I know I told a few people that I wasn't continuing this, but in return of coming up with a title for my new Harry Potter story, Saviors in Time, I made this for my friend, sydni, who wanted it. Without her, you wouldn't be able to enjoy this extra chapter, so go thank her!
*not beta'd*
"I hope you don't mind," the captain of the third squad, Edmund Ehrlichmann, said. James sighed, though inwardly, he was grinning broadly.
"It's just two months. No big deal," James said, once again trying to hide the grin that was slowly making its way on his face when he least suspected it. Following his captain into his office, James took a seat, waiting for his captain to finish the mission form. He leaned back against his chair, and closed his eyes. As odd as it sounds, he was looking forward to his two month stay in the UK, specifically Scotland, from the beginning of September to the end of October. It had only been about a month since he last seen his son, but to him, it felt like it's been years. He thanked any deity that could hear him for being picked for this mission.
"And ve're done," Ehrlichmann declared. Opening his eyes, James sat up, a light grin breaking out in his face. Ehrlichmann raised an eyebrow before grinning himself. "I suppose you've been looking forward to this?" James faked a look of confusion. It was common knowledge that all the soul reapers despised the monthly missions of searching out hollows and destroying them.
"What?" he said innocently, or at least what he thought was innocent. Ehrlichmann laughed out loud.
"You really need to vork on your innocent face," Ehrlichmann said, chuckling. Confused, James waited for his captain to stop laughing. When it finally subsided, Ehrlichmann looked at him, smirking. "You two really look alike, except for the eyes." James's jaw hit the ground.
"H-How d-do you know that?" he asked, startled and worried. Soul reapers aren't supposed to have memories from when they were alive.
"I'm your captain." Ehrlichmann deadpanned. Seeing the concerned look on his face, he sighed. "Nothing vill happen to your son. As hard as it was, I'm glad you made the right decision in erasing his memories."
"What would have happened if I didn't?" James asked, staring at his lap, fingers clenched tightly together. Ehrlichmann grimaced.
"Vell, the Head Captain would have been notified," A look of horror passed James's face. Ehrlichmann nodded solemnly. "You don't need me to go into detail, do you?" James shook his head. The Head Captain, unfortunately, was extremely paranoid; worse than Mad-Eye Moody. If he found out that someone alive knew about them... James shuddered. His poor son...
"Well, it doesn't matter now, right?" James asked, steering the conversation away from about the Head Captain. Ehrlichmann accepted the subject change.
"You're right, it doesn't matter now," he aggreed. "Just keep that in mind." James nodded and opened his mouth to say something before he remembered something else.
"Wait a minute. You never answered the question on how you knew." Ehrlichmann smiled secretively.
"That is my secret, but I'll give you a hint, I'm a captain." James looked at him, confused. "It's a requirement for us," he elaborated. It took a second for James to process the information. Ehrlichmann started grinning when James's eyes widened.
"Y-Your sword's final form?" he said, shocked. This was probably the most anyone (beside the Head Captain) ever knew about Squad 3's captain's final form.
"Yup," Ehrlichmann replied, grinning. "That's how I know almost everything about everyone in our squad." James was intrigued.
"Such as..." The grin on Ehrlichmann's face started creeping out James a little.
"You know, in the East Asian branch, there's a captain whose final form is very similar to yours, though opposite, of course. Maybe you two should meet each other sometimes, but he's quite sensitive about his height, so be cautious of that." Ehrlichmann continued grinning as James started choking on air.
‡‡‡‡‡‡
"Zeller, Rose."
"HUFFLEPUFF!" James clapped politely along with the students, as the last first year sat down at her table. When Dumbledore stood up, he decided to ignore his speech in favor of watching his son... who was listening to the headmaster. James frowned, before glaring at the headmaster. In the first few hours of his mission, he decided to figure out what exactly happened in the 14 years that he was away. He, at least, learned why the Longbottoms couldn't have taken care of him, but he and Lily made a list of about 15 people who could have taken care of him. Not all of them were incapacitated seeing that Harry spent the summer with the Weasleys… somewhere.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down. To his utter glee, it turned out that Umbitch was supposed to be the new DADA teacher this year. He felt delighted that he was able to once again protect his son from her. He made the mental reminder to visit St. Mungo's Insanity Ward. Last he checked, another two Healers were injured because of the toad.
Glancing around, he examined the faces of the teachers that he knew, and some that he didn't. His first surprise had been to see not Slughorn, but Snape. That had caught him so off guard that the invisibility and spiritual energy barrier he had placed around himself flickered in his shock. The Bloody Baron glanced up in his direction for a moment, but he clearly didn't see anything since he looked away and did nothing.
