Chapter 1

One day in late March, the Potters family at last got a chance to experience their own miracle. It was a wonderful, sunny and warm day, when a loving Mr. Potter led a tired but beaming Mrs. Potter down the path to their manor that never looked more welcoming. A bundle in Euphemia Potter's arms stirred and let out a small cry. Fleamont jumped and immediately got closer to his wife and looked at the small boy, laying in her arms. He was soon sound asleep again and the man sighed with great relief.

"We should not be jumping at every cry of his." Euphemia said softly with a loving smile on her face, not tearing her eyes away from the boy.

"But this little precious creature is what we've waited for so long! He should have his piece of attention and care!" Fleamont sounded slightly offended, though the woman just chuckled.

"Creature? We've given him a name already, haven't we?"

"Yes, our precious little James," the man said the name like tasting it and smiled. "It's the perfect name."

"You have said this already about a gazillion times," Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes.

"I know, but it is truly wonderful!" Mr. Potter could barely contain his excitement. "But do you realize," he sighed heavily, "we have a child. A real one. Not in your belly, not in our dreams, but right here, in your arms! Can you imagine how much I'll have to teach this little boy? He must learn to ride a broom, if he won't… such a disappointment for his old man that would be… Wait, no, I must not be disappointed in this miracle! He could do whatever he finds interesting. And later on, he could have a sister that he could look after. Yes, and until then I'll teach him to be a true gentleman. But no, to be one is so boring. I should train him to be a professional prankster. But wait! What if I could try to do both! He could be a gentleman and a prankster! And a broom rider! And an amazing quidditch player!"

"He will be just like his father," the woman was smiling brightly throughout this entire talk and interrupted only when they reached the front door. "You told me this so many times…" she shook her head slightly.

"Because it's finally going to happen!" the newly baked Dad explained as he pushed the doors open. "Welcome to your new home James Potter!" he said while hugging his wife with one hand and slowly and softly stroking his son's tiny head with the other.

"I was so afraid… after all this time… I really thought…"

"It's all good, honey." Euphemia noticed tears in his eyes. She fixed the baby in her arms to lay more comfortably and with one hand cupped her husband's face and made him look into her eyes. "I know. I was afraid, too. But now it's going to be alright. We were a family, we are one now and we will always be. The baby is healthy and we will make every minute of his life count so he would know how long we waited for him. But no spoiling," she said suddenly stern, though you could see little fires of amusement in her eyes. The man's face dropped and he frowned.

"But he is our golden boy. Why not?"

"Because he must grow up a good man."

"Yes, but…"

"No but's or you're going to be changing him for the whole first month," Fleamont shut his mouth and his wife giggled. "But in all seriousness," she repeated when Mr. Potter smiled with relief. "No spoiling."

"But maybe… just a little?" he asked with a pleading look in his eyes, so hopeful and happy like she hasn't seen him in a long while. She beamed back just as happy.

"Well, okay. Maybe… but just a little." The man embraced the two most important people in his life with both hands.

"I won't let anyone hurt either of you," he whispered more to himself and let himself enjoy the quiet moment.

Years passed. James' father, or how he liked to call him – Pa, had kept all his promises and his son was being raised with splendid manners and an amazing sense of humor, head full of most extraordinary ideas and tireless curiosity for everything. The child was gifted with the uncommon ability for magic. His parents were extremely proud and James couldn't wait for his Hogwarts letter to arrive. His mother told him stories about her time in the school of witchcraft and wizardry, about the teachers, while his father taught him useful tricks and spells. James got his wand few years before his letter had arrived, because his father had decided it was time for some action and enough of theory. He was quite right. James' endless wish to know more helped his father's long lectures turn into their best time spent together. Ma, as James called her, always had to encourage them to get back from the garden. The boy would always run across the backyard lawn into her arms and hug her tight, thankful for making them food. She would kiss his forehead and usher him to wash his hands before touching the food. On the way to the bathroom he would always check all his traps he had set up for small animals. Pa had forbidden to hurt those smaller than you, so he had to come up with some harmless traps himself. Most often he would find them empty, so every mouse would make him jump with delight. After washing his hands, he would sneak into the kitchen and nick some cookies away while Ma didn't see. Pa caught him once and he was scolded for stealing, but the cookies were too delicious to stop his thievery.

Sweet idle life was going day by day, with its ups and downs, but it was a happy family after all. Loving and caring. So when the long awaited Hogwarts acceptance letter finally reached Potter Manor, it was not only a day of pure excitement and planning the trip to Diagon Alley to buy all books and other things that were required, but a moment of realization, that they will soon be separated for the first time for such a long period of time. That night Mrs. Potter tried to hide her tears, but Mr. Potter noticed and shared them with her.

