Journey To Hogwarts, old - thread closed Options

[evlpez]

Okay folks. I know many of you have no care to explore 'ships and alt universe stuff, but I wanted to get something else moving in our brains.
Here is a short installment of an AU story about James Potter, son to Harry and Ginny. This is all that is written so far.

Rather than chapter-long installments, let's try just a few paragraphs at a time and see how it develops.

The story begins with James' first ride on the Hogwarts Express. I see James as a bit of a loner, coping silently with being related to a celebrity and unsure about his own place in the world. He is more mature than his age and is intelligent, brave and has a darkness about him. (He isn't evil or bad, though.) I see a bit of a 'young Remus' in this James. I have written in one baby brother, but there may be up to 5 children in the Potter family, considering Ginny's experience with a large family and Harry's feelings about having a different, lonlier childhood.

JOURNEY TO HOGWARTS

James Potter sat in an otherwise empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express, looking out the window and eagerly waiting for it to pull away from the platform. He could barely sit still. He felt only a twinge of guilt at his hasty good-bye to his parents, having felt awkward as always standing there with one of the most famous wizards in history. He needed to get away and be by himself on this train before he was bombarded by cousins and other curious people. He loved his cousins, but he always felt a little different from all of them. Not better, but something about being who he was had made him… alone. He preferred being alone at important times like this; important to him, anyway. His first trip on the Hogwarts Express, this was the beginning of his journey to become someone. To make a name for himself that wasn't automatically followed by 'the son of Harry Potter'. He glanced at the cage he had set on the bench opposite only moments before. His new owl, a young brown Tawny, stared back at him. He still hadn't given him a name, despite his mother's prodding.

"Just pick something, James. He's just an owl, not your firstborn child," she had said that morning while juggling a breakfast pan with her wand hand and his baby brother with the other. His father intervened as he took baby Albert off her hands.

"Now, now… this isn't just any owl. It's his owl. James will name him when he needs to. It's important to some people, Gin. This little guy is going to be more than just his owl, he'll be a friend." James smiled at his dad then. He understood. He understood a lot of things about James that his mother just couldn't, not that she didn't try.

James' new owl hooted, reminding him of a penny whistle. It was such a different voice than Hedwig's. James smiled. His father had known that this owl should be as different as he could be from Hedwig.

Continue, introducing at least one new character, maybe a Weasley Cousin (one of the twins' kids?).

[McGonagall's Cat]

James fell into bed exhausted. He’d found a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, and a book about the Chudley Cannons for Phillip. They’d talked the entire way back from the library, but Phillip still seemed to only moderately understand. James felt like he was trying to explain it to a girl who didn’t care for sports. He’d gone to bed hoping they could make some headway tomorrow, and completely forgetting to talk with Sean, Alan, and Carson about the upcoming match.

James awoke seized by panic. The room was very dark and someone had their hand over his mouth. Out of reflex he came up swinging, only to have his wrist caught by the offender’s other hand. His eyes focused on the moonlit silhouette and he quit struggling, realizing the person holding him was Phillip. Phillip placed a finger to his lips indicating the necessity for silence, then motioned for James to follow him. Throwing robes over their pajamas they quietly left the room. The two crept to the top of the Common Room steps, where Phillip sat down silently and pointed toward the dimly lit room below.

It had to be at least 1 a.m. Lily and Freddy were seated at a table talking so quietly that James missed a few of their words here and there. Freddy looked glum. Before him on the table lay a copy of the book James had received. Freddy stared at it as though it was the bearer of ill tidings, knowing he was sentenced to reading the thing, knowing his mother would quiz him on obscure bits of information from it, but mostly knowing how much trouble he’d be in if he missed correctly answering her. Lily on the other hand had opened her copy and pointing her wand, whimsically was flying it around the room. The book flexed at the spine, looking much like a bird flapping its wings as it circled.

“You don’t understand…” Freddy said in a tone similar to that of a condemned prisoner. “Your mother…”

“Will be here, too. Just like yours” Lily interupted.

“But it’s not the same.”

