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Format: Novella
Chapters: 5
Word Count: 21,555
Status: WIP
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Strong Language, Mild Violence, Scenes of a Mild Sexual Nature, Substance Use or Abuse, Contains Spoilers
Genres: General, Humor, Romance
Characters: Harry, Ginny, Albus, James (II), Lily (II), Hugo, Rose, Victoire, OC, OtherCanon
Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Rose/Scorpius, Teddy/Victoire, James/OC, Other Pairing
First Published: 04/11/2009
Last Chapter: 07/17/2010
Last Updated: 07/17/2010
Summary:
Jaw-dropping banner by niika @ TDA! Beta: ravenclawprincess!
My life is pretty hectic; yours would be too if you were best friends with the famous Potters and Weasleys. I have seriously never known more melodramatic people in my whole entire life... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my friends; but they have a tendency to think that James Sirius Potter and I are a match made in heaven. Do you know what the worst part is? James seems to think so too...
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from JKR's Harry Potter books does NOT belong to me!
Chapter One - NOBODY MESSES WITH ME!
"I’m gonna miss the train!” I yelled as my family walked at a slow pace. Patience was not my forté.
“I’m going to miss you so much baby!” My mother wailed and wrapped her thin body around me. My stomach began to drop as I hugged her back. We were pretty close, and it was hard to accept the fact that I would now only be seeing her on Christmas, spring, and summer vacations.
“Yeah… Mom, I’ll miss you too…” I said softly. “But I’ll be okay, you know that. I can take care of myself!” I told her seriously.
“Of course you can!” My brother joked. “Nobody messes with Annelise Turnington.”
“You got that damn right.” I told him, and then grinned wolfishly. I hugged him too. I was going to miss him a whole bunch also.
“Take care.” My stepfather said gruffly. I punched him playfully in the arm. We were very different from each other, but we got along pretty well. My stepfather, Carl, had married my mother when I was four. My real father had divorced my mom when I was only nine months old. I rarely saw him, but that was okay with me. I laughed, grabbed my way-to-stupid-and-heavy bags and headed for the train. I stepped hesitantly on the rough metal and my legs seemed to get heavier at each step. I gave one last wave before I entered the door. They all vigorously waved back at me. The train started to move and I watched out the window near the door as my family disappeared into the distance.
“Goodbye.” I whispered sadly. I pressed my cheek against the cool wall as I breathed in deeply. A weight suddenly came crashing down on me, and I already ached with homesickness.
“Pull yourself together.” I told myself. “You’re going to be twelve in November! You’re going to Hogwarts!” I had still been ten years old last year, so I had to start later than everyone else. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had strict rules about that. You had to be eleven years old to attend. My spirits slightly lifted at that. After all the years of listening to my brother talk animatedly about the school that had made me wait in anticipation when I was five; I was finally going! I started to smile. This was my fresh start, and I was eager to make the best of it. I bounded off to look for a compartment. Most of the ones in the front were filled with older or just downright scary looking people. I checked each one for kids my age. After what seemed like a long time, I came across one with a kid with messy black hair and two redheaded kids with dark skin.
“Can I sit here? I’m Annelise Turnington, who are you?” I asked quickly and cheerfully. I now felt like I was on a sugar high. My moods change very rapidly. That was just the way I was. To my surprise, they all scowled at me.
“Like you don’t know.” The boy with the black hair snapped as the other two shifted uneasily in the red leather chairs. Now that I thought about it, they did look familiar… I stared at them. The red-headed boy looked at me uncomfortably. “Can you please get out?” Mean-Black-Haired-Boy snapped again. I was taken aback. My eyes clouded with anger.
“Fine. Be that way, what-ever-your-name-is. Excuse me for trying to be friendly.” I huffed and strutted out of the compartment, flicking my long black hair. After I was out of sight I let myself slouch a little. What was his problem anyway? What did I ever do to him? Jeez.
My thoughts were interrupted as I ran into three very large Slytherins. I knew this because they were already in their green robes, plus they were downright ugly. That was a classic and definite trademark for a Slytherin. Okay, I will admit, I am a tad bit stereotypical. But these guys fit the stereotype so well!
“Watch where you’re going, Twinkie.” He yelled at me. The air coming out of his mouth I swear, made my hair fly back. I took a few steps back. My eyes flashed red. Nobody messes with Annelise Turnington. These boys will learn that very quickly after I’m done with them. I have a rare bad temper. Usually I’m happy, but then I’ll just explode. This was one of those days.
“Well watch where you’re going too, fatso.” I replied nastily. If there was one thing I learned about people, they do not like being called fat. His fists clenched up; excellent. I was in a fowl mood and he had made me angry enough to want to get into a fight. The question was; could I really take on three Slytherins much older then me? Probably not. My common sense said, Run while you still have a chance! I was just a little first year. All reasonable thoughts were shoved aside and ignored as I eagerly advanced towards the three boys. I was incredibly brave and stupid like that; I know.
“You better watch your mouth.” He threatened. Oooh, scary. Did he really think he was that intimidating?
“And you better wash yours. Your breath stinks.” I taunted. His face turned a bright red and he growled. The other two boys cracked their knuckles.
“Why I aughta…” And then he pulled out his wand. I ducked the first spell and kicked him in the shin. I jumped on one of the other guys back, screaming like a deranged monkey. It was exhilarating, at least until I was thrown off and crashed into a wall. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all… I thought to myself. You THINK? My conscience replied. Uh-oh, voices in my head; NEVER a good sign. One of them picked me up and I punched him in the gut. He wouldn’t let go. I was breathing heavily now.
“Stupid-little-kid-“ One of them grunted.
“Halfwit, muttonhead, imbecile, cretinous BONEHEADED SLYTHERIN!” I yelled at him, not even knowing half the words I was saying. I think they all had some relation to the word stupid though… He then got mad 'cause I had better insults than him. Haha. I was slammed into the wall. Crap, crap, CRAP! I screamed in my head.
He was prepared to throw another punch when another kid jumped on his back, screaming like I was a few seconds earlier. Oh thank god! I thought joyfully. I looked up to see who my hero was; to my utter dismay, it was Mean-Black-Haired-Boy. The redheaded girl and boy were right behind him, their eyes filled with mirth and their wands coolly out. Seeing that they were out-numbered, the Slytherins scarpered. Hehe, I wasn’t even off the train and I had made my first enemies! I had a goofy grin on my face until I remembered I still had company with me. I turned back to the three kids and scowled.
“I was doing just fine on my own, thank you very much.” I told them in annoyance. I was NOT going to show my gratitude to those kids. The black haired boy rolled his eyes at me.
“Right…” He replied sarcastically. My eyes narrowed.
“Why did you help?” I asked frowning confusedly. I thought these kids hated me!
“We heard the screaming all the way down in our compartment. We came to investigate. Once I saw what was happening, I decided to join the fun!” His eyes sparked in enthusiasm. I scowled even harder. The kid was now happy and joyful; not the sulky guy who had snapped at me earlier. Did he have multiple personality disorder or something?
“What do you want?” I asked him angrily. “You already made it clear that you didn’t even want to acknowledge my existence!”
“Oh, umm, sorry about that…” He said, looking ashamed while he ran his finger through his already messy hair. I huffed and crossed my arms. “You see, people were coming into the compartment as an attempt to meet us, and it was getting annoying. They were all pretending not to know who we were so they could sit in a compartment with us…” I looked at him confused.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I told him. I mean, what made him more important then the rest of us? His hand went through his hair.
“Well, I’m James Potter. And this is Fred and Roxanne Weasley. Does that explain everything to you?” He asked. So that’s where I recognized him… I shrugged at him, not really caring. I mean, whatever. He’s the son of the world’s savior, whoop-dee-do. He seemed not to get my meaning.
“Are you a muggle-born?” He asked.
“No,” I replied. “I’m a half-blood.”
“Oh. So how do you not know about us?” He asked. Wow, he was slow. It was like he was expecting me to fall on my feet and bow down to him. Sorry buddy, but that was NOT going to happen!
“I do know about you. Everyone knows who the Potters and Weasleys are! Duh. I’m shrugging cause I don’t really flipping care who the frick you are. Plus, you don’t even deserve to be famous. You haven’t done anything special enough or brave yet. Your Dad and Mum have, not you. You’re just a kid like me. You’re only famous by association. I’m not going to give you any type of worship. I only worship and idolize people who have done something in the world. I’m not going to fawn over some first year that’s the same age as I am… Get it dimwit?” I said. His eyes darkened at my rant.
“Yes.” He said stiffly.
“And stop strutting around like you own the place; you don’t.” I remarked. The way he walked was really getting on my nerves, and I had only known the guy for a few minutes! He put his hand through in his hair yet again. “And stop running your fingers through your hair, it’ll get greasy.” That had been annoying me too. Fred and Roxanne burst into laughter behind us. I grinned at them. At least the twins had a sense of humor! James scowled at me.
“You are really rude.” He told me.
“No I’m not.” I replied, “I’m just honest. Deal with it.” James looked taken aback at first, but then sighed and shrugged.
“Why were you fighting with the Slytherins anyway?” James wanted to know, changing the subject.
“I was mad and I needed to blow off some steam. And I didn’t like the look of their faces.” I explained. Even James cracked a smile at that. Maybe he did have a sense of humour after all…
“Well anyone who attempts to beat up a Slytherin is in my good books.” Fred declared. I like this guy already! I thought to myself.
“Ditto.” Roxanne said.
“Fine.” James agreed grudgingly. “I was wrong. You’re kind of cool.” I was sort of flattered by this comment, it made me blush.
“Wanna hang out in our compartment?” Roxanne added. I gave it a thought.
“I don’t know… I guess I don’t have anywhere else to sit… so I’ll sit with you guys. This does not mean we’re friends! I am still really mad at the three of you. And I have one rule that all of the people I hang around with follow. DON’T EVER MESS WITH ME.” I told them. Roxanne smiled at my bluntness.
“Got it. Nobody messes with Annelise Turnington.” James repeated. Good, he took that seriously. I hated it when people laughed at this statement.
“You got that damn right.” I said and smiled. He smiled too. Even though I wouldn’t admit it then; I knew for a fact we were going to be the best of friends.
“Come on then!” Roxanne shouted happily and grabbed my arm.
“Sooo, do you like pulling pranks?” Fred asked.
“Like?! I LOVE doing that kind of stuff!” I replied enthusiastically.
And that’s how I came to know Fred, Roxanne and James. That’s how the next generation of troublemakers began. And that’s how I met my three greatest friends in the whole wide world. For the most part that is. Sometimes they can be a real pain in the butt…
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A/N: So what did you think? Good, bad, too long, too short? I just randomly typed this one night. I love Annelise as a character in my story The First Year, but she doesn’t play that big of a part in it :(. This was a one shot; but after the reviews I got, it inspired me to keep on writing it, so it is now edited. Thank you so much you guys!
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from JKR’s Harry Potter books does NOT belong to me. Same with Tarzan…
Chapter Two - Whipped
---James---
The first thing I noticed about Annelise was her eyes. Corny, I know; but they were so fascinating to look at. They're a bright, bright blue that contrasted uniquely with her sleek, long black hair. Her face was cheery and full of mischief when she abruptly entered our compartment. I cast an annoyed glance at her and I could almost hear Fred and Roxanne’s groans. Not again! I thought, disgruntled. For the past ten minutes people had come in and put on a fake façade.
“Umm, hi! C-can I sit here? Who are you?"
“Hey! Do you mind letting me sit here? There is no more room in the compartments!”
“I don’t believe I’ve met YOU before… care to tell me your name?”
I waited for the girl to say something. I knew it would be similar to all the others and I was getting effing sick of it. Why couldn’t celebrity obsessed people just mind their own business?
“Can I sit here? I’m Annelise Turnington; who are you?” The girl, ‘Annelise’ said in a melodic voice. I mentally rolled my eyes. My temper began to rise.
“Like you don’t know.” I snarled at her. She looked taken aback and genuinely hurt. I almost felt bad, but then I remembered all the other people. They had all tried to lie to us and I had no doubt that she was lying too. I had to admit she had talent though; her act was almost convincing…
She stared at all of us. Didn’t she get the message? We wanted her to leave. Fred looked at me as if to say please make her go away. I sighed; they were leaving the responsibility to me to get rid of the obsessed stalker. It did freak me out that people would search through the entire train just to find us. I mean, seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!
“Can you please get out?” I said angrily. Then the girl looked mad. She looked kind of intimidating; it was almost scary…
“FINE. Be that way, what-ever-your-name-is.” What? Wait a minute; did she actually NOT know my name? Then I remembered that she was a good actress. Whoops. She said the rest very nastily and made her way out of the small room. She slammed the door unintentionally behind her and I could see her walking proudly down the hall.
