Author's Note: I'm soooo sorry that this took so long! I've been so lazy
and bad about doing anything (including my homework). Plus I'm failing
science, so my parents haven't been too generous with my computer time.
Anyhow, some quality time between James and Rainy. Thanks to Yukito
Forever (you really like her name? Someday I want to name my daughter
that), Merry Turtle (I'm REALLY glad that you like original characters!),
Clara (of COURSE it's the funniest thing. aren't you still laughing?), and
misty (reading over it, I think you're right. I'll try to correct that in
later chapters)! Wouldn't you love me to thank you? Give me a reason by
reviewing this! Even if you already have reviewed an earlier chapter, I'd
still love to hear what you think!
* * * * * *
It absolutely amazed Rainy that James' mother was open to him having a girl come and stay with him. Even as a youngster, Rainy had never been allowed any real guy friends, and because of her tomboyish nature, she hadn't had any female friends either. The whole friend concept was a new one for Rainy.
James, on the other hand, had a few friends. Most of his friends, however, were sons and daughters of his parent's friends. It wasn't really his choice to have these friends; it was really only a polite gesture. In James' mind, a friend was someone you would die for; someone you could tell your deepest, darkest secrets to; someone loyal and true. Well, maybe not just a regular 'friend', but those were his qualifications for close friend and best friend.
When James had brought Rainy to his mother for inspection, disguised as an introduction, she had been happy to comply with his idea for her to live with them. Mrs. Potter had never gotten the daughter she had wanted; James was an only child. She saw Rainy as an opinionated, daring, determined young lady. To her, it seemed that Rainy wanted the whole world to know exactly what she thought about everything. In Mrs. Potter's opinion, Rainy would make a fine wizard and a fine friend to James. James needed a real friend, and this seemed to work out fine.
Mr. Potter was away on business, which, according to James, was usually the case. In fact, it didn't seem as though Mr. Potter would be back before the two of them left for their first year at Hogwarts. This was more of a convenience than an inconvenience, because Rainy now had a broomstick to use. James had his own, a Shooting Star that he wouldn't let anyone call "old," only "loved". Mr. Potter's broomstick was the same model, but had obviously been purchased quite a time earlier than James'. The Potters told their son it was pointless to purchase a new broomstick until he was old enough to play Quidditch for his house at Hogwarts.
About a week before September 1st, a few of Mrs. Potter's lady friends came over for dinner. They brought with them their children, and it was plain for James and Rainy to see that they would be spending the better part of the evening and night baby-sitting and entertaining these said children.
"M-o-m," whined James, dragging out the word to emphasize how irritated he was. "Do we h-a-v-e to?"
Mrs. Potter gave her son a half smile. "I really don't think it will inconvenience you too much, dear. Introduce them all to Rainy, she doesn't know too many other witches and wizards. It'll be nice."
To this, James responded with a look that quite plainly said, "yeah right."
This seemed to satisfy Mrs. Potter, as she nodded and said to Rainy, "I'm sure James will tell you all about the Longbottoms and the Woods, dear." Then she left the room, heading to the kitchen to begin cooking.
James groaned at her retreating back. "Better throw on your nice robes, Rainy. The Woods and the Longbottoms mean something fancy is about to go down."
Rainy gave him a sort of quizzical look, raising her eyebrows.
"I don't even want to begin to describe any of anything."
"Well, your mum said to, and I ought to know anyway. Are these people the kind I ought to not say 'James, you're an ugly, self-centered git' in front of?"
Over the noise of himself rummaging through his closet, James answered, "Correct." And then, as an afterthought, "That's not something that you would say anyway."
Suppressing a laugh, Rainy answered him, "Of course not, James."
The room grew silent as the two of them searched for decent 'dress robes'. They had all of fifteen minutes to find these robes and make themselves look presentable, as Mrs. Potter was a graduate witch from Hogwarts and was able to speedily dress herself and prepare a fancy meal.
"I call the closet!" yelled James, triumphantly holding up his navy dress robes.
"Not fair!" exclaimed Rainy, having just discovered that her cerulean robes were under her spell books.
James smirked before shutting the door so that he could change. "Maybe you'll be quicker next time!" he jaunted her.
"Mimble wimble," mumbled Rainy as she ducked on the other side of the bed and changed out of her everyday black robes into the brighter formal ones. Her favorite new item of clothing was the black cloak with the silver fastenings. It made her feel magical. Besides black robes, she had emerald green and what would be called sapphire if it had been in jewel form. Dressing up was never her favorite thing to do, and now was no different. Staying with James and visiting Diagon Alley had forced the newness of everything to drain away fast for Rainy. Already, dress robes were a great irritation.
Twenty minutes later, James, Rainy, and Mrs. Potter were greeting the guests at the door. James had a sour forced smile on his face, and Rainy had pasted an honestly anxious smile on hers. Mrs. Potter seemed delighted to be seeing witches of her own age.
