LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 5: First joke
The library door opened, making James turn his head. It was Euphemia, his mother.
Euphemia had long, straight, black hair with just a few gray strands showing her age. She carried herself with dignity and had a serene gaze. When she looked at her little son James, a loving smile formed on her face
"Mother" James said as he stood up from the chair, the book closed on its own and flew quietly to a shelf.
Euphemia looked at this unsurprised by her 5-year-old son's magical control. She was used to it by now.
"James, I told you to call me mum" said Euphemia who even though she was scolding her tone was very warm and gentle.
"Sorry, mum" said James who was in the habit of calling mother to Elizabeth, a more formal and adult way.
"Look how cute you are, I can't get mad at you" said Euphemia as she hugged James who hugged her back. He was used to his mother's continuous hugs, and they didn't bother him.
How in his previous life he didn't have a sign of love for his former mother, or any family member, now he liked that his parents were loving.
"By the way... Why aren't you playing outside? The day is very beautiful, many children are playing in the park" asked Euphemia in a worried tone.
Her son was perfect in appearance, in magic, and in almost everything. What worried her most was that he had yet to make a single friend.
James noticed the concern in his mother's tone and didn't know what to say. He knew she was worried since he seemed like someone antisocial, who only played with his parents and then hung out in the library or looked at magazines about quidditch.
The problem was that he couldn't make friends with 5-year-olds, they were very childish and immature compared to him, and he would be more like a babysitter or older brother. Despite his desire to get his first friend, 5-year-olds were too young to hold an interesting conversation.
"Can't I play with you, Mom?" asked James making a poor little angel face.
Another change in James was his personality, in these 5 years he changed and all thanks to his parents, in his past life he was expressionless and didn't seem to get excited about anything, but now he was different.
He had felt parental love, he could do what he liked and did not need to act to please his parents or family.
'So cute' thought Euphemia dead in love with her son's cuteness, but she couldn't let herself be defeated.
"I love playing with you, but you must make friends with other children, it will be good for you, why don't you try?" asked Euphemia who was crouched down so that her face was at the same height as James.
James knew that if he refused his mother would not be angry with him and that in this life he was not obligated to please his parents, however, he knew that his mother was doing it out of genuine concern for him.
"It's fine, Mom" nodded James, deep down he was afraid that if he refused his mother might come up with some reaction like his previous mother, Elizabeth.
"That's great! Bring your chocolate frogs trading cards to trade with the kids, you have a lot of repeats" said Euphemia with a smile.
These cards are trading cards that contain pictures and information about different famous wizards and witches. The cards are obtained by buying chocolate frogs. Each pack contains a random card.
James was a great collector of these cards, so his parents buy him a lot of chocolate frogs, it is also a fun way to learn about famous wizards and witches.
Books about the history of magic for James are boring, they are like the history books he had to learn in his previous life. The use of magic is practically unnecessary so he was lazy to read these books.
With the stickers in a full bag, James left his house, his mother said goodbye with a big smile, very proud as she saw that her son would try to make friends.
James lives in a village called Godric's Hollow located in the west of England in the West Country. The village was a small community, boasting a square, a church, a cemetery, a post office, a pub, and a few other businesses.
The village was home to a relatively large number of wizards, but it was not a purely magical village. As such, the resident wizards of Godric's Hollow had to avoid the overt use of magic lest they be discovered by the village's Muggle residents.
'Muggles...' thought James with a stoic expression, as he walked towards the village square.
Muggles were non-magical people, humans who were born to two non-magical parents and were incapable of performing magic. From what little James studied of the history of magic, in the 1600s the international statute of magical secrecy was established, a law to safeguard the magical community from Muggles and hide their presence from the world at large.
Many wizards disagreed and wanted to declare war on Muggles, by which time the capture of wizards and witches by Muggles had increased. However, the statute was passed and the largest percentage of Muggles no longer knew about the magical world.
If you use magic in front of muggles without a good reason, the Ministry will give you the corresponding punishment. As for James, he agrees with the statute, as the other option was an all-out war of wizards vs. muggles.
