Woohoo! Another chapter! I'd like to thank a lot to my new beta mellyone. This chapter tells about the first week of Hogwarts so there isn't any plot development yet just hints. But there will be soon. I added humor for a change. But if it's not funny blame it on "FRIENDS" (I started watching it on my computer). Please read and review. It will mean a lot to me. :)
Chapter Five: The First Week
One week passed before Remus came back. James was sitting by himself in the common room when he came. He walked past James without recognizing him and shut himself in his room. When James came to check on him he only received an "I'm not in the mood!" answer from him.
Spending the first week of what would be the best seven years of his life between Sirius and Lily had been very scary for James. Sure he understood that Remus had to go to his sick mother or wherever he had gone but couldn't he have just delayed the trip for a day or two?
Sirius, James hated to admit, had been fun. Even if they weren't friends and still insulted one another they had a great time. James discovered that Sirius liked to prank people. While it was bad news for the possible victims, James had to admit it was fun for the others. Especially when Sirius charmed Evans's hair to get into her face every time she was talking. She needed a whole day to realize something was wrong and another day to wait for Madame Pomfrey (the school nurse) to figure out the counter-curse. James didn't want to know where Sirius knew all that stuff from.
Peter had been absolutely dull and obsessive. Every time James talked to him he only received answers like yes, no, I don't give a damn and some that James didn't want to remember, and when Sirius came he started talking non-stop about things like toilets (How do they work actually? Did muggles take the idea from us? Is there really a crocodile at the end?), ignoring James completely. Once he heard Peter complaining to Sirius at dinner (James sat detached to them by four people) that James doesn't leave him alone and that they shouldn't even talk to him. James made a promise to himself to never trust him.
The only friend James had this week was Lily. Even though she still was a pain, she had been kind enough to talk to James from time to time when she saw him sitting by himself. They talked about anything, once the subject of family even came up. He had just finished lunch and didn't have anymore classes until Monday so he was walking with Lily towards the common room.
"Hey um…so what is it like to live with muggles?" James asked awkwardly.
"Why do you ask?" Lily replied.
"It's just out of curiosity. I always wanted to have their life, to not be able to do magic, not that I brag or anything." James learned that if he wanted to be friends with Lily, he would have to be very careful of what he said.
"Well, there's nothing special about my family. My mom is a lawyer. She wins a lot of money. I think she supports us more than my dad does." Lily replied.
"And what does your dad do?"
"Will you let me finish?" Lily asked frustrated. "As I was saying, my mom is a lawyer. It's something like, well if, let's say a man was accused of killing a woman but he actually didn't my mom would ask him questions to decide if he did indeed killed her or if he was just in the wrong place."
"Yeah, I know what a lawyer is. We had them too before the truth potion was made."
"Yes and?" She was beginning to look angry.
"And I didn't know that's what they were doing there. I always thought they were family members comforting the guy." He said grinning.
She eyed him for a moment. "Anyway," James exhaled loudly as she continued, "My dad is a taxi driver. It's like a train driver but with cars. And he gets paid for driving people to their work."
"It must be fascinating to meet so many people."
"He hates it."
"Oh."
"He wanted to be an architect. That's a man who makes a lot of drawings of houses and gets paid a lot. But he couldn't find any job offers so he had to do this job for a while."
"Cool!"
"Anyway my sister,"
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah, don't interrupt me."
James had to retain himself from groaning.
"My sister is still at school. Muggles have to go to some places to learn different things about their future jobs. Some grown-ups teach them about different subjects. And they have different subjects too. Like somebody tells them about numbers and somebody about history. It's really nice."
"Yes, I really wonder what that is like." James said sarcastically looking around the hall.
"Well, it's interesting." She said not paying attention to anything around her. "What about your parents?" She asked.
"Eh?"
"How is living with wizards like? Do you get to blow up stuff in the house a lot?"
"Well, I'm not allowed to but accidents happen."
"Where do they work?" She asked.
"They don't. They're retired. My mom is ninety years old and my dad is one hundred."
