Harry Potter 1. The Dark Phoenix Rises Again

The Dark Phoenix Rises Again

Rubeus Hagrid, (Everyone called him Hagrid) was a big man. He was as tall as a medium height lamppost and as wide as two trash bins placed side by side. He had a wooden peg leg the size of a tree trunk that made him look something like a giant pirate. He had tiny beatly black eyes and a face that was forever smiling. Though he was built like a bear, everyone who knew could tell you he was a very gentle man (minus the etiquette of a real gentleman.). There was a wild silver beard on his craggy wrinkled face that made him look kind of like and ancient biker. Hagrid was busy right now; he was 'tasting the batter to make sure the cakes taste right'. And there were so many cakes he had to try.

"I said taste Hagrid," crackled a plump old woman, "Not devour."

"Molly, how come yer cakes turn ou' so much better than mine?" mused Hagrid.

"Because I don't use actual rocks in my rock cakes dear," she said light heartedly shooing him away. The kitchen was alive with action as everyone prepared for little James Potter's first birthday. Everything was going to be perfect tonight. And if it wasn't those problems would get thoroughly thrashed Molly Weasley. Everyone called her Grandma Weasley being that she was the oldest Weasley woman. Over the years, her cooking had grown only better (and everyone else's waistelines had gotten wider) and she had mellowed quite a bit, no one wanted to get thrashed by Grandma.

"Go get me some extra sugar will you," she told Hagrid as he walked out of the kitchen.

There were signs of preparations everywhere as the Black House was in a very celebratory mood. The Weasley twins had most graciously provided all of the appetizers free of charge, (Whoever made that decision would later be skewered alive by Grandma Weasley), so people were every now and then turning into canaries and other assorted animals.

"Have some tarts," suggested Fred, as they passed by Hagrid.

"I thin; I'll pass," chuckled Hagrid, "I'd rather no; be a hedgehog or wha'ever tha'll turn me inter."

"But you'll be one massive hedgehog," chimed Fred or George. (They were twins) Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, the twins' shop had been an instant success. Although they were making masses of money, they loved their job because they were doing what they did best; make people smile.

"Lupin's been looking for you," said a Fred as they hurried through the corridor, "Something about those Chimaera eggs you were looking for. I'm pretty sure he's in the main entrance."

Hagrid flashed a toothy smile after he heard the news. Hagrid had been looking for a Chimaera for ages. The students would love this one.

Hagrid continued to hobble through the cavernous mansion. His already arthritic legs needed rest but he wasn't about to admit that to himself. Hagrid planned on being Keeper of the Keys, and Grounds at Hogwarts, Care of Magical Creatures Professor and Assistant Headmaster. Still, there was a noticeable limp in his walk; though his body had on the whole held up quite well considering he would be soon turning eighty.

Remus Lupin, the man he was looking for, was chatting idly with Nymphadora Tonks. Like Hagrid, everyone called her by her last name, Tonks. There were rumors that the two were in love, but the fact the two had never gotten married cast doubt on that rumor. But the fact they had never married anyone else kept those rumors alive. Perhaps they would have gotten married if Remus had not been a werewolf. Lycantrophy unfortunately was too contagious. If Remus ever accidentally were to kiss Tonks she would irreversibly become a Werewolf.

Luna was a good twenty years younger than Lupin and a good fifty years younger than Hagrid. She hadn't a shadow of her good looks; she had barely aged over the past twenty years. She still worked in the ministry as an Auror, dark wizard catcher, and was now considered a senior Auror. She was just as clumsy as before and Grandma Weasley had politely requested she stay as far away from the kitchen as possible. Poor Grandma still remembered the time Tonks managed to spill an entire cauldron of Broth on Lily, one of her granddaughters. Luckily, Remus had been near by to prevent any real damage.

Lupin wasn't quite that lucky. While he didn't look particularly old, you couldn't say he looked young either. There were still a few puffs of brown in his hair, but they were fighting a losing battle. He was clean-shaven, though he was considering growing a beard like Dumbledore at one point. In many ways Lupin was like Dumbledore. Both were Headmasters at Hogwarts, both were immensely powerful wizards (Lupin still hadn't quite achieved Dumbledore's level yet but he was closing in), and most importantly both knew how to laugh and smile while carrying the greatest burdens through the darkest of times. Still, Lupin didn't plan on following Dumbledore in dress too.

"'Ello Nymphadora," called Hagrid purposefully irritating her.

"Shut up graybeards," she said in mock anger twisting her face to give her a long Hagridesque beard. She was metamorphmagus and could change her face at will.

"Oh stop it," said Hagrid bending over in laughter, Tonks looked hilarious with her beard.

"So Remus," asked Hagrid, "The twins tol' me yeh go' some Chimaera eggs."

"Oh yes," said Lupin after thinking for a second, "I picked one up from a trader from Burkina Faso a few weeks ago. Thought you'd be interested."

"Have a seat Rubeus," suggested Tonks pulling up a delicate looking chair.

"If you insist," said Hagrid who picked up a nearby sofa and carried to where the chair once was. That wimpy chair would have been destroyed under Hagrid's weight.

"Brenna put it somewhere in this mansion," said Remus, "She owns the place. She should know where it is."

"We were just talking about the catch," said Tonks, "What do you think about it."

Hagrid thought for a second. The last catch was the real reason for the massive party. Though little James's birthday was today, the real celebration was that the last renegade Death Eater had been caught. Even after Harry defeated Lord Voldemort in his last year, Death Eaters still roamed the wizarding world. Many continued to commit acts of horrific violence. Though there was no overall plan to their violence, the Gretchen's, the Smith's and the Longbottom's could all attest to the violence the renegades committed. The Order had remained active afterwards hunting down every last Death Eater. Finally, Bellatrix Lestrange, who had avoided capture for eighteen years was caught. The last supporters of the Dark Lord were put in bars. Still, the order had been slowly fizzling out, although the Death Eater attacks after Voldemort's demise stoked the flames, they failed to ignite the same fervor. The fact that the Order of the Phoenix's would finally be over was to be announced later in the night.

"Time ter celebrate I reckon," said Hagrid, "Bu' we best watch ou' or another Dark Lord'll take Voldy's place,"

"It's nice to know that we'll never have to deal with Death Eater's and their ilk again," said Remus.

The large oak door behind them opened as Neville Longbottom strode proudly into the room. He was the hero of the hour, the man who had caught Bellatrix Lestrange. Everyone got up to shake his hands and congratulate him.

"I promise I'll tell you exactly how I caught her later," announced Neville loudly tired of answering the same questions over and over again. He took the seat Hagrid had thrown aside and sat down next to Lupin, Hagrid and Tonks.

"Good to see you," said Neville flushed with pride. It was fitting that it was Neville Longbottom who caught Lestrange. It was Lestrange who tortured his mother and father to the point to insanity. It was Lestrange who had killed his Fiancé Luna Lovegood.

"Same ter yeh," replied Hagrid.

"Remus," said Neville, "I would like to announce my retirement to you."

There was a sudden moment of quiet. The sound dozens of wizards and witches chatting disspaeared for an intense moment of silence.

"I received your offer of becoming a teacher at Hogwarts," said Neville in a crystal clear voice, "I've fulfilled my duty by hunting down every last Death Eater. Now I think it's time for me to follow my true passion, herbs. Since Professor is retiring, the Headmaster has offered me a position and I most humbly expect."

It took a moment for his speech to sink in, but then Neville received a thunderous round of applause. They weren't just congratulating Neville for his decision but congratulating themselves for defeating the Dark Lord.

The hubbub died down in a few moments and conversations resumed their previous course. Little Rose, the five year old daughter of Fleur and Billy walked up to Hagrid, tugging on his sleeve.

"Hagwid," she said with a lisp because half of her teeth had been knocked out, "Bwenna is calling you."

"All righ'" said Hagrid clasping the girls doll sized hands with his trash lid sized ones, "Lead on," Rose had inherited all of Fleur' charm and good looks. She was simply the cutest little five year old ever. She led Hagrid up a long set of stairs to the main bedroom. She stopped in front of a large oak door with gold trimmed handles. It was the entrance to the master bedroom. She knocked on the door softly at first.

"She isn' gonna hear tha'," chuckled Hagrid, who pounded the doors loudly with his fist. Rose ran off giggling loudly. She had a gaggle of friends and cousins her age to attend to.

Brenna was Sirius Black's daughter. While hiding in Florida he had had a daughter he had no known about. Sirius never told about the love he had and he was never told of his daughter. Only two years ago, they had found Brenna and brought her to the Black Manor after she had completed her education. She had only arrived in England days ago. As last surviving member of that ancient family, she had full proprietary rights to the mansion.

She was stunningly beautiful. She had long dark brown hair and a delicate face. She was lithe and muscular. There was always a lively glint in her deep brown eyes.

"I heard you the first time," said Brenna opening the door for Hagrid, "I could feel the entire room vibrating the second time."

"I wasn' tha' loud, was I?" asked Hagrid merrily.

"Yer goin' deaf," mocked Brenna in perfect a perfect imitation of him. Brenna had turned just nineteen a few weeks earlier and was looked gorgeous in her dress robes.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Wha' do I think of wha'," asked Hagrid confusedly.

"My dress robes numbskull," said Brenna impatiently.

"Wonderful," replied Hagrid twirling his beard impatiently.

"So where's the Chimaera?" asked Hagrid sounding like a six year old boy in a candy shop.

"Oh it's on the bed," said Brenna, "I think it's going to be hatching soon."

There was a large golden egg the size of a watermelon laying on the king sized bed and small cracks were already evident on its golden shell.

"Go get some water now!" barked Hagrid.

Brenna ran out of the door to get a bucket of water.

"You're a witch nitwit," boomed Hagrid.

"Oh yeah," said Brenna sheepishly conjuring a bucket of water in her hands.

One by one, small pieces of the protective casing began to peel of. Suddenly, there was a massive burst of light blinding Hagrid and Brenna.

"Tha' wasn' supposed ter happen," said Hagrid meekly gulping loudly. He had read all about Chimaera hatchings and none of the books mentioned anything like this. The monstrosity that erupted had the three heads. It had the head of a lion cub, the head of a baby goat and the head of a snake. It had the tail of a snake, the abdomen of a goat and the upper body of a lion.

"Pour a lil' water inter its mouth, or it'll ligh' this place on fire," ordered Hagrid. Brenna hastily doused the Chimaera with water and a small wisp of smoke escaped from its mouth.

"It should be 'ungry," said Hagrid picking the Chimaera up gently and thundered loudly down the steps making as much noise as an entire thunderstorm. He ran straight to the kitchen nearly stepping on a House Elf where Grandma Weasley was putting the final touches onto the dinner.

"How long does it take you to get the sugar-," said Grandma Weasley with sparks flying out of her eyes.

"Not important now," said Brenna cutting her tirade off early, "Hagrid's Chimaera needs feeding."

"I think he'll be needin' a ham," suggested Hagrid gingerly afraid of sparking Grandma Weasley's famous anger.

She grabbed a large piece of ham handed it to Hagrid.

"You can keep it but keep that-," said Grandma Weasley shuddering audibly, "monster outside."

"It isn' a monster," complained Hagrid, "Its jus' misunderstood."

"And I'm a Fire Breathing Dragon," said Grandma Weasley, "Just go. And next time remember to get me my sugar. Honestly!"

Hagrid grabbed a bowl and put it into a large bowl. He smashed the ham into a pulp with his bare hands. Brenna nearly puked while watching Hagrid slosh the meat and had to excuse herself.

After feeding the Chimaera its food, Hagrid excused himself to the main hall. They all lay in wait for Harry, Ginny and James silent as they could. A few whispers were heard every now and then but they were hushed almost instantaneously. The clock struck seven and Hagrid's stomach was growling so loud some people thought there was a thunderstorm outside. A big man needed his nourishment.

Nearly everyone invited was there; except for the most important guests of all, Ginny, Harry and of course, little James Potter.

There were over a hundred people invited to the party. The entire Order of the Phoenix was invited, including Severus Snape whose temper had not only worsened over the years. He was a tall thin man with a thin lip and small beady eyes that looked like miniature black holes. That is, his right eye looked like a black hole. Death Eaters had gouged out his left eyes and Snape blamed Harry entirely for his injury. He had had it replaced with a magical eye that was far more enhanced than his normal one but his eyes still stung with discomfort. His other distinguishing feature was his general sliminess. A few patches of black hair defiantly fought his creeping age but it was a pointless battle. Nevertheless, his hair had remained just as oily as it was in his youth. He smiled even less than he did when he was younger and had grown extremely taciturn. Still, he had decided to come to; the hatchet had to buried someday.

Six of the Weasley brothers had already arrived. Their father, Arthur Weasley had died a peaceful death several years ago at home. The only remaining Weasley, Ginny would be arriving with Harry. Bill was with his wife, Fleur and they had two daughters: Rose and Daisy. They lived in France but visited often, Bill worked in the French branch of Gringotts while Fleur had a day job in the French Ministry of Magic. Percy had never married instead focused his entire life to achieving the position of Minister of Magic. He had learned his lessons the hard way and his ambition had become to make the wizarding world a truly better place. Charlie still worked with dragons but moved back to England doing research instead of fieldwork. There was only so much damage his body could take at the age of fifty-two. He instead settled down with a family had children all of whom had already graduated Hogwarts and were present there.

Ron and Hermione had married almost immediately after graduating Hogwarts. They were happily married and had a total of one daughter and six sons. They still lived in the Burrow though they had it enlarged so that there would be plenty of room for everyone.

The clock slowly ticked away and soon everyone's stomach was complaining. "Of course Potter boy is late," said Professor Snape nastily, "He's probably standing outside laughing his pretty little head off at us in his home."

"Shut up now or I'll turn you into a yellow toad," said Ron Weasley through gritted teeth.

Snape kept quiet but the situation was getting tenser. It was already eight thirty and Hermione, who had organized the whole thing, stood up to make an announcement.

"I don't know where Harry could be," she said amplifying her voice magically, "We should probably go find them right now. There probably was a mistake in the invitations."

Just as she spoke, the doors flew open. Surprise screamed everyone at the top of his or her lungs. Thousands of firecrackers straight from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes exploded in a fantastic display of color and light. A massive dragon consisting entirely of red and gold sparks flew into the air and dozens of Catherine wheels hovered dangerously in the sky like flying saucers. The rockets multiplied and combined on intricate designs in a well choreographed pyrotechnics display.

"You can get one hundred and fifty pounds of fireworks for only three hundred Galleons in our latest Prankmaster's Deluxe Version" announced Fred loudly as the pyrotechnics awed even Snape.

But only a harsh gust of wind and a small, frightened owl flew the doors. The owl dropped a small package onto Hermione's lap. She quietly opened the packet and read its contents out loud.

_"We are tired of the meddling of the Order of the Phoenix. For too long, your members have hunted down, persecuted and killed those dedicated to the cause of ridding the wizarding world of mudblood filth. Your precious Potters are now rotting dead in the House of the Stag. Though you have defeated us temporarily we are not as gone as you might think. Voldemort was defeated but the cause lives on. The dark Phoenix will rise again more powerful than ever before."_


	2. Sick James

Sick James

Ten years later, to the very day, a boy was napping peacefully under a droopy willow tree beside a small pond in the neighborhood park. The skies above were overcast and looked ready to burst into a terrible thunderstorm in an instant. Then again, the Weathermen had been forecasting that for a week now and it hadn't rained a drop of water. Of course, luck had it a fat drop of water splashed down the tree waking James up from his dream. He didn't quite remember what his dream was about but did remember it was kind of happy. Unfortunately, real like kind of wasn't.

James yawned loudly, placing his glasses onto his face watching his reflection in the pond. He was short, skinny and bony. His unruly black hair stuck to the back of his head like a small bush. Try as he might, neither he nor his most fashion conscious aunt Ursula, (mostly his aunt) couldn't get his hair to stay flat. She used all the strongest gels and hair creams money could buy to tame his hair.

Her wonderful daughter, Princess (her real names is Aphrodite but no one calls that) had just recently come up with a solution that held some real promise. She took a bottle of glue and poured it on her head. His Aunt and Uncle commended her for her ingenuity and perseverance and James got to get treated like a prison convict. And after the barber shaved his head off, he got to look like one too. His hair grew back mysteriously that night and he got a terrible thrashing for it. As if he controlled his own hair.

James sneezed loudly; his face was covered with snot. That was another one of his problems. He was always sick. He wasn't allergic to anything but his nose was still always congested. He was always coughing up a lung with the rest of his respiratory system and sneezing loud enough to be mistaken for a foghorn. And if he stayed out in the rain he probably would get even sicker. So he grabbed the book he was planning on reading for school, (It was so boring he fell asleep after page three,) and walked home. He had decided that he would get his summer reading done later. Home was only a short walk away and he reckoned he could get back before it started raining even harder.

Normal sickness wasn't the worst of his problems though. His cousin had diagnosed him as having a severe case of the cooties in the second grade. Since then, he'd been treated as if he carried the bubonic plague. And even after Princess decided cooties were 'so second grade', people still acted as if talking to him would cause them to glow green.

In addition to having to deal with Princess, he had a much bigger, less subtle problem. Hector, her twin brother. Hector was big, tall and mean. He was a troll among boys, and just about as smart. He once during gym class slammed a boy he didn't like into an oak tree giving him a nasty concussion claiming he had gotten the rules of Rugby and Cricket mixed up. That boy just happened to be James. Several other 'unfortunate accidents' had happened in front of teachers before and James was almost always the victim. There were other victims too, but James was always his most favorite person to harass. And anyone who didn't share his most enlightened views would be cordially treated to a knuckle sandwich and punch.

Thanks to his terrible twins, everyone either thought that James was radioactive or were afraid Hector would turn them more black eyes that he could count, (somewhere around two). That was another problem James faced, or to be more accurate, was on his face. Most people had brown eyes. Some people had blue or green eyes. James was stuck with gold eyes. Through some kind of genetic mistake, James's eyes were dazzling golden orbs that glowed dimly in the dark. His eyes didn't impair his vision at all; indeed he had better than twenty-twenty eyesight. What they did do was make him an ever bigger freak. Who wanted to have anything to do with a funny-eyed freak with no friends to only be threatened by his older cousin bully? Even worse was the fact that his Aunt and Uncle hated anything that dealt with strange and unusual. Anything odder than a black cat was dangerous in their eyes and even James's opinion was bizarre.

Thunder roared in the distance, and by the time James reached his home it was raining cats, dogs and all sorts of other domesticated animals.

Like all of the surrounding houses, the mansion he lived in was simply massive. Graceful marble Corinthian pillars lined the streets providing the mansions with support. Sprawling lawns with professionally manicured bushes hid the professionally kept gardens inside. The gaudiest, most expensive sports cars infested the streets like fleas on a rotting carcass. This was one of England's oldest and most wealthy neighborhoods. Everyone here was just a step bellow royalty, his Uncle often boasted about being two hundred and twenty fifth in line for becoming the new king of England. The houses were so perfectly maintained that they almost screamed 'KEEP OUT' His oily hands would leave fingerprints on the freshly painted houses; his dirty feet would crumple the perfectly kept lawns. The rain that was following was really muddying the area up that even the most formidable house had to deal with.

On a tall grassy hill stood the largest, most elegant of the houses. The garden was extremely well trimmed with beautiful rose gardens. It was also the most forbidding. The windows were always shuttered even in the nicest of weather. During the summer, little kids never ran amuck through the yard. They knew better than to even get near that house; pity James had to live their. The place was known as Goldman Manor, home of the Goldman family. James was a Potter though. James carefully knocked on the door praying he wouldn't get yelled.

His clothes were absolutely drenched in water. He sighed to himself remembering the last time his clothes got dirty. They stopped buying him clothes. Maybe they'd stop feeding him now.

The door slowly creaked open, as Princess opened the door. She was dressed in an extraordinarily resplendent gown worth more than a small house. She was in the same grade as James was, but several dozen steps higher on the grade school food chain. She was about his age and about his height. She had short strawberry blond hair and watery blue eyes.

