It was starting to rain as James made his way down the hill to Hagrid's hut for Sunday tea. He was walking quickly in an effort to avoid catching a cold. He'd forgotten his cloak in his dorm, but was too lazy to go and get it, taking his chances against the brittle winds which were beginning to sting his face. Lost in thoughts of his own cold misery, James crashed into a figure making its way up the hill.

"Sorry!" James apologized, then realizing who he had bumped into, cleared his throat. "I mean, watch where you're going, jerk!"

Rebecca glared up at him, knocked down from the force of the collision, "Thanks, Potter. Now I'm covered in mud and cold! You really are extraordinary, you know that?"

The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Rebecca extended her hand to him, "Are you not going to offer to help me up?"

Without thinking, James reached down and hoisted her up. Rebecca looked surprised that he had helped her, but quickly regained her composure, looking away and brushing the dirt off of her skirt.

"What're you doing down here anyways?" James asked.

"Why do you care?" she snapped.

James blushed, "I don't care! Just forget I asked."

"I'm only teasing you," a slow smile spread across Rebecca's face. "I was actually down at Hagrid's."

"Huh?"

"The gamekeeper, Hagrid. He lives in that hut down there," she pointed to Hagrid's house, where a cozy looking curl of smoke was seeping out of the chimney.

"I know that," James sighed with exasperation, temporarily forgetting to act indifferent. "I was trying to ask what you were doing at Hagrid's."

Rebecca shrugged, "Just talking to him. He's got a lot of interesting stories about dragons and stuff. Had one as a pet, apparently."

"He couldn't have, that's illegal," James said.

"True, but that didn't stop Hagrid. You know, you're being unusually friendly today."

"No I'm not," James puffed out his chest in indgination.

"Yes you are. You helped me up and then didn't try to push me down the hill right after I was standing. What gives?" she asked.

"Believe it or not," he glared at her, "I'm not actually a terrible person."

"Could've fooled me," Rebecca snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James snapped.

"For Merlin's sake! I was only kidding! You've got to stop taking everything I say as a personal attack. I've got a life outside of upstaging and annoying you, you know."

"Really? I'd've thought you spent every waking moment thinking of new ways to torture me," James smirked.

Rebecca grinned, "I don't actually have to plan these things. They just happen. You make it so easy."

Despite his best efforts, James began to smile. Rebecca pointed in delight.

"That's the spirit!" she cheered.

James did his best to suppress his amusement, "Yeah, well, don't think this changes anything. I still don't like you."

"Oh, the feeling is mutual," Rebecca assured him. "I think you're kind of a prat. But I would appreciate it if you stopped directing all of your anger at me and started taking it out on the people actually causing your problems."

"I would, but that would mean fighting with my family. And that's never fun."

"Okay, now that was getting personal. And I don't care enough to get personal with you. I just want you to leave me alone. We are not friends."

"Alright then, I'll leave you alone," James said.

"Wonderful."

The two of them stood, staring blankly at each other. It was James who spoke first, "Is this the part where we hug and make up?"

Rebecca winced, "I'd rather not get any closer to you if you don't mind."

James let out a sigh of relief, "Well in that case, I'd better get to Hagrid's."

"Guess you'd better."

They continued to stand awkwardly until Rebecca clumsily maneuvered around James and started back up the hill again. "Later, Potter!" she called out. "I hate you!"

"I hate you too!" James shouted out, not even bothering to hide the amusement in his voice.

Turning away, he ran down the rest of the hill, skidding to a stop in front of Hagrid's door, which almost immediately swung open to reveal the half-giant smiling broadly at him.

James was immediately crushed by one of Hagrid's famously heavy hugs, and then welcomed inside. Hagrid's ancient dog, Fang, looked blearily up from his place by the fire. Hagrid eyed him worriedly.

"Is Fang alright, Hagrid?" James asked, hoisting himself up onto a chair.

"Er, well, he's a little off," Hagrid admitted. He looked over at the old dog sadly, "Fang's just not quite as young as he used to be. S'pose none of us are."

James thought he saw tears forming in Hagrid's eyes, and quietly patted his hand, "Fang will get better soon. He's probably just getting used to so many new people."

