"Diffindo!"
James watched as his cousin fired the cutting curse from his wand. The two boys had been enjoying this fine, sunny day by practising spells.
James sat up from his position from under the shade of a giant cedar tree, and walked towards his cousin.
"That's what? About two out of ten? Guess that makes me the winner." He spoke with a grin across his face.
James had been able to cast the cutting curse a total of five times when it was his turn to practice. He knew that only being able to cast a spell as simple and elementary as the cutting curse a total of five times, wasn't impressive. But considering the fact that he was only eight years old, and hadn't had any training with spell casting yet, he felt pretty good about himself and his abilities.
Both his parents agreed that they wouldn't start training him in spell casting until it was closer to his eventual arrival at Hogwarts. They didn't want him to have an unfair advantage over his other classmates. Even though many magical parents introduced their children into the magical world and all its properties from birth, James's parents wanted him to not worry about the more practical aspects until he was taught them in school. Sure they'd teach him about plant life and some simple potions here and there. And if he was interested they would give him some basic understanding of runes.
"You don't have to get so high and mighty about it." James's cousin Scorpius complained.
"I'm not, just stating facts. Not my fault my magic seems to be more powerful."
"Like hell it is!" Scorpius yelled back.
"Ooooo, feeling salty Scorp?" James asked.
"Not salty, more annoyed by your inflating ego." His cousin responded.
"Why you little…" James grabbed his cousin in a headlock and began giving him a noogie.
"Hey! Get off!" Scorpius yelled.
"What'cha gonna do about it?"
James got his answer shortly after. Scorpius tripped James, and the two entered into a ball of arm, head and leg locks, trying to get the advantage. As they were fighting for dominance, a familiar voice ran out from above them.
"Come home, everyone's starting to arrive."
The two boys looked up and saw a corporeal patronus, James knew who these belonged too, he knew as soon as he heard the voice. This was the patronus of his Aunt Astoria, Scorpious's mother.
The two boys dislodged themselves and began running back to the current residence of the Potter family. Since it was the beginning of summer, James and his family had begun their stay in their remote cabin, which his parents had bought for their honeymoon. The two had fallen in love with the little cabin that they regularly used it whenever they wanted some time away from the wizarding world.
Upon arriving at the cabin, the two boys ran straight for the backyard, where all the guests would be. James began looking around the backyard at all the people who had arrived.
Thaddeus Nott was throwing around a frisbee with Teddy. James always thought of the both of them as older, cooler brothers. Thaddeus was an auror and if what his father had said was true, (and how could it not), Thaddeus was the most effective auror in the department. He had the highest arrest count and the most cases concluded than anyone else in the department. Whenever he would come around and visit Thaddeus would always regal James with stories about his many adventures tackling dark wizards. He was so cool!
Teddy on the other hand was cooler in a different sense. He was already a student in Hogwarts, sorted into Hufflepuff house, Teddy was James's source for his fix of wanting to know how the wizarding school operated. Teddy would send James letters about his lessons and what spells they would learn. In fact it was because of Teddy that James even knew the incantation to many spells, as his parents would usually perform non-verbal magic when around him and his sister.
"Hey, can I join?" James heard his cousin ask the two boys.
"Sure thing, catch." Thaddeus smiled, as he tossed the frisbee to the Malfoy heir, who had to jump to catch the spinning disc.
James spotted sitting at the large picnic table that had been set up, were his aunts and uncles. Not all of them were his biological aunts and uncles, but were rather the friends of your parents that you gave that title to.
The only biological relation James had sitting at the table was his Aunt Astoria. She was a slim woman with light brown hair, with a white streak in it, which every time he saw her, seemed to get longer. James had asked his mom about that once, but she simply turned away with a sad expression. James never asked about it again, he didn't like seeing his mom sad.
Astoria had always been his favourite of his many aunts and uncles. She always was very kind, extremely so, she was funny with a witty sense of humour that could make even the most stoic person crack a smile. She was always a source of entertainment at these types of gatherings. His mom often jocked that Astoria was put onto this world to annoy her, but James could tell his mom didn't mean it. His mom and aunt loved each other, he could see it every time they interacted. The only thing about his aunt that James found a bit odd was that she seemed to not use her magic, at least not as much as everyone else. James had thought about asking about that, but decided against that fearing it would cause his mom to be sad again.
Sitting next to Astoria was his dad's best friend Hermione Granger-Dutch.
She had long chestnut brown hair, curled up into a bun, and a slim figure. Her teeth were the whitest James had ever seen. He'd need to ask her what her secret was.
He's always called her Auntie Mione, since when he was younger he couldn't pronounce her full name, but she liked the nickname and encouraged him to continue calling her that. Hermione worked at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Creatures, where she did her best to secure better rights for creatures such as house elfs, centaurs and werewolves. According to his dad this was something Hermione had a passion for, going as far back as their fourth year at Hogwarts.
James always welcomed her when she was around. She was like a living encyclopaedia when it came to knowledge. Spells, potions, history, transfiguration, you name it and James bet Hermione had a massive amount of knowledge on the subject. James once asked her why she didn't become a teacher with all her knowledge, and she kindly responded that while she enjoyed educating people, she didn't think she could handle the stress of having to deal with a bunch of growing teenagers.
