Show me how it ends, it's alright
2 months.
It’s been that long since he discovered he was in this body.
2 months since he found out he was dead, that Lily was dead.
2 months since he learned that Voldemort was dead.
2 months since he found out Sirius was in Azkaban.
2 months since he found out they got the story wrong and Peter had gotten an Order of Merlin.
2 months since he couldn’t find any information on Harry.
2 months since he found out there was no information about Remus, which he couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
1 month since he realized how old his son was, turning 11.
2 weeks since he had enlisted the Goblins, for a price, to help him with getting enrolled in Hogwarts.
Needless to say that the past two months have been hell for him. Finding out all of his friends were gone in some way and that his son was no where to be found.
James could only hope that he would meet him at Hogwarts.
~~~
Of course James couldn’t just go to Hogwarts. He sadly needed to go shopping at Diagon Alley to get his books among other things for the year.
He took a moment to look at the list that had come with his Hogwarts letter.
“UNIFORM First-year students will require: 1.Three sets of plain work robes (black) 2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear 3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) 4.One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK"
Everything seemed to be the same as how his own list had looked but he noticed the Dark Forces book and instantly knew that it would be a new Defense teacher just like every year for himself. It seemed that would be one thing that wouldn’t change there at least.
However the other thing he noticed was that there seemed to be a new first year potions book, did that mean Dumbledore had finally gotten rid of Slughorn? If he did James thought that might have been the best decision, the ‘Slug Club’ was truly a disaster, just an attempt for him to ride the coattails of wealthy students. Luckily James himself was piss poor at potions himself so he didn’t have to deal with Slughorn that often.
He made a quick stop to get a trunk with an expandable charm so he could store everything he got in there, learning his lesson from his 4th year where he went shopping alone for the first time and tried to fit everything in his arms. Yeah he would never do that again.
After that he quickly went to Flourish and Blotts to pick up all of his books.
As James was heading up to the register he stopped when he caught sight of some titles and stared at them for a moment. ‘Harry Potter’s Troll Adventure’... ‘The Cursed Basin and Harry Potter’.... Merlin what on Earth were they doing to his son’s reputation? He was a child for Merlin’s sake! And there wasn’t even any information on him since Voldemort’s defeat, where were they getting this stuff from?
James added them to his pile quickly, feeling a burning rage start to simmer in his chest. These people were making a profit off of his child. When he could he was going to sue these motherfuckers of every last knut in their vaults.
When he grabbed those books however he noticed one that sent the rage that was slowly building into a cold bath of sadness.
‘A Complete Casualty List of the War’
Needless to say, James had left with far more books than he intended to, and enough that Sirius would balk at that much reading.
Picking up the rest of his things were fairly simple and easy, he was on the muggle term ‘auto-pilot’ it seemed.
It wasn’t until he passed a screeching owl that he was brought back to the present and he remembered, he needed a pet…
As he opened the door he felt his heart pang, Cat, his beautiful brown owl that the house elves of the Potter Manor could not find. James knew that he was gone, he hoped that he had simply flown off, finding someone who would take care of him good enough or finding a cozy life for himself in the wild.
“An' wha' price are some o' these owls? Gotta get a gift fer my friend.”
James felt his head snap up as he heard that familiar voice. He saw Hagrid, standing infront of the register, clear as day. His heart both ached to talk to him, to have a conversation with him again, and to run away, run away from the reminder that Hagrid didn’t even know who he was right now.
As he went to the wall to look at the owls and put some distance between him and Hagrid he was briefly glad he had thought this through. He obviously couldn’t show up as he normally does so he and the Goblins had come up with a plan. It was a small change, but it was a change nonetheless. He had gotten gray coloured contacts and put them on with different glasses. It was such a small change but he hoped it would be good enough, he knew he couldn’t change everything about his appearance. That wouldn’t be smart.
As he looks at all of the owls he sees a snowy owl out of the corner of his eye and he goes up to the cage, slowly presenting his finger to potentially pet them if they seemed friendly.
The snowy owl looked at him for a minute before they bowed their head and let him pet them. James smiles softly as he pet the gorgeous owl, taking in the peaceful moment before he heard a screech to his right and he jumped.
Looking over he saw a brownish owl, a spotted owl a distant part of his mind supplies, was looking right into his eyes with their own pitch black ones.
“Seems like tha' owl might be a bit jealous o' yeh paying attention ter the snowy owl,” Hagrid said as he came over to stand next to James.
“Huh-? Oh yeah- They seem really peeved…” James laughs a bit as he moves his other hand to pet the spotted owl, who calms down as soon as James is petting them.
Hagrid lets out booming laughs at that, which seems to scare the other owls in the store, “Blimey he calmed righ' up didn' he?”
James laughs a little bit as he nods, “He did!”
It felt so good to talk to the friendly gameskeeper again but he knew he couldn’t continue this for long without possibly breaking down. Not being around really anyone and then going to a crowded place where you run into someone from your past might do that.
“Say…. I heard you mention that you were looking for an owl for a friend?”
“Yeah, wan' ter give 'im a proper gift cause his birthday was actually yesterday!”
“Why don’t you, possibly get him this snowy owl?” James slowly moves his hand to stop petting the snowy owl, who looks up almost confused on why he stopped petting them, “I figure the spotted owl might throw a fit if I leave without him.”
James can swear that he hears the spotted owl huff at his remark.
Hagrid looks at him completely shocked before he says, “Are yeh sure...ah- wha''s yeh're name?”
Now James knew that he needed to have a cover for this. He couldn’t exactly go by James so he had to come up with a whole new name for himself, “Jivan, my name’s Jivan, and yeah, I’m sure,” he says while offering his hand to the gameskeeper.
Hagrid grinned and took his hand, shaking it, “Jivan eh? Well I think i'll take yeh up on tha'.”
James lets go of his hand and smiles up at him before he takes the spotted owl’s cage and heads over to the register to purchase him.
Soon he left, waving at Hagrid as he carried his new owl and dragged his trunk behind him. This trip hadn’t turned out so bad after all.