James Sirius Potter's Story

( written in collaboration with CharlotteV )

Francis shuffled in his bed, turning over to see the sun peaking through the blinds in front of the window. He rubbed his eyes and yawned quietly, not trying to wake up Alice who was sleeping next to him, as always. They always shared a bed and cuddled since they were babies, when their parents tried to split them up, one of the twins eventually went back to the other. He would always wake up earlier than the rest of his family, but he would wait for his twin to get up if she was at the edge of the bed. He pushed himself to sit up. He turned his neck left to right and it cracked, stimulating it. "Hey, Alice... Wake up." He nudged his sister with his hand. "Wake up."

Alice was having a truly spectacular dream. She was queen, of course. But not the kind sitting around in pretty dresses waiting for others to get shit done. No, she was dressed in armor (though, she had to admit, it was pretty armor... and made by goblins, because she was a motherfucking queen), with a sword in one hand and her wand in the other. The dragon she was currently fighting was about to learn that she was not playing.

Granted, that fire the arsehole had wasn't playing either. The dragon let out an angry sounding roar, lifting it's monstrous head and refocusing on her, his tail whipping out to take down a collection of buildings. "Hey!" Alice snapped. "Those are mine!" She was backing up so she could make a run and leap, but just before she could take off, Francis was in front of her, blocking her path.

"Hey, Alice," he said, and Alice made a face at him as she attempted to see past his form and glare at the dragon over his shoulder. She was coming for it. "Wake up."

"Francis," Alice sighed, adjusting the grip on her sword. "I'm a little busy right now! Saving our kingdom and whatnot!"

"Wake up." Alice blinked her eyes slowly, first out of sleepiness and then because everything was fuzzy. It didn't take her long to realize she was in her brothers room, and she groaned as she shuffled closer to his warmth, curling up around his seated form. "Arsehole," she grumbled, "You always wake me up before I get to kill the dragon."

Francis looked at Alice, still lying down fast, asleep. He decided to nudge her again before she slowly opened her eyes and groaned before she shuffled closer. "Well, that's not my fault. Besides, if I didn't wake you up, mum or dad would have. It's back to school today after all." As much as Francis loved to cuddle with Alice, he nudged her body, next to his leg, out of the way so he could get out of bed.

Once he got out, he stretched his legs and arms, before turning back towards the bed and yanking the sheet off Alice. "We're done cuddling. Out of my bed. I've gotta make it anyway." He was very strict about his bed. If he wasn't in it, no one else was. And only a few people were actually allowed on his bed at that point anyway. He would always make it before a long trip. But when he was a very messy sleeper.

He picked up his laptop from his desk at the corner of the room and put it into his suitcase. "These magical folk should really get in touch with the technological side of the muggle lifestyle, you know? Wait, have you even started packing?" He turned to his twin sister, raising his eyebrows as he held his luggage, with his owl on top, still asleep.

"Francis," Alice whined, making grabby hands for her brother when he kicked her away. Her fingers skimmed his night shirt, but he was faster than her, and her arms fell back against the bed with a soft plop as she groaned and buried her face in the pillows. "I don't even want to go back to school."

It wasn't true, not really. Alice loved school. She loved her lessons and her friends and most importantly Quidditch. She'd had a whole summer of no magic and she was itching to get back in the swing of things. But school also meant not having Francis and arms length away. He'd be all the way across the castle in a stupid tower behind a stupid door with a stupid knocker that could outsmart her. Stupid fucking Ravenclaws and their stupid fucking riddles.

She squawked indigently as the covers were suddenly yanked off her, leaving her unprotected and assaulted by cold. Alice wasn't nearly the morning person her twin was, as she curled up into herself and groaned some more, followed by a string of what were probably curse words muffled by the pillows.

Francis was talking, but she was only halfheartedly listening, knowing it was probably about the fact that she needed to get out of his bed. She sat up finally, rubbed her eyes and snatched her glasses off the bedside table, pushing them up her nose and blinking owlishly at her twin when she finally realized what he said.

"Of course," she lied with a slow yawn as she stretched. "Well... mostly."

"What do you mean by 'mostly?'" Francis squinted at his sister, practically hibernating in his bed, "You haven't done anything, have you?" He sighed and hung his head low, slightly shaking it. He pulled it back up and rolled his eyes, "Can you please get out of my bed?" He was tempted to just grab her legs and drag her out of there. "On your way, can you get my contacts and glasses cases please?" He hadn't finished packing yet, but he was nearly there, maybe if Augusta was finished she could help Alice. But, chances were that she wasn't finished either and there was even more put on his plate.

Alice opened her mouth, but honestly lying to Francis' was pretty pointless. He could always tell, and it wasn't worth the argument. So instead she just let him get to the truth on his own. "Prat," she mumbled. "Why do I love you so much."

She finally dragged herself out of bed, making sure to be annoyingly slow about it, before she padded her way across the room, still yawning. She collected the cases her brother had asked for, tossing them perfectly onto the bed. "So... are you going to help me, or not?"

Francis shrugged, answering her clearly rhetorical question, "I dunno, to be honest. Am I a good cuddler? Do I make you look awesome from how pathetic I am?" He watched her sister slowly crawl out of his bed. "Uh... Hm..." He pretended to wonder about his decision, leaving his technically little sister in suspense. "Um... Fine. Just lemme finish mine first, okay?" He said as he packed a few more things on to his trolley. "I need to get changed, then I'll help you out, cover your eyes."

