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?).

[agrippa]

Freddy, Lily, James and Philip settled into a dark corner of the library behind several piles of books they had pulled off the shelves to ensure a little privacy.

“Well?” James looked expectantly at Freddy.

“Well, you already know what we saw last night. Jacobson and his wife were in Prof. Krum’s private store.”

James and Philip nodded.

“But that’s not the first time we’ve seen them doing suspicious stuff. A couple of weeks back we were, er” – he glanced at Lily – “well, we were out and about, and the two of them were looking through books in the restricted section.”

“Well, they’re teachers,” said Philip. “They could have just been doing some research, right?”

“In the middle of the night?” shot back Lily.

“We overheard them talking about something, too,” said James. “But don’t have any idea what they’re planning.”

“We think it has something to do with the Council meeting,” said Freddy.

“Of course,” said James. “What else could be so important?” He thought for a moment. “Did you see what they took from the potions cupboard?”

“It’d have to be something that you can’t get just anywhere,” said Lily. “Otherwise, they’d just pop down to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley on a weekend and pick some up.”

“I wonder how we-” but Freddy was interrupted by the booming voice of Madam Pince, the librarian, announcing that it was time to go back to their common rooms. They returned the piles of books to their shelves and headed for Gryffindor tower.

“Oh, yeah!” said James, slapping his forehead. “I forgot to tell you something else. Sean Wiles says that Jacobson’s wife – Prof. Wiles, you know – is his mum’s cousin.”

Freddy’s brow knit in confusion. “But Charlie said that she was related to Dumbledore.”

“I know. I even asked Prof. Jacobson about that, but he said he didn’t know how that rumor got started.”

“That’s really weird,” said Lily. “Let’s see if we can find Charlie and ask him what he knows.”