Chapter One
"James Sirius Potter!" my dad yelled from the bottom of the stairs, his voice angry. I decided to play innocent.
"Yeah, Dad?" I asked from the top of the stairs, leaning down so I could look at his livid face.
"Do you have any idea how Al's science project was mysteriously replaced with a toothpaste-and-vinegar mixture?"
"No," I lied. "Why is it that every time something happens around here I'm the one who gets the blame?" I asked, pretending to be hurt.
"Because you're always the one that's guilty, Mr. Prankster" he said, walking up the stairs. "If you're so innocent, you won't mind me looking around in your room."
This was exactly what I'd been trying to avoid.
"Um, you know, my room's an utter mess. Why don't you come back in, say, five minutes?" I asked hopefully.
"And you have now proven your guilt. Let me in, James."
"Fine" I said glumly. "I took it. I haven't dumped it, though. I don't want him to get a bad grade. I'll give it back." I turned without another word to go in and grab the stupid science project.
"Thank you," my dad said, instantly in a better mood. He never really got mad at us, unless we were doing something dangerous. "By the way, I've got something for you," he announced as I came back out with the green solution-filled beaker. From the pocket of his work robes, he pulled out a piece of paper.
"What's that?" I asked curiously.
"An invitation to a princess ball, I think," my dad chuckled, "from the girl across the street. Sara, I think it was."
"Well, count me out. Princess Ball," I scoffed under my breath.
"Too bad," he said. "We're all going. All of us," he said sternly as I started to object.
"Fine. But I am not-"
"Oh, yes you are dressing up. Your mum already rented you boys tuxes," he told me. "And please don't complain. Lily's so excited."
He never played fair. Of course I wouldn't complain if it made my baby sister sad.
"Sheesh, Dad. Fine. I'll go. But I won't like it." I pouted and turned to go back in my room. Dad caught my arm.
"Oh, no you don't. You are going to give this back to your brother yourself." He smiled and half-dragged me down the stairs.
I walked into the living room to find my brother Albus reading a book about remembering the periodic table, or something like that.
"Another science book, Al?" I asked. "I mean, really, who cares about the idiotic table?"
"Periodic, James," he corrected me, not even looking up from his stupid book.
"Oh, I know," I told him, smiling. This time he did look up – to glare at me.
"Don't look at me like that," I warned him. "Besides, I've got something for you." I pulled his flask out from behind my back. His face suddenly lit up with delight.
"Oh, thank you!" he said happily. "And it looks exactly like it's supposed to! But how..."
"I… may have paid more attention to your paper-thing than I let on. I may have stolen it, but I didn't want you to get a bad grade, so I took care of it for you."
"You have multiple personality disorder, don't you James?" Al asked me teasingly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a pushover. Big deal." I muttered. "Anyway, did Dad tell you about the birthday party for that girl across the street?"
"No, what party?"
"It's some kind of stupid Princess Ball or something, and we have to wear tuxedos." I told him, feeling like some sort of gossipy girl.
"Ooh!" Al said, looking extremely happy. "I've always wanted to wear those Muggle dress clothes!"
"Gosh, Al," I muttered, disgusted. My own brother wanted to dress up and go to a Princess Ball. "You are such a girl."
Just then I heard Lily squeal in what sounded like delight. A muffled banging sound in the ceiling told me that she was jumping up and down like an idiot upstairs. Being only eight, she had a liking for princesses and fairytales. Muggle fairytales, as for some reason wizarding fairytales didn't seem to feature princesses.
"Mummy!" Lily shouted, dashing down the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her.
"What is it, dear?" my mum asked from the kitchen. She had recently found that she enjoyed cooking the Muggle way, without any magic at all, and these days was usually in the kitchen. Not using magic? I couldn't see the draw.
"We're going to a Princess Ball!" Lily gushed excitedly.
"Really?" my mum said with false surprise, already knowing this.