“Do you think she actually didn’t know?” Roxanne asked me curiously. I shrugged.
“Nah.”
“Okay! Now without the interruption, we can go back to our previous conversation… What were we talking about again?” Fred asked.
“Ummm, I believe we were talking about cheese.” Roxanne answered.
“Oh! Right!” Fred responded enthusiastically. And then, my friend, we started an epic conversation about cheese. Albus thinks there is something wrong with us… at times I can almost see what he means. Our conversation was then interrupted by some very strange, wild-like, wailing war cry. Fred jumped at the sound.
“What the BLOODY HELL was that?” Roxanne exclaimed.
“I know! Tarzan!” Fred yelled.
“Fred… What the hell is Tarzan?” I asked slowly.
“Err… nothing?” Fred answered as his neck turned a bright red. Roxanne held back fits of laughter. Fred shot her a murderous look and Roxanne fought to compose her face.
“Okay… Tarzan aside... I’m going to go see what’s going on…” I told them. I would get one of them to tell me what ‘Tarzan’ was later. One of them was bound to crack…
We raced down the hall and finally found the source of the noise.
Much to my surprise, the actress, Annelise, was fighting some very big Slytherins. When I say big, I mean ENORMOUS. All I could think was how did a sodding eleven-year-old get into a fight with THESE guys? “Halfwit, muttonhead, imbecile, cretinous BONHEADED SLYTHERIN!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, while on the guys back. I was flabbergasted and amazed at the same time. That took a lot of guts. My view of Annelise changed right then and there. She smirked and then the boy slammed her into the wall. Her head bounced back and her body curled up in pain. I could tell she was mentally cursing herself. Before she could get back up, the boy readied himself to punch her in the face.
Everything went in slow motion after that. The next thing I knew I had jumped and landed on the guys back. He was momentarily distracted as he tried to get me off of him. Annelise looked up in gratitude, until she saw whom her savior was; me. With Roxanne and Fred backing me up, the Slytherins ran away like the cowards they are. Annelise smiled as they ran away. I did too. She turned back to the three of us.
“I was doing just fine on my own, thank you very much.” She said coolly.
“Right.” I drawled. She hadn’t been doing fine! She would have been beaten into oblivion if we hadn’t helped!
“Why did you help?” She asked, bewildered. I began to explain how the noise made us come to investigate and whatnot. Then she asked something that surprised me.
“What do you want?” She snapped. “You made it clear that you didn’t even want to acknowledge my existence.” I explained as quickly as I could, slightly flustered and utterly embarrassed. I apologized during the explanation, but she seemed to be confused.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Huh, guess she truly didn’t know who I was…
“Well, I’m James Potter. And this is Fred and Roxanne Weasley. Does that explain everything to you?” She blinked and shrugged at me. Now I was a tad bit offended. How could she not know me? “Are you a muggle-born?” I asked as realization dawned on me. Now it all made sense.
“No, I’m a half-blood.” I stared at her incredulously.
“So how do you not know about us?” She rolled her eyes at me in annoyance.
“I do know about you. EVERYONE knows who the Potters and Weasleys are. Duh. I’m shrugging cause I don’t really flipping care who the frick you are. Plus, you don’t even deserve to be famous. You haven’t done anything special enough or brave yet. Your Dad and Mum have, not you. You’re just a kid like me. You’re only famous by association. I’m not going to give you any type of worship. I only worship and idolize people who have done something in the world. I’m not going to fawn over some first year that’s the same age as I am… Get it dimwit?” Ouch… that kind of hurt…
“Yes.” I replied sulkily; now she was beginning to get on my nerves… And then she had to tell me to stop strutting around the place and running my fingers through my hair. IT’S A NERVOUS HABIT! I can’t help it! And Roxanne and Fred, the bloody traitors, started to laugh. She had severely bruised my ego. She was mean.
“You are really RUDE!” I said.
“No, I’m not. I’m just honest. Deal with it.” It annoyed me that she was basically calling me a baby. I was still kind of intrigued, so I let that one slide.
We talked about the fight with the Slytherins. Apparently she didn’t quite like them either. I felt myself smiling. She could be REALLY charming when she didn’t have that in-your-face-sucka attitude. Both Fred and Roxanne decided she was cool, and told her so. I agreed. Then her cheeks tinged a nice rosy pink.
“Wanna hang out in our compartment?” Roxanne asked. Please say yes! Please say yes! I mentally screamed.
“I don’t know… I guess I don’t have anywhere else to sit… so I’ll sit with you guys.” YES! I whooped, mentally of course. I didn’t want to look like a weirdo. “This does NOT mean we’re friends.” Sure Anna, sure... “And I have one rule that all of the people I hang around with follow. DON’T EVER MESS WITH ME.” I thought she was joking, but she looked god damn serious to me.
“Got it. Nobody messes with Annelise Turnington.” I repeated. She smiled at me with gratitude. Well, if she was going to be my friend, I might as well respect her wishes… We went to the compartment while Anna and Fred had an enthusiastic conversation about pranks, which I shortly joined. I mean, come on! Who doesn’t love a good prank? There were a lot of laughs and tons of food throwing. Our conversations were surprisingly cheeseless. I was eating a chocolate frog when something dawned on me.
“Anna?” I asked.
“You’re calling me ‘Anna’ now?”
“Err, yeah… your other name is sort of a mouth-full…” I explained. She rolled her eyes at me.
“Thanks for that James… thanks for that…” she drawled.
“You know you like it…” I said playfully as she fought back a smile. “Anyway, what is Tarzan?” She blinked at me.
“Err, Tarzan?” She asked uncertainly as she blinked a few times more.
“Guess you don’t know either…” I sighed. She shrugged.
“Sorry.” And she helped herself to a pumpkin pasty.
“AND YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!” Fred and Roxanne yelled, their faces turning a bright, bright red. Anna’s eyes glinted mischievously.
“We’ll see about that.” She challenged and looked at me. We both grinned at each other slightly maniacally.
“I DO NOT like that look.” Roxanne said nervously.
“They look exactly alike, even in expressions… it’s kind of scary…” Fred stated.
“Except for the eyes…” Roxanne said mystically.
“Maybe they’re twins.” Fred exclaimed.
“I’m sorry. What?!” Annelise said incredulously. I shrugged.
“Don’t listen to them… their conversations are really random and creepy a lot of the time…” I explained while she shot disturbed glance their way. She scooted closer to me.
“You know what?” She asked.
“What?” I asked back.
“You are my new favorite.” She said as she put her arm around me.
“Umm, thanks.” I said, kind of flattered. “WAIT A MINUTE! Who was your favorite before?” I demanded.
“Freddie.” She answered simply. Roxanne looked offended.
“So I’m a replacement?” I said exasperatedly.
“Yep.” She replied with a pop, and then stole one of my chocolate frogs. I sniffed.
“Oh, stop sulking you twat.” She said as she hit me playfully.
“Owww.” I whined. She snorted.
“Baby.”
“Bully.” I taunted. And with that she stole another one of my chocolate frogs. “STOP DOING THAT!” I screamed. She smiled and stole another one. I jumped to grab it, and started tickling her.
“S-stop it-t!” She said in between breaths. I shook my head and tickled her some more. “F-fine t-ruc-ce. T-TRUCE!” I stopped and grinned evilly. She smirked back.
“But you’re still a twat.” And she got up and flounced back to her seat. Her hair was really shiny… I looked over at Fred and Roxanne who were staring at us oddly.
“What?” I asked. They shook their heads.
“Nothing.” Roxanne replied simply. But they still had calculating looks on the two of us. I sighed in annoyance and sat down.
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“James Potter!” McGonagall called from her list of students. There was an excited murmur throughout the hall, which was kind of enthralling. I like the attention, but only aren't stalking me. I liked being admired. I winked at Hagrid before I sat down on the old, rickety stool. Next thing I knew, the hat was muttering freakishly fast in my head.
“JUST SORT ME ALREADY!” I yelled, and realized I said that out loud. Damn, frick, kill me now. I faced the crowd that now looked bemused.
“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat shouted. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I inwardly celebrated. I then bowed to the crowd and strutted to my seat while the crowd whooped. I flashed a grin at Annelise while she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. When she was placed into Gryffindor she ran down to the chair right next to me. I got up and she pulled me into a tight embrace. I could feel the heat on my cheeks while the others wolf-whistled.
“Oh, shut up the lot of you!” Annelise exclaimed as she sat down beside me. “It’s amazing that people can’t see a hug without thinking there’s something romantic to it…” She said as she rolled her eyes. My stomach kind of sunk.
“Erm. Yeah… Right…” I answered. We cheered as Fred and Roxanne were also put into Gryffindor. But really, was there actually any doubt on it being any different?
“James, aren’t you gonna introduce us to your new friend?” Molly asked sweetly. I nearly jumped; I didn’t see her come up behind me.
“Oh yeah!” I clapped and led Anna over to the rest of the Weasley family. “Anna, I want you to meet my relatives.” Anna gulped.
“Are all of these people your relatives?” She asked nervously.
“Yep.” I replied. “Okay, let’s start with Declour-Weasley clan. This is Victoire.” I said pointing to my silver-haired cousin.
“Nice to meet you.” Annelise greeted hesitantly. Victoire flashed her a smile with her perfect white teeth.
“Nice to meet you!” Victoire answered while shaking Annelise's hand vigorously.
“Victoire is an eighth of a veela… she gets it from her mothers side of the family. She’s in sixth year and is a prefect.” I explained. “And her sister is Dominique; she’s in fourth year.” My curly red-haired cousin gave a friendly wave. I like Dominique; she had a great sense of humor and wasn’t a stickler for the rules. “Louis is their little brother. I don’t know where he went though… not like I care anyway. He’s a git.’ Annelise snorted loudly at this statement. “The Relling-Weasley clan consists of Molly and Lucy. Molly’s in fourth year with Dommie and Lucy is in second year.” Molly pompously shook Anna’s hand, but Lucy just gave a nod and went back to her book. “Just a warning, don’t ever get on Mollys bad side.” I whispered to Anna. She nodded in agreement. Molly had that kind of look to her that signified she was a no-nonsense person. “You know Fred and Roxanne obviously; they belong to the Johnson-Weasley clan. I have other cousins, Rose and Hugo, but they don’t attend Hogwarts yet. Same with my brother and sister, Albus and Lily. And that’s everyone. Well, at Hogwarts anyway. I would name all of my Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and parents, but I don’t want to bore you by reciting my whole entire family tree.” Annelise nodded in agreement to that. I noticed how shy she had become around so much company. She looked tired as well.
“And who am I?! The next door neighbor?” I heard someone call from the back. I gasped, flabbergasted.
“I forgot about TEDDY!” I shouted. The people nearest to us gave me a startled look.
“Oh, stop looking like that.” Annelise snapped at them. “It’s called being loud and expressing your emotions. You should try it sometime.” Everyone chuckled at that, except strangely enough, not Roxanne.
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Victoire led us to our Gryffindor house soon after.
“Bullocks! It’s so fricking huge!” Roxanne breathed. I could only nod. Dad had told us many stories about the Gryffindor tower, but to see it in real life was an entirely different experience. I decided that the chair next to the window would be my chair. I had always wanted my own chair. Since this would be my new home for the next few months, I had the right to claim a chair of my own.
Annelise broke my train of thought and strode to the chair I had claimed. I swear, we think way too much alike.
“Excuse me… I MENTALLY CALLED THAT CHAIR.” I said rudely. She snorted... SNORTED! Why did she never take me seriously?
“Whatever James.” Anna replied. And then I did the puppy-dog eyes. My puppy-dog eyes. There weren't any others in the world just like mine. Everyone fell for them. I smirked, seeing Anna was no exception. “Stop looking at me like that.” She said uncomfortably while she shifted in the chair. I could almost feel the tears filling up in my eyes. “Seriously James… STOP.” Anna growled. She tried looking away, and I kept on staring at her. Damn, I think my eyes were beginning to dry out. As she looked at the bookcase with a feigned interest; her lips started to twitch. She then shot quick glances from me to the bookcase. She sighed in defeat. “Fine James, here you go.” HAHAHAHA! PUPPY-DOG EYES WIN AGAIN!
“Awww, Anna! You fell for the ‘eyes’! How could you?” Fred groaned.
“I couldn’t help it! He just looked so darn cute!” Anna wailed. I felt smug and complimented at the same kind. Anna called me cute. She thought I was cute. I was elated.
“Ummm, James?” Roxanne asked, waving her hand in front of my face. I snapped back to reality.
“What?” I asked expectantly.
“You kind of zoned out for a second there. You had a REALLY weird look on your face and your mouth was wide open…” Anna explained.
“Heh… ermm… WRACKSPURT!” I yelled. Annelise looked at me oddly.
