Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with Harry Potter, all of that world and it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just trying have fun and share a story concept. Please don't sue me.
I'd love to hear thoughts on the story ( How you liked it, your fav parts etc etc) Just shoot me up a review. Grammatical is accepted It would just be cooler if I got some feedback with some thoughts...
Chapter One
CRASH! The sound carried far and wide, bouncing off the walls, and resounding off the ceiling. James rolled onto the floor, dagger in hand, falling instinctively into a Kantalvian short stance. Screams came from outside his room, terrible screams. The kind that freeze you in place and send that tingle down your back. This feeling, however potent was quickly quailed as voices followed the screams, and shouts of anger were heard. Moving to the door in a cautious side step James flicked the dagger to his left hand and slowly opened the door. The stairway leading down to the Gryffindor common room was deserted and dark, but the light coming up from the room showed shadows moving. Another scream, but this one belonged to Gina Lovesworn.
Every ounce of fear gone, James dashed down the stairs three at a time. Half way down he lost all the air in his lungs, breath turned into mist, and a cold fear clawed at his mind. Bounding into the room with a swiftness that surprised even himself, James surveyed the scene. The common room which was normally cheerful, filled with comfortable overstuffed armchairs now looked dark even with the fire crackling in the fireplace. It was cold, like death, even the fire seemed to be dying. But it was not the sudden chill, nor the sudden pain in James' soul that made him stop so suddenly. But rather the short, blonde girl who seemed to be unable to move, transfixed by the hovering, cloaked figure directly in front of her.
This girl, Gina, a third year witch who had been screaming, now seemed to lose her voice entirely completely paralyzed with fear. Dark and foreboding, it hissed while lowering its hood, revealing dark hollows where the eyes should be, its jaw stretched to abnormal size.
'A Dementor!'
Reaching behind his back, James pulled out his wand, and with a flourish yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM" A blast of silver light came forth from its tip and with a roar James' lion patronus shot out knocking the dementor backwards. Gina still glued to the spot just stared but seemed to find her voice again. Screams, curses, and shouts flew from behind Gina, the rest of Gryffindor house had awakened and now stood staring at the spectacle. James wasted no time in chasing the dementor from the common room, it fled from the lion that was now near the size of a great bear. James chased the dementor through the portrait hole out into the large room with moving staircases. But the creature flew high and away, raking it's claws along the walls as it went; out through a high window and shattered the staining.
Entering back through the portrait hole James found the rest of the house sitting around Gina who was sobbing and being held tightly by Dean Thomas. At his entrance Gina pointed to him exclaiming, "He saved me, I thought I was done for but he rescued me."
At this James crossed the room returning his wand to its place and slumped into an armchair.
"Bloody good job James!" Fred Weasley remarked.
"A patronus charm who'd of thought it, an American, and at your age." This came from Simon Cunningham a stuck up sixth year that most did not like and thought he should have been chosen for Slytherin. But before James could say anything Professor McGonagall strode in clutching her chest.
"What in the world is going on in here? And why arn't you kids in bed?" Her voice sounding thin and short, she'd obviously been doing something important and thought they were up to no good.
Hermione spoke first, "We were asleep professor, but we were woken up by Gina screaming because a dementor attacked her." "And then James saved her with a patronus charm, and the thing fled" said Ginny who had seen the whole thing, and was now looking at James. James met her gaze, but Ginny turned, blushing and shrunk back into the crowd.
"A dementor? Inside Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagal looked worried, "I shall speak to Dumbledore immediately. In the mean time you should all go back to bed, it will be light in a couple of hours and you will all need rest." With this McGonagall turned on her toes and left in a flourish.
Tomorrow would be the first official day at Hogwarts and that meant classes would be in full swing. This of course was lost on the students of Gryffindor who were wide awake and terrified.
"What's a Dementor doing at Hogwarts? And why was it in here?" Ron said as he walked past Hermione looking at Gina.
Of course there had been hundreds at Hogwarts the year before but that was because an escaped convict, who turned out to be Harry's Godfather had broken out of Azkaban, only they had never set foot inside Hogwarts, and once he had escaped from their grasp again, the Dementors left.
