Author's Notes: Blargensnitchel. My first update did not have any updates. I'll have to update this once I'm done with this chapter. Since you didn't find out anything in the last chapter, I will post it all now. ahem
One Step At a Time is a new story I created. It will deal with the first year of James and all his friends, enemies, and love affairs. It will be a seven, maybe eight parts long, story following them through Hogwarts, and then maybe after until James and Lily die. So yeah, it'll be long. I'll try to update once a week, but these first few weeks will be a little slow.
As for the Quidditch World Cup mentioned, I'm going with what JKR said in the Goblet of Fire. She has inconsistancies with dates, but she says it's every four years, but that would make the Cup in '93 and '97. Since she had it in '94, however, that would mean there would be one right before he went to school, and right before our little Marauders went to school.
Disclaimer: I don't own it, never will. Deal with it.
One Step At a Time
Half a box of Chudley Cannons Crunch Cereal ('Crazy Crunch for Crazy Kids') later, James led Frank up the stairs, "Wanna see the cloak?" James asked, knowing fully well that his best friend did. He might as well have asked if he liked the Quidditch World Cup they saw just the week before. They still liked to talk about the four day game.
And the black eye Frank recieved, coming back from the loo, when he got in the middle of a fight between two grown men.
"Yeah!" Frank said enthusiastically. James grinned as he whipped out the cloak. He nearly cried with joy when his father presented him with the cloak. It seemed that Frank was the same way. James was just waiting for tears to come out of his little eyes.
"Want to see if it works?" asked James, "We could see what Alex is up to..."
Frank pulled a face, "Not really. Last time we snuck into her room, we were forced to play with her dolls and...never mind." finished Frank, lamely, his eyes going unusually wide.
However, James remembered, "And she made the little Alex doll and the little Frankie doll make little kissy noises as she banged their heads together."
"Oh, shut up," Frank said, looking like he wished he could forget the thought. It was common knowledge that James' little sister was infaturated with Frank, "Fine, let's go see what she's up to."
The thought of taking the mickey out on Frank was gone, "Great!" James threw the cloak over the two of them, and when he was sure that they could not be seen, they snuck quietly out of his room. The tricky part was the stairs. Once, Frank, who was in front, slipped, and for a moment, his feet were visibly seen. Then they tried to walk even slower. It took what seemed like ten minutes just for them to get to the floor below.
Luckily for the two boys, Alex had her door open. It appeared that she had the Wizard's Wireless turned on and a low booming voice James knew as Maxie, the other boy his pesky sister dreamed about, was singing about love and how beautiful the woman of his fancy was and oh, her eyes. The very thought made James roll his eyes. As his little sister picked up her hairbrush, James watched her sing the bridge of the song.
Oh, certainly, baby
Magic is in the air
I see it in your lips,
Your eyes, and your hair.
James elbowed Frank and whispered very quitely and close to his ear, "Let's mess with her. I'll sing a bit from over here, then we'll move to the other side of the room and you can sing." Frank nodded curtly. James waited for the sound of the boy's voice to start again and started singing along, quitely at first, then slowly growing louder:
So, baby, here I am
Tell me where I stand
Are you mine forever?
Will you let me be your-
Abruptly, James stopped singing. Alex had just looked over at him curiously, then away. She tried to whistle and began brushing her long, straight black hair. The strokes were short, quite apparent to seem real, as if nothing odd had happened. Though he did not wish to admit it, it was quite shocking how much the two looked alike. Both had pale skin, contrasting with their hair. Her eyes, however, were brown, whereas he had hazel eyes. They were also both quite short for their age and looked much younger than their age.
After a few minutes, when the only sound that could be heard was Maxie ending his song. For a moment, James panicked. What if neither knew the next song? Their whole plan would be ruined. However, James would not dwell on that fact too long. They would just find another way to create chaos.
Frank hit James very lightly on his forearm to get his attention. He pointed to his left leg and raised it five inches above ground. James did likewise, then very slowly, they put that foot down. Then they lifted their right legs togethe, putting them down slightly faster. As they walked towards the other side of the room, they increased speed as they went. James put out his arm to stop Frank. They paused and then smiled at each other. The song that followed Maxie's stupid love song was one of a more upbeat tune. James didn't know it, but apparently Frank did, he was tapping his foot slightly on the carpeted floor. James, himself, jumped when hearing his best friend's voice.
