AN: This is a super old story! Some of you old timers may remember it. I had began to post chapters of it yeeeears ago when I stopped. I had since deleted it from this site.
After finding the story on an old laptop and being mortified by my teenage writing, I decided to rewrite and re-upload it. Let me know what you think! It's not as serious as my "In a Blue Moon" story so expect a lot of fluff! Enjoy!
James was bored. He had just finished his fourth year at Hogwarts and he couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck at home for the summer with only his siblings to keep him company. His best friends were busy and he didn't know any of the local kids his own age.
His best mate Jack was away camping with his family – something that baffled James given that it was muggle camping, meaning no magical comforts. His cousin Freddie was helping his Dad in the joke shop and Dominique was in France visiting her grandparents. He had nobody.
"Mum, I'm so bored," he whined, throwing himself onto the couch, much to the disgust of Lily who now had his feet near her.
"Only boring people are bored, James," his mother said from the kitchen. James scowled. He'd heard that one before.
"Why don't you three go down to the village," she suggested.
"I'm busy," Lily said. "Hugo is coming over and we're going down to the lake to look for wrackspurts."
"I didn't want to go with you anyway," James said. "And you know that they don't exist. Aunt Luna made them up." Lily stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'll go with you," Albus said, looking up from his book.
"Ugh, fine," James groaned, secretly happy that he had some company.
The two brothers set off towards the village of Godric's Hollow, teasing and pushing each other as they walked. The Potter's lived in a large old farm house on the outskirts of the village. The house was well hidden by a small forest which protected them from view from the village. His dad had also put up countless concealment spells and protective spells which meant their house was unplottable and virtually invisible to the outside world, unless they were invited in. He claimed that it was because they lived so close to a muggle village, but the kids knew it was because he didn't want the press to harass the family. His dad liked to pretend that he wasn't famous, and his kids knew well enough not to push him on it. Besides, it meant that they were free to play Quidditch in their back garden, so they had no reason to complain.
James and Albus entered the old part of the village first – the magical part. Godric's Hollow was one of the few remaining magical settlements in Britain, but only half of it was magical. The majority of the witches and wizards living there were old, having lived there for their entire lives. The Potters were one of the only magical families with kids in the area, and of course, everyone knew who they were without that being the case. Over time, muggles had moved into the town and it was now split into the old village and the new village. The old village consisted of winding cobbled streets lined with cottages. The muggle inhabitants had long since accepted that the residents of the old village were a bit strange. They dressed weirdly, and all seemed very close. What was more peculiar, is that they seemed to be utterly astonished by technology, leading many to believe that they were all part of a certain religion or community, but nobody seemed to know which one.
As James and Albus crossed into the new part of the town, the difference was startling. The thatched cottages gave way to rows of semi detached houses and the cobbled melted into paved streets lined with cars. Unsurprisingly, the boys found themselves in the park. It was one of the few places in the village that they had visited with any sort of frequency. The park was empty in the late afternoon. Sunlight streamed through the cracked in the leaves, the light moving with the light breeze.
James and Albus lay down on the grass. There wasn't much else they could have done. They were far too old for the playground at this point but both boys looked at it longingly, having spent many hours playing there as children.
"Six weeks until we're back in Hogwarts," James said longingly. "Then I'm finally going to be Quidditch captain."
"Do you think about anything other than Quidditch?" Albus groaned. "Anyway, you might not even be captain. It could be Dommie." Both Potters started laughing at the thought. While Dominique was an exceptional Quidditch player, she was known for getting into fights with players on the opposing team and had been suspended from the pitch multiple times. If it wasn't for the fact that James, Dom and Freddie combined were the three best chasers to ever play together, she would have been off the team long ago.
"Are you finally going to try out this year, Al?" James asked. "There's three openings. Kenneth Green is leaving and you know you're a great seeker."
"I don't think so," Albus said. James shook his head. He didn't understand how his brother didn't want to play Quidditch for Gryffindor. It had been what they had both wanted as children but as soon as Albus came to Hogwarts, he lost interest in playing for his house team. Although they never spoke about it, James knew that his brother didn't want any more attention than he already got. They had both been on the receiving end of unwanted attention and interest from the moment they entered Hogwarts. While James had learned to ignore it and even enjoyed it at time, Albus had always been much more reserved than James was, and chose to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Lily, with her fiery temper, was a different story.
The boys lapsed into a comfortable silence as they lay in the late afternoon sun. James was almost dosing off when he was awoken by something – somebody – falling on him.
"Merlin!" he yelled, jumping to his feet fumbling for his wand in his pocket. The body on him scrambled to their feet.
"I'm so sorry," the girl who had just fallen on him said. "My friend and I were… running and we… weren't looking where we were going." She seemed unsure of what she was saying and was looking around for her friend. Sure enough, another girl was running towards them.
"It's not a problem," James said, shoving his wand back into his pocket, feeling foolish that he had ever felt threatened by the girl.
She smiled at him from below her eyelashes, her top lip curling backwards as her smiled widened. She brushed a strand of her long brown hair from her face before offering it to James.
"I'm Emma," she said.
"James." He took her hand and felt his own tingle as their palms touched. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Long brown hair messily parted to one side framed her face. She had wide brown eyes framed by dark lashes and heavy eyebrows. She was tanned with freckles scattered across her nose.
"I'm Jade," her friend said, forcing James to break eye contact with Emma.
James shook her hand. "This is my brother Al," he said introducing Albus.
"Do you live near here?" Emma asked. "I don't think I've seen you around."
"We live outside the old village," James responded. "We don't come down here very much."
"Oh, the old village?" Jade said. "Isn't everyone up there in a cult?" Emma elbowed her friend, giving her a stern look. "I mean, it's probably not even true," she said, backtracking.
"They're probably in a cult," Albus said with a smirk towards James. "We're not though, of course."
"Of course," Emma repeated, smiling at James.
"Why haven't we seen you around school then?" Jade asked. Once again, Emma gave her friend an expression which told her to shut her mouth.
"We're in boarding school in Scotland," James replied with the excuse he knew his muggle born friend Jack used on other muggles.
"That explains that," Jade said. She pulled a mobile phone out of her pocket and the screen lit up at her touch. James and Albus couldn't help but stare at it. They had very little contact with muggle technology.
"We better go," Jade said. "Why don't I get your number and I'll WhatsApp you to hang out tomorrow. There's nobody to hang around with in this town."
James and Albus exchanged a panicked expression. "We don't have mobile telephones," James said quickly. "Why don't we meet here at three tomorrow?"
"Sure," Emma said at the same time Jade said, "You don't have a phone?" Emma once again shot Jade a withering look.
"Bring along some friends," Jade said. "This place seems to get more boring every day. It would be nice to meet some new people."
"Yeah, sure," James said.
"See you tomorrow, James. And Al," she added as almost an afterthought.
"Bye."
The girls walked away leaving an awestruck James and his brother who was trying not to laugh at him.
"You ok, Jamie?" Albus asked through a stifled laugh. James remained staring into the distance after Emma.
"I think I've fallen for her Al," he said slowly. "Me, James Potter, fallen for a muggle."