"Who knows, but Professor Dumbledore is going to go bonkers when he hears it was inside." Stated Hermione.
Last year Dumbledore almost lost it when they had showed up at a Quidditch match. In fact it was a well known fact that he despised them.
"What if it comes back?" Gina asked looking but a shadow of her former self.
"Well then James will just have to beat the living snot out of it again. Right James?" Lavender Brown another fourth year said with a smirk. James stayed silent however thinking to himself.
"Please, you could hardly call them living and I doubt Dumbledore will let one come in again." Harry said smartly. He had in fact fought off nearly a hundred himself last year not that anyone knew that. The Headmaster thought it a good idea not to tell anyone, although Hermione knew because she was there.
"It's not like he just let that one in." A point brought up by Hermione who was giving Harry a warning glance. "There are powerful enchantments surrounding Hogwarts." She stated looking rather annoyed. "I think someone let it in."
At this the group started to shift uncomfortably, and Gina seemed to move closer to Dean.
"But who would do such a thing?" Neville Longbottom asked trembling. A silence followed that was finally broken by Dean, who looked at Gina then back to Hermione.
"Arn't dementors controlled by the Minister of Magic?" This statement caused more unease, ending with Neville nearly tripping over backwards.
"You don't think the minister had something to do with it. Do you?" Ron asked. "Gina what all happened?" Hermione asked in an attempt to change the subject. All attention fell on Gina who was now wiping her eyes with Dean's handkerchief.
"Well, I was coming down to get a book I left by the fireplace. Then my candle went out and the fire in the place dimmed, and I got this chill. Next thing I know James is chasing the thing out of the room." Gina looked all the more worse for wear and started sobbing again.
James felt Ginny's eyes on him again, he moved to the door still thinking. James was wearing only his pajama bottoms, and his tight, muscular body rippled with every step. This drew the attention of every girl including Hermione, who wasn't one to be taken by such things but James, who had stayed quiet the whole time intrigued her.
"What do you think James?" she asked. The silence that fell proved that she was not the only one intrigued by him.
"I think, that it is three hours until sunrise and four hours until breakfast. We should all get some sleep, not wise to be tired on the first day of classes. BUT, one should wonder HOW the dementor got through the portrait hole, which is protected by more than just enchantments, isn't it?" He turned facing the crowd, searching their eyes. The whole of Gryffindor house was silent dwelling on this question that none had thought of. Hermione looked quite pleased, this James was quite the speaker.
Ginny was beside herself and when his searching gaze came to her and their eyes met, Ginny found that all her fear was gone and she didn't have a care in the world. James saw in her eyes something he had never seen before, and he could not explain it. She turned away her face almost as red as her Fiery hair.
"Let's go." James added, stepping towards the stairs. The rest of the house said their goodnights and quickly followed still looking rather worried.
James slept on the floor in a room with five other fourth years, Ron, Harry, Dean, Neville, and Seamus. The rest of the night James spent in thought wondering who the voices had belonged to and what they were saying.
'What was a dementor doing in Hogwarts and who let it in, and how Did it get into the Gryffindor common room?'
Right as James started to think of dosing off, a thin strip of pink crested the horizon and Hagrid's roosters gave the signal that they thought it was ok to get up. James got dressed while everyone else was still in bed. Then left to roam the halls and familiarize himself with Hogwarts. But it was a rather large place, and before he knew it, James was sure he was lost.
James came from America, and had spent the last year at Cravenhall, pioneer school for wizards and battlemages which was no where near the size of Hogwarts. And before then he had been homeschooled by his Father who was an explorer. His dad had died last year; James had spent every waking moment since trying to keep himself too busy to think about it. He now lived with his mother who was a witch working for the Ministry of Magic, Dark Arts Control Division. James looked like his mother but had his fathers unyielding spirit, which had gotten him in enough trouble to be expelled from Cravenhall. Dumbledore had known his father and they must have been good friends too because as soon as he heard about James being expelled he personally invited him here to Hogwarts.
