James Potter

He snacks in class, even when it’s not allowed; he’s one of the few people who can get away with it. He sits slouching slightly, with his long legs sticking out from under the desk. Big feet, big shoes with bright green laces, next to his light brown Indiana Jones-style bag with holes worn in the bottom. His three best friends sitting next to him. They goof around in class and the teacher doesn't really mind.

My friends and I refer to the four of them as the Marauders.
He, of course, is James Potter.*

His right-hand man is not quite as popular as he is; he’s a little scruffy-looking. He’s the Sirius Black in the group, and he and James are so inseperable that some people think they’re gay. Their next best friend, Remus Lupin, is more reserved, less attractive, and probably smarter than both of them put together.
And, of course, there’s one little Peter Pettigrew who follows them around, cracking jokes and trying to make them laugh.

They’re all in the band. James plays the trumpet.

James is the band geek who is infamously dashing. Every band has one.

Let’s squeeze in a quick physical description here: James has silky chocolate-colored hair that looks like it would be really fun to tousle. His eyes are a little darker, like espresso, and they have long black lashes. He has very white teeth, and dimples. He typically wears collared, button-down shirts, with the collar unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled back, to show off his Manly Hairy Arms and his Manly Hairy Hands.

Most of the girls in band wouldn’t mind squeezing on tight to those Manly Hairy Hands.

But, like most cute boys, it isn’t just his looks that attracts the ladies. It’s his confidence. Margo Roth Spiegelman said it so well: “You’re cute when you’re confident. And less when you’re not.”

There are lots of musician jokes about trumpet players. For example: What do trumpet players say when they shake hands? “Hi. I’m better than you.”

Sure, one could say that James has got the classic trumpet-player Hi-I’m-Better-Than-You swagger down pat. You could call him arrogant, or you could call him confident. Happy, even.

He has a generally cheerful feeling about him. He's playful. In class today, he takes an empty plastic water bottle and sticks it in his mouth, and just sits there looking at the teacher, like everything is normal, with a water bottle hanging out of his mouth. Like a dog with a bone.

It's simultaneously obnoxious and charming. Which is why he's the James Potter.

He’s not exactly the type who would suspend Severus Snape in the air and take his pants off if he had a magic wand. But he definitely would become an unregistered Animagus to help Remus, or create a hardcore map of the school grounds.** He and his friends are playful and mischievous, and probably get away with a lot more than they should, which irritates some people. But it's hard to stay mad at him.

It’s just little things about him. If you bump into him, he smiles and holds out an arm in an “after-you” kind of way. If you say something and he doesn’t quite hear you, he doesn’t say “What?” He says, “I’m sorry?”

"I've figured out why [James Potter] is so cute," a friend told me tonight, at the spring choir/band concert.
"Why?"
"It's because he's British."

Upon further investigation, I found this to be true. Granted, he doesn't have the accent because he grew up here in Nowheresville, USA, but his mom--mum?--does.

There’s something about a British guy. Or really, a guy from any foreign country. It’s not the accent necessarily. It’s not even the politeness and chivalry. It’s the mannerisms. The way he feels a little bit different. In the slightest little ways.

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*If you haven't read the Harry Potter series, you probably won't understand the character references in this blog.
**You know... if our school had secret passageways :)