"Prat," Alice muttered again, but she obediently pushed her glasses up into her hair and covered her eyes with her hands. When she was younger, she used to get onto him for his self-depreciating humor, but the older she got the more she seemed to realize he needed to do it, for whatever reason. Sometimes, she even laughed right along with him. She kind of wondered if he thought that if he could say it about himself first, it wouldn't hurt as much when someone else did. "You're going to sit with me on the train, right?" Despite the fact that Alice had a multitude of friends, the first day still made her feel nervous, and there was a crushing weight that settled around her when she had to be separated from Francis. Their mother said it was separation anxiety and that she needed to work on it. Francis usually held her hands down so she wouldn't throw up a pair of very rude fingers in response.

"I'm the prat? You're the one who can't get in to the Ravenclaw Tower." Francis loved to make fun of his sister for that, it was funny seeing her reaction when she got answers wrong. Sometimes he would deliberately give her the wrong one just to see it. He took off his pajamas and changed into the final articles of clothing in his cupboard and drawers. "You can uncover your eyes now." He walked over to his bed and picked up his two cases. His poster-covered room was figuratively empty. The tables were clean, the cupboards were empty and his drawers contained nothing. He could barely get his bags shut. "Of course I am." He opens his door and turns to Alice, behind him. "Where's your stuff?"

"That knocker is a right bitch and you know it!" Alice snapped, the rage she felt at being reminded of that stupid tower waking her up finally. She was still pouting when she uncovered her eyes, dropping her glasses back into place. "All over my floor..."

She could have been joking, but when Alice kicked open the door to her room, she wasn't. Her room was wreck. Quidditch posters with corners hanging down, floor almost not visible, bottles of water rubbishing up her nightstand, bed unmade. There was a big, long-haired black cat sitting in the middle of a blanket nest on her bed, one green eye opening in annoyance as he gazed at the twins, then huffed and decidedly turned his back on them. Really, Alice couldn't blame him. Puck spent more time in her room than she did.

"In my defense," Alice started, kicking stuff out of the way and pulling her truck to the middle of her room. "Everything on the floor is the stuff I'm taking! So it's kind of sorted!"

"Nah, you just have to know the answers." He chuckled and looked down, running a hand through his hair. "Wait, what?" He followed his shorter but stronger sister to her room. She ferociously kicked the door wide open, "Was that really necessary?"

He tried to navigate her very unorganized room, tip-toeing through the small gaps there were, cautious of just in case he broke something. He jumped on to the bed and sat with Puck, lightly scratching his cheek through a gap in the blanket. "Yeah, kind of. Kind of as in absolutely not."

Alice ignored Francis, which was something she did quite often, while she moved stuff out of the way with her foot before sitting down, picking up random articles and glancing at them before tossing them into her trunk. "Shut up," she mumbled, then glanced up when she heard a loud purr start up from her bed. "Puck, you dirty traitor. Stop distracting him, I need his help!"

Her cat peeked out at her through the blankets again, then stood and stretched for a moment before continuing to drape himself all over her brothers lap, demanding love and also making any movements on Francis' part that much harder.

"Well it isn't!" Francis said with a small laugh afterwards, still scratching the cat as it purred and nuzzled against his hand. He ran his hand down the cat's back as it lay on his lap. "I'll just..." He picked up the cat and sat down on the floor on the other side of Alice, he puts the cat next to him and it moves back into his lap. "So... This is gonna take a while. And we've got... about an hour. Discarding the about thirty minute drive and five minutes for breakfast."

Alice sighed dejectedly, but set to work. Which mostly meant she threw stuff in her truck and trusted her brother to take it back out, move stuff around, and put it back together in an organized manner. They worked well together because, despite all their differences, they thought a lot a like, and managed with very little bickering and only a few interruptions from her arsehole of a cat.

"There," Alice murmured when she finally got her trunk to close. She and Francis were both sitting on it. It was the only way. Now her room actually looked clean, and Puck was sitting kindly on his own little truck of supplies, looking very bored and posh. "Thank you for your services, dear brother."

"We've got... forty five minutes. Wow. That's surprising. Quicker than I thought." He got off Alice's trunk. "Let's go get some breakfast and head out the door, huh?" He walked out of Alice's room and had some fresh pancakes their mother made before heading out the door and making it to Platform 9 3/4 after about twenty five minutes in a quiet drive to Kings Cross Station.

Platform 9 and 3/4 was as packed as it always was, with first years cuddled up to their parents and second years walking around all smug because they felt like they knew what they were doing. Alice grinned and waved at a few friendly faces she saw, but stuck close to Francis, not ready to let him go yet.

Francis glanced around the large platform, looking for those certain groups of antagonizing people who go out of their way to make him feel horrible. But, Alice would usually kick their asses if she caught them. He clung to her as if she was gun at his hip. "It's about fifteen minutes to eleven. Don't you think we should get on the train?"

"You're such a worry wart, Francis," Alice mumbled under her breath, but she gave a nod anyway and hooked her arm through his. At the very least, getting on early would get them a better seat. Not that Alice was against pushing her way in somewhere she'd barely fit, but it bothered Francis, and she didn't want him to leave her, so. Sacrifices and what not. "Let's go then." Puck unwound himself from the top of her trunk where he'd been perched, dropping onto the train first and weaving through legs to find them a compartment that would be empty. His royalness liked to have enough space to stretch out in.

