I Stand Alone: James Potter's Story
Part I
Don't really know what to say here. Um, this is a story about James Potter, and it takes place mostly in his first year. It's sort of drama/angst/romance, but I think it's pretty good.
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I, James Thomas Potter, stand alone. Even though my entire life, I was surrounded by a quite thick circle of friends and admirers, I stand alone. I was a soloist, an exclusive, a loner, in my family, I mean. They were one group, I was the other.
My mother died when I was six. Strange illness, the doctors had said. I believed them. My father never really cared for me. After my mother, Selene, had died, he neglected me, left the servants to care for me. He and I were isolated, detached, cut apart. Not just in looks or anything like that. He believed one thing, I believed the opposite.
The first time I could remember the separation was when I was six. My mother had died one month before and I recalled a conversation between my father and his sister. The topic was if I would enter Hogwarts.
"He might, you never know. That idiot of a headmaster Dumbledore will let in anyone." My aunt, Morissa, had said, sneering at me.
"He's a Squib. I can tell. I ask him to do magic and all he does is just stare at me. He's an imbecile. He's hopeless." My father had answered, glaring at me as though I was something repulsive, something disgusting. It hurt. I never loved my father, and he never loved me, but it hurt.
Little did he know that while he was talking about my ineptness, I was in the Potter Manor library, studying. Some of the spells that even people four times my age could never perform. I banished to only the Manor, and I could not leave the grounds (Curse those dang tracking spells!) so I had no friends, other than those dusty volumes.
When I was eleven, the day I got my acceptation letter to Hogwarts, my father summoned me to his office. I knew this was not a good sign.
"James, I have been convinced for over 10 years that you are a Squib. You had better show me some magic soon, boy, or else, I shall forbid you to set foot in Hogwarts. No one shall show the world that there is a Squib in the honorable Potter line. Show me now! Or else..." As soon as I had set foot in the room, he laid the bombshell on me. I knew Hogwarts would be heaven to my world. I would be happy. I would have friends. I would learn. I could forget my father. So, naturally I knew I had to dazzle him with some highly complex spell.
I pulled out my wand. "Soarons, chammmberus, promptonous!" I cried wheeling myself around in a circle pointing at the furniture in the room. Immediately they rose and began to revolve around the room, extremely quickly. I smiled partly at the spell (boy, I had had fun scaring the maids out of their wits with that tricky charm) and partly at the stunned expression on my father's face.
"Good Lord," My father said "You have a chance after all." He dismissed me and told me to go off to Diagon Alley to buy my school things.
My chauffeur took me to Diagon Alley. "Here, Master Potter," he said, handing me a leather pouch filled with Galleons. "You may spend this while shopping."
At Diagon Alley, it was wonderful. I walked about, doing what I liked, a pastime I never did at home. As I was in Quality Quidditch Supplies, looking at brooms...
"Dad, pleeeeease? Pleeease? I promise to clean my room forever!"
"No, Sirius. 1st years aren't allowed brooms."
"But, Daaaaaaad..."
"Don't 'But Dad..." me, Sirius. You can get one when you're 12."
"Hmph."
The angry boy stormed off and bumped into me while leaving the store.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The boy said.
"That's OK. I'm James Potter."
"Sirius Black. Are you starting at Hogwarts, too this year?"
"Yeah. I think I'll like it."
"Me too. Wanna go to the joke shop with me?"
"Sure!"
Sirius Black and I roamed Diagon Alley together, for a really long time. Soon, we were the best of friends. We planned on meeting each other at Platform 9 and 3/4 on September 1st.
I didn't see my father again until the day before school started. He had been meeting a lot with some guy named Tom M-something-or-another Riddle. Really strange sort of guy, too- very creepy eyes. Anyway, the day before school started, Father called me to his office.
"You had better uphold the family honor, boy. I shall be highly, highly, highly disappointed if you do not get into Slytherin. My family for the past 20 generations has gotten into Slytherin. If you do not, child, you shall never wish you had been born!" He spat.
"If you ever, ever, ever" ('my, we're feeling certainly articulate today, aren't we dear old dad?', I had thought 'Highly, Highly, Highly, Ever, Ever, Ever, Blah Blah Blah') "talk to a Gryffindor, you will pay! Do you understand me?"
"Yes, father. But, I don't really want to be a Slytherin. I want to be...I want to be..." I teetered on the edge of saying it "I want to be a Gryffindor." Oh, I regret saying that. Father had slapped me in the face and hissed at me that if I was a Gryffindor, he would personally disown me upon my graduation. Hollow threat I had remembered thinking. I would be the greatest wizard in the world when I left Hogwarts. Great Wizards can earn money. Great Wizards don't need 'family ties' to verbally abusing fathers. See if I don't, father, see if I don't.
The moment I left the Potter Manor Grounds, it was incredible. For the first time in my life, I was free. Our chauffeur drove me to the Platform 9 3/4 and bid me farewell. Ah, freedom.
As soon as I got through the barrier at the Platform, I heard someone calling my name.
"James! James! James Potter!" A tall black-haired boy was dashing toward me.
"Hi, Sirius!"
"James, hi! These are Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." I noticed there were two boys standing next to him. Remus was a quiet, pale kid with light-brown hair. Peter was short, blonde, and had really watery blue eyes. There was something about him that made me uneasy, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I brushed that feeling away as we began to chat and laugh.
About a couple minutes into the train ride, two girls came into our compartment. One was sort of short for her age and had long, red hair in a braid with emerald green eyes. The other was really tall had curly black hair and blue eyes that flashed around the compartment, in an excited way.
The redhead spoke first: "Hi, um, all the other compartments are full. Can we sit here?"
