Results
The car pulled up at the house and the three siblings stumbled out of it and into the house. It was three a.m. in the morning and they had just endured over twenty hours of travelling. It was the end of the annual Weasley holiday, August 12th, and they were utterly exhausted.
James went straight up to bed, stopping only to pull off his trainers, jeans and hoodie, before collapsing on top of his bed and falling immediately asleep.
He was woken by the sun shining straight into his eyes, for he hadn't closed his curtains when he went to sleep. Glancing at his clock, he saw it was eleven fifty-three, and judging from the sound of his siblings' laughter in the garden, everyone else had been up for a while.
As he wandered downstairs, he thought over the fact that most of the days in his summer holidays followed a similar routine: Sleep in for as long as possible, mooch around the house and play Quidditch during the day, and stay up until midnight doing PlayStation with Albus. Sitting down to some toast, he shrugged. The routine was a good one, and as relaxing as possible.
That relaxation was interrupted by the sight of a small dot in the sky, coming fast towards the house. His eyes widened. He had completely forgotten about the fact his OWL results should be coming any day now. Could it be?
His Mum rushed in, with dirt on her knees and holding some plant clippers, followed by his Dad in swimming shorts (the pool had been installed a couple of summers ago). The three of them watched avidly as the dot, now recognised as an owl, flew in the window and landing on the kitchen table.
James's fingers were shaking as he grabbed the envelope and ripped it open.
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVELS
Pass Grades Fail Grades
Outstanding (O) Poor (P)
Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A) Troll (T)
Mr James Potter has achieved:
Ancient Runes: A
Astrology: E
Care of Magical Creatures: E
Charms: E
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Herbology: E
History of Magic: P
Potions: E
Transfiguration: E
Signed: Headmistress Minerva McGonagall
James looked up at his parents, grinning. He had only failed History of Magic, and who on earth cared about the subject? His Dad clapped him on the shoulder, smiling.
'Well son, you did better than me,' he laughed.
'Congratulations, James,' said Mum. 'Have you decided on your NEWTs yet?'
James shook his head. 'Nah, I'm not going to think about schoolwork for the rest of the holidays.'
'Oh yes, that reminds us,' Harry glanced at Ginny. 'I know we're not letting you have a wild birthday party until next year, so we managed to wrangle a different treat for you. We think you'll like it.'
'What is it?'
'We've scheduled you to fly with the England Quidditch team on August 15th, and the best seats in the stadium for their match against Poland in the United European Countries Quidditch Tournament,' said Mum, smiling at the look of glee on James's face.
'WICKED! Are Albus and Lily coming too?' he asked.
'That's your choice.' He thought for a few seconds.
'Why not? As long as they aren't annoying, I don't see much harm in it,' he replied, grinning. 'I should probably go out and practice Quidditch with them, I haven't played for ages.'
He quickly pulled a relatively clean t-shirt and trackies on before grabbing his Firebolt 360 and rushing outside. Albus and Lily were twenty feet above his head, chucking a Quaffle around. They had fastened a hoop about the same size as the Quidditch goalposts in the oak tree, and Lily was trying to get it through. Every time she got it through she won ten points, and every time he saved he got ten points. At that moment the score was five hundred and ten against four hundred and ninety to Lily.
He quickly told them the news, and they had equally excited looks on their faces. They didn't often get to go and see the England team playing, and the only team they had actually met were the Holyhead Harpies five years ago.
The house was full to the brim with friends and relations. Almost all of the Weasley extended family was there, along with a lot of family friends. All the kids were hanging around outside in the garden, enjoying the mid-afternoon sun. James's three best friends, Max, Olivia and Alexia, were there too.
'How were your results, James? Did you fail?' teased Alexia. They were still firmly together as boyfriend and girlfriend, and she had her head on his lap.
'I did okay,' said James modestly. 'Eight OWLs, six of them were Exceeds Expectations, one was Acceptable and Outstanding in DADA. Failed History of Magic, but who on earth cares about that?'
'I got pretty much the same, except I got seven Exceeds Expectations and my Outstanding was in Charms,' said Alexia. '
'I got an Outstanding in Potions,' said Max proudly. 'The rest were Exceeds Expectations apart from a Dreadful in History of Magic. How did you do, Olivia?'
'Four Outstandings and five Exceeds Expectations,' she mumbled, blushing.
'Nice one, beat our results,' said James. Ginny stuck her head out the door and yelled for them to all come in for present opening and cake. They headed into the dining room, where the table was groaning under the mass of presents, and a small space had been cleared for the cake. James sat at pride of place, with two month old Remy stubbornly staying on his lap.
Ginny hovered in the gigantic chocolate cake, big enough for them all to have a good-sized piece. James started one his presents, helped along by Remy who was covered in chocolate icing. It was a good haul, including some Quidditch trainers and an IPod.