“Ummm, okay then…” She said. I could tell by the look on her face that she was totally weirded out. I think Auntie Luna, Lorcan and Lysander were rubbing off on me… Roxanne and Fred sniggered. I honestly think they are the most unsupportive relatives in the whole universe.
“Erm, I’ll explain later.” I promised. Anna nodded. Wow, I felt like an idiot. Wow James, smooth.
“First years, go to bed please!” Victoire said as she clapped her hands together. Victoire annoyed me sometimes… at times she was just too flawless. I rolled my eyes as I ascended the staircase.
“See ya in the morning James!” Annelise called.
“Kay!” I replied. I changed into my pajama pants and brushed my teeth. I mussed up my hair and yawned. “Night Fred.” I said sleepily, my eyes very eagerly drooping. Fred didn’t even respond. The bloody sod was already asleep. Bastard. I wish I had that gift. It would make life so much easier. Next thing I know, a boy with a permanently surprised look on his face appears out of nowhere. Literally.
“Hey! I’m Tristan! I tried sitting with you on the train! Oh my gosh! I’M LOOKING AT THE FLESH AND BLOOD OF THE SAVIOR OF OUR WIZARDING WORLD!” Oh dear lord. This is the reason why I didn’t want to share a compartment with other people I didn’t know. They’re barking, the lot of them…
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I groaned as I glanced up at the clock… only to find it was 2 o’clock in the morning. TWO FRICKING O’CLOCK IN THE BLOODY MORNING. I missed home. There was no doubt about it. I missed annoying Albus and playing pranks with Lily. I miss Dads stories and Mums fabulous chocolate puffed wheat squares (which is basically the ONLY thing she can cook!). And now I sounded like a pansy. A big, whiny, pansy. I got up and placed my feet on the warm carpet. I groaned and made my way across the room to the doorway. I squinted to see where the staircase began when…
“AARRGGG!” I found them. Kind of, anyway. It was more like I fell down them. Hitting my head on each step, one by one. Let me tell you, it hurt. A lot. I finally landed on my ass at the end of the staircase. I groaned yet again. The only thing that could have made things worse was if…
“Umm, James?” I looked up to vaguely see the long black hair and face that I had gotten to know within the past twelve hours. Just my luck… I growled inwardly. I flushed and she giggled.
“What are you doing up?” She asked curiously.
“I was about to ask you the same thing Anna.” She sighed and looked at me forlornly.
“I’m really homesick James.” She told me honestly. I looked at her surprised.
“Really? Me too!” I exclaimed.
“Great minds think alike.” She said wisely. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It WAS kind of scary how in sync we thought… and at times we were already able to finish off each others sentences. That’s when I noticed something.
“What do you have in your hands?” I asked as I gestured to the thing lying gently in her palms. She hid it quickly behind her back.
“Oh! Erm… NOTHING!” She whisper-yelled as she blushed a deep tomato red. Was it just me or did we both blush a lot today?
“C’mon Anna! You can tell me!” I urged.
“Well…” She started. I nodded for her to go on. “This is the longest time I’ve been from home and I wanted to bring something to help comfort me while I’m away. So- well, I didn’t want to bring anything too embarrassing or too noticeable either. So I… erm… brought…” She held it up in defeat. “My blankie.” She finished miserably. I stifled a snigger and her eyes flashed at me. “Think it’s funny mister tough-guy?” God, that woman had a temper. For a moment I thought for sure she was going to beat me up.
“No, no! I’m not laughing at that.” I said quickly. “It’s just, as you’ve said before… great minds think alike.” She stopped glaring at me.
“What do you mean?” She asked curiously.
“Follow me.” I ordered as I pointed to the boy’s staircase. She looked up hesitantly.
“Am I allowed up there?” She inquired, her head tilting slightly to the left.
“Well…” I began, “Probably not… but that way we could have a decent conversation without being in trouble for breaking curfew. And I have to show you something.” She began to open her mouth. I cut her off. “And don’t be worried about waking the guys up. A chainsaw wouldn’t be able to wake those buggers up.” She laughed lightly and followed me up to my room. We both sat on my bed and she moved around to get more comfortable.
“So what was it that you wanted to show me?” I sighed and reached for something beside me pillow.
“This.” I said as I held it out. Her eyes squinted.
“I can’t see anything…”
“Oh, dammit! Right! Sorry; forgot about that!” I yelled as I smacked myself on the head at my stupidity. I tapped it with my wand twice and placed it in her hands.
“It’s… AWWW!” She cooed as she held up my beloved teddy bear. It’s black and brown with a big green bow tied around its neck. “What’s its name?” Damn, I had been hoping she wouldn't ask that...
“Hisnameismrcuddlekins.” I coughed. She grinned widely at me.
“Sorry, didn’t hear that.” She told me as she put one hand behind her ear and leaned closer. “What did you say?” I cleared my throat, embarrassed.
“Mr. Cuddlekins.” I answered. She burst out into laughter.
“Be quiet, will you?” I hissed.
“S-sorry.” She said through fits of mirth and with tears in her eyes. My ears were burning. She straightened up and looked me straight in the eyes. I hated when she did that… it gave me funny feelings. “I’m laughing at how similar we are James, not at you. And I suppose I was a bit shocked that a boy had a teddy named Mr. Cuddlekins. I really like him though…” She said as she softly hugged him. My anger evaporated.
“I’ve had him ever since I was four… Dad put a Disillusionment Charm on him for school cause he knows Mr. Cuddlekins and I couldn’t stand to be separated. Only certain people who I want to see Mr. Cuddlekins will be able to do so. Roxanne and Fred don’t even know about him…” Anna’s eyes seemed to darken at Roxanne’s name. I looked at her, puzzled. Understanding the questioning look in my eyes, she explained.
“I don’t think Roxanne likes me very much.” She said sadly.
“WHAT?! How did you get that assumption?” I asked while making a disbelieving noise.
“Well… I thought Roxanne liked me too… then she kind of got cold as soon as we got to our dorm. She rarely talked to me and during dinner she was shooting me glares. I don’t know what I did wrong.” She said mournfully. I rubbed my fingers on my chin and looked at her thoughtfully. I then remembered the little flashes in Roxanne’s eyes that were barely noticeable.
“I think…” I started hesitantly, “That Roxanne is a bit jealous.” She looked at me oddly.
“What?” Annelise stared at me quizzically.
“Well, it would make sense. Ever since we were four it’s been Roxanne, Fred and me. We’re the next generation of Marauders, I’ll explain that part later, but she was the only girl with us two boys. We’ve done everything together and now you are here to take a spot as our friend too. One thing you should know about Roxanne is that she does not like to share anything with other people. She probably feels like she’s been replaced. She feels as if there should only be one girl Marauder… that’s my hypothesis anyway.”
“You sure have some dumb moments James… but you’re also very perceptive.” Anna told me.
“Erm, thanks?” I replied uncertainly. She waved her hand dismissively.
“Anyway, on to happier topics. What is your family like? What are the Marauders? Tell me stories!” She requested.
So I began to tell her about my life. About my dad and his wonderful stories, about my mum and her fieriness. I told her about my brother who I played pranks on all the time, and my sister Lily who helped me with them. I told her about the battles, I told her about my famous grandparents.
In return, she told me about her father who feared commitment. He left when she was only nine months old to fulfill his dreams of owning his own Casino and living a life of bachelorhood. She told me about her loving, but scatterbrained mother and her good-humored brother. She told me about Carl and his obsession for fishing. As we curled up on the bed, we really talked. We lay awake until four o’clock in the morning swapping stories about our lives. We always had to stifle our fits of laughter so we wouldn’t wake the other guys up.
“God, I have to get to bed…” She announced mournfully. I yawned sleepily.
“Yeah, me too.” I agreed.
“Ugh! We’re only gonna get like three hours of sleep though!” Anna wailed.
“Oh, shite. Can we just skip the first day then?” I asked her. She looked thoughtful.
“I suppose we could skip the morning classes.” She said slowly. Her eyes suddenly brightened. “James! We should play a prank, a BIG prank tomorrow!”
“Hell yeah!” I said as I punched the air. “How ‘bout we flood the entire first and second floor?” She looked at me exasperated.
“And how will we do that?” She asked. “We barely know any magic!” She said in a practical voice. I grinned evilly.
“You've forgotten that my Uncle owns Weasleys Wizard Wheezes Anna.” I reminded her. I rummaged through my unpacked trunk and handed a square packet to her. She squealed.
“James! You’re bloody brilliant!” She declared.
“I know I am!” I replied arrogantly. She smacked me on the back of the head. “Ow!” I whimpered.
“Twat. You always ruin the moment with that lofty voice and that stupid cocky grin.” She told me. I rolled my eyes and ignored her comment.
“So we’re on tomorrow then?” I inquired.
“Of course! I’m so excited! This is going to be the talk of the year! Sweet dreams! See you in the morning!” She called as she bounded back to the girls dormitories.
“Yep, n-night.” I responded as I yawned. I climbed into my now warm covers. The last thing I remembered seeing was Annelises' big, light, blue eyes…I knew right then and there I was completely and utterly whipped.
Oh shite… I thought to myself.
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A/N: Okay, it isn’t as well edited as I would have liked it to be, but the validation is so incredibly great right now that I really really wanted to get this finished. I can’t believe the incredible response to this story! I would like to thank all who have reviewed… you guys are just the absolute best! I hope this chapter was satisfactory… this was my first time ever doing a guys perspective in first person. If there are any tips you would like to give me, feel free to do so. I’m always looking for feedback and suggestions on how to make my story better. Anyway, a big thanks again to all those reviewers an all the people who have favorited the story. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Update: Now edited!
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from JKR’s Harry Potter books does NOT belong to me.
Chapter Three - Summer Vacation Part I
“Anna?” James knocked on my wide-open door. “Can I come in?” He asked politely. I rolled my eyes at him and grinned. I propped my elbows higher on the bed and shuffled the cards on the bedside table.
“’Course… It’s your house!” I told him. He sniffed.
“But the guest should have their own privacy.” He explained. He looked down at the deck of cards I held in my hands. “What are you playing?” He asked as he came closer.
“Solitaire.” I answered simply and started dealing out the crisp cards. He wrinkled his nose at me.
“You are one weird kid.” He remarked. I tried to scuff him on the head, but he quickly stepped away from my violent hands. “Seriously Anna, solitaire is for losers!” He said mockingly. I gave him the most evil and menacing glare I could muster. He recoiled slightly.
“Take. That. Back.” I growled. He smirked.
“Whatcha gonna do about it?” He teased. I stared at him blankly.
“Nothing.” I answered simply. He looked at me surprised.
“Really?” He asked slowly.
“No.” I answered and before he could react I tackled him to the ground.
“Ouch! OUCHIE! I take that back! I’m sorry!” He cried desperately. I held him down for a little while longer. You might think I’m mean, but that’s how we played. It was harmless, really.
“I CAN’T BREATHE!”
Okay, I take that back. I let him go and he rubbed his arms and neck. “Why am I friends with you?” He muttered to himself. I shrugged and went back to my game of solitaire. Just then, a tiny little black haired kid with glasses poked his head through the doorway. He sniffed.
“What’s the commotion? I’m trying to read guys!” Ah, cute little Albus. Sometimes I just wanted to pinch his little cheeks and eat him all up. I appreciated his efforts on being educated. Education was somewhat important to me… But not to James. I solely blamed him for the 82 detentions we had together during our first year. Most of them anyway. I take total credit for putting ground puking pastilles in all of the Slytherins' food. I walked over to Albus and crouched down.
“Sorry little guy, we’ll keep it down.” I apologized and messed up his hair. He looked at me wide-eyed and all of a sudden turned an angry red. ‘Uh-oh, what did I do this time?’ I thought to myself.
“MUM!” Albus bellowed as tears threatened to spill out of his eyes. He started to run away. “SHE TOUCHED MY HAIR! AND SHE CALLED ME LITTLE!” He bawled. Did I mention he was a drama queen? James let out an exasperated sigh.
“Oh dear lord.” He muttered. “We’re in for it now.”
“Sorry.” I whispered apologetically. How was I supposed to know that he was sensitive about his hair? Albus came back, dragging Mrs. Pott- errr, I mean Ginny by the hand. He pointed at us.
“Make them apologize Mum.” Albus ordered. I could see Mrs. Pot- Ginny fighting the urge to roll her eyes at her youngest son.
“James Potter and Annelise Turnington.” She told us sternly, while giving us a discrete wink. “Apologize to Albus.”
“I’m sorry buddy.” We both said in perfect synchronization. I went over to him.
“Albus! Darling! Please forgive me!” I wailed as I threw my arms around him. “If I had known that destroying your hair would hurt your feelings, I would have never done it!” I said dramatically. “Forgive me Albus!” I wailed some more. The poor boy looked extremely disturbed.
