Jim Potter

## James Evan Potter, Jr.

***“I’m Death. Everyone I care about is going to die because of me.”***

- *Jim Potter to Remus Lupin.*

**Iacomus Evan Potter**, also known as **James "Jim" Potter, Jr.,** is the son of James Lord Potter and Lily Evans-Potter as well as the younger twin brother of Hadrian “Harry” Black. He is believed to be the Boy-Who-Lived and is the heir presumptive of The Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Enrolled at Hogwarts in 1991 where he was sorted into Gryffindor House

## Biography

### Family Lineage

Jim is descended from House Potter through his father's line, and House Wilkes through his mother's line.

House Potter is an Ancient and Noble House that came to England from Rome before the Norman invasion. Though they are not a member of the Sacred 28, House Potter has held an active Wizengamot seat since before the 1700s. They are exceedingly wealthy and own several land holdings, the most significant of which is Potter Manor, the family's ancestral home. Since the 1780s, House Potter has been known for its prejudice against Slytherin House. This is largely a result of the Potter Prophecy, delivered by Seer Cassandra Trelawney to Nathaniel Lord Potter circa 1780. The prophecy foretells the end of the world, the rise of a Dark God, and the end of the Potter family at the hands of a Slytherin "Last Potter".

As of the early 1980s, House Potter also runs a charity foundation, the Jim Potter Charitable Trust, that raises money for wizarding non-profits and donates toys and clothing to needy wizarding children. The Charitable Trust was chaired by House Potter's Seneschal, Peter Pettigrew, however due to recent events, the Trust is managed by a private board of directors under the purview of Harry Black and Augusta Longbottom.

House Wilkes is an Ancient and Noble House that came to England sometime in the 5th or 6th century, along with 16 other notable Roman wizarding families of the time. Though they are not a member of the Sacred 28, the Wilkes family has held a Wizengamot seat since its inception in the late 11th century. However, at the time of Jim's birth, the Wilkes Seat was not in use, as the Wilkes family is patrilineal and lacked a male heir aware of the connection.

### Early Life

Iacomus Evan Potter was born the second son of Lily and James Potter on July 31st, 1980. He lived with his parents and his older identical twin, Harry Potter, until Halloween of 1981, when Peter Pettigrew betrayed the location of the Potter family to the Dark Lord Voldemort. Though Voldemort broke into the family's home with the intent to kill both Harry and Jim, the entire family survived. Albus Dumbledore's mistaken identification of Jim as the Boy-Who-Lived, coupled with the Potters' belief that Harry would grow up to be a Squib, lead them to place Harry with the Dursley family. Jim had a sheltered and idyllic childhood, and was raised to believe himself an only child. As a result of his fame as the Boy-Who-Lived, he was raised in a media bubble, becoming exceedingly reliant on his status as a hero to carry him through life.

### Book 1 - The Prince of Slytherin

Jim learns of the existence of his twin brother, Harry, just before they both leave for Hogwarts. Though he initially expresses excitement at the idea of getting to know his twin, Jim is horrified and disgusted at Harry's Slytherin Sorting, after which he actively antagonizes his brother, along with his new friend Ron Weasley. As a result of his fame as the Boy-Who-Lived, Jim is brash, self-absorbed, and overconfident, antagonizing his teachers and other members of his House. Most notably insulting Profesoor Snape's demeanour, hair and general personality in his very first potions class with the man, costing Gryffindor more than 40 points and leading most of the house to dislike Jim. However, after Minerva McGonagall allows him to join his House's Quidditch team, he is able to turn his act around, becoming a popular figure in Gryffindor House.

Though he learns of the placement of the Philosopher's Stone in Hogwarts at the same time as Harry, Jim does not deduce the true danger of Quirrell, instead suspecting Severus Snape as the attempted thief. This allows Quirrell to overpower him with a Confundus Charm on his DADA exam, successfully trapping him, Ron, Hermione and Neville in the room of the Mirror of Erised. However, when Quirrell-Voldemort tries to kill them, Jim fights him off with taekwondo and a mysterious power that burns Quirrell's skin. After leaving Hogwarts, Jim overhears his parents discussing the prophecy, leaving him conflicted and scared of his future destiny to defeat the Dark Lord.