"Daddy just told me!" she informed Mum. "Oh, James!" She rounded on me. "You'll look simply dashing in your tux." She'd taken to using all those fancy words lately. They hurt my ears.
"Yeah," I muttered under my breath. "Dashing home, as fast as I can."
"James-" my dad started warningly from the bottom of the ebony staircase he was standing in.
"Sorry…" I muttered. "Anyway, when is this party?"
"Tomorrow evening," my dad informed me, looking at the invitation. "Ginny, I was hoping the boys could try on the tuxes for size, then you and Lil' could head out to find a dress."
"Sounds good to me," mum told him with a grin. "We'll go in the morning. I'll drop James and Al off at Ron and Hermione's."
"Yes!" Albus said. He and our cousin, Rose, got along very well, seeing as they were both school-obsessed.
"Oh, mum!" I whined. "Why? Can't we just stay home?"
"We will not leave you home alone, James, until we want to come home to a pile of ashes. And you and Al alone in a house without supervision…" He trailed off, and then shuddered. "I'd rather not think about it." …and so the plans were decided.
The next evening was crazy. Dad had gotten called out to catch some Dark wizard or another at work, and he got home only thirty minutes before we had to leave for the party. He and mum rushed around, getting us kids and themselves dressed and ready to go. Mum had rented Lily a pretty golden, sparkly dress. She twirled around excitedly, throwing around her fancy words while mum tried – and failed – to tame my and Al's 'Potter hair,' which, as Dad reminded her with a sympathetic grin, was untamable.
I had to admit, I felt pretty important walking down the street in my fancy tuxedo. Mum had attempted to get me into a tie, but I felt that this was asking too much of me, and thankfully Dad had agreed. Albus, who was better behaved and weaker-willed than I was, had been talked into wearing a green one which, according to my mum, made his eyes 'pop.' We were all, in Lily's words, 'spiffing.'
As we approached the house that was obviously our destination, (there were fancy lights strung all over the house and the glow of lights from the backyard,) I heard the soft, boring sound of fancy music.
"So James," Dad started with a grin, "what instruments?" Dad had good hearing.
"Um," I muttered, "It sounds like… 3 violins, 2 violas… and I think I hear a cello." I loved music, and had a great ear for it, too, so I could recognize these things. Classical music, though, was so boring it made me want to grab my guitar and start singing rock music at the top of my lungs.
"Amazing," Dad said, shaking his head.
We walked up to the gate to the fence that surrounded the backyard. A man, dressed to look like a butler, greeted us.
"Welcome," he said in a vaguely bored voice. He sounded like he was just reading lines, not trying to get into the part at all. I recognized this well, as I was into acting, too. "Do you have your invitations?"
Mum handed the man our five invitations. He didn't even look at them before opening the gate to the white fence and gesturing us to enter.
"Some bouncer," I muttered to Al, who snickered.
We walked through the open gate and into the expensively decorated backyard. A large in ground pool was off to one side. It was fenced off, just like the yard itself. There was a nice patio coming off the back door. It was covered by a whole extension to the roof. A nice grill, glass table with pink umbrella (yuck) and fancy, delicate looking chairs sat on the patio, along with what looked very much like a hot tub. The perfectly manicured back lawn was full of chattering people, the men in suits and the women in gowns. A long table was pushed up against the back length of the fence, and it was completely full of gifts.
"Oh, hello!" A mousy looking woman with light brown hair said airily to us, spotting us for the first time. She was wearing a silver gown and holding a glass of wine in her left hand. "Sara, come greet your guests!"
The woman walked toward us, beckoning in our direction to a thin, blonde-haired girl about my age, who was wearing a golden gown. The girl skipped toward us.
"Hello," she said importantly. "It's my birthday. Did you bring gifts?"
"Sara," her mother chided gently, not sounding at all like she meant it.
Dad smiled down at the young girl, a glint of recognition in his emerald eyes, as if he were comparing her to someone else. ""I've got one in my bag for you," he told her lightly. "We do hope you'll like it."
