If I May Be So Bold (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

2.

August 2034

JAMES

Elise turned the radio on as soon as she got home, which meant she was in a good mood.

"Hi," he said, kissing her hello. "Good day?"

"Productive," she said. "Where are the girls?"

"Juni's still at that pool party. I'll be shocked if it doesn't turn into a sleepover."

Elise smiled at this.

"Ella's upstairs reading. Barely seen her all afternoon." He'd poked his head in when he got home from the school — summer was nearly over already and he'd been back in his classroom getting things in order — but she'd had her nose deep in her book, and he knew better than to interrupt her any further than a quick hello. She had yet to come out of her room for anything.

"You think she'll emerge for dinner?"

"One can hope," said James.

Elise opened up the fridge and stood back to look inside. "We could do that steak salad you liked," she said. "Since Juni's not here."

Ella had recently discovered that salad wasn't actually so bad, but Juni, at thirteen, wasn't quite grown up enough to appreciate green foods yet. She was plenty grown up in other ways though. James wished she'd grow back down.

"Sounds good," James agreed.

He stood against the kitchen counter while Elise cooked, helped when she would let him, and asked her about her day. She was always ready to talk about what had happened at work, to run ideas past him and update him on things they had discussed previously. Steve Gillespie, his old boss (and also Elise's first boss, though he now answered to her), often joked that James knew more than any of the aurors about what was going on.

"Why don't you go grab her?" Elise said. "This'll take me like two minutes tops."

So James headed upstairs and back into Ella's room. The mobile Elise had made her out of beach glass as a baby hung in the corner between the two windows, the wires catching the light as it swung ever so slightly back and forth in the breeze coming in her open window.

"Let me finish my chapter," Ella said without looking away from the page.

James smiled, but kept quiet and watched her finish reading. She was lying on her stomach across her daybed, a throw pillow under her stomach. Her curly ponytail, as usual, had shifted from the center of her head to the side. It never stayed where she initially put it. He watched her eyes scan from line to line until she reached the end of the page and stuck her bookmark in.

"Mum's about ready for dinner," he said. "Good book?"

Ella nodded. She got up off the bed. "I'm almost done."

James put his arm around her and kissed her on the side of the head before they headed downstairs. "When did you start that one? This morning?"

She gave him a sort of sheepish smile. "Maybe."

"You'll be due for another library visit any day."

They sat down at the table where Elise was just finishing setting everything out.

"There she is," said Elise with a smile.

"I was just reading," said Ella.

They all sat down, Elise flicking her wand at the food which started to serving itself into each of their bowls.

Ella was quiet through dinner, but she often got that way when she was near the end of or had just finished a book. It was like the pages absorbed her for a while and it took a few hours (or if it was a really good book, a few days) to pull her back out.

"Hogwarts letters should be out tomorrow," James said.

"You know all the books we need anyway," said Ella, which was true. They'd already bought them all a month ahead.

"Yeah, but it's still fun to get," he said. "Makes it feel like back to school time. I always liked getting that owl."

What he knew, that neither Elise nor Ella did, was that Ella had been chosen as a prefect. Professor Westwick had retired two years ago and James had been given the role of Head of Ravenclaw House which meant that he was now in the prefect selection meetings. Ultimately it was up to the headmaster, but it was the heads of houses who tossed out ideas from their own students. When Professor Poke, the Head of Hufflepuff House, had mentioned Ella's name, the headmaster had written her name down without even listening for other options.

"That one's a given," he'd said. And James had been so filled with pride he'd had to go and tell Raigan right away or he might have burst.

He'd so far kept the secret from Elise and Ella though. It would be more fun if it were a surprise in the letter. He didn't want to ruin that moment of opening it up and finding the badge inside.

Plus, it would be so good for her to be recognized for something. Juniper was the one that pushed herself to the front of every line, who made sure people saw her. Ella let herself slip through the cracks, tried not to let anyone see her.

But James saw her. James knew she was special. And it wasn't just because she was his kid, either, though he was absolutely biased and he knew it.

Elise was saying something now about back to school shopping and how much she had loved putting everything in her trunk — the fresh quills and new textbooks, spines not yet cracked, blank rolls of parchment, and new bottles of ink. "I just always loved the beginning of the year."

"I just love school," said Ella simply, looking out the window.

When they were cleaning up a little while later, Ella turned to James and asked, "Can I ask Iris if she can sleep over tomorrow night? Or sometime this week?"

"Sure," said James. "We don't have plans."

"Thanks," she said. And then she excused herself from the kitchen so she could go finish her book.

Elise watched her go with a considering look on her face.

"D'you think she seems off?" she asked, voice low.

"I mean you know how she is when she really gets into a book," James said. "It's like she can't even see straight when she's not looking at the page."

"Not like that," Elise said. "Like something happened."

But James had absolutely no idea what that could mean. She hadn't seemed any different to him.