The doors of James' bedroom creaked open so softly, if the house hadn't been ancient, would have been silent. James lay awake but unmoving. Light had only just begun pouring through the deep red curtains.
"James, dear" James' mother - a thin woman with soft brown hair that shined a mahogany colour against all the red hues of the boy's bedroom.
James finally put the effort needed to sit up forth to look up at his mother.
"your father is making breakfast. We would like to leave for the shops by nine" James three his hand over to his nightstand and patted blindly until his hand grazed the cool metal of his glasses and slipped them on. The room quickly became more clear. Euphemia was still standing in the doorway in what was a very nice sleeping gown - if it had not been for its age.
On realization of the mention of Diagon Alley, James sprung from his sheets with a buzz of excitement.
"I see you're awake now then" Euphemia laughed heartily before swiftly exiting as she knew James would follow suit.
"I've spoken to Agnes. She says it is better Peter goes with you two today" This was far from abnormal. Agnes - Peter's mother was older than Eupehmia, who James didn't think was very young either. But Peter's mum seemed wispy and it was hard to hold a conversation with her. Peter's father hadn't been around since James could remember. The two boys had been friends since early childhood and grew closer with Euphemia beginning to at home teach Peter as well as her own son.
James burst through the kitchen to see his father was just placing plates down on the four person table.
"slow down there, my boy. Diagon Alley is not going anywhere" James grinned before taking his unspoken assigned seat closest to the family room, both parents doing the same.
"Peter was telling me that there's a monster hidden somewhere at Hogwarts" James said while placing the slices of sausage to his mouth.
"hogwash, honey and do not speak with food in your mouth" she said waving her hand in front of her face as if to show just how unlikely the rumor was.
"oh come on then, Mia..don't be a spoilsport. Say, i heard it was placed by Salazar Slytherin himself" Filmont grinned, showing a smile James knew well as it matched his perfectly.
"Who told you that then? Alizon?" James' mother smirked and his father let out a full laugh. James smiled too, knowing well that Alizon Moody was a retired healer known by the wizard community for being barking mad.
"quite right but nevertheless. she has been correct before" James frowned then. seeing the shared look between both his parents. He hates that. Secrets. Everyone's and everything's truth comes out at some point and hiding it for too long only causes hurt. The Potters wanted to keep James' childhood pure and happy. Years from now, he would be grateful for this but today James just looked down and ate quietly before running through the large entryway of the house and up the burgundy carpeted staircase up to his bedroom to change into proper clothes.
It was late summer and he would be leaving for Hogwarts in a few weeks. James was ecstatic. Going to Hogwarts was talked about as the most exciting time for a witch or wizard. Stories and secrets spread vast and wild about the goings on of the castle end students. James was most excited to meet other witches and wizards in his age range. Of course he had Peter. But James had always been explorative and staying in every day to play gobstones or chess was getting old and Peter was far too afraid to do something as thrilling as fly around the backyard on James' father's old brooms. He knew other wizard families had children in his age range. The Prewwett twins were starting their third year and the Longbottom's had a son his age somewhere in Leeds. But the majority of the famous students at Hogwarts were gaining notoriety for reasons James couldn't possibly understand. The Malfoy's, Avery's, Carrow's had students in carrying years and of course, the Black family seemed to take up half the student population. In other words, he was happy to have Peter.
He was so distracted he barely noticed he was fully dressed now and was looking at his forever untidy mop of hair in an ancient looking gold mirror.
When James finally swung his bedroom door open and began hurrying down the stairs he halted s himself quickly upon seeing a woman he only vaguely recognized speaking to his mother. James acted on instinct and hid himself so the women downstairs couldn't see but James was able to easily hear what was being spoken of.
"i have no more information than i have given you. If i did, you would surely be the first i would tell" the unknown woman said. She was Scottish and wore elegant silver robes. Her hair was tied back in a way that made her arched brows end emerald eyes look severe.
"Dumbledore states we are at war and nothing then?" Euphemia said exasperatedly before dropping down into the breakfast table chair she had been at only an hour ago.
"rest assured that Dumbledore is doing everything he can to help as many as he can but these are trying times and it appears that thing may get worse before better" The other woman took a seat next to James' mother while setting down the stack up papers she had been holding to rest a reassuring hand on top of the older woman's.
