The rest of the train ride passed in a blur. We played numerous games of Exploding Snap, and Sirius let off some Filibuster's Fireworks that his cousin had sent him a few weeks before. Before we knew it, we had reached the station. Sirius let off his last firework and it engulfed all of us in smoke and red/gold sparkles. As the smoke cleared, I saw mine and Sirius' mothers chatting away on the platform. I turned and yanked out my duffel bag, which was full of dirty laundry and spellbooks. The nine of us lugged our belongings out to the platform. Remus' mother was tapping her foot anxiously.
"Remus! Welcome back, darling! Are you feeling alright?" Remus rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Mother. Bye everyone." We all waved as his mother ushered him off the platform.
"Strange," I said in an undertone to Sirius, "I thought his mother was ill? Isn't that why he's been going home once a month to visit her?" Sirius shrugged.
"Maybe she got better? I dunno." Lily and Carrie headed for the barrier leading to the main station, where their families were waiting.
"Bye James, Sirius, Sarah, Liz!" Carrie called. Lily squeezed my hand.
"Bye. See you after break," I whispered to her. She smiled and, turning furtively to make sure that no one was looking, gave me a small peck on the cheek.
"Bye." She and Carrie hurried off towards the gateway. Liz's father strode over.
"Hi honey. Did you have a nice term?" He kissed her on the cheek.
"Yes Dad."
"Well, your mother and Kevin are waiting outside the barrier." Liz nodded.
"Alright. Bye guys, see you in a few weeks!" Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Oh, god. Here comes my mother." Sarah's mother hurried over, looking excited. She had a hyper, monkey-looking little boy in tow.
"Hi! I'm Sarah's mom. Oh Sirius, you're here too. Have a nice term?" Sirius smiled. "Yeah, Mrs. Reeves. I only got ten detentions!" Sarah's mother looked indignant.
"Goodness! If Sarah ever got any detentions, I don't know what I'd do…" Sarah grinned wickedly.
"So I guess this wouldn't be a good time to bring up the note from Professor McGonagall?" Mrs. Reeves looked shocked. Seeing the angry look on her mother's face, Sarah quickly changed the topic.
"Ma, why'd you have to bring the Freak anyway? And how'd you get on to the platform? I thought Muggles couldn't get on…"
"Don't you dare call your brother that! Jeffrey's highly intelligent. And you know your father, he rigged up some contraption to let me on to greet you. Goodness knows how he gets any work done… " Sirius raised his eyebrows at the hyper child, who had his arms wrapped around his waist.
"My Sirius! Mine mine mine mine mine!" Sarah flicked the small boy's overlarge ear.
"Cut it out." Mrs. Reeves then spotted Sirius' mother.
"Cass! Hi!" Mrs. Black turned.
"Hello Anne! Care to join us?" Sarah's mother trotted over, and immediately began chatting away with the other two. Jeffrey hopped off to find someone else to bug.
"My family is crazy," groaned Sarah. The three of us slid down and sat with our backs against the cold stone wall. I pulled some Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from the pocket of my Muggle-style coat and we chewed it in silence, watching the multicoloured bubbles float to the ceiling.
*~*~*~*
Somehow, being home for Christmas was both relaxing and exhausting at the same time. My hometown, Godric's Hollow, is about half-Magical, half muggle. Things are basically pretty quiet; people there like to keep to themselves. I was an only child, and I suppose I was slightly spoiled; I wouldn't know, having never really thought too much about it. My father was the head of the Department of Magical Catastrophes in the Ministry of Magic, so we had a fairly large home. I wouldn't go so far as to call my family extravagantly wealthy, but we did have an extremely comfortable lifestyle. Not until I was a young adult did I realize how much my parents loved me and wanted me to live up to everything that I was capable of. When I got home from King's Cross (I had practically dragged my mother away from Mrs. Black), I found our high-ceilinged foyer draped gracefully in garlands, tinsel, and sprigs of holly. My mother had obviously worked for hours to decorate the house "in the Muggle way". Once a year she thought it would be fun to decorate for the holidays like a muggle, though the event always ended in her extreme frustration and a few well chosen spells that decorated our large home in an instant.
