This is the (now entire) Chapter One of 'Night Of The Blue Moon', a James Potter story based on the characters and worlds of J.K. Rowling. The complete book is due to be released on the 18th August.

Chapter One

Midnight

The creaking floorboards pulled Harry from the depths of his sleep and into immediate alertness. All was silent in the room, but for the gentle breathing of the woman next to him and the faint whistling of the wind outside the window, and it definitely had not been those that had woken him. He sat in the darkness, waiting, and just when he thought he had been imagining it, the creak sounded again. Ginny stirred next to him, so he rearranged the covers to keep her warm and silently climbed out of bed before heading to the door.

It was midnight. On the landing outside his room, Harry took a second for his eyes to adjust, and then, no longer feeling as light-headed he walked towards the stairs and stepped down onto the first floor.

The first floor was much bigger than the one above it, housing the rooms of all three of Harry's children. As he came down the stairs he was directly opposite Albus' room, who's door was tightly shut - Albus couldn't sleep with any light in the room, and his parents had to block all light out, which became increasingly hard in Summer months when the days lasted longer. Harry pressed his ear up against the door to hear his son's faint breath before moving on.

Both James' and Lily's doors were open. Despite the darkness, Harry could clearly make out the vibrant shades of pink and purple on the walls of Lily's room. He could also just about make out her shadow lying in her bed as she slept. Harry could barely see into James' room, and so stepped further towards it when the noise he had heard before caught his attention again. It was coming from downstairs.

Slowly but surely, Harry turned around and headed for the stairs. He walked down and saw the disturbance. James was sleepwalking again.

Harry hurried quickly over to him and caught James' swaying body in his arms. He was covered in sweat and was panting heavily. His footsteps were slow and indecisive, as he walked slowly across the room. Harry steadied him and, pulling out his wand, lightly tapped James on the forehead as the witch at St Mungo's had taught him to do. James opened his eyes.

'Dad?' James muttered, swaying slightly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realised where he was and what he was doing.

Harry pressed his finger to his lips and led James through to the living room and sat him down in one of the chairs.

'Have I been sleepwalking again?' James asked.

'Yes. First time in months - I'd really thought you had finally stopped,' Harry replied, breathing heavily and sitting in a chair himself.

'It's probably nothing,' James said, 'a one off. I'm just a little stressed. The woman at St Mungo's said it could be brought on by stress.'

'But why are you stressed?' replied Harry. James gave him a look, suggesting Harry already knew James' problem. 'No, not this again.' Harry continued. 'We've been through all this before, there is no way you're not getting into Hogwarts ...'

'But I've not done anything yet!' James interrupted, spilling his darkest fears. He knew that normally, magical children performed acts of sorcery multiple times in their lives without control. His cousin, Rose Weasley, had already caused her mother's pet cat Crookshanks to have a coat of purple and orange polka-dots, instead of the natural ginger fur. Hermione Weasley had liked it so much she kept the cat as it was, much to Ron Weasley's disgust.

'Rose has done the polka-dot cat, and she's two years younger than me!' James argued, 'and what about Lily and Albus? They've both done small things. I've not done anything! Ever!'

'Have I ever told you about Neville Longbottom?'

'Yes, many times. It means nothing. He had still done magic by now! It's five weeks from the start of term! The letters should be coming anytime now, they may have already been sent! I may not have got one!' The more he spoke, the more James worked himself up. He started breathing heavily, unable to relax and beginning to panic.

Harry sighed, and stretched out his hand to his son in an attempt to comfort him.

'There's something I've got to tell you,' he said after a pause, deciding that the time had come to tell James the truth. James slowly lifted his head to look at his father and saw how deadly serious Harry appeared. He sat bolt upright and listened to his father's tale.

'You first started sleepwalking when you were nine, remember? Well, as you did so, you fell down the stairs and ended up unconscious in St Mungo's. It was nothing they couldn't cure, and we got you home and in bed for a few days after.'

'Yes I remember all this,' James interrupted.