"No, I'm just..." Francis didn't continue on the sight of one of the groups of adversaries. He followed Puck, with Alice by his side into an empty compartment, "Thank god. We're okay... I'm okay..." He quietly whispered to himself under his breath. "You can go with your friends if you want. Puck will keep me company." He patted the cat by his side, purring and rubbing against him.

Alice looked a little worriedly over her shoulder as stored her stuff in the overhead compartment and sat down in one of the empty seats, stretching her feet out. She didn't know what he said, but she figured he whispered it for a reason, which made her wonder what she'd missed. "That little tosser loves you more than me," Alice murmured, aiming a glare at her cat. Puck glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before arching up into Francis' touch even more, his purring impossibly getting louder. "Tosser," Alice repeated, slower and with more meaning, then looked up at her brother. "And no way in hell! I am staying right here before school separates us."

"School won't separate us, Alice. We always did find a way to get into eachother's common rooms so we could cuddle. Same with lunch, we always found our way to eachother's tables without getting in trouble." He chuckled and looked back down at the fluffy black cat. "You can bring your friends over here if you want. Even Albus. No matter how much I hate the bastard."

Alice nodded a little and picked at a loose thread at the bottom of her shirt. She knew he was right, they would always find a way back to each other, and at this point most of the Professors had decided to leave them alone. The Ravenclaws didn't mind her company, and most of the Gryffindor's actually liked Francis, so it was okay. It was fine. She snorted at the mention of Albus and shook her head. "No thanks. Malfoy spent the summer abroad, which means they've been apart this whole time. They're probably going to be horribly indecent company. Granted... having Albus' attention elsewhere might make him somewhat tolerable."

"Well. He's probably gonna show up anyway and be a total asshole. Or make out with Scorpius the whole damn time. Who are you other friends? Besides Augusta." The cat moved into his lap as he scratched him. He was a cute thing, but a total little shit. An on and off again type of love. Whenever Francis was patting him or giving him food, the cat loved him, next minute, he totally didn't give a shit.

Alice couldn't argue with that. Albus would undoubtedly show up eventually, he had a habit of doing that. "Or, Merlin forbid, stick his hand down Scorpius' trousers." She shuddered violently, because she'd seen it happen once. Scorpius had put a stop to it with a glare that could probably kill small animals, but Albus had just thrown back his head and laughed. Little fucker.

She gaped a little bit. "I have plenty of other friends! Lorcan will probably be around soon. And Lucy Weasley, I like her. And James is nice, you like James. Or, hey, if Albus pops up when can just invite Lily over and he'll scram." Or be an even worse asshole, either were a possibility. It was hard to know without gauging his mood before hand.

"Urgh." He shuddered in unison with her and slightly gagged. He put his hands up in defense and widened his eyes, "Hey, I didn't say you had any other friends. I just said Augusta doesn't count!" He looked at the door, seeing another student that she had mentioned, "Speaking of the devil."

James Potter was a light sleeper. He liked to think that it came from a lifetime of sleepovers surrounded my a veritable horde of cousins (and one sneaky uncle) with an unwavering obsession with pranks and a very bare sense of restraint. He had received almost two decades of training, all so that he could snap off the muggle alarm clock beside his bed just a second after it went off. Groggily, he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. The sun was barely starting to cast a greyish glow across the horizon and the house was silent.

Perfect.

James jumped out of bed, gathered a few choice items from his desk and slipped out of his room into the corridor. The Potter children shared the entire second floor of 12 Grimmauld Place. He crept past the bathroom, past Lily's room (he would come back to her in a moment), and stopped at the door closest to stairwell. Slowly, so as to be as sneaky as possible, James reached out and grasped the doorknob, testing it gently. Locked. James cradled his items in the crook of one arm and reached into the waistband of his pajama bottoms...

Oh, bugger, he groaned internally. Of course, after all of his careful preparation, he would forget his wand in his room. And it was entirely unreasonable to expect to sneak all the way back to his room. Luckily, James Potter always had a Plan B.

Quietly, James rummaged through his items for a moment before pulling out what looked to be a small, silvery sphere. He tapped a spot on the sphere and eight spindly limbs emerged, waving crazily in the air. James set the sphere on the ground and it toddled toward the door, squeezing itself underneath. James pressed himself against the wall next to the door and waited.

"Three," he muttered to himself gleefully, "Two... One..."

There was a terrific bang from inside of the room and a plume of thick, purple-black smoke billowed from underneath the door. James howled with laughter and pounded on the door.

"Wake up, ickle Alby!" he shouted in a sing-song voice. "First day of schoooooooool!"

He dashed back down the hall to Lily's room and happily kicked the door open, hard enough that the doorknob dented in the plaster (which had been magically repaired so many times that his mother didn't even get annoyed anymore).

"Rise and shine, Potter!" he shouted, throwing the rest of his stash of items into the air. As one, fifteen tiny figurines of their mother on a broomstick took to the air, zooming around the room, shouting obscenities in thin, squeaky voices at each other as they threw tiny quaffle back and forth. Ginny had flatly forbidden any of them to buy the souvenirs as soon as they'd been discovered on a trip to Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, and of course, James had bought fifty as soon as her back was turned. A few of them started throwing quaffles at Lily's nest of red hair. "Back to Hogwarts!" he bellowed, slamming the door and locking his sister in with the swarm of chasers. He strode quickly back to the bathroom, locking the door soundly. On the floor above, he could hear his parents shifting around, sufficiently awakened by all of the commotion. He sighed as he started up the shower.

