The colors of the new setting mainly consisted of greens and browns, with a translucent gold here and there. The random colors formed into leaves and bark, shafts of sunlight swung down like ropes between them. Harry and Luna found themselves in a forest, bodiless and looking down from high branches through leaves that were changing color. Again the deep voice resonated in their heads, saying with the clarity of a dark bell sound, “James”.
A dark haired, bespectacled James was maybe nine or ten, and had climbed high up a tree. Harry saw his grandfather”looking a little older than a father, perhaps, but with young eyes and a big smile”peering up at the boy with his own hazel eyes. James’s father waved at his son to come down. Laughing, James daringly flung himself from his perch into the open air. If Luna could have gasped, she would have. Harry was shocked by it, but only for an instant before James was caught safely in his father’s arms. There was an equal mix of disapproval, relief and amusement in the man’s face as his son was returned to earth without a scratch. Harry noted this in the back of his mind as one of the ‘parenting looks’ he’d have to develop… or perhaps he’d come by it naturally.
Another scene, James was a little taller and had a pronounced look of mischief in his ten-year-old face. He was in the back garden of some well-sized house, very likely his own, and he picked up a snail. Running to a back window of the house, he deposited it in a window box containing a hodge-podge of daisies and herbs and some plants that were probably magical, as they looked like sea coral growing from the dark soil. The snail was set by one of the lump-like coral plants, and it slithered towards one of the small caverns with caution. Just as the snail was crawling in the mouth of the little cave, James tapped the plant with his finger, making the hole close around the snail’s mid-shell region. Unfortunately for James, the snail obviously had some magical properties of its own and was able to speedily slip out of harm’s way.
James was in the kitchen, sneaking biscuits and sweets at Christmas. Setting a trap for Father Christmas on New Year’s Eve, and the next morning he woke up to find one black rubber boot in the net. **
Then James had his eleventh birthday on a cool March evening; James and his parents sat on a picnic blanket in the forest where James had climbed trees. There was a lot of food squeezed into the little basket they’d brought”Harry saw his own favourite, treacle tart. But the main desert was the cake of course, and James blew out the candles dramatically to the applause of his parents. The wish he said aloud, but it was muffled by something, as though they were on the other side of a thick glass wall. But the wish made Harry’s grandparents laugh uproariously. Harry’s grandmother even looked like she had a little snort when she laughed, which only made James and his father laugh harder.
On a hot August day at the shore, James looked through tide pools and examined the little starfish and sea urchins; no magical coral or snails here.
In his own room, messy as any young boy’s would have been, James hung Quidditch posters with autographs. (His favourite team seemed to be Puddlemore United, Harry was surprised to see.) Suddenly his mother peered through the doorway, and James turned, grinning. She nodded approvingly at the posters, then appeared to motion for him to take them down. Harry and Luna could lip-read clearly the next bit of the conversation: ‘What, why?’ ‘Well…’ And then a Hogwarts letter was produced. ‘Take them with you!’ They looked over the booklist together, James practically jumping with excitement.
The first trip on the Hogwarts Express, James met Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily. The creation of one Snivellus’s nickname was not seen, but there was an incident of picking out every dirt, vomit and bogey flavoured Bertie Botts Bean and re-wrapping them to sneak back onto the snack trolley. The first year was filled with several incidents like that, and Severus Snape was often the target, though not the majority of the time. James had a proclivity for Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Surprisingly, one of his favorite classes was Care of Magical Creatures; he produced detailed drawing for every assignment”his friends teased him, of course, for having what the professor had dubbed ‘a scrupulous eye”doesn’t miss a thing.’ Flying lessons were an interesting thing to watch, as James was talented in the air, but could not for the world get his broom to leap into his hand on the first try. He resorted to kicking it to his hand with his toe.
The summer was filled with days similar to the childhood days Luna and Harry had witnessed earlier: there was climbing in trees, and flying over them as well. James had his father enchant a Quaffle to pass to him for practice.
Second year and James was back with Remus, Peter, and Sirius as if they’d never been apart. There were no more trolley tricks this time, but the four made sure some dungbombs found their way into a Slytherin-filled compartment; Harry couldn’t tell if a young Snape was inside or not. A little further into the year, James and his friends were cautiously approached by two frightened first years who were lost and asking for directions; James began drawing a detailed map of where the classrooms and bathrooms were on the second floor, but Peter had told them where to go before he’d been satisfied enough to give them the map. The drawing was tucked into a textbook until a weekend a while later: while sitting under their favourite tree by the lake, James took the parchment out once more and began adding halls and closets, labels of which classroom was which and where professors’ offices were. ‘What are you doing that for, James?’ ‘Oh, I figure we should know our way around.’ Over the second year, the map became an obsession for James, and even his friends helped out when they snuck around after hours using the Invisibility Cloak to make the most accurate map available. Extra sheets of parchment were Spell-o-Taped together to make one seamless album labeled ‘The Marauders’ Map’.
The following summer was quite eventful, as James and his friends spent a whole week traveling between all of their households”besides the Black home, of course. That summer, Remus told his friends, after much tribulation, that he was a werewolf. The friendship was not daunted however, and the four boys were closer than ever before school started.