"And you are eleven." She said.
"I was their miracle child. For some reason they couldn't have a baby until they were retired. Then when they tried, they found out some things aren't working right if you know what I mean." James sniggered while
Lily just glared at him.
"Anyway, after ten years of trying my mom finally got pregnant. Nine months later she went to the hospital and got me blown."
Lily erupted into giggles after hearing what James said.
"She what?" She barely managed to ask without laughing.
"She had me blown. Why?"
Again more laughter was heard.
"She blew you up?" She asked holding her stomach.
"Well, yes! She went to the hospital and the healers made a simple birthing charm. The whole procedure is called blowing. That's because the mother has to blow air into a basket so the baby could find his place when teleported from the uterus.
Lily stopped laughing "They don't cut the skin of the mother?"
"Why would they do that?" James asked.
"Muggles do it!"
"Muggles are weird!" James decided, but regretted saying it when he saw Lily's face.
"Not as weird as two people giving birth when they're eighty." She retorted.
"What if they did? Wizards have a longer life than most muggles. Dumbledore is like a hundred and fifty but you don't see him dieing anytime soon. I think it's because of the magic we have."
"Wizards have it all!" She said frustrated.
"Hey! Before we had this life was pretty hard. Most of our charms are new but back in the Middle Ages we had it rough."
"What job did you say your parents had?" She asked again.
"I…I didn't." James was taken aback by the sudden change of subject.
"Well, say it now!"
"I…I can't they'll kill you."
There was a long pause before Lily started to laugh. "No seriously what job?"
"Um…they were ministry people."
"Really? I'm interested in ministry jobs. Did they work in muggle wing or wizard?"
"Um…my mom was in International Magical Cooperation and my dad um….Accidental Magic Reversal."
"That's so cool!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah," He said relieved. "I know."
"How do you get along with them?" She asked.
"Nicely, you know how children always wish that their grandparents were actually their parents because they always treat them much better?" James asked.
"Yeah." She said
"Well, I actually have that. They always spoil me and I always have a say in their decisions."
"Doesn't it get boring to have everything?" She asked.
"I'm not that spoiled. Anyway my town knows me as well as the whole ministry. My parents were great people so they are loved and appreciated a lot. I also learn a lot of things." He said winking to her.
"Like what?"
This only caused James to grin "Flagrate!"
His wand turned to a dark shade of red. James made a swishing move with it and a fire circle appeared. Then James made a beautiful horse in the air but it vanished several moments after he completed it. He turned to Lily to see her in shock.
"ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT IF THAT WAND TOUCHED ME? WHAT IF I DIED? MY PARENTS WOULD BE LEFT WITHOUT A DAUGHTER!"
She then stormed off leaving a perplexed James staring into space.
"Great job Potter. You really wooed her there." Sirius said turning from around the corner with Peter besides him.
"Yeah, if you keep this up you'll get the mudblood in only thirty years." Peter replied laughing at his own joke.
"I don't remember inviting you here. Don't you have to kiss Slughorn's ass or something?" James replied back
"Why do you care if we kiss ass or not?" Peter asked triumphantly.
"Great job Pete. Now you cornered him!" Sirius whispered mockingly to Peter then turned to James. "Potter if you have troubles with the ladies why don't you come to me for help? Your chances would increase a lot."
"Chances of what, exactly? Making a fool of myself? No thanks! And, if you must know, Evans isn't my interest. She's just a friend!"
"Wow! A friend and a lunatic! You hit the jackpot with the mudblood Potter." Sirius laughed walking past him to the common room.
"Hey Black!" James called.
"Yeah?"
"You can insult me as much as you want but if you call Lily a mudblood one more time the next time you wake up it will be in St. Mungo's."
Sirius studied James for a moment "Don't tell me what to do!" He said turning his back to him.
"Yeah, he can do whatever he wants!" Peter said.
"Pettigrew I don't remember asking you anything. You can run off now to your buddy." James said.