"It's from the Riddle boy, correct?" the look in James' mothers eyes was on he hadn't seen before, especially toward him - Hatred. The lack of reply seemed to only answer the question "we attended school with him. Nasty boy. Always befriending the most vile blood supricist's and picking on any student who wasn't of their like"
"Yes, I believe he was gone before I was old enough to know better," the woman seemed to decide it was time to leave as she stood up and flattened herself. "Euphemia, I do apologize but I had better be off. the headmaster needs me to attend to last of the muggleborn students who need teaching to get into Diagon Alley"
"Yes of course" The other woman said, shooting out of her seat as well before migrating into the sitting room where the fireplace was located. James realized too late that he would no longer be out of sight and soft brown eyes met the likes of their twin but with a thunderous look behind them. "James-"
"I didn't hear anything" James blurted on instinct in order to protect himself but felt the guilt immediately begin to burn his insides. "not much anyway"
"James Potter. i look forward to seeing you in September'' the woman said, from here he could see much more of her. He was quite right. She looked very strict indeed, her slim rectangle spectacles hung low on her nose and gave off an air of disappointment.
"James we will talk about this later. Minerva, I will owl you soon. Please if any more information comes to light, don't be afraid to make a house visit" the woman called Minerva nodded shortly before apparaitingbout of the house with a snapping pop. The room became tense and James waited for his mother to react.
"i need a lie down. you go find you father, it's nearly time for you to leave. Peter should be here any moment now." James' jaw dropped stupidly before he smacked it shut and scurried to find his dad.
"hey there, sonny. i was just coming to get you" His father smiled as James entered the back garden.
"Mum said she wants a lie in and to go about without her" The look on the older man's face unsettled James even further but his father must have noticed as he readily sets his features into a full smile and commented about a men's day.
Peter arrived within a few minutes, giddy and rose cheeked. "Mum's never given me this much money!"
"yeah well the lot of stuff we need is so long" James grinned back, pulling out the copy of his Hogwarts letter he had kept on him for a month since its arrival, skimming the list again for no reason as the items had been memorized by him weeks ago.
"Rubbish we can't have brooms, yeah? i'd even take on from second hand brooms" James laughed while folding the paper bac up and into his robe inner pocket. He saw Peter's cheeks pinken before he nodded. James bit his lip to stop the frown that was forming. He knew Peter wasn't quite as well off as he was and that if he ever wanted a broom, which seemed unlikely upon second thought, it would likely come from the second hand shop. Unable to understand how to react, he swiftly changed the subject. "I got a cousin who works in Amanuensis Quills next to the robe shop. I haven't seen him in ages." Peter's face relaxed and the conversation returned to normal with the two boys talking about various shops they wanted to visit.
"dad do you think i could get an owl?" James asked after they had stepped out of the fireplace in the dingey leaky cauldron.
"Well your mother would say you are too young" James' face fell at once and he swore he saw Peter's lip twitch upward. "but she's not here so i say let's do it" the two Potters grinned before stalking over to the entrance brick wall with Peter close behind.
James picked a beautiful brown owl with patches of light around its eyes, giving her a kind appearance to counteract her large and intimidating size.
"got a name there?" the manager, a raspy voiced man with a burly exterior asked while eyeing the bird softly hooting on James' shoulder. James flushed. He knew how he looked. The giant bird on his shoulder making him look small and meek. He frowned before puffing his chest and saying the first name that came to his head - that being Angela. The man visibly smiled at James and he felt the anger diminish just a little.
As they left the owl emporium, James agreed to let Peter pick where they went next which seemed to brighten the other boy quite a bit. Unsurprisingly, Peter picked the ice cream shop. James had known he would do this and would have picked there himself if Peter hahn't.
"Alright boys, we can stop in but we have to actually clear this list at some point today" Fleamont said but chuckled nonetheless.
"Monty Potter?!" a cheery woman behind the counter smiled greatly. "Merlin, look at you"
"Cassandra, how are you?" James couldn't help but smile at the woman. The cheer and kindness that seemed to emanate off of her was infectious.
"oh, only my mum calls me Cassandra, Cassie and you know it, love" Jane sooome sto his father and saw him blush crimson red, something he had never seen before.
"tell me this isn't your son here. you know, boy. you look a carbon copy to your pops here. Now what can i get you boys?" This was a reaction he got frequently. Potter boys always had the same unruly dark hair and piss poor vision but Merlin, he was getting sick of hearing it.
After sweets had been eaten, James' dad took it upon himself to insist they do something productive and they headed off to Flourish & Blotts to collect the needed books. The shop was decke sun neutral browns and dusty golds with books piled to the ceilings all around. While there Peter and James looked at as many books as interested them, Peter taking an interest in a book on "The casting of Dark curses : jinxes & hexes for the advanced." James felt immediately uncomfortable even looking at the book
"Peter that's dark magic stuff." James frowned. why would you need that if you aren't an auror? what would you need to hurt people for?
"not really. it's in the shop is it not?" Peter snapped his head away mumbling.
"so?" James crossed his arms. There were rules about what magic was good and bad and he didn't care to listen to this.