"I'm making sure you get into so much trouble," she sniggered, "Of course you could always be dressed the way you are right now. Then again, you could pretend to be the swamp monster for dinner with the Gadfly's. It would suit you personality perfectly."

James groaned loudly complaining, "Do I really have to deal with those stupid Gadfly's."

Edmund Gadfly was the owner of a large conglomerate that dealt with Midas's business a lot. As a result Midas and Edmund had become close friends and both shared a general sliminess of spirit. He was in James's opinion of the rudest most patronizing people in the world. He was always commenting about how terrible everyone's morals were while he went through wives like cigarettes. They had come over to dinner from time to time and normally they simply hid him inside the broom closet like he was some kind of family embarrassment. Wonder why they wanted him to sit dinner with them this time.

He regretted his words as soon as he noticed Aunt Ursula walking down the stairs. "I would expect-," she started imperiously, but suddenly losing her voice seeing the state James was in. "JAMES, HOW DARE YOU GET MESSY ONLY AN HOUR BEFORE THEY ARRIVE!"

I have an hour to change my clothes muttered James to himself but that was entirely immaterial. All the Goldman's had been talking about for the past few weeks was the meeting with the Gadfly's. Lord Gadfly was the owner of a huge chemicals conglomerate and he was giving Uncle Midas a massive offer for his company.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM AND CHANGE INTO SOMETHING ACCEPTABLE," she screeched hysterically. She was a large woman whose waistline seemed to be growing wider and wider every year giving the impression that she was under some kind of slow motion pregnancy. She had a tiny surgically shrunk nose that made it look like she was always wearing a mask. He ears on the other hand were nearly as massive as an elephant's ears. She was always decked in the gaudiest most expensive jewelry money could by and did absolutely nothing to earn them. She didn't have a job outside of the home and paid servants did everything inside the home. The only things she ever seemed to do was eat, watch T.V and tell the twins how wonderful they were.

James was glumly walking up the stairs when he saw Hector burst into the room far dirtier and muddier that he was. His clothes were ripped and tattered; brand new clothes that were bought for him only days ago for the dinner.

"Playing Rugby outside," he yelled as soon as he walked in, "Rainy weather's the best for playing out."

"Hector dear," said Aunt Ursula sugar sweetly, "I know a young boy like yourself can't stand to be cooped up in a room but please hurry to get changed before the Gadfly's arrive."

James was the villain for getting his clothes a little wet while Hector was having good clean fun when he destroyed his brand new clothes. One of the important moral lessons the Goldman's seemed bent on teaching was hypocrisy and the James would always and should meekly accept being the victim of hypocrisy.

James walked by Hector's room; it was essentially a museum celebrating everything violent and destructive. Stickers skulls and crossbones plastered his door and a massive sign saying 'NO WIMPS ALLOWED' Inside, the room was filled with toys that Hector had broken. The miniature rockets that he had wanted so badly last year lay unopened. The latest Play Station 5 was sitting broken beside his TV because he wanted to see what would happen if he poured syrup into it. Everything inside was either brand new or broken. There were a couple other rooms designated as repositories for his old stuff. Actually, that would be most of the twelve bedrooms in the house.

James used to have a bedroom. But then Princess decided to paint it pink because she thought pink was a pretty color. The next morning, to everyone's surprise, the room had been whitewashed. No one had whitewashed the room and no one was hired to whitewash the room. Obviously, it all must have been James's fault whom they then moved into the attic. James climbed up the only rickety part of the house, the staircase leading to the attic. Two of the floorboards had come loose and he had to walk up carefully otherwise fearing his foot might crash through the rotting board. Dry rot was about as welcome he felt at home.

He was never told quite exactly why he was here. They didn't want him asking too many questions and he avoided asking them either. All they ever told him about his parents was that they were bums and that he was following their footsteps and was going to turn out equally bad. Nothing else, not even their names were mentioned in the house. He wasn't even sure if Potter really was his last name; it might be or it might not. There was a time when he used to dream of some long lost relative coming to pick him up but no one had ever called about. He was at least hoping they would send him to an orphanage or something but they were dead set on keeping here in the mansion. No, he had resigned himself to living with the Goldman's till he was out of school. James would have given all of his gold to have his real parents who must have loved him back.

The attic itself wasn't that bad, he rationalized. True you couldn't walk straight because the nails holding the roof up would skewer your brains, but the mildew made pretty designs on the ceiling. Plus, he had the company of several rats who insisted on nibbling on his property. He pulled out a nice collared button down shirt they had given him.

Changing in the attic was a challenge that required a combination of skill, practice and flexibility. You didn't want to impale your head on the roof that was only five feet over head nor did you want Aunt Ursula and Uncle Midas to make shish kebob out of you when they realized you had dirt from all over the filthy attic floor. James managed to get dressed while remaining spotless through some nifty acrobatics and slowly walked down the stairs.

"Now you know exactly how to act," said his Uncle Midas warningly. He was standing at the base of the attic staircase. Uncle Midas was a small skinny diminutive man. He had a balding head though a little bit of hair still poked through at the sides. His eyes were a dull gray like the clouds outside. He looked something like an accountant should. Although he looked dull and uninspiring a shrewd calculating mind operated behind those eyes. He was a business genius driving every one of his rivals out of the hypo-thematic chemical industry through a combination of lying, tricking, deceiving and a general bending of the rules.

"I've told the Gadfly's that we took you in out of the kindness of our heart and that you are extremely grateful for us keeping you. His granddaughter seems to have known you and told her you are a wacko and that we are going to be sending you to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. If you do anything, I repeat anything funny you will be sent straight to St. Brutus's."

James gulped loudly; he wouldn't put it past his uncle to send him to that place.

Hector and Princess were also present next to him, sniggering in the back.

"Now Hector," said Midas lovingly, "I know we'll get the same excellent behavior we always do and same to you Princess dear. Show them just how delightful the two of you can be."

"And James," he said facing his nephew, "I expect you to-,"

But an enormous sneeze blew boogers straight into Uncle Midas's face.

"Not do that-," he said his cheeks turning a peculiar shade of gray and magenta.


	3. A dinner of Snails

A Dinner of Snails

As if on cue, the doorbell rang loudly. Uncle Midas quickly scuttled into the nearest bathroom to wipe his face clean as Edmund Gadfly and his latest wife walked in to the house dressed in an Armani suit. He was a short fat man with a large mole placed on his head; actually after staring at it for a few seconds James realized that it was simply an extremely ugly toupee.. He had a massive necklace studded with dozens of shining diamonds. He wore several ruby-studded rings and even his cufflinks were encrusted with jewels. He wore a kitschy pink double collared shirt with an atrocious yellow tie. That and he wore a beautiful wife. A thin blond buxom babe hung around his arms like another article of clothing. She had a well-proportioned body and a perfectly flawless face.

"This is my wife Cynthia," he said in a thin nasal and extremely annoying voice, "We met just weeks ago."

Aunt Ursula seemed to disapprove of him greatly but the fact he was filthy rich made him somewhat more acceptable to her.

"Good to see you," said Uncle Midas in a chummy obsequious fashion patting Mr. Gadfly's back; it didn't suit him at all.

"How's the family been," asked Mr. Gadfly with a similar tone of voice.

"Oh Hector and Aphrodite are just wonderful," said Uncle Midas proudly.

His wife Cynthia stood behind him like a wallflower. Apparently she had been given the same instructions as James. Shut up and look pretty.

The butler in the most opulent dining room in the house seated them each. There were three dining rooms total in the mansion. One the family reserved for guests. The other, almost as opulent, one was reserved for the family. The last dining room, best described as a pigsty, was reserved for the servants. Although the Goldman's normally let James sit with them for dinner; he always wished he could eat alone away from their prying eyes.

An enormous crystal chandelier hung over the table rocking gently even though there was no wind. A few bottles of what appeared to be expensive champagne sat on the dark mahogany table corked just waiting to be drunk by someone. The floor was made of white marble tile so soft that it almost felt like ivory.

James tried his hardest to sit as far away from everyone s possible but considering the fact that almost everyone their hated him, it was kind of hard to avoid sitting next to anyone of them. Instead, he chose to try to pretend to be invisible. If he was quiet enough they might not even mention him. But the fact that Mr. Gadfly specially wanted to talk to James gave James a terrible feeling that they would notice him sooner or later.

The first hour or so after appetizers were served was incredibly boring for everyone involved. But at least it was safe and non-violent. Uncle Midas and Mr. Gadfly hammered out the details of their deal. They pounded fists and shouted at each other for hour after hour. Mr. Gadfly's nasal voice slowly got more and more annoying and at one point his toupee actually fell off of his head. That was about as exciting as the negotiations stage of dinner got. Mr. Gadfly had this annoying habit spitting an insane amount every time he spoke. Small puddles had already materialized beside his chair so fast that Aunt Ursula thought there was a leak in the roof.

Hector was playing with the fork they had given him and was busy flinging pieces of cheese at James using his fork as a catapult. Aunt Ursula didn't seem to notice even though she was sitting right next to James to keep his from 'misbehaving' and had cheese sprayed all over her as well. Princess was sitting on her chair looking as perfect as possible while she secretly slipped more food to Hector to throw at James. Although the two were polar opposites as far as personality was concerned, they were always united in their efforts to make James as miserable as possible.

"Sit up straight," whispered Aunt Ursula harshly into James's ear, "you're being rude."

At the same time, Hector threw a large a fistful of ice cubes into James's face. Instead of hitting James, they all fell straight into his Aunt's face. She looked like she wanted to scream at her two kids but that would involve protecting James against the twins and that was morally unacceptable to her.

The two competing businessmen ignored the scuffles taking place at the table as the shout fest between the two reached a new high.

A finely liveried servant walked into the room, one six full time servants kept to pamper everyone in the house except James; they had been given specific orders to treat James like rubbish and one of them had even been fired for giving James candy.

"The first course, Escargot de Bourgogne, is about to be served," announced the servant carrying a large platter in his hands.

"Well then," said Uncle Midas, "Let's put our business dealings aside for a moment and have bit of a chat."

"Oh yes," said Mr. Gadfly, "Did you here about the new tax laws they are proposing. It'll run us straight into the ground. We've got families to feed."

At that moment, the servant came in and served each person large portions of food, (everyone but James that is)

"The food is most excellent, thank you very much for the hard work you put into this," said Mr. Gadfly.

"Yes, I do love Escargot de Bourgogne," said Uncle Midas proudly, "It's French."

"I don't like French people," blurted Hector boorishly, "They eat snails and frog legs. This food looks like Snails."

"Here is the second course," announced the servant placing another dish at the center of the table.

"So what's this," asked Cynthia trying to get into the conversation.

James could have sworn he heard, "be seen not heard," whispered into her ears.

"Drinks please," demanded Mr. Gadfly loudly even though the servant was sitting right behind him.

"Oh there is one thing I'd really like to tell you," said Mr. Gadfly, "Especially you James."

"What!" said James in surprise.

"Hey," shouted Hector as the servant passed by him, "Am I eating some stupid snails from the dirt?"

"I can assure these snails have been thoroughly washed," said the servant politely. Hector then threw his plate onto the floor smashing it into tiny bits of china on the floor.

"I don't eat any snails," he said angrily spitting in the servant's face.

"That's my boy," said Uncle Midas proudly, "If you don't get what you want, demand better. It's the secret of a true businessman."

Hector beamed proudly; no one wanted to touch the snails anymore.

"As I was saying," said Mr. Gadfly clearing his throat loudly; he didn't like not being the center of attention, "I've found out something very interesting about the boy-"

"Anything that hooligan did has nothing to do with our upbringing," said Uncle Midas before Mr. Gadfly could finish his statement, "We haven't coddled him or anything like that. We've made it clear if he steps out of bounds he will be clearly punished."

"Trust me," said Mr. Gadfly, "This is something you could never have controlled."

"Well what is it?" asked Uncle Midas eagerly leaning forwards as if he was eagerly listening to some exciting football game on the radio.

"You know how the boy is strange. There's a reason for it that only I can tell you of." said Mr. Gadfly lapping up all of the attention. James was sitting at the edge of his seat and was so absorbed on every word coming out of Mr. Gadfly's mouth that drool was spilling out of his mouth. He knew nothing about his family, not even his parent's names. He always imagined them to be brave and heroic, at the very least a thousand times better than the Goldman's. Sometimes when he was feeling really depressed he would think about his mother and father. Try to imagine that they were smiling at him from somewhere up in heaven.

Even Hector, whose attention span compared unfavorably to grasshoppers, was paying rapt attention. Mr. Gadfly was enjoying this all greatly, strumming his hair unnecessarily as if he was sweating there. He didn't even have real hair for crying out loud. Just tell me your information, James almost screamed out loud. He cleared his throat self importantly, "I was talking to Vernom Dursely the other day. I don't know if you know him or not. Owns a drill company. He's a rather splendid chap," he said, waiting for a round of applause. Seeing that none was coming, he continued, "Well, I was telling him about how James and his shenanigans. Why in blazes would that crazed idiot try to light Professor Nickel's wig on fire. I know it was the world's atrocious and everything but still."

It was a freak accident James wanted to scream. And you have the world's most atrocious wig. Uncle Midas coughed loudly; he wanted to get to know why James was so 'terrible'.

"Yes as I was saying," said Mr. Gadfly in his nasal voice pompously, "He told me about his father Harry. Poor Vernom was forced to bring Harry up like you've had to."

"Poor chap," said Aunt Ursula, "You have no idea how much James harasses Hector and Aphrodite."

Princess put an obsequious pouting gesture on her face when everyone turned to look at her but started sniggering again when no one was watching. Hector didn't even bother to stop sniggering at all.

"The children have been terrorized for so long by that horrible boor," said Aunt Ursula looking at James with pure venom in her eyes. James shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He felt like slipping under the table but decided against it. Hector would probably see it as a perfect opportunity to give James a good kick.

"I can only imagine," said Mr. Gadfly pityingly, "how terrible it is to take care of a boy whose father was sent to St. Brutus's Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I fear James may too be on that same path."

James felt like he was punched hard in the gut. His dad couldn't have been a hooligan. That just couldn't be right he had to be lying he had to be, James told himself over and over again. Time seemed to hold still for a second, but then Mr. Gadfly started talking again.

"Oh apparently having kids and dying early seems to be a family trait with them," said Mr. Gadfly.

"They were probably too irresponsible to take care of a kid so they went, got drunk and killed themselves." said Uncle Midas laughing out loud heartily.

"They're all like mesquites," said Aunt Ursula, "they make us pay for their parasitic vermin with our blood and money."

"I've got a joke," said Uncle Midas, "What do you call a useful Potter," He anxiously looked around the room waiting for someone to ask, what.

"A dead Potter," he said laughing uproariously. Soon, the rest of the room was laughing at him. Pointing their fingers at him like he was some animal in the zoo.

Normally, all James felt towards his family was fear, but now, for the first time, he felt angry. He wanted them to stop. He wanted them to stop making fun of him and his family NOW, but he didn't have the courage to speak up.

Instead, he kept repeating in his head, "you're lying. My parents were not crazy. They loved. Shut up," James was wishing for something, anything to make them stop. Anything!

James wanted to scream, but only tears poured out of his eyes instead. And then he heard a scream. It hadn't come from his mouth but strangely from Aphrodite's.

"Oh my god," she yelped, falling off of her chair. The snail on her plate had started creeping towards her. Soon, everyone noticed the tiny snails coming alive.

Hector was screaming shrilly like a little girl as the snails crept towards him. This presented James an excellent opportunity to exit and he took full advantage of it, escaping through the door while no one was watching.

He bounded up the staircase, almost getting his foot stuck in the rickety stair on the way to the attic. Without a moments thought, he slammed the door shut locking everyone out.


	4. hide and seek the freak mail

Hide the Seek the Freak Mail

There was going to be hell to pay after that one, thought James to himself. How did those snails come to life, wondered James to himself. But that wasn't his biggest worry right now. In a few minutes Uncle Midas would come looking for him ready to hunt him down. Although Uncle Midas was skinny as an eel, always impeccably dressed and politely mannered, woe betide anyone foolish enough to anger Midas Goldman. Though he preferred Belgian Waffles, he would probably be eating James alive later this morning. He could still hear screams, since they still must not have had the snail situation under control.

He was safe for now. James took a moment to observe his surroundings; it may be his last time to see them. Normally, whenever something extremely unusual happened around James, (about once a moth,) Uncle Midas gave him a serious beating with his cane.

It was always the same long hard birch cane. James rubbed his butt ruefully. James subconsciously scanned the attic for a place to hide. He could almost hear harsh but steady footsteps coming closer and closer. But it was only the creaking and groaning of the attic. It was like a dying wounded animal, always moaning quietly and emanating strange sounds. It was all white noise to James though.

James had never taken the time to really appreciate the attic. He had only been exiled to live in the attic a couple of weeks ago and figured he might as well see what was inside here. Old mothballed pieces of furniture lay forlorn like forgotten children. James pulled of the cover to find a rather comfy sofa.

There was tons of valuable stuff in the attic, an old PlayStation three that Hector didn't want anymore. The air rifle he had been begging for last Christmas lay untouched. James peered onto a dirty old diary sitting on the sofa. The cover had been ripped of and the pages had the tea stained look of a particularly ancient book.

"Ginny Weasley," read the inside cover. James held his breath for a moment; he knew nothing about his mother. Although he didn't remember what she looked like, he knew exactly how much he missed his mother. He gingerly opened the first page of the diary squinting to see what was written. There was only a small antique gas lamp in the attic barely illuminating the room. He couldn't make out a single word of her scribble; James and Ginny both shared an atrocious scribble. He stared at the diary imagining what might be written in there but nothing came to his mind. He stuffed the diary into his pocket dejected that he couldn't find any real information about his parents; everything Mr. Gadfly told him was lies, they had to be lives. But maybe he could find more of his parents' stuff hiding in the room.

He poured through the room, looking through every nook and cranny to find signs of his parents. Yet all he could find was the trash the Goldman's had. Princess's old Cinderella costume, Uncle Midas's collection of the most hideous ties ever. Aunt Ursula's literature, (The National Inquirers and other such reputable tabloids)

Although James didn't have a watch, he was certain it was well past twelve when he fell asleep. His drive in trying to find something about his parents was maniacal but his human need for sleep override his enthusiasm.

He woke up the next morning writhing in pain. Blaring light shone into his eyes; there was no way that light could have came from the windowless attic.

"I'll bet you those freaks will start writing him letters soon," said Aunt Ursula worriedly,

"I still don't get how he got those snails alive," muttered Uncle Midas angrily from the distance. James realized he was lying on the cold hard floor of the cellar, the light he saw was Aunt Ursula pointing a flashlight into his face.

James tried to get off of the floor, but felt something yank him backwards making him crash painfully back onto the cold stone floor. Aunt Ursula chortled in the back saying, "I love doing that to him,"

James had absolutely no idea what was going on but he groaned in pain nonetheless. "Where am I?" he asked dazedly.

"We're keeping you here in the basement for the rest of the summer," grunted Uncle Midas, "You'll be fed every now and then and we'll check up on you from time to time to make sure you're still breathing. There's some food for you in the corner if you want. Consider yourself lucky that we're still willing to feed you. Other than that, you aren't to ever leave the cellar and we've tied you up so you don't escape. After the summers over, we've arranged for you to be sent to St. Brutus's Center of Incurably Criminal boys."

"I don't want you and your freakish ways in this house anymore," said Aunt Ursula sniffing loudly, "you've done enough to emotionally scar both of my precious children. I think I'll have some ice cream to eat to make myself fell better." She carried her porky self up the stairs holding her nose up high in a haughty manner.

"Things are going to be different now," rumbled Uncle Midas ominously, "Really different." He stared at James harshly for a few moments before following his wife up the stairs.

