(A/N) Hey, guys. Here's another update. Sorry it took me so very, very long to fix the big empty spots. I'm working on this as hard as I can, with midterms and all.

I woke up the next morning in an excellent mood. I sat up, breathing deeply. Mum was cooking something for breakfast, and it smelled amazing. I put on my glasses and slid out of bed. I thumped down the stairs and plopped myself down at the dining room table, still in my pyjamas. Mum walked out with a plate. On it was a large, fluffy Belgian waffle, and some bacon. I munched happily on my bacon strips as Al, Lily and Dad all came down to the table. We sat at the table, talking and eating our breakfast. Apparently Al's science project thing was doing well. I talked about my acting class, which had just ended last week. I hoped to take the next level class next summer. Once everyone was finished eating, we took our plates out to the kitchen, where Mum cleaned them using magic. Apparently, she doesn't enjoy cleaning the Muggle way as much as she does cooking like them.

I was just about to go back upstairs to my room when Mum tapped my shoulder.

"Forget about your punishment already, James?" she asked with a smile. She handed me a paper. "Shower and brush your teeth, honey, and then get started on your chores." She patted my shoulder and walked away.

I looked at my chore list and groaned. It was huge! I felt like I was being tortured. But I didn't complain. I knew complaining would only reward me with extra chores.

I went upstairs and showered, got dressed and brushed my teeth. Then I got started on the chore list. I worked all day, stopping only for a lunch of grilled cheese and to go to the bathroom. By the time Mum called me for dinner, the only chore I had left was the dinner dishes. We all sat down around the table.

"How much did you get done today, James?" Dad asked me over his meatloaf. He had just arrived home before we sat down, so he was still in his work robes.

"All but the dinner dishes," I answered him, spooning mashed potatoes into my mouth.

"Excellent job, James!" he said. "I'm so proud of you! You must have worked so hard!" Albus snorted under his breath and Mum glared at him.

I shrugged. We chatted again, mostly listening to Dad recap his work day. We finished dinner and I cleared off the table. I loaded up the dishwasher, (which we had gotten just for occasions like this,) and washed the pots and pans without incident. I was just working on the knives we'd used during dinner when Al came into the kitchen.

"Did you have fun working all day, Jamie?" Al asked in a mocking voice.

"Oh, yeah!" I answered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "It was almost as fun as listening to my little idiot brother talk."

Al exploded. He shoved me forcefully and I fell forward. I felt a stabbing pain in my left forearm. Al and I stared at the sink in shock. Scarlet blood was pouring from a long, deep gash on my arm. We stared at the gushing blood for a moment, and then something clicked in Al's brain.

"Mum!" he shouted loudly, running out of the kitchen. "Dad! James is bleeding!"

Dad shot into the kitchen like a rocket, kneeling on the floor beside me. I had fallen over, the loss of blood making my head dizzy and weak. He touched the gash. I winced back in pain. His fingers came away bright red.

"Ginny, grab me the essence of Dittany!" he called, worry in his voice. "You know I'm no good with healing spells."

Mum ran into the room with a small bottle. She poured some of it onto my arm. I watched in amazement as the wound healed itself before our eyes, turning into a scab that looked weeks old.

Dad, meanwhile, with a wave of his wand, vanished all my blood.

"What happened, James?" Dad asked.

I hesitated. Al hadn't meant to hurt me, I knew that for sure. But he had done it. Should I tell?

Al beat me to it.

"I shoved him, Dad, and he fell onto the knife," he said, his eyes still wide behind his glasses.

"He didn't mean it!" I said hastily. "He didn't know I had a knife in the sink!"

"I honestly didn't mean to hurt him, Dad," Al said worriedly. "I'd never do something like this on purpose!"

"You're still in big trouble, Al," Dad told him. "Whether you meant to hurt your brother or not, you still did."

"That's not fair!" I said angrily. "If you have to punish him, then punish him like you would have if he had just shoved me onto the couch or something!"

All three of them looked at me like I was crazy. That may or may not have been because all I ever do is pick on Albus, but what's a guy to do?

"James is right, dear," Mum murmured suddenly. Dad sighed.

"I suppose he is, isn't he? Albus, go up to your room for a while."

Al nodded. I suppose he thought he deserved it.

"Did you only have that knife left?" Dad asked.

"Yeah."

"Go sit down and relax, James. I'll finish up. You did so well today. You deserve a break," he said.

"I can-" I started, getting up, but he silenced me with a look and I trudged out to the living room and flopped down on our tan sofa. About five minutes later, Al came back down the stairs with a weird look on his face. It seemed like he might have been crying.

"Albus…" Mum said warningly, but Al just walked up to me, gave me a hug, muttered "I'm sorry, James," and walked back up the stairs.

"That was… weird," I said, looking at Mum. She just smiled.

That night, after I was absolutely sure Mum and Dad were in bed, I snuck out. It was actually a lot easier to do that you might think. I walked quickly down our road, hoping none of the neighbors would notice my wanderings. I climbed the fence into the girl's backyard and proceeded to climb up to the top of the balcony. It took a lot of skill. Once I was safely up there, though, I rapped quietly on the window.

It took about a minute, but finally the girl opened her window.

"You!" she gasped, her face contorting with worry. "What're you doing here? If my dad-"

"Relax," I said calmly. "I sneak out all the time! And I haven't been caught yet."

She looked vaguely impressed. "But still, why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," I told her. "Can I come in?"

"Oh! Of course!" she said, backing up so that I could enter.

"I feel like a creeper," I muttered, and she grinned.

"So what have you been up to?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Cleaning," I told her. "I got in a lot of trouble for sneaking around your house, but I think your story softened Mum and Dad up a little bit, though."

"You told them about me?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course!" I said. "I've been worried about you, you know. You didn't get in trouble because of me, did you?"

She didn't answer, which confirmed my suspicions.

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped. "I didn't mean for you to get in trouble!"

"It's not your fault!"

Suddenly there was the sound of a door closing down the hall and footsteps coming toward the door. Our eyes went wide.

"Go!" she whispered urgently. I didn't need telling twice.

"Bye!" I whispered back at her before fleeing back out the window. I climbed down to the ground, vaulted the fence and sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me back to my house. I opened the door to find myself face to face with…

Al.

"Thank goodness you're finally back!" he said in a whisper. "Mum woke up to go to the bathroom once, and I thought she'd catch you out of bed for sure."

"I'm still surprised that you haven't ratted me out, Al," I said, impressed.

"We should get back to bed before one of them gets up again," he said with worry.

And so he and I went up the stairs as quietly as we could. We snuck back into our rooms, shutting our doors behind us. I crossed to my bed and climbed in, slipping off my glasses and lying back. I began to daydream about Hogwarts. I'd be going this year. I turned eleven in November. I was very, very excited. My aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents had all told us kids everything there was to know about the school, and my excitement was mounting more and more each day. My Uncle George, a notorious prankster and one of my many role models, had told me in secret that my dad had a map of the whole school. According to him, the map showed all the secret passageways and even showed all of the people inside the grounds. I was planning to go looking for the map in my dad's room soon. I fell asleep planning all the trouble I was going to cause. That school didn't know what was coming.

(A/N) Thanks for reading! Please review so I know you're reading! I'd love some constructive criticism, too!