He loved the first day of school.



When the gently knock came on the door, Grey was sitting in the window sill, sipping instant coffee, watching the city wake up. She glanced at the door, but didn't move.

"Wake up call, young miss!" The middle-aged muggle woman who ran the boarding house was clear and sweet. With a sigh, Grey crossed the room and pressed her forehead against the door.

"I'm awake, thank you," she called through the door. The woman hummed in acknowledgement and Grey heard her shuffling away down the hall. She drifted quietly back to her seat in the window sill. She had more than enough money to have put herself up in a magical boarding house, but Grey had always been oddly comfortable around muggles. There was something very... transparent about the whole thing.

It'd been one of the many, many things her mother... disapproved of.

She'd been awake for hours, since sometime just after three a.m. At first, the idea of being sent to a foreign school, away from her mother for the first time in her life, she'd been thrilled. It'd seemed like the answer she'd been searching for, the way out. Now, her stomach was rolling, her knees felt weak, and all she wanted was to go home. She hadn't exactly had any friends per se at the Academy... but she had been comfortable. The professors, at least, had liked her in their own way. She had a routine. Now, she was expected to do it all over again in a foreign country...

All alone.

The street below was starting to crowd up and Grey was seriously considering just crawling back into bed and charming the door closed for eternity, but suddenly, there was a sharp tap on the window. Grey's heart plummeted as she recognized the stately Great Horned owl balanced on the sill. With shaking fingers, she pushed the window open and untied the bright red envelope from the owl's leg. It flew off immediately, and the edges of the envelope started to smoke. Biting her lip, Grey ripped open the envelope and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the screaming. For a long moment there was silence and then,

Don't embarrass me, Alana. I'll be watching.

The voice was soft. Cold. Grey pressed her face into her knees and took great gulping breaths, willing her heart to stop fluttering so frantically in her chest. There was a soft thump and a meow and Checks pressed her face against her leg, purring loudly. Grey buried her fingers in her long fur and felt that familiar cold, numb sensation drift over her mind. Everything was easier to deal with when she just... refused to care.

If her mother's howler had done anything, it'd reminded her that she could do anything if it meant she didn't have to go back home.

She gathered her trunk and locked Checks into his carrier slowly, still fighting down sickness. It wasn't difficult to get her things down to the street or into the cab to take her to King's Cross Station. It wasn't even hard to navigate her huge store of belongings into a cart and make her way to the train platforms. It was however difficult to figure out which one was nine and three quarters. Obviously, the platform was hidden from muggle view, but she should be able to see it at least. She spent a long minute staring at the area where platform nine met platform ten. There had to be some kind of trick to seeing it or getting there... with a sigh, she leaned wearily against the brickwork pillar...

And promptly fell straight through, cart and all.

Checks hissed as her carrier fell from the cart with a snap. She snatched up everything that had fallen, face hot, and looked around to make sure no one had noticed her clumsiness. She definitely didn't see anyone laughing, but that certainly didn't mean much. She pulled her things onto the train without speaking to anyone, searching for an empty car. The train seemed to be filling quickly. The best she could find was a car with one girl who seemed to be about her age. There was a caged owl in the seat next to her... it didn't seem like she was waiting for anyone. Grey bit her lip, took a deep breath and knocked against the side of the open compartment door. She promptly felt stupid for actually knocking.

"Hi. Um, do you think I could..." she gestured dumbly towards the empty seat across from the girl. She could feel her cheeks warming up again. "Is that seat-- you know-- um, taken?" she stammered.

---

---

(Written in collaboration with CharlotteV & Literally)

The previous night, Lily had made sure she had everything. She was going through her checklists thoroughly. She even went from the bottom up a few times to clarify. Lily even had her mother double check that she had everything in her luggage. Sighing with relief, Lily was finally done and she had sat down to enjoy a game of wizard chess against her father. Lily had learned to play wizard chess from her uncle Ron quite awhile ago. Her and Hugo played all the time.

"You beat me again." Harry said with a chuckle. Lily was excited to have beat father, but she usually did. It was a lot more entertaining to play against Uncle Ron, as he was much better at the game. "I think we should put it to rest for tonight Lil." He said to her as a suggestion. The only reaction he got from her was a frown, and when she looked at her father to meet his gaze she gave him the puppy dog eyes. "Are you going to let a little girl beat you?" She asked in a mocking voice.

Harry chuckled, and shook his head. "No, I'm simply putting you on pause until Christmas. Maybe practice so I can give you more of a challenge. It's eleven Lil, you should go to bed." Lily groaned at the sound of being told to go to bed. She started to pack the game up and eventually went off to her room.

It was around one am that Lily ahd finally fallen asleep. Her dreams were mediocre that night. The usual dreams that came up, such as Hogwarts and what have you. Sometimes she'd have the nightmare of her parents telling her that they were expecting again. Lily liked being the youngest and the thought of younger siblings was weird now that she was fourteen.

None the less, Lily had hoped to sleep in a little bit as she had packed last night. For what didn't seem like long, soon she was startled by her door being kicked open. Sitting up abruptly she rubbed her eyes looking around. Soon enough her room was filled with these stupid figurine things that James had bought. Lily swore she was going to break each and every single one of them.

