A/N: So, here's the next chapter. It came much quicker than last time, so I'm proud of myself. I'd have to say this was probably one of my favorite chapters to write so far, even if it's not that great. Anyways, here's the chapter, hope you enjoy!
"Albus, this one's for you!" James's mom called from across the room, where she sat distributing presents to the rest of the Potter family.
As the package was handed across the room to where Albus sat, James sat and stroked the feathers of the barn owl he had received earlier that morning. He had named her Felicity after drawing several names out of a hat.
Albus began opening his present, and their mother picked up a very long present. She looked at the name tag on it. "James, this one is yours!"
After a few seconds of passing the gift from person to person, it reached James. He tore off the wrapping paper, and inside was a cardboard box. It was taped shut.
"Hey, Lil, can you pass me the scissors?" He asked.
Lily nodded and handed them to him, not even looking up from her coloring book that she had just opened. James took the scissors and cut the tape. Once he got it open, he screamed, "No way!"
The box contained a broom; a Firebolt Supreme, to be specific. Albus and Lily both rushed over to him to see.
"Ooh." Lily said. "It's so pretty!"
"Woah!" Al exclaimed. "That's awesome!"
Their mother gave their father an exasperated look. "You got him a new broom?" She asked.
Their dad shrugged. "Yeah. He's going to need a good one if he makes the team next year. I figured it was just easiest to get him one now."
Their mom pursed her lips but didn't reply, and the opening of presents contiued after a few more minutes of excitement over James's new broom. About twenty minutes later, they had finally finished opening all the presents.
"Okay, hurry up! It's time to head to the Burrow, we're going to be late!" Their mom yelled, trying to be heard over the sounds of various toys that her children had received.
"Lily, don't forget your gloves. Al, your coat is on the chair, where you left it. James, put down the broom and get over here."
James sighed, setting his new Firebolt Supreme down. He gazed longingly at it once more before turning away and walking over to where his mother and father were waiting by the fireplace.
"We're going to be flooing. Hurry up and maybe we can get there before it gets too crowded." Their dad announced. "Your mother will go first, then you three will follow. I'll go after you. Got it?"
After another few minutes of waiting and then actually flooing, the whole Potter family had safely arrived at the Burrow. Grandmum Weasley hurried over to them all and hugged them each in turn. "Oh, good you've all arrived safely!" She exclaimed. "Here, everyone is just in the next room."
James and the rest of his family followed her into the living room, where everyone who had arrived was sitting. So far, there was Aunt Fleur, Uncle Bill, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Rose, and Hugo. After another few minutes of everyone greeting each other, things settled down a bit. That is, until Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey arrived with Molly and Lucy. Then the whole cycle just started again, and when things finally looked calm, Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, Fred and Roxanne walked in.
Finally, at last, everyone had gotten settled down, and conversations started beginning all around the room. James got into a conversation with Victoire, Dominique, Fred, Lily, Bill and Hermione about Hogwarts.
"Well, the work has been a bit more demanding, but I'm just grateful I don't have to go through O.W.L.s again." Victoire shuddered. "That was horrible."
Dom snorted. "Yeah, but you still have to do N.E.W.T.s next year." She said.
Victoire glared at her. "You're laughing now, but you just wait. You still have to O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s." She shot back.
Hermione smiled slightly. "So, what's new at Hogwarts with you, Dominique?"
Dom frowned slightly. "Tom Brenderr asked me out." She said.
"Did you say yes?" Lily asked curiously.
Dominique was horrified. "Why would I say yes?" She gasped. "Tom Brenderr is terrible! He's an absolute slob, and I would sooner date a blast-ended skrewt than him!"
Hermione cleared her throat uncomfortably, then turned to James and Fred. "So what about you two? Have you been enjoying Hogwarts so far?"
James and Fred both nodded. "Yeah." Fred said. "It's pretty great."
"It is." James agreed. "So far, the Gryffindor quidditch team is doing great. I think we might be able to win the Quidditch Cup this year, if Hufflepuff can beat Ravenclaw."
"I don't think we're gettig the house cup this year, though." Fred told them all. "Slytherin's got a pretty good lead on us. We might get second, though."
"Have you made friends yet?" Bill asked. "I bet there's loads of people who want to hang out with you guys."
"We've been hanging out with a couple of first year Gryffindor girls." Fred shrugged.
"Yeah, they're pretty cool." James added. Lily snickered and he shot her a glare.
"So, anything else new?" Bill asked, not looking like he was expecting much.
Fred shook his head, and James shrugged. "Not really." He said.
Lily snorted. "Oh, there's something new…" she muttered.
Victoire and Dominique looked at her curiously, as did Fred. Victoire was the one who finally spoke up. "What's the something, Lil?"