"Oh Clothilde! It's been too long! Jason, come on in, here's James and his friend Rainy!" Rainy smiled at the average-sized, hazel-eyed, light brown-haired boy in front of her. James grabbed Jason's hand and pulled him out of the doorway so that Mrs. Longbottom, her son, and her daughter, could come inside.
"Abigail! Delighted to see you again so soon! Oh, and I see that Waverly, Frank, and Shawn are here as well! James and his good friend are over here with Jason, come on in!"
"There's something I absolutely must discuss with the two of you!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed to her friends.
James and Rainy took this as a cue to usher the other children away into James' room. As this happened, Rainy overheard Mrs. Wood whisper to Mrs. Potter, "Really, Katherine. James is eleven years old! Are you sure you should be letting him date at that age?"
Watery eyes searched James' face for any sign of this being overheard, and found none whatsoever. Rainy never could understand why everyone made such a big deal about guys and girls being friends. It was beyond her.
Once in James' room, the guest children began talking.
"James, you never said you had a girl friend!"
"What was your name? Is that even a name?"
"."
"You've changed your room around."
Rainy stared at the Waverly girl. What a rude question! Coming from a family that was all politics, however, gave her discipline of when to speak and when not to. "I absolutely adore your robes, Waverly! That shade of red is really nice."
"I don't have a girl friend," stated James, as if stating the obvious. Frank gave him a skeptical look.
"Whatever you say, James."
"It's true. Oh, yeah, you're right Jason. Like my new Quidditch poster?"
Jason nodded quietly, not enjoying the attention that had been thrown at him.
It got suddenly very quiet in the average sized room. Waverly was sitting on the edge of the bed, dangling her feet off the edge, and swinging them around. Her younger brother copied this and their older brother leaned his back against the wall and took in his surroundings. Jason sat cross-legged on the floor and drew a pattern in the carpet with his finger. Rainy and James gave each other looks that quite plainly said: "HELP!"
Rainy was just beginning to realize that Waverly was what appeared to be purposely dropping bits of mud onto the carpet when Frank, the eldest of the Longbottoms, spoke up. "So, James, and, er, Rainy. you're starting Hogwarts this year?"
James nodded and Rainy decided to make a fair attempt at a real conversation. "Oh, yes, aren't you a second year now Frank?"
"Yes, I am. Waverly here is set to start this year, too. Perhaps the three of you will be in the same house."
Neither James, Rainy, nor Waverly looked very happy, let alone excited, about this idea.
He chuckled uncertainly. "Or maybe not."
This seemed to brighten the spirit a bit, as Waverly remembered she had a voice again. "I'm going to be in Gryffindor, so I don't know where you two will end up!"
This caused James to allow himself to be irritated and angry. "I think you're the one who's got it wrong, Waverly! I will most definitely be in Gryffindor, and if this messes up your plans than I guess you'll just have to get sorted into some other house!"
"No! I know you won't be in Gryffindor, because I will be! Just give it up!"
"Never!"
Rainy looked from her best friend and then to the brat sitting on the bed. At this point, you couldn't really tell them apart. "Blimey, there's enough room for all three of us in Gryffindor, so let's just calm down!"
Both Waverly and James looked at her, unfinished sentences trying to find their ways out of their mouths. Frank looked at the sapphire-eyed girl gratefully, Jason continued drawing on the carpet, and Shawn glared daggers at no one in particular.
"You're right Rainy," admitted James, breaking the silence. Waverly just did a silent 'hmph' before continuing to drop dirt onto the carpet.
Small talk between the six forced together children littered the room until Mrs. Potter and the other women witches came to their rescues with a knock at the closed door.
"Come in!" exclaimed James thankfully, and the look on everyone's face said that they felt the same way.
"It's dinner time," Mrs. Potter announced.
"Come on dears, let's go eat," Mrs. Longbottom ordered.
"Time to eat," Mrs. Wood told them.
Each child nodded their head silently and followed the mothers out of the room. Nobody really had anything to say. Most of the night went on the same way; uncomfortable silences with scattered forced fake conversations at some points. Until finally it was time to go; and even then, nobody really seemed to care.
Once everyone had left, not a word was spoken between Mrs. Potter and her son and honorary daughter; not about the previous dinner. "One more week," Mrs. Potter had told them, just in case they hadn't been counting the days.
"We know, Mum," James informed her as he and Rainy retreated to his room.
It was as if the whole evening had never happened. James was ashamed of the fake lifestyle his mother and he had. But he had no idea just how close this was to what Rainy had experienced all her life. It was better to just pretend that nothing had happened anyway. Wasn't it?
