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CHARACTER NAME: James Sirius Potter.
AGE AND BIRTHDAY: 17; June 20, 2005.
BLOODLINE: Half-blood.
HOME RESIDENCE: England.
HOUSE AND YEAR: Gryffindor 7th year.
CURRENT CLASSES: Taking NEWTs in Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.
APPEARANCE: Tall and slightly gangly, James definitely takes more after the leaner Weasleys and Potter than the studier Prewetts. James is a rather equal conglomeration of his two parents’ features and very little fashion sense. Casual and comfortable are for more important things to James than trendy and 100% clean. Same goes for his hair, which, similar to his fathers’ is in need of a cut and flopping all over the place.
PLAYED BY: James McAvoy
DESCRIPTIVE PERSONALITY: Not liking the prospect of being forced inside a cramped and stuffy stereotype, James assumes that no one else likes to be quickly categorized, either, and tries to remember that when meeting someone new. Despite having a healthy appetite for fun, James is actually a rather responsible, young adult. While not always thinking out his actions beforehand, if a punishment is due for something James has done, he will serve his time with little complaint. Likewise, he expects that others take responsibility for their actions. People who do otherwise are not held very highly in James’s regard. Even though he never intends to, James spends quite a bit of time making up for his mistakes. James never thinks that his plans will ever do more than push the boundaries of whatever rule he’s trying to slip past. Completely focused on the task at hand it’s always a surprise to James when his plans go awry. After seventeen years of half-successful and half-failed plans to amuse himself, James is finally starting to think things through a little more before running off to do whatever event is planned.
The firstborn child of three, James has always possessed an ‘eldest child’ personality. James is fiercely protective of his brother and sister, and even though he sometimes resents them getting to have more fun than him at younger ages, he has never really minded being the “tester kid”. Even though James is only one year older than Albus and two years older than Lily, he still thinks they’re far too young to have the kind of rule-breaking fun and general disobedience that he was having at their ages. That is, not without him. James likes being the person that Albus and Lily go to for help, and is always willing to take the time to give advice to his siblings (and younger cousins) whenever he feels it needs to be given. Being the son of the famous Harry Potter has also added to his need to be responsible. There is no denying that James has felt quite a bit of pressure to live up to the Potter legacy, but in the end, James feels that his desire to be honest to himself outweighs any outside expectations. Responsible rule-breaker (more like rule-bender in James’ opinion) is not a typical combination, but in James it seems to work out just fine.
James isn’t a bad student; this isn’t to say that he’s fantastically smart or manages to turn in every assignment on time every time, but his marks are usually above average. James definitely has selected his NEWT-level classes based on what he enjoys and feels he is good at. Skating by on things he knows when an assignment has slipped his mind until the day of is much preferable and less panic-inducing than trying to write something up he is completely lost on. Skipping assignments is not a typical thing for James to do, but he is easily distracted when it comes to homework. Having recognized this, James will try to get most of his work finished immediately after it has been assigned so that emergency library trips the day of are not required further down the line.
James does want to be liked, but will not compromise his integrity or the emotional or physical well-being of others to get into someone else’s good graces. If you absolutely had to describe James in one word, James would want you to pick handsome, but he would let you know with a wink that active or enthusiastic would be just as acceptable.
FAMILY: James is the oldest child of Harry & Ginny Potter, who were on-again-off-again sweethearts all throughout their time at Hogwarts. While the two love each other very much, their relationship seems to blow hot and cold. Both being very passionate people and marrying so young, disagreements between the two are not uncommon. James knows they love him and his two younger siblings, though. He also knows that since they’re the ones that provided the sperm and eggs to bring himself, Albus and Lily into being, James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna are pretty dumb names. At least he got the best of the three.
