Life after Death: the Rebirth of James Potter
By AlleyCat
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea!
Summary: Um...hard to explain. We all know that James Potter has died, but what if he were reborn? What if he were reincarnated, and no longer a human? This is my first fic, please read and review.
Author's Note: Okay…yeah…I've had this idea for a while now, and since I just got a new little kitty, I was inspired to type it up. He's such a little cutie! Well, um, yeah. That may not have too much to do with this. Actually, it doesn't have anything to do with this. Where was I? Um…I came up with this one night and, to me, it makes sense. Italics are thoughts; italics with quotations are, um…speaking parts. Uh, this is my first HP fanfic. Enjoy (I hope!)!
Life after Death: the Rebirth of James Potter
Bright, blinding green light filled my vision. I could hear my family screaming, crying out to me. Then there was darkness, and I was floating, floating away from everything. I don't know how long this lasted; all I know is that I didn't want to stop floating in the darkness.
Then there was more light, bright, but not blinding, and I came to earth with a thud. Well, okay, so it wasn't earth, but still. I wasn't entirely sure where I was, and for some fateful reason I decided to start walking around. There were puddles everywhere. I walked over to one. It seemed to be brimming with a glimmering substance that was continuously swirling around. Curious, I leaned in for a closer look. Big mistake.
I could see something happening inside of the stuff. It looked like there was a big, fat, yellow cat meowing inside. Yeah. A big puddle of glimmering, shimmering, shiny…stuff, and all I can see in it is a big, fat, yellow cat meowing. Needless to say, I was a trifle disappointed. Okay, so I turned around to find something else to do, and what happens? I slip and fall. Where did I land? I give you three guesses.
I heard a faint splash, and then I was falling. This felt nothing like the floating sensation I experienced before. It felt like I had dropped from a great height, and there was nothing below me to break my fall. Nothing except that darn cat that is. I kept falling and falling. It felt sort of strange seeing as the cat appeared to be but a few feet away when I was leaning over the puddle. Now it appeared to be a bottomless pit. Well, okay, so I could see the bottom, but it just seemed to get farther and farther away.
This continued for a while, until I thought I would never stop falling. Suddenly, I seemed to pause in midair. I felt a jerk behind my navel, like I was being transported by portkey. Everything flashed by me as I was being pulled in by…well, whatever it was. Then it got dark again.
It wasn't a darkness like before. No, before the dark felt empty, open, and somewhat cold. Now it felt like I was in an enclosed space with other, well, creatures. It was warm, almost hot, and for some reason I could hear, no wait, feel another heartbeat. For one moment I panicked. Is this what happens to you when you die? You get eaten by some…some…some big-thing!? Then I realized I hadn't been eaten, I had been sucked up. Okay, that makes no sense at all. Oh well.
So anyway, I was trying to figure out where the heck I was
when one of the other things that were with me scratched me. I got mad. If
something interrupts my thoughts, I get angry, and I usually give that
something a piece of my mind, heedless of the consequences. "Meowr,
Meo-owr!?" What the heck?!
It was indescribable. I was thinking, about what I had gotten myself into and all, when the thing I was in began squeezing me and the other things in there with me. I won't go into the long, boring, gory details, but to sum it all up, I was being born…again…this time as a cat. Wah-hoo.
I didn't have much time to think about this though, seeing as there were four little girls present, each of which just had to hold me and cuddle me. Euchh. If there's one thing I hate, it's being cuddled. The youngest held me last. She kept petting me on the head, gently, as if she were afraid she would hurt me.
I relaxed. This is actually pretty nice, I thought. Then I looked up at the man who had walked up to the little girl. He was wearing glasses, so I could see my reflection.
I was a ginger cat with yellow eyes. My fur was still slightly wet from being born. My ears and eyes were too big for my head. Then again, I remembered, that's how all kittens' ears and eyes look.
The man had started talking to the little girl. For some reason, I could barely understand what he was saying. I had to concentrate very hard on what he said to understand, and still all I could do was make out a few words here and there.
From what I could gather, I assumed that the man was the little girl's father, and it was time for us kitties to go to sleep.
She put me down, and he asked her something about a name. She shrugged, and he turned to the other girls. The eldest looked at my slightly bowlegged hind legs and thought a moment before she answered.
"Crookshanks, like Auntie Robin's cat."
CROOKSHANKS?! I thought. What kind of a name is
that for a CAT?! What kind of a name is that period?!
Okay, here's how my day was going so far. I woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, came home from work, "ate" a "delicious" dinner Lily had made (I actually gave it to the dog. Lily may be a wondrous witch, but her cooking leaves something to be desired), played with Harry, discovered the hard way that one of my best friends was a cold-blooded murderer, not to mention a traitor; got killed by the most powerful evil wizard around, and to top it all off, almost instantly I get reincarnated as a cat. Me, James Potter, a CAT!!! A cat named CROOKSHANKS no less!!! Oh yeah, this day just kept getting better and better.
I yawned. As you can probably tell, I had just had a very trying day. I started to think about what had happened to Lily and Harry, but thinking about them hurt my head for some reason.
Oh well, at least I'm not 'Fluffy,' of 'Tufty,' or 'Tiger,' or 'Tigger,' or…my mind trailed off as I drifted off to sleep.
***
Author's Note: We-ell, how was it? Should I continue this with some other chapters, or just leave it be? If you are wondering how I came up with the fact that James is Crookshanks, just think about it. In the third book, Crookshanks knows the black dog is not really a dog. James would know what Sirius would look like in his Animagi form. Same with Wormtail, Crookshanks knew Scabbers was not a rat, and that he was really Peter. Since he knew it was Wormtail who had betrayed him, he would probably want to go after him. I mean, wouldn't you? Crookshanks knew about the knot on the tree also. If you don't believe me, go and read book three again.
Another thing I figured out on my own: the meaning of Crookshanks' name. In book three it says that Crookshanks is a bowlegged cat. I looked up the definition and here it is:
Bowlegged-leg bowed outward at or below the knee.
Or in other words, his legs are crooked. Crook can mean a bend of some sort.
And for the last part of the name, shanks:
Shanks-The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle
So according to my logic, Crookshanks means bent legs, or something like that. Neat huh?
This is getting long. I hope you enjoyed my fic. Please review. Constructive criticism welcome.
