James Potter grinned doggishly, crawling over the body of his sleeping brother, covered from the top of his head to the tip of his toes by a quilted blanket. The gray light of a fresh morning flooded over the bedroom, and birds chirped their new song on a tree outside the window. Only James ever woke up this early, when the colors were still muted and the peaceful silence that hung over the house at Godric's Hollow made you notice the little details in the home, like the way the bathroom tiles didn't quite match up, or how the curtains weren't closed completely. The rest of the family usually was allowed to sleep as the eldest Potter began his daily routine of greeting the Prophet owl, and taking his broom for a quick zip around the backyard. This morning, however, only Albus was still asleep, much to James' annoyance.
"You're gonna miss the traaaain," he continued to chime, inching closer to what he assumed was the head of his brother and pulling off the quilt. Hair, black as the burnt wood in the downstairs fireplace, was all he saw at first until he felt shifting beneathe him. Albus' pale face soon came into veiw, his eyes half open and a pouting frown on his face. A hand crawled out from it's hiding place to rub the sleep from his eyes.
He groaned and said something, his other hand coming out from under the blanket. James couldn't make out what exactly had been said, but he guessed it was something along the lines of 'get off fat ass' or one of the other things Albus usually said when James woke him up. The hands on his shoulders, pushing him back told James his guess had been correct and he lazily allowed himself to fall back onto his younger brother's legs. "Up, up! Mum's pissed because you slept in agaaaain!"
James really was too chipper for this time of morning. Downstairs, his father, mum and Lily were eating breakfast in complete silence, all of them too asleep to properly make conversation. Jamsie had volunteered to leave the quiet and wake the last member of the family to make sure he got ready in time to catch the Hogwarts Express.
"The train doesn't leave till eleven. Bugger off," Albus mumbled, shifting his legs in a weak attempt to kick his brother off. After sixteen years one would think he would realize that James was a stubborn arse and wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted. Sometimes he marveled at his ability to stay childish despite his status as oldest child. Albus was much more level headed than he was, and Lily acted older than the both of them.
Grinning even wider, the seventeen year hoisted himself up again, feeling his abs tighten as he did. Quidditch had done a wonder on his body and half the female population of the Wizarding World, and a third of the male, could tell you that. Not just through his sex life, but through tabloids. Since the downfall of Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter was thrust even farther into the spotlight. His marriage to Ginny Weasley was all over the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly and their lives since had been plastered on each paper. For the most part, the celebrity status family had tried to avoid the spotlight but found it difficult as the kids got older. James became the Wizarding World's 'It-boy' and had many an admirer ranging from young witches at school to middle aged colleagues of his parents'. Albus had, compared to James, stayed out of the public eye, after some journalist at Witch Weekly created a huge scandal when the youngest son was sorted into Slytherin. Lily was a lot like James in the sense that she didn't try to avoid the press. She had grown accustomed to it and often voiced her opinions on Quidditch and current events.
"Bloody hell Albus just get up!" he continued to insist, giving his brother's ear a playful tug. Dark brown eyes rolled at his brother's laziness. Albus wasn't usually such a difficult person to wake up. Lily slept in much later on most days. James guessed, however, that the going away party from the night before had tuckered Albus out.
All the Weasleys in one house was always crazy. Add food and music to the mix and it was chaos. One Big Happy Weasley Family. Red hair everywhere. It was too wonderful for words. James loved having the entire family around. Uncle Ron talking about the old days, Uncle George and Uncle Percy bickering enough to make you think they were married or something. Bill and Charlie usually brought along the gifts. And the food! The food was amazing. Aunt Fleur was a brilliant cook and usually provided all the food for the family get togethers. James couldn't help but smile as he thought back to the night before. Teddy and a very pregnant Victoire returned from Egypt with gifts for everyone and the announcement that both would be joining the staff at Hogwarts; Teddy teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and Victoire taking up Charms. If that wasn't enough to make this next year one to look forward to, the adults had been talking in hushed voices the entire night and assuring them that this year was going to be 'eventful'.
Whatever that meant.
With a groan, James' victory arrived as Albus lifted himself up and squirmed his way out from under James. He crossed his legs, rubbing his eyes before letting his hands rest limply in his lap. James blinked at his brother's frown. "C'mon don't give me that face. You want to miss school and have to stay here for the entire year?"
"You're morning glee amazes me."
The next thing James knew, Albus' pillow was on his face and then landed infront of him limply. Across of him, Albus was smirking and holding his dark hair out of his face.
Some found it odd, how the two were so close despite the house rivalry and Albus' more timid nature [mind you, he was no Scorpius Malfoy, but compared to James he was as gentle as a kitten but the brothers were still friends and James adored his little brother. They balanced and complimented each other well. James with his cocky confidence and Albus with his clever ambition. They were an odd pair, not quite opposites but completely different at the same time. During the school year, they didn't talk much, their years and rival houses getting in the way, but at home it was as if Slytherin and Gryffindors shared a common room.
