Hello, I'm James Sirius Potter, the often overlooked child of Harry and Ginny Potter. This is the story of my life.

Look. I get it. I'm not the most remarkable person. I especially wasn't in the Wizarding World. I'm honestly nothing special, unlike Albus and Lily. Lily is a ray of sunshine, and Albus, well, you'll see.

Compared to the two of them, I'm nothing. I've gone unnoticed most of my life, which is totally fine. Yes, I'm the first-born of the "Boy Who Lived", but honestly, once Albus came along, I just sort of faded into the background. I guess I just wasn't as interesting as my siblings. Which is totally understandable. I'm not bitter. I'm glad I didn't have the media looming over me as a kid.

I guess I should start by debunking a couple myths about my family. My dad isn't a "family man". He's crazy neglectful, and he cheats on Mum all the time. He drinks a lot, too. My mum isn't amazing, either. So, really, I was raised by Uncle George and Uncle Percy.

When my family started to fall apart, I was about four. I guess something just snapped with my parents after Lily was born. Mum took care of her well. She had always wanted a girl. Neither Al nor I were old enough to understand what was going on. But we started being dumped on our grandparents more and more.

As Grandma and Grandpa got older, we started spending less time with them. Instead, we would get to visit our cousins. Albus often opted to go to Uncle Ron's, but I would go to Uncle George's or Uncle Percy's for the night.

I don't know what my parents did while Al and I were away. All I know was that Lily stayed with Mum all the time. She was Mum's little princess or whatever. And Dad was always at work.

At Uncle George's, I used to hang out with Freddie. Freddie was a few months younger than me, and we were best friends. Roxie was cool too, but she was a year younger than Lily. She was the youngest of our cousins, actually. I always liked Uncle George the best, because he would always tell jokes and stuff. He could also leave work at any time to come get me and Albus, so we saw him and Uncle Ron the most.

I didn't see Aunt Angelina quite as much. She worked the night shift at St. Mungo's when I was little so she could stay home with the kids during the day. I think the only person who really hated that was George. But she was always there if I needed her.

I was also really close with Molly Weasley-Sharma. That's how I ended up spending so much time at Uncle Percy's and Aunt Audrey's. I wasn't as close with Lucy, since she was deaf and for a while we had trouble communicating. Molly and Lucy were adopted, and they were fraternal twins. Later, I became super close with both of them. They were two years older than me.

Uncle Percy was the person who taught me how to read. Uncle George was the one who figured out that I was left-handed and taught me how to write. Aunt Audrey taught me how to do math and how to draw. Aunt Angelina taught me how to ride a bike and a broom.

I lost my first tooth at Aunt Audrey and Uncle Percy's house. When I fell, Aunt Angelina was always the one who patched me up while Uncle George dried my tears. In all of my childhood memories, my uncles and aunts were where my parents should have been.

I have no idea how the four of them found so much time for me. They had full-time jobs and kids. But it seemed that at least one of them was always there whenever I wanted my mum or dad.

Albus and I were super tight. Whenever Mum and Dad were fighting, I was the one who took Albus and Lily upstairs and tried to distract them. At a very young age, I learned how to Floo to Uncle George's house. Uncle George's house was for normal fights. Uncle Bill's was for emergencies.

I wasn't ever as close to Lily as Albus. I guess it was a gender thing. She also used to play with Roxie when we went over to Uncle George's. But Albus, Freddie, and I were able to spend loads of time together. I knew everything under the sun about Albus, and he knew quite a bit about me. We had so much fun together. We bonded over the fact that we became unwanted children as soon as our parents had their first daughter.

Teddy was also there a lot, but not as often as most people seem to think. On the rare days when the whole family spent time together, Ted was there. But, mostly, he spent time with Andromeda or Uncle Bill. He and Victorie were super close, and they were dating for a little bit during Vic's seventh year. That never went anywhere, though.

I thought that Teddy was the coolest person alive for a little bit. Slowly, as I tried to navigate my teenage years, I lost all respect for him.

So, really, what I'm trying to say is that the whole "perfect family" act is just that, an act. My parents' marriage was super dysfunctional, and I'm assuming it still is. Albus and I were super neglected by our own parents, so our uncles and aunts had to step in. But, all in all, I think my childhood was a pretty happy one.

But this isn't about my childhood. This is about how and why I left the Wizarding World.