"Sure. I'm Sirius Black. What're your names?"
"Lily Evans." The redhead said.
"Jess Callier. Who're all of you?"
"I'm James Potter."
"Remus Lupin."
"I'm P-peter P-p-ettigrew." Peter said, nervously; it was apparent he hadn't spent to much time around girls.
"Pleased to meet you all. Are you beginning at Hogwarts this year?" Lily asked.
"Yes."
"So are we."
And so the talk went on. Sirius, I could tell was amazed by Jess, because she had a passion for pranks (and a temper) to rival his own.
After the train ride, which had gone fairly well (Sirius and Jess had gotten into a huge yelling match about which Quidditch team would win this year's World Cup "I'm tellin' ya! It's Ireland! They have the best Keeper and Chasers this league has ever seen!" Sirius, apparently was holding out for Wales -he was Welsh, you see- "Keeper, Schmeeper, Chaser, Schmaser! Wales rocks! Have you seen their Seeker for crying out loud?!? They flattened Bulgaria in the semi-finals, all 'cause o' him! 450-0! Take that Ireland!" and so on. It was quite good entertainment, in fact.)
Unfortunately, our train ride wasn't just meeting friends. We were just setting up a wizards' chess board up, when this REALLY mean-looking guy with astonishingly greasy hair came into our compartment.
"I'm Severus Snape. Who are all of you?" He asked, as though we should be honored that he was speaking to us.
We introduced ourselves. However, when I said my name, he looked at me a bit oddly.
"I suppose you are all newly starting." We nodded. "What houses do you want to be in?"
Everyone began speaking at once.
"Oh, I suppose Gryffindor..."
"Ravenclaw might not be too bad..."
"I want to be in Gryffindor, too!"
"And me!"
"And me!"
"Can you imagine being put into Slytherin?" I asked.
Snape snorted. "I *do* hope you're joking. Any human with..." he searched for a word "*stature* is in Slytherin!"
We were silent at this statement. Well, all of us but Sirius, that is.
"And any human with any hygiene to speak of isn't in Slytherin!" he retorted.
"I refuse to take part in any socializing with such riffraff. I bid you farewell!" With a turn of his heel, he was gone. Thankfully.
"What a loser. Chess, anyone?" Sirius muttered.
Once we arrived at Hogwarts, I started getting this hollow, empty feeling in my stomach. Thoughts like 'What if you are Sorted into Hufflepuff, or worse, Slytherin?!' 'Please, for goodness' sake, not Slytherin!'
When I learned that all we had to do to be Sorted was to try on a hat, I was extremely relieved. Some Ravenclaw 4th-years were going on about battling a dragon or something. When I tried on the hat, I was as nervous as anything.
"Ah, now what do we have here?" The Sorting Hat had said, "Let me see, let me see. Hmmm. This is a tough one. You are remarkably intelligent, yes, very intelligent, but sorry, Mr. Potter, I just can't see you in Ravenclaw. Yes, you're loyal, all right, but I can't see you in Hufflepuff. Well, looks like it's a showdown between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Your entire family has been put in Slytherin I see. But, no, I can't see you in that House. You stand alone, Mr. Potter, you stand alone. Therefore, I must put you in GRYFFINDOR!" The last word he shouted out to the Hall. At the Gryffindor table, I joined Remus, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and Jess.
When Father got word that I had been put into Gryffindor, he sent me a Howler. Luckily, I knew a tricky little spell called the Mute Charm. With Lily's help (she's fantastic in Charms), we performed it and the Howler was silent. Then I did a little Disintegrating Spell and Poof! It was gone!
My first year was amazing. For the first time in my life, I had friends, I felt wanted. I was extraordinarily well at lessons, and so was my best friend, Sirius. Immediately we were up in the 3rd year classes for nearly all of our lessons. So was that girl, Lily.
Originally, Lily was the girl in the corner, studying 24/7, occasionally watching wistfully as we bounced around the common room. One day, however, she was quite unintentionally pulled into one of our pranks, along with it, our circle of friendship.
"And did you see his face, the great lout, when he realized his ugly green robes were on fire?"
"I wish I had a camera!"
Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I were discussing our latest accomplishment: setting Snape on fire. That is, until Professor McGonagall saw us.
"Potter! Black! Lupin! Pettigrew!" We tried to look as innocent as we possibly could. Unfortunately, acting was NOT any of our strong points.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing, Professor McGonagall." We answered in unison.
"I see. Would the recent events involving Mister Severus Snape cause you to look so overjoyed?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no." Sirius was, obviously, the most daring one in the group. And the one with the least amount of common sense.
"Detention Black. Bed pan duty, tomorrow night."
"Yes, Professor."
"I expect that you all are up to something, and so, I'm telling you in advance, detention Friday night, with Mr. Filch."
"Awwwwwwww..."
McGonagall walked away. I whispered to the other three: "Guys? I think we're getting a bit _too_ predictable."
"Yeah, you can sorta tell when professors give you detention before she even knows you did something." Remus answered.
"We gotta think of something mind-boggling. Something that no one will ever guess!" Sirius said, pensively, pacing around the hall.
"How about sending Snape a howler!" Peter replied hopefully.
"Peter, we did that last week." I said gently.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Anyone have any other ideas?"
"How about doing something to the entire Slytherin house?" I suggested.
"That just might work. But what?"
"Cast a spell on 'em so they can only say one thing the entire day!"
"Fantastic! How 'bout 'Gryffindors rule!'?"
"Excellent!"
"Let's do it tonight! Then we taunt the Slytherins and Snape, and all they can say is 'Gryffindor rocks'!"