The next morning James was woken by Albus and Lily at seven thirty when they rushed into his room and tore open the curtains. He sleepily sat up, picking gunk out of his eyes.
'Albus, you're nearly fifteen,' mumbled James. 'Why the hell are you up this early in the holidays?'
'James, we have to leave for the England Training pitch in an hour!' said Lily, chucking some clothes at him. James nodded and climbed out of bed. 'You'd better comb your hair as well.'
They were met by a tall, well built man in Quidditch robes with cropped brown hair. Harry greeted him warmly, saying:
'Benjamin Elson! Last time I saw you you were a weedy little sub! Look at you now! Replaced your big brother, then?'
'Hey Harry,' Ben grinned. 'Last time I saw you you were a young twenty-something year old. Now you've got grey in your hair and three kids in tow! Come on, let's get you all into some robes.'
They had trouble finding ones small enough to fit Lily, so Ben just shrunk some. Once they were ready they were taken out to see the team. It was completely different to when Harry and Ginny had been on it, Ben was the only vaguely original player.
'Okay, team, we have some new players today. First up, let's play a match. James, how about you play in Aiden's place for now, as Seeker. Albus, I hear you're a Keeper, you'll take Karen's place. And Lily, you will replace Nathan and be Chaser alongside me. Come, let's go!'
James kicked off into the air, racing Albus. He grinned, exhilarated. He hadn't played like this for months. A Bludger flew towards him, intent on causing him damage, but he easily dodged, whirling away from it. Lily zoomed past with Ben and the Quaffle, and a second later they had scored. Albus hardly let in a goal, and Lily kept popping them through the hoops. The match lasted just under an hour, until James spotted the snitch and neatly caught it.
They gathered round on the ground, Ben telling them what they did well at and what they had to improve on.
'Albus, you were very good at being a Keeper, but don't get distracted. Concentrate only on the Quaffle, and I guess the Bludgers as well. But you only let in five goals out of the twenty-three attempts from the sub-team, so well done.' Albus grinned at the Captain's praise.
'Lily, you scored a lot of times, and were very quick and agile, but you could do better if you were more confident.'
'James, I have to say I think you're a very talented player, and could go far. However, you should spend more time looking for the snitch and less time practicing tricks. Still, I think you could have a place on the England team in a few years,' Ben smiled at him, before looking around at the team. 'Right, let's get back into the air!'
Albus and James were chattering loudly, both wearing red and white tasselled England hats. England had sadly lost, but only by two goals, and they had played admirably. The two boys were going through every aspect of the game, talking about interesting moves and goals.
Mum was waiting for them when they got home, with three envelopes in her hand. 'Hogwarts letters came,' she had a small smile on her face. James took his and slowly opened it, wandering into the kitchen to get a snack. As he reached inside he froze, his fingers touching something hard.
A badge, red and gold, with the words "Quidditch Captain" on it. He stared down at it in his palm, amazed. He had completely forgotten about becoming Quidditch Captain, it had barely passed through his mind. Grinning, he pinned it proudly onto his chest and strode upstairs, passing Lily on the way.
'I thought you'd get that,' she said, and then in afterthought 'Jammy git.' He winked and entered his room, grabbing pairs of socks and shoving them in his trunk, already thinking about students who would be good contenders for places on the team, along with moves and plays that they could do.
His Firebolt was cleaned and reverently wrapped up, before being placed in the middle of the trunk where it would be cushioned. His robes, equipment, stationary, books and cauldron went in as well and finally his Quidditch gloves, trainers and body armour. He had to sit on the trunk to jam it shut. He picked up his tuck box (a new fashion at Hogwarts) and headed downstairs to fill it.
Mum had anticipated the tuck boxes being filled, and covered the kitchen table with snacks and food to take. Albus was already there, and Lily a minute behind him. He managed to take a packet of chocolate chip muffins, some Droobles gum, Fizzing Whizbees, chocolate and toffee.
Suddenly it was September 1st, everything was packed and in the car and they were on their way to Kings Cross. James and Albus were arguing over something and no one else was quite sure why, Lily was suddenly sad about leaving home, Dad was reading the map wrong and Mum was stressed. Just like every year!
James quickly hugged his parents goodbye and ran off towards his friends, who were chatting by a pillar. They had ten minutes until the train left, but son after James arrived the girls decided to get a carriage quick.
'Well done on the badge mate,' said Max as they lifted their trunks onto the racks above them. James grinned and opened his tuck box, pulling out the muffins. 'Oo, nice one!'
James kissed Alexia and handed one to her. They all settled down on the benches as the train started to pull away, gaining speed until the scenery was blurring past them. He was glad to be back at Hogwarts.