James was just passing what looked like the same painting which depicted several men hanging from a tree, he was sure he'd seen it at least three times. When footsteps from behind made him spin quickly, and there stood Albus Dumbledore in long flowing robes looking thoughtful.
"Ah, James," He spoke softly and striding to James' side. "Professor McGonagall informed me of the Dementor attack," He said looking down and over his glasses at James. "She also told me that you performed a Patronis Charm?" Dumbledore looked pleased although a little perturbed.
"My mother taught me," James quickly stated. "She's in the Dark Arts Control Division of the Ministry." James added, trying to further explain.
"I'm not questioning you James, I'm thanking you." Dumbledore interrupted in a kind voice, the perturbed look fading.
"Fifteen points to Gryffindor! But, there is something I must ask of you." Looking down at James through crescent moon glasses, James thought for sure he'd seen a shooting star in the deepest place of Dumbledore's eyes. "That is, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind accepting my offer of becoming a School prefect?" The Headmaster asked this no longer looking down as if to a student.
"But doesn't Gryffindor already have a guy Prefect?" James asked feeling honored yet confused at the same time.
It was true that Gryffindor had a prefect. But Simon Cunningham was hardly what James pictured as a prefect, he was probably only doing it to get the attention. 'Maybe even has a little power complex.'
"This is correct, but I am not talking about being a Gryffindor prefect; I meant a school prefect." said Dumbledore, his eyes alight again. "You have shown great skill that most fifteen year olds only dream of. My sources tell me that you were quite the hit last night, and if the students trust you then so do I."
James grinned, the dashing lopsided grin that had made his mom fall for his dad many, many years ago.
Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a Gryffindor prefect badge, and handed it to James saying, " There is a reason for everything James, learn this and you will be great." With that Dumbledore left giving James one last twinkling look, and leaving James to sort all of this out on his own.
The sun was now spreading its warm golden rays through the windows of the ancient castle, casting an noble glow upon the hallways. The great hall was filled with talk of the previous night and was quickly becoming packed, as more students awoke and made their way down to the hall for breakfast.
The great doors swung open as James entered to find all the Gryffindors present and accounted for. Although Gryffindor was by far the greatest presence, the rest of the houses were slowly trickling in, quickly becoming immersed in the story of the dementor. As he walked in he could feel the eyes of the room watching his every move.
It took some searching for James to find a place to sit, but he finally found an empty seat in between Neville and Seamus who were busy stuffing their faces with loads of bacon and eggs. Looking around it became quite obvious that James wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten much sleep, seeing how almost every Gryffindor student was eating doggedly with grey spots under their eyes. James was staring off into space wondering what his face looked like when he noticed every eye from the Hufflepuff table was staring at him.
Snapping out of his daze James turned his attention to the sole task of buttering his toast. He reached for the jam at exactly the same time as Ginny Weasley, who was seated directly across from him. She quickly stiffened, retreating her hand to her lap. "Oh, I'm sorry, go for it." James said motioning towards the jam and nodding slightly.
Ginny's eyes flicked from James to the jam jar which she reached for, nearly knocking over a plate of eggs and managing to spill a goblet of juice down her front in the process. Laughter erupted from the Gryffindors who thought this exceedingly funny, everyone except for Ginny who would have given anything to be invisible at the moment. But James leapt forward lending his napkin to the clean up process.
"Are you alright?" He asked amid sponging up the juice.
"I'm fine." Ginny replied curtly, "I'm used to it." Her face was red, and getting redder as the laughter escalated, all the pent up anxiety coming out at Ginny's mishap.
The hall resounded with their laughter but it soon died down, as the topic of the tri-wizard tournament was introduced. Ginny's twin brothers couldn't stop plotting a way to get their names in the drawing, Ron was talking with Harry and Hermione about the world cup. Ginny had unbuttoned her robe and folded it up in her lap. Reckoning that she couldn't be more humiliated, she seized the opportunity to speak to James.
"So where do you come from?" she asked him, trying not to look too interested.