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

Following the events of the first book, Jim is fatalistic, moody and withdrawn, embracing his destiny to kill Voldemort by throwing himself into his physical taekwondo training. Upset at his parents' refusal to let him learn Occlumency, Jim accepts a copy of Occlumency: A Beginner's Guide from his godfather, Peter Pettigrew. He uses the books advice to suppress his emotions and let them fester. However as the stress of surviving an assassination attempt at his public birthday party, the embarrassment of being targeted in an inter-House prank war, and the humiliation of losing in Quidditch to Harry and the Slytherin team start to build, he develops serious anger issues and a volatile temper as a result of not properly processing his emotions. This boils over into an attempt to cause extreme(if not lethal) harm to Harry Potter after Jim is led to believe Harry stole his Invisibility Cloak. When Severus Snape finds Peter's Occlumency book and identifies it as a Death Eater training manual written by Augustus Rookwood, Jim summons Peter to Hogwarts to recieve legal aid from the man. Peter manipulates Jim into accepting a false memory, concealing his part in giving the Boy-Who-Lived the book, and Jim makes an effort to deal with his newfound temper and make amends.

Unfortunately, just as the Chamber of Secrets petrification attacks begin, Jim is exposed as a Parselmouth, straining his relationship with Ron and making him a pariah in Gryffindor House. The friendless Jim is easily manipulated by Cassius Warrington and Amy WIlkes into joining a borderline Dark Arts training group formed by Cassius, Miranda Bonnevie, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole in a contrived attempt to turn Jim into a dark wizard with "proper wizarding values". After Lockhart escapes the school, Ron, who has been possessed by the Diary, traps and impersonates Jim, successfully petrifying the Hogwarts staff before fleeing to the Chamber. Jim, Harry, and Ginny Weasley proceed to locate, battle and destroy the Diary Horcrux and the Basilisk responsible for the petrifications, and Jim and Harry learn that Voldemort hid his true identity with the Fidelius Charm. At the end of the year, Jim, along with recent Parselmouth Ron, is invited to recieve mind healing and parseltounge study with Padma Patil's uncle Gupta Baskar in the mythical city of Shamballa.

## Physical Appearance

Jim bears a strong resemblance to his family, particularly his father, James. He is described as having his father's unruly black hair. His eyes are the same green as those of his mother, Lily, when she is happy or cheerful, but he has his father's bad vision, leading him to constantly wear a pair of wire-rimmed eyeglasses similar to those of his father. He is gangly and athletic, and sometimes hyperactive.

## Personality & Traits

Jim is characterized by his Gryffindor courage and loyalty to his friends, sometimes at the cost of his own safety or the safety of others. Though initially rash, arrogant and self-absorbed, Jim is able to temper his tendency towards recklessness, and is recognized by the Hogwarts Sorting Hat as a true Gryffindor by the end of his second year.

Though Jim is largely well-intentioned, he suffers from crippling insecurity, and is often fatalistically fixated on his own role in the eventual defeat of Voldemort. However, by his third year he begins to expand his mindset, embracing the concepts of balance through Wu Xi Do and focusing his energy into his studies in Occlumency and the Animagus transformation.

## Magical Abilities & Skills

### Physical Abilities

Jim is a strong wizard, and a natural athlete, as evidenced by his continued practice of both taekwondo and Wu Xi Do. He is also a prodigiously good flyer, described as being "on the cusp of becoming a legend."

### Parselmagic

Jim has been a known Parselmouth since the age of six, successfully concealing his abilities until his second year at Hogwarts. After the events of 2nd Year, Jim has stopped suppressing his abilities in this Art, and started taking an active role in improving his Magical acumen with Parselmagic. Progressing as far as to use a parsel-enhanced Stupefy during the 1994 Quiddich Cup Incident

### Occlumency

Though Jim is not a natural Occlumens, he has begun Occlumency training, and is currently studying the principles of Level One Occlumency.

### Wu Xi Do

Jim is also an active practitioner of Wu Xi Do, a magical form of martial arts that he uses to balance his mind. Before he began his Wu Xi Do training, he was identified as having the following soul proportions; Air and Earth both between 15-20%, Water less than 3%, and Fire 55%. Due to his massive Fire aspect and minimal Water aspect, Jim started training in mostly Water katas.

### Animagus

During his trip to Shamballa before his Third year at Hogwarts, Jim has also begun training with Remus Lupin to become an Animagus. By the end of his Third year, he was able to use the Animagus Potion to learn his Animagus form, which was a raven.

By the time of his Summer before his Fourth year, Jim was able to achieve a total transformation into his Raven form. However, these were not voluntary transformations but rather him "sleep-flying". However by Halloween of 1994, he was able to completely control his transformations at will, using his Raven form to enter his name in the tournament and sneak into the dragon pit before the first task began.

