Author's Note: Honestly, not sure if I'm happy with this. But I really couldn't figure out how to start the story. Oh well. It should pick up next chapter. This is set during James Sirius Potter's 7th year at Hogwarts, the next school year after the events of The Cursed Child. As such, there will be spoilers for Cursed Child here. So please be wary! I've rated it M for language and sexual themes, not that it's going to get raunchy or anything. Just being careful! Thanks to EmodinosaurX3 for all your amazing characters! I'm very excited to introduce them all.

Chapter One

STRENGTH IN UNITY

We can no longer judge our fellow wizards by archaic rankings of 'purity'. By our mere use of magic, we have aligned ourselves regardless of birth or circumstance. We must throw off the ideals pushed by those who would divide us with their agendas of war and destruction – destruction of ourselves and all that we know…

In the last century, we have seen wars that threatened to obliterate our culture from within…

And now we find a survivor of these out-dated ideas – Delphini Riddle? Delphini Lestrange? She who now resides in Azkaban, but these prisons are no longer sufficient…

We saw the number of escapees. We saw the Dementors' revolt. We, the public, watched and fretted and trusted our Ministry to right its missteps with each Death Eater screaming from its mugshot on freshly printed WANTED posters. We cried for diligence. We begged for increased measures. We pleaded for reassurance. And again, the Ministry has not heard us…

Did you notice Delphini did not protest once in her trial? Her calm and collected demeanour sent a shiver down my very spine. I wondered why she was so composed, unfaltering when charged with her crimes – until I recognised the look on her face. The look we see on a parent's face when a toddler throws a tantrums. The look a professor tries to mask when a delinquent hands in an assignment on time. The look I have when my elderly mother insists she will never see another nurse again.

The look that says: this won't last forever…

We must call for harsher punishment. Without it, she will return and we will find ourselves torn up in war again…

We have stared into the abyss and scrambled back time and time again. Now we must stand together on the cliff edge, spit into the face of division and stand united…

Until another day, dear readers: Stay wary. Stay alert. Stay vigil.

THERE IS STRENGTH IN UNITY. WEAKNESS IN APATHY. FREEDOM THROUGH STRIFE – AND NOW WE FACE OUR STRIFE.

Ginny Weasley snorted, nostrils vibrating as air rushed out and she threw the paper to the ground. She wanted it made perfectly clear that this was outrageous, damn near disgusting. She folded her arms over her chest, glaring down at the fine print before whipping around to her audience.

"Can you believe this?" She exclaimed, face reddening. "Cuffe must be bloody barmy if he thinks this is appropriate!"

"It's the Daily Prophet, people know what it's like." Harry returned with a half smile.

Ginny's brow furrowed as she stared down her husband. He had definitely put his foot in it there. "And what does that mean?"

"Not-I-obviously the Prophet is a great newspaper, it's the only newspaper anyone reads that has any clout," Harry never was any good at backtracking. "I just mean everyone knows what Barnabas Cuffe is like. He will print anything to get sales and this crap is just another gimmick. Remember Seer Speaks?"

Ginny rolled her eyes again and her arms unfurled. "That column was complete nonsense – a bloody intern wrote it and fancied himself a distant relative of Trelawney. Seer, my arse. Barely lasted a week before readers started to complain."

"And this will be the same. It'll blow over in a couple of weeks when people get tired of reading it," Harry soothed, climbing out of his chair and slinking towards her.

"Harry, they've been going for over a month now and that can only mean readership is up,"

"They have slogans," he teased, sliding a hand over Ginny's back. He rubbed his thumb against the edge of her spine, knobbly fingers kneading out the knots. "No one is stupid enough to actually listen to slogans."

Her shoulders slouched, a sigh of relief rippling through her body. Tension oozed out with her breath. A smirk tugged at the edge of her rosy lips, spreading into faded laugh lines. "I think we've met our fair share of people stupid enough."

"Feeling better?" Harry beamed, her infectious smile spreading to him. "Was I just an incredibly supportive husband?"

"Yes you were," she shifted and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Makes a nice change, gets a bit tiring being the voice of reason all the time."

"See, growth," he puffed out his chest and set his jaw. "This is me, new and improved. Growing as a person."

The two returned to the sofa, settling in and letting the plush cushions consume them. Ginny burrowed her head in Harry's shoulder, her brilliant red hair cascading over his chest and pooling in his lap. He tucked a stray away and tangled his hand in her locks, massaging her head gently with his thumb. This was his favourite place to be and he wanted to remember every moment of it; absorb every trace of Ginny. This summer, all too often, he found himself looking at his family, memorising every aspect of his children, every pitch of his wife's voice, every ring of laughter echoing throughout the house, every tear shed. He'd come too close to losing this too many times.

