James Sirius Potter sat in a train compartment on the great Hogwarts Express with his cousins, Fred and Molly Weasley, on their way to start their sixth year at Hogwarts. His cousins were his best friends as well as Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, David Thomas, Alice Longbottom and Laragh Finnigan but they were sitting somewhere else, giving the family some space. He was currently staring out the window, as was Fred. Molly was occupied texting on her mobile phone, oblivious to her surroundings.
Nobody was feeling particularly happy about going to Hogwarts after what had happened to Albus over the summer, especially James. James blamed himself completely for the accident. He thought that if he hadn't have gone out, Albus wouldn't have followed him and gotten hurt. Nobody else blames him though, but he knows this is only so he won't feel worse. It was definitely his fault.
Suddenly, after a full hour of silence, Molly lifted her head from her mobile phone and exclaimed, eyes wide, "Does anyone remember my friend Fate from our holiday to France?" When Fred just looked at her blankly, she added, "The one from Beauxbatons?"
James wasn't listening, he was still staring out the window. He hadn't gone to France with the rest of them last year, he had stayed with his father doing work experience with the Ministry.
"Well, she's transferring to Hogwarts and just apparated to Hogsmeade with her aunt. She's going to be sorted in McGonagall’s office." She continued. She had been trying to lighten everyone's spirits all Summer but they seemed determined to play dumb or simply ignore her, in James' case. He hadn't spoken to anyone in months.
"Oh!" Fred exclaimed after a few seconds, "The really hot blonde one with all the crazy curls?" Fred so infatuated with Fate that just hearing her name brightened up his mood.
"Yes, and there's a one in four chance that she's going to be spending the next two years with us in Gryffindor so will everyone please cheer up and act nice to her? She's my friend!" Molly couldn't help the grin fighting its way onto her face.
Before Fred could retaliate the door opened and Lorcan Scamander walked in, closely followed by his twin, Lysander.
Lorcan and Lysander both had dirty blonde hair, tall, well-built bodies and shockingly blue eyes. They were just like male versions of their mother, Luna Scamander, in their personalities and looks except for their eyes, which they inherited from their father, Rolf Scamander.
"Hello everyone. Are you okay?" Asked Lorcan rather directly. Lorcan was always the more talkative of the two, though they were inseperable.
"Yes, I think we're a lot better than we were." Answered Molly, tugging on a strand of her rich auburn hair.
"Yeah, it was just a such a shock." Said Fred in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Lysander sat down beside Fred and briefly rested a hand on his shoulder while Lorcan sat next to Molly.
Molly looks were the perfect mix of her mother, Audrey Weasley, and her father, Percy Weasley. She had dark auburn hair that fell straight down to just above her waist, a mixture of her mother’s brown and her father’s fiery red. She had her mother’s soft brown eyes and her father’s pale skin. While she was similar in looks, her personality was completely different. What with her mother’s demure calm and her father’s stubborn strictness, Molly couldn’t have been any more different with her boisterous, rule-breaking attitude.
"Well, actually, James hasn't spoken to anyone in months, and seeing as I am his best friend, I'm not feeling too good." Pouted Fred, redeeming himself from his quiet speaking.
Fred was a muscular sixteen year old boy with coffee-coloured skin and light brown hair that fell into his dark blue eyes messily. He was the sort of positive person who was always in a good mood and could improve others’ mood’s by just being around him, but even he couldn't get James out of his depression.
Despite his usual constant good mood and happiness, during these past two weeks he kept slipping into an unrecognisable person. Even his father, the once prankster George Weasley, was very worried about him.
James Sirius Potter just sat, staring out the window, ignoring them all. He couldn't imagine being in Hogwarts without being harassed by his younger brother.
The one who had beat him for Seeker on the house team, the one who looked just like their father, the one who everybody recognised straight away as the ‘Chosen One’s Son’, leaving James for second every time.
It's all my fault that he's missing his O.W.L. year, thought James miserably, slipping deeper into his depression.
"We're here!" announced Molly, gaining James' attention. She jumped up and grabbed James' hand, dragging him out of the compartment behind her. They walked down to the Thestral-drawn carriages in silence- they all knew that they were Thestral-drawn despite the fact that none of them could see Thestrals.
