PROLOGUE

There was no such thing as "fast enough". James Sirius Potter had always been in love with speed. From the moment he was born, whether running through the house or flying on his tiny broom, he could never go fast enough. The son of two of the fastest flying professional Quidditch players in the magical world, he came by his love of speed naturally. But it was how he turned his obsession with going fast into his life's work that amazed his family, his friends, and every other witch and wizard in the world.

As it was, James was famous at birth. The first son of Harry Potter, the Ministry Auror who had defeated the greatest evil wizard of the 20th Century as a teenager, Jimmy's baby pictures had been on the front page of the "Daily Prophet" and every other magical tabloid. Only the "Quibbler", owned and edited by a family friend, had ever published correct information about James, his father, and his mother Ginny, who was the most popular female Chaser in the World Quidditch League.

It also helped that his grandfather on his mother's side, Arthur Weasley, had a lifelong fascination with muggle technology and machines. Indeed, Arthur felt his greatest accomplishment had been helping his son-in-law dismantle and rebuild a motorcycle that had been left to Harry by his Godfather, Sirius Black. And, yes, Jimmy's middle name was homage to that Sirius…just another link to a person in love with going fast. Arthur's garage was full of muggle posters of fast flying airplanes and mysterious racing machinery.

Fortunately for Arthur, if not for the Potter family looking to slow James down, his daughter-in-law Hermione Weasley, married to his youngest son, had been born to muggle parents and raised in the non-magical world for much of her life. She had attended muggle primary schools, technical schools, and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where she had met her husband, and Harry Potter. Potter, Hermione, and Ron Weasley had formed the famous "Golden Trio", led the forces of the light in the last great wizard war, and overcome the dark army known as Death Eaters. Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley was Ron's sister, Arthur's only daughter, Harry Potter's wife, and the mother of James.

Thus it wasn't long after Jimmy could walk before Arthur was tinkering with all sorts of scooters, wagons and carts powered by various muggle devices, some of which were called "motors" or "engines". Hermione supplied the research and theory; Arthur did the work, and Jimmy had the fastest racing karts ever seen.

It was also Arthur who insisted on calling the boy Jimmy, instead of James. This also grew out of his fascination with automobile racing. On his workshop wall was an old poster showing a famous dark green single-seat racing automobile. This car was known as a "Lotus", and it had been built in England by a muggle named Colin Chapman. Arthur had discovered that Chapman had named his racing cars after his wife's nickname, "Lotus Blossom". Hazel Chapman was a famous witch, who held a seat in the Wizengamot. In this photo, the Lotus was being driven by a Scot named Jimmy Clark, and it was widely held in the wizard world that Clark was so good, he must have also been a wizard. Arthur worshiped Clark's memory, and so to him, James was always Jimmy.

Racing automobiles don't run on fuel; they run on money. Fortunately for Jimmy Potter, money was never a major problem. His doting father was heir to a family fortune of his own, and had been left the huge Black family inheritance by his Godfather. His wife had received one of the largest professional Quidditch contracts ever offered, and Harry himself had been paid nearly as much. His affairs were managed by his brother-in-law, Bill Weasley, who had risen to a top position at the wizard bank.

The Weasley family, while pureblood, had at one time been one of the poorer magical families, but had prospered through their relationship with Harry and Hermione. Harry, Ron and Hermione had received Class One Order of Merlin awards, and lifetime pensions from the Ministry. Harry had insisted on the Weasleys taking a share of his fortune for their help during the war.

Hermione came from a relatively well-off professional muggle family, and had become a well-paid healer. Ron had also played professional Quidditch, and his brother George had prospered in a magical joke shop business that had been financed originally by Harry. Arthur had retired from the Ministry of Magic on a rather large war veteran's pension, and son Percy had become the Minister of Magic.

The bottom line was that there were plenty of Galleons stored away at Gringotts Bank to support just about anything a Potter or Weasley wanted to do. Neither family had been overly generous, or allowed their children to become spoiled. They had all been required to attend a mix of muggle and magical schools, and their parents deeply believed in the philosophy that their children should blend the best of both worlds.

The family wealth made it possible for Jimmy to always have the best racing equipment his grandfather could buy or put together himself. Arthur's curiosity was never satisfied, so he was always looking for something to make Jimmy's "karts" faster and better. Originally, he built a test track out behind the Burrow, the Weasley family home. They installed a challenging half-mile road course surrounding the Quidditch field that Harry's generation had used for training when they were kids. Eventually, however, Harry built a 2.5-mile private circuit, as well as full-size Quidditch pitch, on the grounds of the family compound.

With a great backyard mechanic and his own testing and training track available, it should be no surprise that Jimmy Potter became very competitive in the English youth shifter kart racing series, YSKART (pronounced Wise-Cart). In fact, by the time he went to Hogwarts in 2016 at age eleven, he virtually dominated the series. Although his parents insisted that he finish school, his summers were filled with racing. By the time he was 17 and in his sixth year at the school, Jimmy had graduated into the European Formula 3 racing series, often racing in front of the most powerful team managers in the sport.

After graduation from Hogwarts, his parents insisted that Jimmy complete two years of muggle university in a marketing and public relations course of study. During their own pro Quidditch careers, Harry and Ginny had often complained that they had not been trained well enough in the art of dealing with sponsors and the media. As soon as Harry realized that Jimmy had true talent, he wanted to make sure his son approached his career as professionally as possible. By the time he had moved on to the International Grand Prix 2 Series, he was a handsome, well-polished and extremely urbane 21-year-old.