Summer after 1st year & 2nd year

"Hey, Mum?" James asked, plopping himself down at the kitchen counter where Ginny was preparing dinner, muttering furiously under her breath something that sounded suspiciously like 'Why did I have to be the daughter of Molly Weasley? So much to live up to when it comes to cooking! Bloody Hell!'

Ginny looked up from the stove with a frazzled expression. "Yup?" James wasn't sure it was wise to look away from a pot of whatever that was bubbling so furiously, but he wasn't going to mention it.

"Can I have a friend over for the last few weeks of summer? And then could we bring her with us to Kings Cross too?" James ducked his head, afraid of the blush creeping up his neck onto his cheeks.

"Her?" Ginny smiled suspiciously at her son.

"Yeah, you know Callie, right? You met her at the end of the year." James tugged at his collar. Was it getting hot in the room? He ran a hand through his hair.

"I suppose so. She seemed so nice."

This relaxed James; he grinned. "She's amazing. You'll love her."

Ginny laughed. "Of course I will. What about your other friends, though?"

James grimaced. He didn't really want his mum to know about what it was like at Hogwarts. "She's really the only person I care about who I'm not related to."

Ginny frowned. "Care to explain that?"

Her son shrugged. "Everyone else just wants to get to know Harry Potter's or Ginny Potter's son, but she didn't even really know about any of it."

"She's muggle-born, right?" Ginny continued to frown. Was Callie the only friend her son had made? The only one out of all the other kids in Hogwarts, including the other muggle-borns, who didn't care about his last name?

"She doesn't know if she is or not. She might be half and half but she's never met her mum so there isn't really a way to find out since her dad's a muggle. Plus she's American," James added, "moved here a few weeks before school started, and, according to Binns, the war wasn't really heard of over there until it was over."

Ginny wasn't about to let her son miss spending time with the only friend he had outside family. "When is she coming?"

James beamed again, already excited beyond belief at the idea of his partner-in-crime coming to stay. "Two weeks."

"Hey, Sunny!" James called to Callie. His nickname for her came from her bright blonde hair and her 'sunny personality'.

Callie looked up from the sea of Weasleys she'd been thrust into and caught James's eye. She gave him a smirk, knowing that he was thinking up their next prank. Callie excused herself from the group and jogged over to him. "So, what's the plan, Hannibal?"

James still didn't get the muggle references she made to old TV shows and movies, but she'd told him that this one was from a ring leader / plan-maker in the show 'the A-Team'. Apparently it was a compliment. Callie had tried to get him to watch it, but there was no TV anywhere they could think of. She'd settled for taking him out to the movie theaters (he was thoroughly confused and shocked and delighted, all at the same time upon experiencing it, though he'd seen TV at home he had never been to the theaters) and making him promise that he'd visit her in California so she could introduce him to everything American.

"Not so much a plan as an execution," James replied. "Just watch."

Callie laughed. "Alright."

James gestured towards the familiar group of his uncles Bill, Charlie, and George, where Callie had just been sitting, and they watched, fascinated, as smoke started billowing out from Bill's fang earring.

The smoke rooted itself in Bill's fiery hair, causing it to stand on end in every direction and flame at the tips.

"Nice," Callie said appreciatively. "You really got the Weasley hair color into the flame."

"I try," James said. "But wait."

The flames exploded and out of them erupted a huge Welsh Green dragon, flying directly towards Charlie, who dodged and fell to the ground.

The dragon rampaged around the yard, causing the kids to laugh and the adults all laughed as they started to chase after it and try to stop its destruction. Fleur didn't laugh; she crossed her arms, tapped her toes and glared furiously at James and Callie after she'd figured out her own son hadn't done it.

"Smooth," Callie said, eyeing the impressive way in which the dragon swished its tail back and forth to swipe the adults away, battering them into the air until they fell in a heap on the other side of the lawn. It caused no lasting damage or pain, of course. Callie knew James had been careful to set some spells, though illegal, so that no one would get hurt. "Next time, let's make it squirt lemon juice out of its eyes."

James laughed. "Incredibly random, but I like the way you think."

"Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't have stuck around me for so long."

"Who else would I have talked to in detention?"