Sat up on the cold hard floor shivering noticeable and coughing loudly. He could feel the coarse twine rope hanging on his neck like a noose. It was bound tightly and there was no way for him to squeeze out. The rope was abrasive and unpleasant but there seemed to be no way of taking it off.

Aunt Ursula had been kind enough to leave him a flashlight. He scanned the cellar with the flashlight. There was the old boiler churning and bubbling as always. No lights were present in the room; he didn't like the pitch-blackness. Next to him was a large white basin and Aphrodite's old paint set. Some of he pictures were still hanging on the wall. After her painting craze ended, (It lasted a week. After that, the new 'in' she became obsessed with ponies) no one ever seemed to come down here. There were pipes tubes and wires running up and down the wall, a cut wire dangled from the ceiling radiating sparks threateningly. The cellar sounded like it was constantly groaning when in reality it was just the noise from the houses utilities and the muffled sounds of daily life filtering down from upstairs.

When James was younger, he was terrified of the cellar because of the frightful noises that emanated from it. James knew now that there were no such things as ghosts and spirits. The Goldman's had made a point to teach him that there was no such thing as magic. Still, the cellar gave James the creeps. He would have much rather avoided the place.

While James had always been afraid of his Uncle Midas, he dread had been heightened to a new level. Normally he would beat James and forget about whatever mistake James made. But Uncle Midas looked dangerous now. James had a nasty feeling that he was serious about sending him St. Brutus's this time. Despite all of his imminent problems, his stomach was still grumbling loudly. James spied a plate with a few old biscuits on the floor. The biscuits looked a little moldy but food was food. James inched towards the biscuits, but he could feel his leash tightening and tightening. Soon, he was sprawling on the floor, hands outstretched trying to reach a few nasty looking biscuits.

James managed to get the tips of his fingers over the cusp of the corning plate slowly pulling towards him. To his deep chagrin, the biscuits weren't just moldy; they weren't meant for humans. They were doggy biscuits. Even James's stomach, which was dieing of hunger, revolted at the thought of eating dog food; he was still a human being. James grabbed the plate and threw it to the other side of the cellar; tiny bits smashed onto the grounds showering James with sharp shards. Luckily, James escaped the barrage of jagged splinters unscathed.

Bored of sitting on the floor James got up to explore his new living space; he might as well know the place he would be spending the next week in. It was late August and there was another week until James could get out of this cellar. But then he would be stuck He could take five steps in any directions before his leash would hold him back. That was what he had been limited to; five steps in any direction and dog food.

James sat glumly in his cell for hours. Maybe they were right about him. Strange things that James could never explain always happened around him. Maybe he was putting everyone in danger. What if the Goldman's were right in keeping him isolated and then sending him away to St. Brutus's.

A shiver went down his spine at that thought. No he decided, he wasn't incurably criminal, just exceptionally unlucky. There had to be a way of escaping this black hole. If only there was something sharp. Of course, the broken corning shards were sharp and everywhere. He quickly grabbed one of the larger pieces, ignoring the pain as the sharp edge ripped into his hand. He carefully tore the ropes that bound him making sure he didn't cut into his own skin.

Throwing the ropes aside, James crept up the staircase. He placed his ear onto to the door making listening in to see if anyone was standing outside.

"It's a good thing we have the freak tied down in the basement," said his Aunt Ursula, "We've already got a deluge of mail from that- place."

"Don't worry," said Uncle Midas, "I made sure that little rat was tied up properly."

James chuckled to himself; he wasn't exactly tied up now. James waited until he couldn't hear a single sound outside. He opened the door slowly, praying it wouldn't creak but his prayers went unanswered when the door screeched like an owl. Luckily, no one was in the hallway.

He could hear the steady tap of footsteps come from the living room. Panicking James dashed as quickly as he could into the nearest bathroom locking the door sharply.

"Who's in the bathroom," said Aunt Ursula, "It isn't you, Hector is it? If its someone else say something."

He couldn't tell her it was James so he instead gave no response trying his hardest to pretend that he didn't really exist while sitting on the toilet seat with a furry pink cover.

"Hector," said Aunt Ursula in a strangely sweet voice, "I know you have problem dear, but I can help you. I mean I can at least help clean up."

James sat on the toilet seat in stony silence; hoping Aunt Ursula would forget about him and move on. He was sweating profusely as he tried in vain to banish thoughts of the punishments Uncle Midas would concoct for James now.

"Hector dear," said Aunt Ursula again, "I know about your problem in controlling going to the bathroom. Its perfectly normal, some kids just don't get potty trained until they're a little bit older."

James almost fell off the toilet containing his laughter. Big tough Hector still needed diapers.

Aunt Ursula, mistaking his contained laughter as sobs said consolingly, "Don't cry. I'll be back later, to clean everything up."

James walked out of the bathroom careful not to make sure no one heard him. Now he had only one thing left to do: get out of this fearful house. Unfortunately, James was smack dab in the middle of the palatial mansion. James peered into a large glass vase absentmindedly noticing the shreds of a large white letter. That was strange; James thought to himself, the Goldman's normally made a point to keep everything squeaky clean. James reached into the vase to pull out whatever it was nearly knocking the urn onto the floor in the process. In his hands was a fistful of shredded papers. The urn stabilized after shaking precariously like a drunken man trying to regain his balance. James gave a sigh of relief glad that he didn't have to deal with the attention of breaking some probably antique vase in addition to all the noise he would have created.

He could be as curious as he wanted to be once he got out of the house. But he nevertheless, after making sure no one was around, looked to see what was on those letters.

"To James Pot," he read on one of the shreds. On another shred he read, "Hogw," All he held in his hands were dozens of envelopes with only his name and random gibberish written on them. But why would anyone want to send him a letter? He had never received mail in the past, much less huge bundles of it as he was now. Something unusual was going on and James had a growing itch to find out exactly what.

But Aphrodite saw James. Her face turned ashen and she screamed like she saw a dead man. James was about to be a dead man once Uncle Midas or Aunt Ursula found him. He dashed through the hallway, knocking Princess over.

"Get back here," she screeched sounding like nails against a chalkboard, "You're going to be in so much trouble." She fell over onto the ground clutching her knee in pain. Normally he would have helped her back up, but this time he just kept running.

Go, Go, Go James urged himself as he kept running. He said his last goodbyes to the gold-framed portraits and the Italian marble as he sprinted to the door. He said his goodbyes to the walls which he could get a beating for if he touched them with his hands. He passed by the last door before freedom, a door leading into an empty closet. He could remember hiding in that closet scared silly of what Hector was going to do to him next. He peeked around the last corner before freedom. To his chagrin, his Aunt and Uncle were standing in front of the door. For the first time in his life, he saw his Uncle in sweaty overalls and his Aunt wearing garden work clothes.

"All the boards have been shut," grunted Uncle Midas holding the tools in his hands as if they were made out of bird droppings.

"Ruddy owls," whined Aunt Ursula, "They've ruined my perfect flower garden. They keep carrying more and mail. It's a good thing we have James under lock and key. Those freaks won't put us all into danger if I can help it."

At that precise moment, James sneezed like a foghorn announcing his escape to everyone around him.

"Damn Owls," shouted Uncle Midas through clenched teeth. James ran for cover, jumping into an empty closet. It was a small cramped closet, cramped but safe. The servants kept their supplies in here, brooms and mops, old dishrags and a trash bin. The closets of the house were James's real home. Time and time again, James hid inside these closets while the Hector or Uncle Midas looked for him.

Just one last time, James told himself. After this, I'll never have to hide from them again.

"So explain to me what this is all about," said Uncle James from outside the closet.

"James," said Princess in a soft voice from outside. He could her sobbing loudly outside. She was probably crying too. She'd learned how to fake tears years ago.

"He got out of the basement," she sobbed, "and he beat me up too. He took a bat and started hit me as hard as he could with it. And then he broke your old pot."

"He what," said Aunt Ursula livid with anger, "We take him into our house. Feed him, clothe hi and give him shelter and this what he does."

"I worked so hard to make him popular in school," said Princess earnestly, (She had been taking acting lessons for years and was really a natural), "I don't why he could do something so terrible."

James cringed silently.

"Aphrodite," said Uncle Midas in his, loving, tender fatherly voice, "Your mother and I need to discuss some matters privately. Could you please do something else."

"But I'm hurt really bad," whined Princess for more attention.

"Go to Gertrude, (The Maid,) I have more important things to deal with." said Aunt Ursula curtly.

James almost fell over in shock; that was the meanest thing James had ever heard Aunt Ursula tell Princess.

Princess stomped up the stairs distraught.

"Now to business," said Uncle Midas almost panicking, "We need to have a plan to deal with the growing James threat."

"He's already escaped the cellar," said Aunt Ursula despondently, "There's no telling how much damage he could do."

"Don't worry dear," said Uncle Midas consolingly, "We'll get him before he finds his letters."

"But that's what I'm worried about," sobbed Aunt Ursula, "He's becoming more and more of a freak every day. He might have all kinds of dark powers now."

"No point dwelling on details like that," said Uncle Midas, "Let's just catch that mangy dog before he gets his hand on those letters."

Scratch the old plan, thought James to himself. There had to be something really important in those letters addressed to him. There was a trash bin behind him and James gently tipped it over to see what was inside. Besides rotting banana peels and empty milk cartons and all the other ordinary every day trash, there were the tell tale white scraps of paper. James grabbed the letters as stealthily as he could. He quietly walked out of the closet.

He felt something cold and clammy wrap around his neck. It tightened faster and faster. And then it hit him- someone was choking him.

"Got you," snarled Uncle Midas from behind, "nasty little freak. Doing your crazy- umm stuff- around this house."

James shoved his elbow into Uncle Midas's family jewels who promptly fell on to the ground groaning. But Aunt Ursula and Princess were both standing directly in front of the door growling menacingly. Aunt Ursula gave a nasty hiss that was more frightening than a lion's roar. And then they attacked furiously biting and clawing at James. Without thinking, James started running up. He didn't look back but knew one angry man and two angrier women were chasing him. In front of him stood a gorilla better known as Hector. James

James hesitated for a second twisting and sidestepping his way away from Hector. Hector's long swinging arms missed James entirely but instead made hard painful contact with Princess sending her spinning backwards into Aunt Ursula and Uncle Midas. The massive wreck tumbled down the marble stairs leaving a bloody mess at the bottom.

James didn't care to watch any of it as he kept running up the stairs into the attic. He was about to slam the door to the attic open when he realized there was no door. They must have pulled it out the night before when the dragged James out of his bed. James walked into his attic room searching for a place to hide but there wasn't much cover.

He could hear the footsteps of his uncle; "I'm warning you," he bellowed, "Get down here this instant or- or- I'll be really angry."

James knew better than to come down; he was going to savor being alive for as long as he could. But time was slipping away as the bloody red faced horde closed in.

"There he is," shrieked Aunt Ursula who was carrying a frying pan in her hand like a club. More ominously, Uncle Midas had a small pistol in his hands.

"Don't move a muscle," said Uncle Midas, his voice almost a whisper. James clung onto a ragged trunk in the back of the attic like it was a buoy in the ocean.

Suddenly, James felt a hook on his navel pull him forward. James felt his feet fly off of the ground as some magical force pulled him magnetically onwards in a tornado of light and color.


	5. a whole new world

A Whole New World James landed onto a hard paved floor with a loud thud. He groaned with pain; between the past two days he was convinced half of his bones were broken. Once his Aunt and Uncle found him, they'd break his few remaining bones. James wasn't exactly sure where he was and he was hoping that his Aunt and Uncle didn't know either. James surveyed his surroundings keenly. He was sitting on a dark street corner nowhere near the attic and the treasure chest he had grabbed was nowhere to be sight nor could he see any people. He gingerly got onto his feet. Everything moved somewhat properly so his fears of injury proved to be largely misplaced.  
James didn't spend too much time thinking about what had just happened to him. The past two weeks were beyond bizarre. How often does one accidentally bring snails to life and then go spinning and flying anyways. All James knew was that he'd better keep careful or he'd end up hurt, (or at least more hurt than he was now. Bruises covered every square inch of his torso and his had to walk with a limp because of his sprained ankle)  
James walked along the street for some time. It was a rather creepy place to be at night. The streets weren't lit at all and James could hear eerie shrieking in the distance. The noise ended abruptly as the sun set. It was replaced by an eerier silence; even scurrying rats could be heard. James passed by a store, whose display was filled with nasty looking masks glaring down at him a few surprisingly lifelike hands placed upon a purple cushion. Large rusting metal instruments dangled from the wall like glass chandeliers. This was a shop straight out of his nightmares and in all likelihood James thought to himself that this all was a nightmare too. An old lady with a grisly rat's tail on her head, long creepy black robes and mossy teeth accosted him as he was passing by offering him a tray of thumbs, (literally, thumbs cut off from people's hands) to eat. James quickened his pace avoiding her eyes and hoping to wake up as fast as possible. He pinched himself hard but he didn't wake up, maybe that only worked in the movies. His gait quickened to a jog and soon he was all out running. The alley he was in got only uglier and uglier as he passed row after row of grisly shops selling crushed kidneys and levitating brains. James crashed with a thud as he crashed head long into a building. On further inspection, James realized that he hadn't run into a building but a giant. The man was twice as tall and three times as wide as any person should be allowed to be. His one leg was the size of a tree trunk and the other actually was a tree trunk. He had a wild gray beard and long matted hair. He was wearing a long moleskin coat that looked like it was a relic from the Middle Ages and his boots were covered with dirt. Strangely, he was holding a pink umbrella though there were absolutely no signs of rain. His gnarled and crinkled face stared at James questioningly at first without a hint of anger in his face. Nevertheless the fact James was quaking with fear seemed entirely justified by the size of his massive fists which could have easily strangled him.  
His face contorted with thought for several moments while he whispered things like, "No, can' be him. Bu' I though'…. No but it looks like him…" Finally, he decided to actually say something that was comprehensible, "Yeh aren' James Potter are yeh?" he asked on a soft voice.  
James nodded his head nervously. Who was this man? With one swoop, the giant picked James up and embraced him in a bear hug that left James gasping for breath. James could feel drops of joyous tears stream down his eyes.  
"Yer alive James, I never would o' believed it but yer alive!" The only words that could come out of James's mouth though were, "Who are you?" "Almos' forgot," said the Giant, "Should interduce myself I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys, Groundskeeper and Professor of Care of Magical Animals at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yeh can call me Hagrid, everyone else does. Yer James Potter though, righ'." James dimly nodded his head again. "We bes' be gettin' yeh out o' here." said Hagrid, "Knock Turn Alley isn' exactly safe if yeh know what I'm sayin'. Yeh know what I'm sayin' or don' yeh?" James simply shook his head confusedly. "Do yeh know anythin 'bout the wizarding world?" asked Hagrid.  
James shook his head some more.  
"How 'bout yer parents?" asked Hagrid.  
James kept shaking his head.  
"Or Hogwarts?" asked Hagrid.  
James began to feel like a bobble head nodding and shaking his head. Still, the thousands of questions that were popping into James's head failed to become words. "Did yeh get yer letter for Hogwarts yet?" asked the giant Hagrid eagerly.  
James nodded remembering just how much trouble those letters were going to get him in once he woke up. "Feel like I'm interrogatin' yeh," said Hagrid abruptly, "So tell me, where have yeh been fer all these years." "Where have I what?" replied James entirely lost.  
"Don' know if I'm the righ' person ter tell yeh this." said Hagrid stopping to reflect, "Tol' Harry, yer father, the same thing. Yeh know he didn' know anythin' abou' the wizarding world when I firs' met him either. But someone has ter." "It all starts a long time ago. Back then there was an evil wizard. 'Bout as evil as yeh can get killin' lots of innocent people. Well, ter make a long story short, yer father Harry was the only person ter ever survive an encounter with him. He was jus' an infant when he did it. Called him the boy who lived after tha'. Voldemort the evil wizard called himself. Lot o' folk still afraid ter say his name. Anyways, Harry defeated him. Don' know exactly how but he beat him but he did. We all though' he was gone fer good after tha'. "But ten years ago; on yer firs' birthday we all had a massive party planned for yeh, bu' instead o' yeh and yer family comin' all we got was a no' tellin' us tha' yeh were gone fer good. We looked everywhere for yeh bu' in the end mos' of us gave up. Not a trace o' yeh anywhere till know. No one knew who took yeh either. Nothin' terrible happened durin' those ten years so it was easy ter forget Harry and Ginny or whoever done it. But yer back after all these years. James suddenly opened his mouth, which felt like it was glued shut before, asking, "What were my parents like?" Hagrid gave James a broad smile, "We were friends. Bes' people I ever knew. Yer dad looked jus' like yeh." "You mean he even had my eyes," interrupted James who blushed immediately.  
"Ter tell yeh the truth," said Hagrid chuckling embarrassedly, "I can' quite see color no more. My eyes aren' wha' they used ter be." James noticed an abrupt change as they walked out of the alley. They were in a large avenue filled with scores of shops. James could hear the echoing of shutters clanging down.  
"Hey Ernie," called out Hagrid, "Can yeh get me some chocolate frogs." "Where are we?" asked James, "This isn't London is it?" "Diagon Alley," said Hagrid proudly, "Can get anythin' here." James observed the street in shock for a moment. Like the streets before, everything being sold was beyond bizarre but nothing was frightening like before. There was an apothecary ahead of him, a magical joke shop to the left and a wand shop to the right. "Who'd want powdered beetle wings?" asked James reading one of the signs. Indeed, it seemed everything from a dungeons and dragons book, could be bought here. Dozens of people were mulling around the street all of them wearing long robes. Some wore gray and somber while others wore bright explosions of pink and purple. This dream was becoming rather fascinating. "Wizards," said Hagrid brusquely, "Everyone here's a wizard. Yer one too." "I'm a what!" exclaimed James in shock.  
"Tha's righ' yer always was a wizard always will be too. Don' listen ter anyone who says yeh ain't somethin' special cause yeh are. An' it isn't cause o' who yeh father was it's cause o' who yeh are. Remember tha' always." "But how am I wizard. I'm not anything special." replied James.  
"Anythin' ever happen ter yeh tha' yeh couldn' explain. Tell me who yeh know tha's like yeh." rebutted Hagrid.  
James walked in silence for a few seconds, his face contorted with thought. Yeah, strange things always did seem to happen around him. Snails coming to life and teacher's dentures being lit on fire. And he definitely was special. (Princess preferred Unique rather than special. Hagrid ruffled through his pockets, (there must have been dozens of them. That was all his jacket seemed to be) handing him a crinkled letter. "Don' if yeh got one o' these bu' here's yer Hogwarts letter an' here somethin' ter eat. Yeh look like a twig. Jus' like yer father when I saw him." James pulled out the scraps of information he had pulled from trashcans throughout the Goldman's grinning, "Yeah I got into a bit of trouble trying to get those letters. Only have these scraps. So what exactly wasn't I supposed to read anyways?" "This," said Hagrid beaming.  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster: Remus Lupin (Order of Merlin First Class)  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later that July 31. James read and reread the letter a dozen times feeling dizzy with shock. This couldn't be happening to him. This had to be a dream, but it such a wonderful dream. "They'll make an exception fer yeh." said Hagrid, "Don' worry 'bout sendin' yer acceptance a bi' late." "Are you a wizard?" asked James.  
"Almos'," replied Hagrid, "Kinda got kicked out in my third year." "Why," asked James. "Have some frogs," suggested Hagrid ignoring James's question, "Would o' made yeh somethin' if I knew but these don' taste half bad." James could here croaking emanating from the frog; James was half expecting to have to eat a real frog. To James shock, there really were frogs inside the box wiggling impatiently.  
"Don' worry," said Hagrid stuffing a frog into his mouth, "The' aren' 'live." James also grabbed a frog, slowly nibbling on its leg while Hagrid ate. Inside James found a card. "Wizardin' cards," said Hagrid noticing James's discovery, "Chocolate frogs always have 'em." There was a picture of a man on the card. He had the same wild jet-black hair James had. He was skinny like James, but a lot taller. His nose, his ear his mouth everything about him was exactly the same as James. The only differences were a thin scar the shape of a thunderbolt on his forehead and his eyes were a vivid green. It was a picture of his father; the famous wizarding hero.  
Harry Potter Considered one of the greatest heroes of the modern wizarding world for defeating the Dark Lord. Known as the bow-who-lived ever since the Dark lord attacked his family when he was only an instant. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named suffered a mysterious demise at the hands of the infant Harry. After spending eleven years with his muggle aunt and uncle, Harry faced You-Know-Who many times at Hogwarts culminating in his eventual victory of the Dark Lord. Seventeen years later, he and his wife and son disspaeared from unknown causes. His interests included Quidditch and Chess.  
James stared at the picture for hours. His father waved at him from to time, smiling pleasantly. James hardly noticed Hagrid or the passage of time as he numbly walked in Hagrid's wake. James focused his entire attention on the picture trying to memorize his every detail, (It wasn't very hard considering they were the exact same as his)  
James only realized where he was when he felt Hagrid tapping him gently on his shoulder. They were in a small room with a couple of beds with crisp white bed sheets and a warm looking comforter to the side. A small lamp that gave the room a strange ambience dimly lighted the room and James could have sworn he smelled cats. James had a beautiful view of Diagon Alley from the window. "Hey James," said Hagrid, "We'll be spendin' the nigh' here in the Leaky Cauldron." "Sorry for ignoring you," said James feeling a little bit embarrassed.  
"Yer dad was amazin'," said Hagrid accepting the apology, "It's 'bout time we go ter sleep anyways. Busy day tommorow buying all yer school stuff." He fell asleep almost immediately after falling into the bed. All of the days excitement had drained him of energy. James expected to wake up that next morning back in the damp old cellar. The noise James was hearing was the boiler boiling again. But blazing light shone through the window and the groaning noise was only Hagrid yawning. "This wasn't a dream!" shouted James excitedly, "I'm really a wizard. I'm really going to Hogwarts!" "Yeah, yeah," said Hagrid, "Wha' else could yeh be. Bes' we get an early start. Blimey it's early. Want ter get all yer stuff fer Hogwarts." The bed creaked furiously as he got out of it. The wooden frame of the bed bent so much under Hagrid's girth that the mattress was almost touching the floor. "So what's Hogwarts like?" asked James.  
"Yeh'll love it," replied Hagrid with relish, "I still do." "So what do you do at Hogwarts?" asked James.  
"Loads a stuff," replied Hagrid, "I'm a Professor there," "So what do you teach?" asked James "Magical Creatures. Dragons and Chimaeras like. Blimey, I'd love a dragon." "There really are Dragons!" said James excitedly.  
"Three types out here in Britain," explained Hagrid, "Common Welsh, Norwegian Ridge Back and (I'll look this up later) Hagrid dug into his pockets spilling all sorts of things, dog whistles, moldy old biscuits, bird feed and various assorted keys. "Here it is," said Hagrid triumphantly, showing James a picture.  
"This here is Norbert. Hatched him myself." The dragon was a frighteningly beautiful. It was flying ethereally in the sky, covered in shiny green scales from head to tail. Its body was slim and graceful, looking almost lizard like. It had a long wide snout and sharp fangs that shone like daggers. The claws were perfectly made for ripping and clawing animals. The dragon was beautiful in a way but James was glad it was flying in the picture far, far away. The beast, Norbert Hagrid called him, could rip him to shreds in seconds.  
Hagrid though, was petting the picture as if it was an oversized scaly teddy bear. "She's so cute isn't she?" asked Hagrid.  
"Umm. Yeah," was the only thing James could say not wanting to sound churlish. "She's in Romania wi' a couple o' friends. So tell me a bit 'bit yourself. Who'd yeh been stayin' with. What yeh've been up to?" asked Hagrid as they walked out of their room.  
At first, James didn't know how to start, but the more he talked, the more comfortable he felt. Telling Hagrid how miserable his Aunt and Uncle had been to him felt like someone was taking a huge load off his summer. He vented every angry thought he had, described the injustice of it all dredging every detail he could think of. James was breathing very hard by the time he was finished.  
"Sounds miserable," commented Hagrid, "But I don' get how yeh got over there." "What do you mean?" asked James, he was expecting Hagrid to have the answer to his whole puzzle. "Neither o' yer parents had any relatives named Ursula or Midas," elucidated Hagrid, "The whole thing sound fishy ter me." They walked down the steps in silence. "Here have scourgificus mint," advised Hagrid popping one into his mouth as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "It'll make yer breath smell better." James felt a strange sensation of having ice instead of teeth in his mouth as the mint went down his throat. James could see the cold vapors blowing out of his mouth. "Useful these things are," said Hagrid, "On'y invented 'em a week ago." "So where exactly are we," asked James as he walked into a small shabby tavern.  
"This," said Hagrid importantly, "Is the Leaky Cauldron." The tavern was mostly empty. There was an old man whose round baldhead which looked like a basketball was buried inside a newspaper. A fat old but jovial looking bartender called out eagerly. "Want a drink Hagrid?" The man reminded James vaguely of Santa Claus.  
"Nah," said Hagrid, "Got a guest today." "Well who is it," asked the man curiously.  
"Yeh'd never guess," replied Hagrid.  
"Just tell me you oaf," snapped the waiter in mock anger.  
"James Potter," said Hagrid beaming with pride. "You mean Harry Potter's son." said the bartender excitedly, "You mean he's back from the dead." "I was never dead," replied James meekly, but the bartender nevertheless leapt over the table nearly knocking half a dozen drinks in the process.  
He gave James a massive hug yelling out, "James's Potter's back from the dead. Come on everyone lets welcome him." Soon he was surrounded by the half dozen people drinking in the room all wanting to shake his hands.  
"Glad to meet you, so glad to meet you," said a witch named Eloise Midgen, "You remind me so much of your father." James swelled up with pride each time he got that compliment. His father was real hero. A wizard named Ernie Macmillan went to shake his hands at least a half a dozen times before he was satisfied. It was a verbal barrage of questions. "Where were you?" "How's your father." "What happened to you." "Are their any favors I can do for you." "What's with your eyes." "Is anyone in your family still alive." James managed to answer them as best as he could though he really didn't know the answers to most of them. Hagrid managed to pull him out of the heap muttering, Can' give yeh any privacy these days." "What was that all about?" wondered James all about.  
"Told yer yeh was famous." said Hagrid, "But we got ter get some work done firs'" "So where exactly are we going to get?" asked James looking through his course requirements.  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Uniform First year students will require: 1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (for day wear)  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black silver fastenings)  
Course Books The Standard Book of Spells (grade 1, edition IV)  
Miranda Goshawk A History of Magic Bathilda Bagshot Theoretical Magic Mortimer Myopius Transfiguration for Beginners Brutus Fountainhead Sycamore's List of Essential Herbs and Fungi Olive Sycamore Potions and Draughts for Imbeciles Vincent Crabbe The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Magical Beasts Godfried Fry Defeating the Dark Arts, Volume 1 Norlina Nufflesprouts Other Equipment 1 Wand 1 Cauldron, (Pewter Standard Size 2)  
1 Set Glass or Crystal Phials 1 Telescope 1 Set Brass Scales PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS The two walked out of tavern as stealthily as they could, (Hagrid struggled at the stealthy part because of the loud clang his peg leg made every time it touched the ground and the more obvious fact that he was somewhat large) "Yeh can get all o' tha' in Diagon Alley," replied Hagrid, "Bu' we have ter get yer money firs'" "I have money," said James in shock.  
"'Course yeh do," said Hagrid, "Didn' think yer mum and dad would o' left yeh with nothin' did yeh. They've got a nice lil bank account for yeh in Gringotts." 


