It All Fell Down | A Marauder's Story

Ten

     "At some point, the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it, does not."- Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants

     A knock sounded on a door in the middle of a muggle neighborhood on the outskirts of London. James Potter stood on the outside of the white paneled piece of wood in a long, black coat and jeans, doing his best to blend in. He arched onto his toes as a frenzy of nerves exploded in his abdomen. In his restlessness, he brushed the white snow from his coal-colored hair. 

     The door opened to reveal his girlfriend. Charlie stood in jeans and a cozy looking sky blue sweater; it made the blue in her ocean eyes extremely striking. She smiled at him and held in a laugh at the state of his anxiety. 

     "Hi," she said, sounding rather amused, something twinkling in her eyes. 

     James narrowed his eyes with a small smirk. "Don't laugh at me, Riggs."

     "I didn't laugh, Potter."

     He leaned in to peck her cheek. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered against her skin causing goose bumps to arise across Charlie's body.

     "Come on," she said leaning back and taking his hand. 

     James followed her over the threshold, feeling his entire body buzz with anticipation. He did his best to straighten his posture and look presentable. They arrived in the front room to see a family of three seated on the couch waiting for them. 

     The man, who James' eyes were drawn to first, was short with pale skin and blonde hair. James knew this was Charlie's father, but he found himself stunned at how little they looked alike– his nose was wide where Charlie's was narrow, his eyes were dark where Charlie's were light with type of green-blue combination, he was short in stature where Charlie was long, and he was translucently pale where Charlie was dark complected. 

     James cleared his throat in his silent rudeness. "Nice to meet you all," he greeted. "I'm James." 

     The woman who was rather short with a head of bright red curls immediately got up and wrapped him in a hug. "It's so nice to meet you, James." 

     "Oh, um," James mumbled taken aback, awkwardly patting her back. "It's nice to meet you too." 

     She leaned away, still gripping his shoulders. "I'm Linda," she said with a wide smile. 

     She stepped away from the boy and gestured to the small girl still sitting on the couch, gazing up at the boy shyly. "This is Claire."

     James stared at the tiny child and noted that she very much looked like her father. James felt a twist in his insides as he wondered how much that hurt Charlie; her looking nothing like him and the sister he chose looked like his miniature twin. 

     "Hi, Claire," James said with a small smile, trying not to frighten her.

     "Hi," she whispered. 

     Charlie's father stayed seated. "Dad," Charlie said in a strained voice. "Aren't you going to say hello?"

     The man got to his feet rather reluctantly. He leaned over the coffee table and extended a hand without fully looking at James. "How are you, James? I'm Walter."