Dear Cammi,
Hello darling! It's been such a long time since I've seen you it's far too unnatural. So, how's Hogwarts? Are you getting along with the other little girls? How are your classes? What mischief have you been getting into?
I still can't believe my little girl's all grown up. I want to talk a lot, but I haven't the slightest clue what to say so I guess I'll just end it here.
Love Dad
PS – there's a box of sugar quills attached just for you.
Cameron blew one of her bangs out of her eyes. It was already November and this was the first she heard from either of her parents. She just threw the letter into her bag and looked up and down the Gryffindor table.
To her left was the Marauders minus James who tended to sleep in since he had a free period first thing in the morning and no loud roommates to wake him up. To her right was her three best friends in her year, Jason, Shiloh and Drew. They were almost like mini marauders without the fourth member.
And yet, she found herself sitting with a bunch of first year Gryffindor girls for a reason unknown to her. All she knew is that they asked her to sit with them and she couldn't say no.
"So Cameron, what's Jason like?" one of the girls whose name Cameron couldn't remember asked her with a small giggle.
"He's like Remus." Cameron replied awkwardly.
"What's that like?" A different girl asked with the same small giggle.
"Uh..." Cameron started.
"Squirt!" a loud call came from the large doors.
Cameron smiled as she got up, ditching the annoying giggling girls and running over to James to give him a big hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
James laughed down at her, "What did I do?"
"Saved me from the giggles!" Cameron admitted dramatically. "It was horrible James! You don't even know!"
"I can pretend to." James couldn't help but laugh again. This is what he had started to look forward to everyday. Just handing out with Cameron, doing nothing with her was better then pranking sometimes.
"Yo! Prongs! Over here!" Sirius cried out over all the talking.
James then led Cameron over to his friends and sat her down in the spot next to his which in turn was next to Sirius'. "Was there something you wanted?"
Sirius looked over at James and began to notice the difference between his friend, and the guy he labeled the New Guy since that meeting in the Room of Requirement, which now seemed so far away. James always seemed happy, New Guy always seemed depressed. But lately, New Guy seemed to become happier and happier.
"Was there something you wanted, Padfoot?" James asked before shoveling some scrambled eggs into his mouth.
"Yeah, I did actually. Where are we going for Christmas Vacation?" Sirius asked.
"I was thinking about staying," James replied, "I mean, it's not like we have a real place to go. Besides, it's our last Christmas as students here, so why not enjoy it here?"
Cameron smiled up from her sausages, "I like that idea because I'm staying, too."
"Aww, what about your parents?" James asked as he wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders.
She shrugged and took another bite. After swallowing she said, "I wouldn't get to see them, they're always at work."
James sighed, "I know that feeling. Well, good then, we'll make this a Christmas you'll never forget."
"And that's what I was afraid of." Cameron joked, just narrowly dodging the roll that Sirius had threw at her.
Suddenly, a small shadow fell over Sirius, "Wow Black, throwing food at a first year, how smart."
That was Lily Evans' voice. Sirius glared up at her. He had noticed that ever since the beginning of the year she had taken an interest in studying their group as if the Marauders were some type of lab rat.
"Well Evans, she is my friend and I was making a friendly gesture." Sirius explained as if talking to a small child.
Lily gave him a quick glare before going passed the Marauders to reach Vanessa and Lola. She then began her long rant at how much of an idiot Sirius Black was. For years before this, these rants used to be focused on James, but Van was entertained to know that now they focused on James' friends and never on James.
"Students, may I have your attention, please?" Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall. "One of our professors had a minor accident in the classroom so there will be no Charms classes for the day. Now, you may go back to eating your breakfast."
"Yesssss!" Cameron threw a balled fist into the air. She despised charms for multiple reasons, one of the main ones being she had double charms, first thing in the morning every other day. She then turned to James, "Can we go play quidditch?"
"Yeah, but after my morning nap." James smiled. "So meet me in my common room around 9?"
"Deal." She smiled before running off to hang out with her first year friends.
"I like that kid, have I mentioned that before?" Sirius laughed his bark of a laugh. "She's got spunk."
"I like her, too." James informed his friend as he stood up. He then made his way down the great hall, giving Cameron a brotherly kiss atop her head as he passed her, and then he exited excited for the prospect of his morning nap.
