James Potter stared in the reflection of the mirror in the bathroom of the Hogwarts Express. I am about to be a Hogwarts student. He was about to join the many before him in the House of his parents and the heroes of the wizarding world. Well, I mean, there's simply no other house for me.
He thought he looked rather like his father, yet also had definitive Weasley characteristics. He was so fiercely proud to be a Potter and a Weasley and he was pleased that his appearance conveyed his relations. He was often compared to his Uncle Ron, in that he had really bright blue eyes and a long, somewhat pointed nose. But he had the shaggy, messy hair of his father, yet in a lighter, browner shade. He also had freckles sprinkled across the bridge of his nose, rather reddish lips, and the classic Weasley blush.
He left the bathroom and went back to his compartment with his two cousins, Dominique and Roxanne, and his friend Jacob Thomas. Jacob was the son of his parent's friend, Dean, and they had grown up together. He hung around the house a lot, and frequently participated in Weasley-Potter Quidditch games.
"…fell right into the cake," he was saying as James sat down. "Mum was furious!" The girls laughed. Whatever that was about.
"What took so long, James?" Roxie asked. We were going to send someone in to look for you," she said, chuckling.
"Probably got stuck staring at his reflection…again," Dominique said, shaking with laughter, recalling the time she had caught James staring at himself in the mirror.
"Piss off…its just that faces interest me… Like how your parents features show up in your face, you know?" James defended.
"Your face interests you, James," said Roxie.
"Not true! For example, I notice that despite your dark skin, you have your dad's eyes… and mouth for that matter."
"Insightful, James, really. You are the single most observant person of our time," Roxie said sarcastically.
"I never noticed," said Jacob, grinning.
"What's your facial analysis for me?" Dom asked, leaning forward.
James threw one last nasty look towards Roxie and turned towards Dom, pondering. "Well, you have the same eye color of your brother and sister…its more like Uncle Bill's than Aunt Fluer's…but you're hair is more strawberry blonde than that silvery your mum and sister have. You have a similar bone structure to your brother's…and your smile is closer to your dad's than your mum's," he finished.
"You are such a girl," said Jacob. "Strawberry blonde? Bone structure?" he said, chuckling.
"Stuff it, you're just mad because you didn't get a James Potter Face Analysis," James retorted, putting his hands behind his head. "I should go into some sort of specialist department."
"Yeah, cause there's lots of divisions at St. Mungo's that require your area of expertise," Roxie said, shooting him her trademark smirk.
James was about to respond, when their compartment door opened and Victorie Weasley waltzed in gracefully, sitting next to her sister and making pleasant conversation with Roxie and Jacob. Dom really was rather more like her father and Victorie resembled Fleur, he noticed. Dom lacked the gracefulness and poise of her sister. Instead she was athletic and tomboyish. She was a pretty good Chaser in James's opinion. In fact, the entire compartment (with the exception of Victorie) consisted of fairly talented Quidditch players. James and Dom preferred playing Chaser, Jacob was getting to be a pretty good Beater and Roxie was an exceptionally talented Seeker.
Victorie broke his reverie when she mentioned something about Teddy saying he might stop by. James perked up at once. He admired Teddy and looked up to him. He noticed the girls looked rather excited too. Dom had flushed a bright red and Roxane was giggling and biting her lip. Teddy was really popular at Hogwarts and something of a heartthrob, according to his cousin Molly.
Right on cue, Teddy popped his head into the compartment. Behind him was the pretty blonde girl he was dating. Teddy had brought her over to the Potter's for dinner over the summer, which made James think he must really like her. I don't see what's so great about her.
Teddy's hair was shoulder length and brown today. James thought his power was the coolest possible ability. He was too embarrassed to say anything at the time, but when Dom had caught him staring in the mirror, it had been because he was trying to will his hair to turn blue.
He was unsuccessful.
"Wotcher, James," Teddy said, grinning his wolfish grin. "You remember Alison," he said gesturing to the girl. That's about all I do remember, her name. She wasn't exactly remarkable.
"I'm Head Boy this year, so I'm not going to tolerate any of your nonsense, James," he said, with a mock stern scowl on his face. "None of your trickery or pranks."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Your Headness!" James said, feigning sincerity.
"Are you kids nervous?" he asked, sitting down across from Victorie. James was pleased to see that there wasn't enough room for his girlfriend, who stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"What about?" James asked.
"The sorting!" Teddy said. "I nearly had a heart attack when it was my turn. My hair turned white! Needless to say I was a mess. You guys aren't nervous?"
"Can't say I am," said Roxie. "I have a pretty strong feeling I'll be in Gryffindor, and if not, who cares? I'll make do with what I get," she said, jutting out her chin confidently.
"Yeah, I'd be fine as long as I wasn't in Ravenclaw, can you imagine?!" Dom said jokingly, looking at her sister, who rolled her eyes.
"You'd be lucky to get into Ravenclaw! We won the House Cup last year didn't we Teddy?" she said, smirking.
