A bit of nextgen... It's odd because I always thought it'd be Rose and Scorpius when I wrote nextgen... and out I've come with a James Sirius Potter story. Anyway, the inspration came to me earlier today when I was supposed to be focusing on science... hehe... enjoy!

Discalimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter :D

"Dad," James sounded a little nervous. "How do you know if you're in love?"

Harry put down the book he was looking through straight away.

"Why James?" He asked, smiling. James face went a brilliant, Weasley red, a rare sight when you compared it with his usual confidence.

"I just wondered." He said defiantly, sitting down in the armchair by his father. "I'm allowed to wonder things, aren't I?"

Harry tried to hide his smile this time. It wasn't often that James wanted a heart-to-heart talk with him, and he didn't want his oldest clamming up.

"Let me see," He began, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling as he decided what to say. He would have thought James would have gone to his mother, but maybe he'd wanted a guy's opinion.

"Well, do you think about her a lot?" He finally asked.

"Aw, Dad, I didn't say I was in love, come on!" James said, screwing up his nose in disgust, but Harry was pretty sure he was lying. "Just, hypothetically, how do you know?"

As James' stare became intense again Harry hid another amused grin.

"Like I said, you think about her a lot. Even when you don't want to." He didn't miss James' passing expression of discomfort.

"So, what if you just usually think about your friends a lot?" He shot suddenly.

"Well it's not a sure sign; I'm just saying what I know about women. I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on the subject."

James snorted.

"But you and Mum are in love, right?" He asked. Harry nodded. "So you must know what it's like to be in love."

Harry sighed, but decided to continue with what he'd been saying rather then contradict James.

"And you want to know more about her all the time, like nothing seems boring anymore." James was looking more scared with every word that passed Harry's lips.

"And you know a lot about her, like each feature of her face, her voice, those cute little freckles on her nose..." Harry was reminiscing now, slowly forgetting James was there.

"Even her smell. You might not realise it at first, but it becomes more amazing to you each day. And you get jealous, really jealous, when she's with another guy."

He paused, seeming to come back to himself slightly.

"Ummm, this may sound a little weird James." He briefly wondered if chest monsters were hereditary. "But it can be like you have this monster in your chest and it just gets furious when you see her kissing anyone else... or even just holding their hand... the littlest things make you jealous."

James was looking positively terrified now. It seemed chest monsters may just be hereditary after all.

"This... monster, does it make you really mad?" He asked, "Even mad at her, you know, even though you could never be mad at her, you are."

He bit his lip, looking hopefully at Harry.

"I mean, if you get mad at her, you can't be in love, right?" Harry held back another chuckle; his son was a clueless as Ron.

"You can love her and be mad at her, James." He said "I've been mad at your mother, yet I never stop loving her. And your Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron used to fight all the time."

James looked crestfallen.

"You can't be in love when you're my age though!" He burst out, exasperated.

"It depends on the person, but, James, I think you can. I realised how I felt about your mother when I was fifteen."

James had gotten very silent, and Harry could almost hear the cogs turning in his mind. James definatly didn't want to be in love. Harry found himself trying to work out who he could possibly have fallen for. Suddenly James' voice came, so silent Harry had to lean in to hear it, something he wasn't used to doing.

"... Is there such thing as a 'Potter curse'?" He asked, turning his baleful eyes on Harry. "... because Lily was saying..."

Harry waited for more, but he was silent again, trailing off into silence.

"A 'Potter's curse?'" Harry asked, "Where would Lily hear about a 'Potter curse'?"

"She didn't say." James said. "She only said it made all Potter men fall in love with... red-heads."

"Oh," Harry smiled sheepishly "That 'Potter curse'"

James looked horrified.

"It's a little joke we have." He said. "But, it seems true so far..."

James face was scrunched up in what seemed to be worry for another long second and then, finally, he smiled. Though it looked a bit scared, he seemed to have accepted the truth; He was in love.

"Well then, I guess it must be true." He said in an attempt at light-heartedness. "Cursed forever we are."

And James, ready, as always, for a challenge, especially the new one of winning a girls heart, leapt up from the chair. He paused just one more time at the door.

"Dad, don't tell anyone, I'd be ruined." Then, as an after-thought he added "Maybe mum, if you must."

And he was gone. Harry blinked in shock at James' quick change of tune and then stood up, heading straight for the garden, where he knew Ginny was sitting.

"Honey," He asked, not able to help himself "Tell me the names of all the red-heads in James' year, please..."

Yeah, I think I like it... I case you're wondering, the idea of the "Potter curse" wasn't mine... but I love it!

Please drop me a little review, seriously, one word is fine... it'll take like two seconds... please!