The Beginning.

"James Potter! Get down here NOW!" shouted a pretty woman with flaming red hair, "You're going to miss the train!"

"But Mum, I can't find my wand!" said the eleven year old boy, running the stairs.

"It's on the table, now hurry up. Your Dad is already in the car", said his mother.

James ran into the dining room to retrieve his wand. He almost knocked his eight-year-old sister down in his hurry and didn't notice that she was crying.

"Mummy," sobbed the little girl, "Albus said I can't go to Hogwarts. Not even when I'm bigger."

"Don't you worry honey, of course you can go to Hogwarts. But not until you're eleven", her mum replied, wiping away her daughter's tears.

"Really?" asked the eight year old.

"Of course! Now you go and wait in the car with Daddy."

"Okay Mummy", said her now happy daughter, skipping away.

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!" yelled Ginny, sounding uncannily like her mother.

Her ten-year-old son came slowly into the room.

"Yeah Mum?" he said, putting on his best 'I didn't do it' face.

"How could you make your little sister think she's not allowed to go to Hogwarts?" she asked, trying to calm her temper.

Albus looked at the floor and shrugged. "I was just teasing her, Mum", he mumbled.

"Well, what do you say?"

"I'm sorry."

"Good! Tell it to poor Lily. She's in the car."

Albus walked out the door towards the car, where hid Father and sister were getting impatient.

'HONK! HO-ONK' went the horn.

"Come on! We're going to be late!" called Harry Potter from the driver's seat.

"Okay! I'm ready!". James came into the hall and out the front door, dragging his brand new school trunk behind him and clutching the owl that his Uncle George had bought for him the week before. James had named the owl 'Archimedes' (Archie for short) after the owl in his favourite muggle book that Granddad Arthur had bought for him. 'The Sword in the Stone'.

The family's old house elf, Kreacher, came shuffling into the hall to wave goodbye, "Kreacher will have your favourite soup ready on your return". "Thanks Kreacher", said Ginny, warmly, smiling at the elf.

She closed the door and immediately heard a loud screaming voice from inside.

With a sigh, Ginny Potter turned and got into the car beside her husband, "We really need to do something about Mrs Black's portrait, Harry."

"I know Gin' but she put a permanent sticking charm on the back", he replied.

"Da-ad", came a voice from the back seat, "Lily took my wand!"

"Lily, you know you aren't allowed a wand yet", said Harry.

"But dad, It's not fair. I wanna do magic too!" whined the eight year old, waving the wand wildly.

"Give James his wand. You can have one when start Hogwarts."

Reluctantly, the young girl handed over the wand, looking both upset and annoyed. She spent the rest of the journey sulking. Every-so-often, she glared at her oldest brother for telling on her.

James started to talk excitedly about what house he would be in and what spells he would be learning, to an annoyed and jealous Albus, who couldn't wait to go to the school he had heard so much about. Albus would miss his brother. They were very close and always played games together, like hide and seek with their father's invisibility cloak. That was fun.

"I want to be in Gryffindor. Do you think Slytherin is really bad?" James was still talking.

"I dunno James", replied Albus with a sigh.

Their Dad laughed, "One of the bravest men I knew was in Slytherin. It's not so bad. Although I was in Gryffindor."

"Cool Dad! Who was the brave man?" asked James with great interest.

"Severus Snape!"

Albus looked up at the sound of his middle name, "The man I was named after?"

"Yes. He was brave enough to spy on Voldemort, while pretending to be a Death Eater."

"Wow!" said all three children. They had thought Lily was still sulking so they looked at her in surprise. Lily just glared at them all and looked away.

"We're here kids", said Ginny suddenly.

The Potters got out of the car and the children ran from platform to platform. James was counting as they went, "there's 7, 8, 9 a-and 10. That's not right is it Dad? I thought it was Platform nine and three quarters. It's not here!"

"Really?" said Harry sounding amused.

"Yeah Dad, He's right", said Lily, who had stopped sulking in the excitement.

"Oh No! Whatever will we do?" laughed Ginny. Her Husband took James' trunk and started walking toward the wall between platforms nine and ten.

"He's going to crash!", whispered Albus.

"Don't worry Al", said his Mum as Harry disappeared with the trunk.

"WOW!" all three children exclaimed excitedly, "Where did he go?"

"Onto the platform! Right. James and Albus first" said Lily. The boys looked up at her, confused. "Just run towards the wall."

Her sons looked at each other nervously before running at the wall and disappearing, just like their father had done. Their Dad was standing waiting for them, and just behind him, there was a great red steam train with the words 'HOGWARTS EXPRESS' on the front.

"WOW!" they said again as their mother and sister arrived behind them.

Harry laughed at his sons' amazement.

"Right James, let's get your stuff onto the train!"

James helped his Dad to lift his trunk and owl up onto the train, and they made their way back to the others. When they were still a little bit away, Harry stopped and gave his son what looked to be an extremely old piece of parchment.

"Why are you giving me old parchment, Dad?" asked James curiously.

"This isn't any old parchment son. is a very special map. It shows all of Hogwarts and the people in it, exactly where they are."

"AWESOME! How do you work it?" James was excited now.

"Tap it and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', said Harry, tapping the map as he spoke. "Make sure you tap it again when you're finished and say 'Mischief Managed'"

"Okay Dad! Thank you. This is so cool! Where did you get it?"

"My father and his friends made it when they were at Hogwarts and then your Uncle George and his twin brother Fred stole it from the caretakers office", said Harry with a chuckle.

They had reached the others now and Ginny pulled James into a hug, "I'll miss you James! Look after yourself. And stay out of trouble!"

James grinned at the thought of the map his Dad had just given him, "I will Mum". He crossed his fingers behind his back. Albus and Lily hugged him and then it was time to get on the train. His Dad walked him over to the train and whispered, " Look in your trunk", and then loudly he said, "Goodbye son! I'll miss you."

James ran up onto the train and sat down in the compartment where his trunk was. He bent down to look inside the trunk and gasped at what he saw.

His Father's silvery invisibility cloak was there folded neatly on top of his other belongings. He stood up and opened the window as the train began to move.

"THANK YOU DAD", he called out the window with a grin. His family waved up at him.

"What did you give him?" Ginny asked Harry.

"The map and cloak" said Harry with a smile.

"Was that a good idea? You know he's almost as bad as Fred and George were at that age."

"Don't worry Ginny," smiled Harry. "I have a feeling our son will be just fine."

On the train, James Potter smiled to himself. With his new wand, his Father's cloak and that cool map, this was sure to be an amazing year.