Thinking about these complex political issues James arrived at the square, where he could see many children playing. He knew who the children from magical families were, they were in a separate group from the Muggles.
He did not know how to proceed to start a friendly conversation with them, he could not ask children between 5 and 10 years old: "What do you think about the International Statute of Magical Secrecy? Are you in favor or would you prefer to go to war against Muggles?
James looked at the group of children who he knew belonged to wizarding families, he had no derogatory thoughts towards Muggles, he just felt that befriending magical children would be easier since they live in the same world so to say.
He might talk about Quidditch or chocolate frog stickers, something muggle children wouldn't understand.
It was a group of four children, one girl, and three boys. If memory serves, the girl belonged to the Shafiq Family, two of the boys belonged to the Bulstrode Family and the other boy was unrecognizable.
One of the children noticed James' gaze on them, so he warned his group while pointing at him. Suddenly, the whole group stared at him, the girl started walking towards him followed by the other children, she seemed to be the leader.
"What are you doing here, freak?" asked the girl in a rude and contemptuous tone. The children around her grinned mischievously.
James was mildly surprised by the girl's sudden attack. He considered himself someone good at reading people, but he had no idea when he had become a freak.
In his previous life, it was very easy to get people around him to praise him and want to be his friend, but in this life, he didn't care so much and paid more attention to his parents and the subject of magic.
"I just came to trade cards" James said overlooking the offense, and lightly lifting the small bag with all the saved cards in it.
"Go swap cards with your mommy" said one boy with a smirk. The others burst out laughing, as one put on an act of James hugging his mother.
'Indeed I would, but she sent me here' thought James with his stoic expression.
"I have several repeats, I'm sure some will do for you" said James again ignoring the offenses and trying to strike up a friendship.
The girl, seeing James unchanged expression became angry, "Get lost, Potter! This square is no place for blood traitors!" exclaimed the girl angrily taking an even more offensive stance.
Hearing this James frowned slightly. He now knew the reason for these children's aggressiveness towards him.
The Potter Family were considered blood traitors by the extremist pureblood families. This was because the Potters did not discriminate and got along well with Muggles, " Mudbloods" and half-bloods.
This was mostly because of his grandfather Henry who when he was serving in the Wizengamot wanted to help the muggles in the First World War.
James could tolerate being called a freak or being too close to his mother, but he would not tolerate his family being insulted. He looked to the left and right, he noticed that there was no one watching them.
He returned his gaze to the children. The girl for some reason had a bad feeling, before she could launch another threat again, she felt her skirt drop from one second to the next, revealing her panties.
The same thing happened with the other 3 boys, their shorts, pulled down at the same time, exposing their underpants. All 4 had cuddly underwear, with teddy bears, unicorns, the golden snitch, etc.
"What!" exclaimed the 4 in embarrassed unison as they quickly pulled up their pants and skirt. It didn't do much good, as the second they repeated the same thing.
"So sweet, heh" said James with a haughty look and a smirk.
"You! What did you do!?" exclaimed the girl glaring at James with hatred, she was trying to hold her skirt up, but no matter how hard she tried it kept coming back down.
The boys were very embarrassed that their underwear was showing and especially that James was making a joke out of them.
"Gwen, let's go!" said one boy as he started to run and pulled up his pants, as he ran away from James his pants came down again, making him trip, his face filled with dirt.
"This won't stand, Potter!" said Gwen as she walked away with blushing cheeks. Ever since she was little she was surrounded by luxury and belonged to a pureblood lineage, she never met someone who dared to challenge her.
"Whatever you say..." muttered James bored as he made his way towards a shady spot to lie down.
He never thought playing a little prank on some kids would be so refreshing, 'Maybe I should do it more frequently' thought James lying down on the grass. It seemed he had found a new hobby.
As Rothschild always had to act serious and dignified, he could not play pranks, as he would be punished and lectured by his mother, but in this life, he has total freedom.