Once he got up to his common room, James decided that his private room was too far away and that the couch in the common room would do quite nicely. So once he landed on the couch, he pulled his jacket over him like a blanket and fell into the same dream he had been having for the past month.
"James, I don't get it." A small girl sighed as she sat down on a porch swing, "I mean, he's never there."
James sighed and joined her on the swing. "I don't really know. I don't get it either, but how would we know? This might be normal."
"True," She sighed with a confused look on her face, "I wouldn't know. But still, I don't think it is."
James looked at her, seeing if there was any way for him to change the subject. When he noticed the yellow ribbon in her hair, he smirked and pulled it out, standing up and bolting down the street. However, the girl didn't follow.
Thinking the girl didn't know that James took her ribbon, James stood in front of her, "I got your ribbon!"
"I know." She said, "But you've tried to distract me before in the same way. I've figured out your plans so either come up with a new plan or talk."
James sighed and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry, I just don't like to talk about it."
"I wouldn't either." The girl replied as she leaned into him. "Maybe we could break you out of this place. You could come live with me and my uncle."
"Probably not. My mom wouldn't let me." James said, quite depressed and then looked over at the girl. She looked like she needed some sleep, "Are you okay? You look sleepy."
"It's nothing." She calmed James, "I just have been thinking about you. You don't deserve it James."
"Maybe I do." James pointed out.
She sat up and glared at him. Her brown eyes were almost red with rage, "No you do not! You're a good kid, no one deserves that!"
"How do we know, we're only six!" James yelled back, standing up. "Besides, at least I have parents!"
The girl looked up at James who was about three inches taller then herself, "I'd rather have my life with absolutely no parents then your life with your parents!" She huffed and then ran down off of the Potter's porch.
James hit his forehead against one of the pillars and then began to chase after her. Screaming her name.
James snapped to consciousness and fell off of the couch. Standing in front of him with a slightly fearful look on her face was Cameron. She had the same confused look that the girl from his dreams had when she was debating if the issue at hand was normal.
The seventh year couldn't help but ask, "Do you have a sister?"
Cameron shook her head, "I'm an only child."
"Then why do you look so much like her?" James demanded to know. Cameron was almost an older version of the dream girl.
"So much like who?" Cameron asked as she sat down on the couch next to James.
"The girl from my dreams." James sighed as he put his head in his hands and leaned back against the couch, "Your eyes and smile are the same and those goddamn ribbons."
"What's wrong with my ribbon?" Cameron glared as she ran her hand along the silky red material in her hair.
"Nothing, it's really nothing." James mumbled, "I just wish I knew who she was."
"Knew who who was?" Cameron demanded to know. She was having trouble putting all of the pieces together. James was just one messed up guy.
"But I think she knew," James sighed, ignoring the fact that Cameron was attempting to follow the rant that switched off from being spoken to just being thought. "I think she actually knew what he was doing. That would explain so much."
"Explain what who was doing?" Cameron asked in frustration.
"My-" He then looked up at her, "I'm sorry, I must sound like a total lunatic. Come on, let's go down to the pitch before I have to get a move on to Potions."
"Eww," Cameron scrunched up her nose, "I hate potions."
"We all do." James laughed as he took her hand and began to lead her downstairs.
"I'm telling you Van, there's something wrong with him this year!" Lily informed her friend as she paced her head dorm that night while James was out on patrol. She then turned towards her other friend, "And no Lola, I do not miss all the attention he used to give me. I'm just worried!"
"But why Lily?" Vanessa questioned, "Shouldn't you be happy if these nightmares have for some reason got him to leave you alone. I mean for three weeks you had a boyfriend and he didn't hex the boy once."
"Shouldn't both of you be worried, too?" Lily inquired, "I mean, Lola, you love to admire the boy from afar and now he's got bags under his eyes and looks paler then ever. And Van, you've even said he's lost his spunk at practices. Shouldn't you be worried for your captain?"
Van thought about this for a moment, but Lola was the first to talk, "He may look like he's had a lot of sleepless nights, but that just gives in to this mysterious side."
