Hey guys! Guess who's back with another one!
I know I should be working on my other fics... But I couldn't help writing this one! I intend to write a story for each of the Holy Trinity (And Zack!) Being in the Wizarding World, so... Here's another one! Which one, I cannot tell... You'll just have to read and find out!
MANY thanks to my lovely and wonderful Beta, DarkIceAngelFlare. Who has helped lots and lots with this fic! Thanks~!
Hope you all enjoy this story! I'll see you all again soon with chapters for "Rot, Braun und Silber", "I'm A What?" (Also known as "We're Where?") and this one!
Enjoy!
~Snow.
I don't own Harry Potter or FFVII! I wish I did though... Oh what could have happened... Like Zack living...
Ever since James Potter could remember, something always had seemed off, seemed missing, as if a gaping hole existed within his very soul.
When he was young, he hadn't understood why. His parents were rich, he was an only child of an older couple (so he sometimes wondered if he subconsciously wanted a younger sibling), he lived in a mansion and could fly on his broom anytime he wanted - if he wasn't grounded, of course.
As time passed, James slowly learned how to ignore the hole in his soul and continued on with his life as if nothing was wrong. He pranked his parents and played by himself or with one of his parent's house elves.
Then came his eleventh birthday and the arrival of his Hogwarts letter. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a place that every pureblood – and most half-bloods – looked forward to going to. His parents – Charlus and Dorea Potter – took him to Diagon Alley a few days after receiving it. James had been there plenty of times before, but this time… there seemed to be something even more magical than normal to the alley.
He had barely been able to persuade his mother to get him a large trunk with at least four compartments. When his mother had asked why he'd need them, he rather happily told her they were for books (which pleased the Potter matriarch, who had a deep love of reading).
Though his good luck didn't last, as she hadn't let him buy as many books as he wanted – giving him a limit of twenty.
James grumbled for a good half-hour before cheering up when his father had taken them to the Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for lunch and let him get a large bowl of his favorite black raspberry ice cream with chocolate chunks in it.
Afterwards it had been off to get the rest of his supplies and then finally, the one thing James had been looking forward to most – a wand.
Ollivander's had been unsurprisingly quiet and James had looked around in awe, watching as the slight, almost unnoticed colors of magic seemed to radiate off of everything in the store. His father's hand on his shoulder had drawn him out of his thoughts as Charlus had cheerfully told Ollivander that it was time for him – James – to get his first wand.
"Do you mean I'll get another when I've finished Hogwarts or something?" James had asked without thinking, his dark brows furrowing in confusion before he pouted when his parents – and Ollivander –chuckled at his question.
It seemed to take hours – but in reality had only been perhaps one – before James had finally found his own wand: mahogany, eleven inches with a unicorn tail core. Ollivander had told him it was a good wand for Transfiguration.
After thanking the man happily and paying for the wand, James had eagerly darted out of the shop and followed his parents back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they had Floo-ed back to Potter Manor.
The next few weeks found James pouring over his Hogwarts books. Eagerly taking in everything he could about what he'd be learning over the year, he tried a few spells on his own, managing to successfully casting a levitation charm and unlocking charm. He'd already found History of Magic dull.
When it had finally come to September First, James had gotten up three hours earlier than was necessary and, after finding himself unable to fall back asleep, he decided to get up. Climbing out of bed, bare feet padded over to the doorway as he pulled his bathrobe over his pajamas. Opening his bedroom door, James quickly looked around the corridor. Seeing that the coast was clear, James began what had become a habit during the last few years: an early morning jog.
He started by jogging down the long corridors for about fifteen minutes before slowing to a decently-paced walk which continued for another ten minutes before turning around and running for another twenty back to his bedroom
Mumbling a metal list of his things to himself as he went through his trunk, James made sure he had everything before shutting the lid of the trunk and locking it. Grabbing the handle, James dragged his new trunk out of his bedroom and down the hallway, silently reminding himself once again to thank his father for putting the Feather-Light charm on the trunk.
As he made his way into the dining room a few minutes later, James noticed that his parents were already up and eating breakfast.
"Someone's eager," Charlus teased, looking up from his paper, blue eyes glanced at the trunk in James' hand. "I was wondering when you would join us, James."