That night, three (Peter had refused to come), kids in dark robes sneaked into the Slytherin common room. Then, we cast a spell in every room, making every one in the dorm rooms be only able to say one lone thing.
After our 'mission' was over, we sprinted back to our dorm room, and fell asleep.
That morning, we walked (sleepily) to the Great Hall. Fortunately, we met Severus Snape and his charming friends.
"Hello! How are you on this fine morning?" Sirius said cheerfully.
Snape seemed disgusted, and looked at Sirius as though he was crazy (he probably was, but let's not get into that subject). Finally, he was ready to say something and-
"Gryffindors rule!" Snape's friends, Evan Rosier and Roger Wilkes, looked at Snape, shocked.
Rosier opened his big fat mouth first, "Gryffindors rule!"
Wilkes tried next, "Gryffindors rule! Gryffindors rule!"
The four of us burst out laughing. The three Slytherins brought out their wands.
Snape muttered a curse at me and Sirius. Luckily, we dodged it.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The spell had hit another student. As I turned around, I realized it had that girl, Lily McSalen. Angry red welts began popping up all over her face and hands.
"Lily! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed.
Snape opened his mouth and began to say something, but then remembered his current state and shut it.
"James, we gotta get her to the hospital wing!" Sirius said.
"Potter! Black! What is going on here?" Uh oh. Professor Quain, the Arithmancy professor, and head of the Ravenclaw house, stormed up.
"Um, professor...Lily here, she accidentally got hit by a spell." Remus answered as Lily moaned in pain.
"Explain later. Go fetch Madam Reneé, Potter!"
I dashed off to the Hospital Wing, when I arrived, I told Madam Reneé about Lily, and we raced to the Entrance Hall.
(A/N: The following French accent is pitiful, so pretend it's a real Frenchwoman speaking. As much as I love French class, my accent is atrocious.) "Ziz is 'orrible. Miss Evans must spend zee night in zee 'Ospital Wing. What curse did you use?"
Naturally, Snape and his little friends had hightailed it as soon as Professor Quain entered.
"Um...I'm really not sure. I think it was the Weltari Curse?" I guessed, as Peter, Sirius, and Remus nodded their heads vigorously in approval. "It was completely an accident."
"Well, I'm sure zat will 'elp wiz zee pain, eh, Miss Evans?"
Eventually, we got poor Lily up to the wing. She stayed there for three days. I felt quite responsible, so a soon as I heard she was better, I went to talk to her.
"Lily?"
"Oh, it's you."
"I'm REALLY sorry about what happened with Snape. I didn't know you where right behind me."
"That's O.K., I guess. What did you do to Snape, anyway?" I cracked a grin.
"Oh, so you noticed! We put a spell on the entire Slytherin house, that whenever they spoke, they said 'Gryffindors rule!'"
Lily began to laugh. "I wish I could've seen them. It must be fun, always playing pranks."
"Yeah, it is. Haven't you ever played any?"
"Never. Except only on accident when people, my sister, to be specific, would tease me."
"So you've haven't played an intentional joke in your whole life?"
"Nope."
"I can't believe it. That, my dear, is about to change."
"Oh, no."
"Oh, yes!"
Soon after that, Lily, and her friend Jess, were dragged (Lily almost kicking and screaming all the way) into our group.
In 'The Potter Gang', as students had begun to call us ('The Infamous Potter Gang', if you're a teacher, Filch, or a Slytherin) we each had our roles, and filled them dutifully.
Sirius was the outgoing one. The one that thought up the crooked plans we were notorious for. The one framed his first detention slip. There are almost no words to describe, Sirius, but he's my best friend, and I'll stand by him forever.
Remus was the quiet, calming one. He was practically the only one of us who could tame not only Jess' temper, but also Sirius'. He studied a lot, but being the kind and caring friends me and Sirius were, we pushed and pulled him out of that deplorable habit.
Peter was the tag-a-long. He would go along with us, but then as soon as trouble aroused, he was gone. Some might call him a fair-weather friend.
Jess was practically the personality-mirror image of Sirius. They would argue, and fight, and dare each other, but in a friendly way, at least.
Lily was the one who said 'Now guys, let's think about what would the consequences be if we did this...'. She stopped us from doing the more dangerous jokes, but went along with the harmless ones.
Sirius, Remus, Peter, Jess, Lily, and I became a well-known sight to see in the Common Room at night with our heads together discussing on how to humiliate the slime-balls in Slytherin. Or blowing something up. Or seeing what happens when you feed an owl a pound of sugar. Or creating new prank inventions. The list could go on and on, but if you gave us a rule, you could be sure we would or could break it in under 60 seconds flat.
One thing was weird about Remus, though. He kept on leaving during the year, near the end of the month. We would ask him about it.
"Oh, um. It's my mother. She's... uh, sick. I have to go home and help her! 'Cause she's sick and all." Would be the traditional response whenever we asked him about it. One day Sirius and I were talking about it to Lily.
"Lily?" Sirius asked.
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Ever wonder why Remus is sick or gone all of the time?"
Lily suddenly burst out laughing. "What, what, what's so funny?" I demanded.
"You...you haven't noticed?" We shook our heads. "You're his best friends and you don't know?"
"Well, if we did, then we wouldn't be asking you, now would we?" Sirius snapped.
"Just a second..." Lily said, digging into her bag. She pulled out a calendar of the year. "Now watch. Remus is sick now, right?" she asked. We nodded. She put a little star on today. "And he was sick two months ago?"
"Yeah, I remember. He missed the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch Match. It was the... 23rd, I think." I said.
"And he missed the Christmas Feast!" Sirius added.
