"Mum
"Mum! Dad!" shouted 11 year old James Potter excitedly, brandishing a letter addressed to him, which he'd picked up off the floor after the postman delivered the mail.
"What is it, bub?" asked Mrs Potter, smiling at her son as he ran into the living room, where his parents were having coffee.
James held up his letter, literally bouncing with excitement. "It's my letter from Hogwarts!" he shouted with glee. Then he frowned. " Mum!" he wailed. "Don't call me bub!"
Mr Potter chucked with amusement. "Okay, son, let's see that letter, then, shall we?"
James nodded, and sat on the comfortable leather couch, squeezing in between his parents.
"Dear Mr Potter,"read Mr Potter aloud. "We are pleased to inform you that you do NOT have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as we do not take skinny brats with messy hair-"
"Hey!" Mr Potter was cut off by James, who glared at his dad. "That's not really what the letter says, is it?"
"What do you mean?" asked Mr Potter, feigning innocence. "Of course that's what the letter says!"
"Da-ad!" said James, impatiently. "I wanna read it by myself now. In my room."
"Jamesy," said his mum. "Daddy's just joking. Aren't you, Dad?" asked Mrs Potter to her husband.
Mr Potter sighed. "Yes, I guess I am. Okay, I'll read the letter properly now, okay?"
James nodded eagerly, and listened to his Dad attentively.
On the 25th of August, James stood in between his Mum and Dad in Diagon Alley. He'd been here before, of course, when he went with his older brother, Joseph, when he was a first year, and James had begged to come with him. This was two years ago. Exactly a year ago, Joseph had been involved in a serious accident involving a burning cauldron, and was tragically killed.
The whole Potter family was shook up by the incident, and only recently had things started getting back to normal.
"I wanna get a wand!" said James enthusiastically.
"We need to get some money out of our vault first," said Mrs Potter, referring to the wizard bank Gringotts.
"Oh yeah," said James, now looking less enthusiastic. The goblins and dark tunnels of Gringotts creeped him out.
"How 'bout I go in there and I'll meet you two at Ollivander's?" asked Mr Potter to his wife and son.
Mrs Potter nodded. "Okay. See you in half an hour."
Mr Potter turned away and walked to Gringotts.
Mrs Potter smiled at her son. "Okay, now let's get you a wand."
James grinned. "Yeah! I want eleven inches, just like my—"
"James!" hissed Mrs Potter, as they entered Ollivander's.
"Good morning, Mr Ollivander," greeted Mrs Potter.
"Mrs Potter," said Ollivander, then glanced down at her at James. "Wand for your boy, I presume?"
"Yes, that's right," said Mrs Potter.
"Very well, then. I'll take his measurements and present him with a suitable wand," said Ollivander, already Summoning his measuring tape.
When James was done being measured, Ollivander turned to the shelves piled with wands in their boxes, and pulled one out at the bottom shelf.
"Mahogany and phoenix tail, thirteen inches. Just give it a bit of a wave."
James took the wand and waved it. A single pink rose appeared there, apparently conjured by James himself.
"Oh, bravo, Mr Potter, bravo! That's the wand for you. That'll be 50 Galleons, then," Ollivander said.
Mrs Potter handed the money over. "Thankyou, Mr Ollivander."
As James and his mum walked out of the shop into the sunshine, a warm feeling spread over him. He looked at the wand he held in his hand. His very own wand. He suddenly felt both excited and scared at the thought of the power he would have once he mastered using his wand. He'd heard of Grindelward, the evil wizard whose reign of terror only reached Europe. Even so, he killed hundreds of people. Then James thought of Dumbledore, the good, kind wizard who'd defeated Grindelwald just last year.
By comparing those two extraorinary wizards, James realised that he had a choice. A choice to become good or evil. Since James looked up to Dumbledore, he decided he'd wanted to become good. There was no way he'd actually live up to Dumbledore's great achievement, though, but he could try.
"So, how about we go to Flourish & Blotts to buy your books?"
James nodded eagerly. "Yeah!" He walked alongside his mum, chattering happily along the way.
Twenty minutes later, James and his mum walked out of Flourish & Blotts, Mrs Potter wheeling their trolley occupied by spellbooks.
Mrs Potter spied her husband walking towards them, taking three small sacks of what she assumed was wizard's money.
"How'd you go getting a wand?" Mr Potter asked his son, grinning.
James grinned happily, and held his new wand out for his father to see.
"Hmm," said Mr Potter, pretending to examine the wand. "Yes, yes, very good," and he handed the wand back to James, who looked puzzled.
"He cast his very first spell," said Mrs Potter, proudly, beaming at her son.
"Oh yeah, I did!" said James excitedly. "I waved it, then out of nowhere came a pink flower." Then his face fell. "Oh, mum, I was gonna give it to you but I forgot."
Mrs Potter smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there'll be plenty more flowers where that came from."
"Can we go to Florean Fortescue's?" asked James.
"Not yet," said Mrs Potter. "We should finish shopping, first. Next, to Madam Malkin's for school robes."
Mr Potter echoed James' groan as Mrs Potter led them to the robes shop.
Two hours later, the Potter finished their shopping. Mr Potter was wheeling around the trolley now.
"Now can we go to Fortescue's?" asked James. He had been asking this question for the past two hours, and his parent's patience was running thin.
"Yes, we can go to Fortescue's" snapped Mrs Potter.
"I want Firewhisky flavour!" said James eagerly.
Mr Potter ruffled his son's hair. "Not today, mate. Wait til you turn 17. I'll take you down to the Hog's Head myself and shout you a couple."
James eyes shone. "Really?" he asked.
Catching his wife's diapproving glare, Mr Potter changed the subject. "I'll be having a scoop of blood flavour, I think."
Mrs Potter went to buy the icecreams while James and Mr Potter found a table to sit at.
James asked his parents questions about Hogwarts and they answered as best as they could.
Finally, Mrs Potter checked her watch. "It's 4:30. I think we should leave now."
And so the Potter family Apparated away from Diagon Alley.
