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James sighed and looked out the window. The sky was grey. The storm was wild, like a great big horse rearing and shying. His room was a rather bland looking place. It had a few pictures of him and his fellow Quidditch mates, but other than that, there was a lush looking oak but quite boring bed, at least nine pictures of his father at work and a white desk filled with pieces of parchment that was his homework. He had been going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry for six years. This year would be his last. His future was set out for him, he had no choice. His father was the Minister of Magic. He was bound to serve the Ministry forever.

'JAMES!'

'-Sigh-. Yes, I'm coming, Father.' James got up from his place at the window and descended down the large marble stairs of Potter Manor where he met his father. His father showed no compassion for his only son and only living family. His wife had died just after she had given birth to James. James had never been shown any love from Richard Potter, his father, and had never met his mother. You could see the stern lines on Richard's face.

'James, as you are going to be the new Minister of Magic when I pass away…' James silently thought, Yay! '… you're going to have to pass this test. You will have to live with a Muggle family with at least one witch or wizard in there and see how you can compare with them without letting them know you're a wizard.' A plan slowly formed in James' mind. He would pretend he was from an orphanage, seeking shelter. But before he could think any more, his father spoke sternly.

'James Mark Potter, don't you slouch like that,' he rapped out sharply. 'You have been showing not one scrap of consideration since Marie, your mother, died.' Richard sniffed haughtily. James glowered at his father. How could his father even think of such a thing? That is, if you could call him his father.

'You shall go live with the Evans family,' continued Richard. 'There is a young witch there who is your age, someone called Lily Evans. Apparently, she has very good grades and has submitted a résumé to work in the Ministry. So hurry up and go pack your things, there isn't much time. You will be staying there until you go back to Hogwarts.' James' mouth had slowly dropped further and further closer to the ground at each sentence. He opened and shut his mouth a few times like a goldfish at his luck. Finally, he would be away from his father! But there was the small matter of becoming Minister and Lily Evans. Lily was his school friend. He silently thought his father just wanted to get rid of him.

'Well, no time, no time, James. Duty calls and duty is,' said Mr. Potter. 'Now go upstairs and help Flora the house elf pack your things.' James trudged up the stairs again and went to his room obediently. There was Flora the house elf, who had served the Potters ever since James was born. He pitied her. She had big electric blue eyes and floppy ears. She looked quite cute, except for the ugly wrinkled skin.

'S-si-sir,' she stammered as James entered. She bowed deeply. 'Flora has packed your clothes and your photographs and ornaments into your trunk. The only thing left to pack is furniture.' The small house elf motioned to the tiny bag at the end of the bed. It had nine secret trunks with nine different keyholes for each trunk.

'Thanks Flora.' James smiled gratefully. 'I'll do the rest by myself. Oh yeah, I forgot, here's a toffee.' Flora caught the brightly coloured toffee James threw to her.

'What's this, Master's Son, Sir?' James grinned. It was a trick toffee that made your skin go purple.

'Only one of the most exquisite toffees around, Flora. Eat up.'

'Thankyou, kind Sir!' Flora ripped open the wrapper and let it drop on the floor. She shoved the toffee into her small mouth. Her cheeks bulged. She chewed furiously. She couldn't move her teeth up and down properly to speak as of course, it's sticky toffee. She swallowed it and smiled, showing dirty brown teeth.

'Thankyou!' she exclaimed again. Flora trotted out of the room happily. She slid

down the banister. James chuckled. The back of her head was turning a pale purple. He picked up a piece of yellowed parchment from the bottom of the pile on top of his desk.

'Purple Skin Toffees. Tested. Check,' he recorded with his quill and ink. A beautiful grey owl flew swiftly through James' window and landed on his bed. It stuck out its' foot haughtily. There were two scrolls of parchment on it. James untied the first roll of parchment.

Heya Prongs,

It started out. Prongs was James' nickname. He and his friends, the Marauders, were trying to transfigure into Animagus. He had turned out to be a stag so far.

How're you going? I heard that your Dad chucked a mental when Wormtail tried to felly-tone you. Why? Wormy just said he wanted you to stay at his place for the remaining holidays. I'm kinda scared because wormy appears to be gay, probably isn't. It's still scary. Don't you agree that he's gay? Ahhhhhhhhh. Write back. I'm at Moony's, and he's sent a letter too.