They climbed into a carriage with James still sulking. Molly had thought that Hogwarts would cheer him up- he loved Hogwarts. But it only made it worse. He hadn’t spoken to anyone but his dad in the past two weeks and Molly was really worried about him. He may be her cousin but he was also one of her best friends. She glanced wearily at him throughout the conversation she was carrying with Fred about Quidditch.
Just before the carriage was to leave Laragh, Alice and David jumped on. "Merlin! There you are! We've been so worried about you!" exclaimed Laragh, sitting next to Molly.
Laragh Finnagin was a pretty dirty blonde of average height who always spoke her mind. She wasn't as outspoken as Molly though, although there weren’t many who were. Molly said whatever was on her mind whenever it came to mind, without even stopping to think how it may affect those around her. Both of
Laragh’s parents were Irish so she speaks with an strong Irish accent which Fred never fails to find absolutely hilarious, though secretly people suspected he found it cute.
"Yeah, we're really sorry mate- we heard what happened to Albus-" started David but he was cut off by the icy glare that was shot at him by James- his first interaction since the accident happened.
David Thomas was a tall boy with curly black hair and dark brown skin. His father was the great auror Dean Thomas and a close family friend, as he worked with James’ dad- the famous Head of the Auror Office, Harry Potter.
Alice sat down next to Fred and rested her head on his shoulder. Alice Longbottom was the child of the Herbology professor at Hogwarts, Professor Neville Longbottom. She was a short girl with small brown curls and a personality so sweet it could give you toothache.
The trip up to the school was trapped in an awkward silence after the glare that James had given David had killed any chance of conversation, and the silence carried them all the way up to the Great Hall. Whispers resounded around the hall when everybody saw the Potters and the Weasleys.
Rosie, James' little cousin, squeezed his shoulder when he walked past her, him heading towards the Gryffindor table as she headed for the Ravenclaw table to sit beside Scorpius Malfoy.
There was a pang in his heart when he saw his brothers friends looking lost at the doors of the great hall. He didn't realise up until now, but Albus was a big part of life at Hogwarts.
He sat down and ignored everybody else, including his little sister Lily. It was only when Molly shrieked loud enough for the whole hall to hear that he turned around to look at her- as did everybody else in the hall, only seconds before the sorting was due to begin.
"FATE!!"
There, standing in the doorway was the most beautiful girl James has ever seen.
It seemed everyone had turned to see her at the entrance of the great hall at the same moment, the whole hall falling into a stunned silence, a near impossible feat.
She ran through the tables, her light blonde curls bouncing, full of volume like nothing could hold them down. Her face was pale, like ivory, and her eyes flashed a hypnotic grey. Her red lips were gracefully curled into a grin and the most adorable dimples appeared on her cheeks.
"Molly!" she exclaimed with an obvious French accent. She didn't care about all the people looking at her as she ran into Molly's arms.
"Molly! Je vous ai tellement manqué!" she exclaimed, jumping in Molly's arms.
"Stop speaking French, you annoying half Veela!" Molly scolded jokingly and released her, as she was immediately scooped into Fred's arms.
"Fate! We've missed you so bloody much!" he shouted. She hugged him back but then went limp in his arms.
"Fred, can you put me down please?" she asked. He grinned and put her down, a slight look of regret visible in his eyes.
"Are you in Gryffindor?!" Demanded Molly.
"Oui!" she grinned and Molly squealed with excitement.
Molly looked around the hall, still grinning, and seemed to notice that everybody was staring at her and her friend, so she grabbed Fate's hand and dragged her over to the Gryffindor table.
"Everybody, this is Fate. Fate, this is everybody." she introduced before plopping down next to Laragh and dragging Fate down so she sat next to Lysander. Still, nobody spoke, dazzled into silence at Fate's beauty.
"Oh, and she's half Veela before you all ask." smirked Fred, sitting next to James who was, too, entranced by the girls beauty.
"No, I am not. I am . . Um . . . One quurter Veela?" she said it like a question, addressing it to Molly. "Quarter." Molly corrected, still grinning.