I tore the picture off the wall
Banished it from the place on the hall
No more father, no more mother
Swore I had no more brother.
Now I'm free from the world!
Leaving behind work hurled
At me
Threw a Glamour charm on
Forget the boy named Don
It's not me!
Not me!
Unfortunately, by this point, Frank was so into the song, he shouted along with it. There was no way Alex could not have heard him. Indeed, she did. She threw her hairbrush down and turned around so she could face them. However, she was about six inches to the left, "JAMES DANIEL POTTER!" It showed how truly angry she was at him. It was a common joke around the Potter family to call James "James Allison Potter". It had started when James' mother was about eight and a half months pregnant with him. She had chosen James if it was a boy and Allison if it was a girl. She had written both names on a sheet of parchment she kept with her at all time. When she went into labour, the parchment was still with her, and the Healer found it. She had assumed she wanted to name her son James Allison, and wrote that on the document of his birth. Fortunately, James' father noticed and fixed it quickly. It was still a popular joke, however.
"Where are you at!" Alex shouted still, "I know you're under that stupid cloak! Show yourself now!" James tapped Frank and made a motion towards the door. The pair quietly, but quickly, ran toward the door and flung themselves outside her room, "I'm telling Mum!" Alex ran after them, not knowing they were ahead of her. Unluckily for the boys, they had to run faster than Alex, who was right on their heels, and still keep the cloak on them.
Somehow, they managed to get into the living room at the time Alex found her mother in the kitchen, "MUM!" They could hear her screams. Frank took a deep gulp of breath, then noticed they still were under the cloak. He whipped it off them and James threw it under their couch.
James' mother walked into the living room not two minutes later, "Boys, Alex seems to think you were in her room, laughing at her. Were you?"
Lifting a hand to his heart, James gave his mother an innocent look, "Us? How on earth could we be in here if we were up there? And, to get into here from her room, we would have to walk through the kitchen. Did you see us go through the kitchen, Mum?"
"Why, no, dear." His mother answered, looking thoughtful as though she was trying to remember.
James smiled, "Well, there you go. We could not have been up there. I think Alex is just trying to get me grounded so I can't go to go school." He turned to his sister, who was trailing his mother, "Is widdle Alex gonna miss her big bwother? Awww."
James' mother gave a little gasp and turned around to face her youngest child, "Oh, Alex, darling, I never thought about how hard this would be for you!"
When Alex looked again at James, he grinned at her and waved.
"Well, Mum, I better check to make sure I have everything. And Alex, if you start to miss you, you are very welcome in my room." He and Frank stood up and ran up the stairs to his room.
Safely back inside his room, the two boys looked at each and started to laugh. After a few moments, Frank's laughter died immediately, "James? What about the cloak?"
James shrugged, "We'll get it before we leave. But not now, Alex will kill us."
The boys stayed in the attic for a little over an hour, talking about what Hogwarts would be like. Finally, they decided they could risk getting it. Luckily for them, no one was downstairs and they were back in the attic in a flash.
Only ten minutes later, James' father came knocking on their door, "Are you boys ready? The Ministry cars are parked outside so we can leave now." James shouted they would be down in a minute. He heard footsteps leading downstairs, then they got louder again, "Frank! Your Mum's downstairs with your trunk and says if you're not downstairs in five minutes, she's sticking you to a wall."
The situation would have been funny if Frank's mother hadn't actually stuck him to a wall before.
Therefore, the boys were downstairs in two minutes and ten seconds. It was no easy task dragging a full trunk down two flights of steps, but they managed together.
When they were finally in the two cars the Ministry kindly provided (The Potters' owned a four seat car that was mostly for show for the muggles. It was always in the garage that came with the house. The Longbottoms' just pretended to own a car.), they sped along the road. James barely took notice of how the cars seemed to dodge traffic. He had more important things to think about.