He's also recieved training in WIld Animagery through a copy of **Animagery: The Deeper Mysteries**, secretly sent to him by Peter Pettigrew, a skilled Wild Rat Animagus himself. Although it's unknown how far Jim has progressed in his studies.

## Behind the Scenes

* The casting description for Jim is Daniel Radcliffe circa the *Harry Potter* film series.

## Canon Divergence

In Harry Potter canon, Harry is an only child, and Jim Potter does not exist. However, in Prince of Slytherin Jim was conceived as an alternate version of Harry, so he can be characterized by his differences from Canon-Harry.

Jim's personal history is vastly different from that of Canon-Harry. During Voldemort's attack on Godric's Hollow, Jim's parents, Lily and James, do not die, and nor does his identical twin, POS-Harry. Rather than being marked with Canon-Harry's lightning-shaped scar, Jim is marked with a scar shaped like a V. Due to his parents' survival, Jim does not grow up with the Dursley's, though his brother, POS-Harry, still does. Unlike Canon-Harry, who grows up in anonymity, Jim is raised in the public spotlight, and becomes adept at manipulating his media image at a young age.

While Canon-Harry grows up largely unaware of his Parseltongue abilities, and remains ignorant of their implications until his second year at Hogwarts, Jim is fully aware of his Parseltongue abilities and what they mean, actively using and concealing them since the age of six. Though he is still outed as a Parselmouth during a practice duel in Year 2, Jim is largely able to overcome the stigma surrounding his ability, even purchasing a pet snake at the beginning of Year 3.

Finally, on top of Canon-Harry's affinity for Quidditch (Jim also becomes the Gryffindor Seeker in Year 1), Jim is also an active practitioner of Wu Xi Do, a magical form of martial arts that he uses to balance his mind. As of the summer before Year 3, Jim is also studying to become an Animagus, a departure from Canon-Harry's lack of availability or tutelage with which to pursue that skill.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 132 - Lords of the Wizengamot,

Revealed when Harry rejects House Potter to becomes Lord Wilkes..
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 40 - Ron's Day,

The history of House Duportier, later renamed House Potter, is discussed during the scene of Ron's first visit to Potter Manor..
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 34 - The End of the Beginning (Pt 2),

James reviews the history of the Potter Prophecy while listening to it.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 41 - Countdown to a Birthday,

The workings of the Jim Potter Charitable Trust are detailed as part of a larger explanation of the cultural significance of Jim Potter's birthday party.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 52 - Team-Building Exercises (Pt 2),

Amy's personal history, as explained by Gregory Goyle, Jr..
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 2 - Halloween 1981,

The aftermath of the Godric's Hollow attack is described in detail.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 8 - Meanwhile, in the Lion,

In his early days at Hogwarts, Jim repeatedly invokes his defeat of Voldemort in order to act carte blanche.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 100 - The Persistence of Memory,

When meeting Harry Potter for the first time, Remus Lupin compares him to his identical twin, Jim..
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 60 - Quidditch & Mayhem Again,

During the Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch game, Draco Malfoy envies his rival's skill on a broom.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 65 - Aftershocks,

Jim first discovered his Parseltongue abilities when he spoke to a snake in his parents' garden.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 71 - Slouching Towards Endgame (Pt 1),

During a confrontation with Severus Snape, Jim describes himself as a "novice" Occlumens.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 85 - Prelude (Jim) (Pt 1),

During his summer in Shamballa, Jim begins practising the water forms of Wu Xi Do to counter his spiritual fire imbalance.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 85 - Prelude (Jim) (Pt 1),

Mind Healer Baskar identifies Jim's sub-soul aspects to proscribe appropriate training.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 86 - Prelude (Jim) (Pt 2),

After connecting with Remus Lupin in Shamballa, Jim accepts his offer to learn how to become an Animagus.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 137 - The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born (Pt 1),

Jim has a vision about his Animagus form, which reveals it to be a Raven.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 139 - In Which Plans are Laid,

Jim does a streaker run home after a bout of sleep-flying in raven form.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 41 - Countdown to a Birthday,

Augusta Longbottom remarks on Jim's ability to handle himself in front of journalists at his public birthday party.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 96 - Back to School (Finale),

At the beginning of his third year, Jim is given a California kingsnake by his parents as a late birthday gift.