"I just worry," Ginny broke the silence with a murmur. She cupped Harry's hand with her own, a gesture seemingly meant to comfort. Harry knew better - it was to soften the blow to come. "Every time that girl is mentioned, I worry about what happened. How close we came to – how close you and Al came to -"

A shudder reverberated through her body and drowned out her words.

"I won't let that happen ever again." His voice was firm. He meant it.

"I know, I know, and you have been really working on things with Al. He knows it too," she squeezed his hand. He could feel her cheeks pinching into a smile. "And he loves you for it. This family just can't handle any more chaos, and the fear mongering bastard who writes that nonsense is just what I mean..."

"DON'T you know eavesdropping can make you go deaf?" James jumped back from the bannister with a start, limbs flailing as he scrambled to retract the Extendable Ear. The cord got tangled around the railing, leaving the fleshy string dangling – damnable evidence of his snooping. His mind whirred as he glanced over his shoulder, excuses formulating at a whopping speed.

I heard shouting. I was worried. After that whole Delphini thing…

I was sleepwalking. Sleep… misbehaving?

I swear Lily, if you tell Mum and Dad, I will hex your tongue to tie itself into knots every time you speak to Christian Thomas because you fancy the bloody pants off him. Goodbye social life.

But the hallway was empty. No redheaded brat in sight. Was it Al? That idiot knew better than to cross his path. Last time he snitched on him, Al woke up with enchanted teeth in his bed chewing on his scrawny legs whilst James cackled maniacally down the hall. Never cross a man with a backlog of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Thanks, Uncle Ron and Uncle George. Sibling torment has never been so easy.

James narrowed his eyes, willing night vision upon himself. He reached into the pocket of his dressing gown, slowly withdrawing the wand resting against his hip.

"Slow down there, Jimbo," the voice laughed, dropping its feminine lilt as the shadows shifted.

James rolled his eyes and set about untangling the Extendable Ear. Only one person ever called him Jimbo – a childhood nickname he could never shake completely. "I never interrupted you when you were listening in on Victoire and her friends."

"I was fourteen and I fancied her, free pass." Teddy chuckled as his hair morphed back from black to turquoise and his face slowly became recognisable.

"I know you did it well beyond fourteen," James smirked. "What guy wouldn't listen in on a girl whilst she-"

"That's your cousin you're talking about. Bit weird."

He threw his hands up defensively. "You started it, Tedders. You made it weird."

Teddy sauntered up to James as he finished clearing the evidence of his mischief, leaning against the bannister and narrowing his eyes at the eldest Potter child. James ignored him. Damn bastard had interrupted just as things got juicy – sibling gossip is always valuable information.

"Hear anything interesting down there?" Teddy jerked his head towards the living room at the bottom of the stairs, eyebrows arched.

"Depends, you with the feds? Is this a shake down?"

"I may be old now, dear Jimbo, but I will never abandon the life of crime and mild mischief."

James eyed him suspiciously, raising his square jaw dramatically as if to judge Teddy's integrity. "I don't know, that cousin of mine is an awfully good influence. Women, eh?"

"Fuck off," Teddy laughed, shaking his head and softening his face with a broad smile. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"The Daily Prophet is publishing complete toss, blah blah blah," James mimicked his mother with surprising accuracy, even popping his hip and resting a hand on it with a feminine flair. "I hate everything that happened last year, but Harry, you're still the best."

"Better hope Ginny doesn't catch you doing that, or you'll spend Christmas with Uncle Charlie in the sticks,"

"I would never do that to James, because he's my favourite. He's everyone's favourite. Hooray for James." James continued a small cheer in his mother's voice, pumping his fists in the air and chanting 'hooga' in a hushed shout.

Teddy groaned and pushed himself off the bannister. "I get the feeling you're using humour as a defence mechanism. If you are worried about your folks after everything that happened, you can talk -"

"Slow down there, mate," James settled down and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I don't need to talk about shit. I'm not worried about shit. I'm after valuable blackmail material, that's all."

Teddy's arched an eyebrow. James was an avid – and annoyingly convincing – liar. "That's all?"

"I'm a simple man with simple evil needs," James shrugged. "Plus I wanted to feel out if Dad would let me have the invisibility cloak back. Fucking confiscated it after shithead stole it last year to go on his time travelling adventure, the prick."

"Look me in the eye-"

"What?"

"Jimbo, look me in the eye and tell me nothing is going on."

James leant down to Teddy's eye level, widening his deep brown eyes to the size of dinner plates and staring intensely. He extended his syllables as he replied.

"I swear that I, James Potter, have no levels or depth of emotion. I am a shallow and superficial fuck. A very handsome and devilishly rogue shallow and superficial-"

"If you say so."