Harry looked at him, silently telling him to be quiet so he could finish the story. 'What you don't know is what the doctor told us while you were being dealt with. It seems that your sleepwalking is caused by some sort of magic. When you sleep, your brain loses control and somehow you exert all your power. You are causing your sleepwalking with magic in your sleep.'

'What? Why didn't you tell me this?' James asked, suddenly very annoyed.

'Lower your voice. Everyone's asleep!' Harry insisted. 'The doctor told us to say nothing. He said wait till you got old enough to go to Hogwarts, get your wand and begin training. He said once you learn how to control your magic you'll be fine. He thought that telling you could be dangerous to your safety, that you might then try and prevent it and with that cause your magic to erupt in some other form.' Harry had spoken it all quickly, as if saying it fast would make it easier.

'So all that about stress was just a cover?'

'Not exactly. Accidental magic seems to be amplified by anger or stress, like the time I set a snake on my cousin at London Zoo,' said Harry, picturing in his head the scene that had occurred all those years ago. He hadn't heard from his aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs Dursley, in a very long time. His cousin Dudley had sent a Christmas card every Christmas, and Harry had taken the children to see him and his family a couple of times, but not recently.

'But still,' James moaned, pulling Harry back to his senses, 'how could you not tell me? And if you weren't meant to, why now?'

'Because you're getting yourself stressed about not doing magic and that could have accidental consequences too. You're old enough to know. Your mother and I talked about this months ago and decided that if you ever did it again we'd tell you.'

'I wish I hadn't started again ...'

James sighed and Harry could see he was very annoyed. Harry stood and walked to the bookshelf. The house was furnished incredibly like a muggle house to say a magical family lived there. When they'd first moved in and Harry had purchased the television, and stereo, and all the other electrical appliances, Ginny had become very confused with their capabilities. Harry just wanted to watch some television shows and listen to the radio, but it took both Harry and his father-in-law, Arthur Weasley, a long time to teach and explain to Ginny how to use them.

From the shelf Harry pulled out a rather large book. It had golden letters on an otherwise plain cover, which read 'Harry Potter: Hero Or Zero'. Harry sat again, and faced James.

'What are you doing?' James asked.

'I'm going to read you an extract about my life,' Harry said, and he opened Rita Skeeter's biography of him, and began to read;

"Chapter Three - Potter Grows Up

Harry Potter, from the age of one, lived with his loving aunt and uncle, as well as his cousin at number four, Privet Drive. Throughout his time at the house, Harry had various adventures. His skill at magic was shown at a very young age, including causing the family to win a large amount of money in the lottery, creating a fire which caused half the house to burn down and making a storm that uprooted various trees and caused serious damage around Little Whinging. Amongst these were other, smaller magical examples, such as the restyling and colouring of his hair on a daily basis between the 30th May and 26th June in 1988, an act that confused and irritated many of the neighbours and teachers at school.

Around his cousin's eleventh birthday, Harry caused the glass at an enclosure of London Zoo to disappear suddenly, causing Dudley and an innocent friend to be attacked by a vicious snake. The snake then continued to terrorize many visitors to the zoo before disappearing in a cloud of smoke never to be seen again. It is believed not many muggles witnessed Potter causing the glass to disappear, but can be said that he put the wizarding world under great strain to keep magic a secret with his so-called 'uncontrollable' deeds."

Harry finished reading the short extract, and, closing the book, he looked up at James. James looked very confused, unsure whether to laugh or look surprised. Harry understood, the events told in the book were a little extreme, and only two of them were even partially true - but James didn't have to know that. This could work in calming him.

'Well?' asked Harry.

James hesitated. 'Why did you read me that?'

'I wanted to show you that despite your desire for some accidental magic, it isn't always glamorous and can be quite dangerous.'

'Did all that really happen?'

'Yes,' Harry lied, 'and that isn't all of it. It mentions nothing of the time when I ended up on my primary school roof and fell through into the canteen, or when I caused an old man to collapse after touching him on the shoulder. Accidental magic is dangerous.' Both of these events had actually happened to Harry, but he had just exaggerated them and changed details to fit his purpose. He had once ended up on the roof when trying to escape Dudley and his gang, and he had been bowed at by an old man, Dedalus Diggle.