"From America, well Montana's more like it. I got transferred here from Cravenhall as the result of a series of unfortunate events." James said scooping some eggs onto his plate.
"Oh, was it like Hogwarts?"
The question caused James to pause and think. "No, it's an all boys school, with more focus on dueling, and it's no where near the size of this place." James made a great sweeping motion with his hands, his face brightened as the thought of getting lost this morning came flooding into his mind.
"To be completely honest, I got lost this morning trying to find this place." James grinned, and laughed at his own stupidity. Ginny giggled at this, her eyes sparkling with laughter. So he hadn't been completely truthful but he didn't want to concern her with his thoughts on the Dementor.
"I could show you around you know, it's not that hard once you get used to all the shifting statues and the staircases that move." She asked with her fingers crossed under the table.
"Sure, that would be great! If it's not too much trouble." James answered looking her in the eye, that feeling returning, but He quickly shook it off.
"Yeah...I mean no, it's not a problem it'll be fun." She said, simply beaming. "I'll meet you here for dinner and then we can go and I'll show you the real Hogwarts."
Ron who had been listening nudged Hermione. "Looks like Ginny's finally got herself a friend, maybe now she'll leave us alone." He said this low enough for only her and Harry to hear.
"That's not very nice Ronald, she's your sister. And I for one am happy for her." Hermione stuck her nose in the air, this time Ron fixed her with a glance.
Back down the table Ginny and James were busy talking and laughing up a storm, apparently they really were hitting it off. And Hermione couldn't help feeling a tad bit envious, but all around she really was happy for Ginny, In fact she had never seen Ginny look so happy.
Double Herbalogy was the first class James had on the schedule which was in hand as he exited the great hall. Bidding Ginny farewell, James turned his attention to memorizing his class times, following the general flow of the rest of the students. Double herbalogy meant that the fourth year Gryffindor students would be sharing the class with the fourth year students of Hufflepuff.
James knew a lot about Herbalogy owing solely to the fact of having traveled around with his father. Many times the knowledge of plants and they're uses came in handy, saving his and his father's life on more then one occasion. Back at Cravenhall it had been his second best subject, next to his Defense against the Dark arts class, which was a bit more involving than at Hogwarts and had him dueling almost every day.
So he set out with an air of utter confidence about him, although he had to trail Harry, Ron, and Hermione in order to find his way. They left the castle through two large doors, taking the stairs down to a path that led across the lawn to the greenhouses. Already the trees behind the greenhouses were showing signs of the coming fall season, a cool breeze rolled in as clouds obscured the sun from sight.
James' straight brown hair was lifting gently, his robes spreading out behind him as he walked down the path to the greenhouses. He followed the rest of the students into greenhouse number three, where Professor Sprout was waiting for them, a quiet smile spreading across her face.
James saw plants of all kinds everywhere, some common but most exotic and rather funny looking. One such plant caught his eye, it was like a small bush except its leaves had a slight reddish tint to them. The stem was black as ebony. He remembered it to be Fireweed, a plant that was among other things used to control dragons, it had the ability once inhaled to stop them from breathing fire for a time. This had been the herb his dad had been using to stop a group of dragons from terrorizing a small town in Canada.
"Welcome class." Professor Sprout greeted them. "Today, and most likely for the rest of the week, we shall be..." She continued to speak about the lesson but James' mind was else where, and he heard barely a word.
He was paired up with Hermione and a Hufflepuff Girl by the name of Meghan Macready. She was tall, slim, and had blonde hair which she kept up in a ponytail. It was lucky for him that Hermione and Meghan had paid close attention to the instructions Professor Sprout had given them, otherwise he would have looked incredibly stupid standing around watching everyone else.
But he soon caught on, squeeze the Bubertubes until they 'popped', then collect the pus in glass jars, put tops on them, and then label them Bubertube pus. Meghan was utterly disgusted and flat out refused to 'pop' them and collect the pus, so Hermione had her label the jars. James did the actual 'popping', squeezing the pus into the jars that Hermione was holding, which she would then top and hand to Meghan. All this time Hermione was talking to James about the events at the world cup, which James having not heard of had asked her about.