“Fine.” I held on to him tighter. “FINE!” He nearly yelled. “Just get off of me, will you?!” I let go, feigning disappointment. He looked at us all awkwardly. “Well, erm, I’m just going to go read my book now.” He informed us then quickly disappeared. James gave me a high five. I turned to Mrs. Po- GINNY! God, I was never going to get used to that!”
“Sorry for having to call you over because of that.” I apologized to Mrs. Potter- Oh, I give up! She smiled at us.
“Do you guys want some cookies?” She asked kindly. James and I shared a very private look.
“What kind are they Mum?” James asked suspiciously. Mrs. Potter was notorious for her bad cooking. It was a shame really; I had heard Grandma Weasley, her mother, was a fantastic one…
“The ones where you add water to the mix and just put them in the oven!” Mrs. Potter replied jovially. I looked over at James. He gave me a curt nod.
“Sure then Mrs-“ I started.
“GINNY!” She said sharply. I grinned sheepishly at her.
“Right… Sorry.”
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The cookies were atrocious. How Mrs. Potter managed to muck them up that was beyond my comprehension. It was simple. Put cookie mix into a bowl. Put water into the bowl. Mix them together. Roll them into little balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Mrs. Potter was something else. We were both choking down one of her cookies. It was burnt on the inside and sticky on the outside… how that was possible I will never know. It tasted like dirt and slugs mixed together.
“What’s cooking Mom?” Lily asked as she entered the kitchen. I really liked Lily. She was… cool, like us. She was really mature for her age and I admired her self-confidence that was much like mine.
“Cookies, do you want one?” Mrs. Potter offered. James tried to shake his head and get Lily’s attention, but no such luck. She had already reached for one of the cookies. Poor Lily, she actually still trusted Mrs. Potter with baking. Poor, naïve, Lily. She took a big bit and chewed on it a bit. She then looked at us wide-eyed and started to gag.
“Are you all right Love?” Mrs. Potter asked concernedly. Lily nodded and quickly spat the cookie out. “Is there something the matter with the cookies?” She asked worriedly.
“No, not at all Mum!” Lily squeaked. “I just swallowed it too soon and it got stuck in my throat…” If you hadn’t already guessed, Mrs. Potter had no idea how bad she was at cooking. None at all and no one wanted to be the one to experienced the bout of temper that would follow if they told her. Mrs. Potter smiled.
“Okay then! Sit down and have some more!” Lily was practically forced to sit beside us. She eyed them warily.
“Help me.” She mouthed. We shrugged at her. What were we supposed to do about it?
At that moment we heard a thump coming from the living room, followed by a groan. We raced into the next room. We came across a very disgruntled Mr. Potter sprawled against the carpet, his glasses askew and his face full of soot. Mrs. Potter raced to help him up.
“Honey! What are you doing home so early? And what happened?” Mrs. Potter asked as she brushed off his suit and kissed his very dirty cheek. I always smiled when I saw them together. They were so adorable! They never seemed to get sick of each other like other spouses did. Mr. Potter smiled gaily at his wife.
“I was allowed to come home at an earlier time to see my favorite girl. And I fell on a very large doll when I stepped out of the fireplace…” Lily rushed to the doll and picked it up. She looked at us quickly and then darted out of the room with her face flushing behind her thick red hair. James and I stifled a giggle. Lily did not like to show the girlish side of her.
“How’s it going?” Mr. Potter asked us both. I shrugged.
“Not much Mr. Potter.” I replied. “M-Ginny made us cookies.” Then we both gave Mr. Potter two winks and a fidget. I had only been with the Potter’s for a week, and already we had our own secret signs.
“I’m thinking of making dinner as well!” Mrs. Potter piped up. Mr. Potter began to panic.
“N-NO! That’s quite all-right Gin! As much as I would love for you to cook supper, I have actually made plans for us to go to this new fancy restaurant…” Mr. Potter said hastily. Mrs. Potter looked a bit disappointed. She sighed.
“Oh, all right…” She told him. “I was really looking forward to it though.” And she walked back into the kitchen. I high-fived Mr. Potter.
“Thank you so much Dad!” James said in relief. “The cookies were bad enough.”
“What restaurant are we going too?” I asked curiously.
“Oh, erm… I don’t know yet. Do you guys know of anywhere really fancy?” Mr. Potter inquired. James and I shook our heads in perfect synchronization. “Damn. I have to make a few calls.”
“Won’t it be hard to get a reservation on such short notice?” I asked in confusion. James winked at me.
“Being a Potter has some benefits Anna!”
“Damn you and your perfect life.” I grumbled. It was true. They had this freaking-incredible house with a room for everyone and four bathrooms. It was on acreage with a Quidditch pitch for Mrs. Potter to practice. The kitchen was humongous and even had a walk in refrigerator! Everything was clean and bright in the Potter household.
“Well, I wouldn’t say perfect…” James said with fake modesty.
“You are such a prick.” I told him as I rolled my eyes. “Look at me! I’m James Potter!” I yelled as I started to strut around the room. “I mess up my hair all the time and have patterned dinosaur underpants!”
“Well I’m Annelise Turnington!” James said as he stuck out his tongue. “I… I’m…” He frowned and screwed his face up from thinking to hard. He then looked up brightly and shouted, “I have really long and shiny hair!” I burst out laughing.
“T-that was the w-worst attempt of an insult in t-the whole wide world!” I said through fits of laughter. James huffed in dissatisfaction. He could never win against me, never. It was quite funny actually…
“I’m going to my room. You are no longer my friend because you are a mean person who hurt my feelings. And to think I invited you to spend three weeks of our summer vacation in this household…” He sniffed and stalked up the stairs. I shrugged.
“So this means you’re not coming to my house after this then?” I called.
“NO!” He yelled and slammed his bedroom door. I smiled and went down the hallway to the kitchen. I opened the door to see Mr. and Mrs. Potter snogging their heads off on the kitchen counter. I mean with the tongues and EVERYTHING.
“ACK! My eyes! MY EYES!” I yelled. They jumped apart, looking quite embarrassed. “I am mentally scarred for life!”
“Sorry Annelise, it won’t happen again.” Mr. Potter tried to say seriously. I could tell he was about to burst into laughter.
“Would you like something to eat dear?” Mrs. Potter asked.
“No, after that display I think I’ll never be hungry again! I ATE FOOD OFF THAT COUNTER!” I said in disgust. “I think I’m just gonna go and… erm… play more solitaire! Yea, that's what I’m going to do. Bye!” I said hurriedly and ran out of the room.
“Again, I’m sorry you had to see that!” Mr. Potter called. “Ah, to be twelve again.” I heard Mr. Potter tell his wife. I then heard some giggling and then a very masculine growl. I scrambled even faster up the stairs.
I don’t ever think I’ll be able to look at them the same way ever again… I mean, it’s bad enough having to accidentally walk in on my mom and Carl doing things that I will not speak of… but this was a whole entire ball game. Mr. Potter was the savior of the wizarding world for heavens sake! He wasn’t supposed to be doing stuff like that! Especially growling. That was just downright disturbing.
“Hey Annelise. What was with all the noise?” Lily commented as she made her way right toward the kitchen.
“Lily. DON’T GO IN THERE!” I yelled. She ignored me. She always did. I counted backwards from five.
“JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH! Get a room!” Lily screamed at her parents. “AHHHHH!” And she ran to the top of the stairs, where I currently was.
“You could have warned me!” She said as she pointed her finger accusingly at me.
“I tried Lily.” I told her in exasperation while my right eye twitched angrily. “I really tried.” We then both shuddered.
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“Annelise! It’s time to go!” Mr. Potter told me as he poked his head into the guest bedroom. I still couldn’t look him in the eye after the ‘incident’.
“Err, okay.” I said with a sigh. I was in a white t-shirt and a nice blue skirt, with fancy silver sandals to match. I hated the bloody skirt. It was too drafty and it felt all wrong. I was completely self-conscious about how I walked and how I sat. But I wanted to make a great impression, so I sacrificed my freedom for the sake of looking nice. The sandals were stupid too. They hurt my heels and caused several ankle-twisting accidents. I even had put on jewelry. JEWELERY.
“You okay?” Mr. Potter asked in concern as he sat on my bed.
“Yeah…” I replied quietly. “Just nervous, that’s all.” He looked at me incredulously. “I want them to all like me and accept me.” I explained to him.
“Don’t worry about it. Just be yourself… everyone will love you.” Mr. Potter reassured me. I smiled a bit more brightly.
“Yeah, they probably will, won’t they. ‘Cept Roxanne of course. She hates me!” I finished dramatically. Mr. Potter chuckled.
“She doesn’t hate you…” He started and I looked at him in disbelief. “Oh, all right. She does.”
“Thanks Mr. Potter.” I drawled. “You’re cool, don’t get me wrong, but you suck at comforting people and making them feel better.” He clapped me on the back.
“Well, despite how wonderful I am, I’m not the best at everything.” He said with a wink. “By the way, you look… nice.” He said apprehensively. I rolled my eyes.
“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” I replied honestly. I looked down at my skirt. “All year I fought with McGonagall about not wearing skirts and wearing board shorts instead as part of my uniform. I got tons of detentions because of it. And now LOOK AT ME!” I waved down at my clothing. “And sandals are stupid. You can’t run in them.” Mr. Potter chuckled once again.
“Too true.”
“Anna and Dad! Get in the car before Mum has a fit!” James ordered as he stormed in the room. He then looked at me. He stared at me oddly for a long time and his ears turn red.
“Anna. Y-you look like a girl!” He exclaimed in disbelief. “That skirt is too short, put on pants.” He ordered. I came over and whacked him on the back of the head.
“What are you, my father?” I asked angrily. He then hugged me tight.
“Sorry Anna! Please forgive me!” He wailed. Then he did the Puppy Eyes. I hate him.
“Fine, you’re forgiven.” I grumbled.
“You’re hair is down.” He said softly. “You never put it down.” I looked at him oddly, he was sure speaking strangely.
“Um, yeah, cause that way it doesn’t get in my face. Ugh, it’s going to get in my food when I’m eating at the Burrow tonight.” I said in disgust as I examined the way-to-long-and-stupid hair.
“You haven’t worn it down since the train ride to Hogwarts…” James said to me.
“You remember the times I put my hair down? You’re such a creep.”
“Am not!” He yelled.
“Are too!” I yelled back.
“KIDS AND HARRY! Get in the bloody car!” Mrs. Potter yelled. We scrambled down the stairs.
“I call one of the window seats!” I ordered.
“To late!” Albus and Lily said at the same time. I hate those kids.
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I was panting and extremely carsick by the end of the ride. I had to sit right beside James, who I swear, is a human heat source.
“Roll down the window!” I ordered. Albus grinned evilly at me.
“Nope!” He replied cheerfully. James, who was asleep by this point, yawned and tightly wrapped his arms around my neck. I tried to move, but that only made him grab on tighter.
“Roll down the window NOW.” I growled at Albus. He became frightened by my menacing glare.
“Fine.” He sighed. A breeze of air happily greeted me a few seconds later.
“Aaah.” I breathed in relief. The car lurched to a stop.
“YAY!” Albus and Lily screamed. “Nana Molly’s!” James awoke with a start. He put his head up which smashed into my face.
“Frick!” I yelled.
“Anna?” He said drowsily. His eyes opened widely. “Anna!”
“I’m bleeding!” I screeched. “You twat!” He took his arms off from my neck.
“Why are my arms around you?” He asked with raised eyebrows.
“You put them around me and wouldn’t get off!” I protested. James looked slightly disappointed.
“Oh.”
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An old lady with a crooked cane was waiting for us at the front of the Burrow.
“Nana Molly!” Lily squealed. She ran to give a red-haired lady with wrinkles a hug. Albus was right behind his sister. The three of them shared a tight embrace; the woman laughing while her eyes sparkled.
“James?” The lady asked expectantly. James sauntered forward.
“Sup.” He said in a bored voice and then ruffled his hair. Honesty, could this boy be any more pathetic?
“Twat!” I called out at him. He looked at me in disbelief.
“What have I done this time?” He asked in annoyance.
“You’re being a prat! And the whole ‘cool’ image… SO not working.” I yelled out at him.
“You are a cruel person Annelise! You always ruin my image! And you talk way too loudly!” He called back. An indigo haired boy stuck his head out the oak doorway.
“Hey! I thought I heard you guys come. I could recognize that bantering from anywhere!” The boy said with a smile.
“Teddy! I’ve missed you!” I said as I ran to him and put him in a tight hug. The old lady laughed again.
“You must be the infamous Annelise. I’m Molly Weasley.” ‘Molly’ put her hand out. I unwrapped my arms from around Teddy and shook her hand vigorously. To my surprise she then pulled me into a tight hug. She smelled really nice… How Grandma’s were supposed to smell. Like Christmas and a meadow mixed together.