Flushing, James ducked his head in embarrassment while Charlus chuckled, motioning for James to leave the trunk and join them for breakfast.
"Don't listen to him," Dorea lightly patted the top of James' head as he sat down before starting to fuss over his hair. "Your father was up long before you were on his first day of school, as your grandmother used to tell me."
Seeing the surprised look on his father's face, James giggled.
James looked out of the window of the Hogwarts Express, his legs swinging as he grinned eagerly. He was going to Hogwarts! Finally going to Hogwarts!
The messy-haired eleven-year-old was currently sharing his compartment with two others. One was a dark-haired boy with grey eyes that was the same age of him, looking a bit sulky as he looked out the window too. The other one was a girl with red hair and emerald green eyes that made James' heart skip a beat. He found that he loved that shade, but it confused him as to why.
For ages, he had hated the color green, because of reoccurring nightmares that had the color in it. But her eyes... They were nothing like the acid, sickly green from his dreams.
It wasn't long into their trip when the door to the compartment opened and an eleven year-old with greasy long hair and a hook nose entered. Something happened and before he knew it, the dark-haired boy and greasy-haired boy were arguing and the girl was tugging on the greasy-haired boy's - Severus, James thought his name was, having heard the girl murmur the name - arm, muttering to him quickly.
James stayed skilfully silent, watching as the compartment door was once again thrown open by the hook-nosed boy and the dark-haired boy was glaring after him while the girl was pleading for Severus to just leave it alone and for them to leave the compartment.
"See you around, Snivellus," the dark haired eleven-year-old sneered as the hook-nosed boy disappeared, dragging the pretty redhead with him.
The dark-haired boy turned to face James - who had looked over at the window moments before, pretending he hadn't been watching the fight - and he flushed faintly.
"Sorry about that," the boy murmured and James shook his head.
"It's fine."
The boy opened his mouth to say something else, but they were interrupted by the compartment door opening again, this time by a young witch pushing a trolley full of different candies.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?"
James and the boy jumped up immediately. Shooting each other surprised glances, they started to giggle before ordering several different sweets. Ten minutes later, they found themselves lounged on the seats, eating the sweets they had bought while chatting happily about different Quidditch teams.
"I nearly forgot! I'm Sirius Black," Sirius introduced himself, offering his hand while grinning crookedly at James whose eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Black? My mother was a Black," James said cheerfully, "I'm James Potter." He reached over, grasping the other's outstretched hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Heir Black," he added, mocking his father's usual stiff, formal tone.
Hearing Sirius' laugh, for the first time in ages, feeling the hole in his soul slowly start to heal, he knew that this would be the start of a wonderful friendship.
A thirteen year-old James Potter grinned darkly as he stood over Sirius' bed, his fingers twirling his wand lazily as he pondered which spell would be best to wake up the white sheep of the Black family.
His fingers paused as James decided and, giving a flick of his wrist, James said clearly, "Aguamenti."
A yelp of shock echoed around the third-year Gryffindor dorm room as Sirius bolted out of bed and dived underneath Remus Lupin's – one of their best friends.
"James!" Sirius growled, grey eyes blinking tiredly as his best friend roared with laughter, having to lean against one of the posts to keep himself from falling over.
"Yes, Sirius?" James tried – and failed – to look innocent, tucking his wand into his back pocket while looking away. His lips were twitching at the corners as he fought to keep a smile off of his face.
"I am going to strangle you!" Sirius launched himself at James, who took off running.
Sighing, Remus Lupin watched the two in amusement as he sat on his bed, his sandy-blonde hair falling in front of his eyes as he ducked his head slightly, burying his nose into his Defence Book. However, his mind was far from the book in front of him.
You see, Remus Lupin was a werewolf, something that his best friends – Sirius, James and Peter Pettigrew – didn't know. The full moon would be that night, thus, he needed a new excuse to disappear for the next few days.
Perhaps he could use the excuse that his mother was ill… Wait, he had used that one last month.
Lips curved downwards into a worried frown. Remus was terrified of his friends finding out about the fact he was a werewolf. He was afraid of them abandoning him. Part of him, some small part that had been awakened after his first transformation, knew that they wouldn't, that they were the same as they used to be, a lifetime ago.
"Earth to Remus!"
