Beasts of the Forest
A/N: No, you're not imagining things. No, the world is not ending. No, (according to an early review from one of my other stories) Michael Jackson is not dancing in the streets to Thriller. It's true. I finally updated! XD Luckily, I've gotten back into my Harry Potter obsession, and so I decided that it was time to indulge in a little bit of my old buddy, Beasts of the Forest.
Also, not a terribly good way to end a story that is hardly about James Sr., but I liked it because I love him, so that's okay. Don't judge me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! Dx lucky JK Rowling has all the fun... but I suppose that's what fanfiction is for.
Edit: Apparently, my line break decided to be stupid. So, now it's in there. *crosses fingers*
James heard the sound of jaws snapping together, and he heard a yelp and could have sworn that it wasn't him, but he couldn't tell really. But not seconds after that yelp, the heavy weight was lifted off of him, and he was released.
"You stay away from him," a voice spat, dark and angry.
James lifted his head to stare, his eyes wide. Before him, facing the werewolves, stood three animals. All were glowing silver and emanating a soft light.
The animals were these: a small silver dog, a large silver thing that looked very similar to the werewolves that had been hunting him, and a large silver stag, who stood directly in front of him.
Great. So he had a dog that was barely up to the werewolves' waists, a werewolf, and one of the werewolves' prey on his side. He was so dead.
And if he wasn't now, he'd surely be when he got home.
"And you are?" asked Durrago, tossing his head to the side.
The dog snarled, "Your worst nightmare…"
"Stay away from the boy." The silver werewolf commanded sternly, not lifting its voice at all. The stag stayed silent, pressing his hooves into the ground. He turned his head to the forest, and when James looked, he saw a silver doe standing there, watching the three of them. She called out and then pranced forward, until she was standing not ten feet from James.
"Well, that's our prey, so unless you want to become prey yourselves, get the heck out of here," commanded Nikki.
"We will do no such thing." The stag finally spoke, his voice clear. He clopped forward and reared, kicking his front hooves in the general direction of the lead wolf.
Durrago snarled and lunged at the animal's open hide. Just as he did, the stag brought his hooves down, striking Durrago's neck. The large wolf escaped the stag's hooves after a while, snarling, "get them!"
The wolves struck. The dog bit and slashed with its claws, kicking and whipping and not even trying to back down. The werewolf copied its opponents' exact movements, defending as it saw fit. And the stag fought anyone that it could.
Together, the three animals were keeping the werewolves a considerable distance from James and the doe.
The doe watched the fight for a few seconds, and then pranced the rest of the way to him. She brought her nose forward, pressing it against James' cheek. She licked him.
He was surprised by the warmth that found his cheek, rather than the cool touch of saliva. He watched her, watched as she curled around his back and stood, still watching the fight, her head still low to him.
"Are you alright, James?"
Her voice was clear as a bell, much like the stag's. It was beautiful and comforting, and James found himself not answering, just to see if she'd speak again.
She did, repeating the question, nosing his neck gently. "James. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"How… do you know my name?" James answered the question with one of his own.
The doe chuckled gently. "I know so much about you, James. As does my husband. Goodness, you had us worried. We had to look all over the place for you. It's dangerous for you to be out alone." She said.
"I could have defended myself! I did use my shield spell."
"Fat lot of good that did you." The doe sighed. She clopped nervously, watching the battle again.
One of the wolves—the white one from before—struck down the stag and leapt forward, slowly getting closer to James and the doe. The doe cried out, surprised, and leapt over James' head to land, her legs straddling his lap. She was facing him.
"What are you doing?" James asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn't understand the point in this. Facing away?
Soon, the wolf was close enough that, even if the stag recovered immediately and dashed to their aid, they'd surely be dead. At that same moment, all of the doe's weight went to her front legs, and all of her power to the back. She lashed out.
Her hooves clipped the wolf in the snout. It fell to the ground, and in that same instant, the doe's legs came down, coming onto its neck. It yelped and fought, but the doe kept it pinned. She looked at James and ushered him away. Only when he stood and backed away did she release the wolf, clopping forward to stand before James. The wolf scurried off to fight with its pack.
As the animals grew tired, the pack pushed them back. Eventually, they were able to get at James and the doe without leaving their pack. The doe started fighting on her own, and James threw punches as well, but the pack was becoming too much for them, too.
"James!"
James looked up at the doe's call, waiting to see what she was asking of him. However, she wasn't looking at him, but the stag.
