Magic or Mistake? • James’ Perspective • Chapter One

Instructions

James woke up from his dark oak bed, with a bright red duvet that had a gold plaid pattern on it, which was in the left corner of his room. He decided to make it that day, in spite of the few weeks before that he’s decided not to, and made his way to the small bathroom connected to his own room, the door matching the wood of his bed. He took his dark red toothbrush, brushed his teeth, and relatively tamed his hair with a brush his mum gifted him. He’d almost skipped washing his face for the fourth time in a row, but James was feeling especially motivated today. It’s not as if he was unorganized. In fact, James had made a schedule for the morning and afternoon, getting upset at others when there was a change. Why, you ask, has he been so behind lately? Because he had recently been in a sort of depressive state, and couldn’t make himself get up to do anything, let alone follow a set schedule. Then he began to get upset at himself, hating more and more until he would finally snap. Today was not that day. In truth, James still lived with his parents. It wasn’t that uncommon, since he’d turned twenty-three just about a month ago. He’d only invited a few friends— Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily —but Sirius had to bring his brother, Lily brought Mary and Marlene, Marlene brought Dorcas, and Dorcas brought Pandora, who brought Evan. Eventually it turned out that only about half of them were even informed it was his birthday, so they all decided to set aside the gifts for later and just make it a hangout instead of a celebration. Either way, he rushed downstairs after dressing in a tucked-in white button-up, a red light sweatshirt, which he kept unzipped, and quickly put on and laced his crimson converse. He was halfway out the door when he heard his mum, Effie, calling to him from the kitchen, “James? I’m almost finished with breakfast, come here.” James hesitated, then shut and locked the door, putting his golden keyring in his sweatshirt pocket. James walked into the kitchen, catching sight of Effie stirring something in a pan on the stove, which was a dark wood with golden accents. He almost immediately turned to the coffee machine, taking the pot and placing it on the small platform and pressing the button. He was originally going to stop at a cafe on the way, but now he wouldn’t have time, and he felt like he was going to need the caffeine today. As soon as it was finished brewing, he inhaled the scent, and poured it into a random mug. He took the steaming hot coffee, and drank it immediately, not caring about the temperature in the slightest. Effie turned around, glancing at James for a moment, then serving the both of them, not batting an eye. James knew the look was from the way he drank it black this time, instead of adding a ton of sugar and creamer. Whatever, he didn’t mind. He was mostly just excited for today. He drank the rest of his coffee, then began to eat, his mind racing with a rare occurrence of optimism instead of the usual emptiness. Then, James got up and went towards the stove, bracing himself before placing his right pointer finger on the pan, almost immediately wincing, but kept it there for a few more seconds before lifting it. He surveyed it for a second, then waited a few moments more. He then touched the pan with his right thumb instead, finding that it didn’t burn anymore. This, of course, was completely normal. For James, anyway. If you lived near James, you’d see that the Daily Prophet always had a column about the magic population, and recent crimes against non-magical people. It also showed a picture of a pie graph, which showed the percentages of the two groups. There had been a new law: All magic; spells, runes, potions, and prophecies, were made illegal, punishable by imprisonment. Another was that all guardians must report if their child has magical ability, and if they don’t, they could be sentenced to a more…impactful punishment.