* * * * * *
Author's Note: So. what'd you think? Sorry that the ending is rather awkward. but the topic was making feel all dry and hot. Have you ever felt like a desert in Arizona? It's that sort of feeling, if you know what I mean. I promise to make things go a little faster, I'm sure we're all very eager to see Rainy and James actually go to school. And meet Sirius and Remus (both of whom we absolutely ADORE), and that other thing. aka Peter.
* * * * * *
It absolutely amazed Rainy that James' mother was open to him having a girl come and stay with him. Even as a youngster, Rainy had never been allowed any real guy friends, and because of her tomboyish nature, she hadn't had any female friends either. The whole friend concept was a new one for Rainy.
James, on the other hand, had a few friends. Most of his friends, however, were sons and daughters of his parent's friends. It wasn't really his choice to have these friends; it was really only a polite gesture. In James' mind, a friend was someone you would die for; someone you could tell your deepest, darkest secrets to; someone loyal and true. Well, maybe not just a regular 'friend', but those were his qualifications for close friend and best friend.
When James had brought Rainy to his mother for inspection, disguised as an introduction, she had been happy to comply with his idea for her to live with them. Mrs. Potter had never gotten the daughter she had wanted; James was an only child. She saw Rainy as an opinionated, daring, determined young lady. To her, it seemed that Rainy wanted the whole world to know exactly what she thought about everything. In Mrs. Potter's opinion, Rainy would make a fine wizard and a fine friend to James. James needed a real friend, and this seemed to work out fine.
Mr. Potter was away on business, which, according to James, was usually the case. In fact, it didn't seem as though Mr. Potter would be back before the two of them left for their first year at Hogwarts. This was more of a convenience than an inconvenience, because Rainy now had a broomstick to use. James had his own, a Shooting Star that he wouldn't let anyone call "old," only "loved". Mr. Potter's broomstick was the same model, but had obviously been purchased quite a time earlier than James'. The Potters told their son it was pointless to purchase a new broomstick until he was old enough to play Quidditch for his house at Hogwarts.
About a week before September 1st, a few of Mrs. Potter's lady friends came over for dinner. They brought with them their children, and it was plain for James and Rainy to see that they would be spending the better part of the evening and night baby-sitting and entertaining these said children.
"M-o-m," whined James, dragging out the word to emphasize how irritated he was. "Do we h-a-v-e to?"
Mrs. Potter gave her son a half smile. "I really don't think it will inconvenience you too much, dear. Introduce them all to Rainy, she doesn't know too many other witches and wizards. It'll be nice."
To this, James responded with a look that quite plainly said, "yeah right."
This seemed to satisfy Mrs. Potter, as she nodded and said to Rainy, "I'm sure James will tell you all about the Longbottoms and the Woods, dear." Then she left the room, heading to the kitchen to begin cooking.
James groaned at her retreating back. "Better throw on your nice robes, Rainy. The Woods and the Longbottoms mean something fancy is about to go down."
Rainy gave him a sort of quizzical look, raising her eyebrows.
"I don't even want to begin to describe any of anything."
"Well, your mum said to, and I ought to know anyway. Are these people the kind I ought to not say 'James, you're an ugly, self-centered git' in front of?"
Over the noise of himself rummaging through his closet, James answered, "Correct." And then, as an afterthought, "That's not something that you would say anyway."
Suppressing a laugh, Rainy answered him, "Of course not, James."
The room grew silent as the two of them searched for decent 'dress robes'. They had all of fifteen minutes to find these robes and make themselves look presentable, as Mrs. Potter was a graduate witch from Hogwarts and was able to speedily dress herself and prepare a fancy meal.
"I call the closet!" yelled James, triumphantly holding up his navy dress robes.
"Not fair!" exclaimed Rainy, having just discovered that her cerulean robes were under her spell books.
James smirked before shutting the door so that he could change. "Maybe you'll be quicker next time!" he jaunted her.
"Mimble wimble," mumbled Rainy as she ducked on the other side of the bed and changed out of her everyday black robes into the brighter formal ones. Her favorite new item of clothing was the black cloak with the silver fastenings. It made her feel magical. Besides black robes, she had emerald green and what would be called sapphire if it had been in jewel form. Dressing up was never her favorite thing to do, and now was no different. Staying with James and visiting Diagon Alley had forced the newness of everything to drain away fast for Rainy. Already, dress robes were a great irritation.
Twenty minutes later, James, Rainy, and Mrs. Potter were greeting the guests at the door. James had a sour forced smile on his face, and Rainy had pasted an honestly anxious smile on hers. Mrs. Potter seemed delighted to be seeing witches of her own age.
"Oh Clothilde! It's been too long! Jason, come on in, here's James and his friend Rainy!" Rainy smiled at the average-sized, hazel-eyed, light brown-haired boy in front of her. James grabbed Jason's hand and pulled him out of the doorway so that Mrs. Longbottom, her son, and her daughter, could come inside.
