The plan had been, after a good night's rest in one of the rather cushy beds at the Leaky Cauldron, for Jim to be downstairs in the bar eating breakfast before Harry woke in the morning. From there it would have been relatively simple to convince Harry to sit at his table and eat his own breakfast. Then they could have talked and bonded over the fact that Jim would be new to the school. Thus beginning their friendship and an easy way into the 'Golden Trio's' graces.

That plan was completely shot when Jim was awakened just before midnight by a nervous Tom the barman, and freaking Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.

Supposedly all the rooms in the inn had been let, and since Jim was staying here for the month before school, and poor Harry Potter would also be staying here, would Jim mind terribly if they added another bed to his room? Harry could bunk with Jim, and the ministry would even be willing to foot the bill for the remainder of the Holiday.

Before a rather sleep befuddled Jim could say yes, no, or even ask why he would need two beds in order to bunk in a room with himself, (he had forgotten for a moment that he was no longer Harry Potter), Jim found himself shunted to the side as another bed was brought into the room, the room was expanded to make room for the extra bed and another little boy was ushered into the room.

As the door shut behind Tom, Jim finally snapped himself awake and looked at his counterpart. Harry was wet and disheveled from the storm, and seemed just as confused as Jim was. The poor kids' hair was sticking up everywhere and his oversized clothes seemed like they were going to fall off of his skinny frame. Both boys stood and stared at each other for a long moment.

With a sigh, Jim looked to the side and ran a hand through his own light brown hair, not noticing that his counterpart was doing the exact same thing.

"Umm," Jim said eloquently, "I guess we're roommates for the next couple weeks."

Harry shook himself and stuck out his hand to shake. "I suppose so," he said, "I'm Harry; it's nice to meet you."

Jim accepted the hand shake and did his best to sound ultra-suave. "Locke, James Locke, but you can call me Jim. My friend Lu… Lu… Lucy said I was supposed to introduce myself like that. She was a huge fan of the Bond films you know."

Harry may not know Luna yet, but there was no way that Jim was going to slip up with her name this early.

"Oh," Harry said with a small smile, "I've not had the chance to see any of those yet, but I know enough to know what you mean."

Jim laughed and dropped the act. "Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of the films myself; I would rather have a good book any day."

"Be careful saying that around my friend Hermione," Harry laughed, "she'll have you cornered and discussing everything you have ever read."

Jim grinned at the light that shone from Harry's green eyes. Apparently Harry was already falling in love with Hermione. He felt the pang of jealousy at the fact that Harry was already falling in love with his bushy haired friend, pity that Jim hadn't recognized that in himself at that age.

Jims' smile dropped as he realized the problem that he hadn't thought of before. In this time, Harry and Hermione already had feelings for one another. If there were two people who would grow up to be perfect for one another it was Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Even after only two years of friendship, Hermione had made it clear that she would always choose Harry Potter. There would be no room for Jim Locke except for as a friend. Jim's Hermione, the woman he had grown up with and loved with every fiber of his being, no longer existed; never would exist if Jim managed to fix things.

Jim felt a hand shaking his shoulder breaking him out of his reverie. Apparently he had sat on the edge of his bed and was staring at the floor. Looking up he saw Harry standing there looking quite concerned.

"Hey," Harry said, "you alright?"

"Sorry," Jim pulled himself together and stood, forcing a smile on his face, "I've lost a few people recently and you just reminded me of one of them. I'm gonna go ahead and get back to sleep," he jerked a thumb at the bed he was sitting on, "I was already in this bed, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna stay here. We've got a couple weeks to talk and get to know one another, so we'll leave all the heavy stuff for another day."

Not really giving Harry a chance to respond, Jim shuffled up to on the bed to lay down on his pillow, with an exaggerated sigh, he burrowed under the blankets at Harry and turned away.

Harry Potter was not certain what he should be thinking at the moment. Everything had happened way too fast this evening. First there had been Marge and her insults. Harry was not going to feel bad about accidentally blowing her up. The foul woman deserved it. Then there had been the flight from Privet Drive, accidentally discovering the Knight Bus, pretending to be Neville Longbottom, and then arriving at the Leaky Cauldron only to find the Minister of Magic waiting for him.

He had been frightened. When Dobby had cast that spell on the pudding last year he had been given the warning. Now he just knew they were going to expel him from Hogwarts!

Well, he thought he knew that anyway. The minister had just waved off the whole incident and said that he was going to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron until school started. What luck! He would be able to actually enjoy the last month of his summer vacation.

Only to have his hopes dashed when Tom the barman had informed them that they were completely out of rooms, and he didn't have any more to let. But! There was another boy, Harry's age that had paid up for the month until school started, and he might be willing to share a room. Before Harry knew what had happened he had been shoved into a room with the boy and left on his own.

Jim seemed to be channeling Malfoy when he introduced himself, and Harry feared for a moment that he would be stuck with another pureblood git. But then, the act had dropped and a little of the real Jim had seeped through.

Jim seemed to have a lot of the same mannerisms as Harry, from the way he awkwardly ran his hand through his hair as he thought, to the way he kept trying to push up a pair of nonexistent glasses.

Then Harry had mentioned Hermione and found himself thoroughly confused. Jim seemed to smile fondly at Harry for a moment, but then his eyes had widened as though something horrific had happened and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed with a vacant stare.

Harry had tried asking if everything was okay, but the other boy wouldn't respond. It wasn't until Harry had touched him on the shoulder and the boy had flinched away that he finally got a response.

Jim's smile had obviously been forced, and the way the boy climbed into bed and turned away let Harry know that any more conversation with his new roommate would have to wait.

Harry was curious to find out who it was that Jim would have lost recently, and why the thirteen-year-old's startlingly blue eyes had seemed so old. However, like Jim had said, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other over the next couple of weeks.

With that thought in mind, Harry got some clean pajamas out of his trunk and went to the bathroom to change. After finishing everything up, he lay down on the other bed and pulling the covers up to his neck, he promptly fell asleep.