"Sara, darling, why don't you take it over to the table and put it with the others?" Sara's mother asked. Sara grabbed the blue-gift wrapped box and ran over to the gift table, which was already stuffed. My family seemed to be the last to arrive.
"We're new to the neighborhood," Sara's mum told us. "We've just moved in this past June. We decided to invite everyone on the street to Sara's party, so we could get to know everyone."
Now that I listened more, I noticed that this woman's voice, her accent, sounded… false somehow, as though she was an American doing a good impression of our accent. Good, but not perfect. I noticed she didn't make the 'r' sound after Sara's name. British people often made that sound after words that ended in an 'ah' sound, making the 'ah' sound sort of like 'oar.' Hers, however, just sounded like 'ahs'.
"It's very nice to meet you," mum said kindly, her red hair waving in the slight wind. "I'm Ginerva Potter, call me Ginny. This is my husband, Harry. Our kids are, in order of age, James, Albus- "
"Al!" my brother interrupted. He thought the name Albus was strange.
"Al," my mother corrected herself with a smile toward my brother, "and Lily."
"Hi," Lily said timidly.
"I'm Marissa Barnes," the woman told us. "That over there is my husband, Nathan, and our young son, Jon." She pointed – daintily- across the yard at a tall, portly man with thin brown hair and a thin young boy nest to him, also brown-haired. They were both wearing grey suits. "Now come on, join the party."
I was dragged all around the decorated backyard, 'dancing' with whoever decided to grab onto me and drag me along. Mostly it was women my mum's age, who apparently thought I was 'cute.' Eleven year old boys are not cute. Especially not James Sirius Potter. In fact, I only put up with them because Dad made me.
I glanced up at the sky in annoyance. It was pitch black, but the August air was warm. I looked at a balcony on the second floor of the house, thinking of asking Dad if I could have one. I could imagine that conversation:
Dad, can I have a balcony off my window?
*looks at me like I'm stupid*
What?
No, James, you cannot have a balcony.
*whining* whyyyyy?
Because you would use the balcony to sneak out!
I would not!
Yes you would.
Would not!
James…
Fine.
I decided to ask anyway. But as I looked, my hazel eyes locked onto the eyes of another. They held my gaze for a moment, and then they disappeared. My curiosity was piqued. Who was that person? Did they like here? Why weren't they at the party? I had to find out. With my amazing skills of memorization, I memorized the location of that window and then went to find Sara. She was dancing with a tall, blonde boy who looked a few years older than us. I recognized him from the Muggle school bus.
"Oi!" I said loudly.
"What?" she asked bitterly. Then she saw who I was and her face lit up, breaking into a dazzling smile. "Oh, it's you." The way she said it was disgusting. "Do you want to dance?"
The boy she was dancing with frowned and glared at me.
"No. actually…" I suddenly realized that I had no plan and I groped around inside my head for an idea. "Actually… I need to use your loo."
"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Oh, okay. Come on, then."
I followed her through the sliding glass door into a clean, metal kitchen. Seriously, it looked like it was made completely of metal. She led me up a carpeted staircase, down a hall and into the second door on the right. She stood at the door.
"Um… some privacy, maybe?" I asked her.
"Oh, right." I closed the door and listened to her walk down the stairs. I waited to hear the quiet thud of the screen door closing, and then I set out to find the room belonging to the window. It wasn't difficult. If found the room at the end of the hall. Not being one for social graces, I simply opened the door without knocking and walked in.
It was a small, startlingly clean bedroom. A small, plain bed sat along the wall. And on that bed sat a girl. She looked remarkably similar to Sara, save for the fact that this girl was crying.
She looked up at the sound of my unannounced entrance and gasped.
"Get out!" she said, sounding a load more worried than angry.
"Why?" I asked. "Don't like strange men in your bedroom?" I smiled at her, and she let out a strained giggle. "And anyway, if you live here, why aren't you at the party?"
