James and Isobel
I don't own any of the characters or places you might recognize.
Chapter 6: Saturday at the Park
James thought the day went off without a hitch. He got to the park early. He talked with Mr. Abbey and some of the other people from the church, while he helped set up. The area to play football was a little bit bigger than Mrs. Weasley's backyard. Booths were set up, and soon people started showing up. There were a lot of little kids.
James rarely ever got to see Isobel because she was on the other side of the park manning the bake sale booth.
When a little kid kicked him in the shins for the tenth time that day, James decided it was time for a break.
"All right little kiddies, how about we take a break" James said.
"NO! We want to play" was the unanimous scream that came from at least twelve kids.
"Okay, how about I race you to the Bake Sale Booth. The first three kids gets a free pie of their choice" James said.
He didn't need to say anything else because the kids went running.
James took a deep breath as he watched them go.
"Look like somebody is all worn out."
James spun around to see his cousin Fred standing there.
"What are you doing here?" James asked.
"Oh, I wanted to meet your mystery girl. So which one is she? Don't tell me it was the little one with the pigtails" Fred joked.
"Shut up, that was Coralline, she is seven and she lives across the street from us"
"Magic or muggle"
"Muggle," James said dropping his voice. "I think we're the only magical people here."
"I wouldn't say only. I left Louis over there somewhere so he could flirt with the Bakery girl" Fred said.
"What? He is going to use his veela charms on her" James said and he started to march off towards where all the baked goods were being sold.
"Yo, chill out. Louis, isn't going to steal your girl" Fred said.
Isobel had just finished selling a triple fudge brownie to old Mr. Meyers when a bunch of kids rushed her booth.
"I want a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie"
"I want a knickerbocker glory"
"That's ice cream idiot, the ice cream booth is over there."
"I want a scone"
"I want a banoffee pie"
"Eww that's gross"
"Is not"
"Whoa, calm down!" Isobel said. "What's going on here? Answer that one at a time."
"That guy" Susie Wright pointed behind her, "said that he was going to buy us all snacks."
Isobel glared at 'that guy' she was not surprised at all to see it was James making his way towards her with someone else.
"James, you promised them you were going to buy them stuff?"
"I said the first three people"
Isobel rolled her eyes and asked "Okay who were the first three people here?"
"I was first"
"Na un, I got here first"
"I got here first"
"You liars, it was me"
Isobel raised her eyebrows at James as the kids broke into loud arguments.
"Okay, I'll pay for them all" James said, they all cheered. "However, it's one item per person."
"Yea, I want this"
"No I'm going first"
"No, I am and I want…"
'Sorry' James mouthed at Isobel and she had to get help in order to satisfy all the kids.
A short while later James' friend, the one with reddish brown hair approached. "Hi, I'm Fred, James' cousin."
Isobel shook his outstretched hand. "I'm Isobel."
"It's nice to meet you Isobel. My poor love sick cousin has been talking about you non-stop since he met you" Fred said.
James rolled his eyes.
"Did he tell you he followed me all the way home like a crazy stalker?" Isobel asked.
"Did he?"
"No, I just walked her home. There was nothing crazy or stalkerish about it" James said.
"Sure it wasn't" Isobel laughed.
"Don't worry, James has always been that way. When we were little he had a crush on this girl named Jocelyn, and he used to follow her around everywhere. It was funny when a professor caught him trying to go into the girl's loo"
"That's not a funny story, Fred" James said pointedly.
"Sure it is. I guess I forgot to mention the professor who caught him was our headmistress. It was funny watching her yell at him for a long time. And then she pinched his ear and dragged him all the way back to our common room."
Isobel laughed. Fred started telling another story, this time about a girl named Lacey, but James grabbed him and pulled him into a headlock.
"Okay, that's enough. Fred I think there is a kissing booth somewhere around here you can pay a girl to kiss you. I want to spend some time with my girlfriend before I have to go back to playing with the kids."
"There is someone around here getting money to kiss people? Why didn't you tell me about this sooner, I would've loved to be a helper" Fred said. James let Fred go, and Fred strugged it off as if nothing had happened.
"And you still can be. At the end of the day we're going to need help with the clean up" Isobel said.
"Ooh look, there goes a man walking around with cotton candy, I think I'll go buy some" Fred said and he took off.
"He seems like a nice guy" Isobel said.
"He's my favorite cousin, and best friend" James said as he walked around the table. He put his arms around Isobel and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"I miss you" he said. It had only been three days since they last spoke but it seemed like a long time.
"I missed you too. I know you probably thought we'd get more time to see each other today."
"No, I knew we'd both be busy" James said. "I didn't know how tiring the kids were going to be though."
"Oh come on. You're on your school team, you must play sports often. You shouldn't be tired after three hours of play" Isobel teased.
"In school people don't kick you in the shins, jump on your back, pull your hair, or cry when the opposing team makes a goal" James said.
"Maybe at your school. But at my school girls aren't afraid to pull hair, kick shins or cry when they lose" Isobel said.
'Hem Hem'
They both turned their attention to a new customer.
"Hi can I get a slice of treacle tart?" an elder woman asked.
"Yes of course" Isobel said.
James gave her another kiss on the cheek and a small wave before he went back to the football field.
AN: Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been busy with school, I might actually have to study this time if I want to pass my finals in two weeks(oh the horror). I've also started on an Al Potter story and It's been consuming all of my time. I'm thinking about looking into a beta for it. Here's a sample:
"We have to tell him" Harry said as he paced outside of Al's private hospital room.
"We don't have to tell him yet. He is four years old, he can wait until he is older" Ginny said.
"What good does waiting do?" Harry asked.
"It will protect him" Ginny said.
"Are you sure about that? Lying doesn't solve problems it creates them. I know I've been raised off lies. The Dursleys lied to me by telling me my parents died in a car crash, they lied about everything my whole life and looked how that turned out"
"Don't compare us with your family"
"Dumbledore also lied and kept secrets. Damn it if he would've told me about the prophecy when I was eleven and I asked him why Voldemort tried to kill me in the first place there would still be more people alive today."
"You don't know that" Ginny said.
"Damn it, Ginny, I hated it when people lied to me and I refused to do that to my kids" Harry said.
"Oh, well if that's the case why don't you call all the kids together and explain to them about how you defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named if you're going to be honest" Ginny said sarcastically.
"That is completely different" Harry said.
Ginny scoffed.
"I plan on telling the kids about everything, just not right now"
"Then I don't see why we have to tell Al now"
"It is his life, Ginny. Remember when we first got back together after the war. You told me you wanted to know everything that happened and not just the bullshit that I told the press. It is the exact same situation. You needed to know then just like he needs to know now." Harry said in a heated whisper. "You know what that unspeakable said earlier, he said Al's magical signature does seem to have seer like qualities to it. It's going to happen again, and it's no point keeping it from him. Yes he's four but he also needs to know. We can say we're going to tell him later, but then we'll change our minds and change our minds again. I know you want to protect him, but this isn't protecting him."
The two of them stood with their arms crossed glaring at each other waiting for the other one to break when someone cleared their throats.