Teddy sighed and gave up, leaning away. This wasn't going anywhere. James continued to stare until Teddy shoved him away with a frown. James chuckled and clapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I swear there is nothing to worry that pretty head about,"

"Then you should probably go to bed," Teddy grinned, peeling away from James' arm. "Or I'll tell your parents you've been up past your bedtime."

"No fair," he whined. "Don't pull rank on me."

This was a grave betrayal. How could Teddy do this? You graduate school, you get a fiancé, you get a "real job" and suddenly you get to tell every sodding person younger than you what to do. This was fascism at its finest.

"Oh no, only seventeen-year-olds with deep rooted emotional issues and a need for a long, supportive chat about the emerging issues in their family get to stay up late. You're completely fine and emotionally stable. You go to bed like a good boy."

James groaned and pouted melodramatically, eyes set in a glare as he started to slink away. "You're drunk with power."

"And give me the Extendable Ear." Teddy reached out his hand, unable to hide his smirk. "You can't be trusted with it."

"Well played, Teddy. Well played."

"Goodnight, Jimbo," he added to rub salt into the wound. "Let me know if you need your mummy to come tuck you in."

James stuck his hand out behind him, middle finger waving wildly behind his head. He could hear Teddy's throaty chuckle of victory echo down the hall. Dickhead. He trudged passed Lily's room, her door plastered in shifting photographs from the over years, memories in constant motion. One picture seemed to watch him every time he passed – a photo of Lily and their mother with their eyes shifting from side to side as they pulled silly faces to the camera – faces a human shouldn't be able to contort into. Lily's cheeks puffed out, her nose upturned with a finger and her tongue rubbing the edge of her nostrils. Ginny's ears pressed out like goblet arms, her tongue lolling out to her chin and the rest of her features scrunched up together.

Lily was always closest to Mum. He nodded in agreement with his thoughts. They both watched him like hawks, both in portraiture and real life.

Once James was out of the photograph's eye and passed the guest bathroom that always smelt suspiciously like lavender, he stopped at the door into Albus' room - cracked open ever so slightly. A splinter of light leaked out into the hallway, breaking up the darkness in a single white streak. James froze and tiptoed to the door, fumbling a hand into his pocket.

Shit. He took the Ear. Curse you Teddy, I will have my revenge.

James silently shook a fist at the darkness behind him before pressing closer to the door with the grace of a ballerina-turned-ninja. He crouched, begging his long legs not to crack as he brought his ear to the edge of the light. He could hear shuffling on the other side of the door, heavy feet padding across the carpet. Maybe even pacing.

"I just want a quiet year, I just want a quiet year." Albus' voice was repeating inside, occasionally breaking with the comedic timing only puberty could have.

James stifled a laugh. Puberty really was a bitch. He made a mental note to tease Albus about it another time.

"I just want a quiet year," Albus finished the chant to whatever gods he was praying for mercy from. The springs creaked as he sunk into his bed with a breathy sigh. "I just don't want to let anyone down. I just want to be happy."

James rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet for a few seconds. He pressed his lips together, stroking a hand over his square jaw as he drew his eyebrows together. James had a choice to make here: be a supportive older brother and provide some words of wisdom, or be an absolute dick and scare the living daylights out of Al.

The answer was clear.

"Don't worry Al," James burst in, kicking the door with the enthusiasm of an Auror making their first bust. "Everyone's just relieved to find out your balls finally dropped – we were really getting worried there. Were we going to need a ball charm to coax those fuckers out? The family was in tatters over it!"

Albus stared wide-eyed, chest rising and falling rapidly with his heartbeat practically visible as it thumped against his ribs. His rigid body tensed further as he glared and threw a pillow at the door. "Fuck off, James!"

The pillow landed a few feet short and James snorted. "Damn, you still throw like you're prepubescent. That won't impress the girls at all,"

Albus scrambled to his feet. "GO AWAY!"

"No judgement!" James threw his hands up defensively, his massive grin not fading in the face of Albus' newfound rage. "If Scorpius is more your type, I don't think he'll mind since he can't throw for shit. Just maybe wait a bit before bumming in the Room of Requirement – I don't think Mum could handle the shock."

"I swear I hate you," Albus snarled as he shoved his brother out of his room, with James flailing and mockingly begging for help.

"Unhand me! You'll hurt me! I'm dainty!"

"You're a terrible person!"

James grinned, stopping the bedroom door with his foot as Albus tried to slam it.

"A terrible person who just made you feel better, Allykins."

"I hope the Express does everyone a favour and leaves you on the platform tomorrow!"

"Oh no! But you'd miss me too much!"

With that, the door finally slammed and James merrily skipped back to his room, grinning from ear-to-ear. This was going to be a fun year.