Brown eyes blinked in surprised as Remus looked up from his book, nearly jumping back in surprise at seeing Sirius sitting in front of him, a large grin on his face.
"What were you so deep in thought about, Remmy?" James asked, sitting next to Sirius while Peter was watching from his own bed.
"O-Oh? Just worried about my uncle. He's gotten sick and my mom wants me to come and visit him, since he hates practically everyone but me," Remus stuttered out, looking away from his friends.
"Your uncle?" Raising a brow, Sirius exchanged a look with James. "Don't you mean sneaking off to the tunnel under the Whomping Willow with Madame Pomfrey where you change into a werewolf?"
Remus almost choked as his eyes widened and in one leap he had jumped from his bed and fled towards the door, only to be followed by Sirius and James, both grabbing Remus' wrists.
"Remus! Calm down! We're not mad nor do we hate you!" Sirius yelped, nearly sighing as Remus froze.
"We don't care that you're a werewolf!" James added, letting go of Remus' wrists when he was certain that the teenager wouldn't flee. Sirius followed suit.
"So you don't mind?" Remus asked hesitantly, unwilling to believe what the two in front of him were saying.
"Nope!" Sirius said cheerfully. Skipping over to his bed, he grabbed a box from on top of his trunk before plopping onto the end of the mattress. He then tossed the Chocolate Frog box at the startled werewolf.
"Why would we care if you have a furry little problem once a month? You're still the annoying, book-reading, honor-lecturing brat we all know and love," James teased, ducking the swat to the head Remus had aimed at him.
"Where did honor-lecturing come from?" Remus asked, slowly making his way back to his bed while opening the box, snagging the frog mid-jump and biting off its head.
"Dunno," James shrugged, jumping onto his own bed and grinned widely.
"This gives us a perfect reason to break the law too!" he said cheerfully and Sirius nodded seriously.
"The law!? Why in Merlin's name would you break the law!?" Remus gaped at James and Sirius.
Smirking, James tilted his head to the side just faintly. "Remus, tell me… Have you ever heard of Animagi?"
"That wasn't very honorable," Remus muttered from the shadows, causing a surprised fifteen year-old James Potter to jump, his head snapping around to see Remus leaning against the wall of the second floor corridor.
"He called Lily a Mudblood," James argued softly, shifting guiltily underneath Remus' disapproving gaze, unable to meet the werewolf in the eye. "I know it was my fault that he called her that in the first place... But he didn't need to act like that."
"James..." Remus sighed. "You two need to grow up and at least try to make amends. Maybe then Lily will start seeing you in a better light."
James gave a soft snort. "Yeah, right..." A sad smile spread across his face. "I'll be lucky if she ever even wants to see my face again..."
Giving his friend a pitying look, Remus just shook his head and straightened up.
"Try at least. First though... Go and undo that hex. I don't think Lily would be happy if she found out that you're the one who made Severus break out into pimples that read 'DEATH EATER' on his forehead."
"Yeah... I'll go do that, tomorrow."
"James! Now."
"Yes, Mum."
Sweat dripped down his cheeks as James paced around the small apartment that he was currently staying the night at.
He had had that nightmare again, the one in which he was drowning in acid-like green liquid, everything burned and a woman screamed angrily in his ears.
It had been years since he had gotten that nightmare, not since he had met Remus and Sirius. Those two were miracles! Just being with them helped patch up the hole in his soul. It wasn't fully healed yet, though it was getting there.
Sighing, James glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned. He knew that he better get to bed otherwise he'd be half-asleep tomorrow and Lily would kill him.
After all, they were getting married tomorrow.
"James? Are you listening?" Lily asked, waving a hand in front of her dumbfounded husband's face, her eyebrow raised as the dark-haired wizard blinked slowly.
"You're pregnant?" James repeated what his wife had told him just a few moments ago. His hazel eyes widened behind dark-framed glasses as his jaw dropped. "I-It's mine, right?" he asked stupidly.
Green eyes rolled while the corners of her lips twitched upwards faintly. "Yes, James, it's yours, you git," Lily said fondly.
A foolish grin spread across James' lips and he launched himself at his wife – shocking her – and gathered her in his arms, whirling her around.
"James! Put me down!" Lily protested, clutching at James as he slowed to a stop, unable to stop grinning as he kissed the redhead excitedly.