Hermione was married to a muggle named John Dutch. The two met one day while Hermione was out one day, and started dating shortly after. Once the two got married Hermione revealed to her husband that she was a witch and that many of her friends were like her. Surprisingly John took the news quite well and was always seeking to see magic in action. James overheard his mom one day that Hermione and John had begun trying for a baby, that was great news in James's opinion, it would be someone else to play with!
Hannah Longbottom sat next to her. Hannah was the wife of Neville Longbottom, one of the many heroes of The Battle of Hogwarts, and the current Herbology professor at said school. While her husband was working at Hogwarts as a professor and head of Gryffindor house, Hannah ran the Leaky Cauldron, a very popular bar for witches and wizards. She had started working there shortly after graduating from Hogwarts and became good friends with the previous owner Tom. While working there she would regularly bump into Neville, who would come to the bar to unwind after a long day, and the two would re-connect from their days at school. The two married with a small wedding with only their closest friends present, and shortly after Hannah took over the ownership of the Leaky Cauldron. The two lived in rooms above the pub, which James always thought was cool.
Also at the table was Tracy Davis, his mom's best friend and sister in all but blood. Aunt Tracy was a favourite of James since she always spoke to him unfiltered and as if he was her age, something his mom didn't take too kindly too, especially when it came to jokes. James didn't quite get them but they must be funny if Aunt Tracy was laughing so hard after she told them.
Tracy worked as a cursebreaker for the Ministry. This meant that whenever a problem with runes came about during a Ministry inquiry, Tracy was called in to deal with it. Despite her quite lewd humour and tendency to be a tease to the men around her, Tracy had never married and had not had children. She seemed content in living her life as a bachelorette. From what he had been told, Tracy had raised Thaddeus all on her own. He didn't quite know the details as his parents told him he wasn't old enough yet, but something happened that caused Thaddeus to end up in the custody of Tracy and she had cared for him as if he were her own. Thaddeus had told him as much when he asked one day. "She took me in when she had absolutely no reason too. I'll never forget that. Living with her was like living with my mother all over again. In fact I consider her my second mother, she sure treated me like she was at least."
James looked at where the food was being cooked. In front of the grill, which was cooking chicken, steak, potatoes, pork, burgers and other delicious items, were the men of the party.
There with beers in their hands were Uncle Draco and Neville Longbottom, the two were talking to the man who was maning the grill, the man who James wanted nothing more than to one day become, his hero: His father, Lord Hadrian Potter.
Hadrian Potter had piercing green emerald eyes, short messy raven hair, glasses, and an almost permanent smile on his face. James very rarely saw his dad without a smile, he claimed because he was always happy. When asked why he was always happy, his dad claimed that he had everything he could ever want in life, which was something very few people could say.
James was proud of the fact that he took many physical features from his father. They had the same hair, same chin, same nose, the two were practically identical, except for two differences. First was their eyesight, thankfully James inherited his mother's, and second was the eyes. James's eyes were a vibrant blue, just like his mother's. Despite those two differences, if James and Hadrian went out into the muggle world most would assume they were brothers rather than father and son.
This was because despite being in his late thirties, Hadrian had the physical appearance of a young man. This was because witches and wizards naturally aged much slower than muggles, another factor was that magic-wielder with a strong magical core aged even slower, so James's father still looked like a man in his early twenties.
Hadrian began using wandless magic to move the finished foods onto a plate, then manoeuvre that plate onto the picnic table, where already laid some salad, and chips. Having turned away from the grill to perform that task Hadrian's gaze focused on the figure leaving the cabin and walking towards the table. This was the only other person James looked up to: His mother, Lady Daphne Potter.
Daphne had long brown hair, and the same sapphire blue eyes as James. In other words and in James's humble opinion, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She, like her husband, had an absurdly powerful magical core, so she too had the appearance of being in her early twenties.
James's parents met each other at the table, their eyes locked on each other. His dad wrapped his arm around his mom's waist. "Just in time, everything's ready."
"Good, I was starting to think you'd burnt the food and had to restart everything."
"Me? Burn food? After all these years you still doubt that I'm the master chef in this house." His father pompously claimed. His mother rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that graced her face.
She looked at the three boys playing with the frisbee, "Boys, time for lunch!"
The three boys stopped their game and began walking towards the table.
"James, can you go get your sister?" His mother asked.
"Sure thing Mom"
James ran inside and into his sister's room, where she sat on the floor playing with her toys. "Lily, it's time for lunch."
"Yes!" She cheered.
She sat up and with the speed of a lightning bolt, ran out of the room claiming, "Last one there is a rotten bludger!"
"Hey, no fair!"
James sat down next to his little sister, Lily Evelyn Potter. Much like how James looked almost exactly like his father, his sister looked almost identical to their mother. Same hair, same nose, same face, the only difference were her eyes, they were her father's.
James loaded up his plate with all his favourite foods (practically everything), and began to listen in on his family's discussions. He laughed at Thaddeus tease Teddy on his new girlfriend, Victoire Weasley, he heard about Tracy's latest case with a nasty set of runes which could've led to some nasty dismemberment, he was completely invested when the adults began talking about their days in Hogwarts, especially the story about when his dad threw snowballs at Uncle Draco while hiding under his invisibility cloak in their third year. But what James loved even more than those stories and conversations was spending time with his family. They were what meant the most to him, and always would.
As all the guests left and James laid down in his bed to sleep, one thought ran through his mind.
"I can't wait for my next Family Day."