Padfoot

Padfoot was James' best friend, Sirius Black. Sirius and James were the good-looking pair in the Marauders. Moony, Remus Lupin, also good looking but not quite as much as Sirius and James, was the smart one. And Wormtail, or Wormy as Sirius called him, was a little boy called Peter Pettigrew. He tagged along the Marauders. They had made a map using clever magic in fifth year called the Marauder's Map, presented to you by Messeurs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs. Sirius was Padfoot because he turned into a black dog when he Transfigured into an Animagus. Peter was a rat (Wormtail) and Remus naturally turned into a werewolf every full moon. The three others had tried to Transfigure into Animagus to comfort their friend. Every full moon Remus would sneak out to the Whomping Willow and go down the passage to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, and the three friends would follow under James' Invisibility Cloak. The reason they couldn't accompany Remus as humans was because Remus could bite them and as animals it was much easier to control him. James untied the second roll of parchment from the owl's leg. The owl flew off.

Hello Prongs,

How is it all going? I've heard Lily is Head Girl. Who do you reckon is going to be Head Boy? I won't be it, I've had my share of responsibility when I was in fifth year as Prefect with Lily again. She's the only responsible on in all the Gryffindor girls. Lucius Malfoy was boasting about Head Boy last term, saying he was going to be it. Old Snivellus (or Snape. Padfoot and I made it up, like it?) was trying for it, I know. He wants to show his family pride and joy. God, sometimes I feel sorry for that git, just because of his family. Anyway, Snivvy has been crushing on Lily ever since first year. And she knows it too. She thinks it's annoying. And yes Prongs, I do know about your staying at the Evans' household. Since Dad's your dad's personal secretary, he knows everything. He swore me to secrecy, though, but I've found a way to get through his mail-scanning spell. I'll see you later! Oh yeah, by the way, Wormtail was admitted to hospital last week for injuries. My cousin works in St. Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies & Injuries. Apparently his little sister Hexed him with that Bat Curse we learnt in second year. It's doesn't seem like it though… But he's fine, he used Protego and only got the ears. He swears he can hear us conversing, me and Padfoot! But I've gotta go, write back!

Moony

James smiled. So his friends hadn't forgotten about him after all. A sharp talon tapped his shoulder. A brown owl was waiting impatiently. Attached to its' leg was James' Hogwarts letter.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I have the great honour and pride to tell you that you have been chosen as Head Boy this year along with Lily Evans.

James gasped and tipped up the envelope for his badge. Out it fell, with the big letters HB.

Please come to the Heads' Compartment and prepare a small speech to influence the new Prefects. The school items are as follows.

Pet of your choice (cat, toad or owl)

Pewter Cauldron x2

The Advanced Book of Spells, Grade 7 by Helda Griminsky

The Essential Guide to Charms, Jinxes, Hexes & Curses by George Bindal

Transfiguration for the Advanced by Chiara Kingsley

The History of the Elves' Rebellion, Edition 420 by Ian Studd

Flying Level by Level, Version 4 by Arthur Weasley

As James read Arthur Weasley he smiled. Arthur had been Head Boy two years ago and on the Quidditch team with James. Arthur had been an excellent Beater (Note: That is where Fred & George probably got the genes from ;)), taking care of James as he was the one who seemed to get most blooded up. Arthur was quite fair at the other positions too (haha! 'Cos Ron's an okay Keeper, Ginny's a good Seeker and Charlie was a Seeker… think so anyway), including Seeker, but James was Seeker, looking for the whizzing Golden Snitch to win the match. He read down the remaining list.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts Guide to be a Good Wizard/Auror – Learn it from the Master by Alastor Moody (remember Moody is really old in the fourth book so now he's about 20, 30 years old)

Quills x14

Ink and inkpots x3

Mr. Potter, you have a Job Interview with me on the second day of school. Please come at 3:15pm sharp.

Regards,

Minerva McGonagall

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Transfiguration Teacher

Order of Merlin, Third Class, Chief of the Witch's Teaching Council, 7 times Winner of the Teacher of the Year Award at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

James chucked the letter away and shoved his badge into a special compartment into his bag.

'JAMES!' called his father again.

'Coming, Father,' he called. He quickly shoved his drawers, cupboard, bookshelf, desk and bedside table into a compartment and picked up the tiny bag. He ran downstairs where his father was standing with their personal chauffeur.

'Johan can't take you today, James. You will be catching the 3:21pm train at King's Cross Station. Be careful of Muggles. And please dress more appropriately.' James looked down at his red Quidditch pyjamas with flying Snitches all over them.

'Oh. Right.'