The stag shoved his antlers against his opponent, and then looked up at the doe. He dashed over to them, striking away her opponent as well. He pressed his snout to hers, and then pushed her towards James. "Lily, take him to the school. We can handle it here, just get him back where it's safe." He told her.
Lily, the doe, nodded. She pushed James back, and then sent a longing glance toward James the stag. The stag called out and struck again.
"Go, Lil'!" called the dog. He leapt forward, snapping at her heels. "We can take these little weaklings. This is nothing compared to Azkaban!" he assured.
"Remus, come help!" Lily called.
The wolf on their side looked up at her and nodded. He limped over to James and Lily, grabbed James in his paws, and lifted him to her back. "Sirius, you come help me, I can't fight these all on my own; I've been injured. Go on, Lily. We'll hold them at bay."
Lily nodded. She glanced back at James to make sure that he was situated, and then took off, away from the battle. A few of the werewolves tried to attack them, but the stag, angered by their attempted attack, stopped all of them.
Lily didn't speak until they could no longer hear the sounds of battle. She looked backwards at James, slowing to a near stop. "What did you think you were doing out here?" she asked him.
James shrugged unintelligibly. "Wanted to go exploring," he said.
"Exploring?! In the Forbidden Forest? They call it the Forbidden Forest for a reason, James!" she snapped. She shook her head, starting forward again quickly. "Do you understand now, James, how dangerous it is? You could have been killed if Sirius, James, Remus and I had arrived any later. Do you know that?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm not stupid." James sneered, lifting his nose to her.
"Well, you could have fooled me." Lily muttered. She clopped forward for a little bit in silence, and then stopped. "Do you recognize where you are now, James?" she asked.
James looked up, surprised to find the Astronomy Tower of the castle staring down at him. Glancing a little closer to the ground, he saw the Whomping Willow sitting perfectly still. "The Willow! How did we get here, so fast?" he asked.
"You were fairly close to the castle when the pack found you. Just… running in the wrong direction."
James blushed, looking away from her. He climbed off of her, walking alongside her.
Lily pranced forward a little more, turning back every once in awhile to make sure he followed. "Well, James Sirius Potter. Do you think you can find your way back from here? I fear that my husband may need my excellent fighting techniques." She raised her eyebrows, cheerful yet looking a little cautious.
"I'll be fine." He assured. He strutted forward to show her that such was true.
Lily nodded. "Once the battle is done, we'll be back to make sure that you're here. Goodbye, James."
James lifted his hand in farewell. "Bye," he said nonchalantly. He stopped and watched her as she pranced back to the forest, to fight a battle that he ought to have fought himself. He looked up to the castle and resigned himself to not going back there. Not tonight, at least. He had to know if the animals that had rescued him would be safe. If they weren't... he didn't know what he'd do.
He grinned, spotting his destination, and trotted cautiously over to it.
Needless to say, Hagrid was pretty surprised to find the son of the great Harry Potter, "the boy who lived", shivering on his front step, Invisibility Cloak draped haphazardly and uselessly over his shoulder, looking terrified, flustered, and horribly confused. Thankfully, Hagrid was too used to this due to James' namesakes' (his grandfather and god-grandfather) and his father's continuous visits. He only ushered the boy in and plopped him down with a mug of what James hoped was either hot chocolate or apple cider. When he took a giant sip, he slipped into a glorious mini-coma that smelled uniquely of chocolate, warmth, and the forest.
Hagrid waited for the boy to awake from his hot chocolate-induced stupor before grilling the wizard-in-training. "What in Dumbledore's name 're yeh doin' outta the castle at night, James? I oughta have yer hide fer the scare yeh gave me!"
It didn't take a genius to understand Hagrid's curse; James didn't think that there was a person in the wizarding world who didn't know of Dumbledore. Probably, Hagrid's curse would go down in history like James' favorite: Merlin's beard. He blushed a little and attempted to come up with an excuse.
"An doncha dare lie ter me! Yeh lie jus' like yer father, an' I can read tha' man like a book." Hagrid leveled a dark glare on the prodigal son of Harry Potter.
James finally gave in and blushed a little. "I, uh... Well, y'see... I don't... I don't know. I shouldn't have been out." He sighed.
"Yer darned right yeh shouldnta been out! I's a full moon out there! An' y'know what comes out for the full moon? Werewolves! Yer lucky yeh didn't run inta one a them! We wouldn't be havin' this conversation, even!" snarled Hagrid, frustration peaking.
"Yeah, lucky..." James puffed out a cheek, looking away from the hairy groundskeeper.