Lily quickly grabbed her bath robe and threw it on as she got out of bed. Her red hair was a mess as she forgot to put it up before bed the night prior. She tried the door, and as she suspected, locked. What a twit. "James!" Lily hollered out obviously angry. She rummaged through the front pocket of her luggage and found her wand.

"Arresto momentum." Lily said to the things flying in her room to slow them down, so they'd be less of a burden. Slowly Lily picked them out of the air and broke them in half. "Alohomora." Lily said and pointed her wand at the lock and the door unlocked. "Bloody hell James." She grumbled and picked them up and walked into the hall. She already seen Albus' door open and the bathroom door was open.

It seemed as if Albus had kicked the door open, as now her father was up there holding Albus back. With Lily's tiny frame she could tell that she could get into the bathroom with the little stupid figurines.

Lily ran into the bathroom, opened the curtain a little and threw in his 'toys'. "Piss off James, if I find anymore, I'm burning them." Lily snapped storming out of the bathroom, as she did she turned on the tap and flushed the toilet to make sure the water got extra hot for him and with that she stormed back to her room and slammed her door shut to get ready for the day.

"I'll have a bit of fun when I break his neck," Albus growled, making another lunge for it. Before he could manage though, he saw a flash of red hair, and realized his sister had slipped between him and the now opened bathroom door. Harry didn't dare let him go, obviously more preoccupied with the child more prone to violence, and Albus gave up his struggle to try and see what his little sister was up to.


The shower curtain was pulled back just enough for her to throw something in, she snapped out a threat, and then she turned on her heels. Before she made her very angry exit, she flushed the toilet. Albus snorted so hard it almost hurt, while his father heaved a sigh and finally let his son go; Lily really could be quite vicious when she wanted to.

"He should really know better than to pull pranks on us in the morning, Dad," Albus pointed out, then patted his father on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go get breakfast."

James burst into laughter again as he heard Albus raging down the hallway. He flipped the shower back off and jumped into the tub (the more easily defensible position) as his brother kicked in the door. He was really regretting forgetting his wand in his room, but Albus was equally as likely to deck him as he was to hex him. Luckily, his father appeared and wrestled Albus away. He was just about to stick his head out the door when Lily darted into the bathroom.

"Piss off James," she snarled. "If I find anymore, I'm burning them." She turned on her heel and stalked from the room, though not before she turned on the tap, spraying him with water. James sputtered and wiped his face. Suddenly, he heard the sound of the toilet flushing and the water was suddenly scalding. He yelped and tumbled from the tub.

"Christ, Lily, what are you trying to do, cook me?" he shouted. He clutched his chest dramatically and wheezed for a few seconds. He opened his eyes to see his father watching him with a frown. He grinned.

"Morning, Dad," he said sunnily. Harry just shook his head, and closed the door calling for Ginny to put on the kettle.