	6. a day in diagon alley

A Day in Diagon Alley

The two of them walked through Diagon Alley, James following Hagrid as he parted the streets. Questions popped into his head like kernels in a popcorn maker as he walked besides Hagrid. There were all kinds of wizards everywhere haggling over powdered Unicorn tails and crushed salamander skin. Looming over the street was a tall white building. A stack of spell books tottered perilously behind him and some lady was screaming at her son for breaking a wand. James wished there were twenty of him so he could go and explore every nook and cranny of Diagon Alley.

"Tha's Gringotts," explained Hagrid pointing to a large pearly white building, "It's a wizardin' bank. Run by goblins."

"Goblins?" asked James.

"Yup Goblins," said Hagrid, "Dead clever they are. Yeh'd by an idiot ter try an' steal money from 'em. Got tunnels goin' hundreds o' miles beneath London. Inside 'em are all sorts o' charms an' protections. An' if yeh can get ter the treasure, it'd take yeh weeks jus' ter hind yeh way back out. Them goblins give me the creeps sometimes. Rumor has it tha' they even go' dragons down there. Did I tell yeh I love dragons?"

James nodded his head shivering inwardly. If Hagrid thought dragons were cute and cuddly, just how monstrous would the goblins have to be to give Hagrid the creeps?

"Are goblins evil?" asked James.

"Nah," replied Hagrid, "They jus' give me the creeps."

"My family is so much richer than yours," James heard a tall thin boy with curly blond hair standing on a street corner boast, "He's head of the Department of Magical Sport."

"What did my parents do?" asked James abruptly.

"They were Aurors," explained Hagrid, "Dark Wizard Catchers. Yeh had ter be really powerful ter become Aurors an' yer mum an' dad were the bes' Dangerous job though."

There was a small hooded figure lounging at the door steps of to huge burnished bronze doors.

"Tha's a goblin," whispered Hagrid into his ears with a slight shudder. Whatever it was though didn't look creepy at all though. It stood a good head shorter than James, (James was already a good head shorter than most people his age and the goblin didn't even reach Hagrid's navel.) It had a dark but clever face with a long airy nose that reminded him of Pinocchio. His flowing black beard reached past his long dexterous looking fingers and abnormally large feet. All in all, James thought the goblin looked kind of odd.

Apparently, however it was James who looked a little funny, as the goblin gawked at him as if he had a candleholder growing out of his nose. It was probably his golden eyes, that always gave people some pause. Although he should have been used to it know, his face still burned with embarrassment.

"What yeh looking' at," growled Hagrid, "I got some business ter do. Can yeh open the doors, or not?"

"Y-yes sir," stuttered the goblin stepping falling backwards as led them through the doors, which opened, on their own accord. The two faced a second pair of doors, these ones silver. A warning was embossed upon the door.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn

Must pay most dearly in their turn

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours

Thief, you have been warned beware

Of finding more than treasure there

"Don' mess wi' 'em goblins. Like I tol' yeh, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob this place."

"My name is Blorin how can be of service?" asked another Goblin ushering them into Gringotts. The new Goblin was a few inches taller and had a much longer curlier beard.

There were a couple hundred goblins working behind tall counters lining the wall all being quite industrious. Some were examining jewels through long monocles while others led patrons through dozens of doors behind them.

Hagrid and James had just walked into a huge marble tiled

"Need ter get into James here's bank account. Some Order business too." mumbled Hagrid barely coherent.

"Do you have his keys?" asked Blorin suspiciously while strumming his beard.

"Yeah somewhere in here," said Hagrid a vile of some rotten smelling potion, among other things onto the floor while fumbling through his moleskin coat. The smell made James feel nauseous but luckily it only lasted for a few minutes.

"Sorry 'bout tha'," said Hagrid apologetically, "It's food for 'em Pyrexian Piranhas I'm raisin'"

James listened to goblins and wizards screaming at each other over monetary details. It reminded him greatly of Mr. Gadfly and Uncle Midas negotiating.

Hagrid continued emptying out his coat searching for his keys when he announced with a whoop of excitement, "I've found 'em!"

Hagrid handed him a small, extremely battered gold key.

"hmm…," thought the goblin out loud, "The key is old but it will do." He led them to a small door into a narrow stone passage lit with torches. They climbed into a small wooden cart which rapidly hurtled towards them on rails. James doubted Hagrid could actually get into the cart but he managed with great difficulty. The cart creaked under their weight, (mostly Hagrid's weight actually)

"I know yeh tol' me yeh can' but can yeh still try ter make this cart go lil slower." said Hagrid as the cart started magically moving on its own accord.

The goblin gave Hagrid no answer as the cart quickly gained speed. This must be what a roller coaster feels like, thought James to himself. The cart zoomed through a maze twists and turns veering from right to left in only seconds. James was braced for impact with one of the hundreds of stalagmites and stalactites passing him buy but the cart seemed to know the path well. They zoomed passed a lake where James could have sworn he saw a fireball explode behind him. They passed by a lake on their inexorable journey downwards.

The cart came to an abrupt stop nearly springing James over the edge of the cart. Luckily, Hagrid was a rather difficult object to fly across.

The goblin opened a locked door they had stopped near after which billowing clouds of green.

Hagrid tottered out of the cart leaning on a wall for support to keep his feet from caving in. His face was the color of a sour apple and he looked ready to vomit.

After regaining his composure, Hagrid proudly announced, "This is all yours."

James gasped at the huge golden stacks, silver mounds and bronze heaps that lay in front of him.

"29 Bronze Knuts to Silver Sickle. Seventeen Silver Sickles to a Gold Galleon." explained Hagrid. He stuffed a heap of coins into a bag he pulled from his coat.

"And the Goldman's complained about feeding me," muttered James to himself. James's parents were definitely not the drunk hobos his Aunt and Uncle had described them as.

The journey back was much the same though nonetheless exciting. Hagrid was still parrot green puking nastily as soon as he got out of the tracks. The goblins were yelling furious in some gibberish like language kicking them out of the bank as politely as they could.

"Think it'd be all righ' if I get me somethin' ter keep my guts in my belly." said Hagrid, "Jus' stand here an' we can get all the rest of yer stuff."

James stood at the corner, where he had heard the wizard boys talking before. They were still their, huddled in a circle whispering secretively amongst themselves.

"Transmorgificus Rana Portento," cursed the tall blond boy who seemed to be the leader of the group. James gravitated to his crowd hoping to get a better glimpse of some real magic performed. He felt extremely foolish as he peeked over the head of a short boy with a bulldog like face that only his mother could love. His large hands swayed from side to side like those of an orangutan.

Standing beside him stood a somewhat taller boy, who looked like an escapee from the museum's Neanderthal section.

The leader was tall, blond and had a sharp aquiline nose. He had large watery blue eyes that seemed far kinder than the sour look that never seemed to leave his face. He looked quite aristocratic in his silver robes.

"Looks like we have a guest," sneered the tallest boy haughtily, "I'm Wolfgang Lestrange and if I'm correct you would James Potter."

"That's Marcus Morder," he said pointing to the bulldog like boy, "and that's Karl Kriller."

"How do you know my name?" wondered James out loud.

"Its all over the Daily Prophet," he answered nonchalantly.

"Stupid spell worked last time I tried it," he muttered, "Let me try it again.""Transmorgificus Rana Portento" he cursed, pointing a wand at the frog. But the frog didn't seemed to have changed in the least.

"So what exactly are you going to do?" asked James eagerly.

"Make this frog inflate like a balloon and watch it pop," said Augustus nastily. James shuddered internally. Were all wizards this morbid?

"Oh, I give up," sighed Wolfgang, "They got some interesting stuff in Quality Quidditch Supplies. Maybe I'll get a third broom. Are you coming Potter?"

"No," said James a little to quickly, "I have to wait for Hagrid to pick me up."

"Speak of the devil," answered Wolfgang, "That big stupid oaf's coming to pick you up. If you end up in Slytherin I can tell you what kind of sort proper wizards associate with."

James walked away from Wolfgang and his friends as quickly as possible; not only were they about to kill an innocent frog in a torturous manner, they had also insulted his first and best friend in the world.

"Wha' was tha' 'bout," said Hagrid, who apparently hadn't heard a word Lestrange said.

"Nothing," said James wanting to keep it that way.

"What's Quidditch?" he asked abruptly.

"Forgot how much yeh still got ter learn. Wizardin' sport," explained Hagrid, "Play it on brooms. Rules kind o' complicated. Huge 'round here. Yeh'll learn the rules soon in enough."

"I bet I'm the dumbest person there," said James glumly thinking how about intelligently Wolfgang was able to speak.

"Nah," said Hagrid, "Loads a wizards come from muggle families. Yeh know, non-wizardin'. Plus, all 'em pureborn wizards won' go knowin' much more an' you do anyways."

"What's Slytherin?" asked James abruptly.

"Yeh see," explained Hagrid, "They got four houses in Hogwarts. Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw an' Slytherin. They'll put yeh in one of them. Slytherin' always turns out rotten wizards. Yeh know, Voldemort was in Slytherin too."

"Voldemort was in Slytherin," ejaculated James.

"Shh…" whispered Hagrid, "Mos' people are still afraid ter say his name so yeh better jus' say You-Know-Who."

The rest of the day was rather pleasant. James bought his wizarding robes from Madame Malkin's. (Hagrid had to drag James out because he was a little too engrossed by the magical tape measure) James bought all of his books from Flourish and Blotts. The text books which once seemed strange and exotic seemed stuffy and downright boring compared to some of the other books available. Friendly and Not So Friendly Bewitchments, a Practical Guide For Getting the Latest Revenges on Your Friends.

Giving Aunt Ursula the Hair Loss curse seemed like a rather interesting option. James was looking on ways to turn Princess into a pig when Hagrid pulled him out.

"Yeh know wizards can't do magic 'round muggles." said Hagrid, adding hastily, "An' all tha' stuff'll be way too hard fer yeh."

The got a nice pewter Cauldron and solid gold scales. Hagrid bought him a duel strength collapsible telescope that made whizzy noises when James opened it. The Apothecary was also fascinating. Although the stench inside made Hagrid's piranha food smell like the finest perfume, the hundreds of jars of dried roots, crushed salamander tails, scarab beetles and dragon scales and Giants' toenails were a veritable feast for the eyes.

The only thing James didn't like was the random people gawking at him as they walked by. Although they would always shake his hand and thank him profusely, James felt disconcerted for being lionized for something his father did. Still, being treated like a celebrity was a thousand times better than being treated like dung.

"Jus' yer wands now," said Hagrid, "The mos' important thing ter get. We'll be at Ollivanders. Ruddy bes' wand maker in the world.

This was what James was looking forward to the most. The wand shop though, was rather unimpressive. It was a dingy looking place; the windows were narrow and coated with a layer of dust and grime so thick James couldn't see inside. The doors had pealing golden letters which read, "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 392 B.C"

A small bell tinkled announcing their arrival. Their was only as small spindly chair that looked so fragile that it could support James weight much less Hagrid's.

"Good evening," said gentle voice that gave both Hagrid and James a shock. A tall frail incredibly old was standing in front of them. His hair had fallen out and his skin had the texture of a prune. He could barely walk relying on the support of a magically propelled walker. His breathing was heavy and walking a few feet had the effect of a marathon on his body. The dour look on her face, and her overlarge glasses made him look like a stern librarian. Instead of unloading a barrage of questions, James simply observed the rows and rows of boxes. It just didn't seem proper in the store.

"Good to see you Mr. Potter, Mr. Hagrid" he said with an icy tone that undermined her words.

"Good ter see yeh too," replied Hagrid cordial as usual. James sat in silence.

"You have your father's face," said Mr. Ollivander ignoring Hagrid entirely, "But I don't know where those eyes came from. Magical perhaps…."

James didn't like the way Mr. Ollivander's creepy gray eyes stared at him.

"Ten inches long, Oak Unicorn's hornbeam. Short but rather flexible, quite excellent for charms. That was your mothers wand. You're father's wand, thirteen and a half yew. Phoenix's tail feather. Powerful. Very powerful…."

He added after an uncomfortable pause,"But to you James," said Mr. Ollivander, "It's your turn to select a wand. Of course, it is the wand that selects the wizard…"

" I remember every wand I sold, make sure their the finest quality and only the finest quality for you." Mr. Ollivander was so close that James could see his pale reflection in those misty blue eyes.