"James, honey, take your bag up to your room and then you can come down and play some Quidditch with your father. He's been really excited. He said something about a new move…" She grinned as I rushed up the spiraling staircase and threw my bag onto my huge four poster bed. My room overlooked the meadow behind our house where my father was swooping around on his broomstick. I grabbed my Nimbus 1000 from the wardrobe and dashed back downstairs. I grabbed half a sandwich from the platter on the kitchen table and wolfed it down as I jogged out to meet my father, who flew down and landed next to me.
"Hello son! I trust you had a good term?" he boomed. I grinned at my father. I had inherited his messy black hair and dark brown eyes. My father, however, was muscular and already was an inch or two shorter than me. I was tall and skinny, taking after my mother.
"Yeah, Dad. But I don't think Mum was too pleased with the detentions…"
"Ah… Don't worry about it, James. I was just like you when I was your age." He opened a box lying on the ground and pulled out the Quaffle. "Want to have a catch?" I grinned even wider and mounted my broom. I was glad that my father hadn't made a big deal about the detentions; I had gotten a huge lecture from my mother on the way back about always following the rules. What else would you expect? When she and my father were at Hogwarts she had been a prefect. Once in the air, my father tossed me the Quaffle. As the ball soared towards me, I soared up and caught it deftly with one hand. This was where I belonged, on a broomstick. Everyone always told me that I was a natural Chaser; I don't know if that was true. All I knew was that when I was flying, all of my problems seemed to melt away. I could focus on the game, on the endless sky above me. My father and I swooped and soared, tossing the large Quaffle back and forth as the colours of the wintry sky turned from blue to orange and pink to deep purple. Finally, we swooped back down to the meadow and leaned back to watch the stars emerge from the dusk. The lights of Godric's Hollow were beginning to shine, and my mother was calling us in for dinner.
"James! Edward! Dinner…" We stood up and walked in silence back to our brightly lit dining room, where my mother was waiting with roast chicken and potatoes.
*~*~*~*
The next day, I noticed a bit of a drag on the tail end of my broom. I was out alone soaring above the countryside. My parents were out Christmas shopping and had insisted that I stay at home or I would "ruin the surprise". I was looking forward to the next day when Sirius was coming to stay for a few days. I felt my Nimbus 1000 starting to lag. It also appeared to be taking turns slower. Confused, I slowly started to swoop towards the ground. I was about 40 feet above the meadow when the broom gave a sharp jerk. Caught by surprise, I tumbled sideways, only barely able to hang on. Hanging by both arms from the handle, I looked down at the ground. My broom was shuddering in short spasms. I felt my fingers slip on the slick broom handle. My arms, exhausted from holding my weight, were sore and aching. As my broom gave one final shudder, it fell out of the air. I let out a yell as I tumbled towards the ground, which was rushing up to meet me at an alarming speed. Then I hit the ground with a crunch, and everything went black.
"James? James, sweetheart, please wake up! James…"
From somewhere in the black void of my unconsciousness I heard my mother's voice pleading, wrought with worry. I struggled to reach out to her, but my arms felt too heavy. With immense effort, I wrenched my eyes open. Squinting from the bright light and the fact that someone had removed my glasses, I saw my mother perched anxiously in a chair beside my bed. My father was standing with his arms crossed at the doorway, in deep discussion with a very professional-looking wizard who was clad in white robes and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck. My mother had her face buried in her hands.
"Mum?" I croaked hoarsely. She lifted her head.
"James! Oh James, you're awake!" She threw her arms around my shoulders, and I winced.
"Ouch." My whole body was as sore as if it had been beaten. She straightened up.
"Sorry, sweetheart. That must have been a nasty fall that you took." I was confused.
"How long have I been unconscious? The last thing I remember after my broom acting up was falling off my broom…" My father nodded at the mediwizard and strode to my other side.
"You've been out for about two days, James. Your mother and I came home to find an empty house. Figuring that you were out flying, we went to the meadow to look for you. When we found you, you were unconscious."
"You say that your broom was acting up?" My mother's voice sounded hoarse, as if she had been crying.
"Yeah," I paused, remembering, "I was flying along, when it started to shudder and jerk around. I sort of slipped sideways and ended up hanging by my arms from the handle. Then the broom gave out and I fell. That's all I remember." My mother let out a muffled gasp. I suddenly realized that my left leg seemed stiffer and was aching more than the rest of my body. I looked down and saw my leg encased in a thick white cast, the kind that Muggles wore when they broke a bone.
