James lay down on the grass under a tree, he felt a great peace, as Edward could hardly ever waste time like this, not even when he was 5 years old.
'I did the opposite of what mother told me...' thought James who now had 4 enemies, although he didn't mind them, as they were just spoiled children.
He began to think about what that girl named Gwen had said. Many pureblood families consider themselves superior to those wizards and witches born of muggles and half-bloods.
Muggle-born refers to wizards and witches whose parents are non-magical people, usually inheriting magic from a distant ancestor. Magic unexpectedly resurfaces many generations later. Half-bloods, as the name implies, are wizards who have half-muggle/half-wizard heritage.
Unlike extremist pureblood families, the Potter Family is considered a blood traitor as they do not discriminate against muggles, muggle-born and half-bloods. They even get along with them.
Their parents never showed contempt towards any kind of human being. In contrast, many pureblood families believe that muggles are little more than animals and that muggle-borns, whom they call "Mudbloods ", are second-class citizens.
These pureblood families reminded him of his Rothschild family, who viewed the greater percentage of the world as ants and that their lives were of no importance.
Incredibly James or Edward in that life, did not have the same thought, even sacrificing his life to save an ordinary child from being run over in sacrifice of his own life.
Despite growing up in an environment that despised most people, he was not influenced, James doesn't know why, the normal thing would be that he would have the same thoughts as his family, maybe it's because he was unhappy and even jealous of normal kids who went to school and had fun with their friends.
So, in this life, he didn't look down on muggles, muggle-born, or half-bloods. Plus, now his parents shared his opinion.
His grandfather, Henry was an advocate for muggles, making James respect him greatly, as he put aside his pureblood lineage.
"It's not good for you to use magic out in the fresh air, some muggle might have seen you."
James, who had his eyes closed, opened them and noticed a girl standing near him, looking at him. Her face was stoic and her voice somewhat monotone. The girl had short black hair and very dark eyes.
"I checked to make sure there were no muggles in sight. Besides, they dared to insult my family" James said sitting down on the grass.
"It's still an irresponsible act" said the girl in an uncompromising tone.
James looked at her with a weird expression, this girl's personality was strange, 'Maybe...' thought James with a new idea in mind.
"Alright, I won't do it again" said James scratching his very messy black hair.
"My name is James Potter, what's your name?" he asked.
The girl stared at James, for some reason she didn't believe him at all, but she couldn't keep insisting, "Emily Shafiq" she replied.
The Shafiqs were a family of pure-blooded wizards, included in the "Sacred Twenty-Eight". The Holy Twenty-Eight was, according to the author of the Pureblood Directory the twenty-eight British families that were "truly purebloods" that were created in the 1930s.
The Potter Family was excluded from the list largely because of Henry Potter and his support of muggles at the time.
"So that girl Gwen is your sister, they don't look much alike" James commented noting that Emily's appearance was very different.
On one hand, Gwen was blonde and blue eyed, and on the other Emily had black hair and very dark eyes.
"Yes, she is my older sister, her features are my mother's, I took out my father's features. She won't forget what you did" Emily said, as she sat down on the grass a few feet away from James.
"It doesn't matter, the result will be the same" James said unconcerned. What seemed strange to him was that Emily didn't seem upset with him, unlike Gwen who called him a freak and a blood traitor.
Emily looked at James strangely, she had never seen such a confident boy, even though he was from a pureblood family, the Shafiq family was well respected and James annoyed more than one wizarding family.
"Do you want to trade chocolate frogs cards?" asked James opening the bag.
"I don't like chocolate frogs" said Emily shaking her head, however, her eyes showed curiosity as James pulled a repeat card out of the bag.
"You don't like chocolate frogs? You're a strange girl" said James with surprise.
"I don't want to hear that from you" said Emily a little offended by the comment.
"Look at this" said James passing her one of the cards, as he noticed Emily's curiosity.