"Abigail! Delighted to see you again so soon! Oh, and I see that Waverly, Frank, and Shawn are here as well! James and his good friend are over here with Jason, come on in!"
"There's something I absolutely must discuss with the two of you!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed to her friends.
James and Rainy took this as a cue to usher the other children away into James' room. As this happened, Rainy overheard Mrs. Wood whisper to Mrs. Potter, "Really, Katherine. James is eleven years old! Are you sure you should be letting him date at that age?"
Watery eyes searched James' face for any sign of this being overheard, and found none whatsoever. Rainy never could understand why everyone made such a big deal about guys and girls being friends. It was beyond her.
Once in James' room, the guest children began talking.
"James, you never said you had a girl friend!"
"What was your name? Is that even a name?"
"."
"You've changed your room around."
Rainy stared at the Waverly girl. What a rude question! Coming from a family that was all politics, however, gave her discipline of when to speak and when not to. "I absolutely adore your robes, Waverly! That shade of red is really nice."
"I don't have a girl friend," stated James, as if stating the obvious. Frank gave him a skeptical look.
"Whatever you say, James."
"It's true. Oh, yeah, you're right Jason. Like my new Quidditch poster?"
Jason nodded quietly, not enjoying the attention that had been thrown at him.
It got suddenly very quiet in the average sized room. Waverly was sitting on the edge of the bed, dangling her feet off the edge, and swinging them around. Her younger brother copied this and their older brother leaned his back against the wall and took in his surroundings. Jason sat cross-legged on the floor and drew a pattern in the carpet with his finger. Rainy and James gave each other looks that quite plainly said: "HELP!"
Rainy was just beginning to realize that Waverly was what appeared to be purposely dropping bits of mud onto the carpet when Frank, the eldest of the Longbottoms, spoke up. "So, James, and, er, Rainy. you're starting Hogwarts this year?"
James nodded and Rainy decided to make a fair attempt at a real conversation. "Oh, yes, aren't you a second year now Frank?"
"Yes, I am. Waverly here is set to start this year, too. Perhaps the three of you will be in the same house."
Neither James, Rainy, nor Waverly looked very happy, let alone excited, about this idea.
He chuckled uncertainly. "Or maybe not."
This seemed to brighten the spirit a bit, as Waverly remembered she had a voice again. "I'm going to be in Gryffindor, so I don't know where you two will end up!"
This caused James to allow himself to be irritated and angry. "I think you're the one who's got it wrong, Waverly! I will most definitely be in Gryffindor, and if this messes up your plans than I guess you'll just have to get sorted into some other house!"
"No! I know you won't be in Gryffindor, because I will be! Just give it up!"
"Never!"
Rainy looked from her best friend and then to the brat sitting on the bed. At this point, you couldn't really tell them apart. "Blimey, there's enough room for all three of us in Gryffindor, so let's just calm down!"
Both Waverly and James looked at her, unfinished sentences trying to find their ways out of their mouths. Frank looked at the sapphire-eyed girl gratefully, Jason continued drawing on the carpet, and Shawn glared daggers at no one in particular.
"You're right Rainy," admitted James, breaking the silence. Waverly just did a silent 'hmph' before continuing to drop dirt onto the carpet.
Small talk between the six forced together children littered the room until Mrs. Potter and the other women witches came to their rescues with a knock at the closed door.
"Come in!" exclaimed James thankfully, and the look on everyone's face said that they felt the same way.
"It's dinner time," Mrs. Potter announced.
"Come on dears, let's go eat," Mrs. Longbottom ordered.
"Time to eat," Mrs. Wood told them.
Each child nodded their head silently and followed the mothers out of the room. Nobody really had anything to say. Most of the night went on the same way; uncomfortable silences with scattered forced fake conversations at some points. Until finally it was time to go; and even then, nobody really seemed to care.
Once everyone had left, not a word was spoken between Mrs. Potter and her son and honorary daughter; not about the previous dinner. "One more week," Mrs. Potter had told them, just in case they hadn't been counting the days.
"We know, Mum," James informed her as he and Rainy retreated to his room.
It was as if the whole evening had never happened. James was ashamed of the fake lifestyle his mother and he had. But he had no idea just how close this was to what Rainy had experienced all her life. It was better to just pretend that nothing had happened anyway. Wasn't it?
* * * * * *
Author's Note: So. what'd you think? Sorry that the ending is rather awkward. but the topic was making feel all dry and hot. Have you ever felt like a desert in Arizona? It's that sort of feeling, if you know what I mean. I promise to make things go a little faster, I'm sure we're all very eager to see Rainy and James actually go to school. And meet Sirius and Remus (both of whom we absolutely ADORE), and that other thing. aka Peter.