We continued naming days we could remember Remus being sick as Lily continued putting little stars on the days we named.
"Now," she said. "Take a look at all the days. Notice a pattern?"
"Yeah, so what?" Sirius said, glancing at the dates.
"Sirius...these are all on the full moon." I said quietly. Sirius did a double-take at the calendar and examined it very carefully.
"You're right." He said. "So... either it's some freaky coincidence, or..." he trailed off.
"Or...Remus is a werewolf." Lily finished softly. "I'm surprised you didn't realize that."
"I gotta talk to him when he comes back." Sirius said, as he walked to the dorm room.
"Sirius, maybe you should wait...it could hurt his feelings. Sirius!" Lily called.
When Remus came back the next day, he was immediately cornered by Sirius, Peter, Lily, Jess, and I.
"Hey, Remus! How's you're mom doin'?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, um, my mother," Remus turned pink "she's um, getting better. Thanks for asking!"
"Remus, listen. There's something we want to talk to you about." Lily began gently.
"We have realized that you are, er...sick -or at least your mom is- around the full moon." I said, quietly. "Because, you see, the only creature that is sick at the full moon...is a werewolf."
"Is there something you're not telling us, Remus?" Jess questioned.
Remus sighed, then gulped. "Yes. I am a werewolf."
Remus seemed to think that if anyone knew he was a werewolf they would ridicule him and his friends would drop him like a hot potato. But he was wrong. That night, up in the dorm room, we talked to him, late up into the night.
"Remus, what is it like?" I asked.
"What?"
"You know, being a werewolf."
"Oh. It hurts when you transform, and I feel, it's hard to explain."
"Try." Sirius demanded.
"Well, I think there are two halves to everyone. An animal half, and a human half. Usually, for everyone else, the human half is in power. But for me, once a month, my animal half takes over. It's a very creepy feeling."
We sat in silence for a while, after that explanation.
"Remus, I promise. I'll make it better." I said.
"What d'you mean?"
"I'll make being a werewolf better for you."
"How will you do that?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know. I just will. We could discover a potion..."
"Or invent a spell..." Sirius added.
We began making up ridiculous ways on how to help Remus. "Or fly me to a planet where there are no moons!"
"Or make it permanently cloudy!" Sirius cried.
"Or you could become Animagi!" Remus laughed. Sirius and I didn't laugh, but looked at Remus, then looked at each other. Our faces cracked into grins.
Remus stopped laughing, too. "Oh, no!" he wailed "I recognize those smiles! That's your 'I-have-a-devilish-idea-that-if-we-get-caught-we-could-be-in-serious-trouble' smile!"
"Moony, Moony, Moony! Tsk, tsk! What a thing to say! We won't get caught!" Sirius said.
"Sirius! Why'd ya call me Moony?"
"You know that Muggle book Lily brought called Gone with the Wind?" We all nodded. "Remus, you're Gone with the Moon!" And so, Remus was dubbed Moony.
"We actually could, though. I'll bet there is some book in the library that has the Animagus Spell!" I exclaimed, going back to the subject.
"If only we could find a way to get to it!" Sirius pondered. "Oh, well. We can think up so-devious-near-impossible-plan-that-if-it-works-it'll-be-a-miracle tomorrow morning. G'night!" He laid down and pulled the covers over his head.
"Oh, no! Guys! No! It's impossible!" Remus whined.
"Goodnight, Remus!"
"But..."
"Good NIGHT, REMUS!"
"It'll never work, I hope you know!"
"But, if it does, just think of it...we'll be know forever as the biggest mischief makers in Hogwarts history!"
"But what good will that be if you're in Azkaban!" I heard Remus mutter as he climbed into bed.
The next day, Sirius, Remus, and I began investigating about the Animagi spell. Unfortunately, all the books that even might've been the slightest bit helpful were in the Restricted Area. And, for, some odd reason, none of the teachers would trust us enough to get it for us.
The summer came before I knew it. The ride home was a solemn one, for me at least.
"Hey, James! Wanna play Exploding Snap?"
"No, thanks, Jess. I don't feel like it." I would answer.
"James, is something wrong?"
"No, I'm OK. I'm just going to miss Hogwarts this summer."
"Whatever."
The summer for me was horrid. Father would lock me in my room with nothing, and would forget I was alive at times. Once, when a woman asked him, "How is your son doing?" he had replied: "He is no son of mine. I have no son." This, I thought was odd. So what, I was in Gryffindor. Big whoop.
My father also continued meeting with that Riddle man more and more often. Except, he [my father] had begun calling him Lord.
One good thing about all the solitude at my home is that without, interruption, I could research Animagi transformations for hours and hours. I stole the books from the library and took them to Hogwarts with me.
Also, while I was searching for books, I found a secret false back to a shelf. I opened it, and found an Invisibility Cloak. These were astoundingly rare and could cost hundreds of thousands of Galleons at it's cheapest. Seeing how I probably was the only one who had been in the library for over a century and the wood around the cloak was coated in dust that had to have been there for even more than 100 years, I figured no one would miss the cloak. So, I decided to take it to Hogwarts with me (well, I'd like to see what YOU would've done with it!)
Armed with my new Invisibility Cloak, a sense of pride, and a knowledge life at Hogwarts would be better, I set off for my second year.
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Please tell me what you think, because I need the support. Any flames will be extinguished.
Disclaimer: I own Selene, James' father, Morissa, Potter Manor, James' chauffeur, Jess Callier, Sirius' father, Wilkes' first name, Professor Quain, Madam Reneé, and that's it! All the rest belong to the amazing Ms. Joanne Kathleen Rowling!