"Why am I wearing this?" My parents looked at each other.
"Well, James… when you fell you broke your leg in quite a few places." I shrugged.
"So? Couldn't anyone heal it?" My parents looked at me and didn't say anything. "Mum?" My mother worked part time as a nurse at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. During my whole life up until then, I had never known her to be incapable of healing any of my scrapes and injuries. My mother patted my shoulder.
"Darling, we didn't want to take the risk that it might harm you further. But don't worry, you only need to wear the cast for 5 weeks or so. I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey will remove it for you back at school." I stared. Me, having to wear a Muggle cast for 3 weeks at school? The taunts would be endless! I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. Could this get any worse? Apparently it could. I heard a familiar sarcastic voice come through the doorway.
"So Jamsie, I hear you fell off your broom." I groaned again, halfheartedly, but I opened my eyes. It was Sirius, leaning against the doorframe, smirking. I grinned at him.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault! My broom bucked me off!" Sirius grinned back.
"Sure. Say, are you gonna have to wear that cast-thing for a long time? This might put a serious damper on our plans for the Slytherins…" He trailed off as he saw my mother raising her eyebrows at him. Before she could say anything, my father spoke.
"Say, Sirius, would you like to sign James' cast?" He produced several permanent markers. Sirius looked intrigued.
"You can sign it? The things Muggles come up with…" He immediately bent over and began scrawling on my cast. As my mother realized what he was writing, she let out an exasperated "Sirius!" and he smirked up at her.
*~*~*~*
The rest of my holidays were quite uneventful. My mother had forbidden me to go flying ("In your condition? I should think not!"), and Sirius had been sent home by my extremely worn out parents after catching us sneaking out every night that he had stayed. Christmas, however, was the bright spot on the horizon of my break. I awoke early to the sounds of my mother playing a disk of Christmas carols. Hobbling downstairs with my crutches, I saw my mother perched next to our enormous evergreen tree.
"Merry Christmas, sweetie!" She rushed over to help me to a chair. I rolled my eyes.
"Mum, I'm perfectly capable of-" My father chose this moment to come downstairs.
"What on earth are you two arguing about this early on Christmas Day?" He looked at our faces. "Never mind, I don't want to know." He passed a present to me where I was seated next to the fireplace. "Here, James. This is from your mother." I unwrapped a thick red and gold sweater. Passing my parents their gifts from me, which I had purchased in Diagon Alley earlier that week, I turned to the rest of my presents. After a few minutes, I had a pile of items lying beside me. A lunarscope, which would come in handy during Astronomy, a brand-new peacock feather quill, a handbook of Quidditch maneuvers, a handsome new set of Gobstones, some clothes, and various other presents. Finally I turned to my last present, a long, flat package. It was wrapped in silvery paper. Slowly, I pulled off the wrappings. There in my hands lay the newest model of broomstick out on the market, the Stratus 500. I gasped in spite of myself, causing my parents to turn from their own gifts. My father grinned.
"Do you like it? It's the newest model out. Just came into Quality Quidditch Supplies this week." My mother shot him a Look.
"Edward! The last thing James needs is more encouragement to fly! And after what happened to him…" My father smiled.
"Don't worry, Kathleen, he'll be fine." I smiled broadly and hugged my parents.
"Thanks loads for all the presents." My mother ruffled my hair.
"Just glad that you're happy, dear."
*~*~*~*
Sirius and Remus were extremely jealous when I told them about my new broom on the train back to Hogwarts.
"Aw, no fair!" exclaimed Sirius. "I begged my father for 2 hours straight, but he still held out with his 'You have a perfectly good broom' excuse." Remus sighed.
"I don't expect that my mother would ever even let me near one of those." Sarah skidded into the compartment, closely followed by Peter. She turned, yanked him in, and slammed the door, leaning with her back against it to keep it closed. Sirius looked up quickly.
"Sarah? What's wrong?"
"Slytherins- in the corridor- caught them trying- trying to attack- to attack Peter…" she panted. Sure enough there were several sharp raps on the door. Lily, Carrie, and Liz looked up from their seats.
"Pettigrew! Reeves! We know you're in there. Come out quietly and no one gets hurt!" I recognized Snape's oily voice. Sarah looked livid.