Days until September 1st went by even faster than before. James saw his mother's eyes tearing up every time the subject of leaving came up. She always hid them with that charming smile of hers and James, being the smart child that he is, always said something that would calm her down a bit. Every night she thanked heavens for such an incredible son.

The trip to Diagon Alley was finished with the amazing ice cream of Florean Fortescue. Heavy books were pleasantly weighing James' hands as he and Ma laughed at his Pa's comments about all the hilarious people. He knew almost everything about everyone and James couldn't help but wonder when he would be able to know everyone like his Pa did. It wasn't his first time in Diagon Alley. They visited some friendly shop keepers, who had become friends of his parents after a while. When they were chatting with a lovely book seller in Flourish and Blotts, James talked his parents into buying him a magical calendar in which he started counting days to the trip to Hogwarts.

During his last days at home, the boy's excitement could be felt in the whole house. He was running up and down, scaring the life out of his mother by pranking her at the most unexpected times. His father, laughing with his strong, low voice every time he came to his office jumping around the desk. And then cleaning the desk with swift movements of his wand every time that jumping caused the ink to spill on his unfinished letters.

He couldn't sit calmly in one place so an irritated Mrs. Potter sent him to pack his suitcase at last. At first James was angry to be sent off, but later on he found himself looking through his school books once again before putting them safely into the trunk, his excitement back instantly. Broom, he thought, obviously. He will definitely have to try out for his house quidditch team. After all those stories his father told him about the team's life and sweet victories, it could not be any other way. While he was putting things from one place to another fidgeting with every smaller and more interesting instrument, his Ma came into the room.

"James…" she said. The boy didn't even raise his head.

"Yes?" he asked distracted.

"Do you need my help packing?"

Only then did he tear his eyes away from the ball that his Pa made him and told him to find any purposeful use for that thing. James still couldn't figure out what was special about this ball, which was slightly foggy on the inside and was sometimes crystal clear and sometimes filled with fumes of every color imaginable.

"What?" he asked focusing on his mother at last. She shook her head and chuckled silently.

"I'm sorry I snapped. Would you like me to help you pack?"

"No, I'm fine," the boy answered immediately and focused back on the small ball.

"Okay. Can I help you pack, please?" James smirked and just nodded.

He knew his mother just couldn't let him do this alone. She opened his wardrobe and slowly and silently started to collect his clothes. Once finished taking out one part she would tell James, what is in that pile, when he should wear it and all ordinary things. James appeared to not be listening as he was still fussing around the little ball, but he heard every word and smiled to himself, happy having no worries to pack too little clothing for half of the year, which would have happened if he had packed on his own. After a while he put the ball aside and started taking piles from the bed to the trunk. When he was making more place for the last pile, his mother came to check. She lightly touched the boy's shoulder and James got away from his trunk giving space for his Ma to tidy up the mess inside, in which she found his things pretty well. He stayed close to her to see where everything was, but soon he was distracted by the magic clock on his shelf he had assembled with Pa's help. He took it in his hands and looked at it searching for flaws, when a not loud but strict and firm mother's voice reached his ears.

"James Potter," uh – oh. This doesn't sound good. "You are aware, I believe, that it's forbidden for first years to have brooms."

Oh. That. Yes.

"Maybe… I forgot?"

"James, you tried to sneak a broom into Hogwarts?! Being a FIRSTYEAR?! Do you want to get expelled in your first week?"

"Broom? Darling? Is everything alright?" Pa appeared in the doorway.

James looked down. He could deal with an overreacting mother, but father's silent disappointment was always the worst. It made him feel the worst kind of guilt.

"No, it's definitely not. Your son tried to take his broom to school!" Pa only chuckled.

James was so surprised he raised his head a bit too fast and small stars started clouding his vision in the corners when he focused on his dad, but he couldn't care less.

"What's so funny about THAT?" he was not surprised alone.

"Definitely my son," was all what Pa said before he turned around and left.

Mother was so shocked about him not taking her side that she just stared at the empty doorway, while James was grinning wide. He loved his dad so much. When his mother shook her head and got back to packing she took out the broom still murmuring under her breath. But before she could get back to packing clothes, Pa appeared at the doorway again.

"My dearest sweetheart, could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" he asked. Mother left the room almost immediately with a proud expression expecting that father will give him a reasonable lecture about breaking school rules.

When the door closed, James let his eyes fall to the ground guiltily.

"James…" Pa said slowly and calmly, so the boy dared to raise his eyes a little. He noticed a really weird looking package in his father's hands. Curiosity took the best of him and he couldn't help being excited for the new mystery, waiting to be solved.

"My father gave me this right before I started my first year at Hogwarts. I was hesitating, but now I see, that it's truly great timing. So. This is an Invisibility Cloak."

