Hello! Welcome to the beginning of what I hope will be my longest story!
In this story I have tried to keep as much as I could to the books ending, though I have changed a few things, mainly the ages of the characters (I know Scorpius is the same age as Albus Potter, in the books, but here he will be James' age), and I have added new characters to be in place of teachers and students.
I hope you enjoy!
I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe.
James Potter looked down at the small girl before him, her tear stained face and heart wrenching sobs nearly broke him, he hated seeing her upset, thankfully it was not a common occurrence. James wrapped his arms around her, putting as much love as he could muster, trying to comfort his sister as best an 11 year old boy could. He wiped the tears from her face. He had just said good bye to his mum and Albus, and knew his goodbye to Lily would be the hardest. He just didn't understand why everyone was so upset. He thought they would have been happy for him, proud even. James was about to embark on his very own adventure, just like his dad, he had been waiting for this day for years, ever since he had first come to understand magic. He could remember the day fondly, even though he had been so young.
At only a few years old his sister, Lily, had dropped her favourite stuffed rabbit toy out of her crib, he had heard her crying seconds before his parents, and summoning the "Gryffindor bravery" his parents, aunts and uncles always joked about he marched his little legs into Lily's room. At first he had tried to throw the rabbit back into her crib for her, but at five years old he did not have the strength or accuracy required. In a moment of frustration he stomped his foot, proclaiming loudly "Mr Rabbit get back to bed!" and with that the rabbit simply floated up into the air, and flew into Lily's awaiting arms. His parents, who had been watching the scene from the doorway had been so proud of him that day, his mum had broken into happy tears, as his dad raised him high up into the air, beaming from ear to ear. Years later he was finally following in the footsteps of his hero, his dad. Today he would be leaving for Hogwarts.
James knew his family would miss him, and he would miss them too, but it wasn't like he was never going to see them again, this wasn't goodbye forever. His dad had even brought him his own owl so he could write to his family as often as he liked. He had promised Lily that he would write to her every week, and that she could use "Bear" to write back to him. James still laughed over his owls name 'Bear', he thought it was the funniest thing in the world. His older cousin as James called him, being too young to really understand the whole godfather thing, Teddy was a close friend and would often be staying at their house. On these occasions James would periodically run around the house and backyard calling "Teddy bear! Teddy bear!" while following his friend around, whenever Teddy got mad at him and told him off, James would act upset and claim that he was simply calling out to both his friend and his owl. His laughing after always gave him away though, and before long his parents had given him a stern talk, James had inturn apologised to his friend, and owl, much to the amusement of his aunt Hermione, but he still thought it was funny, and it always made him giggle when he thought about it.
Saying his final goodbyes to his family until the holidays James went out to the car where his dad was waiting. Originally his family was supposed to be coming with him to see him off, but James had asked his dad if Lily could stay home. He loved his sister dearly, and he felt really bad for asking his dad, but he didn't want to be embarrassed by her, he was going to be a strong and brave Gryffindor after all. His dad had looked at him as if he were disappointed but had agreed in the end, and told James they would be talking about it in the car. Normally a "talk" with his dad made James nervous, but he was far too excited about Hogwarts to really worry about it.
For the second time ever James climbed into the front seat of the car, usually this seat was reserved for his mum, then when she wasn't around the children took turns. James however always gave his turn to Lily, after having his first turn in the front James saw Albus was taking the opportunity of being more or less unsupervised to pick on Lily, and though it only happened once years ago, James vowed to never let anyone upset her, and refused to take that chance, family of not. Father and son now sat in silence for a few minutes as the car drove out of the driveway before they began talking. James knew he was in for a lecture.
'Now James' his dad started, James turned his head slightly towards his dad. James knew this was what his dad said when he needed him to understand something, and knew it was always best to give his dad his full attention.
"while I do not exactly like your reason for wanting Lily to stay home, she is your family and you should never be ashamed of that" James nodded, while fidgeting with his hands, he knew that too and he did plan on apologising to Lily in his first letter to her.
"I do agree that it was best for her to stay at home today" his dad continued "Today we should try to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, until you get settled in at school" Harry turned briefly to look at his son as he pulled up at some traffic lights.
"I'm sure you remember all the attention we get when we got out, and I trust you remember why that is" Harry continued giving his son a pointed look. Of course James knew, how could any boy forget that your dad was the only person to ever survive the killing curse, and to have done that twice before putting an end to the most evil wizard of all time.
"While I was at school, everyone wanted to either be my friend, not because they liked me, but because they wanted a taste of the fame, or they wanted to hurt me, as their parents had supported the mad man" Harry refused to say Voldemorts name these days, claiming it was long in the past and no one needed anymore reminders of the loss and destruction he caused.
"I worry that being my son will initiate similar responses from your peers, and I am very sorry bout that James. Just remember, regardless of all that, Hogwarts was my first home, and I hope one day you will come to think of the castle as your home away from home. Your mother and I, as well as Lily and Albus are always just an owl away if you ever need anything" Harry said, smiling down at his son as they pulled into the Kings Cross station parking lot.
"While we will always be there for you, remember your house, whichever you end up in we will be proud of you, but your house will be like your family while you are away, if you treat them as such they will treat you equally. You can make great friends at Hogwarts, those in your house, and those in others" and with that James found himself wrapped in a tight but brief hug, before the two took his trunk and walked into the station.
As James boarded the train and found a compartment, he waved to his dad standing off to the side, they had still received curious glances, and James suddenly wished he had his whole family there to say goodbye like everyone else, even though he had been the one to ask them to stay behind, he did like the idea of having friends for himself, rather than friends for his dad.