amelia Scamander. The sixth and seventh years were having a New Year's Ball this holiday, and James had finally summoned all his Gryffindor courage to ask her to go with him when the time comes.
He grinned as he walked out into the hall. "Well someone's looking cheery today." James jumped. He turned around only to realize it was his grandfather, who bore the same name, speaking from the picture that hung in the hallway.
"Goodness," James mumbled. "You scared me." The other James grinned.
"Can't blame a guy for wondering why you're so happy," James's grandfather said.
"I can't believe you want our grandson to be sad!" his grandmother, Lily said from inside the picture. The two other men in the picture laughed.
"What day is it today?" Remus Lupin asked.
"September first," James replied. He always felt weird talking to the four young people in the picture who were supposed to be his grandparents yet they were twenty two in the picture.
"Aha! First day at Hogwarts," Sirius Black said.
"Yup. I better get going," James said. All four people in the picture waved at him, and he made his way downstairs.
His mother made sure everything was set, and they left to King's Cross.
James kissed his parents goodbye and started looking through the compartment windows for his friends. Finally, he found them, and his jaw almost touched the floor when he saw that Amelia lay on one of the four benches in the compartment, her head on his other best friend, Fred Weasley's lap. The entire group was laughing.
He sighed and opened the door. "James!" Amelia called out. She immediately got up and ran over to hug him. "I missed you so much. I saved you a seat." She led him over to where she was lying moments before, and they both sat down.
"So what news does our trio of troublemakers have?" Alice Longbottom asked, looking at James, Amelia and Fred who were seated together.
"I don't even want to know," Teddy Lupin, who was a year older than the rest of them, said.
"Just because you're Head Boy, Ted doesn't mean you're going to give us detentions," Fred pointed out. Ted's hair changed from blonde to green as he sighed.
"Teddy! You just reminded me to change back," Amelia said and her hair turned into a sky blue color. "I don't get why I have to 'normal' hair around Muggles." Even though both her parents couldn't morph, Amelia was born with the ability.
"So guys, tell us about what you bought from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes this summer," Frankie Longbottom, Alice's twin brother asked the trio.
"Almost the whole store!" Amelia exclaimed. "I made sure I got extra Puking Pastiles for History of Magic."
At this moment, Albus, Lily, Rose and Hugo entered the compartment. "Sorry to interrupt. We just couldn't find an empty compartment," Albus explained.
"When did we ever tell you that you can't sit with us?" Victoire asked with a smile.
Amelia turned her attention back to James. "I can't believe you didn't come with Fred and me to Diagon Alley. We had so much fun, and Fred's dad gave us a bunch of blue prints of jokes he was planning to make with his twin brother but never got the chance to so we can continue them!" James forced a smile. Oh, sure. I'm glad you and Fred had a great time, but would you at least not start with Fred this, Fred that? James thought bitterly.
Even with all the bitter thoughts in his head, James smiled a genuine one when he remembered what he found the other day. "Guys," he whispered so that only Fred and Amelia could hear. "I found a guide to make a Marauder's Map in my dad's office. We can make plenty of those like the one we have!" Amelia gasped.
"We're in for a great year," Fred said with a grin.