"But I still don't know who bought the wand that did it. If only I knew…"

James swallowed loudly holding back a cough. The ancient dust in the room didn't make him feel to good.

"Rubeus Hagrid," said Mr. Ollivander noticing Hagrid finally, (It was quite a feat not to notice Hagrid for that long)

"Good ter see yeh," said Hagrid, seemingly immune to the awe inspiring effects of Mr. Ollivander and his shop.

"Oak sixteen inches," he said cheerily, "Pity they had to snap it when you were expelled. It was a good wand. Quite swishy."

"Still got the pieces," said Hagrid.

"You know that umbrella of yours goes against every rule on wand control," said Mr. Ollivander sternly. Hagrid looked down shuffling guiltily gripping his pink umbrella tightly.

"Show me your wand arm," commanded Mr. Ollivander, his brittle looking fingers pulling a tape measure from his pockets.

"Every Ollivander's wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We only use Unicorns Hornbeam, Dragon's Heartstring and Phoenix's Tailfeathers. The wand is specifically suited for you and you alone. Attempts to use another wizards will never get such good results."

"How do I know which wand I should take?" interrupted James. James blushed furiously; for some odd reason he felt he was being rude or something.

"It isn't the wizard who chooses the wand," reminded Mr. Ollivander, "it is the wand who chooses the wizard."

"11 ½ inches, Phoenix's tailfeather," said Mr. Ollivander thrusting a wand into his hands.

"Go on, Jus' swish it 'round," said Hagrid enthusiastically.

James followed Hagrid's command, (feeling like an absolute fool in the process) Mr. Ollivander grabbed the wand out of his hands immediately.

"How about Holly 14 ½ inches, Dragon's heartstring…" once again, Mr. Ollivander snatched the wand our of his hands.

"Hagrid, grab me that wand over there," commanded Mr. Ollivander, "Yes, Sycamore, 10 inches, Unicorns hornbeam." Once again, the wand only graced James's hands momentarily. The pile of discarded wands grew taller and taller as the night went on. Despite his age, Mr. Ollivander knew know rest in his quest to find James the perfect wand. James's head was resting on Hagrid's shoulders when Mr. Ollivander finally announced, "Perhaps we should try something unusual; something very unusual. I haven't had to do this for years…."

"Try this," he said handing James a long narrow wand. James felt a surge of warmth course through his veins as he grasped the wands. Dozens of red and gold sparks flew out of his wand with a terrifying bang, throwing dancing fireworks all over the wall.

Hagrid started to whoop and clap his hands but he soon grabbed his leg cringing about arthritis. Mr. Ollivander grinned ruefully saying, "Bravo James. Wouldn't have expected anything less from a Potter."

"Curious…" muttered Mr. Ollivander, as the celebrations died away, "I had only had to give one of these wands out before. It was thirty-nine years ago... Perhaps we may expect great things from you. Then again, the last boy I gave this wand to turned out to be nothing more than a squib. Thirteen inches and the mane of a Griffin it is."

James sniveled slightly, holding back a sneeze as Hagrid paid for the wand. (Mr. Ollivander charged double the normal seven because this was a special wand) James didn't think he liked the place very much at all. More than that, he didn't like how everyone expected him to be great. Just because his father was such a hero didn't mean James would be one too.


	7. the journey from platform nine and three...

The Journey From Platform Nine and Three Quarters

By the end of the day, James could feel a slight cough coming on. His sicknesses always started like this; at first they were mild coughs but in a couple days he was going to be having full scale vomit attacks. His luck wasn't about let him have two consecutive good days.

As if in revenge for having his first awesome day, the worst sickness ever befell James. He was stuck in bed for the rest of the week with a fever of 103 degrees. Hagrid brought James medicines every day but there was absolutely no effect from them.   
He spent the rest of the few days sleeping mostly, leafing through his books with Hagrid. Although he read quite a bit and Hagrid explained many things about the wizarding world, it all often felt like everything was going through one ear and coming out the other.

Hagrid shook James out of bed early on a jumped out of his bed realizing he might be late. He showered as quickly as possible throwing on morning after a week of rest.

"Yeh got ter get ter school today," he said. James clothes haphazardly.

"Yer shirts on backwards," commented Hagrid as James dashed out the door without grabbing his bags.

"Sorry," said James hurriedly trying to figure out how to get his shirt on as fast as possible.

"Yeh know we still got plenty o' time ter get their," said Hagrid chortling, "Train isn' 'bout ter leave without yer."

"Thanks for telling me," said James sarcastically but smiling genuinely nonetheless.

They ate breakfast leisurely at the Leaky Cauldron avoiding the stares of most people. It was a Tuesday morning and everyone was busy to get to work.

"So how're we going to get to Kings Cross anyways?" asked James.

"Walkin'" said Hagrid through bites, "Lup' ol' me ter ta' yeh' li' 'at." James nodded his head dumbly not having understood a single word after taking.

Hagrid led James out of the Leaky Cauldron with all of his bags onto the street.

"We're supposed ter try an' blend in with the muggles," said Hagrid. James and Hagrid failed miserable in the process. Hagrid was far to big to be normal, (though he was excellent for parting crowds) and the luggage they were carrying made them stick out even more. Not very many people carried large pewter cauldrons around.

The driver of the taxi was also miffed when Hagrid tried paying him with a gold galleon. Hagrid pointed his pink umbrella at him and suddenly he quite pleasant about the whole thing.

"I got some work ter do," said Hagrid as the approached Kings Cross, "See yeh when we get ter Hogwarts."

James stared at the large purple tickets Hagrid gave him. All I have to do is get onto nine and three quarters. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have built nine and three quarters yet. There was a big plastic sign saying nine and another big plastic sign saying ten; nothing in between. The nervous feeling in his stomach grew as the big clock over hear read he only had ten minutes to get onto the train.

"You know I heard muggles get here by escapators," James heard someone behind him. He reeled his cart full of luggage to see another person with a cartful of luggage. Yes! Someone going to Hogwarts who could tell me just exactly where nine and three quarters was.

"Umm, Excuse me, but how do I get on to the train?" asked James feeling foolish. He was speaking to a tall middle aged blond woman with a sharp aquiline nose.

"Just run through the barrier with you're ticket," she said lazily. He could have sworn he heard under her breath, "stupid muggle borns."

Just run straight through the barrier, James repeated over and over in his head. He doubted she would appreciate him asking her again and time was running out. Just do it, he told himself closing his eyes. He started running towards the barrier slowly gaining speed. Soon, his cart had gained a momentum of his own and he couldn't have stopped himself if he tried. He was expecting to painfully crash into the wall- very painfully. But he simply kept running.

He opened his eyes to large platform filled with wizards mulling around.

"This is all so strange," James overheard a perplexed mother next to him say, "I mean, this whole wizarding world, how could it all exist."

"Well it does and I'm going to Hogwarts," said her lanky brown haired son, "Don't be worried about me mom. I can take care of myself."

It felt comforting to know he wasn't the only person absolutely lost in this world.

James stepped onto the train slightly nervous. He'd never been by himself in the wizarding world. There was another boy in the compartment looking equally nervous. He was reading a large colorful book entitled, "Monster Madness: An insider's guide to dealing with the biggest, baddest beasts in the world." Like everyone else he had met, the boy stared at him as he entered to room. The book slid of off his lap landing on the floor with a loud thud.

He looked at the floor suddenly realizing what he was doing.

"Sorry about that," he said apologetically, "Didn't mean to stare."

"No problem," said James, "everyone else does. I'm James Potter, you?"

"Felix," he responded gloomily as if he was apologizing for something, "Felix Lestrange."

"Is this you're first year?" asked James; although his brother Wolfgang seemed nasty Felix wasn't half bad. James felt the train rumbling forward.

"Yeah," he said smiling, "Same with you, right."

The two stared at each other in a moment of awkward silence. Felix was tall and thin. He had short blond hair that he had at least made an effort to comb. Felix's deep languid blue eyes observed his surroundings lazily.

"Want a bite?" asked Felix passing a squashed sandwich out of his pocket. Although the sandwich wouldn't look appetizing to most people, years of malnourishment had significantly altered James's concept of palatable. Plus, it was nice to have someone offer to share something, normally people only took stuff.

"Mom forgot to get drinks so it might be a little dry," he explained, "It'll go down though."

"Are all you're family wizards," inquired James.

"Yeah," said Felix somewhat glumly, "Four brothers one sister and two parents."

"Wow!" said James failing to notice the dispirited way Felix said it.

"It's really not that exciting," said Felix despondently, "My oldest brother, Augustus, was Quidditch Captain and really popular. Nero, my second oldest brother was Prefect and Headboy. My younger brother Wolfgang's brilliant and their sending him to Hogwarts early. Compared to everyone I'm nothing but a waste. Everyone thought I was going to be a squib when I didn't get a Hogwarts letter last summer. Lucky they let me in late because my family was about to disown me. Only person in my family that doesn't hate me is my sister."

"It isn't that bad," said James consolingly. He then told Felix all about his life with the Goldman's trying to make him feel better.

"So do you remember anything at all about you're parents?" asked Felix awkwardly.

James shook his head. "Nothing at all," he whispered.

The scenery slowly got wilder and wilder. The rolling hills and gentle farms died away into a thicket of unkempt shrubs and dark forbidding forests. The road became hillier and hillier as the ride proceeded on ward.

"So do you know what we're going to do once we get to Hogwarts," asked James stopped telling him about the Goldman's.

"Nero told me we were going to have to fight a troll once we got in," said Felix nervously, "I probably wouldn't be a proper meal for a troll much less a fight."

"What exactly is sorting anyways?" asked James.

"Pick what house you're going to be in," explained Felix as if he were pronouncing his own death sentence, "bet I'm in Slytherin. All of my family is."

"But I thought Slytherin was only for dark wizards," blurted James out without thinking.

"That's why I don't want to go there," said Felix.

A clattering cart full of fascinating sweets and candies pulled out beside them breaking the moroseness.

"What would you like something?" asked the vendor politely.

"What have you got?" asked James.

The vendor rattled of a long list of sweets none of which James had ever heard of. He could get chocolate frogs, pepper imps, Bernie Bott's every flavor beans, and dozens more.

"Two of everything," said James handing him some silver sickles.

"We can share," said James as the cart clattered away.

The sandwiches lay on the side, entirely forgotten as they plowed their way through the sweets.

"When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor," said Felix tossing him some beans.

"I've gotten sardines, grass, Swiss cheese and spinach before," said Felix jokingly, "some of them are normal though."

"Blurgh," he said spitting out a bean that he claimed were boogers. James stared at a gray bean for minutes before taking the plunge and popping it into his mouth. It was only peppermint.

"These wizarding candies are real odd," commented James, "You'd never see anything like every flavor beans in the muggle world or moving pictures or anything like that.

Just as they were midway through their candy a dark haired boy barged into their compartment.

"They're everywhere," he moaned as he sighted Wolfgang looking extremely panicked.

"Have a bite," offered Felix cordially, "Don't worry, I won't bite."

"Thanks a lot," said the boy grabbing a handful of sweets, "Names Luke, Luke Monterey."

"What were you running from?" asked James intrigued.

"Some Wolfgang kids after my hide after I accidentally snapped his broomstick in half," he answered, "He had it hidden in his bag in some funny angle, I sat on his bag in it and it snapped. Said he was going to get me in trouble or something."

Felix spat his pepper imp out laughing heartily, "Nothing he can do," he explained, "He's not allowed to have a broomstick. Smuggled it in illegally. Probably a cheap one anyways. Can't see a quality broomstick snapping if you sat on it."

As if on cue, Wolfgang and his oversized pals sauntered into the room.

"Seen any filthy muggle borns in here," drawled Wolfgang nastily, half expecting a round of applause for his words.

"What do you know?" he said to his two very ogre like friends, "You'll get to beat up two dimwits instead of one."

"Sod off," said James scathingly.

"I gave you an offer at Gringotts," he said, "I want an answer once and for all. Do you want to be my enemy and suffer or be my friend? We can be great together you know."

James could hear Morder and Kriller cracking their knuckles ominously in the background.

"I think I'll pass," replied James icily.

"You should be more polite to your betters," sneered Wolfgang, "Morder, Kriller, go teach those three some manners."

They swaggered towards James, Luke and Felix who were cowering in the corner.

"Any chance those apes are weaker then they look?" asked Luke.

Felix's loud swallow answered the question wordlessly. James was wishing more and more his abyssal luck would just roll over and die, but James would like that so he that was about as likely as pigs flying.

Wolfgang pointed his wand at James and cursed, right as Kriller was about to lay his first punch, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS"

But instead of doing whatever it was meant to, the curse ricochet off of the face of Kriller's watch back at him. The curse paralyzed him making him as stiff as a board. Unable to instruct his automatons, (Kriller and Morder,) the two stopped short of hitting James. They carried their master out of the room looking rather dazed.

James, Felix and Luke were convulsed with laughter as they watched Wolfgang and company walk out thoroughly embarrassed.

"He's so hardcore that he's petrified," chortled Luke.

"You know my brother?" asked Felix as the two walked out.

"Met him by Gringotts," explained James.

"Kind of a jerk at times," said Felix quietly.

"An elephant sized jerk," said Luke grabbing a few every flavor beans. James was going to warn him about the Every Flavor Beans but Luke had already stuffed a half dozen into his mouth.

"Marmalade Spinach," said Luke spitting something out, "brilliant!"

"They should start making these in the muggle world," said James, "I doubt this'll ever get old."

"It get old once you get vomit," said Felix, "but I haven't gotten that one yet."

"Hey dweebs," called a girl from outside the compartment screen, "Get dressed before you get to Hogwarts." There was nothing unfriendly in her voice, just playfulness.

James could see tall towers looming in the distance. His heart skipped a beat as he realized he was almost there. Once again, he felt that familiar paralyzing anxiety. What if this had all been one big mistake. What if they were just going to send him back to the Goldman's after the sorting ceremony was over.

"Get moving or I'll dress you myself," called the girl.

"I'm coming in," announced the girl a few moments later. She had a lithe body and flaming red hair, rosy cheeks and thousands of red freckles. She looked like someone had dipped her into a barrel of red paint.

"Name's Mary Weasley," she said enthusiastically holding a hand out for them, "Hagrid's going to be coming around soon to lead you to Hogwarts. You three probably want to get studying for the test now."

"TEST!" the three cried out in unison.

"Well of course," said Mary impatiently, "there has to be some way of knowing which house you'll belong to. If you do good, you might get into awesome Gryffindor. It's the best by a mile. Don't study and you'll be stuck in slimy Slytherin with all the ugly gits. I'm rounding up all the other First years so see you later."

Soon afterwards, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

James was suffering from an acute case of butterflies in his stomach and everyone looked pale with nervousness.

"I'll never be ready for that test," said Luke slumping into the chair, "And I'm not wizard born either."

"Hagrid would have told me if there really was a test," said James more confidently than he felt, "He'd have to wouldn't he?"

"I bet my brothers never told me about it so I'd fail," said Felix angrily, "I knew they'd do something cheap like that."

"All our books are packed so we can't really get them out, can we?" said Luke adding to James's nervousness.

"I bet she was kidding," said James laughing uneasily, "She couldn't be telling the truth could she?"

"But my brothers definitely couldn't be telling the truth," said Felix.

"If we're doomed we're doomed," muttered James.

"We're sharing all the answers," said Luke grinning, "I'll be real ticked if one of you two fools does better than."

"That means a lot coming from an idiot who broke a broomstick," joked Felix.

They walked onto the dark empty platform. They could see what at first appeared to be a disembodied lantern walking towards them

"Firs years, firs years," called out Hagrid from a distance carrying a large lantern, "Come on now. Follow me."

He hobbled with visible difficulty up a tall hill along a winding path. It was dark outside, the moon was hidden behind clouds. Although the older boys were arguing the finer strategic points of Quidditch and girls were discussing their latest horoscopes, the first years walked quietly. The path was steep long and narrow. Perhaps it was the excitement and nervousness of finally getting to Hogwarts, but no one seemed to be gawking at him right now as if he were a manikin in a store Though he couldn't clearly in the dark, James could almost feel the presence of forbidding groves of trees surrounding them.

"All righ' James," called Hagrid over a sea of hands.

"Righ' then," he said, "Hogwarts up around this bend here, so yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts. Its jus' 'round the corner. Love this place."

The glimmering towers that shimmered in the distance took James's breath away. The assortment of towers and turrets that Hogwarts was, was perched a top a tall hill. To James, it was Camelot and Disney World all rolled into one. The horde of Hogwarts bound students stopped abruptly as they approached a serene dark lake.

"No more'n for to a boat," ordered Hagrid brusquely as the "ooh's and aah's," subsided. The trio somehow separated in the hubbub to get onto the boat.

"Hey, you're James Potter!" exclaimed a blond girl sitting next to him, "Couldn't tell who you were in the dark. Hi! My name is Alexandra Brownstone, but everyone calls me Alex. Over there's my friend Molly Ackerman I'm in my fourth year so if you ever need anything you can just talk to me. "

The words burst out of her mouth like bullets from a machine gun and James barely had time to nod before she started chatting with her friend about horoscopes and boys. The dark, well that explained why no one was gawking at him, thought James ruefully to himself.

Another girl was sitting on their boat. She was staring intently at the castle above; probably a first year too.

The boat glided effortlessly on top of the smooth lake that was as smooth as glass and as black as his hair. Although James had seen magic performed dozens of times, he s

"Everyone Duck," yelled Hagrid as the boats reached a precipice. A veil of ivy blocked the entrance to an opening in the wall. They landed in some kind of harbor and trudged of onto a pebbly path straight to the castle door itself.

"Anyone los'? called out Hagrid as a throng of eager students crowded the flight of stairs at the entrance. Hagrid knocked loudly and the huge oak door in front


	8. Chapter 8

The Hat Trick

A tall, slightly pudgy wizard stood before them eager to usher them in. He had chubby, very friendly face that James doubted ever was cross.

"lo Neville," greet Hagrid, "Yeh'll take the firs' years, righ'."

"I'll take them from here, Hagrid," said the wizard amicably.

"So you're our newest additions," said the wizard turning to the students, "Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Professor Longbottom and I'll be leading you to you're sorting."

Nervous whispers spread through the room at the mention of the word sorting. Incredible rumors spread like wild fire ranging from fighting a troll to taking a written. The girl that was sitting next to him sagely suggested all they had to do was put on a cap; but that seemed a rather silly way to do things.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," announced Professor Longbottom, "You'll be sorted soon enough. It's quite painless," said Professor seeing to groans on the faces of the first year crowd. He idly twiddled his thumb waiting for the room to fill up.

"As you might know sorting will choose which house you will belong to. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Although you will be seeing people from other houses on a regular basis in class, you will be eating, sleeping, taking classes and spending almost all of your free time with your housemates. In addition to spending time with your housemates, you can also win and lose points for your house. Points reward good behavior while bad behavior will result in a loss of points. At the end, the house with the greatest number of points will be rewarded with the house cup, which is quite an honor. Well to the sorting now. Good luck to all of you, all the houses are quite excellent so don't feel down if you don't end up where you want to go. Freshen up a bit while I get everything ready."

James noticed Marvin trying to clean his face desperately but he still looked kind of dirty. James tried patting his hair down a little bit, but it was useless as ever. Unfortunately, his unruly hair had a nasty dislike for its owner.

"I hope this doesn't hurt," moaned Luke beside him.

No one was talking much except for that silent girl James had noticed on the boat. She was muttering all 856 types of herbs that could be found in Wales in alphabetical order. That was really unnerving.

There was a crack and a cross-legged little man with dark wicked eyes, clutching an enormous bag of marshmallows that was twice as big as his own body, materialized in front of them. Several girls shrieked loudly, as the ghost cackled evilly.

"Oooooh," he cackled, "Wee, little Firsties. What fun!" chucking marshmallows (they were real and not ghost marshmallows) at the lot of first years.

