Twenty-Five Facts About James Potter

1.) James first realised that his parents weren't going to live much longer when he was eight years old, and his Mother was rushed to 's with Dragonpox. He and his Father visited her every day, staying for as long as possible, but she wasn't often awake, and James would walk around the hospital, looking for something, anything, to take his mind off her. He heard the Healers talking about the rich old woman on the fourth floor, joking that she'd die soon anyway. James ran to the bathrooms and threw up. He vowed never to leave his Mother alone again.

2.) The first person he spoke to on the train was Sirius Black. Sirius was moving slowly across the platform, dragging his trunk along, swearing impressively for a boy of eleven. James hoisted the other end of the trunk up, and helped him carry it into the train. Sirius muttered a thanks as he did so, and asked his name. When he answered "James Potter at your service, good sir,", Sirius's face brightened. He knew his family tree, and James Potter is his second cousin. They chat and laugh, looking for a compartment. Most of them are full. They manage to find one with only one boy in - they ask if it's okay to sit down, and he nods eagerly. He is very tall, and very thin, and very pale, and his hair is light brown, and tufty. His name is Remus Lupin.

3.) James knew he would spend a long time chasing after Lily Evans the very first time he saw her. She was in his compartment, sitting in the corner, sniffling. He went over to her and asked, very nicely, what was wrong. She looked up at him, her green eyes huge, glistening like emeralds, and told him to go away. He was hooked by those eyes, and tried to help, but he was a boy, and an idiot, and didn't really know what to say, and he managed to alienate her furthur. When she left the compartment with Snape, Sirius laughed. "She's way out of your league, mate."

4.) Snape became James's mortal enemy when he hexed James's hair pink. This was because James was hitting on Lily very loudly when she and Snape had been trying to 'study'. Although Sirius, Remus and Peter had laughed themselves stupid, they all swore revenge on Snape, and to never show him mercy again.

5.) James was the one who figured out Remus's secret. The three of them - he, Sirius and Peter - spent a lot of time discussing Remus's monthly 'illness'. They discussed lots of things, so many ideas - but it was only when Peter wondered, out of desperation, if Remus was a vampire. Then it hit James. He yelped it out, scared and amazed at the same time. When they had calmed down, Sirius and James both knew that Remus was still their best friend, still just Remus.

6.) It was James who persuaded Peter to accept Remus as a werewolf. Peter freaked out, but James managed to bring him round. Neither of them, nor Sirius ever mentioned to Remus how close Peter had come to spilling his biggest secret.

7.) James knew the way Remus and Sirius felt about each other before they did. He could easily have been disgusted, shocked, and refused to be friends with people like them. But as it was, James could see how perfect they were together, and tried to help nudge them both in the right direction.

8.) James's favourite year in Hogwarts was, by far, his second year. He pulled his favourite ever prank on Snape - a brilliant plan that involved changing Snape's hooked nose to the shape of a trombone, that played 'A Cauldren Full Of Hot, Strong Love' every five minutes. The echo of this charm, even years after the incident, could still be faintly heard when Snape sneezed.

9.) The first girl he ever kissed was Dorcas Meadowes. After winning the Qudditch final, he and the rest of his team got sloshed on Firewhiskey that Sirius had managed to smuggle in from Hogsmeade. James is extremely glad that Lily didn't make the team until their third year.

10.) James has kissed both Sirius and Remus too. When Sirius admitted he was gay to James, James was slightly... Curious. He had certainly asked with a little too much curiousity, anyway, and rather than reply, Sirius took James by suprise by laughing and giving him a smacker straight on the lips. With Remus, it had been his stag night. Remus had been chucking up in the bathroom - he never could hold his liquor - and Sirius had sent James to find him, saying "and give him a kiss from me."

So he did.