"Yeah, that's probably all there is," Hagrid still sounded unconvinced. "New people are always hard. Speaking of which, how are you liking Hogwarts? Hear you've got quite the crew assembled."

James looked down sheepishly, "I don't know about that."

Hagrid chuckled, "You're a Potter alright. Troublemakers, the whole lot of ya!"

"Yup," James said, "me and Dad, practically one and the same, right?"

It didn't take long for Hagrid to pick up the dejected tone in James' voice, "Now you're not really complaining about being compared to your dad, are ya? You could do worse, you know."

"It's not that," James said. "It's just that everyone's mad at me because of the whole house points thing. And it's worse because they already knew who I was to begin with."

"Well, your dad dealt with the same thing," Hagrid said consolingly. " Of course, he wasn't exactly a troublemaker like you," Hagrid grinned. "I mean sure, he was out of bed late and snuck around a lot. But he usually had saving the world in mind, or something like that. You're not exactly on a mission for the greater good."

"I still want to do good things!" James protested. "I just want also to play Quidditch and hang out with my friends."

"Of course, or course," Hagrid said. "I'm just saying that if anything, you're more James than Harry," Hagrid turned around and busied himself with the tea kettle.

"Well of course I'm James and my dad is Harry. We are two different people."

"Well sure," Hagrid agreed. "But what I was trying to say is that you're like your dad's dad. The first James Potter."

"You knew my grandfather?" James perked up. His dad hadn't told him much about his granddad. Just that he and his grandmother were very brave people who loved each other very much.

"Knew him!" Hagrid spun around, the tea kettle swinging wildly. "Your granddad and I worked together against You-Know-Who."

"Oh, you mean Voldemort?"

Hagrid inhaled deeply at the sound of the name, but shook his head and carried on. "Yup, worked under Albus Dumbledore. Greatest wizard who ever lived. Your brother's named after him."

James nodded knowledgeably. His dad actually had a portrait of Dumbledore in his home office. James wasn't allowed in there too often, so he'd only seen it a few times, but he remembered the startling grey hair and twinkling half-moon spectacles.

Hagrid sat, offering James tea. James took it gratefully, immediately regretting it the second he took a sip. It was bitter and scalding. He resisted the urge to spit it out and swallowed it with a grimace. Hagrid was too immersed in his own cup to notice.

"What was my granddad like?" James asked eagerly.

Hagrid laughed, "Oh, he was an arrogant prat, your granddad. At least until he was about sixteen. 'Course there was a war going on then. Does tend to make you mature a bit faster when people are dying in the streets. Anyways, after that he was just about the nicest guy you'd ever met. A real troublemaker though, him and that Sirius Black."

James choked on his tea again, but this time it had nothing to do with the foul taste, "Did you just say Black?"

"Yeah, Sirius Black, his best friend. Why?"

"Nothing," James looked down, "I've just been hearing that name recently."

Hagrid shrugged, "Not surprised. You get your middle name from him, after all. A real pair James and Sirius. Always coming up with something crazy, and getting away with it too. It was damn hard to catch them in the act. They had help from Lupin, of course. He probably made things easier for them."

"That's Teddy's real dad," James was surprised he recognized the name.

"Nice kid," Hagrid said absentmindedly. "Shame what happened to all of them. Anyways, the only thing your grandad loved more than his friends and Quidditch was your grandma. Lily Evans. She was absolutely brilliant. Had a heart of gold, she did."

Hagrids' eyes were beginning to mist over again. "You know I saw them that night," he choked out, beginning to get emotional. "And they were just the two nicest people. Can't believe it. All these years later and I just can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" James asked cautiously.

Hagrid's head jerked suddenly and his eyes cleared, "Say, how much exactly do you know about your grandfather?"

"Next to nothing," James said. "Dad doesn't tell me much."

"Well if your dad doesn't think it's right for you to know, then I don't either," Hagrid nodded firmly, closing the discussion.

"But-."

"There's no arguing about it. I'm not going against your dad's wishes. Let's talk about you instead. Saw you with Rebecca up the hill. I didn't know you two were friends."

James groaned, leaning over the table and resting his head on its hard wooden surface, "The last thing Rebecca Sims and I are is friends."

"Okay," Hagrid said, looking at James amusedly. "If you say so."