"I'm going to be a Dad!"
James paced worriedly in the waiting room of Saint Mungo's. He had been kicked out of the delivery room by one of the Medi-Witches after he had fainted the second time. Biting his nails, he really missed the calming presence of Remus – who was undercover currently.
"Jamie, settle down! You know how tough your wife is. They'll be fine!" Sirius called from the chair he was sitting in, though he too was starting to get worked up – mostly from James' pacing.
"I can't, Sirius," James nearly whined, tapping his fingers against his arms as he repeatedly glanced at the door to the waiting room. "And you don't know that! What if something did happen?! What if s-" He was cut off as a Medi-Witch entered the room.
"Mr. Potter?" she asked, her lips giving a faint twitch at seeing the young man pacing jumped nearly five feet into the air before rushing over to her.
"Are they okay? Are they alive? Are-" James was cut off as the Medi-Witch silenced him.
"Both Mrs. Potter and the baby are fine. Would you like to see them?"
James nodded eagerly, unable to speak as he followed the Medi-Witch.
When they arrived at the room, Lily was smiling as she held the small bundle in her arms. "James, come say hello to our son," Lily spoke softly, not looking up from their son.
Making his way slowly over to the bed, James peered down at the small baby in Lily's arms. He had a tuft of dark, fuzzy hair and reddish skin. The blue eyes that peered up at him held a hint of green.
Shakily sitting down in the chair next to Lily's bed, he accepted the small bundle that was their son from Lily's arms.
James gave a watery laugh as he carefully held his son in his arms, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as he smiled widely.
"Welcome to the world, Harry."
The evening of October thirty first, Harry's second Halloween, found James Potter draped lazily across the couch, his wife in the other room writing a letter to Sirius.
The messy-haired man was making colored smoke rings with his wand to entertain Harry, who was sitting on the floor directly in front of the couch.
James smiled brightly as Harry clapped his hands cheerfully, the baby giggling brightly as he reached out to the smoke rings.
"Alright, time for little Bambi to get to bed," Lily said as she entered the living room, a soft smile on her face as she looked down at her husband and son.
"Aww, Lily!" James pouted childishly up at his wife, who gave him a stern look, before pouting. "Fine," he sighed, standing up. He left his wand on the couch while scooping Harry into his arms. "C'mon, Bambi."
He moved to take Harry to the nursery, determined to talk his wife into letting him read at least one Muggle fairytale to his son before bed.
Suddenly, one of the alarms for the wards went off and the whole house seemed to shake for a moment.
Paling rapidly, James shoved Harry into Lily's arms, startling the redheaded witch.
"Lily! Take Harry and go! It's him! Go! I'll hold him off!" James yelled at his wife, his hand reaching for the wand on the couch as the door blew open and a figure stepped inside.
A sneer curved the Dark Lord's lips as red eyes followed the disappearing figure of Lily Potter as she fled to the nursery before those eyes focused on the man in front of him.
"Foolish wizard," Voldemort sneered. "Fighting without a wand? You're as defenceless as a Muggle."
With that, the Dark Lord raised his wand and uttered the two words that would end James Potter's life.
Hazel eyes widened in shock as green light flew at him from the tip of Voldemort's wand and the world seemed to slow before stopping as memories flew through his mind. Flashing before his eyes was his first life.
James Potter's blood ran cold as time sped back up when the flashes ended and he was hit with the Killing Curse.
Body falling to the floor, a hand reached weakly towards where his wife had ran to with their child before his soul returned once more to the Lifestream. There, pressured by the grief and sudden return of another lifetime of memories, his mind shattered.
Time passed differently in the Lifestream.
Sephiroth had found that out the first time that he had been killed.
Time that seemed like seconds in the Lifestream could be hours, days, weeks, months or even years. And time that seemed like years, months, weeks, days or hours could merely be seconds. This time, time passed slowly for the man as he slowly pieced together his mind once again, sorting out his memories of Sephiroth from his memories of James.
He remembered making the deal with Minerva – the Goddess – to be allowed to have a second chance at life, to repent for the sins of his first. He had been pleased and surprised by the deal she had offered and had taken it at once. Sephiroth should've known, though, that the Goddess would throw him for a loop and send him to a time where his soul would exist in a different body.