Emily took the card eagerly. The card showed an old man with long gray hair and a large beard, it read as follows:
"Albus Dumbledore, currently headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by almost everyone to be the greatest wizard of the present time. Dumbledore is particularly famous for defeating the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve applications of dragon's blood, and for his work in alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore is fond of chamber music and bowling."
"My father doesn't like Dumbledore, he says he benefits muggleborns too much" commented Emily as she examined the card.
"Then let him say it to his face and face him" James said with a faint smile.
Emily frowned slightly but said nothing. James thought she would be annoyed by the comment, but she seemed to be much more tolerant than Gwen.
Emily handed the card back to James and looked at the bag with all the repeated cards, "Here's another one" said James passing her another card.
Time went by, Emily was very engrossed in reading the information on the cards and when she finished reading one she would make a comment and James would continue with the conversation and then pass her another card.
"It's late" said Emily looking up at the sky and standing up.
"T-tomorrow are you coming...?" asked Emily with some embarrassment, she was looking forward to continuing to read the information on the cards and learn about the most famous wizards and witches.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow" said James also standing up.
"Okay, see you tomorrow. Bring the cards" said Emily with a slight smile which she quickly hid and started to walk away from James.
'Looks like I did what mom told me to do' thought James satisfied, his mother would be happy when he told her about this.
Besides, unlike other kids it was much more interesting to have a conversation with Emily, she seemed smarter than average and wasn't a hardhead like Gwen and the other kids about lineage and stuff. And if she was she didn't show it.
When he got home and told his mother and father that he had a new "friend", although he didn't consider her that yet since it had only been one day, they were very happy.
The next few days passed, and James new activity was to join Emily in the square, carrying chocolate frog cards. As they spent a few hours there, James took the chocolate frogs to eat.
As he had extra he shared with Emily who accepted, "I thought you didn't like chocolate frogs" said James noticing Emily devouring them at a fast pace.
"I never said that" said Emily pretending to have lost her memory.
"Yes, you did" contradicted James.
"No, I didn't"
Before they could continue having this little discussion, someone spoke near them, "Emily! What are you doing together with Potter!?" it was Gwen, her tone was furious, as she saw her sister with a blood traitor.
"S-sorry sister" said Emily getting up quickly. James was surprised by the change in Emily's attitude. She always had a stoic expression, but now with her sister, she looked terrified.
"Come here" said Gwen in an authoritative tone to which Emily obeyed and positioned herself behind her sister.
"How many times have I told you that some wizarding families are deficient, like the Potters. You wouldn't want me to tell Mother, right?" asked Gwen looking at Emily.
James stood up, he knew that sooner or later they would be back seeking revenge for ridiculing them the previous time. Besides, now their group had two more children.
"P-please don't tell mother!" said Emily stammering and more afraid to hear Gwen name her mother.
"Mm, we'll see later" said Gwen looking at James again, she noticed that James was watching the two new children.
The two new kids were burly and looked very vulgar. Perched on either side of Gwen, they looked like bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle" Gwen said with a mischievous grin. Both boys had a look of few friends on their faces, as they looked at James.
"Is this dwarf the one who upset you, Gwen?" asked Crabbe as he cracked his knuckles.
"Yes, he dares to embarrass a pretty girl in front of many boys" said Gwen in a poor little voice. Hearing this Crabbe and Goyle glared even more furiously at James.
It seemed that these two boys wanted Gwen to see them in a good light, so they did as he said.
"Look he's scared!" said another one of the boys who was ridiculed by James the previous time, noticing that James wasn't responding. The other kids started laughing.
Emily watched this urgently, she didn't want anything to happen to James, but she was afraid to act out because if she did her sister wouldn't let it happen again and she would tell her mother.
James was absorbed in his thoughts, although his family could be considered more partisan than muggles, they were a very old and respected wizarding family, so it was strange that he would have children calling him a blood traitor and freak.
There were very extreme pureblood families.
'Never mind, I'll just deal with them' James thought with a slight smile, he had thought of several pranks he could play on them when they came back looking for more.