James' eyes became as big as tennis balls. He had read in books about it. Most wizard adventure literature doesn't go without using it, one way or another. He almost started trembling from excitement, terrible desire to touch it and his brains were exploding with gazillions of ideas of how he could use it.

"But James. I know," he said looking at his son's face which was full of pure joy of adventure with a slight smirk but after a moment it was gone. James realized, it's deadly serious, so he better concentrate. He fixed his eyes back on Pa's. "You imagine a terrible lot of things you could do with this cloak. But you should know something first. This cloak was given from father to son, generation after generation. This cloak has been in our family for centuries now. I heard rumors that it's the same cloak Death gave to the third brother, though I'm not really fond to believe in that legend. But this thing is really old. And really treasurable. There are not many of this kind of cloaks, and you should be incredibly lucky to get ahold of something similar. What I want to emphasize is that you should value it. If not for itself then for its history, its passage through generations. I would really like to know that this reached your children. And one more important thing. Yes, I think you guessed it already, but I'll say anyway. This is perfect when you want to hide doing mischiefs at school. But I must warn you. This, as any other thing, used carelessly will betray you and if you get into trouble, your mother is going to be really upset and when I married her I promised I'd do everything to save her from that. Don't bring disappointment to your Ma and Pa. Be careful and cautious. Use it well."

James was in absolute awe, but he listened very carefully taking in every word. His father trusted him with this piece of one of the most magical artefacts in whole world. He swore to himself to take good care of it.

"Do you understood?" James nodded, solemn expression not leaving his face. His father smiled. "Good. I believe in you. Now. I'm going to ask your mother to come and help you finish the packing." He said giving a weird package to his son. He took it extra carefully and placed on a chair in a far corner of the room, so his mother wouldn't want to check it out. He promised to put it in the trunk himself. "Good boy. That's a great decision."

Sometimes James felt like his Pa could read minds. He just smiled at the thought and said "Thank you, Pa. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, son."

With that he left the room. Ma came in shortly afterwards and silently started putting his things into the trunk sometimes commenting what and where she's placing. James sat on the side of his bed still unable to comprehend what just happened. Only quick stolen glances at the package would calm him down that it was real. In his wild imagination pictures of pranks and sneaks possible with that cloak were floating back and forth, one better than the one before. His mother thought he was thinking about how he realized his mistake and how he regrets ever thinking he could break rules, but she couldn't be more wrong.

After a few hours, when the trunk was all packed James with a snap of a closed lid woke up from his trance.

"Thanks, mummy," he said raising his head and smiling at her. Those sweet and loving eyes that were so similar to his were watering again as she came to sit near him.

"No problem, sweetheart."

There was a silence. James was intensely thinking while his mother stroked his hair.

"My little baby…" she said chuckling slightly. "Feels like you just yesterday learned to walk, and all the magic happened, and you used your wand for the first time…"

"Ma… I'm not little and even more so not a baby…" he said with a mockery in his voice. It made the most precious woman in his life (so far) chuckle even more. Suddenly, James hugged her tightly around the waist, his face buried into her chest.

"I'm going to miss you so badly…" he felt like he was about to cry and he did his best to fight it.

"Me, too, darling. Me, too…" Mother whispered and they sat in silence for a bit more. "But you have to go to sleep now. Tomorrow is an important day, you have to be rested and we're setting off really early so we can get there in time," she kissed his forehead.

"How are we going to get there?" asked James curiously.

"We'll take floo powder to get to the leaky cauldron and then we'll go on foot to the train station. That's how we always get there."

"But… that's a lot to walk…"

"That's why you should be well rested and why we set off so early."

"Okay…"

"Goodnight darling. Have some sweet dreams." Ma stood up from his bed and headed to the doorway. Before going out she asked, "Should I send Pa here?"

"Yes, thank you, mummy. For everything. I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetie," she answered before heading out.

James lowered his head to his hands. An incredible idea struck his mind and after a few minutes of debating he decided it's not as impossible as it seems. It took him a few more minutes to get all the motivation and determination. When he opened his eyes a fire was burning brightly in his hazel eyes.

That was a busy night for James. He stole an hour or two of sleep in the morning after he was fully satisfied with his work. Ma came to wake him up. First thing he did when he got out of bed was put the cloak carefully into the trunk as the last item he will take for the first semester away from home and with a last loving glance he went to get ready to leave.

All the way to the station, despite the cool morning air that should have woken him up a bit, the boy was yawning. All he could think about was how he would do anything for a few more hours of sleep. A thought of catching up on sleep on the train was so sweet he couldn't wait to sit on the Hogwarts Express at last. Ma, watching him, assumed that he was too excited to go to sleep for a really long time, though Pa didn't really buy it.

