Lost in the woods
By Eleanor Jane Farrell
Jayne Potter woke up with a start. Her sixteen year old son stared down at her with a massive grin on his face. He shifted his gaze to his mother and the empty bucket in his hands. Jayne opened her mouth to say something but James interrupted her.
"You told me to wake you up at 7:00," he gave her a lopsided smirk, "you didn't tell me how." He gave her one last smile and ran out of her room. He ran down a corridor, turned left, ran across the landing, stopped at the top of the stairs, sat on the handrail and slid down the banister. He neatly jumped off the end.
The Potters were a rich wizarding family, they lived in a mansion in the woods in Surrey. They were a small family of 3. James Potter was the youngest of the family. He was the son of Jayne and Nick Potter. They were one of the happiest families you could ever meet. James was Jayne and Nick's "little treasure". Nick and Jane, according to James, were the best parents in the world.
"Aww James, I have to dry my hair now!" Jayne's voice echoed through the hallway. "Please don't slide down the stairs. You could hurt yourself."
"Don't worry mum, I've done it a thousand times," James called back, "I'm an expert at it."
"Being an expert doesn't make you invincible, James. Experts get things wrong and injure themselves or their reputation all the time."
"Oh, stop overreacting, mum. Dad will be back from the Ministry to pick you up soon, or are you having second thoughts about leaving me here on my own again? Honestly, It's not the first time I've stayed here on my own! And I've promised I wouldn't destroy the house and I won't."
"But me and your dad are going for a week! A whole week on your own! What was I thinking? A week! Maybe I should ask Mrs Black if you could stay at her house with Sirius."
"Maybe Sirius could stay here?" James asked hopefully.
Sirius Black was James' best friend. He, like James also belonged to a rich wizarding family, but the Blacks, (excluding Sirius) were proud to be all magical and called themselves 'pure bloods' and thought that they were better than most wizarding families. The blacks didn't agree on letting muggle-born witches or wizards into the wizarding world and thought that they were scum.
Sirius didn't like his family very much and his family didn't like him very much either, which is fine by him. He counted his 3 closest friends as his family, his brothers. Brothers in everything but blood. Why not? Besides friends are the family we chose for ourselves. The group of 4 "brothers" weren't seen without each other, except maybe during the summer holidays when they were with their families (blood relatives), but even then they saw each other every other day.
The four friends were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They would have done anything to help each other and they all were fiercely loyal. A great example of their loyalty is what they did for Remus. They still keep his secret and they have done everything they can to help him. Remus Lupin is the one that stood out from the group, not because he was a prefect at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and liked to study. No, Remus was indeed a werewolf. The wizarding world didn't like werewolves and behaved badly towards them, so luckily no one knew about Lupin's condition then, wasn't it?
Remus, when he was little, was bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir didn't do it by accident, oh no, it was no accident. That bite was intended for Remus. His dad and Greyback had a bit of a disagreement, so to get his revenge, at the next full moon Fenrir waited outside the Lupin's house and attacked their son. From the moment Remus was bitten and up until this day Remus Lupin was a werewolf once a month.
The last of the group of 4 boys was Peter Pettigrew. If someone was to compare the boys they would have said that Peter was the odd one out instead of Remus. Peter just trailed after his more brave and powerful friends. He never let them out of his sight and liked the attention that they gained. He didn't talk that much when other people were around, it could have been because he was shy or he didn't feel the need to talk. These boys called themselves the Marauders, infamous for their pranks and less famous for their secrets. The four boys were animagi, which means that they could turn into animals at will, well apart from Remus who has no choice but to turn into a wolf once a month. They had been trying to perfect their animagus forms for years and they finally fulfilled their aims last year. James Potter became a handsome, chestnut-brown stag with black rings around it's hazel eyes, marking James' glasses, from that day on the other 3 called him Prongs. Sirius Black became a big, black, shaggy dog that had a close resemblance to The Grim omen, his friends called him Padfoot. Peter, the last animagi was a rat called Wormtail. Finally Remus was nicknamed Mooney.
Back at the Potter's mansion, Mrs Potter finally agreed to let James stay on his own, under one condition, he had to write to her every day.
"Your father's here!" Jayne called to James. "Come here so I can say goodbye." James rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like the attention his parents gave him, it was the fact that they treated him like a little child. James put down his Potions essay, got up from the chair he was sat on and shuffled into the hallway where his parents were stood by 2 suitcases. They were going on an important business trip to America. Nick Potter worked at the Ministry of Magic as an auror (dark wizard catcher). It was his job to catch Voldemort's followers before he became even stronger than what Grindlewald was. Jayne Potter was his assigned healer and had to take care of him if he was to get injured.
Jayne pulled James into a rib-cracking hug and held him tight until James pulled back trying to escape from her death grip.
"Mum, you can let go now…no really, let go" James gasped. She reluctantly let go of him but put her hands on his shoulders.
"Now remember be in bed before 12:00" James rolled his eyes as she continued. "The house elves will cook your meals so don't worry about that. Write every day! We will come straight home if you need us."
"Blimey! Let the man breath." Nick chuckled. "He's probably looking forward to a break from us. Goodbye Son." Nick ruffled James' jet black hair that he had inherited from him, it never seemed to lie flat and always looked as though if he had just stepped off of a broomstick. His eyes, however, were inherited from his mother, they were a brilliant hazel colour. Jayne planted a finale kiss on James' forehead and pulled the door shut. 'Home alone', James though, before going to finish his homework.
A/N: As HellsQueen kindly pointed out, I switch from past and present tense an awful lot. I have corrected all of the mistakes that I could find, don't hesitate to point out any that I've missed, I won't be offended.