Disclaimer: A lot of the dialogue comes straight from The Prince's Tale in Deathly Hallows. But I'm still not JK.
Chapter 2
James woke up, not in the field, but in his bed. His old bed, in his parents' house. He propelled himself out of bed and ran to the mirror. He stared wide eyed at himself. He leaned closer to the mirror and poked his cheek just to make sure it wasn't a really elaborate hallucination. It was real. He looked just like he did the summer before Hogwarts. He was eleven.
The mirror piped up then asking him if he'd forgotten what he looked like while he slept. That was enough to snap him out of his trance. He looked a little sheepish at being called out on his vanity, and ruffled his hair up to compensate. That was when he remembered something. His mom and dad were downstairs… alive.
He ran down to the kitchen where he spotted his parents, Charlus and Dorea, in a rare moment of intimacy. His mother was at the counter presumable to spread butter and jam on the toast, but she seemed to have forgotten her task as she giggled while his father had his arms around her and was nuzzling her neck. He knew that as an 11 year old he should make a comment about how gross they were being, but he was so happy to see them both alive and together that he just stood in the doorway for a few minutes happy to see his father so happy. He shook off the memories of his despondent father, devastated after the loss of his beloved Dorea before he joined her.
Finally James entered the kitchen. Unable to bring himself to disparage his two giddy parents, he opted to announce his presence the more light-hearted "Son entering the room! All snogging should now cease and desist!" As they broke apart smiling, he went over to hug first his father, then his mother. He'd have to get used to being so much shorter than them again.
He must have held on to his mother a little longer than would have been otherwise normal, because as he pulled away she looked down at him and said "Oh, we'll miss you too, sweetheart, but we promise to write all the time!"
Miss me? Why would they miss me? Oh no. What day is it? He looked at the magical clock on the wall that gave the time, date and a schedule for the family. Sure enough, it was September 1st. He was going to Hogwarts today, which meant he wouldn't get to see his parents again until the Christmas holidays. That thought choked him up a bit, and as he realized that he was dreading leaving his parents, he smiled at the fact that he was a bit like an eleven-year-old after all.
~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~
Luckily his mum had made sure he'd packed his trunk the night before, so he didn't have to spend his morning trying to remember where he left things ten years beforehand. By the time they had made it to platform 9 and three quarters he was eager to meet his friends. He hugged his parents goodbye, with an extra squeeze and a promise to send a letter the very next day confirming that he'd gotten into Gryffindor. His parents just smirked at his confidence and waved him on the train.
As soon as he got on the train, he started looking in compartments so he could find Lily. But that's not who he met first. First he met Sirius Black. Sirius had a Quidditch magazine in hand and the two struck up a conversation about the recent match. They came across Peter Pettigrew and James pulled him into the conversation, easily. The three were discussing England's chances of making it to the next cup when he glimpsed into a compartment and spotted a familiar shade of red hair staring out the window. His heart started beating as he pulled Peter and Sirius into the nearly empty compartment. He was about to meet his future wife!
But as the three entered and took their seats, she didn't turn around to say hello. He didn't know how to get her attention without breaking the conversation, and he knew that as a Muggleborn, she wouldn't know much about Quidditch. He was on the verge of just introducing himself when Peter started recounting the moves of a particularly vicious hit one of the Chudley Cannons' Chasers had taken the week before, making them laugh, when a black-haired boy, already in his school robes walked in and sat across from Lily. Severus Snape hadn't changed his look much over the years.
"I don't want to talk to you," he heard her say. It sounded like she'd been crying and James prepared to ask Snape to leave.
"Why not?" Snape asked.
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." James had no idea what they were talking about, but apparently they'd already met. That might make things harder
"So what?"
"So she's my sister!"
"She's only a—" Snape cut himself off quickly. James wondered if he'd been about to say "only a Muggle." But pushed the thought aside.
"But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Snape said, trying to change the subject. Well that's the perfect opening – they could all talk about the sorting. "You'd better be in Slytherin." No - she couldn't be in Slytherin. He'd have to make sure she knew how amazing Gryffindor would be.