'Why haven't you said all this before?' James asked.

'Because it's a little embarrassing admitting I had no control over any of my magic,' lied Harry. 'And anyway, if I'd told you before it would have served no purpose in helping you now, would it?'

'I guess not,' James replied, wearily.

'Come on, back to bed.' James didn't move. 'Now, James.'

James stood and began to head for the stairs. Harry returned the book to the bookshelf and then followed. He turned the corner to see James had stopped.

'Dad?' James asked. 'I'm not overly tired anymore. Could I take that book to read?'

'You really want to read my biography by Rita Skeeter?'

'It could be interesting,' James insisted. He really wanted to read it. His dad had always kept quiet about most of the goings-on as he grew up. Most stories of the second wizarding war and all Harry's adventures James had gotten through his cousins and friends.

'Very well, go and get it.' Harry said. James hurried to the bookshelf to fetch the book as Harry climbed the two sets of stairs and returned to his bed. Ginny was still sleeping so he silently got back into bed and was asleep within minutes.

James however, had fetched the book and was now anxiously hurrying to his bedroom to read it. He jumped into his bed, switched on the lamp and opened the book at its contents. A chapter caught his eye and he turned to page 56 and began to read;

"Chapter Six - First Year At Hogwarts

On the 1st September, Harry Potter boarded the Hogwarts Express to travel to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was already expected to become a powerful wizard. Harry did not at first know how to access the platform, a matter which greatly concerned his muggle uncle, who asked an annoyed assistant for help. The assistant dismissed Mr Dursley as foolish, leaving Harry with no way of finding the platform.

Harry eventually met with the Weasley family, a large, red-headed, poor family who would play a large role in the life of Mr Potter. He was guided through the brick wall and onto platform 93/4 after saying a fond farewell to his uncle who he would not see again until the summer. Harry then boarded the train where he became close with Ron Weasley.

Harry too met Hermione Granger on the train, a girl he seemed to spend a romance with in his first few years at Hogwarts, climaxing in Potter's fourth year and ending with the arrival of Viktor Krum (see Chapter 11 - Triwizard Tournament for more). Modest, Harry didn't display any of his magical skill on the train, whereas Hermione Granger showed off an impressive talent of magic, and talentless Ron Weasley failed to perform a spell correctly.

After travelling for the journey, Harry travelled to Hogwarts across the Black Lake. This year was one of the few times Harry had succeeded in getting to Hogwarts safely. In his second year he travelled by illegal flying car (see Chapter 7 - Second Year At Hogwarts) and in his third year he was confronted by a dementor while on the train (see Chapter 9 - Harry And The Dementors)."

James stopped reading there and turned to chapter nine. Dementors no longer guarded the wizard prison of Azkaban and James was very interested in them. He found them incredible and had occasionally done some research into them. The problem he had found was that there was a serious lack of information on them, most despising the creatures and refusing to speak much of them. James hoped Rita Skeeter would reveal more on the creatures.

He hurried through the first few pages of the chapter - they touched on nothing he'd not heard before; how his father had accidentally blown up his "aunt" and then fled on the Knight Bus. Reaching the extract he wanted, James returned his attention to the book;

"Harry Potter faced many dangers throughout his third year at Hogwarts, most notably the threat from escaped mass murderer Sirius Black. However, Potter also faced serious danger from the dementors, who at the time guarded Azkaban and were searching for Black.

The dementors feed on the distress and pain of others, and Potter, with his grievous past and terrible happenings, became the perfect target for the creatures.

Harry's first encounter with a dementor occurred on the Hogwarts Express whilst he was travelling for his third year. Stuck in a back compartment when the train was stopped for an inspection, a swarm of dementors examined the train for Black and, unable to find him, turned their attentions to Harry instead. Potter, often feared by many to harbour secret, threatening powers, was forced to relive his darkest moments.

The attack from the dementors seems to have damaged Potter mentally. In a later month, whilst competing in a school Quidditch match, he attacked fellow pupils Marcus Flint, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Draco Malfoy, the latter of which Potter had hated despite Draco's best efforts at making friendship. Potter later justified his actions, claiming to have thought the four boys to be dementors."