11.) James was the first one to forgive Sirius for his prank involving trying to get Snape killed. He knew that his best friend had been the biggest idiot on the planet, but he was still just that - his best friend. Peter had been hard pushed into forgiving him, and seemed resentful of this. Remus drifted around in a daydream like way for weeks after the incident. He didn't forgive Sirius for a long time.

12.) James and Marlene McKinnon had an uneasy truce. The Marauders weren't the only ones who liked to mess around - in fact, the Marauders were often blamed for Marlene's trouble. James agreed to do this, because her plans were ingenious and raised the Marauders 'rep'. In Marlene's case, she simply wanted the laugh, but not the detentions.

13.) James first realised he'd never like to do anything excepting Qudditch outside of school when McGonagall asked in despair what he expected to do with the rest of his life if he didn't apply himself, after a paticuarly amusing transfiguration lesson during which, instead of transforming the tea pot into a biscuit barrell, he turned Snape into a beer barrell.

14.) James became Quidditch captain in his Fourth year. The first team he put together consisted of Sturgis Podmore as seeker, Sirius as keeper, Gid and Fab Prewett as beaters, and Lily Evans, Dorcas Meadowes and himself as chasers.

15.) The first person James ever slept with was a muggle girl. He was in one of his 'hopeless' phases over Lily, as Remus put it. He insisted that he was now totally over Evans, and only had eyes for Lucy, but when the summer ended and he returned to Hogwarts, he never spoke to, or of, her again.

16.) James's favourite girl - apart from Lily - is Molly Prewett, except, no, her name is Weasley now. He keeps forgetting. She had her first child the year he started Hogwarts, but he sees her outside of school. Technically, he's related to her - she's his third cousin's brother-in-law's daughter. He loves her brothers - Gid and Fab - too. She was like the big sister he never had - though he always wanted a sibling. She used to ruffle his hair and call him 'baby Jamesie'.

17.) The first friendly contact he had with Lily was when his parents died. She found him after Quidditch practice, purposefully looking for him; wondering if he was all right, what with his mother dying within two weeks of his father. She consoled him gently and he cried, curled in a ball, with his head on her lap whilst she stroked his hair.

18.) When Lily eventually agreed to go out with him, James didn't sleep for three days.

19.) James took Lily to an island he and the others had discovered one night on the lake, for their first date - they flew there on their broomsticks. He took a picnic, but they ended up paddling in the water and feeding most of the food to the giant squid.

20.) When James was taken home to meet Lily's family, he threw up all over Vernon's oh-so-shiney shoes. Vernon was recounting a story about a beautiful stag he had shot, and James was utterly repulsed.

21.) James bought a house in Godric's Hollow in his seventh year. He asked Lily to move in on their last day. She said yes, but hesitantly. He thought he could never be happier.

22.) James asked Lily to marry him in a moment of impulsiveness. She was sitting by the fire in their little house - it was winter, and dark outside. She was patching up a cushion he had burst and singing to herself, he hair shining like autumn in the firelight. She looked so beautiful that he just couldn't help himself anymore.

23.) Their wedding was as lavish as he could make it. Remus and Lily arranged it, whilst Sirius and Peter put all their efforts into the Stag Night.

24.) James was terrified when Lily told him she was pregnant. He couldn't believe they'd been stupid enough to bring a baby into the war - an innocent baby. But he smiled, and the tears that escaped his eyes were happy tears. He held Lily in his arms and told her he loved her - kissed her, and kissed the bump.

25.) James's son is the only thing that has ever mattered to him as much as Lily. He is a beautiful little boy - with his own hair and features, but Lily's beautiful green eyes instead of James's hazel ones. James has always wanted a boy called Harry. Lily says she want's a little girl next - a slightly scary thought, but James doesn't mind, as long as he has Lily. His family are so perfect and now they are in hiding, he can barely help himself checking the perimeters every ten minutes without fail. Lily often catches him sitting on the end of the bed, fully clothed in the middle of the night, just watching out of the window. He knows he cannot let that murderer in here, but something in him wonders if even his love cannot save his son and his wife.