Staring at the new DADA professor, James thanked the silencing part of his barrier as he started laughing. Instead of a toad, the students ended up with a turtle. Professor Jeffery Fobbernag (James had another laughing fit) sat there, looking nervous. It might have something to do with all the stares that the students were giving, whether it was based on his appearance, or the fact that he was the replacement of the woman who went insane and tried to assassinate the Minister.
Getting off the ledge, James floated down to where his son was sitting. Seeing that the feast had started, Harry was currently piling food on his plate and talking to his friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Smiling, he watched his son talk animatedly, a small grin on his face. Reaching out, James lightly touched the top of his head. He froze when Harry stiffened and turned around and, for an instant, looked directly at him, but then his gaze went around his general area, so James believed that he had imagined it.
"Something wrong, Harry?" the girl, Hermione asked. With one last look, Harry turned back towards the table.
"Nothing," he replied, smiling. The red head, Ron, snorted.
"Probably Peeves did something," he mumbled. Harry chuckled.
"It wasn't Peeves. Besides, if Peeves did do something, wouldn't it have been more noticeable?" Ron blinked before grinning slightly.
"You have a point there." James watched in amazement as Harry's posture became more relaxed and his attitude became happier and more open. Staying for a few more minutes, James turned and flashed stepped out of the Great Hall and out of the castle.
Harry's smile lessened a little as he glanced at the entrance of the Great Hall. Smiling softly, he welcomed the distraction Ron created.
‡‡‡‡‡‡
Well, at least the worst was over. The number of hollows he had to handle by himself on Samhain was appalling. He was proud to say that he hadn't had to use his Fire Dragon's full power of his initial form. As much as he enjoyed seeing his son again, the idea that he could have a little break from fighting hollows was a bit relieving. Besides, from what he heard, the research team created something interesting. If the rumors were true, it would make it easier for him to stalk– uh watch over his son.
Returning to the Soul Society: European Branch, James immediately sought out his captain in his office. Anger and worry both bubbled inside of him. He entered the office without knocking, the door slamming close behind him. Surprised, Ehrlichmann, looked up from his paper work, and watched as James sat down in front, clearly very troubled.
"Did something happen?" Ehrlichmann had already skimmed through the report James had sent earlier that day through the hell butterfly, and there had been no problems then, but anything could have happened between then and now. James took a deep breath.
"I think there's a chance that Harry remembers, or at least can sense us. He seemed to be aware that something was there, and I had my strongest shields up, so..." Ehrlichmann started to chuckle. James looked at him, scandalized.
"It's nothing to vorry about–" James snapped.
"Captain! You said it yourself that if the Head Captain finds out, Harry will–" Ehrlichmann raised a hand to cut him off, all amusement gone from his face.
"I have said this before, in my office, you are to keep your voice down." James flushed and looked away. "There's no need to be concerned about his memories. I already said that you had erased them." James looked at up at him, frowning.
"He acted oddly whenever I was around. If his memory was erased, that wouldn't be happening." Ehrlichmann smiled mysteriously. James stared at him before face palming. "What did you do?" he asked.
"Vell," Ehrlichmann started, "I did feel bad that you had to erase your son's only memory of you two together, so since you have been so helpful to me these past 10 years, I figured that I could do something for you." James sat there, his jaw hitting the ground.
"So you gave him his memory back?" Ehrlichmann shook his head.
"He does remember you, but only as a dream."
"The Head Captain?" James asked, uncertainly.
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him, though I did have to tell the Head Lieutenant," Ehrlichmann said, "but he won't say anything to the Head Captain. He gave his word," Ehrlichmann finished quickly, seeing the look on James's face. James gave a sigh of relief. The Head Lieutenant never goes back on his word.
"How did you even do that though?" Ehrlichmann stood up, and started heading for the door. Confused, James stood up as well and followed him. "Are you going to answer?" he asked, annoyed when the captain started heading towards the training area. Ehrlichmann blinked.
"You're not going to leave me alone until I answer, right?" James nodded. Ehrlichmann sighed. "Fine, I used my sword's final form." At the last word, Ehrlichmann suddenly flashed stepped away while James was blinking.
"Huh?" The captain was long gone by then. James's eye twitched. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR FINAL FORM?" He shouted after his captain, gaining odd looks from Ethan Dubois, the lieutenant.
A bit more humorous than the last chapter, but meh. The new DADA teacher is an OC created by sydni and modeled after Pistachio from the movie, Master of Disguise (I never seen the movie, so I'm trusting her on this).
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I know that bankai translates to final release, but I like the way final form sounded. The same is with shikai and initial release.
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For the statuses of the stories that I am working on, or to see any future stories, please refer to my live journal (link on Profile).
