witchcraft and wizardry | james s. potter

chapter one

people always made fun of joanelle's name. they thought it sounded stuck-up, and teased her with comments like "joanelle ross the third, the duchess of england!"

joanelle didn't mind her name. it was her great grandmother's name. her great grandmother had made multiple noteworthy discoveries in her scientific field, astronomy.

she wanted to be just like her grandmother one day—highly intelligent, admired, influential. when joanelle was 8, her great grandmother gave her a telescope for her birthday. immediately after opening her gift, she insisted on going out into the cold winter night to peer at the sky. when her parents said no, it was her great grandmother who convinced them to let her. when the cold air fogged up the lense of the telescope, it was her great grandmother who kept taking off her mittens to wipe off the condensation.

when a problem arose, it was her great grandmother who kept her dreams alive.

the following summer, joanelle's family lost her to a severe heart attack.

it had been 17 years since then, but her great grandmother had remained in her heart, fueling joanelle's ambitions.

joanelle's family had never been steady. her older sister dropped out of school the second it was legal to run out of the country with her new girlfriend. her sister had stopped sending christmas cards four years ago.

joanelle's younger brother was arrested for committing an armed robbery. he still hadn't made it out of jail.

people joked that joanelle had to be adopted, to be such a polar opposite from her two siblings. joanelle shut those ideas down immediately. she didn't tolerate nonsense or impossibility.

there were only two things constant in her life. the first was science. science was based off of facts and logic. need to prove a point? easy! just back it up with some evidence. it was straightforward, but it never failed to be fascinating.

the second constant in joanelle's life was her best friend, james sirius potter. james had been missing for a lot of their adolescence, off at some boarding school that he was sought out and accepted into. however, even throughout his absence, james never failed to keep in touch. he delivered letters every tuesday. he had never missed it, not even once.

his parents, ginny and harry, were lovely people, but joanelle always got the feeling that they were reluctant to let james spend time with her. it was almost as if they were afraid of her finding something out.

now, james and joanelle were both twenty-five years old.

joanelle moved out into the country, far enough out from the city so she could see stars and planets spiral above her, but close enough so that she could get to work and to james' house within a relatively reasonable amount of time.

james seemed somewhat lonely. he lived in a small apartment all by himself. he spent a lot of time visiting his little brother albus and albus' fiancé, scorpius, but when he wasn't around them or joanelle, he didn't seem to have much to do.

joanelle once asked him what he did all day. "i go out," he vaguely replied.

"to where?" joanelle persisted.

"oh, you know..."

joanelle knew there was a lot to find out, but she didn't know how to find it with the dead end answers that james gave.

once, joanelle's curiosity got the best of herself. she tried to follow james to work. he went into a busy building, and joanelle followed behind him, stealthily and eagerly. his final destination? the bathroom. joanelle listened from outside the men's room door, but james wasn't coming out. even more strangely, more men went into the same bathroom, and they didn't return either. about to be late to work, joanelle left. she was even more mystified than ever.

one thing was for sure. joanelle was never going to stop observing—whether it be about james' secrets or the wonders of space—because science was who she was. and if she lost that, who was she?