Forever and a Day ~ James Potter

1976

Chapter Twenty

Sunday 4th January 1976 ~ 10:58 ~ waxing moon

The Potters had three days to recover from the busy Christmas period and their long new years celebrations before it was finally time to board the Hogwarts Express and head back to school.

Mr and Mrs Potter had used the new Muggle car he had purchased upon his retirement to transport the three students to King's Cross Station, and since Fleamont hadn't actually learned to drive the thing before they needed to be at the train station, they were very late.

Fleamont had practically thrown the three children and their trunks out of the car, shouting at them to run to the barrier since they only had fifteen minutes to get there. James only managed to briefly hig both his parents goodbye from the car park and they wished the other two good luck before they were forced to run off.

James, Sirius and Rosie darted straight into the brick wall, actually catching the attention of a couple of Muggles as they bumped into them while sprinting through the station. They literally fell through the barrier and landed in a pile on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters while James yanked up his sleeve to check his watch.

"We only have two minutes-" he was trying to tell them, but Sirius cut him off impatiently.

"The bloody doors are closing!" he shouted over him, grabbing his trunk and hauling Rosie up before dashing towards the nearest door and yanking it back open, jumping into the carriage just in time.

"Shit!" James shouted, grabbing his own trunk from the ground as the train began to move away. He pushed past waving parents, terrified he might actually miss it for a moment.

Sirius was holding the door open as hard as he could as the magic tried to resist him. James threw his trunk at the boy, almost catching his head, and reached out with one arm to grab the handle, heaving himself into the carriage and landing on top of his trunk. Sirius grabbed James's hand and pulled him up, panting like a dog. James stood and held onto his side, wincing a little as he stretched out the stitch that had formed there.

"You all right?" Rosie asked breathlessly, and he nodded, reaching up a hand and running it through his hair before picking up both of their trunks and heading down the narrow corridor. Rosie rolled her eyes but followed him nonetheless.

"Oi!" they heard a familiar voice shout from behind them. "We're all in here!"

The three turned around and grinned as they saw Marlene McKinnon's blonde head leaning out of a compartment door. Rosie pushed past Sirius and ran up to the compartment, giving the girl a tight hug before dropping down in the space next to Lily, finally able to catch her breath for a moment.

"Hello," she said with wide eyes, looking around at everyone.

"What the hell happened to you three?" Mary asked, smirking as she moved over for Marlene to sit back in her seat next to Alice. She had watched the scene unfold from the window as she wondered where three members of the group were.

"Mr Potter decided it would be a really fun idea to drive us here in his Muggle car... and he had no idea what he was doing," Rosie shook her head and chuckled. It was impossible to be angry at that man - one thing he actually didn't have in common with his son.

"What do you mean Mr Potter?" Lily asked. Rosie forgot that not everybody knew what had happened in the past week or so, since she'd met up with a lot of people since leaving Hogwarts in December. "Why were you with James?"

Rosie sighed exasperatedly and opened her mouth to start telling the story when James and Sirius walked in with their and Rosie's trunks. "Thanks for the help, Rosie. Really appreciate it," Sirius said with a sarcastic thumbs up, reaching up to put his trunk on the rack before sitting down next to her.