Such as, why his snitch pancakes seemed to be fluttering around in his stomach.
If only they would stay down!
The two cars arrived at the platform in record time. The Ministry workers, two drivers sent to take them to King's Cross Station where they were to also find them trolleys and take their luggage to the platform. Behind him, James heard a small sniffle.
James felt very sick. He knew quite well that if he just walked through the wall, he would be on the hidden platform itself. At the moment, though, the wall looked quite solid. His father clasped a hand on his shoulder and suddenly the tradition of the Potters came back to him. All firstborn Potters were taken through the platform by their father. Time seemed to go too fast for comprehension. He vaguely felt his father gently guide him towards the wall. James looked up at his father in time to see a very obvious look that seemed to tell him to lean against the platform. He did so, copying his father, and a moment later, he fell through the wall.
All his fear was forgotten when James looked at the scarlet steam engine. He was really going to Hogwarts. He couldn't help but grin at the thought. Then the moment ended and James took notice to all the noise of the students and animals and trolleys and everything else. His mother and sister came a minute after; the former pushing his trolley. James had completely forgotten about it. He took the trolley away from her, grinning sheepishly.
Frank and his mother came after shortly. James felt a wave of guilt, thinking how he got to have his father accompany him, but Frank could not. Frank's father died in murder. Someone, the man was never caught, bewitched his clothes to strangle him. He died in the basement and was not found for another two hours.
However, Frank did not seem to be thinking of this as he pushed his trolley quickly to catch up to James, "You ready?" James was about to respond with a nod, but someone behind him was sobbing and another one was sniffing. He turned around to see his mother trying her hardest not to cry and, surprisingly, his sister was shedding a few tears, too. Frank noticed and nodded, while he walked over to his mother to talk to her.
"Mum? I'll be back soon. Please don't cry." She said nothing in response, but quickly latched herself onto him in the form of a hug. He hugged her back, then pulled away. James didn't bother to look around to see if anyone was looking as he kissed her on the cheek. Then he turned to his sister, "Alex..." He didn't know what to say. He doubted his sister would even miss him, but here she was, crying.
Maybe, thought James, she's upset about Frank leaving. But no, her eyes were staring at her old brother. James gave her a silly grin and hugged her, "Take care of Mum." He ruffled her hair. She sniffed, but seemed to be smiling. To get him back, Alex messed up James' hair, not that you could do much worse than it was.
James looked over at Frank and saw he was finished with his goodbyes, "Well," James said, looking at his father, mother, sister, and Frank's mother, all in turn, "I suppose we should board the train. We'll see you at Christmas!"
The boys boarded the train together. They searched for an empty compartment, and finally found one near the middle. They had only put their luggage down when the door opened again.
Author's Notes: Tee hee, I left a little cliffie. Anyone want to guess who entered their compartment?
I'm going to start something where I actually answer people's reviews! gasp
Esperanza Fuega - You're my first reviewer! Um...not much to say here, since I told you everything in an email. :P
Miss Piratess - I don't think I ever read anyone making James and Frank friends, but I want to make this realistic. I just can't see MWPP all meeting up in one compartment and saying, "Woo hoo! Let's all be friends!" Especially with Sirius being in his family. (Hint, that's a clue for what's coming up in the next chapter!)
Jayde Green - Yeah, I am cruel to James. It'll get better for him. He'll be on bended knee thanking me. But...maybe not for a while...I love the snitch pancakes! I don't know where the idea came to me from, but I just thought it fit so well. As for the Marauders becoming friends, you'll see. If you want a clue, think about it. Have you ever had a best friend, but then later, you meet someone who you're better with? That's about as much as I can say. As for the rope thing, I think I stole it from Baby-Sitter's Club, but it's been so long, I can't remember. Speaking of which, I saw a TV show where that exact thing happened after I wrote it! ...Or maybe I dreamt it. I truly cannot remember.
Thank you all for your reviews! The more reviews I get, the faster I update! Just a hint. However, a warning, eight days until my school puts on Seussical. I must eat, breathe, and sleep it, so don't be surprised if you don't get an update for about a week and a half.