"Wow, one track mind." Van laughed. "And Lily, I do worry about him, but I worry enough at practices, I don't need to start worrying about him while just hanging out. Besides, I'm on your side, not his."
"And right now my side is concerned!" Lily pointed out. "I'm not exaggerating when I say it's every night. Every single night he starts murmuring at around one and at a few minutes passed two he wakes up in a cold sweat and yells something I don't understand."
Both Vanessa and Lola looked at Lily as if she was mental. The two girls looked between each other and let Van voice their thoughts, "Have you been sitting in his room watching him?"
Lily put on a repulsed face, "Ew! No I have not! It's just that every night he wakes me up at a few minutes passed two and a few times I stayed up to see what the hell was happening."
"Why don't you just ask him?" Lola suggested.
Lily's emerald eyes widened to almost twice their normal size, "And why the bloody hell would I do that?"
"You seem interested and we all know Lily Marie Evans never just stops researching something she's interested in because of a minor set back." Van pointed out.
Lily sat down on her bed and thought about Lola's suggestion. "You two should be heading back now. It's almost curfew and I've got some research to do."
James came back from quidditch practice in exhaustion. All he wanted to do was go up to his bed and snuggled under his thick blankets for he had already taken his shower so he didn't run the risk of being smelly.
However, once he entered the common room, he was stopped by a certain redhead, "James, can we talk?"
"James?" he asked in confusion. "You never call me James."
"Yes, but I thought that maybe I should be calling you by your first name for the time being since I want to ask you a relatively personal question." Lily said quickly as she played with her hands.
"Ask away," James sighed and sat down on the couch.
"What are your nightmares about?" Lily asked, "And don't deny you have them, I've heard you mumbling and screaming, and I'm worried?"
James looked up in shock, "You are worried about me?"
Lily couldn't help but let out a small laugh, "You and Van have the same confused face."
"Thanks?"
"Anyways, you never answered my question. I just want to help you."
James sighed, he knew he wouldn't be able to get out of this easily, "They're bad memories from my childhood I think."
"Like a repressed memory coming back to haunt you?" Lily asked intrigued. She had read psychology books and was always fascinated by the human mind.
"Yeah," James replied. "Was that all?"
Lily jumped to her feet, "Yes, thank you." And then she disappeared out of the portrait hole. She kept walking until she reached the library. As quickly as she could, she sped over to the Divination section, grabbed some books, checked them out, and then ran to the Head's Dorms.
"Cameron, right?" a voice asked the first year during breakfast.
Cameron looked up and her eyes went immediately innocent, "I didn't do it, I promise!"
Lily laughed and sat down next to her, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, I just need some help."
"I'm no good at magic, you might want to find someone else." Cameron turned back to her scrambled eggs.
"I need your help with James?" Cameron perked up, "You've probably noticed it too but he seems different and stuff. Anyways, I have maybe found a way to help him, but I need help myself. Would you?"
"Yes!" Cameron smiled as she jumped up, thankful today was a Saturday.
As if on cue, James walked into the Great Hall and froze when he saw Lily talking to Cameron. He hurried over to the two girls, "Lily, she didn't do it."
"Wow you two have a guilty conscious," Lily laughed. "But I'm glad to have gotten your attention."
"You are?" James' head was beginning to hurt.
"Yes, you remember that conversation last night?" Lily asked.
James looked warily at Cameron, "What about it?"
"We want to help you." Lily smiled, "I know this might be hard to believe, but I miss the James Potter from last year." Lily reddened, she hadn't admitted that to anyone but last year, he had deflated his head a lot, but still was the same James Potter. "With the dark lord rising, we need that playful prankster back. Or at least part of him, I really enjoy the fact that I don't have to do all the Head work."
James was shocked. Up until last night, he was pretty sure she hated his guts, "I'm fine Evans, I don't need your help."
"You're telling me you enjoy sitting on the sidelines as your friends prank someone? Or riding around half heartedly during quidditch practices? I'm just worried about you, and so are your friends." Lily pointed out, "Isn't it worth a shot?"
He looked up at her and froze. She seemed so passionate about helping him and, well, there was always that little part of him that did like her more then he could imagine. "One shot. Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow it is." Lily smiled and James' heart skipped a beat.