My Grandma smelled like millions of flowers. Not in a good way either. That woman put on so much flower smelling perfume that it became just down right ridiculous after awhile. You literally choked when you got a whiff of the smell radiating off her body.
“Oh, it’s Annelise everybody! Let’s all jump for joy!” I heard a voice drawl from the doorway. I could recognize that repulsive voice any day.
“Bugger off Roxanne.” I replied in annoyance. To say that Roxanne hated me was an understatement. She seemed nice enough at first, but then she started to glare at me a lot. And then came the ‘sentences with double meanings’. After that, it was the snide remarks, and from there it progressed to name calling and vicious pranks. She was the only Weasley/Potter I did not like. Sure, I knew she was jealous and everything… but was all the nastiness really necessary?
I entered through the doorway with the Potter family, where I met Molly’s husband Arthur, who started to rapidly talk to me once he found out my stepdad Carl was a muggleborn. We do a lot of things the muggle way at my house. Since he was slightly deaf, he seemed to shout a lot during the time of our conversation.
Percy, Audrey and their kids came about five minutes after we did. Percy was a pretty boring person. We got on to a conversation about wizarding politics… not fun. His wife, Audrey, is his exact opposite. She was extremely bubbly, wore neon clothing, and had a smile on her face the whole entire time. It was kind of freaky actually. I tried to copy her exact wide grin, but after just a few minutes I could barely feel my mouth cause I was in such pain. That woman had skill.
I met one-eared George who I took an instant liking too. He has a great sense of humor and apparently got into as much trouble as James and I back in his school days. His smile did fade when he mentioned his twin brother, Fred, who died during the Second Wizarding War. I felt for him, I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing my brother, or even James for that matter. James was like family to me, I have come to love him a lot.
Bill was totally awesome with all those scars and Fleur was stunningly beautiful… but I had trouble at times understanding what she was saying… I was really bad when it came to accents… I greeted Dom and Victoire enthusiastically, and gave Louis a stiff nod. I remembered that Roxanne was not the only one I really didn’t like. Louis was an egotistical prat.
Ron and Hermione Weasley arrived an hour later then we did. Their kids were sweet… in their own way. Rose was a nice girl, but she seemed to freak out a lot and liked to fight with anyone who even slightly offended her. It’s because of her that there is a stereotype that redheads have tempers. Hugo, her little brother on the other hand… well, there was no nice way to put it; the kid is a dork. Not even a smart one either. He kept carrying around a gobstones kit wherever he went, hoping in vain that someone would play with him.
Molly clapped her hands in delight.
“Finally! Everyone is here!” Molly said. “It’s time to start making dinner.”
“Charlie’s not here!” Albus piped up. Molly looked flustered.
“Charlie’s not coming.” She said sorrowfully. All the Weasleys oohed and asked their Nana ‘why not?’.
“Dragon emergency.” Molly told them. “We’ll see him at Christmas at least!” Molly added on a lighter note.
“Dragon emergency?” I asked James.
“Oh, Uncle Charlie is head of the Dragon Sanctuary in Romania.” James explained. I raised my eyebrows with surprise. James had such a cool family… it was not fair. I had no cousins and my mother worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in the Pest Sub-Division. The most exciting thing that had ever happened to my Mum at work was when she had to deal with a giant infestation of Bundimuns.
“Molly, dear. MAY I HELP OUT WITH THE COOKING?” Arthur half shouted.
“No! Stay out of my kitchen Arthur!” Molly told him sternly.
“I’ll come help out!” Ginny offered helpfully. Molly looked fearful at the very thought of it.
“No! You stay out of my kitchen too! I’ll be fine with… my other daughter in-laws helping out. Oh, and Victoire too dear.” Molly said, smiling brightly at the eldest Grandchild. The women paraded into the kitchen to start on (from what I’ve heard) a delicious feast.
“Why can I never help out?” Ginny grumbled.
“I know, it’s so unfair. It’s sexism!” Arthur mumbled to himself. Alas! A sentence from Arthur that didn’t include shouting! All the men visiting the Burrow nodded in agreement to Arthurs’ statement.
“Yeah! Since when can I not cook?” Harry said in protest. “I’m a great cook! I’m loads better than Gin-“ He cut himself off and looked at his wife who looked infuriated and hurt.
“Heh, I was, err… joking Ginny. You’re a great cook!” Ginny’s glare did not waver in the slightest. “Umm. I love you!” He tried to plant a kiss on her cheek but she raised her hand to stop him.
“Kids, is your father a better cook then I am?” She asked curiously.
“No!” Lily said automatically.
“Definitely not!” Albus replied.
“Impossible!” James frantically said.
Ginny gave her three kids a look.
“Well, maybe just a little bit.”
“You’re an okay cook…”
“It’s not like you’re horrible though…” James said hopefully.
Ginny looked at her kids again. That woman had a gift. I could tell that Lily, Albus and James were about to crack…
“Okay, mum, here’s the thing…” Lily started off softly.
“You’re a HORRIBLE cook!” Albus told her.
“You’re food is disgusting and you gave Annelise food poisoning!” James said in total honestly. I felt a little guilty about being dragged into the conversation… but then again, it really wasn’t my fault I started puking my guts out from eating those cookies. Ginny turned to her husband.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She said, pointing a threatening finger at her husband. Before he could even open his mouth, she stormed in the direction of the kitchen.
“Darling, where are you going?” Harry called worriedly.
“To learn how to cook!” She shrieked. James groaned.
“Thanks Dad; thanks a lot.” He told his father. “We are now going to be forced to be test subjects for every meal from now on!” I gave him a sympathetic hug.
“At least you’ll be at my place in a week in a half!” I told him optimistically. James smiled at the prospect.
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Us kids went outside while the adults did the cooking and cleaning. The one thing that I loved about the Burrow was the meadow and the numerous number of trees we were able to play in. Rose (James’s extremely spazzy cousin) was in charge of the game we were to play.
“We are going to play house!” Rose exclaimed with clapped hands. Us older kids groaned.
“Do we really have to?” James whined. Louis agreed with him.
“Really Rose! Aren’t we a bit to mature to be playing games such as that?” Louis said in distaste. “I mean, hide and seek is so much better!” Rose growled and looked at him crossly.
“We are going to play house.” She repeated, her face turning an angry red color. Her cousins took this as a warning sign and didn’t argue further. Rose started to give orders to each and every one of us. Lily called right away to being an Aunt, while Hugo and Albus (much to their dismay) became the two children of the family. Louis was an Uncle and Roxanne and Fred became the Grandpa and Grandma. Everyone seemed very unhappy about this arrangement, but it was becoming quite clear that even though Rose was one of the youngest, you did not want to mess with her. In a way I admired her for it, but also loathed it at the same time. I personally never liked playing ‘House’ as a kid.
“And James and Annelise; you are the Mommy and Daddy.”
…
That was why.
James and I looked at each other with discomfort. “Ewwww!” I told her. “Can I please switch roles with someone?” Everyone took a step back. I looked at Freddie pleadingly who shook his head and was silently laughing at the uncomfortable situation. James’ ears were a very bright red.
“What’s the big deal?” Rose asked me. “You two are going to get married someday anyway… this is great practice!” I looked down at her.
Awkward… I blame the skirt and the sandals for this situation. It gives people ideas.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Just because James and I are friends does NOT mean we’re going to someday get married!” I told her in exasperation. I had to deal with a lot of these comments during my first year. A lot of people just did not get that a boy and girl could be friends.
The girls in my dorm were under the impression that boys had cooties. The first few weeks had consisted of kissy faces and wolf whistles when James and I would walk down a hallway. That ended when I started beating these said people up.
Despite my futile efforts of getting out of being James’s “wife”, Rose still got her way and we went off into the clearing to play our little game of House. After awhile it became quite fun. James and I decided to make fun of our little awkward situation and became quite enthusiastic while pretending to be husband and wife. At the end we were rolling on the ground laughing (well, as much rolling as you can do in a skirt without flashing your underwear) at the silly pet names we were giving each other. So was everyone else… except Roxanne of course. For a second I could have sworn her mouth twitched while pretending to be above the rest of us.
“Very mature guys.” She said. “Very mature.”
“You really need to get that huge ass-stick out of your butt Roxanne.” I told her through fits of laughter.
“Yeah Roxanne!” James and Fred agreed with me. I could see a flash of hurt through her eyes before she huffed and went back inside the house, slamming the door as she went. I almost felt bad for saying it, but it was true.
“She didn’t used to be so uptight.” Fred told me sadly. I nodded in agreement.
“When we first met on the train she was such a nice person.” I reminisced.
“She still is… she just has major jealousy issues.” Fred half-argued on his twins’ behalf. I shrugged.
“Can we play Hide and Seek now?” Albus begged. Rose contemplated this idea.
“Well…” She said slowly, “1 2 3 NOT IT!” She called very suddenly and ran into the forest.
“NOT IT!” The rest of the Potter-Weasley clan said a split second afterwards and ran for it. I was left standing.
“Oh bugger.” I muttered, and started counting to thirty.
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Dinner was an interesting event. Ginny was still mad at Harry and even madder at herself. She muttered to herself angrily while picking through her food made by Nana Molly. Roxanne, being the wonderful girl she is, was glaring at me from across the table. I glared back as hard as I could.
We then somehow began to have a staring contest. Her eyes would widen, and then mine would get even wider. After a while my eyes began to really hurt… but I wasn’t about to let her win. James and the rest of the siblings and cousins were too busy having an enthusiastic discussion about Quidditch to even realize what was going on. My eyes were in such searing pain that I knew that I couldn’t take it any longer. So I did what any mature preteen would do in that situation… I picked up a fork and threw it at Roxanne’s forehead.
“OW! WHAT THE FU---“ Roxanne yelled loudly. I smirked.
“I win!” I told her triumphantly. I felt a bit embarrassed for doing something as immature as throwing a utensil at a persons head, but I wasn’t about to show it.
“That was cheating! FORFEIGHT.” Roxanne argued.
“Nu-uh.” I said as I stuck out my tongue. Roxanne became extremely angry and started yelling incoherent things at me while leaning across the table and trying to get closer to me. I started yelling too. We were so close that our noses were almost touching. I was getting mad and each of us pulled up our hand to slap the other when.
“ENOUGH!” Nana Molly cut in. “I have heard enough fighting from you two to last a lifetime!” Mr. Potter nodded in agreement.
“Kids, it’s time to put aside your differences and get along!” Mr. Potter ordered us. Roxanne and I both rolled our eyes.
“Like that’s ever going to happen!” I cried. I had tried at first to be nice to her, but I was so sick of her attitude now.
“I will NEVER get along with her. And you can’t do anything about it!” Roxanne said at the same time. The adults looked at each other and sighed in defeat.
“Then you leave us no choice…” Ron told us. Uh-oh… I did not like the look on their faces. If there was one thing I knew about the Weasley-Potter clan; it was that they always were there to interfere in other people lives. I’m pretty sure that Roxanne knew as well as I that we would be getting along by the end of the night whether we wanted to or not.
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A/N: I know… It’s so despicable how long this has taken to update. I will make no excuses, all I can say is I am sorry. I hope this chapter made up for it at least a tiny bit :). Thanks for all the reviews guys. I will try my best to update a lot sooner next time. Again, very very sorry. I have commitment issues at times… but I am trying to get past that. I hope this was a good chapter… please give me feedback on it and tell me areas where I could improve. I would really appreciate it. Again thanks for such a positive feedback on the story!
JKRowlingFan22
This chapter is edited.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from JKR's Harry Potter books does NOT belong to me.
Chapter Four - Summer Vacation Part II
Roxanne and I were tied to our chairs in the middle of the Burrow's living room, glaring as menacingly as we could at each other. Nana Molly, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Roxanne’s parents, George and Angelina, Freddie, James, Lily and Albus stood around us with their arms crossed and their faces stern.
“It’s time to put aside your differences and get along.” Mr. Potter repeated. I growled under my breath. It hadn’t even been a fair fight; Roxanne and I had no chance of getting away from being tied up. It was two against the rest of the people at the Burrow.
They could have at least been chivalrous about it and put two against two! But noooo, we were instead dragged from our seats like rag dolls and thrown into those chairs within a blink of an eye. The sheer force and the quickness of what was done had overwhelmed me so much that I had no time to even consider fighting back. I narrowed my eyes and glared at everyone circling around us. At least James had enough remorse to put his head down in shame… the rest of them looked like they were holding back laughter. Some of their faces had started to turn purple… Good. I hope they choke.
“Is this really necessary?” I asked them, exasperated.
“Yes!” Several of the family members chorused. I huffed and tried to cross my arms to show my displeasure. Then I realized that I couldn’t move them… because I was tied to a bloody chair!