When they stepped into a slightly crowded Kings Cross station, they had half an hour left until departure. The boy became an impersonation of joy and excitement. He had suddenly found new sources of energy and was now running around and jumping around urging his parents to go more quickly because they 'still needed to find platform 9 and 3/4'. The adults were only laughing heartily at his behavior. The most precious moment was when James had stopped dead in his tracks in front of platform nine and ten, with nothing in between besides a plain wall. He ran along it from 9th platform's side then got back and did the same with platform ten. His parents stood smiling, those irritable smirks of knowing more.

James got back greatly disappointed and said, "How are we going to catch a train? There's no such platform!" Why didn't his parents, instead of telling him how amazing Hogwarts is, tell him how to get there first?

Mother couldn't help herself anymore and started laughing from the bottom of her heart and said through tears of laughter, "Show him, would you?"

Pa had contained himself pretty well, but he looked close to the verge of laughing too. Smirking, he took a confused James by the shoulder and gave him a trolley that he had been pushing all that time through the station.

"Now," the man said. "See that wall? The platform is on the other side of it."

"But…" James was about to object as he had run around it all and seen nothing.

"No buts. Trust me." James gave in and listened carefully to the instructions that followed. "Okay. So. All you have to do is go straight into that wall."

"What?!" he couldn't believe what he was hearing. The wall appeared to be as solid as every wall he had seen or touched before.

"Just do it. If you're afraid, I advise running. Should I go with you?" he read the uncertainty in the boy's face and the latter just nodded, focusing back on the wall, while still thinking that it's absolutely ridiculous.

He started pacing, picked up speed and was soon running with all his might, his father's hand safely and firmly put on his shoulder. The wall grew closer and closer every moment that passed and when he was sure he would simply strike the wall he got through it like some void. He was so amazed by the experience. Pa stayed close as they slowed down a little, smirking proudly. James was in loss of words. That was the weirdest thing he had ever experienced (and that was something considering he had done lots of weird things with his father in his life this far). He turned around just to see Ma coming through the wall and catching up with them. She was smiling brightly but her eyes were starting to glitter. He turned away quickly so she wouldn't notice his smirk that spread out on his face, and wouldn't suspect anything before time came.

They still had some time to talk. The platform wasn't as crowded as it normally was at the last minute, but some families were already there saying their goodbyes. They stopped closer to the train. After a few minutes of silence James raised his head to look at his mother. She was close to crying.

"Ma…" he said cautiously.

"Yes, darling?"

"I need to tell you something, okay?"

"Always, dear. What is it?" she kneeled beside him and took his palms into her hands.

"Well… I was thinking. I know I'm going to miss you badly, yeah. But you said to me you will be missing me too. And you know, I'm going to school so I will be pretty busy. I'll find friends and I'll have something to occupy my mind. I'm not saying I'll forget you or something… It's just. It won't be my main problem…" James got silent for a moment.

"I understand sweetie. It's alright and how it should be." she smiled through the tears in her eyes that were very visible now.

"But for you… You will have only Pa, work and maybe some friends to sometimes come over. And I thought, you will be worse without me than I without you. So…" here he took a deep breath and father put a calming hand on his wife's shoulder.

"You remember the calendar you bought me at Blotts? The one I was crossing the days off?"

"Yes, what about it?" his mother was almost whispering.

"I… I tried to charm it… I wanted for it to say something in my voice every time you touched a day with your wand. One sentence for each day, so you wouldn't forget my voice. And… I think I succeeded."

At this point Euphemia Potter cried out and hugged him, sobbing on his shoulder. James looked at his father with a proud wide grin. He saw tears glinting at the corners of Pa's eyes too.

"Of course, I'll be writing letters, but voice is important, too."

"Yes, my son. It definitely is." was all the man said, but it contained so much feeling that James became even higher in height of proudness.

He gently pulled back from his crying mother and helped her up. She was holding on one of his arms for her dear life and her other arm was around his shoulder protectively.

"It begins today, so you can check it out when you get back." James beamed at his parents.

"We definitely will, James, my sweetest, dearest boy! Thank you so much! Such a present… there was no need… Oh, Merlin's pants with a hint of beard on them…" she crouched down again and squeezed him hard.

After that followed ordinary phrases of goodbye, like 'don't forget to wear warm clothes if it gets cold! Write letters! Be careful! Obey the rules! Inform us about which house you got sorted into!' and so on, and so forth. Ma showered him with kisses and couldn't stop fussing around if he hadn't forgotten anything. Soon time that was left had ended and the platform became terribly loud and crowded. James got free from loving hugs and kisses of his mother and found his way to the train. Pa helped him put his trunk in and it was the last goodbyes before a loud whistle informed about leaving. When the train started moving, he found his parents in the crowd and waved for the last time with a pang in the heart when realization came that he wouldn't see them for at least half of the school year.