"…and then he actually sacked her, Can you believe that?" She was referring to Bartimous Crouch's house elf Winky, whom after having been found with the wand that conjured the Dark Mark, was released from her lifelong servitude of the Crouch family.
Hermione's face looked almost angry as she went on to talk about the house elves that worked at Hogwarts, "…their not getting paid, they're not even getting vacation time."
Every so often James would nod his head at this or grunt at that to show he was listening. He was interested in what she was saying, but he just had no clue what a house-elf was, much less how it affected him.
When they were about done Professor Sprout came to have a look at their progress. "Mr. Byron....Miss Granger...Macreedy. Oh, what a wonderful job. Good, Good." She said smiling. "The rest of the class has barely got any and here you are almost finished." Her normally perky voice she now raised so the whole class could hear.
"Mr. Byron is using proper technique in squeezing the Bubertubes, see how his hands are placed." She explained motioning towards his hands. The class gave several grunts of acknowledgment before going back to work, some even gave James glares that made him feel uneasy.
"Mr. Byron." She said turning her gaze back to James before continuing. "It would seem that you and Miss Granger are a step above." Professor Sprout's eyes gave a twinkle.
"Thank you." Hermione said grinning.
"Yeah, thanks." James said, the lopsided grin returning to his lips.
Sprout looked very pleased, and was about to continue her rounds when she turned back to James. "Mr. Byron, was your father's name by any chance David Byron?" Her voice was lower than usual as she spoke.
"Uh, yes, David was my Dad's name." James answered, the smile quickly fading.
"Oh, I am truly sorry for your loss. I knew your father, he was a good man. Good herbalist." Her face softened. "I had the pleasure of serving with him a few years back, he was...a dear friend. And if there's ever anything I can do feel free to ask. Alright?" She gave him a soft smile then went back to checking on the other students.
James' head flashed with buried memories of his father, he slumped down onto one of the tables, and fiercely fought back the tears and the sudden feeling of sadness that was threatening to overtake him. He felt Hermione take his hand in hers as she sat next to him, Meghan was standing close too, looking torn, not sure what to do.
"James, I'm so sorry...I..." Hermione was at a loss for words, and tried hard to think of the right ones but after awhile she just sat there holding his hand.
The rest of the students were too busy squeezing their Bubertubes, 'thankfully', to notice that the same guy who had fought the Dementor just the night before was hurting. James looked from Meghan to Hermione and a single tear broke through his defenses to roll down his cheek. Back at Cravenhall he'd been a loner, the best at everything he did, popular, surrounded by faces. But he'd been alone, when the letter came telling him his father was dead, he'd retreated inside, behind the mask...the lie that he was fine. They saw only the side he let them see, the cool tough kid. But now looking at Hermione and Meghan who seemed to really care, he almost let the mask fall but that's when the bell rang.
He got up letting go of Hermione's hand, blinked a few times to get rid of the tears, and began retreating behind the lie. Hermione got up too but she took her hand and wiped off the single tear that still clung to James' chin.
"I just want you to know I'm here for you." She said, tears in her eyes too. Meghan nodded in agreement still at a loss.
Then Harry and Ron called out to Hermione from across the greenhouse and Meghan's friends came and started talking to her. She was soon swept away by them, as the rest of the class was filing out through the greenhouse doors back into the cool breeze of early fall.
"You'd better go, they're calling for you." James' face was blank as he spoke.
Hermione wiped her eyes and blinked back her tears as well, but made no move to leave. She just stood there looking into his eye's trying to read them.
"I'm fine. Really." James lied, tossing a lopsided grin in when that didn't work.
Hermione did not smile, instead she told him that when he was ready to talk she'd be there to listen, and with that she gathered her things and left with Harry and Ron.
"What was that about?" Ron asked giving James a jealous look.