See that little box down there? Just write your name, some comments, and click 'submit review'. It takes about 25 seconds, and it makes a big difference in my self-esteem, 'K?
Buh-bye,
Star Gazer
Part I
Don't really know what to say here. Um, this is a story about James Potter, and it takes place mostly in his first year. It's sort of drama/angst/romance, but I think it's pretty good.
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I, James Thomas Potter, stand alone. Even though my entire life, I was surrounded by a quite thick circle of friends and admirers, I stand alone. I was a soloist, an exclusive, a loner, in my family, I mean. They were one group, I was the other.
My mother died when I was six. Strange illness, the doctors had said. I believed them. My father never really cared for me. After my mother, Selene, had died, he neglected me, left the servants to care for me. He and I were isolated, detached, cut apart. Not just in looks or anything like that. He believed one thing, I believed the opposite.
The first time I could remember the separation was when I was six. My mother had died one month before and I recalled a conversation between my father and his sister. The topic was if I would enter Hogwarts.
"He might, you never know. That idiot of a headmaster Dumbledore will let in anyone." My aunt, Morissa, had said, sneering at me.
"He's a Squib. I can tell. I ask him to do magic and all he does is just stare at me. He's an imbecile. He's hopeless." My father had answered, glaring at me as though I was something repulsive, something disgusting. It hurt. I never loved my father, and he never loved me, but it hurt.
Little did he know that while he was talking about my ineptness, I was in the Potter Manor library, studying. Some of the spells that even people four times my age could never perform. I banished to only the Manor, and I could not leave the grounds (Curse those dang tracking spells!) so I had no friends, other than those dusty volumes.
When I was eleven, the day I got my acceptation letter to Hogwarts, my father summoned me to his office. I knew this was not a good sign.
"James, I have been convinced for over 10 years that you are a Squib. You had better show me some magic soon, boy, or else, I shall forbid you to set foot in Hogwarts. No one shall show the world that there is a Squib in the honorable Potter line. Show me now! Or else..." As soon as I had set foot in the room, he laid the bombshell on me. I knew Hogwarts would be heaven to my world. I would be happy. I would have friends. I would learn. I could forget my father. So, naturally I knew I had to dazzle him with some highly complex spell.
I pulled out my wand. "Soarons, chammmberus, promptonous!" I cried wheeling myself around in a circle pointing at the furniture in the room. Immediately they rose and began to revolve around the room, extremely quickly. I smiled partly at the spell (boy, I had had fun scaring the maids out of their wits with that tricky charm) and partly at the stunned expression on my father's face.
"Good Lord," My father said "You have a chance after all." He dismissed me and told me to go off to Diagon Alley to buy my school things.
My chauffeur took me to Diagon Alley. "Here, Master Potter," he said, handing me a leather pouch filled with Galleons. "You may spend this while shopping."
At Diagon Alley, it was wonderful. I walked about, doing what I liked, a pastime I never did at home. As I was in Quality Quidditch Supplies, looking at brooms...
"Dad, pleeeeease? Pleeease? I promise to clean my room forever!"
"No, Sirius. 1st years aren't allowed brooms."
"But, Daaaaaaad..."
"Don't 'But Dad..." me, Sirius. You can get one when you're 12."
"Hmph."
The angry boy stormed off and bumped into me while leaving the store.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The boy said.
"That's OK. I'm James Potter."
"Sirius Black. Are you starting at Hogwarts, too this year?"
"Yeah. I think I'll like it."
"Me too. Wanna go to the joke shop with me?"
"Sure!"
Sirius Black and I roamed Diagon Alley together, for a really long time. Soon, we were the best of friends. We planned on meeting each other at Platform 9 and 3/4 on September 1st.
I didn't see my father again until the day before school started. He had been meeting a lot with some guy named Tom M-something-or-another Riddle. Really strange sort of guy, too- very creepy eyes. Anyway, the day before school started, Father called me to his office.
"You had better uphold the family honor, boy. I shall be highly, highly, highly disappointed if you do not get into Slytherin. My family for the past 20 generations has gotten into Slytherin. If you do not, child, you shall never wish you had been born!" He spat.
"If you ever, ever, ever" ('my, we're feeling certainly articulate today, aren't we dear old dad?', I had thought 'Highly, Highly, Highly, Ever, Ever, Ever, Blah Blah Blah') "talk to a Gryffindor, you will pay! Do you understand me?"
"Yes, father. But, I don't really want to be a Slytherin. I want to be...I want to be..." I teetered on the edge of saying it "I want to be a Gryffindor." Oh, I regret saying that. Father had slapped me in the face and hissed at me that if I was a Gryffindor, he would personally disown me upon my graduation. Hollow threat I had remembered thinking. I would be the greatest wizard in the world when I left Hogwarts. Great Wizards can earn money. Great Wizards don't need 'family ties' to verbally abusing fathers. See if I don't, father, see if I don't.
The moment I left the Potter Manor Grounds, it was incredible. For the first time in my life, I was free. Our chauffeur drove me to the Platform 9 3/4 and bid me farewell. Ah, freedom.
As soon as I got through the barrier at the Platform, I heard someone calling my name.
"James! James! James Potter!" A tall black-haired boy was dashing toward me.
"Hi, Sirius!"
"James, hi! These are Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." I noticed there were two boys standing next to him. Remus was a quiet, pale kid with light-brown hair. Peter was short, blonde, and had really watery blue eyes. There was something about him that made me uneasy, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I brushed that feeling away as we began to chat and laugh.
About a couple minutes into the train ride, two girls came into our compartment. One was sort of short for her age and had long, red hair in a braid with emerald green eyes. The other was really tall had curly black hair and blue eyes that flashed around the compartment, in an excited way.