"Shove it up your &%#, Snape!" she growled. I noticed that Sirius was growing very tense in his seat next to me. He was clenching and unclenching his fists. The door wobbled as Snape and some other Slytherins tried to force their way in. Sarah leapt away suddenly, and they fell through the doorframe. Sirius stood up as Snape fought to untangle his head from one of the other Slytherins' robes.
"Back off, Snape," he hissed. "Unless you want this to get very ugly." Snape narrowed his eyes.
"What's it to you, Black? Don't think your little girlfriend can take care of her poor ickle self?" Sarah turned slightly pink, but Sirius raised his wand.
"Get out. Now. Unless you'd like to see what it'd feel like to spend 20 years as a snail." Snape smirked.
"You don't know human Transfiguration yet, Black." Sirius smirked back at him.
"Care to find out?" Snape sneered, but backed out of our compartment.
"This isn't over, Black." Just as he left, Mary walked in. Shoving past the Slytherins, she looked around at the tense expressions on the faces of the occupants of our compartment.
"Anything the matter?" Sirius looked at me.
"You explain."
*~*~*~*
In the following weeks, I discovered something. It is not easy to make your way around a magical castle in a cast with crutches. I fell into trick steps more than a few times, and seemed to be late for almost every class. My predicament was attracting many sympathetic looks, though I refused to explain exactly why I was wearing a cast. Madam Pomfrey insisted on checking up on me once a week. Finally, right before Valentine's Day, she announced I could finally have it removed. I was relieved. Hobbling around for the past five weeks had been quite exhausting. I ran all the way back to the common room, glad to be free of the heavy plaster around my leg. When she saw me, Lily ran up and hugged me.
"Oh James! You got it off!" I grinned at her.
"Yeah. Now I can go back to pranking the Slytherins in peace." Sirius slapped me a high-five.
"Yes! We're back in action!"
Valentine's Day came in a flurry of snow. It was a Saturday, so everyone was free to do what he or she liked. Most everyone in our group had a Valentine. Mine, of course, was Lily, who had accepted the long-stemmed red rose that I had given her, blushing furiously (Hagrid had given me one from his garden). Carrie had finally found a guy at Hogwarts who, unlike the rest of the majority of the male population, did not wolf whistle as she passed or make any degrading comments. Patrick McConahey was another first year Gryffindor. He was tall, had sandy brown hair and deep hazel eyes, and slept in the same dormitory as Sirius, Remus, Peter, and me. Carrie was constantly talking about him, harping proudly about how "pretty" he was, how smart he was (he and Remus often worked together on assignments), and how he defended her against the "chauvinist pigs" that were the rest of the male population. (The other boys protested that he was only defending her because he was going out with her, and that he secretly agreed with them. Patrick and Carrie, however, ignored their comments.) Liz had been spending a lot of time with a dark haired Ravenclaw named Alexander McKinnon who was in the same History of Magic class with us. Mary was going with another Ravenclaw named Robert Bell, a Muggle-born who shared her fascination with Japanese artwork. Sirius and Sarah, though they themselves couldn't quite see it, were already an item. There was hardly a night when they could not be seen sitting squished into the same armchair by the fire, copying off each other's History of Magic essays. Both firmly insisted that they were only friends. After one of such announcements, Lily turned to me.
"I give it one week before they're together." Sure enough, that night Sirius pulled Sarah into an empty corner of the common room. I watched them out of the corner of my vision. Sirius seemed to be very uncomfortable. He asked Sarah something, who then stared at him for a moment in disbelief. Suddenly, she threw her arms around his shoulders. He grinned awkwardly as she rushed over to where Lily and Carrie were seated at a table. At her news, they all squealed and ran over to Mary and Liz. All five burst out giggling and looked over at Sirius, who was striding towards me.
"So,' I asked him, grinning. "What'd you ask her?"
"I, er, asked her if she'd like to go out with me,' he mumbled. I grinned even wider.
"Hey Remus! It looks like you owe me five Sickles! They're together!" He turned.
"Finally! I was beginning to think you were too scared to ask her out, Sirius. Damn! Now only Peter and me are single…" Sirius turned crimson, but smiled.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters, places, events, etc.
A/N: Don't ask me what the point of James breaking his leg was… I just felt like it. Oh yeah…. Sirius is mine!