"I'm not allowed," she explained, looking bewildered, like she wasn't used to talking to people. She stood, crossed the room, glanced furtively down the hall, and dragged me farther inside the room, closing the door as she did.
"You're grounded?" I asked. "Brilliant! What did you do?"
"I'm not grounded," she told me. I opened my mouth to ask her why she wasn't allowed out, then, but she cut me off. "I don't exist."
"What?" I asked stupidly. "But then, how are you here, if you don't exist? Wait1 oh crap! I'm going mad!" I was joking around again, trying to get her to laugh instead of crying like she was. I hated it when people cried, even my brother. And she did laugh again, though it sounded like she hadn't done in a long while.
"Let me clarify. I don't exist outside of this house. My parents keep me locked in the house. Even Nathan's – I mean," she swallowed, her face full of disgust, "Dad's – relatives don't know I exist."
"What?" I asked incredulously. "Why in the name of Merlin would anyone do a thing like that?"
"My mom and dad don't like me very much," she informed me quietly, her voice and eyes both full of tears. "Don't ask me why, I don't know." I noticed for the first time that she spoke in a distinctly American accent. I'd have to ask her about it later.
"Why don't you-" I started to ask, but at that moment the door flew open and a furious Mr. Barnes came bursting through the door.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" he bellowed at me. I flinched back, not used to really being yelled at. "How DARE you go snooping around in my home? Who do you think you are? We invited your family here to our house as an act of generosity and welcome, and how do you repay us? You little brat!"
He lifted a large, muscular arm to hit me. I cringed away, my glasses sliding down on my nose3. I braced myself for impact.
"Don't. You. Dare." I heard a voice say from the door. If was Dad, and both is body and voice were shaking with fury. I had never, in my life, seen him that angry. It was scary. "If you lay so much as a finger on my son-" he chuckled humorlessly, "– you'll regret it."
"This boy has no right to go sneaking about in my house!" Mr. Barnes shouted at my Dad.
"And trust me, he will be punished for it," dad told him, looking at me. "But that is my job, and his mother's. Not yours. Now get away from my son."
Mr. Barnes glared at my father for a moment, but Dad stood his ground, so Mr. Barnes backed away to let me pass. Dad and I walked in silence down the stairs, Mr. Barnes leading the way. I heard the girl sobbing on the stairs, begging me not to go. I hated to leave the poor girl in that horrid house all alone, but at the moment I had no choice. I vowed to sneak out to see her later. Our little group of three walked through the kitchen and out into the backyard, where the rest of my family was standing together, talking to one of the neighbors.
"c'mon, guys," Dad said, almost lazily. "I think it's about time to head home. You kids need to get to bed."
Mum looked at Dad, and they had a silent conversation. She said goodbye to the neighbors she had been talking to, and then she looked around for our hostess. Spotting her, she led us over.
"It's time for us to be heading back home, I think," mum told her. "Thank you so much for inviting us here. We all had a wonderful time."
"Yes, thank you so much, ma'am," dad said, and us three kids also chorused "thank you" like we'd been taught. We left the yard, listening to Lily gush about how wonderful her ball had been.
I was not happy, to say the least. That girl, that poor girl. I'd left her there all on her own with those horrible people who hated her. She was all by herself, alone, lonely. I felt worse than I ever had in my whole life.
"What exactly happened, Harry?" my mum asked Dad, curiously.
"James decided to go exploring," he told her, sounding tired. As I was always getting into trouble, I understood.
"But I saw a girl! I said urgently. "All by herself, up in that room! I was wondering why she wasn't at the party. Besides, she looked like she could use some company!'
"James Sirius Potter, that is no excuse. You do not go snooping around people's houses!" mum sounded furious.
"You know what she told me?" I said, ignoring my mum, too worried for the girl to care about my punishment. "She told me she has to pretend she doesn't exist. Like… Dad, remember the time you told us about when those Mason people came to your house when you were little, and your Aunt and Uncle said you had to go up to your room and pretend you didn't exist? Well, it's like that, only worse, because she has to do it all the time! That 's what she told me!"