The redhead spoke first: "Hi, um, all the other compartments are full. Can we sit here?"
"Sure. I'm Sirius Black. What're your names?"
"Lily Evans." The redhead said.
"Jess Callier. Who're all of you?"
"I'm James Potter."
"Remus Lupin."
"I'm P-peter P-p-ettigrew." Peter said, nervously; it was apparent he hadn't spent to much time around girls.
"Pleased to meet you all. Are you beginning at Hogwarts this year?" Lily asked.
"Yes."
"So are we."
And so the talk went on. Sirius, I could tell was amazed by Jess, because she had a passion for pranks (and a temper) to rival his own.
After the train ride, which had gone fairly well (Sirius and Jess had gotten into a huge yelling match about which Quidditch team would win this year's World Cup "I'm tellin' ya! It's Ireland! They have the best Keeper and Chasers this league has ever seen!" Sirius, apparently was holding out for Wales -he was Welsh, you see- "Keeper, Schmeeper, Chaser, Schmaser! Wales rocks! Have you seen their Seeker for crying out loud?!? They flattened Bulgaria in the semi-finals, all 'cause o' him! 450-0! Take that Ireland!" and so on. It was quite good entertainment, in fact.)
Unfortunately, our train ride wasn't just meeting friends. We were just setting up a wizards' chess board up, when this REALLY mean-looking guy with astonishingly greasy hair came into our compartment.
"I'm Severus Snape. Who are all of you?" He asked, as though we should be honored that he was speaking to us.
We introduced ourselves. However, when I said my name, he looked at me a bit oddly.
"I suppose you are all newly starting." We nodded. "What houses do you want to be in?"
Everyone began speaking at once.
"Oh, I suppose Gryffindor..."
"Ravenclaw might not be too bad..."
"I want to be in Gryffindor, too!"
"And me!"
"And me!"
"Can you imagine being put into Slytherin?" I asked.
Snape snorted. "I *do* hope you're joking. Any human with..." he searched for a word "*stature* is in Slytherin!"
We were silent at this statement. Well, all of us but Sirius, that is.
"And any human with any hygiene to speak of isn't in Slytherin!" he retorted.
"I refuse to take part in any socializing with such riffraff. I bid you farewell!" With a turn of his heel, he was gone. Thankfully.
"What a loser. Chess, anyone?" Sirius muttered.
Once we arrived at Hogwarts, I started getting this hollow, empty feeling in my stomach. Thoughts like 'What if you are Sorted into Hufflepuff, or worse, Slytherin?!' 'Please, for goodness' sake, not Slytherin!'
When I learned that all we had to do to be Sorted was to try on a hat, I was extremely relieved. Some Ravenclaw 4th-years were going on about battling a dragon or something. When I tried on the hat, I was as nervous as anything.
"Ah, now what do we have here?" The Sorting Hat had said, "Let me see, let me see. Hmmm. This is a tough one. You are remarkably intelligent, yes, very intelligent, but sorry, Mr. Potter, I just can't see you in Ravenclaw. Yes, you're loyal, all right, but I can't see you in Hufflepuff. Well, looks like it's a showdown between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Your entire family has been put in Slytherin I see. But, no, I can't see you in that House. You stand alone, Mr. Potter, you stand alone. Therefore, I must put you in GRYFFINDOR!" The last word he shouted out to the Hall. At the Gryffindor table, I joined Remus, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and Jess.
When Father got word that I had been put into Gryffindor, he sent me a Howler. Luckily, I knew a tricky little spell called the Mute Charm. With Lily's help (she's fantastic in Charms), we performed it and the Howler was silent. Then I did a little Disintegrating Spell and Poof! It was gone!
My first year was amazing. For the first time in my life, I had friends, I felt wanted. I was extraordinarily well at lessons, and so was my best friend, Sirius. Immediately we were up in the 3rd year classes for nearly all of our lessons. So was that girl, Lily.
Originally, Lily was the girl in the corner, studying 24/7, occasionally watching wistfully as we bounced around the common room. One day, however, she was quite unintentionally pulled into one of our pranks, along with it, our circle of friendship.
"And did you see his face, the great lout, when he realized his ugly green robes were on fire?"
"I wish I had a camera!"
Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I were discussing our latest accomplishment: setting Snape on fire. That is, until Professor McGonagall saw us.
"Potter! Black! Lupin! Pettigrew!" We tried to look as innocent as we possibly could. Unfortunately, acting was NOT any of our strong points.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing, Professor McGonagall." We answered in unison.
"I see. Would the recent events involving Mister Severus Snape cause you to look so overjoyed?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no." Sirius was, obviously, the most daring one in the group. And the one with the least amount of common sense.
"Detention Black. Bed pan duty, tomorrow night."
"Yes, Professor."
"I expect that you all are up to something, and so, I'm telling you in advance, detention Friday night, with Mr. Filch."
"Awwwwwwww..."
McGonagall walked away. I whispered to the other three: "Guys? I think we're getting a bit _too_ predictable."
"Yeah, you can sorta tell when professors give you detention before she even knows you did something." Remus answered.
"We gotta think of something mind-boggling. Something that no one will ever guess!" Sirius said, pensively, pacing around the hall.
"How about sending Snape a howler!" Peter replied hopefully.
"Peter, we did that last week." I said gently.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Anyone have any other ideas?"
"How about doing something to the entire Slytherin house?" I suggested.
"That just might work. But what?"
"Cast a spell on 'em so they can only say one thing the entire day!"
"Fantastic! How 'bout 'Gryffindors rule!'?"
"Excellent!"