James left the room and returned downstairs to allow Albus time to shower and get dressed. He seated himself at the table between his sister and mum, helping himself to some bacon and munching happily between sips of milk. Across from him sat his dad, reading the Prophet and holding Ginny's hand lovingly. He looked up briefly when his eldest son sat down and grinned the same grin that was on James and Albus' face.
"Albus coming?"
"No. He exploded."
"James please use a napkin."
"Got it Mum."
Flicking a napkin, James wiped his fingers on it before letting it rest neatly on his lap. Next to him, Lily made a face from her book. Already studying for her OWLs, Lily was the smart sibling. Since they returned home only a few months before, she had been studying almost nonstop. The horror stories of his own OWLs probably put Lily into such a mode and James found himself regretting his elaborated lies many times during that summer. When Albus was visiting friends, and their parents were at work, James sometimes wished Lily would get her head out of a book for a quick game of one-on-one Quidditch or something. He would never be able to forsee how...boring it was to be of age. Seventeen was not as interesting as it looked. So he could apparate, big deal? So he could use magic for everything; it became boring. So it was the times when his new 'of age' status became dull that he longed for his sister's company. But she was too busy studying. Bloody hell, he had commented one morning, Lily might as well had been sorted into Ravenclaw.
"Are goblin wars on the exam?" she asked, looking up from the book for, James guessed, the first time since she sat down at the table. Her plate was perfectly clean.
"Yes," their Mum answered before James got his chance. Truth was, no one could really tell if Goblin Wars was on the exam or not. There was too much of everything in the OWLs and it was hard to remember specific questions and such. James found himself scowling childishly at his mother; not seriously of course, the Potters were a very laid back family, full of jokes and sarcasm. Hell, the entire Weasley family was like that, with the few exceptions of Percy's son Arthur and Charlie's daughter Dorika, both of whom were very serious, intense, and sometimes frightening people.
There was a series of thuds on the stairs matched with Albus' owl, Atticus, hoo-ing loudly as his cage, James assumed from the steady tapping, swung in Albus' hand and knocked against the wall as he tried to bring all his things downstairs. At once, the boys' father got up from the table to help his youngest son. Those darn school trunks were obnoxiously heavy.
Once everyone had gathered all their things and the cars from the Ministry arrived, the family loaded all their things inside and made the journey from Godric's Hollow to London. Harry was needing to stop by the Ministry before they made it to King's Cross, or else they wouldn't have had to leave so soon. So all that was settled and, dodging the nosy photographer of the Daily Prophet, made there way into King's Cross Station.
"Alright James you first. Then you Albus and then Lily. Your mum and I will come through last."
James balanced his the owl cage atop his cart, making sure Echo wouldn't fall off at all during his jog [it happened the year before and the owl got out, sending the Muggles in the train station into quite a stir and made his dash for the barrier. The first few steps were ginger ones, just to get himself going and then faster and faster her got in a few quick moments before he stuck his heel out infront of him and skidded to a sudden, jerking stop. Echo fluttered a bit but remained safe. Grinning, James looked over his shoulder at the eye rolls his parents were giving and the frown on Lily's face.
"Now I can't do that," she said.
Sticking his tounge out, James jogged the last few feet and pushed himself through onto Platform 9 3/4. At once the busy noises of wizards filled his ears. Cracks, pops, wooshing, yelling, crying. A warmth was washing over him. He was going back to Hogwarts for his final year. He was excited and sad all at the same time. He would miss this. The chaos that the Platform was always in, the goodbyes, the sorting, Quidditch, making fun of the Slytherins. Hogwarts was the place he had spent the majority of his last seven years at. It was home.
He stood there for a few moments, not even noticing Albus coming in behind him, followed by Lily [who had decided to ride her cart through and then their parents, just taking in the sights and sounds. He could hear some familiar names being thrown around:
"Mohinder Lokash Finnighan stop putting those dungbombs in your cousin's ears!"
"SCORPIUS?! SCORPIUS WHERE ARE YOU!?!?" [which, though James couldn't hear, was answered with a very quiet 'I-I'm right behind you, Mum'
"Leave Myrtle alone this year Keely."
"Promote the Kerkle Foundation Genesis!"
and then there were the unfamiliar ones, which James could tell by the confused voices belonged to Muggles:
"Cory do you know where exactly this school is?"
"Don't... don't eat anything... weird looking Amy."
Only a little ways away he could see the Thomas', a ying-yang pair of sisters, one as fair as their mother, the other dark like their father. And he could barely make out the figures of the Creeveys, who at once had been the smallest students at Hogwarts, but it seemed that Colin and Howard had growth spurts over the summer, though Olivia was still a very small seventh year. There were the Bletchleys, Caine and Calliope standing beside their parents, both glowering in different directions. James followed Caine's stare to the son of the other family with the Bletchleys; the Malfoys.