Teddy mumbled something incoherent. James caught the words "fifty points", "stuck", "Whomping Willow" and "stolen pants".
Alison laughed. James thought it sounded like a gnome sneezing. Merlin, just say something to make her stop!
"I'm not nervous! I know I'll be in Gryffindor, so what's the problem?" he said.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. You never know what the hat will say," said Victorie, as she stood up. "Well, I'm going to get back to my compartment," she said, kissing her sister on the cheek and bidding the rest of them goodbye. As she exited the compartment, there was an awkward moment between her and Alison as she tried to squeeze past the other girl.
"We should go too, Teddy. I expect we're nearly there. Shall we go get our things?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure," Teddy ruffled James's hair and winked at the girls. "Good luck, see you in there." And he and Alison left.
"Merlin's beard, I can't stand that girlfriend of his," James said, rolling his eyes.
"What? She barely said anything, what could you have against her?" Dom asked.
"I don't really like her either. She's too serious and boring for Teddy," said Roxanne.
"And she's a Slytherin!" James said, scowling. "I mean what was he thinking?"
At that moment, Teddy poked his head back into the compartment and said, "Yeah, we can hear everything you're saying." He gave them a look and James turned bright red. Dom clapped her hand over her mouth and Jacob laughed.
"Well, it's true!" Roxie whispered at him. "You'd be better off without her!" she said as he left, rolling his eyes.
Later, Dom announced she was going to change. Roxie stood too. "Might as well visit our brothers since their obviously not going to come see us," Roxie said, and they left.
As the train rolled to a stop and students began pouring out onto the station platform, the boys met back up with Dom and Roxie. A gigantic figure emerged from the shadows and James beamed as Hagrid came into view, calling for all the first years.
"Jimmy!" he said, enveloping James in a hug. Oh, ah, oh Merlin, I can't breathe! My bones, my frail bones! No Lord, please not like this! Not pressed up against a half-giant's -
"Yeh ready, then?" he said, releasing James and patting the girls on the head. He saw them flinch as Hagrid unintentionally walloped them with his enormous hands.
The lot of them stepped into the boats and gawked at the glorious castle they had imagined so many times. James wasn't one to get sentimental, but he thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
They were escorted into the castle and James was almost beginning to feel overwhelmed when a familiar face relieved him at once. Neville stood before them, hands clasped, beaming at the students as if they were one of his rare and precious plants.
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" he said cheerfully. "In just a moment, you will be escorted through the doors to the Great Hall, where you'll be sorted into your Houses. Over the course of your time here, your House will be your family. The Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each were created by magnificent wizards and each have spawned them. By doing things well you'll earn points towards the House Cup at the end of the year, however if you break any rules or if a teacher or prefect sees it fitting, points will be deducted."
Neville disappeared for a few moments, then returned and led them through the Hall. James scanned the room, looking for the people he knew. He spotted Teddy first, his hair now a festive array of red and gold, and Molly was not far down the table from him. She seemed to be looking for him in the crowd too, and gave him an enthused thumbs up when she spotted him. Third years Fred and Louis sat a little ways away from her, but they were talking to some girls. Peter Longbottom waved at him from the Gryffindor table and James grinned and waved back. He had always liked Peter.
He hesitantly turned his head to the left to the Slytherin side (blegh), and couldn't find Lucy for a while, until he saw her towards the front, nearby Teddy's girlfriend. Victorie was closest to the group of first years and she was mouthing words of encouragement to her sister. It always amazed Teddy that girls could communicate without talking like that.
James started to get excited when Neville got into the "M" names. His stomach felt like it was going to fall right out of his butt, but he was excited. O'Donnell, Deirdre was sorted into Ravenclaw. Orrs, Lyla was sorted into Hufflepuff. Patrick, Steven was sorted into Gryffindor. Plotcher, Katharine was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"Potter, James!" called Neville. An eruption of whispers rippled across the Hall. "Potter? As in Harry Potter?" he heard someone say.
James strode through the group of new students and towards Neville and the Hat. "Good luck," the professor whispered.
James looked up at Neville and smiled one last time before the Hat descended over his eyes.
"Ahhh, I was wondering when you'd show up," he heard the Hat say.
"You have your mother's boldness certainly. And you're father's courage. But you know who you remind me of?"
The Fat Friar? James thought, sarcastically.
"Ha. Ha. But no, you have a lot of your namesake in you. The first James Potter had your sense of humor too…Potter and Weasley. Seems pretty obvious where you belong, right?"
James swelled with excitement.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
He beamed and leapt off the stool, tossing the Hat towards Neville (the Hat cried out in protest at being flung in such ways) and raced towards the Gryffindor table. He made eye contact with the rest of his group stuck at the tail end of the alphabet and Dom and Roxie motioned their encouragement and were mouthing something, but he had no idea what they were saying.
I don't have magical girl telepathy.
