Balanced

'Come on James, eat your breakfast,' coaxed Aunt Susan. James shook his head stubbornly, refusing to let that disgusting looking cereal anywhere near his mouth. Eight year-old James Potter was fairly tall and skinny, with messy black hair and light brown eyes. His glasses nearly flew off the end of his nose as he avoided the spoonful that she was now trying to feed him

When the doorbell rang, James smiled hopefully at his foster-mother and she sighed, tidying her blond hair and pulling off a stained apron before heading out into the hall. She shot a warning glance at James as she left the room, and told him to eat up.

After he was certain she had left, James tipped his food into the bin in the corner, and carefully covered it with a few tissues, hoping she wouldn't notice. He completely ignored the moaning two year old who didn't like his. He crept into the hall and listened at the door of the living room, where Aunt Susan had taken her guest.

James didn't know a lot about the lady. He'd heard her name was Mrs Lupin, and that she had a son his age. His ear pressed against the door, he concentrated on trying to hear and translate the few words coming through. Aunt Susan was talking about him. He could hear a few words, such as "James" and "misses his parents". What Aunt Susan hadn't been told, is that Mrs Lupin was a witch.

She didn't know that James was a wizard either. Aunt Susan had been told the most they could tell any Muggle, that James' parents had been killed in a terrible accident, and that his name was down to go to a boarding school when he was eleven. The real story was much more horrific.

James remembered quite clearly sitting in the garden, pulling at the grass, and poking the bugs. He had always been solitary and sitting in the garden on sunny days was how he would often spend the time. Then he had heard screams, and seen flames and then a strange symbol in the sky.

The screams had been those of his parents, they had been killed.

Instinctively, he had ducked and hidden in the long grass in the garden, where he had been found, hours later, shaking all over and curled into a tiny ball. They'd told him that after this, living with Muggles would protect him, although from what they wouldn't say. They'd told him what to say, and how to act, but they never told him why.

The door opened and James fell into the room, almost on top of Aunt Susan, who had come to get him. He smiled innocently at her, and she sighed again, her grey eyes showing a hint of annoyance. Although Aunt Susan never lost her temper with James - she had been told by the Ministry that he was unstable - James could tell when she was annoyed with him. Aunt Susan was a nice lady, but with having three other children, her patience had worn thin.

'This is James,' said Aunty Susan, smiling at Mrs Lupin, wondering what she would think of James' behaviour.

'Yes,' said Mrs Lupin, smiling back, apparently not bothered by the eavesdropping, 'I'd recognise the Potter hair anywhere, your father had it, and so did your grandfather. It's nice to meet you James, please, call me Elizabeth.'

'Hullo,' said James, looking at her, she seemed nice, short brown hair and eyes that were framed with large purple glasses. James was pleased to find, when she stood up, that he was almost as tall as her.

'My car is outside,' she told him, 'it's only about half an hour's drive.' James nodded, hoping she would have some food, as he was starting to feel hungry.

'Bye Aunt Susan,' he said, smiling the usual innocent way that made most people believe he was up to something. It worked with Aunt Susan too.

'You behave, James Potter,' she said sternly. 'Have fun, but no tricks,'

'I'm sure he'll be fine,' said Elizabeth smiling confidently. 'I'll bring him back later today, he can have dinner with us.'

Mrs Lupin unlocked the doors of a green Mini and gestured to the back seat for James, he clambered in and fiddled about with the seatbelt, trying to remain unstrapped for as long as possible. On the trip, James spent most of the time wondering what was the best way to get food without asking outright, he came to the conclusion that fainting with hunger probably wouldn't work.

They drove into a small Muggle village with old fashioned houses and cottages. There was a pub and a shop but not much else.

'Are there any other wizards here?' he asked Elizabeth,

'No, we're the only ones, but we can use Floo to contact others if need be.' She parked the car in front of one of the older looking houses and they both got out. The house had a thatched roof and was a lot smaller than what James was used to, although he thought it was nicer. They headed inside and Elizabeth directed him into the living room. There were two large bookcases in the corner filled with old, dusty books. The floor was covered in a green carpet with a faded pattern on it and there was a large window showing the back garden.

'Hi,' said a voice from the corner and James turned to see a pale skinned boy shorter than him, with tawny eyes peeking out from light brown hair.

'I'm James,' said James brightly, 'Are you Remus?' The boy nodded and turned to his mother, who had followed James into the room.

