Keep Breathing ♢ James Potter

1 | Carving on the Walls

The Golden Trio watched as all the students from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang said goodbye to their new Hogwarts friends. It had been an extremely tiring year for all of them. Many of the students were still processing the sudden death of their fellow student, Cedric Diggory, who was killed by Voldemort.

"Do you think we'll ever just have a quiet year at Hogwarts?" questioned Ron as he looked at his two best friends: Harry and Hermione. It was no surprise to any of them that for the last four years, they have never had one normal school year.

Harry slightly shook his head and chuckled at Ron's words. "No, I don't think so."

"Everything's going to change, isn't it?" asked Hermione, as she looked at the boys. Harry and Ron couldn't afford to look at the girl as they questioned what the return of Voldemort meant for them.

"Yes" whispered Harry as he looked out across Hogwarts as Beauxbaton's flying horses and Durmstrang's ship departing from Hogwarts, returning their students home.

After Hermione attempted to make the boys promise to write during the summer while they joked around, the trio found themselves once again boarding onto the Hogwarts Express to go back home.

Halfway through the train ride, Ron got up to go look for the trolley while Harry and Hermione stayed inside. Harry found himself tired, laying across the seats and staring up at the wall. Lost in his thoughts, Harry's eyes began to scan the compartment walls until something caught his attention. Something that he had never seen before.

"Has that always been there?" asked Harry.

"What?" Hermione wasn't sure what Harry was talking about until he pointed at the wall.

"That, right there," explained Harry as he pointed at a corner of the compartment.

On the wall of the compartment, there were two initials carved. JP + AB. It was small. Students have probably overlooked it in the past while putting their trunks on the top of the compartment.

"We have sat here for four years and never noticed the carving on the wall?"

Hermione has no recollection of ever seeing those cravings before. This was the same compartment the trio always sat in. The same one they first met during the first year. The same one that they met Remus in for the first time. The same one they sat in every year on their way to Hogwarts.

Harry found himself standing and reaching over as his hand followed the engraving of the craved wood in the compartment.

"JP + AB, who do you think that is?" questioned Harry. A puzzled look came across Hermione's face as she glanced at the craving. "I don't know. There's no one with those initials in our grade that are a couple."

The carvings were shallow, but the letters were legible. The surface was now smoothed over, probably having been there for years. Whoever had carved it wanted to make sure their love was left for future generations to see, even when they were gone.

Scanning her eyes over the craving one more time, Hermione noticed a tiny year etched into wood to the right of the initials. "1978," Hermione read. "Wasn't your father a student at Hogwarts at that time?"

Harry faced Hermione as he replied. "Yeah, he was. My father was probably about to graduate by then." Harry didn't think much about the year until he saw the expression painted on Hermione's face. As soon as he realized what she was suggesting, Harry shut down Hermione's theory.

"I thought you were the smart one Hermione. This isn't my father's doing. My mother's initials are L.E last time I checked."

Hermione found herself rolling her eyes at Harry's response. "Just because he married Lily doesn't mean that he didn't date before her, you dimwit." Hermione sat back down and went back to reading a book. Harry was baffled at what Hermione was implying,

"There's no way." Harry scoffed at the thought of it. "You've heard everyone. My father was infatuated with my mom for his whole life. Hell, they were even Head Boy and Girl together. If there was someone before my mother, why would no one mention her before?"

As Ron walked in, he was only able to hear part of what Harry said. "Come again?" questioned Ron as he sat down beside Hermione while eating chocolate frogs.

"Harry doesn't want to face the possibility that his father may have had a lover before his mother," explained Hermione as she pointed to the carving. "It wouldn't have been some silly school crush either if they decided to carve their initials together."

Ron reached out to inspect the wooden carving. "Well, if it's bothering you that much mate, just send an owl to Sirius. He was James's best friend. Hell, they were practically brothers. He would have more answers than the rest of us"

Harry pondered on Ron's advice and decided to send a letter to Sirius later on. For the rest of the ride home, he couldn't help but wonder if there was a chance that it wasn't always Lily Evans. Maybe there was someone in his father's life before her. Someone with the initials A.B.