James had never had much interaction with the Malfoys. The only child of Draco and his Egyptian wife, Isis, was a year behind James and didn't have nearly the reputation that Draco did. No, Scorpius was nothing like his father, unless he was just playing a big joke on everyone. James could only assume, from stories he had heard, that he had his mother's personality. All James new of Scorpius was that he was in Ravenclaw [which he imagined was a slight disappointment for Draco. After all, a Potter had been sorted into Slytherin. There was obviously something in the universe. that he didn't talk much, and that he ran into things a lot. James also knew that Scorpius looked like an angel. Lightly tanned with beach blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes, eyes that were nothing like the cold gray of a Malfoys: they were a dark, dark navy blue.
He found himself staring for a little longer than was proper, snapped back into reality by the sound of his mother's usual 'give Neville our love'. At first James had always been horrified to hear such a thing. Give love to his Herbology professor? That was hardly something he wanted to be caught doing. Around his third year he decided to take another route and when he walked into his first Herbology lesson of the year, gave Longbottom a big ol' hug and told him, very loudly, that he loved him. The next morning he got a letter advising him that was not what Ginny had meant but he could tell she had been thoroughly amused.
"Mum how many times do I have to tell you? Student-teacher relationships are frowned upon nowadays," he heard Albus say beside him before reaching to give her a hug and join his other Slytherins. James mentally noted that would probably be the last time he'd get a proper look at his brother before school started. Lily was next to say her goodbyes and joined her friends, Chloe Davies and Bridgette Wood.
That left James. He gave both his parents a large grin, feeling that overwhelming acknowledgment that this would be the last goodbye wash over him. He could himself wanting to go teary eyed but then reminding himself not to be stupid and blinked a few times in rapid succession. His parents were smiling back at him as if understanding. His hands slipped into his trouser pockets and his right gripped the watch in his pocket. His 'of age watch'. It had been his father's, given to him by Grandma Molly on his seventeenth birthday. He finally felt what he had been waiting to feel when holding the watch. He was going to be an adult. Maybe he was feeling a little too early (after all, school hadn't even started let alone ended) or maybe it was a little late (his birthday had been in April) but he didn't care. There was a proud excitement growing in his chest and running through his veins. An adult. It sounded nice.
"We're really proud of you," Harry said at last, breaking the comfortable silence between them.
James smiled even wider and nodded. No witty remarks, no eye roll at the cliche cheese. He just nodded and reached out to shake his father's hand and the two used the contact to pull each other into a hug, patting the other's back before releasing. James then turned to his mother, his brown eyes matching her's which were wet with held back tears. He hugged her, giving a light kiss on her cheek and whispering a sweet 'I love you Mum' into her shoulder as he inhaled her scent. French vanilla lotion and flowers. That was Ginny's smell and James loved it.
As a little boy he often crawled into his mother's lap while she was reading, or writting, or anytime she was doing something and ask for her to tell her a story and it was always the same one. The story of little Jimmy who didn't want to grow up so he hid under his bed for a hundred years but when he finally came out from under his bed the world had grown up with out him. His friends were now adults and the flowers and trees and grass had grown up so much they were a thousand feet high and Jimmy was the only one left little and decided that he really didn't want to stay young forever and that he wanted to grow up to. When James was little, he was always so angry that Jimmy had the same name he did and thought Jimmy was very stupid. He would say 'No one would grow up with out me because I would just bring everyone under my bed with me!' but no matter how stupid he thought Jimmy was, he wanted to hear the story over and over again.
When he and his mother let go, James saw that she wasn't crying, just smiling. He said goodbye and turned to push his things to the train and find his friends. His father's voice calling to him made him turn back around.
"We'll see you in a few weeks!"
James asked what that meant but was just told he'd find out soon enough and turned back around to board the train. He surveyed the platform once again. No sign of red hair anywhere. He guessed his cousins were either a already on the train or b not yet here. Whatever it was, he'd find a compartment and wait for Fred and Mathias.
He found one alright, passing one Weasley, Percy's son, Arthur (Headboy, Top student, Ravenclaw, basically the perfect son) and asked him if he had seen George's family or Charlie's. That was a negative. Hoisting his trunk up and setting Echo and her cage on the seat across from him, James sprawled out along on of the cramped compartment seats. He was getting too tall to keep sleeping on the train. He couldn't lay down and comfortably straighten out, so his knees were bent and his head was propped up against the window. His eyes fluttered closed as he prepared to wait (he wasn't about to take a nap yet) but he was opening them soon as a quiet, dreamlike voice stuttered its way into the compartment.
"Could... Could I j-join you?"
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disclaimer;; i do not own harry potter or its universe. JKR and Warner Bros does. :3
author note;; this is my first fic on this site. please write reveiws