Chapter Text
“James Sirius! What on earth were you thinking! Now I know I’m not one to talk but if you want to keep your spot on the quidditch team it would help if you could follow some bloody rules for once!”
The aged face of the boy who lived looked menacing, it’s too bad his oldest son couldn’t really remember what he did this time.
“We are both very disappointed in you Mr. Potter.”
And of course mum was there to back him up, her expression was murderous. Jamie would shrink to the size of a Pygmy puff at this rate.
“Mr. Potter”
Hey mum? I think you said that part already. He really hoped he didn’t say that last part aloud.
“Mr.Potter!” A familiarly raspy yet warm voice barked through his mum’s visage, too masculine and aged to be her own.
“Huh? Wha-“ Jamie’s words scrambled in his confusion. He looked around and saw his entire muggle studies class watching him like he had Voldemort on the back of his head. Some even covered their mouth to hide a smile, his friends grinned at him shamelessly and did their best not to do their signature obnoxious laugh. Bloody hell, how long have they been watching me doze off?
His professor gave him an amused, almost pitiful smile, “your presentation now James.”
“Of course right! My presentation,” Jamie squeaked, scrambling to peel all his papers off his desk.
When he looked up he gave his professor his most charming, forgivable smile, “don’t worry grandpa! I-“
Too late, the entire class heard him! He’s pretty sure all of Hogwarts could hear the laughter coming from the muggle studies room; most of which coming from his loudmouth cousin-friends, like they wouldn’t make the same mistake!
Jamie’s face was turning the same shade as the lapels of his gryffindor robe. Nevertheless, he collects himself, “I mean, don’t worry, Professor Weasley. I rehearsed all of last night” his voice cracked with every word.
Professor Weasley of course, was too delightedly amused himself to reprimand any students for their behavior, “I’m sure you did Mr. Potter, get on now and share with the class!”
Jamie walked up to the front of the class and cleared his throat before he began to read from his paper, “Harry Potter wears contacts now?: How The second Wizarding war introduced more muggle culture into magical society.”
Jamie would like to think he fucking aced his presentation, despite some minor setbacks. His essay mostly covered the basics everyone knew about. The floo powder systems, the new subjects at Hogwarts, the new muggle technology (Jamie’s personal favorites being the smartphone and of course, the contact lens). Which is all why you could easily understand his confusion when grandpa-professor Weasley asked him to stay behind after class.
“What’s up grandpa? I hope I didn’t forget anything important in that essay” Jamie chuckled nervously in a futile attempt to lighten the mood.
“Not at all, I thought it was brilliant! I’m glad you take such an interest in this class Jamie. You may not have my name but you're a Weasley if I’ve ever seen one!” Grandpa exclaimed. He smiled and patted Jamie on the back. The boy grinned back at him, shining with pride.
“Which is why I’m concerned why you fell asleep in my class.” Jamie’s expression fell and he pursed his lips together, his grandpa just rattled on, “James, this is the third time I’ve caught you sleeping in my class. I know that’s not normal for you. If something’s wrong, you know you can always tell me right? I care about all my students, but you’re my family Jamie, I’ll always be here to help.”
“What? No grandpa, I promise it’s not like that. I’m fine I swear! I’ve just been spending a lot of time studying for my O.W.L.s, that’s all!” That was more a white lie than anything. Sure, he was nervous to take his O.W.L.s, but he just couldn’t find the motivation to study. He still has a few months before the exams! He’ll study tomorrow! It’s not that he hadn’t been sleeping, it’s just that he never gets a good sleep these days. He’s not sure why or exactly when it started, surely he’ll be back to normal soon so why bother making a big deal about it right?
His grandpa scratched at his graying ginger beard, “if you say so Jemmy, tell your parents I said hi alright? I’ll see you this weekend.” Only Jamie’s most dearest kin would dare to call him Jemmy, his dearest kin and Lily that is. She got special rights as the originator of such a patronizing nickname.
With a reunion promised from his favorite - and only - grandpa, Jamie raced down the halls to reach the fireplaces, one of Hogwarts’ new additions after the war. Parents, especially muggles, were worried about not seeing their children throughout the year. So the brightest witches and wizards came together to create a safer, cheaper version of floo powder; one that only lets verified travelers in to avoid any dangerous situations. Jamie throws some powder into the fire and simply thinks of his destination, wouldn’t want anyone to know the boy who lived’s address right?