James grinned from ear to ear, grabbing as many marshmallows as he could and stuffing them into his mouth. The Goldman's never let him eat marshmallows. They were soft and gooey on the inside, as though they had been magically roasted to perfection.

Suddenly, the apparition stopped its toss in mid throw as another ghost glided through the walls.

James gasped with everyone around him, as a pearly white, somewhat transparent ghost glided into the room.

"Come on Peeves or I'll call the bloody Baron on you." ordered the ghost calmly. Peeves popped out of the room making loud farting noises.

The rather fat ghost who was wearing ruffs and tights called, "Oh ignore him. He's just a spoilsport. You're all here for sorting I suppose. I'm the Fat Friar, and I'm Hufflepuffs' ghost. Hope we get to see a lot of future Hufflepuffs. "

Professor Longbottom entered the room just as the Fat Friar glided out. James pinched himself to make sure this wasn't a really long really unreal dream.

"Everyone follow me," announced Professor Longbottom. James felt as if he was going to explode from nervousness as he walked through the enormous doors to the Great Hall.

Somehow, the Great Hall took his mind away from his nervousness momentarily. Never had James seen such a strange yet splendid place. The room was lit by thousands of candles floating in midair like still fireflies. The table was laid with gold cups and goblets the glittered in the dim ambience. Professor Longbottom led the first years to the table where the Professors sat and lined them facing the students with the teachers behind them. Hundreds of faces stared at them looking like pales orbs through the flickering candlelight. Here and their James saw ghosts who shown like misty silver. Above the skies glistened in the pitch-black night sky.

"Its bewitched to be like that," whispered the genius girl who was previously reciting all 857 types of herbs commonly found in Wales.

Still, to James it looked like the great hall simply opened to the heavens. But he was already in heaven.

James watched as Professor Longbottom placed ancient, patched hat onto the table. James doubted Aunt Ursula would ever permit anything with so many layers of grime. But what did a dirty hat have to do with sorting? Perhaps he was supposed to pull a bunny rabbit out of it, but that would be far too obvious.

James stared at the hat, noticing everyone else was staring at it too. For a few seconds, there was total silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a moth- and the hat began to sing:

(Make up sorting song later.)

The entire school burst into raucous applause as the sorting hat finished its annual song.

Every first year breathed an enormous sigh of relief knowing he or she wouldn't have to take a test or wrestle a troll of be in any pain. All James had to do was go up, put on a hat and wait for it to make a decision.

But James's wobbly smile quickly disappeared when he thought about exactly which house he would get into. He wasn't exactly smart or courageous or anything. The only thing he knew about any of these houses was that Slytherin was slimy, whatever that meant. If only they had a house for the extremely confused, now that would be perfect.

Felix, who was twitching feverishly couple spots to the right of him in line, looked like he was suffering a severe anxiety attack. The annoying genius girl next to him was equally nervous. The tenseness was spreading everywhere like a nasty cold and James wasn't immune.

"Sit on the stool once I call your name," called Professor Longbottom informally, "Aaron, Emily" shouted Professor Longbottom. A short bony girl with long brown hair nervously stepped forwards. She put on the hat, which fell over beneath her eyes, and sat down. After a few moments the hat shouted out, "RAVENCLAW."

A corner of the great hall exploded with applause as Emily Aaron proudly walked to that table.

"Abraham, Collin."

"GRYFINDOR" shouted the hat after a few moments. There was an even larger roar of applause from the Gryffindor section. Mary Weasley and her friends were catcalling and Nearly Headless Nick did a quick summersault in the air.

Ballston, Barry," called out Professor Longbottom as a pug face boy strutted to the hat.

"SLYTHERIN," called hat out. James noticed all the Slytherins' seemed to be rather nasty looking people.

"Bellatrix, Felix," called Professor Longbottom. Felix slowly walked to the hat, staring at it as if it were made of kryptonite.

The hat sat on Felix's head for a long time. A waterfall of sweat was pouring down his face when the hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR"

There was a moment of eerie still before the Gryffindors gave him a roaring ovation.

The list went down as about an equal number of people were chosen for each house. Luke was in Gryffindor too. He seemed quite happy with being a Gryffindor.James had bit his nails all the way to the skin when he heard his own name called. He wished he could put the hat on in private, doing it in front of everyone made him a bit queasy. Well, James knew one thing. "not Slytherin"

"Potter, James." called Professor Longbottom.

James walked to hat almost quivering. Whispers broke out in the crowd like a bee's buzz.

"It can't be_ the _James Potter."

"I could have sworn he was dead."

James was looking at the back of a hat when it started speaking to him. He was whispering not Slytherin in his mind as he gripped the edge of his stool.

"Hmm…" mused the hat, "Very difficult. You could do great things in Slytherin."

James started screaming not Slytherin in his mind as loud as he could.

"Well if you insist," replied the hat, "A good head. Plenty of courage. Might as well be,"

"GRYFINDOR"

He heard the last word echo throughout the hall. James walked to the Gryffindor table feeling quite relieved. Not only was he not in Slytherin, he was also with Felix and Luke, the only two friends he had ever had. James noticed he was getting the loudest cheer yet.

"Good to see you," called out a burly older student, "The names Mike, Mike Pena. I'm prefect and captain of the Quidditch team." giving him a hug addressing him as if they were best friends.

"Hey squirt," called out Mary who was camped comfortably between two boys, "great to see you in Gryffindor.", before she and her friends began singing, "POTTERS A GRYFFINDOR"

James sat beside Felix and Luke all three of them grinning from ear to ear. There were several other new Gryffindor first years. A tall pale brunette girl named Christie Grawls, an Indian girl named Neesha incomprehensible last name and Gwen Trouble and that Melvin Friend who had lost his frog. (Gwen was the really smart annoying girl James thought and hoped would be going to Ravenclaw.)

A tall thin Professor with a long white beard walked to a podium. With a quick flick, a long golden ribbon shot out of his wand spelling "Welcome to Hogwarts" in enormous letters to everyone.

"I would like to give a few solemn words." called out the Professor in a magically amplified voice, "I am Professor Lupin, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rumor has it that many years ago I was a twitchy first year squirt. I deny all accusations."

Everyone clapped loudly as he sat back down but James had distinct feeling that the head was slightly loony and he could have sworn Professor Lupin gave him a wink.

James's mouth fell open as he saw the gold plates in front of him piled with mounds of the most scrumptious food. Despite the regular dinners, parties and feasts held at the Goldman's, James rarely got to eat anything more appetizing than Brussels sprouts.

James was taking a bite of some rather wonderful jello when he felt his legs turn into just that: Jello. His legs were shaking uncontrollably and James felt his body slip under the table. James saw a hand poke through to him and used it to pull himself back onto his seat.

"What was that about?" asked James.

A tall thin, swarthy boy answered, "Well, the edible Jelly legs certainly seem to work. I'm sure Fred and George'll be quite happy."

"We're testing pranks out for the joke shop," whispered a second shorter and lighter boy into his ears.

Mary Weasley, who was also there, explained, "Me, Mary Weasley, Peter Lampon (the first one) and Phil Lampon (the second one) have been testing some goods for my Uncles. Just to make sure everything works and is safe. Here's three knuts for your trouble."

James gladly pocketed the money entirely confused. Strangely, Peter and Phil didn't look at all like brothers.

"Can't you three stay out of trouble," moaned Mike, the Prefect and Quidditch Captain, "We had a chance to win the House Cup this year before you tied Professor Crabbe to those ruddy firecrackers and sent him flying over the lake."

"It was an honest mistake," answered Phil, "And Crabbe's a big fat wart anyways."

"He's a big fat wart that can take 600 points away from Gryffindor at a time." countered Mike, "And can suspend my number one chaser and beater for the house cup match. We got creamed 690 to 40 because of you." Mike looked like he was going to explode or perhaps make the three miscreants explode.

James felt as if his body was plunged into a bucket of ice cold water, (perhaps another practical joke) as he felt something whitish clear and rather wispy pass through him.

"Nearly Headless Nick," cried out Peter and Phil.

"Sir, Nicholas de Mimsy-Portpington" said the ghost sounding a little bit miffed.

"Show it to them," called Mary.

"Show what?" said Sir Nicholas the whatever blankly.

"How you can be nearly headless," blurted Luke.

He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulders as if it were on a hinge.

"Sir Lance de Prancer was quite bad with the axe. The idiot couldn't even do a proper beheading" said Nearly Headless Nick floating away.

"Eat while you can…" were Nearly Headless Nick's rather strange last words.

James dutifully obeyed and grabbed a treacle tart and continued valiantly on his most noble (and enjoyable) quest to gain ten pounds in one day.

Most of the first years were chatting about their families and where they'd come from. James didn't really feel like paying attention and felt himself nodding off. His face nearly fell into a pie he was eating when he heard Melvin shout out, "My Toad. My Toad's gone missing."

"Has any one seen my toad," cried Melvin despondently, as he dove under the table knocking a goblet of Pumpkin juice into James's lap.

"There it is," cried Luke spotting the frog bouncing its way to the Slytherin table.

"Oh wonderful," groaned Felix, "Wolfgang will probably try to turn it into a nail clippings or some other miserable thing."

The trio muscled there way through the tables, but Wolfgang had found the animal first.

Wolfgang stood up clenching the toad tightly and drew out his wand.

"Another little froggie," he cackled nastily, "I wonder what I should do to him. Or will Felix stop me."

"Shut up and give him back," uttered James angrily, Felix was standing back trying to keep himself out of the fight.

"I gave you a choice in the train Potter," drawled Wolfgang venomously, "I've seen you've made your choice. Well it's time I teach you a little mann-,"

"I believe magic is not allowed in the great hall," interrupted a towering, bull dog like man with a cold voice, "Still, this is you are new so I'll let you go."

"Hand me the frog," he continued, "It's a rather fine specimen. I could use it one of my potions. Skin it and throw its eyeballs into a cauldron and I could make a fine regurgitating potion."

"Its my pet," called a short of breath Melvin who had just caught up to them.

"You'd better keep a good watch of it," warned the Professor handing Melvin his pet, "or he just might find his way into my cauldron."

"The guy seems a little nasty," muttered Luke, as they were walking back to the Gryffindor table.

"Meet mean old Professor Crabbe," muttered Mary as they took their seats.

"You know him?" asked Luke.

"We play craps with him every at teatime," answered Phil sardonically.

"You're best staying away from him," started Mary  
"- he tried to put the three of us in permanent detention," interjected Pete.

Suddenly, the Great Hall went silent as the Headmaster cleared his throat to make and announcement, "I'm quite sorry to interrupt the festivities but there are a few start-of-term announcements I would like to make. As always, first years are not allowed to bring any brooms to school. Second, anyone wishing for a slow and rather painful death may visit the Forbidden Forest at any time. For the rest of you, I would advise you against it. Also, all of Weasley's Wizarding Wheeze's products are banned from the premises permanently. And now, for the most important event of the night it is time to sing the Hogwarts Song" Professor Lupin took out his wand and swished it like a conductors baton.

And the School bellowed:

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or Young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn till our brains all rot."_

Although Lupin swished his wand quite like an expert concerto, the school couldn't quite sing in sync. Mary Phil and Peter finished last, a good minute after the rest of the class since they were singing to the tune of a mind numbingly slow funeral march.

"Time to sleep," called out Professor Lupin wiping his eyes and clapping loudly. Mike lead the chattering first years up the marble stair case and up through the towers. The Gryffindor First years followed him, tiredly. James thought his legs were almost as weak as they were when he had the jelly-legs curse on him. There seemed to be no end to the stairs, branching out in every direction.

James noticed a blood smattered specter glide through the walls, carrying a lantern in his hands and calling, "Peeves, I'm going to give you your second death" loudly.

At the end of the corridor, there was a fat woman wearing silly pink silk dress.

"Password," she asked, hiccupping and otherwise acting rather inebriated.

"Gargantuan Fracas," said Mike, and the portrait swung open.

Through the large whole in the wall, James could see quite comfortable looking armchairs and the embers of a burnt out fire.

Mike led the girls to one dormitory and the boys to another. Turns out there were another set of spiral staircases for James to trudge up since they were obviously at the top of one of the towers.

Four rather inviting four-poster beds lay in the dorms with all of their baggage arranged on the side. Everyone quickly put on his pajamas and fell into the beds. No one really talked much and everyone was trying to sleep of the wonderful feast. Whoever cooked the food did a really good job.

"The foods amazing," said Luke but fell asleep before James had a chance to respond. Soon, James also found himself tumbling into wonderful sleep.


	9. double potions, double trouble

Double Potions, Double Trouble

James, like many other first years, woke up well before the crack of dawn. In

As wonderful a place Hogwarts was, whoever designed the castle must have had only one thought in mind: confounding new students. There were over a hundred staircases, (142 to be exact) in the rambling castle. James quickly learned that in the wizarding world, things aren't always what they seem to be. For instance, there's a staircase that seems to be heading up but is actually heading down. There were invisible steps you had to remember to jump and staircases that didn't exist on Tuesdays. Of course there were normal stairs as well, narrow, broad and rickety. Every variety of stairs ever invented. The walls were just about as 'interesting' as well. Sometimes walls pretended to be doors and doors pretended to be walls. Sometimes you had to tickle those doors before they let you in. And the portraits on the walls. They were just spectacular. Although they were useless as markers (the kept moving around) they were quite helpful in pointing you the right way.

Of course, there were always people quite willing to help James out. Indeed, they were a bit too willing. Onetime a seventh year he'd never seen before doubled back to shake his hand and to see if he needed any help. Always, there were mutterings and whisperings. People stared as he passed by as if he had came back from the dead. Though truth be told, he kind of had come back from the dead.

Luckily, he didn't get the hero treatment from Felix and Luke. To them, he was nothing more than a friend, and friends were always the most important people at all. Finally, there were no evil twins conspiring around his back , or cruel step parents ready to give him a beating. All he had were his friends, and that was more than he could have ever dreamed.

Anyways, James, Luke and Felix had a bit more of an immediate problem. How the heck were they supposed to get to their worst class: Double Potions. The caretaker, Charlie Chump, a rather friendly, if somewhat senile, old man, had asked for their help in finding some papers he had inadvertently dropped. They were some notes for the Defense against the dark arts class about Dementors from Professor Tonks. They kindly obliged expecting it to be a good enough excuse to be a little late to class. Plus, Chump gladly showed them the shortest way to the Potions dungeons for future reference.

The dungeons were certainly not a place James would like to get lost in. The tunnels were dark and narrow, lit only by small torches glimmering in the darkness. James could imagine Crabbe teaching in a place like this.

"Here's the note," said James handing Professor Crabbe a little note, as he stepped into the room. The walls were lined with about twenty cauldrons, the chairs filled with Slytherins and Gryffindors.

He examined it carefully trying his holding it up into the light determined to find a forgery. And unfortunately, Professor Crabbe decided he had found a forgery.

"I don't like students coming in late," said the man coldly staring straight at James, "especially arrogant little prats like you."

He wasn't sure why, but Professor Crabbe seemed more angry with James than anyone else.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he said coldly, "Next time I will take fifty."

Wolfgang and the Slytherins in the room snickered; Gryffindor was already five points down.

"Now that we are through with pleasantries," said Professor Crabbe, "It's time for a little demonstration."

Professor Crabbe was a rather frightening sight. He was thickset man, with muscles bulging from every part of his body. His hands swung from side to side, like the hands of a brutish ape. He had an ugly pug like face that always had this kind of dumb look. His big brown eyes stared dully, as if he were somewhat bored, at the world around him. The words that came out of his mouth often sounded more like grunts than anything else.

With a swish of his wand, bottles, vials and herbs flew out of his cabinet directly into his gargantuan hands.

"Horned toad, abyssinian Shrivelfig, belladonna, wormwood, " snarled Professor Crabbe, "Tell me Potter, what can I make with this."

"I don't know," said James; the only people who seemed to know the answer were Wolfgang and Gwen Trouble.

"Some more points you've lost for Gryffindor," said Professor Crabbe curtly, "Wolfgang, why don't you enlighten us a little?" asked Professor Crabbe.

"Those are the essential ingredients for a wart making potion." drawled Wolfgang haughtily.

"I would advise you to take notes," rumbled Professor Crabbe, "Perhaps you might become as smart as Wolfgang, but I doubt any of you near his intelligence. I'm not at all surprised that celebrities like Potter wouldn't dare actually study and don't worry Potter, there is nothing stopping me from failing you. Five points to Slytherin." Gwen looked like she was about to puke into her cauldron; maybe she wasn't a prat after all.

With another swish of his wands, all of the items needed for the charm flew onto their desks and the directions were written on the wall.

Everyone in the room started working on their work as soon as Crabbe barked "start."

The class never really got any better, only worse. Gwen successfully managed to get her potion right before anyone else and went up to Crabbe's cauldron expecting for praise. Crabbe was more likely to sprout wings than actually give a student without the name Wolfgang any praise.

"Why'd he take those points from me," whined James as he tried he shredded his toads skin, "what'd I ever do to him."

"Don't speak to loudly," whispered Felix, "Crabbe doesn't like complainers. Especially Gryffindor complainers."

By the end of class, James had already managed to lose another ten points because his potion wasn't green enough, (although much greener than the pink gush Kriller came up with) and for not crushing his toad skin finely enough, (James pretended he was crushing Crabbe's face after that.)

Soon, the two-hour torture session was over and James was able to leave the potion room a free man.

"Anyone for skipping Potions tomorrow," suggested Luke as they headed out the door.

Then they heard one might BANG, echo from the potions corridor and one angry Crabbe chasing after them. It was possibly one of the most amusing things James had ever seen; someone must have put some kind of explosive in the wart-growing potion because Crabbe was covered from head to tough in warts. They multiplied like bacteria in a petri dish making him l

"I KNOW IT WAS YOU POTTER," howled Crabbe in agony, but James and his friends only ran. It was a race Crabbe knew he had no hope of winning, and didn't try. Plus, he had absolutely no evidence to say James had anything to do with it, and mostly because James didn't have anything to do with it.

Whatever it was, the rest of James's classes were quite a bit better. Professor Longbottom for Herbology was about as different from Crabbe as he could get. He took them down to the Herbology where he showed them where everything was, gave some basic procedure and let them goof off for the rest of the time.

Professor Prometheus, the Transfiguration Professor, was also different. He reminded James of an old goat for some reason. Short, with an extremely large head, Professor Prometheus sounded a bit like a mad scientist from those muggle movies. He raved on and on about the new inventions he was making while the rest of the class sat there dazed and confused. Only Gwen took the effort to take notes.

Professor Binn, the History teacher, was the only ghost Professor at Hogwarts. The class started in a fairly interesting manner, with several girls shrieking as Binn traveled through the wall. The rest of the class redefined boring. Professor Binn went into goblin rebellions as soon as he finished calling roll. And the class, (of course with the exception of Gwen) fell asleep right afterwards.

The Charms class, taught by Professor Cheeks, wasn't too bad either. Professor Cheeks, a short squat mouse like woman. She was standing on her chair, peering over her desks when the class entered trying to get a better view of her new students.

James's favorite class by far had to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was taught by Professor Black.

"Welcome everyone," she said as the class filled up, "Well this is going to be your first defense against the dark arts class and my first time teaching a defense against the dark arts class so we're even."

Professor Tonks was a tall thin, middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair. She exuded a sense of friendliness, and didn't seem too much of a stickler about rules. But what surprised him most was what she was doing with her nose; she was making it grow bigger and smaller at will. One moment Jacko, the next Pinocchio.

"Does anyone here know, exactly what the dark arts are?"' asked Professor Tonks.

Gwen, as usual was the only person to raise her hand, "According to the book, defense against the dark arts are any magic which serves the purpose of harming another."

"Exactly," said Professor Tonks, "A point for Gryffindor. Now the important thing to remember is that any magic can be considered dark. Any takers on why?"