The rest of the ride to Kings Station was a long one, filled with bickering between the three children.
~~~~~

Upon arriving at the station and getting her stuff out of the car, Lily was walking with her mom. They had been talking back and forth about the upcoming school year and different classes she'd have to take. They ended their conversation with an embrace. Lily let go and turned around to get in line for the train.

She was about to walk in, but Albus was standing in the way. He had just stopped was even moving. Lily groaned under her breath and she saw an opening to get up into the train. She swiftly moved over to the entrance and put her luggage in, in front of her as she got on behind it. Feeling confident in her ability, she soo felt a taller body smack into her back side. "Bloody hell, watch where you're going Alby!" Lily snapped.

Albus had to admit, it was his fault, he hadn't been paying attention. He was looking for a certain blonde haired boy that usually towered over the crowd, so it was really his fault that he slammed into his sister. Except last he'd checked, she'd been behind him. "Well maybe you shouldn't just stop in front of people, Lily," Albus shot back.

The blame could easily be her fault, but he wasn't moving in the first place either. "Maybe, if you hadn't stopped first looking for lover boy, this wouldn't have happened." She shot back slowly moving forward, as the people in front of her had got jammed up. "You imply that this is my fault, just like the incident with the toilet seat a month ago!"

Albus opened his mouth to snap off something about Scorpius, but he didn't really want to prove her right, so he didn't bother. The fucking toilet seat incident though. "That wasn't my fault either! You should have looked! Honestly, in our family, do you really not consider glancing at things before you decide it's safe to put your arse on it?"

"I didn't ask to be born female, Albus." She said grumbling a little bit. Of course it had to be her fault for everything. That was how it worked living in the world of Albus Potter. Nothing was ever his fault. They walked a bit farther into the train and were now in the corridor. "Not only the toilet seat, but you cheated at wizard chess! There's no way you could have beaten me otherwise. That's my thing."

Albus narrowed his eyes at his sisters back and had half the mind to tell her that she should be grateful he even bothered to put the seat up in the first place, instead of pissing all over it, but they were starting to get wary looks so he kept his mouth shut. Proper training from behind home all summer.

Albus snorted and rolled his eyes at her next form of complaint. "I didn't cheat," he ground out. But of course he cheated. Fairly well, if he did say so himself. "But if I had, it was only because some redheaded little prat named Lily Potter ate all the chocolate biscuits. That were mine, by the way."

When they kept walking down the corridor, she looked through some of the compartments to see if she could find the Longbottom twins. She stopped in her tracks when he mentioned the chocolate biscuits and she looked over her shoulder shooting daggers at him. "Bloody hell Alby! They're just biscuits! Besides the fact, mum said I could have them, you're just being a gannet!"

"By the way, I'm sitting with Francis and Alice this year." She said matter of factly and kept strolling down the corridor. It only made sense that she did. Albus would just pick on Francis the whole time, at least Lily was friends with the guy. "Besides the fact, you have your blond boy toy to share a compartment with."

"Yeah, MY biscuits!" Albus shot back, almost running into his sister again because of the way she stopped to glare at him. It was annoying as hell. Her statement caught him off guard for a moment, but then he shook his head and growled out, "No you bloody well aren't! They're my friends and I'm going to sit with them! Also, don't call Scorpius that, it's rude." Albus actually thought it was hilarious, but words like 'boy toy' did tend to make Malfoy crass.

"I'll buy you new ones, they're just biscuits!" Lily snapped at Albus shaking her head as they continued on. She growled back at him, "Alby! They're just as much my friends as they are yours! You aren't even friends with Francis! Stop being a twit about it!" Lily was getting agitated. All summer the two hadn't argued once, because their parents would give them flak for it. Besides that, the little stunts James had pulled made it so Lily hadn't slept the amount she had wanted to, speaking of the devil. Lily saw him and she shook her head. "That bloody moron, I'm going to get him back." She grumbled.

Albus wanted to yell at her that it wasn't even about the biscuits, but then...he didn't realize what else he was actually upset about. Except that he was tired...and they'd both been holding all this shit in from day one. They each hated getting talked to by their parents. He made an offended noise when she snapped at him. "Excuse me, I am so friends with Francis!" Maybe his definition of 'friends' was a little off but...

Before he could keep arguing, Lily's tone changed and he arched an eyebrow, leaning over her a bit to catch sight of their brother. Albus hadn't even noticed him going off on his own, too caught up in his tryst with Lily. "Let me know when you make your move," Albus mumbled. "I'd love to help out."

It had seemed that the two Potter children had calmed down some. They were both tired, and they had both held in so much since the start of summer. Heaven forbid they couldn't fight in front of some of their cousins either because they were nosey and told their parents all the time. "Will do. We need to teach the prat a lesson. A good one at that. Temporary truce until justice is served?" Lily offered sticking her hand out to her brother to confirm their truce.

Albus honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd agreed with Lily over something, at least honestly. He knew how sharp her mind was, though, and he could already imagine the scheme they'd come up with to get back at James. So, eventually, he lifted his hand and took hers. "Truce. Go sit with the Longbottom's. Tell Alice hi for me, 'ight?" he smiled a little, then nodded past her shoulder. "I see my blond boy toy anyway."

For once, Lily smiled in a conversation with Albus. It was rare to say the least. Unless they were both laughing at James. Only thing they really could agree on. She chuckled a bit at Albus using the term she had used for Malfoy previously. "Don't have too much fun now." Lily said with a wink and she went further down the corridor and finally found the compartment Alice and Francis were in. When she entered she heard Francis speak and she smirked.

"And the devil shall arrive." Lily said with a smile as she came into the compartment and put her luggage up and away right before she plopped down next to Alice. "Alby says, hi." She said directed to Alice.

James enjoyed the ride to the train. He would never admit it-- well, okay, he would probably admit it-- but he loved messing with his little siblings, arguing and bickering with them. Maybe it was because deep down, he knew that all of the words were just words. If there was ever need, the Potters would be there for one another in an instant. And given the temper of the younger Potters, they would be there for one another with some particularly spectacular results.