He stepped out of the fireplace into his living room, putting his briefcase down where his siblings had left theirs. The Potter family had a respectable house, their location hidden with magic in the English countryside. It was painted light blue and white with lots of windows, 2 stories and a basement, and had a large backyard with quidditch posts. About 15 minutes away was a muggle town the family would often visit to go shopping or grab something to eat. In the living room, there was a framed Polaroid, of their picture perfect family.
Jamie kicked off his shoes and sauntered towards the stairs, his mum walked by and reached up to ruffle his hair. He’d almost forgotten his mum wasn’t upset at him right now like in his dream, “how was school Jamie?”
“Alright, I was just kind of tired today” he replied, yawning to add emphasis.
“Oh, well me and your sister are going to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning, you're welcome to come with us if you want.” his mum offered, “If you don’t want to, you can stay home with your father once he gets back, I think Albus will be home too but he said he’d probably want to invite Scorpius over.”
Merlin, he couldn’t stand being in a house with those three! Scorpius was always a bit shy with anyone who wasn’t his snivelly wet rag of a brother, and it doesn’t help having ‘Harry freakin’ Potter’ awkwardly asking you questions about how your ex-deatheater family is doing. “Yeah sure I’ll go with you two,” he answered. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do there, maybe he’d stop by Weasley’s wizard wheezes and see if he could bargain with his uncle George. If he’s lucky, Freddie Weasley will be there and they can run off together, but if that happens they would have to invite Dominique because you can’t just exclude one person when there are only three of you. Him, Dominique, and Freddie were basically the modern day “marauders”, except they weren’t all Gryffindors and the marauders had four people, except they probably should have stuck to three looking back on it.
Jamie looked down at his mum and sister as they walked through Diagon Alley. Lily Luna Potter was kind of like Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s son in the way that she inherited no melanin and all ginger. She got their dad’s green eyes though, who he got from his mum, I wonder how she feels looking at pictures of the old Lily, he thought.
Jamie looked like James, but also not. They shared the same tousled hair, - which totally wasn’t purposeful - and had the same prankster persona - again, not purposeful! - but there were some stark differences. Jamie got very tan in the summer, but not like James, who was a fair bit darker than his dad as well. His other grandpa had mentioned something about the Potter family originating in India, but immigrating to England in the 1800s and adopting a western name. Racism from other pure blooded families lead many Potters to find love back in their homeland, ostracizing them from the close knit English pureblood families. In Jamie’s defense, he was doing better than his siblings in the actually looking one fourth indian department, which is probably because Lily burns and Albus doesn’t like to go outside. Other than obvious racial differences, James Sirius has contact lenses as opposed to those ugly circle glasses, and his hair is more brown than jet black. Another difference was that James Fleamont Potter was a war veteran, a fucking hero that died protecting his family. Jamie wasn’t a bad kid, he was respectful and kind and all that but the most heroic thing he’s done is probably save Lily from falling in the black lake at the beginning of the year.
Jamie is the same age his dad was when the second wizarding war started. He knows that his father is glad he isn’t fighting a war right now because that would mean he did all that just to not have a better future for his kids, but would I be able to fight in a war right now if I had to? Is the only thing that’s saving me being born at the right time? Shit, if there’s anything that runs stronger in the firstborn Potter lineage than bad eyesight, its being a fucking hero.
All that heroism can wait for another day though. Right now, Jamie was struggling not to fall asleep as he wandered through Diagon Alley. Merlin, why was he so damn tired these days? No matter how much he slept it felt like he’d been awake all night. He looks around at the various shopping centers to try and wake himself up when he spots one he recognizes; Worn Wizarding Wonders: unique potions and charms, secondhand magical artifacts, and used books. It was a raggedy little shop frequented by Al and his dear Malfoy friend, who knew the owner. Maybe they have something to make me less tired? I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look, he thought as he opened the squeaky door.
“Can I help you?” A gruff looking woman with a messy Pixie cut stared him down. She had a streak of orange at the top of her head, smoky makeup around her eyes that made it look like she was the one needing a magically enhanced redbull, - was that intentional? - and dressed in dark grungy clothing with combat boots. Jamie thought she dressed very “emo” for someone that looked to be the same age as his uncle Charlie, but that was probably a thought he should keep to himself.