James figured he might as well take a shot, it'd be nice to earn some of the points Crabbe stole back.

"Erm, because if the user of magic has dark intentions than anything could be dark?" answered James waveringly.

"Exactly," snapped Professor Tonks, "Another point for Gryffindor. Character is something I don't think I'll be able to teach but that's definitely the single most important thing to learn. The problems of the magical world aren't created by dark magic but by dark people."

"So the big question is how do we tell who is a dark wizard, anyone know how?" she asked. Seeing the blank stares of the class room, she replied for them

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE" she barked, and to James's shock, she broke down into laughter.

"I've got one last question for all of you before you're free to go," she stated, "What do you want to learn this year. I'm being perfectly serious now, no point teaching you stuff you don't really want to know."

"How to duel," Luke suggested, "Sounds like a lot of fun."

"Trust me," said Professor Tonks, "dueling hurts a lot. Still, I don't mind teaching you first years. But before we get to that level, all of you need to know the very basics first. But anyways, you're free to go."

As mulled outside the class, Felix commented, "Remember the explosion in Crabbe's?"

"Yeah,"

"Any idea who made the explosion?" asked Felix.

"None of us," said Luke, "I would have noticed otherwise."

"I doubt it was one of the Slytherins," said James, "why'd they ever do anything to bother him."

"None of the girls," added Luke, "I can't see any of them actually getting into trouble, especially that Gwen girl. Probably Crabbe being to thick headed to get a potion right."

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for disrespect," James heard something growl from behind his back. The trio stopped, mortified in what they'd said.

They slowly turned around praying that it was a figment of their imaginations, that Crabbe hadn't really just taken fifty points from them but it was no hope; Crabbe might as well have put a patent on his rumble.

But to James's incredible surprise, there was only a small dark haired girl. She stared at them intently, with a perfectly straight face as Luke exploded.

"Where'd he go," spat Luke wondering just exactly how and why a gorilla would sneak up behind him telling him he'd lost fifty points and ran away.

By this time, Gwen was cracking up, dropping her bag and falling over on bended knee laughing.

"You should have seen your face," she giggled, and suddenly broke back into her impersonation of Crabbe, "Fifty points for your sheer stupidity."

"Where did that come from," ruminated Felix out loud.

"The same place the little bomb in the cauldron came from." continued Gwen with a Cheshire cat like smile.

"That was you!" said Luke incredulously, "That was wicked brilliant."

"Library anyone," she suggested.


	10. the DA

The D.A

The dinky little library in his old High School looked quite pathetic compared to the one at Hogwarts. There must have been thousands of books on the hundreds of shelves. There was little dust collecting on all the parchments. There was a small door to the side with a sign saying, 'restricted section' on it. James wondered about what kinds of books would be in that section.

"But why'd you do it?" asked Felix as they walked to the library.

"The man's a wart, it makes sense he should look like one, too," she said, "You wanted to do it too, right."

The three boys nodded their head impressed with her audacity. The sat down on some comfortable looking chairs and Gwen dove headlong into a rather large looking book.

"How come you're in Gryffindor and not in Ravenclaw," inquired Felix, "Aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be the smart ones."

"Dunno," she answered not bothering to look up from her book, "both my parents were Ravenclaws and I figured I'd be one too, but you never know."

"So you're wizard born?" asked James.

"Yeah," answered Gwen, "but my parents don't hold to any of that pure-blood junk."

"Mine do," said Wolfgang, "They're quite a bit obsessed with it. Always talking about how muggle borns are ruining us with their ecclecticity."

"Electricity," corrected Luke, "I think that's what you mean."

"Whatever it is, my parents are idiots," said Felix.

"No you're the idiot," James heard someone say. It was Wolfgang, as always surrounded by his two bodyguards, Morder and Kriller.

"I'd like nothing more than giving you a nice hard kick," said James coolly. Felix was almost cowering in his chair, hoping for nothing more than to avoid any fights.

"So you want to fight Potter," said Lestrange, "My boys against will kill you."

"If only they had brains," sighed Gwen, "but I guess people like you can only have sycophantic friends."

"Shut up dork face," retorted Wolfgang, "at least I'm not a pathetic little loser book worm like you."

"You insult my friends and you insult me," said James more confidently than he felt, Morder and Kriller could have made mincemeat out of them, "slimy Slytherin git."

It was lucky Peeves made a visit or there could have been a nasty little fight in the library, (Madam Peznet, the librarian was out so there were no adults to stop them), and James knew that unless he got really lucky, he'd probably get killed.

As usual, Peeves was causing havoc knocking books off of shelves and throwing wastepaper around. Wolfgang and company took it as their cue to leave as Mary and her friends walked in.

"Having a nice chat with young Lestrange," said Mary, pulling up an extra chair, "I knew all of his brothers and you couldn't fin a more prissy bigheaded idiots."

"Hey," said Felix indignantly, "I'm a Lestrange too."

"Sorry," said Mary crisply.

"Well anyways," said Phil, continuing the story for her, "We decided to make amends with him and gave him a canary cream."

"He appreciated it quite a bit," said Peter, "It was the first time he'd ever been a bird."

The four first years stared at him blankly. What did creams have to do with turning into birds?

"Those canary creams turn you into birds," explained Mary, "You can by one for only a sickle. It's quite a good deal. We've got a huge store of them."

Peeves was still in the background making quite a racket when the bloody baron finally restrained him. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, the bloody baron grabbed a kicking and screaming Peeves out the room.

"Well there's a reason we came for you ickle firsties," explained Mary.

"We've been in the mayhem and madness business for a while," explained Phil.

"Oh and its been quite a wonderful business," said Peter, "I'm sure Slytherin prats like Nero, Augustus and now Wolfgang wouldn't agree but what do I care."

"But we're getting old wrinkled," said Mary, "and we'll be graduating soon."

"But we need to leave a legacy," said Phil.

"And that legacy, we've decided is you." said Peter.

"Tomorrow at midnight," said Mary, "Meet us in the kitchens tonight. The House-Elves down there won't really care."

"See you tonight," repeated Phil and Peter.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." added Mary.

"Are you going," whispered Gwen, as Mary, Pete and Phil walked away.

"Of course," replied James. Whatever this whole D.A thing was, it sounded rather interesting. Plus any opportunity to bother Slytherins (James wasn't sure why, but this whole 'I hate Slytherin' thing was quite infectious) was more than welcome.

"Wonder why none of my brothers other than Wolfgang have bothered me," considered Felix, "They weren't really that much better than Wolfgang was."

"Dunno," answered Luke, "Hopefully they'll stay away."

The rest of the day went by quite slowly. There were the usual classes and the usual boredom. Nothing happened except for the fact James learned that clocks moved a little too slow for his taste.

The fire burned warmly by the cushy sofas as the four played an intense game of exploding snap. Exploding snap was quite a bit like cards, except the cards had a nasty tendency to explode when you messed up. Exploding snap had to stop eventually because the explosions were quite bothersome to the older students. Actually, Armondo Accondo, a fifth year, threatened to beat them to a pulp if they kept making an infernal racket so James surmised it was time to lay in bed and pointlessly stare into the ceiling.

Luke figured they'd be lying there for another hour before it was time to get moving. They kept quiet, the older students would much rather be sleeping than listening to their 'stupid first year' chatter.

It was a bit of a relief for James; a little peace and quiet. Almost everything (not including Crabbe's class) was quite wonderful here and he wasn't sure what to make of it. His luck couldn't actually hold up much longer could it? But in the magical world, maybe even the impossible was possible.

"Come on get," up whispered Gwen into his ears, "It's time to get moving."

James quickly got out of bed; he was only wearing his pajamas but he doubted formal dress would be required.

They slowly crept out of the Gryffindor common room, though they had been reassured that the caretaker didn't really care about what they did, there was no point taking any chances.

"If only we were allowed to ask Chump for directions," sighed Felix, "It's hard enough not getting lost in this place in the dark. Felix was quite right, the passages and corridors were already hard enough to navigate in the light; it was all too easy to run headlong into a wall in the pitch-black night. If only someone had been kind enough to leave behind a torch.

"_Lumos_," whispered Gwen, and a thin flashlight like beam flew out of her wand.

"Where'd you learn that," asked Luke.

"I read the textbooks like we were supposed to," hissed Gwen back.

"Why'd anyone do that," snapped Luke.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" asked Felix breaking up the mounting argument between the two.

"Not to far from the kitchens," James heard from a disembodied voice.

"Whose that," asked James turning around to see a friendly old codger, the Caretaker Mr. Chump, standing in the shadows behind them.

"Turn left and go down the stairs," he explained, "They should be waitin' for you there."

"Umm, thanks," said James; wasn't the caretaker supposed to keep them out of trouble, not help them make some but old Mr. Chump disappeared before James had the chance to ask him why he helped them. Chump was definitely a little strange, though quite a nice guy. They followed the directions and quickly found themselves at the kitchen doors.

A hundred or so little creatures with bulging eyes and bat like ears wearing assorted household items (pillow cases, tea cozies etc.) and a few normally (if you call something like mismatched socks, a bowler hat and a tunic normal) dressed creatures as well, were scurrying around cooking and cleaning. Mary, Peter and Phil were lounging on a table, with about a cows' worth of steak piled onto their plates.

"House Elves," explained Mary, "They do most of the cooking, cleaning and just about everything else around here."

"Anyways," said Phil, "we have important business to attend to."

"Many, many years ago, the D.A was formed." said Peter, "Just exactly why was it formed, Mary."

"Idiot," said Mary in mock anger, "Well, there once was a terrible wizard, a Dark Lord known as Voldemort."

Peter and Phil flinched violently and Phil whispered, "Can you please not say his name."

"A name's a name," said Mary, "Lupin always, being afraid of a name makes you afraid of the person or something along those lines."

"Well I am quite afraid of the You-Know-Who," said Peter, who still was flinching at the very thought of his name.

"Moving on," said Mary loudly clearing her throat, "Harry created the D.A as an organization to fight him. Harry trained a whole bunch of students so that they'd be better at fighting the dark arts" Mary shot Phil and Peter angry glares.

"Eventually, your dad made the You-Know-Who spontaneously discombust and the D.A kind of went away. But we couldn't let the D.A just die out. We decided it was time for the D.A to evolve a little bit. Everyone knows all dark wizards come from Slytherin and since the point of the whole D.A was to fight it makes perfect sense to start pranking Slytherins as much as possible."

James nodded his head, not quite following the reasoning but he had no trouble excepting the results. The candles were slowly getting dimmer as the House-Elves left to get some shuteye.

"We've been doing our share of annoying those Slytherin gits for seven years," explained Mary, "but it'll soon be time to leave Hogwarts for the real world and leave this school behind."

Although Mary didn't quite seem the emotional type, James could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"The four of you seem promising enough new recruits to the D.A so we'll let you in on a few of our secrets.:

"The Marauders Map," said Peter reverently handing him an old battered sheet of parchment. The map was doing a rather good job of hiding itself because it looked blank.

"We bequeath this to you," said Mary, "We don't really need this anymore. We've memorized it already."

"What is this?" asked James.

"This is one of the secrets to our success." said Phil.

"A long, long time ago," started Peter.

"When we were but ickle first years," continued Mary.

"We had accidentally went on a stroll through Hogsmeade," said Peter, "Entirely accidental you see."

Felix gave a derisive snort and an appreciative chuckle.

"While explaining that the whole thing was just a little mistake to good old Lupin," said Mary, "we found this little piece of parchment on the table and asked him if we could borrow it."

"Well we skipped the asking for permission part," said Phil.

"Oh, don't worry," said Mary, noticing the aghast look on Gwen's face, "Lupin had to know we took it. He's rather brilliant and I'm sure he'd notice the disappearance of something as useful as this."

With a quick tap of the wand, and the whispering of the words, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," the blank piece of parchment transformed into a map of Hogwarts.

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers

are proud to present

The Marauders Map

The map contained every infinitesimal detail about Hogwarts, and gave the location of ever person within the castle.

"Quite amazing isn't it," said Phil, "Here are the secret passageways to Hogsmeade, the village. This one opens right above the whomping willow so you probably don't want to risk it."

"The whomping what!" asked James in surprise.

"Its an old tree outside Hogwarts," started Phil.

"It enjoys attacking anyone who gets anywhere near it," continued Peter.

"Attack isn't quite the word I would use," grimacing as if she had experienced it herself (and it was quite likely that she had), "I think hideous sadistic human mauling machine is a much better description of it."

"It sent Mary into the infirmary for three weeks," explained Pete.

"But the rest of exits are quite safe," said Phil, "except for this one that's kind of caved in."

"In addition to this map you four also get free access to the entire product line of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. I've no idea why he's giving in to you. I'm the twins nephew and I only get half off. Of course, your James Potter, son of the boy-who-lived, Golden Eyes, Potter."

"Golden eyes," said Gwen tilting her head, "I haven't heard that one before."

"I invented it myself," said Mary, "he only came back from the dead a few days ago so it'll take a while before it decides what his proper epitaph is."

"There's one other thing we should be getting you," said Phil, his face suddenly turning menacing.

"But Nero stole it from us." said Peter darkly.

"Probably because it wasn't yours," interjected James.

"No," said Mary, "It was yours James. Your father left it behind as a gift. We were supposed to keep it safe until we could give it to you, but we failed. Sorry mate, it isn't important how Nero filched it, but he did. We've been trying to get it back from him for a while now but we're closer to the moon than we are to finding the invisibility cloak. It was supposed to be yours, all you have to do is take it."

"The hour is late young fellows," said Phil in a mock dramatic voice, "It is time for a parting of the ways."

Mary reached into her pocket to find a large hubcap like coin in her pocket, "Keep this," she said, tossing it to them as they walked out the doors.


	11. Quidditch Craze

Quidditch Craze

The D.A, despite its promises of bold high jinks against Slytherin, lat dormant for the next few months. James's invisibility cloak lay in Nero's wardrobe, or wherever he kept it, and time rolled by just as usual. Although he would have loved for the opportunity to steal it back, he doubted it would be happening anytime soon. In a couple weeks, Hogwarts had already become a home. Those terrible memories of the Goldmans' slowly faded away. The Forbidden Forest outside the castle walls had become a feast of colors as autumn drew nearer. There was a marked chill in the air, but it was still quite nice.

The biggest problem James faced was, Wolfgang Lestrange. According to Wolfgang, Felix was the waste of life brother that was an embarrassment to the family and probably a squib. Luke was a muggle born so he was naturally quite worthless. Gwen was a dork, and thus a waste of life. James had no family and his eyes had a funny color. Basically, that was the world according to Wolfgang and he made sure to remind them at every opportunity.

Although waving around a wand and saying funny words looks quite easy, Magic is actually quite difficult. Magic was so difficult the teachers felt that it was essential to pile up as much homework as possible to make sure they learned. Everyone thought the teachers were quite evil for this, except for Gwen of course.

Gwen enjoyed homework, feeling it necessary to add extra rolls of parchment to every essay she wrote. James felt no such need, though he was passing most of his classes (except for potions). The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Felix. James hated to admit it, but Wolfgang was close to right saying Felix was a squib. While Felix could do some magic, it backfired more often than not. The four were sitting in the library on a rainy Saturday doing some homework.

"What's Gillyweed," asked Luke, basically handing Gwen his essay to right for him.

"For me to know and you to find out," shot Gwen back, handing him his scroll and a dictionary, "456,"

"Thanks," mumbled Luke, "Though why can't you just let me use your essay."

"Because grades without learning are meaningless," said James in his best impersonation of Gwen.

"Weak," said Gwen, "You can't even do an impersonation properly."

"I'd give a better impersonation if you'll give me your Potions essay," countered James.

"I'd do it but I can't," said Gwen, "Remember he gave you a special essay, because he was afraid you'd be cheating."

"Ugly git," complained Felix.

"He can't help having the face of a troll," said Gwen, "I owled mum and she told me he was hero in the old war of something so we shouldn't be too harsh."

"Nor should he," said James.

It was a good thing that conversation ended about there because Professor Crabbe, surrounded by a posse of Slytherins passed by them setting their slimy selves onto nearby tables.

"I think I'm allergic," said James, leading his friends away. Wolfgang spat on them nastily as they walked out.

"Uglier git," said Gwen as they made their escape. James found the nearest bathroom possible to wash the spit off his hands. Spitting on someone was a low James would never resort to. All this anger made James a little famished and he reckoned it was time to head over to get some food.

"He actually spit on me," complained James, "That's absolutely disgusting! And I'm famished too."

"Are you always hungry," asked Gwen who never seemed hungry.

"He still reminds of a skeleton," said Felix, "It's quite disconcerting. Let him eat so he looks like a normal human being."

While James certainly had gained a decent amount of weight in the last couple months, no one could deny that he was stile extremely underweight. It was well into noon the soup and salad being served looked quite appetizing.

Mike, the captain of the Quidditch team, was in a heated debate about Quidditch tactics with Horatio Gates (Fifth Year, Gryffindor), when James heard his fathers name.

"We haven't won a single house cup since Harry Potter left the team," said Horatio despondently, "We've lost 30 years in a row. How can you say we'll do any better this year."

"We've got a more talented team than ever," shouted Mike back.

"You always say that," argued Horatio Gates.

"But this time I think we have a shot of recruiting some new talent," said Mike, his voice almost a whisper, "Harry was a natural and I'll bet you anything James is a natural too."

It was a bit of an awkward moment for James. He couldn't help swelling up with pride when he heard the amazing stories about his father. Still, James had no idea how he could ever meet everyone's high expectations for him. He'd never flown on a broom before but everyone was hailing him as a Quidditch superstar.

"Pity Slytherin has the best brooms," said Felix, "They got Jade Storms for every player last year. Its absolutely disgusting how big their advantage is."

"Almost as disgusting as they are," added Luke.

"How are yeh, James," said Hagrid as he walked into the Great Hall, carrying an unusually large pumpkin in one hand and his pink umbrella in the other.

"Just fine," replied James.

"Why don' yeh come down fer a visit?" suggested Hagrid as he deposited the pumpkin on a table adding, "I got a little surprise fer yeh."

Shrugging his shoulders, James thought why not to himself. He felt kind of guilty not visiting Hagrid in the past month after all he had done for him.

Hagrid looked at Wolfgang quizzically when Wolfgang introduced himself.

"Yer a Lestrange and yer a Gryffindor," said Hagrid bemusedly, "Well I've seen stranger things. Hope yer better than the louts yer brothers are."

"You don't like Nero either," said Wolfgang, "I thought all of the teachers were in love with him."

"All 'em teacher are being had," spat Hagrid, "He tried gettinn' me fired las' year when he stole me Chimera an' let it loose on 'em students."

"You have a Chimera," said Wolfgang, even more in awe of Hagrid, "How'd you find one. They're extremely rare."

"Well ter be perfectly hones', it was confiscated from the Malfoy Manor," explained Hagrid as they went outside the building.

Hagrid opened his rather large pink umbrella which managed to cover all of them from the rain. Despite the fact Gwen and Luke weren't actually under the umbrella didn't stop it from keeping them dry. It certainly seemed a rather strange umbrella.

"So how are classes?" asked Hagrid, stumbling over a stray rock.

"Good except for potions," said James, "Crabbe hates me."

"Codswallop," said Hagrid, though it seemed quite forced and he looked away.

"Weathers been miserable lately," said Hagrid grumpily changing the subject, "Been rainin' cat's an dogs."

"What exactly do you do when the weathers like this." asked Gwen, "You can't make any rounds or anything."

"Course I can," answered Hagrid, "A lil rain won't keep me from me work."

James noticed a small cabin at the edge of the forbidden forest. Even from a distance, the forest looked extremely sinister.

Soon, they were right at Hagrid's doorsteps. A pair of galoshes and a crossbow leaned against the door.

"It ain't much, but this is my house," said Hagrid, graciously opening the door for them.

