Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites! Please keep doing them because they really motivate me to write quickly!

To:

Obsessedteenagefangirl: hahahaha that's so funny! Thanks for the ship name, Jaddie! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! And thanks for the review please keep doing it!

k. c. parlor : That's the nicest thing ever! I'm really glad you like my writing and I hope you keep reading and reviewing : )

Tigs0701: Made sure I got a chapter in for the weekend just for you!

Cap92A: yeah I don't really like Roy either. He's very slow and all. But I'm glad you're liking the story far! Always great hearing from you so please keep reviewing! Plus, this chapter has some James and Maddie flirting/ clashing so I hope you likey!

Thanks everyone for reading, love you all! Remember, review!

Chapter 14:

"I'm gonna miss you so much! I'll send you letters and I'll make sure I'll tell you all about the Potters' place, kay?" I said as I squeezed Jo.

We'd decided to say our big goodbye before the Hogwarts Express, seeing as how Platform 9 ¾ would be so busy and all. We were standing at the school platform, students milling onto the train. I was so excited to be going on the Hogwarts Express! I mean, the train is legendary!

Legendary Things I've Wanted To Do:

Go on the Hogwarts Express!

Go to Hogwarts

Meet the Potters and the Weasleys!

Go to Athens to see the cool ancient stuff

Become a legend myself! (This one might take some work but meh)

"I'll write too! And I'll try and convince Rach that you didn't mean to hurt her," Jo said as she hugged me back. I glanced at Rachel who was glaring daggers at me.

We broke apart and I moved onto Scorp. I opened my arms as he folded himself into my arms – he was so much taller than me! "I'm gonan miss you sooooooo much! I'll write all the time!" I said as Scorp laughed and patted my back.

"I'm going to miss my mad Maddie too! I don't think I'll be able to adjust to life without your sassy humour!" Scorp laughed as he hugged me tightly.

Laughing, we broke apart. "Is your family going to visit the Potters for dinner or something?" I asked, hopeful.

"Maybe. My dad's fine I'm gay but he's a little miffed I'm dating Harry's son. They were arch nemesis's at school," Scorp shrugged.

I grabbed his shoulders. "I'm going to miss you."

Scorp smiled as he grabbed his trunks and hauled them onto the train. Grabbing my trunk, I pulled it onto the bright red train.

Jo and Al followed and we chatted about silly things until Scorp found a compartment.

"Got one!" he said he opened it and led us through.

We all piled in, sat down and joked the whole time. Dimitri, Peter, Oscar, Xavier, Hope, Maria and Emma all visited and talked with us for a while but Rachel didn't come once.

Nothing really happened on the train, but my anticipation and excitement for staying with the Potters and Al turned to nervousness and fear.

What if they didn't like me? Would they send me back to Hogwarts? Would I have to hang around Enrico and Cheeseburger? And then there was James…

I hadn't seen him since last night, the night of the ball.

My thoughts turned to downright fear as the train came to a stop at the station. Families, friends and students flooded the platform.

I was jittering and shaking. I grabbed my trunk and started to walk out of the compartment when a hand grabbed my wrist.

I turned around to find Al's sympathetic face.

"They're going to love you."

His words calmed me a bit. I took some deep breaths and walked out of the train. Everyone was hugging their families and friends and I felt myself feeling sorry for myself – my family wasn't here. They were on the other side of the world. I missed them desperately, more than ever. We wrote all the time but writing and seeing them in person was way different.

Suddenly, I heard a voice shouting. "Albus! James! Lily! Rose! Hugo! Over here!" a loud, mans' voice carried through the platform. I looked over to see a tall-ish man waving his arms. I could tell that was Harry Potter because he looked like an older version of James except he had glasses whereas James didn't.

His lightning scar stood out on his forehead and his green eyes were the same as Albus's.

This man was Harry Potter.

"Dad!" Al yelled, his voice full of excitement as he raced over to his dad and hugged him tightly. I saw a little girl of about fourteen run over, her red hair like flames as she ran. She was laughing as she hurled herself at Al and Harry.

The next Potter kid made me heart stop. He too ran over and gave his family a big hug, wrapping his arms around them all. He was much taller than the rest of them.

I stood, watching them and smiled. They were such a perfect family.

A woman came up to them, tall with bright orange-red hair. She was smiling and was very beautiful, her face soft and warm with laugh lines creasing her eyes and mouth. James looked at her, and yanked her in to the hug, much to her dismay as she batted his arms and squealed. Soon, they were all laughing and chatting.