"Let's do it tonight! Then we taunt the Slytherins and Snape, and all they can say is 'Gryffindor rocks'!"
That night, three (Peter had refused to come), kids in dark robes sneaked into the Slytherin common room. Then, we cast a spell in every room, making every one in the dorm rooms be only able to say one lone thing.
After our 'mission' was over, we sprinted back to our dorm room, and fell asleep.
That morning, we walked (sleepily) to the Great Hall. Fortunately, we met Severus Snape and his charming friends.
"Hello! How are you on this fine morning?" Sirius said cheerfully.
Snape seemed disgusted, and looked at Sirius as though he was crazy (he probably was, but let's not get into that subject). Finally, he was ready to say something and-
"Gryffindors rule!" Snape's friends, Evan Rosier and Roger Wilkes, looked at Snape, shocked.
Rosier opened his big fat mouth first, "Gryffindors rule!"
Wilkes tried next, "Gryffindors rule! Gryffindors rule!"
The four of us burst out laughing. The three Slytherins brought out their wands.
Snape muttered a curse at me and Sirius. Luckily, we dodged it.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The spell had hit another student. As I turned around, I realized it had that girl, Lily McSalen. Angry red welts began popping up all over her face and hands.
"Lily! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed.
Snape opened his mouth and began to say something, but then remembered his current state and shut it.
"James, we gotta get her to the hospital wing!" Sirius said.
"Potter! Black! What is going on here?" Uh oh. Professor Quain, the Arithmancy professor, and head of the Ravenclaw house, stormed up.
"Um, professor...Lily here, she accidentally got hit by a spell." Remus answered as Lily moaned in pain.
"Explain later. Go fetch Madam Reneé, Potter!"
I dashed off to the Hospital Wing, when I arrived, I told Madam Reneé about Lily, and we raced to the Entrance Hall.
(A/N: The following French accent is pitiful, so pretend it's a real Frenchwoman speaking. As much as I love French class, my accent is atrocious.) "Ziz is 'orrible. Miss Evans must spend zee night in zee 'Ospital Wing. What curse did you use?"
Naturally, Snape and his little friends had hightailed it as soon as Professor Quain entered.
"Um...I'm really not sure. I think it was the Weltari Curse?" I guessed, as Peter, Sirius, and Remus nodded their heads vigorously in approval. "It was completely an accident."
"Well, I'm sure zat will 'elp wiz zee pain, eh, Miss Evans?"
Eventually, we got poor Lily up to the wing. She stayed there for three days. I felt quite responsible, so a soon as I heard she was better, I went to talk to her.
"Lily?"
"Oh, it's you."
"I'm REALLY sorry about what happened with Snape. I didn't know you where right behind me."
"That's O.K., I guess. What did you do to Snape, anyway?" I cracked a grin.
"Oh, so you noticed! We put a spell on the entire Slytherin house, that whenever they spoke, they said 'Gryffindors rule!'"
Lily began to laugh. "I wish I could've seen them. It must be fun, always playing pranks."
"Yeah, it is. Haven't you ever played any?"
"Never. Except only on accident when people, my sister, to be specific, would tease me."
"So you've haven't played an intentional joke in your whole life?"
"Nope."
"I can't believe it. That, my dear, is about to change."
"Oh, no."
"Oh, yes!"
Soon after that, Lily, and her friend Jess, were dragged (Lily almost kicking and screaming all the way) into our group.
In 'The Potter Gang', as students had begun to call us ('The Infamous Potter Gang', if you're a teacher, Filch, or a Slytherin) we each had our roles, and filled them dutifully.
Sirius was the outgoing one. The one that thought up the crooked plans we were notorious for. The one framed his first detention slip. There are almost no words to describe, Sirius, but he's my best friend, and I'll stand by him forever.
Remus was the quiet, calming one. He was practically the only one of us who could tame not only Jess' temper, but also Sirius'. He studied a lot, but being the kind and caring friends me and Sirius were, we pushed and pulled him out of that deplorable habit.
Peter was the tag-a-long. He would go along with us, but then as soon as trouble aroused, he was gone. Some might call him a fair-weather friend.
Jess was practically the personality-mirror image of Sirius. They would argue, and fight, and dare each other, but in a friendly way, at least.
Lily was the one who said 'Now guys, let's think about what would the consequences be if we did this...'. She stopped us from doing the more dangerous jokes, but went along with the harmless ones.
Sirius, Remus, Peter, Jess, Lily, and I became a well-known sight to see in the Common Room at night with our heads together discussing on how to humiliate the slime-balls in Slytherin. Or blowing something up. Or seeing what happens when you feed an owl a pound of sugar. Or creating new prank inventions. The list could go on and on, but if you gave us a rule, you could be sure we would or could break it in under 60 seconds flat.
One thing was weird about Remus, though. He kept on leaving during the year, near the end of the month. We would ask him about it.
"Oh, um. It's my mother. She's... uh, sick. I have to go home and help her! 'Cause she's sick and all." Would be the traditional response whenever we asked him about it. One day Sirius and I were talking about it to Lily.
"Lily?" Sirius asked.
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Ever wonder why Remus is sick or gone all of the time?"
Lily suddenly burst out laughing. "What, what, what's so funny?" I demanded.
"You...you haven't noticed?" We shook our heads. "You're his best friends and you don't know?"
"Well, if we did, then we wouldn't be asking you, now would we?" Sirius snapped.
"Just a second..." Lily said, digging into her bag. She pulled out a calendar of the year. "Now watch. Remus is sick now, right?" she asked. We nodded. She put a little star on today. "And he was sick two months ago?"
"Yeah, I remember. He missed the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch Match. It was the... 23rd, I think." I said.