Growing up as a Pureblood, James knew of the rare instances of time travel, but this was different. He hadn't known that his soul existed someplace else and if he hadn't been careful, he might've met his other self.
Thank Gaia he didn't.
Also, there was the fact that Angeal and Genesis had been reborn too: Angeal as Remus Lupin, while Genesis was Sirius Black.
He should've known. Well, he would've if he had remembered before he had died.
The way that Remus acted was too similar to Angeal, a gentle but strong man, and Sirius… Well, it seemed that his flamboyancy and ego followed him to another lifetime.
Sighing in the Lifestream, Sephiroth reached out, looking for souls he knew. He couldn't sense Aerith or the Puppy, but he could sense his Remnants, and…. Sephiroth's blood ran cold and horror ran through his 'veins' as he sensed Lily in the Lifestream.
If he had a body, he would've been crying. As it was, he was coming the closest that he could.
Almost frantically, he began searching for his son and to his surprise yet relief, he couldn't find Harry's soul within the Lifestream, meaning that his son was still alive.
Though that relief was short lived as Sephiroth realized that – seeing as how they had just changed Secret Keepers – Genesis/Sirius would be arrested for 'handing them over' to Voldemort and he knew that within his grief, Sirius would blame himself and admit to 'killing' them.
With Angeal/Remus being a werewolf, he wouldn't be able to take Harry in thanks to Anti-Werewolf laws.
That left the Longbottoms, but unlike Lily and James, they hadn't been under the Fidelius Charm and would be found quickly, if they hadn't been already.
Changing his soul's signature back to James', Sephiroth begged Lily to tell him what she had done to protect Harry and to James' surprise – but Sephiroth's amusement – she had used Reflect upon their son.
How she knew it, Sephiroth didn't bother finding out as he left her alone.
Her soul had accepted peace in her death but his own soul was in turmoil. He didn't want to upset hers.
It took moments for Sephiroth to realize that Dumbledore would mistake Reflect for some sort of blood spell and anger burned in his stomach as he realized that his son – with no one else to take him in – would be left with Lily's sister.
Her sister who hadn't even talked to Lily since their wedding, who had hated Lily for everything she was and that Petunia would never be.
And he knew, he knew that the horse-looking woman would take her anger out on his son, and that her whale of a husband would too, hating everything even slightly out of the normal.
He had to leave.
He needed to find his son and, without thinking, he started to force his body to reform – not James' but Sephiroth's – with the sole purpose of the need to find and protect the one thing that he had left to live for.
His son.
A hand reached out of the Mako pool deep inside of the Nibelheim Mountains. Fingers dug into the earth as the man pulled himself out of the pool, long hair and naked body drenched in deadly Mako.
Coughing the Mako out of his lungs, the man stood a bit shakily on long legs as the liquid dripped off of his body.
Ignoring the deadly substance on his skin, the man shook his head, successfully shaking off a bit of the liquid from his hair and away from his face.
Raising a hand, he brushed the rest out of his eyes and they opened, revealing green irises just as glowing and bright as the Mako, pupils narrowed to slits and the man turned his head, lips curving downwards into a faint frown.
He still had JENOVA cells inside of him and as long as he was on the continent, Cloud would be able to find him, so first things were first. He needed to acquire clothes before he could even think of leaving.
Assuming he was near Nibelheim, seeing as the mountain had an abundance of Mako that very few places in the world had, that would be easy to do.
The next thing was to figure a way to get to England.
Wait…
Did he…?
Taking a breath, green eyes closed in concentration and a moment later a large black wing shot out of the man's back, flinging more deadly Mako off of his body and eyes opened again, a smirk on the man's lips.
There was that problem solved.
But he needed to hurry. He had to locate the one thing he had brought himself back for. Preferably before Voldemort – or Dumbledore – could sink their claws into his son further than what they had already.
"I'm coming," Sephiroth murmured quietly, expression determined as he strolled to where the little town would be located.
"Wait for me, Harry."
And that's the chapter! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of "Kombinierte." Or, Combined in German!
Questions? Comments? Criticism? Give a Review! I love reading all of them! Except Flames... Flames are put in my fireplace to burn. :)
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Thanks for Reading! And once more, many thanks to my Beta, DarkIceAngelFlare!
See you all soon!
~Snow.