As they arrived at the train station, he made a big show of kissing his mother's cheek, picking her up with the force of his hug. She laughed and pushed him off affectionately. He hugged his father as well and then skirted a wide circle around Lily and Albus (who were world champion grudge-holders) before heading over to a group of friends. He hadn't mentioned it, but he felt... a certain way this time around on the train. There was something weird about the idea that this was his last first day of school...

When the time came, he climbed onto the train with everyone else. Of course, he had procrastinated and now most of the compartments were filling up. He passed a compartment Lorcan, Lysander, and his cousins Roxy and Freddie, but he just waved as he went past. It was a bit crowded in there, especially with everyone's pets milling around. He passed another compartment with Victoire and considered going in, but then he caught sight of his brother and Scorpius lounging across from her. Better to give Alby a bit of time... He thought the same thing as he passed Alice's compartment, watching her chat happily with Lily. Lily would forgive him more quickly than Albus, but still.

Finally, he came to a compartment with only one girl in it, although it looked like someone else had settled in there as well. A gorgeous barn hooted softly to his own barn owl, Dawn. He entered without knocking, stowing his trunk in the high shelves. He could kill a couple of hours here and then probably make his way back to Alice and Lily's compartment.

"Morning," James said as he threw himself down onto the cushions across from the girl, who looked a little flustered. "Don't think I've met you before. I'm James Potter." The girl cleared her throat, going a little pink, and was just about to speak when another girl bustled into the compartment.

"Sorry for the delay. There was a tussle, nothing to worry about." Now it was James' turn to go pink. Of course this would be Dakota Wood's compartment. He crossed his arms and for a moment considered bolting, Alby and Lily would get over it themselves, but Dakota was still in the doorway. "So, what was your name again?" she said to the girl. It seemed she hadn't noticed him yet.

[color=008000]"Oh--"[/color] his voice came out almost a squeak, and he cleared his throat. [color=008000]"Hey, Wood,"[/color] he said.




The girl-- Dakota-- jumped up, saying something about "prefects" as she left and Grey flopped down onto the bench, throwing her arms over her head. In the few weeks she'd stayed in London, she'd realized just how much she would have to deal with the language barrier. A surprising number of words here made absolutely no sense to her... Still, she was happy to be alone for a few minutes. She needed to collect herself. It was a strain, being around so many new people, knowing there there were still more completely new experiences ahead of her.

She was kind of starting to feel sick again just thinking about it.

Suddenly, a dark-haired boy strode into the compartment, stowing his luggage and taking the seat diagonal to hers, next to the window. Grey sat up in a hurry. He had the kind of easy confidence that Grey had always envied, the kind that made other people flock to him. He introduced himself as James Potter and Grey went pink. She had met his father before, of course, during one of the millions of mixers her mother had dragged her to. She was just about to introduce herself when the other girl came back.

"Oh, I'm Grey. I mean, everyone calls me Grey." she told Dakota. She watched curiously as James blushed and fidgeted. "I just transfered."

Petting the cat in her lap she listened to Francis. She saw the look that Alice had given her and gave her a small smile in response. She knew it was best not to ask questions, and let things go. Apparently her cousin Dominique didn't think the same way. Lily watched as the compartment got a little full and she wondered if it would be better to join Alby after all. She loved the twins and she loved her cousin, but sometimes things would grow to be a bit much. Lily just went to her own state of mind and did a self calming practice, as she knew Dominique asking about what happened would trigger a conversation that may not be wanted.

Lily hadn't been able to answer Francis about the Potter household during the summer, as her cousin had walked in. Lily just sat there loving the cat that wasn't hers. Lily didn't have her own animal. She had one cat once, but it was a spoiled cat an they had to get rid of it. From that point on, her parents told her she'd just have to borrow James' owl or Alby's ferret.

---

---

Dakota had been thanked by Alice for the damp cloth and she nodded in acknowledgement. After coming back to her compartment she had heard the girl introduce herself as Grey and that she was a transfer student. Dakota's face lit up and she was excited. "Ooh! A transfer student, we don't many of those." Dakota said and she was was about to shift over and sit in the window seat across from the transfer student, but she noticed someone was sitting there.

It took a few minutes to register, and her mind went in full panic mode. James Potter was in her compartment, that wasn't something that generally happened. Sure they spoke sometimes, but it wasn't like they were close friends or anything. Dakota shifted and she sat down beside Grey and beside the window. Across from James. She heard him greet her by her last name and she grinned, "Nice of you to join us Potter." Dakota folded her hands neatly in her lap and looked over to Grey. Guessing from her accent she wasn't from another part of Europe. "Are you a transfer from America?" Dakota asked a little intrigued at the thought. If so the poor girl had a lot of new terms to learn, and that itself could be overbearing.

| James Potter | Mission: Don't. Puke. |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Effectively act like a normal person. |

Grey glanced between the boy-- James she told herself firmly, and Dakota. They seemed to be kind of... weird around each other, although they had both been pretty normal before. Still, she gave a small smile as Dakota beamed at her. This was going well. She was successfully having a successful conversation with one of her potential classmates. Hopefully, everyone at Hogwarts would be as nice as Dakota.

She pinked a little as Dakota asked if she was from America. "Yea I am," she said. "Is it really obvious?"

James nodded and patted his knees awkwardly. Of course, Dakota would be fast at work making the transfer student feel at home. She was a hufflepuff, after all and a pretty exemplary one. Even when they were competing in quidditch, she was always sunny and friendly after all was said and done. Which was why there was absolutely no reason for him to freak out like this every time he was around her. She was sweet and cool and a wicked keeper...

He looked to the new girl instead, trying to make his voice sound normal. "It's a little obvious," he said with a warm smile. "My dad has a muggle telly and we watch American movies all of the time."

Lily had watched as soon as her cousin came in Francis changed a bit. Lily chuckled to herself as she could already see the fondness the two had, and when Alice shot her a look about it, Lily gave her one back with a little smirk. Dominique hadn't even noticed them yet at this point. Soon enough Alice was sitting down beside her while Lil kept on petting the cat.

"Hey Minnie." She said to her with a smile. At least finally there was some attention shed on Alice and Lily. While Alice spoke a bit, Lily cleared her throat before she spoke. "The Potter house was an interesting time to be. Albus cheated at wizard chess, although if you ask he'll tell you that he didn't. What a bloody wanker. This morning James was absolutely vile, I plan to get the twit back. Alby is helping."

---