'Yes. Now go upstairs and dress again. I've got to go to my office, a few problems there apparently, underage wizardry… must fly, James, must fly.' He checked his watch and held out his hand to James. James took it and shook it solemnly. As it said before, he had never been shown any love from Richard Potter. His father departed from Potter Manor. Johan the Chaffeur slammed the exquisite black magic limo door shut. James sighed and went upstairs. He put on his best black robes, a white shirt and black pants. He picked up his broom and sat on it. He steered it cleverly down the stairs and out the open door. He tucked his wand into his pocket. It would be a long flight.

James got off his broom at the entrance to King's Cross Station. People were staring at him. He shrugged and went to the ticket booth.

'One ticket to, um, er, the Evans household, um, in, errrrrrrr……. Middleton,' he said politely, stumbling over some of the foreign words to his tongue.

'One pound,' the ticket master grunted.

'Umm… okay. Wait a minute.' James took out some notes from his pocket. He looked at the little numbers helplessly. He stuck the wad into the ticket master's hand.

'Keep the change,' he said.

'B-But,' the ticket master stammered. 'There must be at least five hundred pounds here!'

'Whatever,' said James, grabbing a ticket. He jumped aboard a silver train that had CityXpress 257 painted on the side. 'Bye!' He waved cheerfully at the ticket master, who was still staring at the notes in his hand, his mouth wide open. James just laughed and turned to find a compartment. To his amazement, there were no compartments. Just seats. He sat down next to a grouchy, bony, thin-faced girl with dull brown hair and a sullen look on her face.

'Oh, hi,' she gushed as soon as James sat down. 'Like totally.' It was pretty obvious she was flirting with James. Since James hadn't ever experienced any type of love, he didn't get the hint. The girl brushed against his arm softly and giggled girlishly. 'Whoops!'

'What did you say your name was again?' asked James.

'I didn't,' giggled the girl. 'But I'm Petunia Evans.'

'James. James Potter. I think I'm coming to live with your family.'

'That's really good then! But - why are you dressed all funny?'

'What? These are my best robes from Madame Malkin's, even though they're cheapos, just the best from Madame Malkin's in Diagon Alley.' James jabbed a finger at the window where the train was passing the Leaky Cauldron. 'That's where Diagon Alley is.'

'Oh, you're so funny! And charming!'

'That's, um, well, thankyou. So, where do you go to school? Beauxbatons? Durmstrang? The Russian Academy of Magicality? Dragol in Australia? Where?' James had forgotten all about not revealing he was a wizard. Luckily, Petunia was ignoring him and looking for the station they were supposed to get off at.

'We get off here,' said Petunia, linking her arm through James', and hopping off the train.

'Such a short ride. Such a pity,' said James, sighing at the train as it pulled off Middleton Station.

'Oh, well. The Hyundai's much better. Daddy's very happy you're coming, he said your father was a Minister of something-a-rather.'

'What's a Hyundai?' It shot out of James' mouth before he even realised it.

'Ha, ha!' laughed Petunia fakishly. 'That's such a good punchline! "What's a Hyundai?" It's a car, stupid!' They arrived at the Evans household. James gulped and brushed himself down. He rang the bell to be polite. A girl around his age with soft skin, piercing green eyes and fiery red hair opened the door. Her eyes widened. Petunia giggled again.

'Lily, this is James Potter.'

'James!' Lily hissed. 'What the hell do you think you're doing here?' James shrugged.

'Test for me becoming Minister, I think,' he replied.

'Could you leave us alone for a moment?' said Lily, pushing Petunia inside and stepping outside herself.

'Right. What are you up to? You can't just come over here. How did you even find out where I live? Answer me!' demanded Lily in a scream/whisper.

'I would if you'd stop talking and let me in!' said James. Lily was curious but she just settled for a glare.

'This is a test for me to become Minister after my father, I have to live in a Muggle household with only one witch or wizard present and not reveal I'm a wizard,' explained James as quietly as he could.

'Great job you're doing,' smirked Lily. 'Good luck trying to hide it from Petunia, I swear that girl can get into anything. Why don't you come inside and I'll introduce you to my parents.' Lily noticed that he looked cute when he was standing there not knowing what to do. No, thought Lily, cute as in a teddy bear is cute, but deep down she knew it wasn't true. James agreed and they went inside but little did they know that by stepping into the house they had triggered an interesting set of events, even more humorous than when Lily's mum had set off the sprinklers that morning by stepping on the timer and would lead to worse consequences than the neighbours not liking you using the sprinklers during a water restriction.