"And he missed the Christmas Feast!" Sirius added.
We continued naming days we could remember Remus being sick as Lily continued putting little stars on the days we named.
"Now," she said. "Take a look at all the days. Notice a pattern?"
"Yeah, so what?" Sirius said, glancing at the dates.
"Sirius...these are all on the full moon." I said quietly. Sirius did a double-take at the calendar and examined it very carefully.
"You're right." He said. "So... either it's some freaky coincidence, or..." he trailed off.
"Or...Remus is a werewolf." Lily finished softly. "I'm surprised you didn't realize that."
"I gotta talk to him when he comes back." Sirius said, as he walked to the dorm room.
"Sirius, maybe you should wait...it could hurt his feelings. Sirius!" Lily called.
When Remus came back the next day, he was immediately cornered by Sirius, Peter, Lily, Jess, and I.
"Hey, Remus! How's you're mom doin'?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, um, my mother," Remus turned pink "she's um, getting better. Thanks for asking!"
"Remus, listen. There's something we want to talk to you about." Lily began gently.
"We have realized that you are, er...sick -or at least your mom is- around the full moon." I said, quietly. "Because, you see, the only creature that is sick at the full moon...is a werewolf."
"Is there something you're not telling us, Remus?" Jess questioned.
Remus sighed, then gulped. "Yes. I am a werewolf."
Remus seemed to think that if anyone knew he was a werewolf they would ridicule him and his friends would drop him like a hot potato. But he was wrong. That night, up in the dorm room, we talked to him, late up into the night.
"Remus, what is it like?" I asked.
"What?"
"You know, being a werewolf."
"Oh. It hurts when you transform, and I feel, it's hard to explain."
"Try." Sirius demanded.
"Well, I think there are two halves to everyone. An animal half, and a human half. Usually, for everyone else, the human half is in power. But for me, once a month, my animal half takes over. It's a very creepy feeling."
We sat in silence for a while, after that explanation.
"Remus, I promise. I'll make it better." I said.
"What d'you mean?"
"I'll make being a werewolf better for you."
"How will you do that?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know. I just will. We could discover a potion..."
"Or invent a spell..." Sirius added.
We began making up ridiculous ways on how to help Remus. "Or fly me to a planet where there are no moons!"
"Or make it permanently cloudy!" Sirius cried.
"Or you could become Animagi!" Remus laughed. Sirius and I didn't laugh, but looked at Remus, then looked at each other. Our faces cracked into grins.
Remus stopped laughing, too. "Oh, no!" he wailed "I recognize those smiles! That's your 'I-have-a-devilish-idea-that-if-we-get-caught-we-could-be-in-serious-trouble' smile!"
"Moony, Moony, Moony! Tsk, tsk! What a thing to say! We won't get caught!" Sirius said.
"Sirius! Why'd ya call me Moony?"
"You know that Muggle book Lily brought called Gone with the Wind?" We all nodded. "Remus, you're Gone with the Moon!" And so, Remus was dubbed Moony.
"We actually could, though. I'll bet there is some book in the library that has the Animagus Spell!" I exclaimed, going back to the subject.
"If only we could find a way to get to it!" Sirius pondered. "Oh, well. We can think up so-devious-near-impossible-plan-that-if-it-works-it'll-be-a-miracle tomorrow morning. G'night!" He laid down and pulled the covers over his head.
"Oh, no! Guys! No! It's impossible!" Remus whined.
"Goodnight, Remus!"
"But..."
"Good NIGHT, REMUS!"
"It'll never work, I hope you know!"
"But, if it does, just think of it...we'll be know forever as the biggest mischief makers in Hogwarts history!"
"But what good will that be if you're in Azkaban!" I heard Remus mutter as he climbed into bed.
The next day, Sirius, Remus, and I began investigating about the Animagi spell. Unfortunately, all the books that even might've been the slightest bit helpful were in the Restricted Area. And, for, some odd reason, none of the teachers would trust us enough to get it for us.
The summer came before I knew it. The ride home was a solemn one, for me at least.
"Hey, James! Wanna play Exploding Snap?"
"No, thanks, Jess. I don't feel like it." I would answer.
"James, is something wrong?"
"No, I'm OK. I'm just going to miss Hogwarts this summer."
"Whatever."
The summer for me was horrid. Father would lock me in my room with nothing, and would forget I was alive at times. Once, when a woman asked him, "How is your son doing?" he had replied: "He is no son of mine. I have no son." This, I thought was odd. So what, I was in Gryffindor. Big whoop.
My father also continued meeting with that Riddle man more and more often. Except, he [my father] had begun calling him Lord.
One good thing about all the solitude at my home is that without, interruption, I could research Animagi transformations for hours and hours. I stole the books from the library and took them to Hogwarts with me.
Also, while I was searching for books, I found a secret false back to a shelf. I opened it, and found an Invisibility Cloak. These were astoundingly rare and could cost hundreds of thousands of Galleons at it's cheapest. Seeing how I probably was the only one who had been in the library for over a century and the wood around the cloak was coated in dust that had to have been there for even more than 100 years, I figured no one would miss the cloak. So, I decided to take it to Hogwarts with me (well, I'd like to see what YOU would've done with it!)
Armed with my new Invisibility Cloak, a sense of pride, and a knowledge life at Hogwarts would be better, I set off for my second year.
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Disclaimer: I own Selene, James' father, Morissa, Potter Manor, James' chauffeur, Jess Callier, Sirius' father, Wilkes' first name, Professor Quain, Madam Reneé, and that's it! All the rest belong to the amazing Ms. Joanne Kathleen Rowling!
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Buh-bye,
Star Gazer