Third year and James kept a close eye on Remus, as did Sirius and Peter, for they were very worried about their friend’s Furry Little Problem; around the week of a transformation, pranks would rise up to distract Remus from the impending night of horror. They also began researching werewolves, hoping to find a better way to help Remus. When not watching for a full moon, James was trying to catch the eye of Lily Evans by any means possible; letting loose crickets and mice, and terrorizing the cruelest of the Slytherins did nothing to impress her, and the Marauders failed to see why not, as the spellwork involved in some of the events was quite advanced. James made the Quidditch team as a Chaser this year, and was looking to be the best they had. In one game, he was responsible for every point scored besides the catching of the golden snitch.
Then summer arrived and so did major growth spurts. There seemed to be a period of time when James constantly had a plate of food at his side and there were two new pairs of shoes, he outgrew them so fast. It was an amazing thing to watch, truly”new robes had to be bought for the school year, and the Marauders had a long day in Diagon Alley getting school supplies and envying the newest items in the Quidditch shop. There was one attempt to have a detour down Knockturn Alley, just for the sake of appeasing their curiosity, but Peter’s parents found them before they could get anywhere.
As they entered fourth year, James, Sirius and Peter threw themselves into the complicated process of becoming Animagi. While learning the necessary spells and precautions, they stumbled across a spell that gave them a renewed interest in their old project, The Map. There was a spell to create moving people and the labels of the rooms would change as the rooms did. They could even leave imprints of their own thoughts into the map, so it would work with like-minded people who may use the map in the future. There was a lot of wand-waving and potion-brewing involved in making the map so intensely sophisticated, but the four boys worked over that as much as they worked on becoming illegal, unregistered Animagi. The map was less complicated however, and was completed before the end of the year; each boy signed it and added passageways as they discovered them”or rather, they told James where to add them. The map was one of his most creative outlets, besides the few creative ways he found to torment Snivellus and some of his less pleasant friends… and the few rather embarrassing instances of James attempting to ask Lily out. Harry tried to look away, mixedly bemused and embarrassed”not by James exactly, and not quite for him, because James was just bold and out there with his performances, as rash as the time he had leapt from the tree tops to his father’s arms.
Summer came and it poured out rain. James practiced Quidditch until the lightning struck to close for comfort. Sirius, Peter and Remus came over to spend a week at the Potter house and they made leaps of progress toward becoming full-fledged Anamagi. They had the heads and torsos of their animals down, except for Peter who had the ears and facial features only.
By fifth year their Anamagus forms were perfect. They were ready before the first full moon. The four boys were cocky and undefeatable. Even Remus the prefect was still a Marauder by nature. James often casually asked questions about his fellow prefect Lily, though unfortunately usually within hearing distance of her. They saw James go through course counseling, and he chose all the classes he needed to become an auror”Harry and Luna could tell, even in these happy memories, the war was closing in. In the beginning of the year there had been the usual pranks, occasionally bordering on cruel, but always bringing laughs”but towards the end of this year, James was a little more quiet.
Another growth spurt leapt out at Harry and Luna, watching James grow in fast-forward. He seemed to become more mature. Sirius moved in only a few days into the summer, and long days were spent envying new brooms in Quality Quidditch Supplies, and then playing Quidditch when Remus and Peter came over. Neither Remus or Peter was very good, but they weren’t clumsy in the air, by any means. It was no surprise that James and Sirius both got mainly Outstandings on their O.W.L.s.
During sixth year, there were fewer pranks, but more trips to Hogsmeade. They used secret passages still to smuggle Butterbeer to the Gryffindor Common Room. War tinged the edges of everything now, as James was focused on becoming an auror. James was no less focused on Lily Evans however, and he started up several conversations with her that were not uncivil, and then Lily even began initiating conversations herself after seeing how James had really had a small, but important change of heart.
The summer following sixth year was rather short. The highlight of the season was when James and Lily began exchanging letters, started when Lily owled James to tell about how she was Head Girl.
Seventh year arrived quickly and ended quickly. There were wonderful moments in this year as much as any other, and the last half of them all included Lily, who’d finally agreed to go out with James. He took a lot of time to appreciate simple things, or as simple as things could get when he was preparing to join the Order of the Phoenix.
Even after school, James and Lily were just as happy together. James wasn’t pleased with Lily joining the Order of the Phoenix, but respected her decision to want to help. James went on missions that looked dark at first, but were often light and thrilling during the beginning of the war; Sirius and James usually worked together on Order missions when they could, and there was a lot of motorbike riding. Lily and James were engaged, and there was the same golden wedding memory, but from a different point of view; Harry and Luna looked down the aisle with James and waited for Lily, and they could sense his intake of breath as she walked down the aisle. Harry also took the time to notice his parents’ friends’ faces”there were a lot of people who really loved and cared about the young couple.
Harry saw Lily telling James she was pregnant, and they were happier than ever. Harry was born, and Sirius was the godfather”James and Lily had both agreed long beforehand”and even when they were all three in hiding, James was always glad to just be together with his family. He took a lot of time decorating for their first Christmas together, and on Harry’s birthday didn’t waste a moment before teaching him how to ride his toy broom. The happy moments where James was just with Lily and Harry were endless.
The happy picture of Lily, James and little Harry together stopped, and for a third time the walls moved around Harry and Luna until they created another scene of a life to watch.
A/N: Well, this was more difficult than the last two chapters. Not so much dialogue, sorry! I tried to make it as interesting and unique as possible without giving too much away…. The next chapter will take a while though, I have two completely different scenarios planned for whoever’s next. Review and I’ll love you forever!
**This actually happened to my uncle; he wanted to catch Santa Claus, so he set up… I think it was a cage or something… and anyway, he woke up the next morning to find Santa’s black boot! I think it’s a cute little story. :)