“Gits.” I muttered under my breath. Mr. Potter raised his eyebrow at me, as if warning me not to insult them again. Damn, wish I could raise one eyebrow like that! I tried to just then, but to no avail. I did get some confused looks from Freddie and James though…
“Roxanne, you go first.” George ordered his daughter. She was about to protest, but seeing the disappointment on her father’s face, she obliged.
“I. Don’t. Like you.” She told me simply. I rolled my eyes at her.
“Well that part is glaringly obvious!” I snapped at her. She glowered back. I sighed. “Can I know why?” I asked her in a softer tone. She kept on glaring at me.
“Well, in my defense, you don’t like me either!” She said in annoyance.
“That wasn’t an answer to my question.” I said as I tried to keep my voice level. She kept silent. “For the love of Merlin Roxanne! What the hell is your problem? Ever since that first day on the train you have been nothing but utterly and completely nasty to me! I step into the girl’s dorm and BAM! I’m already getting snide comments and dirty looks from you. All through the year I have had to deal with your crap. And I have absolutely no idea what I did to deserve this treatment! Of course I began to be horrible to you after that! How could I not stand up for myself! There is only so much crap I can put up with after awhile! I don’t even understand why-“
“You stole everything away from me!” Roxanne finally interrupted. “Everyone loves you! You’re perfect! Next to you no one gives me the time of day, including my two best friends!” She flicked her eyes towards James and Fred while she shrieked. “Everyone ignores me when you’re around. It’s sickening. All of a sudden, I’m pushed aside because some better marauder girl comes around. All of a sudden, I’m left out of pranks that the three of you pull and the fourth wheel whenever YOU are around. Do you think that feels good Annelise?”
For once in my life I was at a loss for words.
“James and Freddie were the only two friends I had, and then you take them away and I’m left alone. I don’t really have anything in common with any of the other girls in our dorm, and all of the guys and my relatives hang out and admire you three. At Hogwarts, I’m a loner. My whole entire first year consisted of being depressed and angry. Everyone took your side in every fight we have every had.”
I recalled back to a few months before. Things I had never noticed before suddenly came into light. Roxanne sitting alone in the library. Roxanne sitting by herself at the Gryffindor table. Roxanne not saying a word when we were hanging out while I was vibrantly telling a story that made everyone laugh. Everything she had said was true. Roxanne had been the loner at Hogwarts… the girl with the famous family but no friends. She had been invisible.
I looked at her for a long time, and for the first time I didn’t see a spiteful girl… just a hurt one. There was a long silence before I cleared my throat.
“Er, ahem. Sorry.” I said awkwardly. I was never good with apologies. They were always extremely uncomfortable. “Umm, you know, if you had just come and talked to me about this earlier we could have patched things up. I had no idea, honestly.” She nodded.
“I would have, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. Er, sorry I was a bint.” She said with a strained effort.
“Roxanne! Language!” George said sternly. She gave her father a dirty look. I looked at Roxanne.
“So we’re okay then?” I asked her. She nodded.
“Yeah, I guess we are.” Roxanne agreed.
I sighed in relief. “Sooo…” I looked around the room. They just stood there, watching the two of us. “ Well, can you untie us now?” I asked impatiently. Mr. Potter took out his wand and the ropes magically disappeared. There was another long silence as we stood up.
“Who wants dessert?” Nana Molly piped up.
“ME!” All of us children screamed.
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I was sitting on the porch swing on the Burrow’s balcony later that night. It had just become dark and the stars lit up the sky, just like they did at home. The air was cool and the moon was just a little more than a sliver. You could hear the laughter and loud noises coming from inside the house. The kids younger than James and I were already asleep. I was feeling a bit tired myself; Nana Molly’s dinner was just too delicious and filling. James came out to sit beside me. I swear, we were attached to the hip… we never went anywhere without each other nowadays.
“Sorry about that whole entire ‘house’ game incident.” James apologized after a few minutes of silence. I shrugged.
“No problem.” I told him, “It’s bound to happen anyways. And kids always say stupid stuff like that.”
“I guess so.” James obliged. We both yawned.
“When are we gonna be able to go back to your place?” I asked James. He looked through the window at the lively crowd of adults. He groaned.
“Not for another hour or so.” He said unhappily. I shook my head.
“In that case…” I said tiredly, “I’m going to take a nap.” I put my feet on his lap and placed my head on the bench, turning my back to the window. James looked a bit surprised by the change in position.
“Okay then…” He said uncomfortably, and rested his head against the back of the chair. As my eyelids slowly began to droop, I noticed Teddy and Victoire come out the front door, both of them giggling madly. I wonder if anything is going on between them? I asked myself. Before I could think any further about the situation, I slipped into a deep sleep.
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A few days later, after a rigorous game of backyard Quidditch, I was comfortably reading the last of the set of books that contained Mr. Potter’s entire life story. I had been asking him about details of the final battle for the past couple of days, but it was just too painful for him to retell the whole entire story. He had apparently done the same for the rest of his children as soon as they reached the age of nine. I knew the basics about his life and the Final Battle, but the whole story was just downright amazing. The books had been written by Hermione. The books that were sold to the wizarding public were slightly different to the one I had the honor of reading. It made me feel special. I looked up at James when I read the last few pages.
“Your Dad is effing amazing!” I told him. He rolled his eyes at me.
“I know.” He said with annoyance and a hint of pride.
“I will never look at any of these people the same way again!” I exclaimed. “I mean, Professor Longbottom? Percy? Fred? Teddy’s parents? Ron and Hermione? Snape? Dumbledore? They’re all my new heroes!” I continued on excitedly. “And how Voldemort reached his end because of love? This is so bloody UNREAL! And that final stand against Harry and Voldemort? God, I LOVE YOU MR. POTTER!” I screamed towards the Potter's library. I heard a moan of embarrassment, along with a hard thump against a table.
“Jesus Christ! Calm down woman, will you?” James said exasperatedly. I hit him on the head with one of the biographies. “Ow.” James whined as he rubbed his head.
“Sorry, it’s just a lot to take in.” I told James. I seriously had never known how bloody amazing his relatives were. Maybe I should start paying attention in Professor Binns’ classes…
“I know, I was shocked too when I found out my Mum and Dad were war heroes. Now that you’re done, can we go outside and play some more Quidditch?” James pleaded. I nodded in consent. “YIPPEE!” He shouted.
“Yippee?” I said while giving him a ‘look’. “Wow, you’re cool.” I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and started walking out the back door. I followed him, before turning around and calling out, “See you soon Mr. Potter… you bloody amazing Savior of the Wizarding World! I LOVE YOU!” I heard his head bang against the desk yet again. I grinned to myself.
“You know he doesn’t like it when people fawn over him, right?” James asked me with raised eyebrows. I grinned yet again.
“I know; I just like embarrassing him. It’s funny to watch.” I said jovially. He smiled back at me.
“It is, isn’t it?” James agreed. “Now, lets practice your beating skills so you’ll make it on the Gryffindor team next year!” I nodded eagerly.
“On your mark, get set, go!” I yelled. We ran as fast as our legs could go, leaving the seriousness of the past behind. They made a better future for us, and we weren’t going to waste a minute of it.
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We came inside just before it was dark to find Mrs. Potter cooking furiously. She was so focused on stirring whatever she was making in the pot that she didn’t even notice that we had come in.
“Oh dear Lord. NO!” James groaned. I empathized with him. This was bound to be a disaster. Mr. Potter was pleading with his wife. WE WERE ALL GOING TO DIE.
“Gin, really. It’s OK if you aren’t a good cook.” He told her while trying to put a hand on her shoulder. She shook it away, glared at him, and continued to stir.
“Will. Become. Good. At. Cooking.” Mrs. Potter grunted. Mr. Potter sniffed the pot, and tried very hard to not grimace afterwards.
“Gin, if it’s that important to you, I’ll support you all the way.” He told his wife. I secretly awwed to myself inside. “But at least let me help, ok? That way we can work through this together.” He finished with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Really?” She asked softly. He kissed her intimately on the forehead.
“Really.” He said assuredly. He then proceeded to pick up a spoon and taste a little bit of the meal she was making. He swished it around in his mouth and turned a very alarming shade of white. Mrs. Potter looked at him expectantly.
“Er,” He cleared his throat, “It… it needs a bit of salt…” He began. She looked at him questioningly before trying a bit of it for herself. She took one sip (was it soup or some sort of pudding?) and then started to gag. She then spat it out into the sink.
“Why did you ever marry me? Why did you ever let me near a kitchen? I’m terrible!” She turned to us. “I’m a terrible mother!” She exclaimed, pointing wildly to us. “What kind of ghastly food have I inflicted on my children?” She then wrapped her arms around her husband tightly and began convulsing violently.
To be honest with you, I think Mr. Potter was a bit terrified. Ginny normally had a very calm, cool demeanor. And now she was wailing like a banshee.
“If Albus or Lily walked in right now, this would look very very wrong.” I whispered to James. He fought to not smile. Mrs. Potter was practically straddling her husband. And the way they were leaning on the stove put them in a very hilarious position.
Mrs. Potter continued on with her frenzy, and the Chosen One gave a pleading look to his son, desperate for some type of help.
“Mum,” James began soothingly, approaching her slowly. “So what if you’re not a great cook? It doesn’t mean you’re the worst in the world. It’s not like you’ve… um, killed us or anything.” If you couldn’t tell, James and Mr. Potter became really awkward when it came to crying women.
“Nice James, nice.” I said sarcastically. He looked at me nastily.
“Look, I’m doing the best I can here… all right?” James said angrily. I huffed and crossed my arms.
“Mrs. P- Ginny, maybe if you started over again and had Mr- Harry guide you through step by step, you could learn how to make a somewhat decent meal.” I suggested. All three Potter members looked at me with surprised looks etched on their faces.
“I suppose we could try that…” Ginny said slowly, looking hopefully at her husband.
“Brilliant!” Mr. Potter said with a grin. “Let’s get started Gin.” He said fondly. She nodded happily. The cleaned the dishes anew with their wands and proceeded to take out ingredients and look at different recipes together. James came over and hugged me tightly.
“You are brilliant.” He told me. His relief was heavily shown on his face.
“I know!” I said happily.
It’s always Annelise to the rescue.
Mhmm.
Most of the time.
Mhmm.
Well, kind of.
Right…
Okay! FINE! It’s usually James with that goddamn charming smile and the famous connections! This was a really rare occurrence!
I hate my brain. It sounds a lot like Roxanne. DAMN YOU. I guess it makes sense though, out of all of us, she’s the one who has the most maturity and, ugh, common sense. Not that I’ll ever tell that to her. Wouldn’t want that to go to her head. Either that or she’d be all freaked out that the voice that talks to me inside my mind was her… Hmm.
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“Checkmate! Oh yeah!” Albus hollered, his fist punching the air.
“I hate you all.” I said, seething about another loss against the Potter children at Wizarding chess. James put his arms around me in mock comfort.
“Anna, it’s not your fault you didn’t grow up with Ron as an Uncle.” He said in a totally fake soothing voice. I growled at him. He quickly took his arms off my shoulders. Good, the bastard’s scared of me.
“Go to hell. All of you!” I told them crossly. James looked at me in shock.
“Anna! Don’t swear in front of the children!” He mocked as he proceeded to cover Lily’s ears. She swatted him away.
“Get off me, you deranged child.” She hissed at him.
“You women are bloody insane!” He exclaimed, and then ruffled his hair. We all looked at each other and snickered at how melodramatic James was being.
All of a sudden it went dark. All the lights died and a sense of dread filled my chest.
“James?” I whispered.
“Get your wand out Anna.” He said harshly.
“Wha-“
“Get your bloody wand out!” He said quickly, trying to remain calm. This scared me even more… something was definitely wrong. I scrambled frantically in complete darkness until I found the bedside table. I opened the drawer as quickly as I could and wrapped my fingers around it.
Then there was a loud crash. And a flash of bright light coming from outside of the house.
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I couldn’t get out of the bedroom door fast enough. James was in front with his want out, while Lily and Albus were in the middle. I had not idea what was going on. Harry and Ginny were running down the hallway, clad in only their nightwear with their wands out in front of them.
“DAD! Wha-“ James started. Harry looked worriedly at his son.
“Take your siblings and hide James.” He said sternly.
“What’s going on?” I cried. Mr. Potter turned to me.
“Rogue Death Eaters. Some of them are still on the loose, and they’ve been recruiting it looks like.” He said in a low voice. Lily let out a strangled cry. Ginny hugged her daughter.
“It’s okay. They haven’t been able to penetrate through the wards yet.” She whispered, trying desperately to comfort her children.
There was another crash. I flinched at the sound. Harry looked at us. In his eyes I could see that his only concern was for his children. I could hear yelling and raised voices.
“Hide.” He said again, his voice cracking. James and I looked out the window. There was so many, just fifty feet from the house.
