Chapter One - James

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Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It was a mantra James held on to since he was ten years old and stole Teddy's history of magic book for something to read. He was bored and grounded since he cut Al's hair in his sleep. They had magic, so it grew back in five minutes, but for some reason, James was grounded for a week. Teddy left the book laying out and desperation can cause people to do insane things. He became incredibly fascinated and all he wanted was to learn more. The next time he saw Louis (free from his punishment), he told him everything he could remember from the book.

James was never able to see Louis as much as he wished. Like his sisters, Louis was sent to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in southern France. It was more because of Fleur's wish and Bill not caring where they went to school than their actual desire to be there. Dom hated it and transferred to Hogwarts in her fourth year, but Louis loved it at Beauxbatons. The only downside is how they weren't together. That meant, in the summer, James and Louis spent almost every moment together. There was not a single moment one was seen without the other. Either at James' house, Louis' house, or Louis' second house in France, they were together. What James knew, Louis knew, and vice versa. When James heard Louis speaking French to his mother, he was determined to learn it too.

Even now, as James did his homework for History of Magic, Louis was right next to him. They looked over the books together and worked on the assignments. History of Magic was never interesting for Louis, but James loved it. He loved learning about different events, how people have learned from the events, and how one simple thing could change the course of history. There was more to reality than people realized.

It wasn't fate, but chance.

A chance that the right people met at the right time. For his parents, it was by chance that Ron and the famous, absolutely brilliant (not really — he was eleven) Harry Potter sat in the same compartment. Them meeting beforehand meant when Draco Malfoy insulted Ron, Harry knew immediately Draco was the wrong sort of person. Mainly because Ron had been nothing but nice to him, so he already had a vision of the type of person he was.

It didn't seem that great at the time, but this would lead to dad and mom meeting, which meant James could be born. There were thousands, millions even, other small events that would take place that put Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley together, but that was beside the point. One small change could alter the course of history. Everything he read in his textbook, lines of ink taken as truth as important as oaths, was all because of small moments. Small moments that tumbled down a mountain of snow until it was an avalanche. Small moments become an important event that marks eras.

Louis didn't seem to find that amazing at all. He pushed the book away and rubbed his eyes harshley. "I don't think I can stand looking at these fucking pages anymore," he said with the slightest whine in his voice. "I can't believe you are planning on taking NEWTS for history."

"It's fascinating," James protested, but set his book aside to stretch his back. His spine ached after sitting like a candy cane for the past two hours.

"It's boring. It's beyond boring, actually."

"How can it be boring? The chances of us having the lives we do, of our parents ending up together and them having the friends they do. Of each of us being born and even the chances of looking the way we do, is significantly small. Everything is by random chance."

Louis shrugged and collapsed onto his back. "I think it's depressing. Don't you hate learning about Voldemort?" Louis always said Voldemort funny, well, he said it how the French did, but that meant the same thing. The or sound was much more nasally, similar to having something stuck to the back of the throat, and he never pronounced the t. "It's like all we learn about third year and on. On and on about the first wizarding war, and then the second where everyone looks at me once uncle Harry is mentioned." Louis glanced his way and laughed. "Fuck, that must be worse for you."

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