"Maddie!" one of them yelled, though it was hard to tell who. I walked over to them nervously, dragging my trunk with them.

Al was waving me over, a big smile on his cute face. Laughing, I walked a little faster.

"Your family is adorable. All of you are so cute!" I told him, smiling.

Al smiled and pulled me over to his parents and siblings.

"Mum, aka Ginny, dad aka Harry and Lily – this is Maddie, my newest best friend!" he told them as I laughed.

I took them all in. His mum, Ginny, was smiling warmly at me, her gorgeous brown eyes like chocolate. Lily, his sister was looking at me calculatingly, her eyes the same colour as Ginny's, her features like Harry's and her hair a bright red than anyone's I'd ever seen. Harry smiled big at me, his glasses askew and mess of unruly, black hair reminding me of James.

It was clear Al had Harry's eyes and Ginny's facial features.

Lily frowned. "Why didn't you introduce her to Jamie?" Lily asked, her voice suspicious as she glared at James.

James came up, his hair messier than usual. "I know her Lily – she's madly in love with me," he told his family as if it was a normal fact about me.

I punched him – hard – on the shoulder, scowling. A blush crept onto my face. "I am not! Seriously, not everyone is in love with you!" I told him, exasperated as he rubbed his shoulder, scowling.

"You know you love me!" he sang, still scowling.

"Not with that ugly face," I said. Laughing, I turned to Harry and Ginny who were looking at us in amusement.

"I was worried for a second about having a very pretty teenage girl living with us. I wasn't sure James would be able to control himself around a girl 24/7, but you can handle his cra- I mean, nonsense perfectly fine!" Harry said, grinning.

Ginny frowned. "Language, Harry," she said as she smacked him on the shoulder lightly.

Harry leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry, honey."

"Hi, Mr Potter. Nice to meet you! And thank you so much for letting me stay with you," I told him as he shook my hand. I turned to a smiling Ginny.

"Hello darling! It's our pleasure having you stay with us! Al has told us a lot about you so it feels like I already know you!" Ginny laughed as she hugged me. Smiling, I hugged her back.

I stepped back and looked at Lily, who was smiling at me. "I like you because you don't like James. He's so mean! He threatened all of the fourth years saying that if they asked me, he'd do bad things to them!" Lily said, glaring at James.

That sounds like a James thing to do, although, it was kind of cute how he protects his little sister like that…

NO! What are you doing? James isn't cute! You don't like James!

"Good on you, son!" Harry praised as Ginny scolded him.

"Lily deserves to have a date to the ball, James," Ginny frowned. She then turned and smacked Harry again. "Don't encourage him!"

"Hey, Potters. Your life is great now that I'm here," a red haired man said, his arm around a very pretty lady. Her brown eyes were warm and intelligent and her mousy-brown hair was styled in a neat bun. Beside them, James's friend Rose and a younger boy walked next to them.

"Oh, Ronald, please. They're lives were much less smelly without you," the pretty woman scolded as Ron scowled.

"Hermione, you're my wife! You're meant to stick up for me!" the man, Ronald, whined.

They must be the Weasley's.

We all introduced ourselves and the younger boy revealed himself to be in fourth year with Lily, his name Hugo.

All of us left, me and Al talking excitedly about what we'd do this summer, Hugo and Lily were chatting and Rose and James were laughing about some joke. The four adults were joking and talking ahead of us, obviously good friends.

They were all so inviting. I felt like a part of their family already.

The Potters house was super nice. It was in a place called Godric's Hollow. Next to their massive house was the ruins of a smaller house. A sign out the front told everyone that this was the house James Potter and Lily Potter died in to save Harry.

As the Potters and I walked into the house, they showed me to my room which was opposite James's and next to Al's.

The room was really nice with varnished wood floors and white wooden walls. A flowery rug and a double bed with a matching flowery duvet were in the middle of the room. There was a desk, a vanity table and a massive wardrobe. The room was white with accents of pink and green with flowers everywhere.

Even though their house was big and obviously expensive, it didn't feel like those unliveable houses where you can't go into certain rooms or can't where shoes in the house or where everything is designer.

It was a home.

