Cottage Roads ° james potter

-i. sixth year

❛ I can never be a tough guy ❜

It started in the first year. Claire Labelle, a half-blood girl raised by her muggle grandparents had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She didn't want to leave the old couple but she didn't have much of a choice. She wanted to stay in the muggle world and never step foot in that school.

The Magical World took everything from Claire. When the young girl was only three years old an evil man named Fenrir Greyback took the lives of Melissa and Hector Labelle, leaving them to rot along a lonely country road. Melissa's parents Shelly and Darrell Tailor took custody of the orphan and had grown to love the girl like a daughter.

They didn't keep her origins a secret, they just didn't discuss it very often because it brought sadness to the home. Claire was happy with them. 'No magic, no problems' is what she'd say. She didn't want to be a witch and she sure as hell didn't want to leave the only people she ever knew to love. But, then on September 1st, 1971, she had to.

"Please don't make me go," Claire Labelle whispered into her grandfather's ear as they embraced each other for the last time.

"I wish you wouldn't, but we have no choice," Darrell explained with a frown on his face. "You'll be fine." With a final whistle coming from the scarlet beast signaling 5 minutes until leaving, Claire turned to her grandmother.

"Mail us anytime." the kind woman told her granddaughter. "We love you, don't forget that."

"If you really loved me then you wouldn't make me go," Claire frowned.

"Claire-"

"All aboard!" a conductor shouted.

"Go on now, we'll see you at Christmas," Darrell interrupted. Claire could only pick up her trunk and turn her back from her family. She glared at the ground and passed the conductor who tried smiling at her. Boarding the train was horrifying. From the loud kids to the many different animals, to the mass of trunks scattered all along the aisle, Claire wanted nothing more than to go home.

That was until she saw him. From across the aisle stood a boy with messy raven brown hair and hazel eyes. He was tall and slim, a smirk rested on his lips that made Claire want to stay. However, Claire being Claire, made no moves to talk to the boy and simply observed him. That was how the next five years went.

The years merged into one and Claire was now in her sixth year, leaving her grandparents all over again. Things had changed over the years, however. Riley Sumner and Hannah Moore had entered Caire's life. A brunette girl with light brown eyes and melanin skin who strode the halls like it was no one's business and a raven-haired girl with rosy cheeks and soft brown eyes who strived to be perfect. They were proud to say that they were Claire Labelle's best friends since the first year.

So, Claire sat in a compartment all by herself as a sixteen-year-old, waiting for her two best friends. The train had already left the station and the brunette girl began to grow worried for her friends who always showed up early. She sat minding her own business with a book in her hands that she was most likely not going to open. When the compartment door opened and it wasn't the two girls, her face fell.

"Oh, hello, Labelle," The kind voice of Lily Evans greeted the girl.

"Evans," Claire said shortly. It was common knowledge that Clare Labelle and Lily Evans didn't get along. No one really knows why it just sorta happened in the second year when they shared a dormitory.

The second-year girl's dormitory in the grand Gryffindor Tower held Claire, Riley, Hannah, Lily, Marlene McKinnon, and Alice Fortescue. Claire and Lily budded heads and could never agree on anything. This dragged in the others and soon, the dormitory had a rivalry. With the six arguing anytime they were in the same room, professors got involved and Claire, Riley, and Hannah were awarded a room of their own. This only made the two groups' disliking for each other even stronger.

"Where are your friends? They realize how much of a-"

"Can you get out of my way?" The voice of nonother than Riley Sumner asked with as much sass as she could muster.

"Oh, the wicked witch of the west," Lily smiled sarcastically.

"Don't you have a pot of gold to find?" Riley shot back. Lily glared at the girl intensely then threw one at Claire who returned the favor gladly. The redhead left, leaving the girls to only roll their eyes.

"Good one," Claire congratulated, making Riley smile and the two embraced each other for the first time in months.

"Forgetting someone?" Hannah Moore asked standing in the compartment doorway. The girls didn't hesitate to engulf each other once more. Being together was the only thing they really looked forward to this school year.

"What's up with Evans? She seemed pretty pissed when I ran into her just now," Hannah explained.

"Ah, she was being a bitch," Claire told her.

"The usual," Riley cut in, making the other two smile. When their trunks were in the upper head shelves and they had settled into their seats with Hannah and Riley across from Claire, they immediately dove into how their summers went.

"We went to Vietnam, I saw my grandparents, went shopping. Oh, my sister's engaged now. Some guy working in the ministry- Henry I think. My parents like him so I guess I have to. He's not ugly so there's that," Hannah rambled.

"What exactly does Henry do?" Riley asked.

"I don't know, something to do with Floo Network. I wasn't listening when he explained it."

"I think it's nice that she's getting married. At least she didn't end up like Slughorn or something, who knows when he'll settle down," Claire mentioned.

"Yeah, Poor Sluggy," Riley pondered. That was how the rest of the train ride went. They talked about random things that amused them. Laughed hysterically, Claire letting what she called her ugly laugh slip out sometimes which only made them laugh even harder. They ate the sweets their parents packed for them and changed into their school robes. They hadn't even noticed the grand castle appear in the distance until the train came to a sudden halt.