Lily grinned slyly. James shot her a warning look. "Lily…" he began, having a bad feeling that he knew where she was going with this.
Lily stood up, cleared her throat, then spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "James has a girlfriend!"
The rest of the Potter family laughed and rolled their eyes, having heard all about this already, as did Hermione, Ron, Rose, and Hugo. The rest of the family acted quite differently. Victoire, Roxy, Molly, and Lucy all gasped, Fred and Louis looked shocked and a bit upset that they had ot been informed of this, Dominique shreiked, "James what?" and the rest of the family just looked extremely suprised.
For a split second, everything was silent. Then the door opened, and Teddy walked in. He took one look around at the faces of everyone and, confused, asked, "What did I miss?"
Victoire was the first to find her voice. "I believe Lily was just about to tell us about James's girlfriend."
Teddy's jaw dropped and then he began to laugh slightly, in a shocked, disbelieving manner. "James has a girlfriend?"
James gritted his teeth. "I do not have a girlfriend." He told them all.
Lily spoke again. "He said she has pretty eyes."
The younger members of the Weasley and Potter families all said, "Oooh!" The older ones merely appeared to look curious and amused.
"Who is it?" Dominique asked. "Who's James's girlfriend?"
"She is not my girlfriend!" James insisted, although nobody seemed to be paying much attention to him. They were all looking to Lily to reveal who his mystery girlfriend was.
"Come on, Lily." Victoire pressed. "Tell us who it is!"
"Yeah, go on, Lily." Fred said.
Lily looked thoughtful for a second, before deciding, "You know, being the good little sister I am, I'm not gobg to tell you all who it is. Everyone began groaning and shouting their protests, until Lily held up a finger. "But," she started, grinning evilly, "I will give you a clue."
"Guys, I'm telling you, she has no clue what she's talking about! I do not have a girlfriend!"
Once again, James was ignored. His whole family listened eagerly to hear Lily say, "Her initials are K. Y., and it rhymes with jelly giverst."
James's cousins each took about 2 seconds to process that. Fred and Louis stared at James in shock. "You're dating Kelly?" Fred yelled.
"Yeah! Like seriously! What the heck, James? Why did we not know about this?" Louis added.
"I would have told you if I was dating Kelly!"
"Yeah! Or Shelby, I guess. or anyone really!"
"Guys, you don't understand, I'm not-"
"Why would you tell Lily before us?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, we deserved to know first!" Louis agreed.
By that point nearly everyone in the family had decided they needed to say something on the matter of James and his new 'girlfriend.'
"I just can't-"
"This is so exciting!"
"Guys would you just-"
"I never thought that-"
"He's only eleven, for-"
"James, you're too young for-"
"Hold it!" Dominique stood up and shouted over everyone else who was trying to talk all at once. They all stared at her as she put her hands on her hips. "What I find hard to believe is that James, who is only a first year, might I remind you, is dating someone, and I am not. And neither is Vic. Now will someone please explain to me how that is okay?"
Everyone continued staring at her for a second, then turned to James, looking for an explanation. "Okay, guys, I am not dating Kelly, okay? All I said was that she has pretty eyes, which I only said because her eyes happen to be my favoriteshade of blue. That is the only reason! Seriously, the only one! No other reasons! None!"
Rose looked at him skeptically. "Uh-huh." She said. "Then why so much emphasis on that being the only reason? There was no need to say it more than once… unless there is another reason that you just don't want us to know about?"
Once again, James was left to think of an explanation. He was running out of ideas, so when one finally did come to him, he decided to just use it and hope that it wouldn't fall apart (which he knew it would, but it would buy him some time to think of something better).
"I couldn't be dating Kelly, because I'm dating someone else." He announced, waiting to see their reactions.
It took Fred approximately 5 seconds to jump to conclusions, and Louis another 3 seconds to agree with him.
"Oh my gosh, James, are you dating Gloria?" Fred asked horrified.
Louis gasped. "Gloria? Why would you date Gloria?"
"I'd rather you date Kelly than Gloria!" Fred declared.
"Yeah, please James, date Kelly instead! Just not Gloria! Anyone but Gloria!" Louis pleaded. "Gloria would make a horrible girlfriend! She's so irritating and would let you have any fun1"
"I actually happen to think Gloria is quite nice." Molly put in, trying to be helpful.
"Gloria?" Hugo said, thinking. "Didn't you guys push her friend in the lake or something?"
"No, Hugo." Lily sighed, exasperated. "I've told you, they didn't push her in the lake, they laughed when someone else did.
"I still think it's not right." Dominique said, trying to be heard over all the arguing in the room.
"You could've dated anyone in the school. Heck, there's probably fifth years that would date you!" Fred frowned. "And you go for Gloria?"
Louis shook his head in disapproval. "Bad move, mate. You'll regretthat for the rest of your life."