There were nooks and secret hiding places, worn floors, scratched walls and mis-matching furniture that was worn and looked very comfy. The dining table had mis-matching chairs but it all seemed to work. Every wall was covered in moving pictures of young James, Lily and Al. My favourite picture though was on a coffee table – it had a man with round glasses dancing with a beautiful woman with bright, orange hair. Even though it sounds like it was Harry and Ginny, it was obvious they weren't the dancing couple.

I'm guessing they're James and Lily, the original Potters from years ago. There was a picture next to that one though – a young and handsome Harry was dancing a stunning Ginny. They looked to be in their early twenties. She had a gorgeous, emerald ring on her finger and they both looked absolutely in love and they wore those same expressions today.

Suddenly, I bustled into the living room with the rest of the Potters. Sitting down next to Al, I made sure to distance myself from James – I didn't really want to be near him for some reason. I don't know. I had a feeling I wouldn't be friendly with him for long.

"Ok! House rules!" Ginny clapped as all the kids groaned. "No firewhisky – I'm looking at you, James – no friends unless you tell us first or they're the Weasley kids, clean up the mess you make and absolutely no cussing, ok?" Ginny told everyone. I nodded as Harry gently moved Ginny out of the way. "Ok, now that the boring part's out of the way, let's play our annual Quidditch Game!" everyone cheered, even Ginny. "Maddie, what do you play?" Harry asked, smiling.

"She's a beater and pretty good one, too," James said, smiling at me.

"I'm not that good," I said modestly, surprised James would say that. Apparently, from everyone's shocked expressions, I wasn't the only one.

Al scoffed. "She's the only girl beater at Hogwarts and is the best beater I've ever seen!"

I blushed and looked at the floor. "Well, I'm ok."

Harry cheered. "Fantastic! Ok, so it's me, Lily and Al vs James, mum and Maddie. Finally, we have even teams!"

Everyone cheered as we all raced to the backyard. I hung back a bit. I felt like I was intruding on their family. They felt exactly like my family – they were mad about Quidditch, had pictures everywhere and were a little strict except… they weren't.

"You ok, dear?" Ginny asked, concerned.

"I feel like I'm intruding a bit," I confessed. Ginny nodded sympathetically.

"I understand where you're coming from. Just know that the whole family is excited about having you here, ok? Especially Harry. But, to be honest, I think me and Lily are the happiest because it'll be awesome having another girl around! Plus, James seems happy you're here. I was a little worried about that but it seems you're friends which is great! You're the first girl that's been over besides family or family friends. Just be yourself and let loose," Ginny said as she grabbed my arm and we walked out to the yard together.

"Ok everyone! Here are the rules! One keeper and two chaser's per team. Whoever gets the highest score in an hour wins, got it?" Harry explained, his face serious. "Team meetings!" he yelled as James, Ginny and I all huddled.

"Ok, mum – you're a chaser. You played chaser for the Hollyhead Harpies for years. Maddie, do you play keeper or chaser better?" James asked me, his face serious. It felt like a real Quidditch game.

"I think Keeper," I said as James nodded.

"I'll be chaser. Remember, they'll put Al as keeper so we need to be on our game, got it?" we all nodded as we ran off to our positions.

"Brooms!" Ginny yelled as we all mounted and flew into our positions. "And… Play!"

"No!" I laughed as Al told the story of me falling asleep in the middle of breakfast because Maria had dared me to steal from Filch's storage cupboard. "Al, the last bit's so embarrassing!"

Al was pissing himself laughing he told the last bit. "McGonagall comes just… as Maddie falls… asleep… in her cereal… so she goes… and she… pulls Maddie out of her cereal… by her ponytail and drags her to Filch's cupboard!" Al cracked up before he sobered a bit. "Maddie then had to clean the whole cupboard… using the tin of toothbrushes she stole!"

Everyone cracked up and I laughed too, my face red.

"Ok, I have an embarrassing story," James said, his face red from laughing. "One time, I pranked Maddie so good! I put all these puking pastilles in her food and she vomited all over Professor Skye in the hallway!" everyone laughed as I glared at James, my eyebrows raised.

"You really wanna go there? Ok! One time, me and Al snuck into James's dorm room at school. We were going to plant bombs in his bag but instead, we found love letters from… Willow Vain!" I said, laughing.

Harry cracked up, slapping the table whilst Ginny glared at James. "I thought I told you never get involved with Ramilda Vain's girl. They're both bad news," Ginny scolded. That made the story even funnier.

"Is that why you wrote those love letters to Willow? It was forbidden?" I teased James, his face turning even redder.