DETAILED HISTORY: Born a little more than month before his father’s birthday at the end of July 2005, James Sirius Potter is the oldest child of Ginny Weasley and Harry “the boy who lived” Potter. Only one year old when Albus Severus Potter was added to the family, James doesn’t really know what life is like without a little brother hanging around. Not that James resents not getting more one-on-one time with his parents. Looking back on it now, having a younger brother very nearly his own age was a perfect way to keep him entertained. You could says Albus was a built-in play-mate who didn’t have to go home for supper. A lot of James’ first real memories were of playing all sorts of crazy games with little Albus and learning to take care of baby Lily Luna, who joined the family one year after Albus. With the family capping off at three, James Potter had a relatively normal childhood. Well, as normal as the son of the Boy Who Lived who also happened to be named after two great (and dead) men with a giant cadre of aunts, uncles and cousins could be.
Even when Al or Lily lost interest in a game or didn’t feel like playing with him, James was very nearly never at a loss for play-mates. Such is the benefit of having nine cousins in a very close-knit family. Much of James’ childhood was spent in motion. Whether it was climbing too high up a tree, flying his mother’s broom, or exploring in places where he shouldn’t be, James always pushed his boundaries. Of course, it wasn’t all just to rile up his parents; James also wanted to show Albus and Lily how cool of an older brother he was. Whether it was showing Albus how to catch frogs down by the creeks, getting into a fight with a boy who called Lily a name, or taking care of the both of them when Harry and Ginny were having an argument, James was always looking out for his brother and sister.
James always knew that he was going to Hogwarts. How could he not? Everyone who was anyone had gone to Hogwarts or would be going soon (like him)! It really wasn’t a surprise to anyone when his acceptance letter came. The hardest time in little Jamie’s life was waiting for the summer to crawl by so that he could finally board the Hogwarts Express and start the most excellent seven years of his life. In fact, James was so excited to get sorted, he ran up to the stool that held the Sorting Hat in fashion similar to his aunt Hermione so many years ago. He still doesn’t understand why his parents, aunt Hermione and uncle Ron find it so funny. Once the Hat was on his head, James started to get nervous. Not knowing that you were allowed to officially give your own input to your own sorting as his father had done, James just sort of half-wished that he would be placed in Gryffindor like the rest of his family and to be brave like his father, grandfather, Remus and Sirius. Seeing something in him that James was not positive he had, but hoped with all of his heart, the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor. Absolutely ecstatic and relieved, James rushed to the table cheering the loudest and joined them in enthusiastically cheering the remainder of the Gryffindors to be sorted into his year.
The last six of his seven years at Hogwarts have been just as fantastic as he envisioned at 11 and then some. James did not understand the absolute thrill of competitive quidditch, and being made captain in his fifth year was seriously the most fantastic them ever. And then there was the fact that Albus was also sorted into Gryffindor the year after him. And girls. Girls were great. What with being made quidditch captain in his fifth year, James didn’t notice the fact that he had not been made prefect at the same time, or really care all that much. When Albus was appointed a prefect the next year, James realized that he just wasn’t prefect material. And that’s okay by him. Really, being prefect or Head Boy would just dampen his fantastic seventh year with all of this responsibility, and that wouldn’t be fun at all, now would it?
ONE SIGNIFICANT CHILDHOOD MEMORY: More a culmination of memories rather than one specific instance, a significant series of moments in James’ childhood who have helped shape him into the person he is today were the times when Harry and Ginny were fighting and James took it upon himself to take care of Albus and Lily. The couple never had their “disagreements” in front of the children, but choosing to not fight in front of the three left them to fend for themselves while their parents worked out whatever set them off today. James decided that since was the oldest, he would need to be the one to put the other two to bed. Helping to get all of their toys were picked up, James would make sure Albus and Lily put their dirty clothes in the hamper after putting their pajamas, help them squeeze the toothpaste onto their brushes, make sure Lily’s hair was braided so that she wouldn’t have tangles in the morning and read them a story. James feels that he is closer to his siblings now because of those occasional nights in their childhood.