KALOPSIA - JAMES POTTER

Chapter 1

Amara was sat on the Hogwarts Express at 10:30am in the morning, being one of the earliest people to get there. She'd been scared that her trek from East London would take too long, leaving her house at 8:00am without so much as a goodbye to her Dad.

She relaxed into the seats and closed her eyes, feeling September sunlight warm her up. After about 10 minutes, the door was slid open quickly and Amara could feel arms wrap around her neck tightly as Lily's flowery scent filled her nose.

Holding back a wince from her sore ribs, she hugged the girl back just as tightly, breathing in deeply.

"I missed you." she mumbled, her voice muffled because of their close proximity.

"I missed you, too." Lily smiled, pulling back and holding the girl's face gently, tilting her chin to inspect.

"You done checking me out yet, Lils?" she grinned, her dimples showing.

"I wanna check you out, too!" she heard from the door before someone jumped on both Lily and Amara, sending the three of them tumbling onto the floor.

This time, Amara couldn't hold back her groan. She felt a sudden shortness of breath and started panicking, letting out a slew of curses as she realised her bandage had come undone.

Getting up quickly, Dorcas and Lily both stared at her weirdly. Clearing her throat, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"You jumped on my bladder, Meadowes. I need to pee." she groaned, rushing out of the compartment.

She could hear their roaring laughter from the compartment and limped towards the bathroom, her sprained ankle most likely having flared up.

Locking the door behind her, Amara took off her dark sweater, leaving her in a black t-shirt. She put her hand on it and saw the red blood on her hands, making her clench her jaw.

Taking off the shirt, she re-wrapped her bandages around her body tightly so as to avoid it worsening for the rest of the ride.

She let out a sigh as she put her sweater back on hoping the blood hadn't transferred onto it. She should be able to let her friend tackle her in excitement and giggle about it, instead of rushing to a bathroom to check the wounds her father inflicted on her were okay.

Amara grabbed the t-shirt tightly in one hand, making her way out of the train doors slowly so as to avoid too much pressure on her ankle.

Just as she was walking towards a bin, someone lightly grabbed her hand, spinning her around and pulling her into a gentle embrace, making her drop the shirt.

Smelling chocolate and books, Amara hugged him back, forgetting for a milli-second that she'd dropped it.

She pulled back and smiled at him softly, looking around her to pick up the shirt, only to realise it was gone. Feeling her heart hammer in her chest, she looked behind her only to see James Potter holding it out to her.

"You dropped this."

"Thanks. I'll see you later, Remus." she muttered quickly, snatching it back and averting her eye contact with the two of them as she made her way, slowly, to the bins.

After throwing the fabric in there, she made her way back into the train, not realising Remus Lupin and James Potter were staring at her, their eyes wide.

James had some streaks of blood on his hands from the shirt and the second he told the lanky boy, they watched her, seeing her small limp and slow movements.

One thing was running through their minds. Was she another Sirius?

***

Amara walked into the Great Hall, a small smile on her face as she realised she was finally home. She had her arm around Marlene's shoulder as the girl helped her limp towards the table.