“Uh… yeah actually! I’m looking for a potion, - or maybe a spell - I’m not quite sure really” he stumbled over his words. The older woman arched one of her eyebrows in judgment.
“Another Potter I take it? Don’t tell me that misanthropic boy is trying to advertise my business” the woman complained
“Misanthropic? Wait, do you mean Albus? No he didn’t tell me to come here, but I know he hangs around this store a lot with his friend” Jamie asked carefully.
“Yes, I believe that's his name. He loiters in my shop with that Malfoy boy every week for three years now! I would’ve banned them already if my spouse hadn’t taken such a liking to them” the woman rolled her eyes comically.
Jamie laughed, “Yeah I get it, Albus can be a real pain in the arse sometimes, I really don’t know how we’re related,” the good thing about Albus is that he does so little with his life it actually makes me look good, He thought. “Oh! And I’m James Potter by the way - but you can call me Jamie - it’s nice to meet you” He reached out his hand towards her. She inspected it a moment before giving the most subtle smile Jamie has ever seen
She shook his hand, “Merula Snyde, how can I help you?”
“Well I was looking for something that would help me sleep well, I get a lot of sleep but I always feel so tired and I think my family’s starting to notice” Jamie said with a smile. Merula looked up for a moment before answering.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything that can help with that” she answered slowly and in an awkward way that Jamie didn’t really understand.
“Really? You're telling me you just know that off the top of your head?”
“Oi! I know this store like the back of my hand!” she barked back defensively.
“You’re a terrible liar you know that!” Jamie shot back.
“Oh piss off you prat! Yeah, we got something in last week. This shady old guy sold us some potions, but the descriptions he wrote down were so vague we didn’t wanna risk selling them to anyone. There’s one that said something about the best sleep that would change your life in 7 nights or some stupid shit like that” Merula admitted begrudgingly.
“Merlin that sounds perfect! I’ll take it!” He exclaimed.
“Absolutely not Potter!”
“Oh come on! Worst case scenario I tell madam Pomfrey I was fooling around with some potions ingredients and I’ll be fine!” he argued.
Merula pondered for a moment, “well… I did analyze the ingredients and there’s nothing bad in there, and my spouse checked for any spells cast on the potion and there’s nothing harmful there either…”
“So…” James egged her on.
“Oh fine! you win,” she stomped over to a cabinet and pulled out a glass potion bottle, inside the potion stirred, shades of lavender and violet
Shifting busily, “make sure to follow the bloody directions alright?” She handed the bottle to him. It was surprisingly light, and had a folded note card presumably containing a description.
“Thank you so much! So how much do I owe you” Jamie asked, admiring the potion.
Merula chuckled, “on the house, I can’t be caught selling this piece of junk. Oh, and say hi to your decrepit rat of a brother for me.”
Jamie miraculously managed to get the potion past his entire family, setting it in his room while he went through his day uneventfully. He spent about 3 hours on call with Freddie and Dom playing video games even though he’d see them tomorrow for family dinner. For a while he just sat in his room and enjoyed the privacy. He pulled out the marauder’s map from under his bed; watching the tranquil vacancy of the school’s hallway; with the exceptions of Filch of course, plus a few students lurking about past curfew. He closed the map and simply talked to it, watching the ghosts of its makers pester him with their writing. Jamie wondered if they put a charm similar to those used in portraits to give their map versions some personality. Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail. The map was Jamie’s prized possession. His fascination with his grandfather’s little posse wasn’t something he liked to admit, but it seemed like everyone already assumed that James Sirius loved James and Sirius. Teddy Lupin shared his interest, warm memories flooded in of them looking through old photo books or asking anyone who would remember something about the infamous ‘marauders’.
“You know they didn’t actually call themselves the marauders right?” Teddy had told a 12 year old James once.
“But they called it the marauder’s map?” Jamie pointed out
“Yeah, because it was a map for marauders! Not just them. They were marauders but they weren’t the only marauders in the world. Hasn’t uncle George ever told you about how the map helped him and uncle Fred figure out how to open it?” Teddy chuckled.
Jamie must’ve spaced out a bit thinking of a simpler time, he should probably go to bed soon. Remembering the potion, he took it out of its drawer and read over the notes. It matched Merula's description. A potion claiming it would change your life in 7 nights, it had some annotations on it, probably from the Snydes. Sure, the annotations had a concerning amount of question marks, but it would be fine! Jamie downed the whole thing and had the easiest sleep of his life.