They followed her outside prodding her for an answer, but all she would say was, "nothing, just some Herbalogy work." and left it at that. James gathered up his things before headed back to the castle, giving them a head start before following them to they're next class. Hermione led the way with Harry and Ron right behind her. Their next class was Care for Magical Creatures, where they met the Slytherins for yet another conjoined class outside Hargrid's hut. Hagrid introduced them to things he was calling Blast-ended Skrewts. These lobster-like, stinger wielding monstrosities would propel themselves forward by blasting fire out their butts. They had to try feeding them different things to see what they would eat, the only trouble was they couldn't tell where they're mouths were. Ron kept trying to engage Hermione in conversation in an attempt to keep her from talking with James, but when that failed he resorted to asking her for help with his skrewt.
Aside from Draco Malfoy's occasional snide remark about Hagrid and these Skrewts, the class went uneventful. Finally the bell tolled announcing lunchtime. The Slytherins trumped off rather quickly looking quite glad to be away from the Skrewts. Even the Gryffindors scuttled off rather hurriedly, Hermione seemed especially keen on getting to lunch quickly, leaving Ron and Harry jogging behind right on her heels. James walked briskly, not wanting to be left behind but wanting to be left alone at the same time.
The Great Hall was alive and bustling with students and teachers alike, coming in from their previous classes. James took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table, with a good six empty seats all around him. At first he was content to let his hair fall in front of his eyes obscuring his face from view, as he silently went over every single plant he knew of and it's uses. James did this to keep his mind from wandering, afraid it would fall on the subject of his father and he would lose his cool again. But as he began to eat these feelings of sadness disappeared, and he began to savor the lamb chops and potatoes.
After about five minutes though the hall began to fill as the rest of the student body came into the hall. Gina came and sat right next to James, causing Dean to move from across the table and come sit next to her. Ginny sat down directly across from James, Neville and Lavender sat next to Ginny talking about Herbalogy. Dennis Creavey took the remaining empty chair. James looked out from behind his hair, quite stunned at his new found popularity.
"That pus gave me these terrible boils," Lavender raised her hands complaining, "Madam Pomfrey took care of them but she told me to keep them wrapped up." She looked disgusted.
Gina and Dean were talking about her Divination class. Dennis was stuffing his face while staring awe-struck at James, who turned his attention forward to Ginny who was eating quietly, glancing up occasionally.
"So...how was your first class?" James asked her.
"Great." She answered, a smile spreading across her face. Then she went into a blow by blow account of her Divination and Transfiguration classes. And although it took up the entire lunch hour, James let Ginny talk. It gave him something else to think about plus, he found he rather enjoyed hearing about her day. But the break didn't last, all too quickly the bell rang out again signaling time for the afternoon classes.
As if on cue the whole hall seemed to groan as students started getting up and like a herd of sheep, they stubbornly funneled out through the doors. James picked his stuff up and rose from the table just as Ginny did.
"Where are you off to next?" She asked, in the midst of returning a book to her bag.
"Arithmancy," He told her. James shouldered his pack, and looked around for Hermione.
She supposedly had Arithmancy too, so he had planned on following her to class but she was nowhere in sight. Students were now exiting through the doors talking loudly, James looked back to Ginny who was looking at her schedule.
"I've got care for magical creatures next." She said her face brightening at the thought of Hagrid teaching. She looked back up at James, "Do you know where you're going?"
James shifted having lost all hope of finding Hermione, "um..that would be a negative." He answered, nodding casually.
"I'll show you. Follow me." Ginny led the way out of the Great hall, turned left as if to follow a group of Ravenclaws who were on they're way to Charms class, but she led him up a stairway instead.
"Won't you be late for class?" he asked, concern in his voice. She didn't answer right away. The stairway led them to a hall lined with tapestries depicting various scenes of the past, the multicolored light streamed in from the stained glass windows washing the hall with a rainbow color. "I'll be fine, it's just Hagrid." she said finally pointing to a giant wooden door.
She turned to face him, gave him a smile than hurried back down the steps, stopping once to glance back before continuing down. James who had been staring at the door, which bore an impressive array of carvings, turned in time to see her head disappear down the stairway. "Thanks." He yelled, but she gave no reply. Sighing heavily James entered through the door.