Chapter One - James Potter's Brilliant Ideas Machine
James = 6th year, Albus/Rose/Scorpius = 5th, Lily/Hugo = 3rd
The Potters were stressed. This was a family who's emotions complimented each other a little too well at times, James blamed the fact that his parent were "soul mates", therefore if one Potter was stressed the others were likely to be as well. This was intensified due to the fact that it was September 1st and they were running late, although general sibling arguments helped things along nicely.
"Come on! Come on! Boys hurry up or you'll all miss the train!...Harry that includes you! Let's move it!" Ginny was shouting over her shoulder as she squashed her children's belongings into the car, glancing behind her again she was relived to see that her sons had payed some attention to her words and were trudging out of the house. "Brilliant! You're here, now get in the car." with another frantic glance behind her Ginny roared in the direction of the Potter home "LILY. HARRY. WE WILL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU."
"Blimey mum do want to deafen us?" Albus protested
"Yeah. But if you did that we couldn't possibly be expected to do any work for weeks," sniggered James.
Ginny choose to ignore her sons' comments and opted instead for a sigh of relief as Harry strolled out of the house with Lilly close behind, waving his wand absently back at the front door to lock up.
"Calm down Ginny, we won't be late."
How they got to Kings Cross before the train left was a miracle to James, he wondered vaguely if his dad had been spending too much time with Granddad Weasley and had deiced to let him 'improve' the car. Harry had spent the short journey reassuring Ginny that nothing could turn out as badly as his own fated trip to Hogwarts with Ron in second year. James was only half listening, he had heard that story and many others far too often to be really interested any more, however he was glad of it as his mother's distraction meant that he could develop his plan for the year in peace. This was a ritual that he had been doing ever since his first year, then it had been simple; get into Gryffindor and make sure Albus didn't see how nervous he really was. Things had elaborated over the years, especially with the creation of the new marauders and the careful planning that was needed for their pranks, girls had recently started to factor into James' annual plan and this year he was going to make it his priority.
James' privet internal battle against Albus was in a current stalemate situation, both were members of the Quidditch team, and basked in the popularity that brought, as well as all the attention caused by their parentage. But this was old news now, everyone knew this and towards the end of last year James had been watching to see what the gossips were saying about him and his brother. It was very simple really, who was going to become the lucky girl who would date one of the Potter men? Both boys had had brief first girlfriends and crushed but nothing serious, so James had formulated his simple plan. He was going to get the best looking girl in the whole of Hogwarts to go out with him.
The Potter family car pulled up in Kings Cross station car park with ten minutes to spare, and by the time all the trunks and belongings had been pilled onto trollies and the family were striding towards the barrier they only had five minutes before the train departed.
"Ok, everyone go through, quickly now, just run," Harry called stepping to one side so his children could pass through the barrier first.
James and Albus quickened their pace and in a fit of childish competition James pushed ahead of Albus calling over his shoulder "Come and catch me little brother!" and so it was that James Potter entered platform 93/4 with a smug grin on his face, until he crashed straight into his Aunt Hermione.
"Thank goodness you're here. Hurry up! The train'll be leaving any minute!" she cried pushing James towards the nearest compartment, with Albus and Lily right behind him as the rest of the Potters appeared. He could hear his family calling goodbyes and shouting reminders behind him and turned to pull Lily up onto the train, preventing Aunt Hermione from lecturing her too much. "We'll see you at Christmas! Bye Mum, bye Dad! Oh and don't even think about reorganising my room. Mum that means you."
"I'll write soon," promised Lily as she leant out of the window to give Ginny a final hug, "I know these two won't,"
"Ok, Mum you better let her go now the train's moving," added Albus grinning at his mother. The train was indeed moving and with last waves and shouts the parents on the platform started to shrink as the students started their journey back to Hogwarts.
"Right, I'll see you guys later," said James as soon as the platform was out of sight and tipping an imaginary hat to his brother and sister he strode off in search of his friends. They had much to discuss. James didn't need to worry about trying to locate his friends on the packed train the way other students did, he and his 'new marauders' had an official compartment. Really. Well the other students had learnt over the years that entry into that space uninvited could result in...well, anything, and most people weren't prepared to risk it. "Hello boys." James called, flinging the door open as dramatically as possible, "Did you miss me?" He smirked as he took in the sight of his three best friends. As in all friendship groups each person had an unofficial, but well defined role, so James expected that Sennin would spring up and join in with the over the top fun, that Alex would smile and role his eyes, maybe throw in a comment and that Lucas would giggle and go back to his book. The reaction he got was not what he expected.
"Mmm, yeah, hi James,"
"That's it? That's all you have to say about my triumphant return? I am appalled!"
"Triumphant return?" questioned Alex.
"Yes." said James indigently, "I have battled through swarms of Death Eaters just to get here!"
"I bet you had to rescue a dozen fair maidens along the way as well." Sennin quipped.
Any resentment at the lack of welcome vanished from James' head as he was reminded of his Brilliant Plan. Sliding the door shut behind him James slid into the nearest seat and beaconed to his friends to move closer and in a whisper he announced "I have a brilliant plan..."
"OH GOD!" The air of suspense was shattered by the cries of outrage from the other boys.
"No James, we can't go through another one of your 'Brilliant Ideas' not after what happened last year."
"Yeah, we are respectable marauders. We have limits you know."
But James Sirius Potter was not going to give up easily, "Come on guys! At least let me tell you what it's about."
The others exchanged glances.
"Ok, but this DOES NOT mean we will go through with it," Alex said after a moment.
"I need the best looking girl in school to go out with me." James watched his friends faces for a moment, Lucas looked dumbfounded, Alex skeptical and Sennin just laughed.
"Who on earth is going to go out with you?"
"Thanks for the support there Sen."
"No problem."
"Tsk," Alex sighed, "So where has this come from, it's not like you've ever wanted anything more than a one night stand?"
"It's Albus isn't it?" stated Lucas.
"Of course not. I just want a girlfriend, and I deserve the best." James answered with an easy smile, but subconsciously ruffling up his hair.
"But it will make you look better than him," persisted Lucas.
"Ok,yeah, but that's not the point. I'm gonna do this but I would like your help, cause, lets face it, girls are bloody scary."
Alex lent back in his seat, "It's not the worst idea thats ever come out of James Potter's Brilliant Ideas Machine, you know, it's pretty simple."
"Yeah, all we have to do is make the hottest girl in school go out with me, and there is no way Albus will be able to compete against that." James answered, his confidence returning now that he had the boys back on his side.
"There's just one problem," interjected Sennin, "How do you decide who the best girl in the school is?"