"Never mind," Peter said, picking up an older addition of "fantastic beasts and where to find them" and began obviously pretending to read.
After paying and exiting the shop, James began begging to go to the joke shop but his father was adamant they had much to do and would try to stop by on their way home.
They soon went to buy their robes and the boys were being helped back and forth by the same woman when a girl with waist length ash hair walked through the door. She had rosie cheeks and a winning smile.
"Miss, I am already helping two, I can attend to you in just a moment. Hogwarts?" the woman barley gave the young girl a second look while briskly walking around Peter, pulling a measuring stick down his right arm.
"Yes" she smiled. She looked very kind and was looking strangely at James.
"Hi!" James choked out. Stupid. Act cool. "I'm Hogwarts too, So's Peter. I'm James. You?" Not much better but at least he spoke, Hame a thought.
"Yeah! I'm Marlene. My mum went to the beauty shop but she told me i'm too get my robes" she didn't seem bothered at all. James nodded, racking his brian to think of something to ask when she beat him to it.
"what house do you want? or are you muggleborn? My dad is you know so it's okay if you are. but I'd like Gryffindor or Hufflepuff maybe. i don't know. My sister Gwen, she's a Hufflepuff and it might be nice to be with her but i just don't know" she said shaking her head before looking out the windows.
"Oh well I want Gryffindor or Slytherin" Peter nodded. "something powerful and great. those two are the greatest" James whipped his head to look at Peter. They hadn't much talked about what houses they wanted but he hadn't imagined Peter would want to be placed in Slytherin! everyone knew they had a reputation.
"Peter they're evil" James crossed his arms but the witch measuring him now quickly uncrossed them. "you want people thinking you're evil?" Peter ducked his head and nodded.
"yeah that's true….i don't know then, You want Gryffindor then of course" James smiled fully, forgetting his anger. James' whole family was Gryffindor and had been for centuries. He loved that and wanted badly to be one of those people. But the witch before then interrupted saying she would find robes that fit them in the back before disappearing.
The last location after buying Peter a road named Jadis, getting their cauldrons, stopping to pick up tea for James' mother, all that was left was Ollivanders.
The shop was crowded and dark with dust and wood scents filling your nose the minute you entered. The shop owner was an elderly man with wild, white hair and even wilder eyes.
"Hornbeam, 11 inches, unicorn tail, Mr. Potter" the man said upon entrance. Jane s looked to his dad who nodded and pulled his wand out of his robes while greeting the man called Ollivander.
"ahhhh and good condition since the 45 years i sold it" Olivander examined it before placing his eyes on james and Peter. "I suppose you two need wands" James nodded and when he looked over to Peter noticed his friend was frozen with fear.
"scared, boy? what's your name?" Ollivander stepped toward Peter, who stuttered his name out. Ollivander woodshed around and began gathering boxes.
"Birch, 11 . give it a go" Peter took it and nothing happened. the wand was snatched away quickly and replaced with a wand James knew to be hornbeam like his fathers which produced a single spark but nothing more. This went on for almost 30 more wands before Peter finally managed to levitate a pile of wands, recognize them and set them down.
"Quite right! Cherrywood, 11 , dragon heartstring." Ollivander was looking at him quizzically. James just watched. "A sought after wood in many parts of the world….yes yes you will do many things in the world with this wand. Contains lethal power in here." his eyes were wide and his distance to Peter was narrow. "your path is unclear and so are you. Your power is overlooked by many but great." Ollivander snapped back and slipped the wand into the box before handing it back to Peter. James swallowed hard, not realizing he had been holding his breath. "And the Potter boy. What's your name?"
"James" While still keeping his air of confidence, he could feel his palms sweating.
"let me see here then, Mr. Potter" the process repeated almost exactly with James trying two Bitch wands, a holly and a yee before begin handed a light colored wand that upon touching it began to surge with an unknown energy that didn't cause fear or shock but something like two wires being connected to turn on the most exquisite electrical current. Without thinking James flicked the wand and many things happened at once. The jars that held hundreds of galleons and Sickles were spitting the coins out and having them rain down as pieces of what looked like fizzing whizbees, when He finally realized what he was doing he stopped it without realizing how. Ollivander cleared the mess and transfigured the sweets back ina. a few swoops before smiling back at James.
"Ash wood, 10 inches, Phoenix feather. a protector. You have a healing nature and not lightly swayed from your beliefs or purposes, Your destiny is much more clear. Your life will be spent a guardian of the human spirit" James took in the information swiftly. it was all true he believed, if not exactly cool sounding like Peter's greatness. Ollivander snatched the wand back and handed it back. Galleons wet exchanged and the Potters and Peter left.