"Slytherin?" He asked, "who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius.
Sirius actually looked rather resigned at the question. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.
"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!" This brought a grin to Sirius' face giving James a swelling of pride at making his best friend smile.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"
James pretended to unsheathe and brandish a sword. "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." He thought he saw Lily grin, but the small, disparaging noise Snape made, James challenged him. "Got a problem with that?"
"No," he drawled, with a sneer on his face. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius making James laugh.
Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike. Uh-oh, thought James. "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."
"Oooooo. . . " Sirius imitated her lofty voice and James let out a soft "Noooo" that seemed to mix with it. In an attempt to keep them there a bit longer James prepared to stand up and stop them, but Snape jumped over his foot, and James realized it looked like he had been trying to trip him.
"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called out. Peter laughed and James gave a smile, not wanting to alienate his fellow soon-to-be Gryffindors. They started up the conversation again asking Peter which house he thought he'd be sorted into. James' mind was mostly on the fact that not only had his first interaction with Lily gone badly, but he hadn't even introduced himself so now when he did, it would have to come with an apology.
~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~
"In all my days, I have never had to give a detention so early! I can't even go to your Head of House since you don't have one yet!" James and Sirius looked down at their shoes as Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall scolded them for pushing Peter into the Lake. It was only meant to be a friendly shove after Peter had cheekily suggested James and Sirius might fit in well in Hufflepuff, but they'd both used a bit too much strength and he'd gone head first into the lake.
James in particular couldn't believe that he was screwing up his second chance so much so soon. It was still only the first day, and already Lily seemed to hate him and now he had gone and gotten himself and Sirius in trouble and they hadn't even been sorted yet! He felt things unraveling as Professor continued yelling at them. "You will serve detention next Monday with me. I am very disappointed in you both and I trust this will not be indicative of the rest of your time at Hogwarts". They both answered "No ma'am" and turned to join the rest of the first years in the Great Hall.
He looked over at Lily, trying to catch her eye, but she was staring up at the ceiling. Her mouth had opened a bit in amazement and her eyes were looking around in wonder. She was shaking her head at the unbelievable site in front of her and he heard her mutter "and now for something completely different." A couple of others chuckled, but he didn't see what was so funny. Maybe it was a muggle reference.
The sorting went much like it had the first time. After hearing Snape's insistence that she join Snape in Slytherin, he was relieved to see her once again sorted into Gryffindor. However, James did get a bit of a surprise when he was called up for his own sorting.
Rather than shouting out "Gryffindor" the second the hat touched his head, as had happened last time, the hat actually began talking to him. He didn't even know the hat did that! "Wait a tick. I've already sorted you! How can that be? Oh…oh I see. You've been sent back. Well despite your foreknowledge, I can see that you're not going to be cunning about it, but go after it with determination, so Slytherin won't do. I see too, that you're very loyal, but since you're loyal to those in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff won't do. Not a bad mind, either, but you don't seem to have a thirst for knowledge. Very well. Once again, you'll be in… GRYFFINDOR."
His smile couldn't have been wider as he went to claim his seat next to Peter and finally introduce himself to Lily.
~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~AUF~
Should I continue? Read & Review for faster updates.
AN: A couple of things to note are that Ann (the angel, because I'm silly like that) didn't actually mention a son to James. She was about to, but he cut her off, and in the interest of time, she decided not to focus on it, instead trusting that if they got married, that part of destiny would take care of itself.
The reason only James is sent back, is because they wouldn't be able to send just Lily, since James would have already died, and it's bad enough to send one person back, let alone two! Plus, this plot bunny came about because I thought James acted in canon as though he KNEW Lily was the girl for him. So this is sort of an AU leads to canon scenario.
It's not that he doesn't like her, but she didn't really like him. And James is enough of a romantic to accept that Lily is his fate and go after her. Plus, with this new information he will begin to see her in a whole new light.