Chapter Five: First Glance
Again, thank you for all the reviews - negative and positive alike. I appreciate it.
And I'm really sorry but there was an error in the Sneak Peek of the last chapter. I accidentally typed "Harry", instead of "James". So sorry for being absent-minded.
James releases Jian's hands after a while and stands up as he notices the sun setting in front of them, blending with the ocean and giving it a red and orange glow.
"We better go," he says.
"You better go," Jian corrects him. "I'll stay here."
She then lies on her back and sighs.
"It's so beautiful out here," she mutters.
James shakes his head.
"I'm sure you see beautiful things every time you look in the mirror."
To her, it sounds like a joke so she laughs.
"Shut it," she says, rolling her eyes.
"Okay then. See ya." He waves his hand once before turning around.
It's not until later - when James is already a couple of meters away that Jian realizes that she is still lying on James's jacket. She immediately stands up and calls out to James. But James doesn't hear her, the sound of the waves crushing the shore is drowning out her voice.
But still, it's either James really can't hear her shouts, or he's just pretending not to hear.
"Who was it?" Albus asks James that night. James is hanging out at Albus's room.
"Who?" James says innocently. But the smile that automatically appeared on his face gave him away.
"Oh come on, you know who I mean."
"No, I don't."
"You know. The Beauxbatons girl? Dominique's friend?"
"Oh. That girl," James says, lying down on Albus's bed with his hands behind his head.
"Yeah."
"That was Jian."
"something in your look tells me you like her," Albus comments, taking out his set of Wizard's Chess from his drawer.
"What makes you so sure of that...assumption?"
"Well, you smiled when I asked you who she is, your voice went a little soft when you said her name, and let's not forget the fact that you left your favorite jacket with her."
"That's stupid, Al." He sat up, facing Albus and the chessboard. "I left it accidentally."
Albus rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, sure," he says in a disbelieving tone. "Pawn to D-5." The pawn obeys and moves forward.
"Where did you get this chessboard, anyway?"
"At the attic."
James looks at Albus.
"We have an attic?"
Albus nods.
"How come I don't know this?" James says, frowning.
"I don't know," Albus shrugs indifferently. "Perhaps you were too busy plotting a murder that you don't know what's going on in our house."
"What murder?"
"You know."
"No, I don't."
"Oh, come on. Remember when you made a plot to kill the mosquitoes lurking on your laundry basket because you can't sleep well during the night?"
James scowls at him.
"Okay, fine," Albus says. "The reason is because no one knew about the attic. Only Mum and Dad, I guess."
"How did you find out?"
"It's in the back of my cabinet."
"Interesting." James nods. "What's up there?"
Albus shrugs again.
"Aside from spider webs and dust, you mean? Well, there's a trunk that has who-knows-what inside."
James excitedly stands up.
"Let's find out what."
"Okay."
They push the cabinet aside to reveal a door, its color simply blending with the color painted on Albus's room. There is a round hole where the knob should have been. And the aroma coming from the hole smells of dust. Albus pushes the door open and James sneezes.
"Yeah," says Albus. "I sneezed a lot the first time I went here. But wait till we get to the attic."
The room they're in is very small - a storage of dust, it seems. The only thing there is a staircase. They go up the stairs and into the attic. James suddenly sneezes non-stop. It's so dark there and all James and Albus can see is pitch black.
"We probably should have brought our wands."
"You should've thought about that five minutes ago."
"Fine. I'll go and get mine."
After a few minutes, Albus is back with his wand. He performs the Lumos spell and a light issues from the wand's tip. The only thing there is a dusty brown trunk.
Answers.
James doesn't even know why but that word popped into his brain the moment he had seen the trunk.
"If that door downstairs was in the back of your cabinet," Albus is saying. "No one will ever find the attic. I even have trouble finding your bed."
"Boys!" They hear Ginny's subtle shout from the kitchen below. (The Potters' house has two stories - not counting the attic.) "Dinner's ready!"
"Wow," Albus mutters. "If that's not loud enough, I don't know what else is."
"BOYS!"
"Let's go."
James takes one last look at the trunk and follows Albus down the stairs.
The next morning, when Harry's already at the Ministry and Ginny is visiting some friends and teammates from the Holy Head Harpies, the Potters' doorbell rings and Lily opens it.
"Hi-hi!" she greets.
"Hi, erm..."
"I'm Lily."
"Hi, Lily. I'm Jian."
James's head snaps up as he hears Jian from his bedroom. He immediately runs to the door.
"Oh, you're Jian," Lily's saying. Then she lowers her voice. "I know you! James and Albus were talking about you last night. I eavesdrop on my brothers' conversation often."
Jian raises one eyebrow.
"Really?"
"No." It is James who answered, glaring at his sister. "Let me take it from here, Lily." He gently pushes Lily away. "'Bye."
Lily sticks her tongue at him and walks away.
"Sorry about that," James says.
"It's okay." Jian smiles, her cheeks dimpling again. "I, er, came to give this back to you." She holds out James's jacket.
James takes it.
"How did you know where I live?"
"Teddy came to visit Victoire, so I asked him where you live." Then she added, "To give back your jacket." She doesn't add that she wanted to see him again.
"Thanks. For the jacket." And for visiting.
She smiles and nods once.
"Oh, come in."
Jian enters the house and James tosses the jacket to the couch.