---

Dakota sat there and she tried not to focus on the fact that James Potter was in her compartment. Taking in a small breath she heard from Grey that she had been an American transfer and asked if it was that obvious. That was when James had piped up again mentioning that it had been. "Well to be fair, accents are easy to pick up from this side of the world and usually you can tell. Also North Americans just have a certain accent, and then more accents within that." Dakota said realizing she had been ranting a little bit.

She fiddled with the loose strings on her clothes and she began to have a bit of pink put into her cheeks. She just didn't know how to act around guys sometimes. It wasn't something she was used to. James was a bloody brilliant chaser, much like his mother is. She wanted to make conversation, but what if she just began to stutter? She mentally slapped her self and kept her cool. If she kept last year in her OWLs then she could keep it now talking to a boy.

"So how was your summer?" Dakota asked to the both of them.

(Sorry they're short.)

| James Potter | Mission: Control these damn emotions! |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Maintain normality. |

"So," Dakota said, "how was your summer?"

And just like that, Grey's mood-- which had been tentatively optimistic-- plummeted. She had spent her summer being tormented unceasingly by her mother and recovering from a anxiety attack that had been so terrible that she'd lost control of her magic in a way that she never had before and coming to terms with the fact that even if her life was an unbearable, irredeemable mess, it had to be better than starting over at a different school, in a different country, on a different continent.

Grey forced herself to take a deep breath through her nose. Her heart was thundering in her chest and she felt the telltale prickle at the corner of her eyes that meant that she was close to crying. She clenched her hands into fists, clinging to the little sting of her nails digging into her palms. The one thing normal people did not do was burst into tears after being asked completely innocent questions by nice girls on the train. "Oh, it was okay," she said, forcing a smile onto her face. "I spent some time in London." Alone, wallowing in a muggle hotel, refusing to show her face among humans because she just screwed everything up anyway. "I got all of my shopping done here too. Diagon Alley is really different from the wizard shops at home." And she only humiliated herself completely trying to understand the thick accent of one of shopkeepers before she left empty-handed. She took another deep breath. She was still feeling a little out of control, but the urge to cry was receding.

James nodded and smiled, completely oblivious to Grey's discomfort. "My mum took us along to a few of her games. My dad couldn't come, something really big came up at work..." he frowned a bit, remembering the tense conversations he'd overheard between his mum and dad. Something terrible had happened to a muggle-born girl and everyone at the the Auror Office was tense and tight-lipped about it. "Did you get any training done over the summer?" He turned slightly to Grey, trying to include her. "Dakota and I are captains of our house quidditch teams. I'm a chaser and she's a keeper."

---

As Roxy and Lorcan went back to talking and Freddy and Lysander played their game, neither of them were very good at it but it was fun none the less.
As the train trudged on there was a great rattle that shook all the compartments, and one of the chess pieces fell and landed on Mia the foxes head.
Mia and Ava both woke up and were suddenly hissing and scrambling around to compartment. In the shuffle Freddy accidentally hit the door in just the right way that it slid open and the two Foxes bolted out and down the corridor. Roxy saw and ran after them cursing herself for taking their collars off when they got into the cart. The collars had been enchanted so that the two could always find their way back to Roxy.
She fallowed them into a compartment the had been open just enough so that they could run in.
She watched as they hopped up into one of the occupants lap and curled back up to go to sleep. After catching her breath Roxy sighed and then looked up at the man who the two of them had found.
Roxy laughed and crossed her arms, "Well if it isn't my favorite Potter! How are you James?" She smiled at the puzzled look on his face at the two sleeping foxes on his lap.

| James Potter | Mission: Juggle coolest cousin and potential boyhood crisis |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Maintain normality. |

James jumped a little as two little foxes dashed into their compartment and leapt into his lap. They snuffled and fidgeted for a few moments before they promptly curled up in a pile with each other and fell asleep. James lay a hand over one of them, immediately recognizing them. Where Mia and Ava were, their owner was never far behind...

Roxy laughed and crossed her arms in the door of the compartment and James grinned back at her. "And there's my favorite Weasely! Roxy, if you really wanted to see me, you could have just done it. No need to use Mia and Ava as an excuse," he teased, scratching Mia gently behind the ear. "You remember Dakota Wood," he said, hoping fervently that he wasn't blushing. "And this is Grey. She's a transfer from America. Future Gryffindor for sure," he said with a wink towards Grey. "This is my cousin, Roxanne. She's the nastiest chaser out there. Don't have to worry about a bludger knocking you off of your broom. Roxy will do the job herself."

Grey looked up at the girl who had just entered. She was about her height with gorgeous brown skin and long, gently curled hair. Even though she was little, there was something... intimidating about her. Grey smiled half-heartedly. She'd had more than her fair share of bullies at home. It was hard not to see a potential tormentor in everyone now, especially when she was looking at a girl like Roxanne who was pretty enough to make Grey look plain and apparently talented enough to have won James' admiration. "Nice to meet you," Grey said weakly.

---

---

---

---

( TIME SKIP. )

The Hogwarts Express left King's Cross Station at 11:00am. After a few slightly dramatic events over the six hour period of the drive, they had now reached Hogsmeade Station in Scotland at exactly 5:00pm. No earlier and no later. The first years went off in their boats right away to head to the castle. But, the other students had ten minutes to stay in Hogsmeade as the last few Thestrals were getting prepared to travel the children to the school.

---

After talking to James and Grey for the last stretch of the train ride Roxy hopped off the train and looked around to find Freddy, it always helped that he was so tall, made it easier to find him. She quickly pushed through the crowds of people toward him and Lorcan and Lysander, "Well don't you boys look spiffy!" she said with a smile.

Freddy smiled proudly and patted Mia and Ava on the head. "I see you found your creatures." He said nodding toward the two foxes in Roxy's arms. "You want me to carry one until we get to Hogwarts?" He asked noticing she was having a hard time holding on to them both with people bumping into her.

"Please!" Roxy handed over Mia to Freddy who curled up in the crook of his elbow and just sat there watching the crowds of people.
"I don't really need anything here do you guys?" Roxy asked looking from Freddy to Lorcan and Lysander.

Freddy shook his head and looked at the twins as well, smiling softly at the slight tent of red on Lysander's cheeks.