Smoked ham and pheasant hung from the walls of Hagrid's one room and a large sprawling bed with a patchwork quilt lay on the floor. An immensely large black Boarhound was taking a nap next to Hagrid's bed. There were a few boxes laying around on the floor and there was a large bronze cage as well. Hearing the clunking footsteps of Hagrid, the dog woke up at first confused, and then excited to have guests.

The dog bounded over the chair licking the four first years playfully, barking loudly and slobbering profusely.

"Back, Snuffles, back," cried Hagrid, forcefully grabbing the dog's collar.

"That's Snuffles," explained Hagrid as the fiercer than he looked dog backed down, "He's just a puppy."

That large black dog would seem quite frightening to most people, but Hagrid was looking at it in the same way one would look at a newborn baby or a tiny kitten.

Hagrid poured some tea out from a little black kettle and the four pulled up chairs while Hagrid took a seat on his bed.

"Well I tol' yer yeh were gonna get a surprise," said Hagrid, whistling softly, "an' here it is."

A great white owl swooped through the door landing on Hagrid's out stretched arms.

"It's a lil late," explained Hagrid, "since yer birthday was in August an' but I though' yeh'd appreciate it anyways."

"I don't know what to say," said James in shock giving Hagrid a massive hug, "this is the best gift I've ever gotten."

"I gave yer dad an owl years an' years ago an' he found it mighty useful," said Hagrid, "Reckon you'd find it useful too. Owls are dead clever, yeh know. Keep good company."

"Anything new at Hogwarts," asked Luke as Hagrid poured a cup of tea for him.

"Not much," said Hagrid as he took a sip, "Werewolf and Blood Sucking Bug Bear attacks have been up but nothin' out o' the ordinary."

"Similar situation in Hogwarts," reported James, "except we've got Wolfgang instead of Werewolves."

"I feel real bad for yeh Felix," said Hagrid consolingly, "Yer brother came down the other day to kick some o' my chickens fer the fun of it. I've seen him an' his brothers spendin' a lot o' time by the edge o' the forbidden forest. Don' have anythin' but I'd be a dragon that they're up to no good."

"Yeah that sounds like Wolfgang," said Felix, "he likes kicking things."

"He don' start showin' more respect or he'll be gettin' kicked real hard real soon," said Hagrid. James could hear a marked increase in the ferocity of the storm outside.

They spent the next few hours in the warm comfort of Hagrid's hut, discussing school magic and everything else. Everything was quite wonderful in Hagrid's little hut, even the treacle tart Hagrid made wasn't half bad, (the school ones were better though not by as much as one would think)

The four finally left Hagrid as the sun set. Walking under Hagrid's umbrella, there was a distinct sense of melancholy as they walked back to the castle. Only one more day of weekend before they were back to the drudgery of schoolwork.

Something unusual caught James's ear as they walked back to the castle. James heard the voices of Wolfgang, Nero and Augustus chatting idly by the lake. While there was nothing wrong with the brothers talking amongst themselves, there was something extremely wrong with the fact James could not see them.

"Hey Hagrid," called James interrupting Felix's comment about Gullbraithan Slowworms, "Did my dad have an invisibility cloak."

"Yes, he did," answered Hagrid, "Don't know where it is now though."

Hagrid switched the conversation back to Gullbraithan Slowworms. By the time they were firmly inside the castle, James knew more about those blasted creatures than necessary, and not nearly enough about the invisibility cloak James now desperately wanted back.

"How can I get it back?" James asked Phil fervently the next morning as Phil piled his porridge with sugar.

"You can't," answered Phil as he subconsciously toyed with a couple of dungbombs in his hands, "Tried it a dozen times. Failed a dozen times. But if you want to make a run at it, Augustus should be at Quidditch tryouts tomorrow to get a look at the new recruits. He's the dumbest of the three so you might have a decent shot at pilfering it from him."

With that in mind, James tried coming up with a plan. But him, nor Luke, nor Felix, not even Gwen could come up with a good plan.

"You can't take it from him without seeing him," said Gwen, sounding almost angry and frustrated.

"Just keep your eyes and ears open," said James, "We've got seven years to get it back so lets not do anything stupid today."

That, basically was about as far as they got that Sunday. The notice had appeared on message board in the Gryffindor Common room, they would be taking flying lessons on Monday with the Slytherins.

"Perfect opportunity for my brother to make fun of me some more," complained Felix when he saw the notice, "I fly about as well as an emu."

"No problem," said James, "me and Luke have never flown before and we aren't scared."

"Speak for yourself," said Luke; "I like having two feet on the ground."

By the next morning James was quite nervous about this whole Quidditch thing. The way the wizard born students spoke, they were born and raised on a broom. Even Melvin Friend, (who James had trouble imagining on a broom) talked about how he almost hit an airplane once. Quidditch seemed to be the only subject on the minds of the first years, a pink elephant might have been flying in a tutu and they'd still be discussing Polokhov Maneuvers.

Even Gwen had a couple broom stories herself. Felix, as Wolfgang made pains to point out, managed to run into a barn house on three separate occasions and that he ruined his top of the line firebolt XL in the process. Of course, Wolfgang was wealthy enough to buy him a much nicer broom the next day.

Madame Murdo was standing on the greens, and about twenty brooms were gently lying on the floor. She was tall, slightly graying woman with long blond hair and sharp blue eyes. The brooms looked quite innocuous, there was no way to distinguish them from a muggle broom. But there was something quite different about these brooms; these brooms could fly.

In the distance, James could have sworn he saw Professor Lupin peering at him from one of the windows.

"Stand by a broom," she said laconically sneezing loudly. She seemed quite sick at the moment and looked

"I bet muggle brooms fly better than these pieces of junk" complained Wolfgang as he stared at his broom. While the brooms did look slightly bent, and some of the twigs seemed out of place, James figured they'd at least fly.

"Put your hand over the broom and say up," commanded the old woman, her face turned an odd shade of lime.

"UP" said everyone in unison, as a couple brooms flew straight into the hands of their users. Gwen was the only one of his friends to be successful, Luke's broom went half way up and he had bend over to catch the broom before it fell to the ground. Felix's broom sat still. It annoyed James quite a bit that Wolfgang's broom went straight up just as it was supposed to. He guessed it must have been something about confidence; there was a slight wavering in his voice.

After correcting everyone's grips, and showing them how not to fall of a broom, Madame Murdo curtly ordered them to mount their brooms.

"On the count of three, kick of the ground nice and hard and hover a few feet above the ground."

"One, two, three," she counted and everyone did (or tried to do) exactly what she told them to do. James's broom rose a few feet above the ground, though many did not.

Madame Murdo told them to try again, sagely giving advise on how best to do it. After he fourth exhortation, the entire class was in the air. It felt nice being in the air, though it wasn't quite as exhilarating as he'd imagined it to be. Still, he doubted anyone could find floating idly in a large pack of students while being chaperoned by and old woman particularly exciting. James felt a strange breeze prickle against the back of his neck.

Madame Murdo, though, didn't look like she was going to last much longer. She made a sudden about turn and quickly ordered everyone to get back onto the ground. James saw hurling vomit mightily to the ground as she flew towards the infirmary in the castle.

"Poor woman," commented Felix though he winced at the thought of the otherwise splendid grounds being covered by vomit.

James didn't really feel like getting back onto the ground, but didn't feel like breaking any rules so he gently landed himself. Melvin Friend, accidentally fell off of his broom in that process.

As everyone was walking back to the castle, muttering about what a disappointment flying lessons had been, James saw something quite strange. There was a broom above him flying; that wasn't strange but the fact that there was no one on it was extremely strange.

And then it hit him. That was Augustus Lestrange watching over him in an invisibility cloak. His invisibility cloak. James sprinted back to where the brooms were, as Gwen screamed, "What are you doing James."

James didn't know what he was doing, but he mounted his broom and flew up anyways.

All eyes turned to James as he flew higher and higher, closing in on his invisible target. Augustus didn't budge an inch as James got closer and closer. Finally, James felt the sheer exhilaration of flying. The cool air was rushing through his air as he closed in on his invisibility cloak. James had no idea what he planned to do once he reached Augustus but the utter joy of flying made him forget such trifling thoughts.

Strangely, Augustus made no effort to get out of his way, even though James hurtled faster and faster towards him. He was barely two feet away from Augustus when he ran into what felt like a brick wall; it must have been Augustus's body. Augustus let loose a massive punch straight into James's face, knocking him right off of his broom.

He was a hundred feet above ground and he didn't like the thought of falling to his death so he made one wild grasp at Augustus's broom. He flailed his other hand onto what he hoped was Augustus's body and pulled at it with all of his might. In one strong pull, he ripped the invisibility cloak off of Augustus's body. But the momentum of that action sent James plunging downwards. He was falling in free fall, when he passed out, clutching the invisibility cloak in his hands.


	12. Peter Pettigrew

Peter Pettigrew

Sometime later, (James wasn't sure how long) he felt his body convulse as someone shook him mightily.

"Are you O.K," said a haggard looking Gwen, "You've been out for two days."

"I'm quite fine," James groggily, as the world slowly came into focus for his golden eyes, "I just had a little fall."

"You really need glasses James," said Felix, "because a hundred feet doesn't seem little at all to me."

Madame Medica, the school nurse, was a large, dour woman. She was frantically waddling around the infirmary muttering things like, "Brooms, should be banned from school forever."

"What happened to the cloak?" whispered James as Madame Medica wobbled into another room.

"Lupin took it," said Luke grimly.

"Great," said James feeling a touch of anger swell up inside him, "I took a hundred foot dive for absolutely nothing."

"I'm feeling your little isn't about to help Gryffindor much," said Felix grimly, "Lupin wants to talk to you later."

James gulped loudly, before Luke added, "You still have a day before he has to talk to you. Plenty of time to make up some good excuses."

"At least we know one thing," said Felix, "you're amazing on a broom, you're definitely a natural."

Madame Medica reentered the room and sent his friends scurrying. Apparently their company was bothering his rest and relaxation.

Before James had the chance to argue otherwise, she shoved a vial of something up his mouth without notice. James spluttered madly but most of the stuff went down his mouth anyways.

"Dreamless sleep potion," explained Madame Medica but James was feeling a little too drowsy to listen to what she was saying.

Though he wasn't kicking and screaming, James was feeling quite disgruntled while he was being dragged into Lupin's office. He wondered about how many different ways Mike could torture him after he'd just cost Gryffindor a hundred points. There was one thing James knew: he desperately wanted to keep that invisibility cloak.

James passed by to sniggering Gargoyles and was tossed headlong by Madame Medica into Professor Lupin's office. Professor Lupin was smiling gently as James sat onto a comfortable purple chair.

"Have some soda," suggested Lupin handing James a coke, "don't worry, its just a normal muggle coke. I must say, I find them quite refreshing."

Without bothering to take even a sip of the drink, James launched himself immediately into a half-hazard defense of his actions. James knew he made about as much sense as a dog arguing for Marxism.

There was no raging fury, or sudden bursts of anger from the headmaster. Professor Lupin only smiled sadly, and with a gesture calmed James down.

"I saw everything that happened," said Professor Lupin calmly, "and I know you wanted the invisibility cloak."

"Please sir, -,"

"The invisibility cloak, I must say is quite valuable," said Lupin, cutting James off, "and you'll probably use it only to create mayhem."

"But sir-,"

"But it means more to you doesn't it," said Lupin waiting for James to nod his head.

"I realize you do not hold many memories of your family," said Lupin, "and I know your friends have become family to you. But still, I understand that the value of this cloak is far greater than its cost in Galleons. Remember one thing, use it well."

With a smile and a nod of his head, Lupin handed James his cloak.

"Thanks," said James as he passed by the shocked Gargoyles, but the word thanks couldn't convey his gratitude.

"You can't be serious," was the reaction of everyone when he announced what Lupin did.

"The man is daft," said Luke proudly, just feeling the invisibility cloak. The cloak had a strange feel; it had the feel of water. James ran his hands through the shimmering cloth, trying to imagine the adventures his parents had been through; adventures he had plans on reliving.

Finally, James put the cloak on. He sprinted to the nearest mirror to see that half of his body wasn't visible anymore. James felt a bit like a superhero at that moment. He'd learned how to and become invisible in just one day.

"Congrats," said Mary, grinning from ear to ear, "I was worried you three were a little behind on the magical mischief making thing, but you just nicked an invisibility cloak."

James shoved his hands into his pockets feeling a bit abashed. James noticed a small sheet of paper in the pockets of the invisibility cloak.

"Basilisk Fangs," read James aloud.

"That's quite strange," said Phil, tossing the piece of parchment aside.

Hogwarts was wonderful day after wonderful day; James thought to himself as he fell into his bed. Had James something so stupid and reckless at the Goldman's they would probably be testing Chinese Water torture on him right now.

"So what's the plan for tonight," whispered Luke as he picked Bluemoon grass, in Herbology.

"Be careful not to take too much," warned Professor Longbottom, "We don't want to waste anything."

"Well, what are we going to do tonight," whispered Luke, this time a little more urgently.

"How about sleep?" suggested Gwen meekly.

"Where's the fun in that," said Felix, "We have an invisibility cloak, and the marauders map and the most excited thing you can think of is sleep."

"Sleep is good," responded Gwen in an eve meeker voice.

"Hogsmeade," suggested James, "Let's see what that place is about."

"We could get in trouble," pleaded Gwen, but ignored her. Even Gwen, who normally didn't like getting into trouble, was finding the new magical mischief making an interesting occupation. Anyways, the boys were bound to do something idiotic without he watching over them.

"Hey Augustus," said Luke as Augustus, (James must have somehow broken his arm because he was carrying it in a sling), "Get beat up by a twitchy first year."

Augustus gave a menacing growl, and probably would have knocked Luke out had it not been for the fact so many teachers were watching.

"Let's get going," whispered James as they walked out of the Gryffindor common room, "We've got places to go and things to do."

"And Lestrange's to prank," added Luke, though not before Felix gave him an elbow. They were laughing loudly, as Peeves passed them by, entering a suit of armor and trying to trip them.

"Peeve's," shouted James, but he had disappeared.

"He's crazier than you are," James told Luke as they kept on walking.

"I think we take a right here," said Felix, glancing at the Marauders Map.

"You could lost inside a box," replied Gwen, turning the map which Felix was holding upside down right side up.

"Thanks," he said grinning sheepishly.

Gwen only sighed, grabbing the map from his hands.

"Take a left," she slowly said, "No wait, go right. Crabbe's coming by this way."

"Shh," whispered James, draping the invisibility cloak over all four of them.

An angry Crabbe stalked past them, muttering wildly.

"Get out of that invisibility cloak," he said loudly, "I know you have it. Just wait until I find you and I'll give you detention until Christmas. You'll be begging for mercy when I'm done with you."

The four stood petrified in fear, but Crabbe couldn't see them. And so Crabbe skulked away, never getting too close.

"We better keep quiet, and stick to the cloak," said Felix, and the crew agreed.

They were soon safely through the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, and entered a small dank passageway.

"I wonder who made these secret passageways," conjectured Gwen, as she crawled.

"Gnomes," suggested Felix, "humans weren't made for something this small."

"Maybe an army of midgets was trying to lay siege to Hogwarts," said James jokingly.

But his back was in no moods for joking. The first few minutes of crawling wasn't too bad; but the snail's pace at which they were moving and the bodily convulsions he had to make to keep moving had his body screaming with discomfort.

Finally, James felt his head hit something hard. Normally a lump on the head wasn't something James looked forward too, but the trapdoor James bumped his head against was quite welcoming.

The four crawled out of the secret tunnels and slipped past a series of large crates and bottles. They darted through a staircase and into the counter of what was by James's estimation, the eighth wonder of the world.

All four lit their wands to get a better view of the place. Succulent sweets lined the dozens of shelves. James's jaw dropped as he admired the creamy chunks of Nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, caramel crunches. There was an entire row of special effects sweets such as Drouble's Best Blowing Gum, (which filled the room with blue colored bubbles that refused to pop for days,) and Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black pepper imps (breath fire for you friends) and a whole lot more.

"I think I'd like a sugar quill," said Gwen as she examined the candies.

"You know I think me and my brothers should have a bit of a reconciliation," suggested Felix out of the blue.

Luke nearly dropped to box of pepper imps when he heard Felix's solution.

"I think I should offer them a present," said Felix, "I think cockroach clusters, or acid pops would do."

"I think we'll take some of those too," said Luke grabbing some acid pops. James scooped a handful of every flavor beans, shoving them into his mouth to see what mixture of flavors he'd get.

"Mustard, chocolate, sardine," said James, "not half bad." Gwen was gagging at the thought of eating something like that.

"We can take some candy on our way back," recommended James, "Let's see the rest of Hogsmeade first."

A blood curdling scream reverberated through the village just as they were about to step outside the door.

The blood drained out of James's face and Luke was fidgeting nervously as he stood behind the box.

"Check the map," ordered James curtly.

"Its Chump," said Felix looking aghast, "And someone called Pettigrew. I think they're fighting. I think someone attacked Chump."

"Oh my god," uttered Gwen, her hands shaking.

"Pettigrew is coming over here," said Felix as calmly as he could, "and Chump isn't on the map anymore."

"Back to the tunnels," said James, as they scurried in to the tunnels as fast as they could.

James grabbed the map from Felix's hands taking one last look before he too would escape into the tunnels. According to the map, Pettigrew in the shop. James looked, and unfortunately he was there. A short spectral figure walked into the room, laughing maniacally. He was short, balding, and slightly pudgy. Normally, James figured Pettigrew wouldn't have looked frightening, yet the blood stained Pettigrew had depraved gleam in his eyes that frightened James.

"Come on," said Gwen, tugging his sleeves, "before he sees us."

The journey back took far less than the journey to Hogsmeade. Though they didn't have the dreams of sumptuous candy to sustain, the fear of the deranged Peter Pettigrew was motivation enough.

Gwen broke the silence of the tunnels when she said, "we have to tell Lupin about this."

"But we'll be in so much trouble," countered Luke half heartedly.

"There was a murder tonight," said James, "Lupin has to know."

They crawled out of the passageway, scared and exhausted. The four stumbled towards the gruff gargoyles.

"Let us in," cried Felix banging on the doors but the Gargoyles wouldn't budge.

"Do I hear something," said one gargoyle, to the other.

"Nope," said the second, ignoring James's desperate appeals, "Probably a fly."

Luckily, though the Gargoyles seemed deaf, the Headmaster's hearing was quite acute.

"Come on in," said Professor Lupin, ushering them into his office. Despite the fact he was still wearing pink bunny rabbit pajamas, Professor Lupin cut an impressive figure.

"Sir, would you know where the caretaker is?" asked James.

"Well, no," said Professor Lupin, his face contorting with confusion.

"I think he was killed," said Luke.

James explained everything, covering ever detail, of what happened that night.

"I'm glad you came to me," said Professor Lupin once James finished his story, "normally the repercussions for what you did would be strong, but I don't want to stop you from telling me important information. But I need the marauders map."

James handed him the map, biting back the urge to argue. It would be churlish not to accept Lupin's generous offer.

"Do you know who Lupin is?" asked James.

"All to well," said Professor Lupin, his old age suddenly becoming more evident under the flickering light of a lamp, "he was once a friend of mine, not anymore."

"Just promise me one thing," continued Professor Lupin, "Please, do not do anything rash about this under any circumstances. Pettigrew is a dangerous man and I will do everything I can to solve this mystery. Keep your minds somewhere else, class, Quidditch even pranks. No one needs to know about what happened tonight. Good night."

The good night had a finality that told James he was being dismissed. Luke gave the sniggering gargoyles outside a nice hard kick, though Luke ended hurting himself more than he hurt the gargoyles resulting in even more sniggering.

James dreamed of Peter Pettigrew that night, dreamed of Pettigrew laughing mercilessly as he hacked away at Charlie Chump. He woke up sometime the next morning, his eyes searing with pain. He decided against telling his friends what he saw; it was just a nightmare.


End file.

Harry Potter, Adventure, Mystery