At this my father bit his lip. "Are you sure, James?"
"Unless she was lying!"
He sighed. "James, I'm afraid that this is a hard one. I'm glad you found that girl, but you should have come to your mum or me. Under no circumstances are you to go sneaking around other peoples' homes."
He paused to unlock our front door. We went inside. I was told to sit on the couch. My siblings were told to go upstairs and get ready for bed. Mum and dad tucked them both in, and then came down to talk to me.
"James, we're very, very disappointed in you," dad told me. "Tomorrow, you will be cleaning this house. That means your chores, your brother and sister's chores, and anything else your mother or I come up with, understand?"
"Yes, dad," I muttered sadly. I yawned. The ball had taken a lot out of me.
"Get to bed," dad said, a smile on his face. He ruffled my hair and stood up.
"Sir yes sir!" I said. I hugged him, allowed Mum to kiss my head before I hugged her too and jogged up to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I almost felt special when brushing my teeth, because out of the three of us kids, I was the only one to use mint toothpaste.
You may wonder why I'm talking about brushing my teeth. Well, think about it. You read tons and tons of stories, and in how many of them do the characters brush their teeth? See what I mean? I don't want you to think I'm unhygienic!
Anyway, I finished brushing my teeth and walked to my room to put on my pyjamas. I had just crawled into my nice, warm bed when Mum and Dad came in to tuck me into bed. They hugged me once again and told me they loved me, then headed back downstairs for some alone time.
No sooner had they left when Albus came into my room.
"Breaking the rules, Al?" I asked, trying to sound buoyant. I was actually shocked. "You know we can't get out of bed after we get tucked in, unless we're going to the bathroom or something like that!"
"Well…" Al said, looking guilty.
"Why do you look so guilty?" I asked him incredulously, sitting up and putting my glasses back on. "I'm so proud of you!"
He glared at me.
"What?"
"Nothing," he muttered. "Anyway, what did you do this time?"
"Ah, Al," I said knowingly, "I should have known you weren't just here to pay your dear old brother a visit. You're here for gossip!"
"Shut it, James," he said, sounding annoyed. "I just want to know why you had to go and ruin a perfectly good time."
"Well, there was a person, and I was wondering why they weren't at the party, so I investigated." I suddenly wanted to tell him, to confide in my brother. It felt weird. But I began to speak faster. "She's a girl, and I think she might be twins with that Sara girl. But she was holed up in her room all by herself! She says that she's not allowed to exist. I mean, no one can know she's there. It's horrible. Then," my voice got lower, and the stress of my memories came through in my voice, "then, their dad came in, and he was furious. So mad that he was screaming. And he tried to hit me."
Albus's eyes got huge. "He tried to hit you?"
"Yeah. It was scary. But then Dad came in. you should have seen him, Al. I have never seen him that mad. He looked like he could have cursed Mr. Barnes' face off! So he screamed at Mr. Barnes, then we left. That girl, though. She was crying on the stairs, begging me to stay. I wanted to stay so bad! So I was thinking," I hesitated at telling him my plan. He might rat me out. But I decided to tell him anyway. "I was thinking that tomorrow night; I'm going to sneak out to see her. Please don't' tell Mum and Dad!"
He sat there and thought for a minute, then pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked at me, determined. "How can I help?"
I stared at him incredulously. "You... you mean it?" I spluttered.
"This girl sounds like she needs help. We don't want her to grow up like dad did. That would be bad, I think. She needs a friend."
I won't lie. I hugged him. Hard.
"I'm so proud of you! So proud! My baby brother's turning devious!"
"I am not, James!" he growled at me, shoving my arms off. "I'm going back to bed." He stomped out the door.
"Sweet dreams!" I called after him. He closed the door behind him and I laid back down, taking my glasses off again and setting them in their spot on my bedside table. I tried to think about things, but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.