"But my cousins are part Veela." said James, raising his eyebrows and regaining his voice. Fate turned to face him and fell silent as soon as she met his golden eyes. They stared at each other while everyone else stared at them, some bewildered by their connection, others annoyed.
The rest of the tables began to talk again, still occasionally stealing glances at Fate, but she was still staring at James. She thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. From his elegantly messy black hair to his perfect unfathomable eyes, Fate felt that she was seeing into his soul, and his soul was a broken one. Maybe not as shattered as hers, but broken.
James felt as though he was meeting a person he had known his whole life, but had just been formally introduced. He felt as though staring at her long enough would heal his broken heart.
They were knocked back into reality by the arrival of the first years. Fate grudgingly tore her gaze off James and looked up to watch the sorting.
"What was that?" hissed Molly.
"Excusez-moi?" Fate asked, confused
"OH SPEAK ENGLISH, WOULD YOU?!" Molly snapped, loudly.
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Professor McGonagall hushed from up at the top of the Hall.
"Sorry." Molly said sheepishly, sitting back down and gaining glares from some students and laughs from others.
"Now, what was that!?" she demanded into Fate's ear.
Fate sighed and clapped half heartedly as a first year was sorted into Gryffindor.
"I do not know. He eez . . . beautiful. I just felt. . . .oh, I do not know. I'm not zat good at Eenglish and you know zat so I cannot describe it. It was just. . . different." she ended lamely.
Molly huffed and booed as a first year was sorted into Slytherin. Old habits die hard.
Across the table Fred was staring at James.
"James. What was that?" James still didn't look up from the sorting.
"I-I don't know." James said, his voice hoarse from lack of use. He longed for the pumpkin juice that would appear on the table after the sorting, willing it to end quicker.
Fred stared at James gobsmacked. He didn't expect him to answer.
"What do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.
"I mean . . . she's . . .breathtaking and I . . . I felt like she could see into my very soul, like a connection. I don't know Fred, all I know was that I was being a right git by ignoring you and I'm sorry." Fred may have thought that James was opening up in him but he was wrong. That wasn't the half of it and James knew that.
After the sorting and the amazing food the friends were walking up to Gryffindor Tower and James was being a lot more responsive than before but was clearly avoiding making any kind of contact with Fate and Fate clearly doing the same.
Molly had introduced Fate to Lysander and Lorcan, Laragh, David and Alice and everybody was excited about having a new friend but Fred was exceptionally glad. He had thought he had lost his chance at being with Fate but apparently not.
As they reached the common room they started saying their goodbyes. "Revoir tout le monde" announced Fate as she started to manoeuvre through the crowd but they parted before her like the Red Sea, before she need make her way through.
"Not so fast, Frenchie" shouted Fred as he grabbed her around the waist and gave her a big hug.
"Ow! Fred!" she shouted mock-angrily, but laughed.
After everybody had said goodnight and Fate had left for the girls’ dorms Fred announced,
"Boys- I think I’m in love."
Oh, here we go again, they all thought in unison.
After Fred had finally gone to sleep (after going on and on about how beautiful Fate was, for about an hour) James lay in bed, still awake, unable to clear his mind of her.
She’s just so . . . . Ugh! James thought in frustration. He couldn't find a word to describe her no matter how hard he tried. Beautiful, amazing, nothing cut it. But then he thought that he barely knew the girl and sighed, rolling onto his side. He thought about her face, her silver eyes, until he fell into a restless sleep plagued by werewolves.
Across in the girls dormitories Fate was doing the same, lying in bed, thinking about the boy she had met at dinner. James. As she drifted into sleep, she thought about his gorgeous, golden, eyes. Just as she fell asleep the eyes changed. Changed to an ice blue, glowing with happiness but then they, too, changed. Though they remained the same eyes, they grew fiercer, a fire reflected in them like a mirror – holding so many emotions.
The eyes of her brother.
A/N: This was written ages ago, just wanted to know what ya'll think. Ya'll? What am I on? Actually, I shouldn't tell you that unless I want to get arrested =P I might not finish this, but I really like this chapter. GO BooshBaby for editing, like, years ago!! Whoop!