Lily looked him straight in the face (the distraction caused her book to stop flapping its pages and plummet, though she easily caught it with her wand and settled it onto the table near her, all the while continuing to look steadily at him), “OK, so your Mum IS the book police… You really are doomed,” she said matter-of-factly. She let out a sigh that was the loudest noise since the boys had sat down. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement on that, let’s get on with things!”

The condemned man shot her a look that made James shiver.

“Right, then,” Lily went on chipperly. “You up for a small foray, or do you want to sit here until The Magic Council meets in, what, 5 months?”

He glared.

“OK fine,“ she jumped up and headed for the portrait hole.

Freddy raised his hand to smack the table in frustration, but stopped mid-swing. He sprang to his feet and followed her out. James looked at Phillip, Phillip looked at James. As one they headed down the steps and through the exit, too.

The hallway was so quiet James thought even his breath echoed. The two found it tricky trying to stay out of sight of Lily and Freddy while sticking close enough not to get lost. There were several times when Phillip and James had absolutely no idea where they were, once when all four barely escaped being caught by the Bloody Baron as he crossed through the walls between the two groups, and another place where James sneezed. He muffled it into a wad of his robe, but Lily still looked back suspiciously. They finally ended up outside the Potions Office. Lily and Freddy were already inside by the time the boys reached the door. Since James and Phillip couldn’t figure a good way to open the door unnoticed, they leaned their ears against it and tried to listen. The door was too thick to hear anything.

They could hear footsteps coming from the other direction though. Frantically the two boys looked for a place to hide. A bit farther down the hallway was another room. They made a mad dash for it.

“That was close,” James whispered.

“Shhhh..” was Phillip’s only audible response. He motioned they should find places to hide. James ducked under a table; he lost track of where Phillip went.

As the footsteps stopped by the doorway James realized there was more than one person.

A gruff male voice said, “Lumos.” The room lit up somewhat, though not as much as it would have for a class. James shrunk back as far as he could, keeping out of sight, though he could still see feet a few meters from his hiding place. The feet rotated as though the man might be surveying the room. “This looks empty. Now what was it you wanted?”

“I don’t like this! It’s not safe to bring it in now. With the Council Meeting coming up… they’ll be going over this place with a fine-toothed comb!” the woman’s voice said emphatically. It sounded like the same woman the boys had heard before.

“It’s now or never,” the man replied with annoyance. The voice belonged to Jacobsen. James knew his voice beyond any doubt. “You knew the risks before we came here. Just do your part and keep quiet!” He growled.

“But…” she said obviously stressed, “… what if someone finds it? How do we cover ourselves?”

“We DON”T let it be found!” he said so strongly that if just the resolve in his voice could make it so, it would have been accomplished at that moment.

Suddenly a door could be heard closing down the hall. Both people went silent. James’ insides froze. It had to be Lily and Freddy leaving the Potions Office. Both sets of feet went over to the door of this room and edged it open as Jacobsen said, “Nox.” Through the semi-darkness James could see the man’s feet step cautiously into the doorway, twisting as though peering toward the Potions Office. He shouted, “You there!” Then Jacobsen left, hastily telling the woman to go the other way and not be seen. She rushed away as told.

“That was close!” Phillip whispered, causing James to just about jump out of his skin.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” was all James could get out. When his heart quit pounding he added worriedly, “What do we do now?!?”

Phillip shrugged. “Do you think he got a good look at them?” I mean, Lily’s yellow hair and Freddy’s red, if he saw enough of ‘em to catch that, they’ll be watching the Gryffindor entrance.”

“Freddy and Lily don’t get caught very often…” James paused quite a while. “Umm, I only know how to get back one way… the way we go from classes.” he said looking even more concerned than when Jacobsen gave Phillip the unwarranted detention.

“Well, we can’t stay here. Maybe we can get to our dorms before they do…” Phillip said weakly, knowing that was hopeless.

Approaching voices interrupted the boys’ discussion. “Sorry to have startled you like that.” Jacobsen said as they passed the door.

“Tink not-tink of it.” Krum replied. “I don’t usually be in dis part of castle dis late. I hat to check on potion before going to sleep.”

The voices retreated down the hall.

With a nod both boys hustled as stealthily as possible back to their beds, a silent agreement between them to discuss everything, in private, as soon as they could.