"Wait!" James shouted. Once it was quite enough for him to be heard, he asked, "Why would you think I was dating Gloria, of all people?"
Fred blinked, suprised, and Louis said, "You're not?"
James shook his head, still waiting for one of the two to give him a reason.
"Oh. Wow." Fred smiled sheepishly. "Well, I mean, I guess I just though- I mean, you two hate each other, and usually, when people hate each other, well… they start dating, and… yeah…" he trailed off, seeming to realize what a stupid reason that was.
Everyone was quiet for a minute, before Lucy asked, "Who are you dating, then?"
"Must be Kelly." Lily shrugged. "He just said it was someone else to throw us off the trail. If we don't keep a close watch on them, before we know it they'll have run off to France and eloped, because our parents don't approve."
Roxy laughed. "What so are they engaged or something?"
Lily nodded. "I think so." She said seriously. "If not yet, then within a couple months. But obviously, all the adults will tell them eleven is too young to get married, so they'll run off where there will be no one to stop them."
James slapped his forehead. "Lily, I'm not egaged, you don't have to worry about me eloping."
Lily looked relieved. "That's good. I bet Victoire and Teddy would be pretty upset if you got married before they did."
Victoire fell out of her chair and Teddy spit out all of the water he had just drank.
"Wh-what?" Victoire said. "N-no! We're not-"
"Yeah." Teddy agreed. "We're not- just- no!"
Lily smirked. "All I said was that you two would get married. I never said anything about it being to each other."
"No, but you implied it!"
James grinned, glad that the conversation was no longer focused on him, and listened to Lily arguing with Teddy and Victoire over what she really meant when she said that.
Everyone continued making fun of each other, laughing, and basically just having a good time until the food was done. Then, the whole family piled into the kitchen and tried to find a seat. James found himself sitting between Victoire and Louis, with Rose and Albus across from him.
Just when James was about to start on his second helping of potatoes, he felt something hit him just above his left eyebrow. He looked down at the table to see a small grape sitting there. He looked around, but didn't see anything suspicious, so he just shrugged it off and continued eating.
Only a few seconds later, it happened again, this time hitting him on the cheek. He glared around, but no one else seemed to be aware of what was going on. Slightly annoyed, he went back to his food and ate a bite of ham.
This time, it seemed like whoever was throwing grapes at him had had enough. For a few minutes, at least, because eventually another grape hit him in the face, followed directly afterwards by another. James put down his fork and glared around the table. If even one more grape was thrown at him…
Suddenly, he saw a grape flying at him, but he couldn't tell who had thrown it. However, this one went a bit short and hit Victoire instead.
Vic gasped and picked up the grape. "Who threw this?" She demanded, staring down everyone at the table, waiting for someone to crack. And before long, she got what she wanted, as Lily, Hugo, and Lucy burst out laughing, obviously unable to contain it any longer.
Vic gave them all a look. "Don't let it happen again." She warned them. They all nodded, still laughing. The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, unless you count Roxanne spiling gravy on Bill's lap, Fred and Louis putting potatoes in each other's hair, and Dominique freaking out because she caught Hugo, Lily, and Lucy throwing grapes at her. Soon, it was time for the Potter family to go home.
At the Potter house, they sat up until around 11:00 P.M., when James's mom announced it was time for bed. "Hey, James, come here before you go to bed." His dad said.
"Okay?" James said. His dad led him up to his office, where he closed the door and sat down, looking James in the eye.
"Okay, James, I'm about to give you something, and I need you to promise me you'll be responsible with it." He said.
"Um, okay?" James agreed uncertainly. Why hadn't his dad just given him whatever it was with the rest of his presents?
"I would have given it to you earlier today, but I don't think you're mother would approve. But I got this for my first Christmas after starting Hogwarts, so I thought it was only right for me to give it to you today." He explained, before pulling it out and handing it to James.
James stared at it with wide eyes. It couldn't be… "Is this…?"
James's father nodded. "My invisibility cloak. I believe that you are responsible to have it, and as the oldest, you had the right to have it before Al or Lily."
James grinned up at his father, still barely believing that this could be true. "Are you serious? You're giving it to me?"
His dad smiled back at him. "I sure am. It's yours now." He stood up, ruffling James's hair as the two of them walked out of the room together. "Use it well."
A/N: Okay, guys, here's the deal. This story has 465 views, 6 followers, and 3 favorites, but only 2 reviews! What's up with that? Come on peoples, I know you're out there! And it's always nice to get a new follower, or have somebody else favorite my story, but it really always makes my day to get a review. Everything from just a simple "It's good." to an "AHH I LOVE IT!" Just review and I'll be happy! Anyways, now that that's out of the way… so James has the invisibility cloak now. Think he'll be responsible with it? Anyways, hope you enjoyed, please review!