“Dad.” James voiced cracked too. “Let me help… please.” Harry shook his head.
“Take them and hide.” Harry told James again. I saw the loving look radiate off Harry’s face, and the desperate looks on James’s.
“Dad. Please… don’t go out there.” James said softly. For the first time in a long time, I saw the look of utter despair etched on James’s face. “Don’t go.” James pleaded. Harry looked back out of the crowd. They were still working on the wards, but it was only a matter of time.
“I have too.” Harry said, silently begging his oldest son to understand. Before James could even reply again, I took his arm and tugged him tightly. I could tell he wanted to go with his Dad. He would rather die with him than live without him. But what could we really do? We were just twelve years old… under aged and inexperienced.
“We have to go. We have to protect Albus and Lily.” I ordered.
“Bu-“ James tried to start.
“JAMES! We have to hide NOW!” I said, completely terrified. I was gripped onto him so tightly that his face turned into contorted pain. He straightened up.
“All right.” He said dejectedly. He took one last fleeting look at his parents before grabbing Albus, while I took hold of Lily. He began to run up another flight of stairs, me following right behind him. After what seemed like forever, we stopped at a wall in a far corner of a guest bedroom. He kicked down one of the vertical boards. “In here.” He said desperately.
It was still all dark, but as soon as we entered the board repaired itself instantly.
“Lumos.” I muttered, giving us some light. Lily was sobbing silently, as was I. Albus turned his back to us and started to shake. It was cold and damp. I guessed we were somewhere near the top of the house. There was no windows, but you could hear a lot of what was going on outside. James sat there, motionless. I took his hand, placing my wand at my side.
“Is this the first time this has happened?” I asked quietly. It took him a minute to answer.
“No.” He whispered. “There was a time… when I was like, three… a week after Lily was born. And another time, but us kids were at Nana Molly’s. “ He gripped me harder, fighting back angry tears.
“They want him. The Auror’s couldn’t catch every Death Eater. And he was promoted to the head of the Auror Department a few years back. It made him an even bigger target.” The house creaked very loudly and shook a little bit. Lily then hugged me tightly around the waist. I stroked her hair comfortingly with my free hand.
“Mum’s retiring from Quidditch soon too. Wants to do something more meaningful. We’re the most influential family out there. Same with Rose and Hugo’s family. Our parents are all war heroes who took down Voldemort.” He said bitterly to me. I was at loss for words. “They’ve never been able to get us though. This attack is the worst one yet… they’ve gotten stronger.” He gripped my hand so tightly that I was pretty sure all circulation was now cut off. I didn’t care though. All I cared about was James and his parents. I prayed silently to god to bring Harry and Ginny back unharmed. I was never extremely religious, but I was willing to do anything to bring them safely back to James, Albus and Lily. I wanted to cry, but I had to stay strong for the other three. They needed me right now.
After a little while, Albus also laid his head across my lap also. I softly sang to them, trying not to lose my nerve in the process and sob my eyes out. It was a lullaby my mother had sang to me whenever I was having a bad night. But I never had anything as bad as this happen to me.
Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night
“I’m so sorry James.” I said as I rubbed his arm. He laid his head on my shoulder. “I guess every family, even one as perfect as yours seems to be, comes with baggage.”
“No one’s life is perfect Anna.” He told me tiredly. “I’ve been trying to tell you that this whole entire time.” I thought of my own family, and the insane emotional shit I went through during my childhood. I nodded. We could see flashes of light through the cracks of the walls and the occasional screams.
The house continued to shake and I had finally given up on keeping my wand lit. We were in complete darkness. I had no clue what was going to happen, or even if we were going to make it out alive. I clasped my white and shaking hands back into James’s warm, clammy ones.
“I know. It was just nice for awhile to think that someone’s life actually was.”
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Sooo, how was the intense chapter? I don’t usually like it when an author puts in a really dramatic scene straight out of the blue, so I was surprised with myself when I actually started writing this. Love it? Hate it? Give me advice on what I could do better for next time. Please, I become slightly better every single time with the more constructive criticism you guys throw at me :). Don’t worry; this type of melodrama is a rare occasion in this particular story. More comedy will ensue later on.
On a lighter note, how was the April Fools joke? I probably reread that thing like twenty times then totally flipped out. I wrote this whole entire speech on the forums and then five minutes later I realized it was all a joke… heh heh. This is the second time too they’ve completely freaked me out on April 1st.
Only two months to get this chappie out this time! This is a huge improvement people! Review pretty pretty pretty please?The Lullaby is not mine. It’s called All Through the Night and is by Barry Taylor. Okay? Thanks for reading!
JKRowlingFan22
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from JKR's Harry Potter books does NOT belong to me!
Chapter Five – Summer Vacation Part III
We were at St. Mungo’s, in a room filled with Healers rushing all over the place, tending to the Potter family and me. Turns out if you’re someone really famous, you get special treatment whenever you get hurt.
Somehow that just isn’t fair. A brown-haired healer took his wand out and checked me for any injuries.
“Honestly, I’m fine!” I tried to tell them. But did they listen to me? Nooo, of course not. The brown-haired man frowned at me and continued to check me for curses and other issues. I sighed impatiently and looked over to see how Mr. Potter was doing; he was knocked out from all the drugs the healers had given him. They wanted to put him in a private room, but the rest of the family refused to be separated from him.
He wasn’t that badly hurt, except for the gushing blood coming out of his right arm. He had been hit by a nasty curse. Really, he was fine, but he was really distressed about his children and wife. The healers collectively decided the only way to stop him from squirming and to calm him down was to knock him out completely.
Really professional in my opinion.
Mrs. Potter was being tended to with a serene expression on her face. She examined her leg as the healer calmly tended to it with a flurry of spells. Considering the circumstance, I expected her to be in the opposite state of what she was in now. She looked, relieved I guess. I suppose she had a cool head on her when it was needed the most. She looked fondly at her children and husband and then smiled at me.
“I’m glad they’re all alright.” She told me. I nodded in agreement. Lily had a scrape on her knee, but that was the extent of the harm done to the Potter children. I was still pretty shaky from the whole ordeal, but at the same time, I knew everything was okay, no one had been able to hurt us. I was still amazed at how Harry and Ginny managed to do it. They fought viciously to protect their children. Ten out of the thirty attackers were already down by the time the Auror's had arrived at the scene.
The wards had managed to stay in place too. The strength of their magical capability was pretty impressive. I had never held more respect for the Potter family than I did now. I looked over at James, who was staring fixedly at his father. Worry was etched in his face. I ignored my healer’s protests and walked over to James.
I then gave him a tight hug. He was as rigid as a board, but soon loosened up and hugged me back. “It’s just a cut, he’s fine.” I reassured him.
“I know, but what if he’s not all right? What if the healer’s missed something?” James’ voice cracked. The healer tending to James glared viciously at him.
“Do you people have no faith in us?” She asked angrily, pointing her finger accusingly at him. James grinned sheepishly and muttered his apologies. I snickered, which earned me an evil glare from the healer as well. I then heard a voice that made me jump right out of my seat.
“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HOW MANY OF US ARE ALLOWED IN THE ROOM, WE’RE ALL FAMILY AND I DEMAND TO BE ABLE TO BLOODY SEE MY SISTER!” I heard a roar from outside of the room. I looked at James with wide eyes, but he just laughed.
“Uncle Ron.” He said affectionately. I laughed along with him. At that very moment, a swarm of Weasley’s entered the room in a storm. The healers shrieked and looked accusingly at the two people assigned to protect the door.
“There was too many of them! I was outnumbered!” One of them said defensively.
“Oh my god!” Nana Molly shrieked, seeing the blood that was seemingly soaking through Mr. Potter’s bed. “Oh my god!” She wailed as she began to sob hysterically. Mrs. Potter jumped up and ran to her mother. I heard wails come from the rest of the family members along with some collective gasps when they saw the state Mr. Potter was in.
“He’s fine Mum, he’s fine! It’s just a cut! He’s fine!” Mrs. Potter repeated to her mother in a soothing tone. Nana Molly then took hold of her daughter and hugged her tightly.
“Never scare me like that again!” I heard through hysteric sobs. “I thought you were dead! Th-irty r-rogue D-Death Eaters!” Nana Molly wailed. The rest of the family began to hug the nearest Potter and check to see if they were okay.
“Mphf!” Said James as Roxanne lunged herself into his arms. Tears were running down her face as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, almost suffocating him. “Really Roxy, I’m OKAY!” He told as he tried to remove her arms from his neck. This only made her grab on tighter!
“I-I thought I lost you! What would I do without you?” She ranted, while soaking his shirt. “I never even told you how sorry I was for the way I had acted towards you! You’re one of my best friends James!” She continued. I could see James start to well up as he pulled his cousin even closer. It had been an emotional day for all of us.
“Really, cut the melodrama Roxy.” He tried to say jokingly. “Everything’s alright.” He said in a more soothing tone. It was Fred’s turn to run towards James, almost pummeling the two to the ground. I could hear the air go out of James’ stomach, I felt a bit sorry for the bloke. He was barely able to breathe.
Fred didn’t say anything to James… He just kept on hugging him with a creepy half smile on his face. He then turned to me and practically tackled me to the ground.
“Freddie! NO!” I yelped. He just looked at me with his big brown eyes and that told me everything. He had been really worried about me too. I could feel the tears filling my eyes. “Dammit Freddie, stop looking at me like that. Don’t you dare make me cry!” I told him angrily. I had not cried that whole entire day, and I didn’t want to start now. I quickly wiped away the tears that threatened to fall and refused to make eye contact with anyone else. Crying in front of people was not an option.
I then sat beside James (who was finally released from Roxanne’s’ grasp) on his bed and buried my face into his shoulder, breathing heavily.
I looked up to see Roxanne watching us. We stared at each other in total silence for a few minutes, before she cleared her throat.
“Erm, I’m glad you weren’t killed Turnington.” She said, her eyes now downcast. “If you were, who would be around to be a constant pain in my arse?” She joked awkwardly.
I smiled warmly at her. I had never hated Roxanne, but I knew it would take time and trust for her to eventually warm up to me. This was at least a start. I was sure one day we would be very good friends. I heard a groan come from across the room.
“He’s waking up!” Ginny exclaimed happily and rushed to her husbands’ side. He opened his eyes wearily and looked around the room as if in a trance.
“Whatsgoinon?” He mumbled. He then jumped out of the bed and looked around the room, alarmed. “The children-“ He exclaimed.
“They’re fine!” Ginny said quickly. “Calm down, we’re all safe, no one’s hurt.” She told him as she rubbed his back. His shoulders dropped. He then examined the room bemusedly, noticing how many Weasley's were present. He then turned his head and gazed at the healers.
“We’re in St. Mungos?” He asked his wife, she nodded. His eyes then widened and he pointed at the group of healers, cautiously approaching him. “You knocked me out!” He accused. A healer in red robes nodded gravely at him.
“It was necessary under the circumstances. You were in a state of shock and we needed to calm you down.” Mr. Potter growled, but obliged to the healers examining him to make sure everything was okay. He looked down at the blood and touched his arm.
“Does it hurt?” Nana Molly asked him worriedly. He grunted.
“I’ve had worse.” He told her. Everyone cracked a smile at his comment. Just then I heard at crash come from outside the room, and a shrill voice giving the doormen a piece of her mind.
“My daughter’s in there! Let me in! Ouch, let go of me- GO TO HELL!” I heard a woman shriek. I winced at the sound of the voice.
“Oh shite.” I groaned, and put my face in my hands. “Now we’re in for it!” I said exasperatedly as I fell on James.
“In for what?” James asked, looking alarmed.
“My mother.” I said with annoyance. At that very moment my mother, very gracefully I may add, came charging into the room full of people. Her hair was wild and untamed in her messy bun, and her eyes were scorching and bloodshot. Her face was scrunched up in sorrow and anger at the same time. She looked exactly like me, but you couldn’t have found two more different people.
“Where the hell is my daughter?” She sobbed.
There is complete silence. I think everyone was astonished by my mother’s appearance. Considering the Potter family had only met her very briefly, they were in for quite a shock. She. Was. Crazy.
“WHERE IS SHE?” My mother demanded, looking up at Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They pointed at me, trying frantically to hide behind James. She turned and looked in my direction. Oh god, here it comes! I whimpered to myself.
She lunged at me and took me into her arms. “I can’t believe this happened! I thought you were safe! I was so worried about you! I was in total shock when I heard what happened; I thought I was going to die! Do you know how hard it is to think about the possibility of your only child being dead? I-“ She blubbered on and on. The healers had to actually sit her down and try to calm her down. All of their attention was now focused on her.
“I need a tissue! This is the worst thing that could have ever happened to me!” She said hysterically. I mentally rolled my eyes. Notice how much she uses the word ‘I’. She somehow always made everything about herself, and she loved the attention she got when she was overly dramatic.