"It's pretty hot inside. Come here." He takes her hand and tows her along until they reach the Potters' backyard garden. Jian surveys the different kinds of flowers appreciatively.
"It's nice here," says Jian, smiling. And suddenly James feels a sudden urge to squeeze that very cute dimple with his thumb and index finger. But he didn't.
"It is," he says instead.
They sit on a single bench in the middle of the garden.
"Your sister's cute," Jian tells him.
James snorts.
"Yeah, right."
"It's true," Jian insists. "So she's - what? Nine years old?"
"Ten. Just last April."
"Right." Her eyes scans the whole garden. "Hey! you have white roses?"
She stands up and walks over to the roses.
"I love white roses," she murmurs longingly.
"Wait here." James runs to their small greenhouse and takes one of the freshly cut white roses. He gives it to Jian.
"You didn't have to do that," Jian says, blushing.
"Nah, it's okay." He shrugs.
"Thank you so much, James."
"You're welcome."
They sit back down on the bench and Jian smells it.
"Your Mum loves flower, doesn't she?"
"A bit."
"What are your parents like?" Jian asks curiously.
"Well, Mum is a little bit on the strict side - just a little bit. When she's not yelling at us, she's usually quiet, which is ironic. She loves Quidditch too - the whole family does. During their Hogwarts years, Uncle Charlie played Seeker; Uncle George and Uncle Fred - Beaters; Uncle Ron - Keeper, and Dad was a Seeker. Even Dad's father - the one I was named after - played as Chaser. Mum now plays Seeker and as a member of the Holy Head Harpies."
"Wow, that's awesome. So your Dad? What's he like? I mean, he's The Harry Potter, after all."
"The Harry Potter?" James is confused. "What do you mean?"
"Are you being modest?"
"About what? Jian - please. You have to tell me why Dad's famous. He's been very quiet and secretive about it."
Jian can't believe what she's hearing. Harry Potter never told the biggest achievement of his life to his own sons and daughter? Many people are always looking for stories to tell their children or grandchildren one day.
"Did you...erm...ask your Mum?"
"No."
"Don't you think -"
"That they should be the one to tell me? Yes, I wish it's them who'll tell me. But if I depend on that, i would never know the truth."
"But - "
"Please, Jian. Please."
Jian takes a breath and looks down at the rose she's holding.
"Okay. But -," she adds, seeing James triumphant grin. "I'll only tell you what I know. Whatever it is that made your Dad secretive is beyond my knowledge."
James nods.
"Fair enough."
Jian sighs.
"Okay. In the 1970s - wait, I think it was 1960s. Or 1950s. I'm not really sure."
"Anyway?"
"Right. There was this man who was called Voldemort or the Dark Lord. He was so powerful - more powerful than anyone I can think of. Many who fought against him died. And many feared him.
"Voldemort learned that there was a prophecy saying that someone had the power to 'vanquish' him. And that was your Dad. So he went after James and Lily Potter - and of course, your Dad. Someone betrayed the Potters, and Voldemort...er...murdered your grandparents. He performed the Killing Curse on your Dad but he didn't die. He just got that lightning scar. That's why he was called The Boy Who Lived. And then Voldemort vanished.
"When Voldemort regained his powers a couple of years later, a battle began at Hogwarts and many people got killed. They were all fighting for your Dad. Because they knew that Voldemort wanted him. Because he was The Chosen One.
"Finally, your Dad fought against Voldemort. Harry Potter won in the end and Voldemort died for good."
James releases the breath he doesn't know he's holding. He admits it was a hard time for his Dad but he should've moved on already, right? He should look back at it with ease now. Because that happened decades ago! What annoys James more is the fact that Harry has been keeping the greatest memory of his life from him, from Albus and Lily. Everyone - everyone! - knows his history. Except his kids.
"That's it. Er...are you alright?"
James nods.
I'm fine, of course."
Jian looks at her wristwatch.
"I have to go. Thank you for the rose." She smiles.
James smiles back.
"Thank you. For the information. And for visiting."
They walk to the front door.
"How will you...?"
Jian smiles and points to a Firebolt100 leaning on the wall. James raises an eyebrow.
"Actually, after I asked Teddy where you live, I invited Aimi and Dominique for a Broomsticks Day Out and I, erm, ditched them."
James grins.
"Well, I guess you better go. They must be searching for you at the moment."
"Right."
Before Jian turns to the broomstick, she faces James seriously.
"Listen, I know that you're sort of angry at your Dad right now," she says quietly. "But, please, don't hate him just because he wasn't the one who told you those things. Maybe his past really traumatized and hurt him especially the death of his loved ones."
"I'll try."
"And...I'll be leaving on Friday."
"Friday?" James repeats, frowning. "But that's two days from now."
Jian nods.
"Well, you didn't expect me to stay long, did you?" She gives an uncertain laugh. "I mean, I don't live here."
"Of course. I just..." He can't finish the sentence so he takes a deep breath.
"Bye, JP. And I hope to see you again," says Jian.
"You will... JP."
Jian smiles and mounts her broom.
I swear I didn't do it on purpose! I only just realized that they both had the same initials when I was writing this chapter.
And I can't think of any modern broomstick brand so I wrote Firebolt100.
Remember, that was only HALF of the truth.
The attic and Ginny's diary is coming on the next chapter.
And please review.
Thanks.