'We could go to see Sirius and Peter today.' He said to her, 'They could meet James too.' He turned back to James, 'They're my other friends'

'Why not? Now, why don't you two go off and play?'

'You can come to my bedroom,' said Remus, 'It's upstairs,' James followed Remus upstairs into his bedroom. It was small and fairly messy, with lots of toys, books, clothes and comics scattered across the floor. James headed straight for the broom he saw in the corner. It wasn't full-sized, but it looked fairly good for a toy one.

'Cool!' he said, 'I had a smaller one than this, but it got broken.'

'Have a go if you like, but careful you don't hit anything or mum will kill me.' James carefully mounted the broom, remembering how he had done it when he was smaller, he wobbled slightly and he hovered a few feet above the ground. He flew forward slowly, uncertain about flying quickly in such a small space, but he managed a couple of slow laps, before attempting a loop.

'Be careful!' said Remus, as James nearly slipped off.

'I'm fine,' he said confidently, and landed in the middle of the room, being careful not to tread on the collection of comics spread out barely two inches from his feet.

'Who are Sirius and Peter?' he asked Remus.

'Sirius is a pureblood, but he lives in a Muggle town, and Peter is a Muggle. Sirius had to go to a Muggle school, he didn't like it, but he made friends with Peter there. Sirius gets into all this trouble with the Muggles, because he does tricks and uses magic. Peter and me have to try and stop him.'

'Does Peter know about magic then?' asked James incredulously. Muggles weren't supposed to know.

'Yeah, Sirius didn't care about telling him, he trusts him a lot. Anyway, I go and visit them sometimes, because my mum and Sirius' mum are friends.'

'Are they nice?'

'Yeah, but Sirius plays lots of tricks, so watch out.'

Elizabeth made them both some sandwiches before they left, saying that she heard James hadn't eaten a lot of breakfast. Remus wolfed down his portion really quickly. His mother tutted slightly but said nothing, apparently used to this sort of thing. James ate more slowly and politely than usual, not wanting to show what bad manners he had.

'Now James, have you ever used Floo powder before?'

'Um, once or twice, not often.'

'So, you know what to do. Remus, you can go first. I'm Apparating. I don't like Floo that much, and their chimney is always dirty.'

'The address is "Black Wood",' Remus told James. He grabbed some Floo powder, tossed it into the fire, and walked in after it, calling 'Black Wood' as he went. James followed quickly and felt himself start to spin as he travelled across the Floo network. He landed on all fours in a living room similar to Remus', only it was far messier. There were two boys sitting in the centre, looking over a pile of Chocolate Frog cards. Both of them were completely different. One was tall and skinny with fairly long, dark hair and brown eyes and a look on his face that seemed to show complete amusement at everything; the smaller boy was fair haired, and slightly plumper, with large pale eyes, and a slightly worried look on his face.

'Where's your mother Sirius?' asked Elizabeth, appearing next to them and the taller boy pointed in the kitchen, smiling he same innocent smile James used so often.

'Hiya,' he said to James, 'I'm Sirius, and this is Peter.' The shorter boy waved vaguely.

'Hullo,' said James cautiously.

'What has Remus told you?' he asked, glancing suspiciously at his friend, although his eyes showed he wasn't being serious. 'Come and sit down, unfortunately I have no Dungbombs, used my last one on Peter when he came in.'

'Don't come too close though,' warned Peter, 'He does have other things in his pockets.'

'Oh shut up Peter,' said Sirius amicably, and James remembered that he had something in his pocket that Sirius might like. He pulled it out and offered it to Sirius.

'This is a Muggle Dungbomb, not as effective, but hardly any wizards know what they are or how to stop them from going off.' Sirius peered at the Stink-bomb carefully, checking every inch of it. He prodded it with a wand brought from his pocket.

'Hmm, looks pretty good for something Muggle.' He turned to Peter, 'You never told me Muggles had Dungbombs too!'

'Of course I didn't, do you think I'm stupid?' said Peter, 'Apparently James here is.' He looked at James. 'You'll regret that when he uses it on you,'

'I wouldn't use it on a supplier!' said Sirius in a shocked voice. 'Can I have this one?' He pleaded with James, 'I'll try it out on mum later.'

'Why not? Just don't tell her where you got it.'

'I'm not as stupid as I look,' the two looked at each other and grinned, and James sat down next to Sirius, who offered him a chocolate frog.

'Oh dear,' murmured Peter, 'There's two of them now.' Remus nodded, a pained look on his face.