"I will do whatever I want!" Peter yelled running to catch up with Sirius.
James, left alone in the hall, sighed and looked behind him to see if anyone else was coming. No one was.
James was still thinking of the memory of what happened two days ago when Remus opened the door to let him in half an hour later. Remus muttered an apology to James for letting him wait but didn't say anything else.
"How is your mom?" James asked.
"Better. She was really sick! I think its cancer but she didn't give me many details." Remus said.
James was shocked. He didn't think his mom had anything at all but he knew Remus, or thought he knew, and he wouldn't lie about his mom having cancer unless it was serious.
"Wow! I'm sorry."
"Hm? Why?" Remus asked confused.
"Well, at first I didn't believe you! I thought you were hiding some big secret or something." Remus paled. "But wow cancer is a serious thing. Mate I'm so sorry I doubted you. I hope you forgive me." James said.
"Ok. Sure I forgive you! What are friends for?" Remus said faking laughter.
He opened a trunk and took off his shirt to change. James saw the many wounds and cuts on Remus's back and hands.
"What happened to you?" James asked shocked.
"Nothing, what do you mean?" Remus asked confused.
James pointed a finger at Remus's arm.
"Oh that! I….um had a problem with the dog."
"What kind of dog do you have? A Cerberus?" James asked.
"No! He only has one head! There was a lot of smoke and the smell of alcohol was in the air so he must have lost his temper and attacked the first thing he saw." Remus lied.
"Your mother has cancer and she drinks and smokes?" James asked confused.
"No my family had a barbecue."
"Was it in honor of your sick mother?" James asked.
Remus looked ready to kick him. James sighed.
"Look. It's not my business what your family does. I'm sorry your mother is sick and that you have a cute man eating puppy. Why don't you go and see Madame Pomfrey about those wounds and I unpack your bags." James offered.
"That's not necessary." Remus said uneasily. "I already saw her. She said to come by her office tomorrow."
"Well, then I'll help you."
"No! Um….I can unpack by myself. Go talk to somebody and I'll come down in a moment." Remus said.
"James?" Remus said as James turned to leave.
"Yeah?" He replied
"Why don't you talk to her?"
James's mouth fell in shock. He took a moment to think running his hand through his hair.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"It's obvious. Since the moment you met there was a spark between you two."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Even if you fight a lot everyone sees the truth." Remus said.
"Huh?"
"So what if she is really weird? All of that won't matter if you get together." Remus said.
"Weird? Wait! Who are you talking about?"
"Evans. Why?"
"I was talking about Corinne!"
"Oh! OH! So you don't…."
"NO!"
"Great because I think it would have been a bad choice. Now about Corinne, have you talked to her?"
"I tried!"
That was true. James actually made a try during Astronomy.
"So do you like looking at the sky?" James asked her.
"Yeah my dad is a star reader. He can tell the future from looking at their position." She replied.
"So what is your future?" He asked in a flirting tone.
"I'm going to die when I'm fourteen years old."
"Oh!" Was all James managed to say.
"She told me her father said she will die in three years."
"I hate it when that happens!" Remus replied mockingly.
"I know it's stupid! Nobody can predict future. We make our own lives. But she thinks so highly of her father it's hard to convince her that it's a lie. Oh and don't tell her you know about this. She isn't supposed to say that to anyone."
"What are you going to do about her?" Remus asked.
"I don't know. She gets really upset when she talks to me. And every time we talk her death comes up."
"You just have to wait for her to turn fourteen. She'll see that she isn't dead and you'll have a clear path with her. Meanwhile get to know her. If there are other boys after her she'll go out with the one she trusts the most." Remus said.
"That's actually a good idea." James said.
"Try to act less surprised."
"It's just…..you don't look like a woman attractor."
"Then again, you look like one but don't act it." Remus shot back.
James blushed a bit.
"So do you have any preferences?" James asked.
"Unlike you, I've only been in school for a day and a half."
"I'm sure you'll find someone soon." James said encouragingly.
"Yeah." Remus said with a sigh.