Three Weeks Later...
James "Jimmy" Potter had been on a high as the summer break gave him chance to get away for a romantic week with his girlfriend in the Mediterranean.
Taking another point at the Red Bull Ring and a 12th place at the Hungaroring before the break, he was surfing on the clouds…
Until the reports came in that is.
Accusations of collusion between Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri by the Aston Martin team owner, Draco Malfoy.
Rumours of investigations into if there is an undisclosed, hidden, working relationship between the two teams…
If Red Bull Racing were involved…
And photos. Photographs of Al and Jimmy hugging their father before the Austrian Grand Prix, photos of Al and Harry talking in the paddock during the French Grand Prix and photos of Al on his laptop at resort the Potter family (apart from Jimmy) had stopped at for a week in Italy.
There had been calls for Harry to resign his role at AlphaTauri before he had even officially started, but those calls were resisted, even with the rumblings of another scandal to affect the parent company of the Italian based Formula One team.
Lawyers for the both teams were being mobilised in order to fight the baseless accusations, but one person still felt that they should offer their resignation, despite knowing they had no charges to answer.
His brother, Al, would leave his role as race engineer at the end of the season.
Malfoy claimed that the resignation was proof that the collusion had happened, and that there was an hidden working relationship between Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri.
Heading into the driver's briefing room at Spa-Francorchamps, Jimmy sighed. It had been an interesting summer break, but it was time to race.
He still had a feeling, however, trouble was going to happen.
3 days Previously...
Jimmy was laying on the bed in the master bedroom of the yacht that he had spent the week on, cruising around the Maltese Mediterranean coast, his girlfriend, Alison, lying beside him. Jimmy had just woke up after a dream he had, one that he would admit made him feel really happy.
He was sitting in the commentary box at the 100th Anniversary Grand Prix, commentating on the action from the race. The four time Champion was nervous, not because he was racing, or it was 30 years since his own debut at Silverstone, but for a different reason...
...his daughter was on her way to winning her first Grand Prix.
The final few laps were nerve-racking, as Lily Athena Potter was battling against the Ferrari of Justine Malfoy and the Williams of Marcus McLaggen, but Lily was in the lead of the race, her McLaren ahead by only fractions of a second. As she went into the final corner, McLaggen came up alongside of her, intent on an overtaking move.
But Lily held firm, holding onto her position, whilst McLaggen slammed into the side of her car, sending her spinning off the track. She managed to recover, reaching the chequered flag .
She had won!
Lily had done it!
Jimmy was really happy. It was his daughter's first grand prix win, and in her first season as well . He couldn't have been more proud of his little girl.
As he watched the post-race interview, he could hear the crowd cheering from the podium area. He turned and looked out through the screen, seeing his daughter on the top step of the podium, the race winner's trophy in her hand.
Since the debut of Sarah Brown, back in 2026, women in Formula One had been more common, with varying levels of success. But Jimmy was especially proud, as his daughter was a race winner herself, and on the track that had met her mother, thirty years ago.
As Lily left the platform, the crowd roared. Jimmy looked over to his dad, Harry, the CEO of the JLP Racing team, and smiled.
Feeling a arm being put around him, he saw his wife, Alison, smiling at him. He leaned in to kiss his wife, and they shared a moment of joy.
Jimmy Potter was a happy man.
"I love you, James Sirius Potter" the person who was laying next to him said, her finger stroking his toned chest. "Ever since our first date, it's been magical."
He smiled, the thought of how much he had fallen for Alison since they had met, the eldest of the 4 Potter siblings knew that his happiness could last forever.
"I love you too, Alison Hannah Longbottom" he said, leaning in to kiss his girlfriend. Suddenly his phone started ringing.
Reaching behind him to turn the phone off, he heard Alison's phone starting to ring.
"For the love of god" Alison said, annoyed with whoever was calling. Turning around, she went to turn her phone off when she saw that it was her brother.
"What!" she shouted as she answered the phone. Listening to what her brother said, she grabbed the remote control for the television
"Tune into Sky Sports News." she told Jimmy. "Quickly"
"Potter, who was recently appointed as the Team Principal for the AlphaTauri team, is accused of sharing confidential information with the Alfa Romeo team, using one of his sons as a conduit. We head live to Sky Sport's Natalie Pinkham for more on this."
"Yes, the FIA has announced that it has received information from Aston Martin, including photographs of meetings, alleging that the Red Bull backed racing team has been sharing information to the Alfa Romeo team, citing recent improvements in the performance in the car driven by James Potter, the son of the incoming AlphaTauri Team Principal.
"Harry Potter was not available for comment, however a spokesperson for AlphaTauri has denied all the accusations. We spoke to a lawyer for the Potter family, who said that the photographs depicted were of a normal father/son relationship, with the incoming Team Principal merely concerned about his son, who had been involved in a crash on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix. The lawyer also stated that he would be liaising with the FIA and the World Motorsport Council in order to have the "baseless allegations withdrawn"."
Jimmy looked at the television and frowned. He instantly knew who was responsible for this.
"Malfoy" he spat, grabbing his phone. "Fucking Malfoy."
Harry Potter was in his office at his home in Brackley, Northamptonshire, when his phone rang.
"Jimmy? What's up?" he answered, glad that his son was calling him.
Harry hadn't seen his eldest son for over two weeks, with a trip over to the Italian city of Faenza and the Austrian town of Fuschl am See (as well as visits to the UK headquarters of the AlphaTauri team in Bicester) keeping Harry busy, then a week away with Hermione, Al, Rose and Hugo at the Italian coastal resort of Costa Verde.
During that holiday, Harry had been told by Rose that she had dumped her boyfriend, that she had listened to her brother's advice.
The Potter family had only been back from their holidays a day when he had had a email from his lawyer, a former colleague of his wife's named Daphne Greengrass, to say that the FIA had received allegations that he had been passing documents and secrets to his son, Albus, at the French Grand Prix, as well as at the Austrian Grand Prix.
"Yes, I've spoken with Daphne about it, and she's already put out a press release." Harry told his son. Sighing, he looked at the photo on his desk of him and his sister, arms around each other, Harry celebrating his sister's first World Championship. "It makes me laugh how there's all this fuss over me being your dad."
"I'm going to have your granddad and uncle to have a chat with Frédéric. Listen son, things are going to be tough for the next couple of weeks, so I'd follow Frédéric's advice, same with the others as well."
Harry listened as Jimmy tell him about how he was worried about Harry's new job.
"I know, I'm having a meeting with Dietrich, Franz and Helmut in the next couple of days so I won't be around for a few days when you get home. Your mum's getting already spitting feathers over it all, saying that the press is a bunch of, quote, foul loathsome evil little cockroaches, unquote."
Both Potter men laughed at that, knowing that Hermione had a bit of a vicious streak when it came to the press.
"Yeah, she's already said that if Skeeter comes within a hundred miles of the house, she'll sue her quicker than Skeeter could say 'phone hacking'!" Harry said, chuckling at the memory of Hermione's rant. Turning serious though, he sighed. "I would say things will get better son, but you know those vultures. Remember Jimmy, we're completely innocent of any wrongdoing, its just baseless accusations."
"I know dad. Give my love to mum."