On the opposite page to this passage was a moving photograph, depicting a lone dementor, sucking gently at the edges of the picture, its cloak rolling as if fluid. Under the darkness of its hood, James knew was the gaping hole that was the dementor's mouth, used to suck out the soul of its victims from their own mouths. The thought of it made James feel nauseous, and he quickly turned a few pages as the dementor in the picture reached out to him. In this dark night, he decided he definitely did not need to know more about the creatures.

James found himself faced with an extract from the next chapter, telling of Sirius Black and Harry's other business at school that year. Skim-reading a few paragraphs he came across a short section that caught his eye;

"At some point in his third year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter's frequency at rule breaking greatly increased. For his own safety, Potter was prevented from entering Hogsmeade that year due to the escape of Sirius Black. Despite this, Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade on multiple occasions. It is unknown how he sneaked past caretaker Argus Filch, who was very keen to prevent the boy from leaving the castle in order to protect him.

It can be assumed that Potter was sneaking out of the castle through the use of secret passageways. Whilst it is unknown how Potter learnt of these ways into Hogsmeade, it is likely that his close friends, Fred and George Weasley, had something to do with the matter, as the two are arguably the most notable rule-breakers in the history of Hogwarts."

James found this quite amusing, that with all her digging and investigation, Rita Skeeter had failed to learn of the existence of the Marauder's Map. Harry had only once shown James the map, and though he had tried to conceal the incantation to reveal and hide the castle, James had overheard and would never forget those words.

In fact, James had many times sneaked the map out of his dad's desk and tapped his fingers on the parchment as if they were a wand, muttering the phrase to reveal its secrets in an attempt both to perform some magic, and to see the corridors of Hogwarts again.

The more James thought of the map, the more he wanted to have another go at it. Silently he lowered the book and carefully tip-toed out of his room, as to not wake Harry, who seemed to be able to sense when one of his children was breaking the rules.

Once down the stairs, James quietly crept to his dad's desk and pulled out the blank parchment from the drawer. He headed to the table, pulled out a chair and sat.

When Harry had shown James, Albus and Lily the map four years ago, he had sat at the same seat James sat at now, and ever since James had always sat in that seat when messing with the map. Harry had pulled out his wand and, almost silently, muttered 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' James, who had been the closest, heard what his father had said, but the other two either didn't notice or have just never said anything since. As the map revealed its secrets, James became enthralled by the vision of Hogwarts, even if it was only created through ink on an old piece of parchment. It was Summer at the time, so very few people were in the castle, but James could see the positioning of headmistress Minerva McGonagall and also Sybill Trelawney, the divination professor, who Harry had said rarely left her tower and presumably slept and lived up there too. James could tell from the way Harry spoke of Trelawney that he didn't have much respect for her or her subject.

James spread the parchment out in front of him. Age was slowly having its toll on the map, and it was beginning to rip in places. James was sure it was nothing his dad couldn't fix with a brief spurt of magic, but Harry seemed to have not looked at the map in years.

Gently pressing a finger against the parchment as he had done so many times before and closing his eyes, James whispered the incantation 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'

He opened his eyes, praying that the map would reveal itself but deep in his heart knowing that before him would lie the parchment, still blank and empty. But he was wrong.

Slowly appearing in black ink was the phrase "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present the Marauder's Map".

James couldn't believe what he was seeing. Slowly the words faded and the map of Hogwarts was revealed. The corridors were empty as it was Summer again, but there was something else James was excited about that wasn't this vision into the magical castle.

He had just done his first magic - well, the first he was aware of.

Hope you enjoyed this preview. Please give me any feedback so I can go through and edit any little bits before the whole book is published. I might upload another preview soon.

Just a note - I'm sorry for any similarities to other people's fanfic. I admit I've never actually read anyone else's apart from briefly having a look at Lippert's famous series after I had started researching. I have noticed a few (three I think) similarities between my work and that of Lippert, however none of them are evident yet and will only become so later into this book and the series. I apologize for this.

Please remember this (obviously) does not co-exist with any other stories involving James Potter and the next generation.