“I’m fine Mum, thanks for asking.” I said with a hint of sarcasm. “’I’m not physically hurt or mentally scarred from this experience.” I informed her.
I don’t think she even heard me with the way she was loudly blowing her nose into her tissue.
“Could you imagine if something had happened to you? I don’t know how I’d be able to go on!” She wailed some more.
“Jesus Christ, get a grip woman.” I muttered to myself.
“I’m really sorry Mrs. Turnington. If I had known that-“ Mr. Potter started to apologize, but was quickly cut off by my beloved mother.
“YOU!” She said accusingly. “You promised me that my daughter would be safe in your hands! How could you let this happen? I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this trauma that you’ve put me through!” Mr. Potter looked uncomfortable. I looked at him apologetically before turning to my mother.
“Mr. Potter did keep my safe Mum. No one even hurt me. How was he supposed to know that people were going to attack his house that night?” I impatiently said to my Mum. I did love her, very much, but at times she was just too much to handle… especially when she got like this.
“Annelise, are you all right?” I heard a deep voice that I instantly knew as Carl’s. I rushed into his arms and pulled him into a deep hug. Wow, there had been a lot of hugging today. He looked down at me in surprise. Usually I wasn’t this accepting of him. After all, he was only my stepfather. Things change after you realize that you could have died.
“I’m good, everything’s fine!” I told him. “I don’t think Mum is though.” I said through gritted teeth. He sighed.
“I told her not to be so dramatic about it. I bet she did the whole big entrance thing as well.” He said with a smile. I nodded.
“Yep.” He sighed and shook his head, looking at her lovingly. I rolled my eyes. He went to talk to the healers and the Potters about what exactly happened, if I was in any danger, if I had any injuries and if I needed to see a psychologist after the traumatizing experience.
“I think one session wouldn’t do any harm. It’s a lot for to go through something like that at such a young age.” The healer told Carl. He nodded.
“We will definitely do that then.” Carl said while looking at me with concern.
“Honestly! I’m all right! There is really no need!” I exclaimed in annoyance. Deep down, I was grateful for Carl’s concern in my well-being. I looked at my mother, who was still being tended to be the healers, and back at Carl, still talking to the healer. A warmth filled my chest. It felt nice to have someone put my needs first for once.
I had never really given Carl a chance to prove how good of a father he could be to me; I had always kept my distance. After the terrible ordeal I had to go through with my real Dad, and the pain of him leaving and not coming back, I didn’t want to go through that same thing again. But then again, Carl was completely different from my father. He actually cared. It was nice.
I smiled at Carl and went to sit by James again. He was staring at my mother with a startled and disbelieving expression.
“Is she gonna be okay?” He asked me worriedly. I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’s just being melodramatic about the whole entire thing.” I said as I glared at her. James shook his head.
“Wow.” Was all he could say.
“I know, right?” I agreed. “Whatever, I can’t deal with this right now, I’m tired. I haven’t slept in like, twenty hours.” I said as I yawned. I jumped off of James’ bed and straight to mine. I then plopped down and went straight to sleep. Normally I wouldn’t be able to with all the noise, but honestly, crying, stress, and dealing with frantic relatives and crazy mothers really takes it out of you.
“It’s cute.” Were the first words out of James mouth when we stepped onto my property. It had been a week since the… incident. I had stayed at the Potters for the last little while, despite my mother’s protests.
I guess ‘cute’ was a good way to describe my house; it was definitely not as big as the Potter’s; but it was homey. It was out in the country, like a lot of Wizarding houses were. It was just a lot easier that way.
It was surrounded with a few acres and a tiny forest that my brother and I used to play in when we were little. There was also a lake a few minutes from the forest where Carl loved to fish.
A stone house filled the middle of the area, surrounded by a white porch. Four bedrooms and two baths, it was roomy but comfortable at the same time. It had a very cottage-y style to it.
“Come on, I’ll show you inside!” I said excitedly before grabbing his arm and dragging him up the steps.
“Owww, you’re hurting me!” He whined.
“Shut up twat.” I snapped.
“Anna, it’s been a year… when will the twat thing stop?” James asked me in an annoyed tone of voice.
“Never!” I said while laughing heartily. James groaned. I led him to the guest bedroom, which coincidentally was right across from mine. It was a cramped space; it was hardly ever used. The room was decorated with blue floral patterns and had littered boxes and storage containers in the corners.
James placed his trunk at the foot of the bed and observed the room.
“Cozy.” He drawled. I rolled my eyes and hit him lightly on the arm. He yelped and rubbed his arm dramatically. “I feel sorry for the man that ends up with you!” He exclaimed. I snorted.
“Anna!” I heard Carl call. “What do you want for dinner?” He asked from below the stairs.
“Burgers!” I yelled back.
“Okay!”
“Thanks Carl!” I shouted appreciatively.
“Will you two bloody shut up? I’m working here!” I heard my mother call.
“Sorry!” Carl and I yelled at the same time. I grinned at this, sat on the guest room bed and started messing up James’ hair.
“Stop that!” He yelped. I grinned widely. “Since when did you get along with Carl?” James asked. “You never really told me that part about your life.”
“I’ve never hated Carl,” I protested, “I just didn’t realize how good he was to me until very recently.” I explained. James nodded in understanding. I went on with the whole story. “As you know, when I was about a year old, my Dad ditched us because he decided he didn’t want the whole ‘family life’ thing.” James nodded again and patted my arm sympathetically. “Five years later my Mum started dating again. I was… angry I suppose. I was hurt by my Dad’s departure and I was left to depend mostly on myself and my older brother.”
“There was two guys in particular that Mum really seemed to like… Carl and some other guy named Tony. I had liked Tony better; he bought me really cool stuff. Carl on the other hand didn’t. The most he ever did was just talk to me.”
“One day I asked him why he didn’t try to win me over by buying me stuff like Tony did. He then told me that he wanted me to like him for him, not the things he gave me. After that it gave me a bit of insight on who was the better person. I noticed that Tony didn’t give a damn about what I did, and only kept me happy by giving me stuff so he could spend some time with my Mum. Carl on the other hand talked to me like a person and was always concerned about my welfare. Tony just treated me like a kid who wasn’t worth listening to. Carl taught me a very important life lesson that day.”
“So when it came down to it, I told my Mum I liked Carl better and she agreed with me. It was obvious Carl was the better choice for the both of us. Tony, as it turned out, really wasn’t that great of a person. Her and Carl got married shortly afterwards.”
“Even though it was nice to have someone to properly take care of me again, I was still a bit wary of Carl. I was always afraid that he would just take off and leave like my real Dad did, so I didn’t want to get too attached.”
“But he isn’t Anna.” James told me.
“I know, I realize that now. He’s been more of a parent to me then anyone else has for the past five years. I really appreciate it, and I decided lately to show him that. He’s a great father to me, I actually consider him my real Dad now.” I told James sheepishly.
“Maybe you should tell him that.” James suggested. I sighed and ran my fingers through my long hair.
“I’ve been waiting for the right moment.” I mumbled as I scuffed the wooden floor. My eyes then widened in excitement. “I should tell him tonight!” I exclaimed. James laughed.
“That would be brilliant!” He said. We put on our trademark smirks and rushed down the stairs.
“Anna! James! Sup-“ Carl stopped in mid-sentence. “Oh, erm, never mind… You’re already here.” He let out a booming laugh and started putting the sauces and vegetables that I liked on my burger. Again I felt a rush of gratitude. He remembered exactly what I liked. It was nice to know that he payed attention.
“Here you go hun.” Carl said as he handed me my plate with my delicious burger on it. I gave my most charming smile and looked him in the eyes. His brown eyes looked back at me with confusion.
“Thanks Dad.” I said gratefully. He smiled warmly and turned around to put a burger on James’ plate as well.
“You’re welcome.” He said to me. “James, what do you wa-“ His face dawned in realization and the plate slipped out of his hands and onto the floor. A huge smash could be heard from every part of the house. Pity, I liked that plate. It was one of the glass ones with polka dots on it.
“Dad?” I asked expectantly. James fought to hide a smile. The look on Carl’s face was one of shock and happiness. His eyes seemed to get a bit watery.
“Darling! What happened?” My Mum asked worriedly as she entered the kitchen, tossing her long black hair as she walked.
“Oh, err, nothing dear. I-I just need to s-step out for a minute. Would you mind fixing up James’ burger? Thanks dear!” He said quickly as he stepped out of the room.
I heard a screen door shut from the back of the house.
“Men are so emotional.” I commented in a lofty tone.
“I beg to differ.” James argued. “Do you remember that whole ‘I can’t cook’ incident with my mother?” He reminded me. I winced at the memory. My mother looked at me accusingly.
“Annelise Matilda Turnington, what did you say to Carl?” She asked me in a serious voice.
“Nothing! Honest!” I lied with wide innocent eyes. James snorted. Thanks James, thanks a lot. My mother gave me her best I-know-you’re-up-to-something-and-I’m-going-to-find-out-what-it-is face, but turned her attention to James.
“James sweetheart, what would you like on your burger?” She asked him kindly. I think my Mum had a soft spot for James.
“Pickles, onions, peppers, lettuce, olives, broccoli pieces, bacon, mustard, ketchup, mayo and relish.” He listed proudly.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste.
“You are disgusting.” I said loudly. James just scoffed at me.
“You’re just jealous I have of a more universal taste for food than you do.” He said airily before giving his most charming smile to my mother as she handed him his food. I opened my mouth to protest, then decided to settle with the usual quiet insult of ‘twat’.
James brushed by me, pretending he hadn’t heard my name-calling. He sat down, looked at his burger, and then dived into it, relishing every taste of it.
I pretended to puke under the table. Unfortunately my Mum saw and gave me a very scary scowl.
“Annelise!” She scolded. “Could you show appropriate dinner manners at the table for once in your life?” I looked back at James, who was smirking at me.
“Yes Mum.” I groaned, and then took a huge bite from my delicious burger. “Scrumptious.” I said approvingly, causing food to fall out of my mouth and onto the oak table.
This caused James to laugh so hard that he sprayed the table with half digested burger as well. My mother groaned and slapped her hand to her forehead.
“I give up!” She exclaimed. She then picked up her plate and left the room, probably to go to her office to eat in peace.
James and I were still laughing. We then started to choke on our food, which made us laugh even harder.
This was going to be quite an enjoyable summer!
“James, son, come fishing with us.” Carl said gruffly, my brother closely behind him.
“Can’t I come too?” I whined to both Carl and Brendan. Brendan just smiled at me and messed up my hair.
“Not this time squirt.” He told me kindly. I liked Brendan, even though there was an eight year difference between us.
He was still a kid at heart, and honestly, kind of a loser in my opinion. His girlfriends would disagree with me though. But really, the boy was twenty and he still lived at home. He graduated three years ago and had a stable job. There was honestly no reason why he couldn’t just go and get his own place.
Except for the fact that he was a total Mummy’s boy.
I pouted playfully at the three of them and stalked off.
“Sooo.” James said awkwardly as he followed Carl and Brendan to a rustic looking fishing boat. “How is everyone?”
“Good I suppose, being an assistant at Flourish and Blotts kind of sucks though.” Brendan replied.
“I see.” James said, feigning interest. Carl started the motor and they slowly glided to the middle of the lake. It wasn’t a very big lake; you could swim from one side to the other if you really wanted to.
It was silent. They grabbed the fishing rods and the two members of my family cast out into the water.
James looked a bit lost, the rod a foreign item in his hands.
“Erm, a little help here please?” He asked Carl and Brendan. Carl laughed and began to show him the proper way to fish.
James and Carl began making small talk while they waiting for the fish to come. Soon though, they fell back into silence, not knowing what else to say to each other. James observed the view. The sun reflecting off the water and the numerous trees made him relax a little.
After a few minutes, Carl turned back to James.
“Okay James, let’s cut to the chase,” Carl growled, “what are your intentions with my daughter?”
“WHAT?” James yelped and stood up a bit too quickly. He then abruptly lost his balance and landed in the water. Brendan was snickering, as Carl looked confused and guilty at the same time.
“Bloody hell; I was only joking… trying to break the ice, you know?” He explained to his stepson.
James then emerged to the surface of the water, arms flailing wildly and sputtering madly.
Both men then burst out in loud guffaws.
A/N: So what did you guys think? I hope this chapter is to everyone's satisfaction. I'm trying to be a bit more faithful with updates, in fact, I have this whole plan for the summer. So, if everything goes how I hope it will, updates will happen a lot more regularly! I'm already writing chapter 5. It's progress my friends, PROGRESS!!! Please review, I always like to know what you think of the story so far! It helps me become a better writer every single time.
Thanks for reading!
JKRowlingFan22
http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com