"Not funny. That was an awful prank," James whined.

"Aw, poor Jamie," I said in a baby voice as he glared at me.

"Watch it."

"Or what?" I cracked up at his outraged expression. "Admit James – you can't beat me!"

Ginny, Harry, Al and Lily all laughed as James sulked and slumped in his chair.

We'd been sharing funny and embarrassing stories all through dinner. We'd all been exhausted from all the Quidditch games we'd played that afternoon.

"Ok! Let's watch a movie now!" Ginny exclaimed as she waved her wand and the dishes all flew over to the sink and washed themselves. "To the living room!"

We all rushed to the living room as Ginny put on a wizard world movie – it was about a Quidditch player who fell off his broom and didn't want to fly ever again. In the end, he had to fly to save the pretty witch from the evil guy. It's a classic movie.

That night I couldn't sleep. Whether the bed was too soft or the ceiling to high or the room too light, I just couldn't. It was too silent – I couldn't hear anyone else's breathing, just my own. I missed Rachel and Eva's presences but I missed Jo's especially – all our midnight chats and our whispered jokes when someone was snoring too loud and the fits of giggles that we tried and failed to stifle. I wanted my roommates – all of them, including quiet Eva and obnoxious and temperamental Rachel.

I tossed and turned but it was no use – I couldn't find a comfy position and fall asleep. Finally, I decided a walk outside would be the best thing.

I slipped out of bed, pulled my heavy parker on (it's freezing outside in the winter of there) and put my snow boots on. I crept quietly down the stairs, trying not to make a sound.

I walked through the living room and out the door, into Godric's Hollow. I looked around the cold, empty street and plodded along, in my strawberry PJs.

I saw a big tree with two simple, wooden swings hanging from one of the branches.

I jogged over, my breath coming out in little clouds.

I sat on the frost covered wooden plank and held the thick ropes in my hands as I swung myself, higher and higher.

I thought about my family, the Christmas's we'd shared and giggled to myself at the funny memories.

My thoughts jarred when I heard the crunching sound of someone walking towards me. I froze, panic rising up in me.

I didn't yell 'who's there' because that'd be idiotic. That would only alert the person I was there and I didn't want that. I held my breath and prayed to every single god that it wasn't the Pure's or a werewolf coming for me.

If I'm not scaring you, than this ought to do it – it was worse than any of the scenarios I was imagining in my head – and I was thinking an axe murder was going to chop my limbs off and cook me alive. Instead, an uncertain voice that made my heart stop echoed through my ears.

"Maddie…?" James Potter asked as he stepped into the light, in all his manly gloriousness. Hey, I don't like the guy but I can appreciate his looks. His black hair was even messier than usual and he wore bright orange PJs with suns on them.

I couldn't help it – I laughed. "Hey James… nice PJs," I said in between fits of laughter. James scowled as he stood in front of me, close enough for me to see him but far away enough so I wouldn't hit him from the swing.

"Touche," he said, sneering at my strawberry PJs. I laughed until I realised he wasn't even smiling.

I stopped swinging and laughing abruptly. "What's wrong?"

He kicked the ground sending gravel and dirt flying. "Nothing."

Curious as to why he was out here, I asked him.

He looked up at me, his dark blue eyes clear. "I heard you leave and wanted to make sure you weren't running away so I could stop you or something like that."

I smiled playfully. "Who's to say you'd be able to stop me?" I teased as James smirked.

"I would've found a way," he shrugged as he sat down on the other swing. He wasn't acting normal, I could tell. His expression was far away and he felt distant.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" I asked again, making my voice sound serious.

James sighed. "Don't know. Just… been thinking."

"That's dangerous," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

James looked at me, one eyebrow raised. "Original. Nah, I'm good. Just… distracted by something. Thoughts in my head that I don't wanna confront and all that other shite," James said, his face scrunched up.

"Mm," I said, just to reassure him I understood what he was saying and that I was listening. "So… the Weasley's, the Lovegood's and the Longbottom's are coming over tomorrow for dinner?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

James nodded. "You're gonna love everyone… well, besides Ellie's twin sister, Wendy. She's in Ravenclaw and a right pain in the arse," James scowled.

I laughed at his expression. "I've met her. Me and Roy did a charms project with her and this other guy from Ravenclaw. All I know is that she's a controlling psycho who doesn't listen to anyone else's ideas," I said, frowning at the memory of her making me study this particular charm but then didn't use any of my research.