"Right you are." Callie grinned and they clinked their glasses of water together. "Besides, I would have been bored silly and terribly depressed without you anyways," she added as she took a swig of her drink.

James beamed. Callie had a way of always making him appreciated for being James Potter instead of James Potter.

"You know, you still haven't taught me how to play Quidditch," Callie said, reminding James of his promise.

They were sitting on top of the roof at James's house, just outside the window they'd climbed out of. It was the middle of the night and neither one of them could sleep, so they'd decided to go outside.

The air was cool and it coated James's skin languidly as the breeze fluttered around him and Callie, then into the house through his window, making the white curtains at the sill flutter in a twirling Swan Lake.

"You haven't taught me how to surf."

Callie laughed. James loved her laugh. She would throw her head back in delight and what began as a tinkling giggle bubbled up from deep within her to her throat, where it sounded like the saddest person on earth had just found happiness. It was a contagious laugh, one that made others feel at ease around her. And it was genuine. That was something James liked about her the best: she did everything genuinely. She was a completely authentic person, one who only said what she felt and did what she wanted; there was no pretending. Callie was just herself, just Callie, through and through.

"Find a beach and waves and I'll teach you," she said. "But it's really cold here. Not like in California. When you come to California, I'll really teach you how to surf. But I want to learn Quidditch."

James liked how she said 'when' and not 'if'.

"Fine. Let's go get some brooms."

The two of them bounded down to the broom shed, searching through the cobwebs, spiders, and old how-to-fix-it-yourself magazines for brooms before leaping up into the air and riding them. James was exceedingly graceful, a natural in the air. He'd been flying since he was born, what with his mum having been a professional Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies and his dad having been Gryffindor Seeker since his first year.

Callie was clumsier in the air than James. She had the raw talent, but not the training or the practice. Ginny had seen her flying when she'd first arrived; she'd said that the girl was going to be a great flyer and that she'd probably be a pretty good Chaser if she tried a bit. But that she probably wouldn't have to try too hard.

James quickly explained the rules. Callie nodded her head along with his words, understanding them.

It was another thing James liked about Callie: she was smart, caught onto things quickly, and she didn't require babying. In fact, she hated it.

Callie took the Quaffle as James stood in front of the makeshift goal hoops they'd created out of Lily's hula hoops. She started flying towards him, swooping and soaring in a distracting pattern in an effort to make him confused as to where the Quaffle was coming from; it worked. The Quaffle shot through the left hoop so fast James could hear the 'whoosh' in the air as it went by him.

"Whoa," James said, stunned.

It was another beginning; that of two Quidditch players.

Callie's face was as red as a baby Blast-Ended Skrewt as she came down to breakfast and settled herself between James and Laurie Thomas, who kept casting glances in Callie's direction and giggling.

James had never particularly liked Laurie, but Callie wouldn't hear or say anything bad about anyone unless they really deserved it (and even then she usually said something in their defense) so he kept that mostly to himself. Or at least he tried to.

But it was the way Laurie was looking at Callie was what made him confused.

"What's with the red cheeks, Cal?" he asked.

Callie blushed harder. It created an odd color contrast between her tan skin and the pink blossoming on her cheekbones. "I got 'the talk' from Laurie today. Apparently my dad never thought it'd be a good idea to tell me that stuff. Most awkward moments of my life." Callie refused to meet his eyes as he burst out laughing.

"God Callie, what'd you think all the comments Fred, Louis, and I make are about? And how come you never knew?"

Callie shrugged, her face still a blazing red that clashed with her tanned skin. "It's not like it'd be a comfortable subject with my dad. And that wasn't the part I didn't know about."

"Oh, oh, oh," James suddenly turned red too. "That sucks. Please don't start PMS-ing and kill me now."

Callie moaned and dropped her head to the table. "I feel so stupid. And I have such bad cramps."

James covered his ears. "Stop, stop, stop! I do not want to hear about that!"

"Don't want to hear about what?" Louis asked, plopping into the empty seat on James's left as Fred pushed away a first year so he could slide in on the right.

"Callie's woman troubles," Laurie piped up.

Fred and Louis glanced at each other and got up without another word.

"See? It's not just me," James said, pointing at his cousins as they left.

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