"Well, it's our tradition to have them all over a couple of nights before Christmas. On Christmas Eve we'll have a quiet family dinner and then on Christmas Day, we'll have a massive Christmas Party with all our family – grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins – everyone," James said.

"That sounds crazy. Christmas for us is usually waking up in the morning, staying in our PJs as we open presents, we play with our presents until our aunties and uncles and cousins arrive. We get all dressed up, have a massive outdoor lunch of pork with crackling and roast veggies with thick gravy and light side salads. Then, we all change into our swimmers and all the kids play in the pool. Then we have dessert which is usually something cold to cool us down – like a trifle or an ice cream cake or a parfait. Then, all the adults jump in the pool and we all sunbake and talk. Then everyone leaves and no one has dinner because we're all stuffed from lunch. That's my usual Christmas. Oh, and it's usually like a billion degrees," I added. James' face was awed.

"That sounds awesome. We usually have ice skating competitions or snow ball fights but swimming on Christmas! That sounds so cool!" James said excitedly.

I laughed at his reaction. "Well, ice skating and having snow ball fights sounds good to me," I said, smiling at James.

"What's even the time?" James yawned as he swung low on his swing.

I shrugged. "Who cares?" James laughed at that and nodded.

"True."

We spent the next few minutes in silence. Just as I was about to say something, a rustling sound came from the bushes behind.

James and I looked at each other. Immediately, our wands were drawn.

We both got of the swings in unison and walked around the tree, looking for the source of the sound.

James bent down near the bush and gently stuck his hand in, feeling around.

Find anything? I mouthed as he shook his head.

Suddenly, a skinny greyhound bounded out of bush, scaring me and James. I screamed and fell backwards and landed on a winded James with a very attractive 'oof' noise.

I watched as the greyhound turned mid-stride into a running man. Animagus. He looked back, his face covered in darkness but I could see a small pink flower pinned on the front of his jacket. He turned around and morphed back into a greyhound. The greyhound ran on top of a muggle car setting off the alarm and ran off into the darkness.

My heart was pounding and my fingers were white from the cold and from gripping onto my wand so tight.

Suddenly, the Potters' door banged open and Harry, Ginny, Lily and Albus all ran out, wands in hand and PJs on bodies. They ran over to me and James, their looks of concern turning into looks of confusion.

"Uh… what happened?" Harry asked, waving his hand at me.

That was when I realised my back was pressed up against James's. James was flat on the floor and I was lying flatly on top, my back on his torso, our legs tangled up. I was lying on top of James. James was lying underneath me.

No matter how many different ways you say it, it still sounds weird.

Face burning, I sat up quickly. "Uh… a greyhound jumped out as us." I said at the exact same time James said "Told you Maddie's madly in love with me,".

My blush deepened as I scowled. I elbowed James sharply under the ribcage as he sat up and gasped for breath.

"Idiot," I muttered as I stood up, brushing myself off.

"Ow… that… hurt," James whined, winded, as he glared at me.

"I'm not in love with you!" I said, incredulous.

Harry snorted. "Right."

Ginny smacked him on the arm, glaring at him fiercely.

Al walked over to me and muttered under his breath, "Do I even want to know?"

I nodded and told them what happened.

Harry frowned, his forehead wrinkling. "There's no registered animagus for a greyhound. There's McGonagall, some other people, an elephant and even an ant but no greyhound. You're sure it was an animagus who was in the bushes?" Harry asked.

I nodded. "What else could it be?"

"Harry, I have three words – Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. If high schoolers could do it, others can too," Ginny said reasonably.

What? What the hell did that mean? James, Al and Lily all nodded as Harry kissed Ginny on the cheek.

"Right, of course. I hate when illegal things happen," Harry muttered to a smiling Ginny. "Well, let's all get inside. And James – I hope you didn't do anything to Maddie, ok?" Harry warned as he winked at me.

"Didn't do a thing," James said as he made a move to stand up.

"Oh, no you don't," I said to James as I stomped on his stomach and he gasped again. Lily and Al giggled as Harry full on laughed. Ginny just gave me a look as if to say 'go girl'.

"What… did I do… now?" James whined, gasping for breath as he curled into a ball, cradling his stomach.

I shrugged. "Just felt like it."

That's it for now, folks! Hope you guys enjoyed.

I'll update ASAP!

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Thanks for reading, love you all,

Kat xx