Hagrid eyed him and understood the implications. "Y'... An' y're still alive! Either y're a better wizard than yer dad, or they weren't hungry at all!"
James bit his lip. He looked to Hagrid nervously. "Actually..." He told the kind man of his little adventure, and specifically of the silver animals who called themselves Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus.
When James mentioned them, Hagrid's angry expression turned forlorn with grief.
James cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you know what they were? I thought that they kind of looked like Patronuses, but I wasn't sure. Dad taught me about them a little, and showed me his. Dad's is a stag, too. Weird, huh?"
Hagrid only shook his head, sighing. "I don't know, Jamie. Wish I could help."
James read his eyes and saw the lie, but he also saw that Hagrid wasn't going to answer further questions. So he sighed and slumped pathetically. He looked up to the castle. "I don't wanna go back tonight." He said. He was frightened of getting in trouble, mostly, and of Filch.
But that, in itself, was a lie. Lily the doe had promised to return so that she could see that he had gotten to safety. Perhaps she would bring with her James and Sirius and Remus and he could officially thank them. And then introduce them to Hagrid, to see if he could make sense of them. James hoped to wait up for them.
"I'd imagine not," Hagrid sighed heavily. But he nodded and got set up on the couch, laying out a ridiculously large blanket and a gigantic pillow. "Yeh can take my bed, James. Tuck in, yeh look like yeh need ter rest."
James quickly shook his head; he wanted to see if the strange animals were alright!
Hagrid practically read his mind, knowing his father too well to not know James. "You nod off, and I'll wake yeh up if yer animal friends come. How 'bout that?" He asked.
James leveled a nervous glare on Hagrid, but then nodded. He stood and stumbled to the bed, spluttering yet strangely relieved when Hagrid caught his arm, pulled back the duvet, and tucked him in tight when he was down.
Hagrid nodded and blew out his candles and shut off his light, leaving only the fireplace burning warmly.
James' exhaustion and the warmth and snapping of the fire soon lulled the third year into sleep, yawning into the giant pillow.
As promised, Hagrid awoke James when four silver animals came to his door, speaking perfectly understandable English. He didn't look surprised at all, only sad. James, though, didn't really recall the encounter because as soon as they were gone he conked out again, and didn't awake until noon the next day, when the Headmistress came calling.
"Dad! Dad! You'll never belie-wait, is Mum with you? No? Awesome! You'll never guess what I did over the year!" gasped young James Sirius Potter.
Lily snorted to herself, pressing closer to James the boy and his father.
"What did you do?" asked Harry, twinging an eyebrow up. It was clear to Lily that, since Harry knew his son so well, he didn't know if he should be worried or excited.
James came up behind her, touching his nose to her ear. He was out of breath, while she fought to catch her own. Running from the Forbidden Forest where they made their home to King's Cross station took its toll on both of them. But they'd done it - they'd done it for their family.
"It's nothing bad, Dad... well, okay, yes it is, but-"
"James Sirius Potter, what did you do?!" Harry demanded darkly, now fully glaring at his son.
"I-" James seemed frozen.
The other James almost wanted to run down and sweep his grandson from his father's wrath. But Lily bumped him and reminded him that they really ought not; they would only hurt their own son if they revealed their presence.
"Don't worry, Dad, it's fine. No one found out! I'm alright! No one got hurt! But-no, you're supposed to listen to me! I have the best story, you have to hear me out!"
"You can tell your story at dinner." Harry said calmly.
"But if Mum finds out, she'll kill me! C'mon, Dad, it's the coolest thing ever!"
"Coolest thing ever, hmm? Alright, what is it?"
Lily and James were lucky that their supernatural abilities allowed themselves to pick out certain voices over others. They would be unable to hear their son and grandson's conversation if not for this. And this, they had a feeling, would be something that they'd want to hear.
"I wasn't doing anything wrong, exactly... nothing you wouldn't have done. So I'm in the Forbidden Forest and..."
"Wasn't doing anything wrong?" Lily snorted to James, who chuckled and sat to watch. "He must have broken nearly every rule in the school!"
"So I throw up a Shield Charm and it stops them, but then it doesn't and I'm running but then I trip! And then the werewolf was on me and I was as good as dead..."
"Why does he think telling Harry would be a good idea?" asked Sirius, panting as he scrabbled up beside his friends.
"Because Harry's done some things that are nearly as stupid," said Remus, the final of the four to find his way to King's Cross.
There was a mutual agreement between the four spirits.
"And she turns around and I'm like, 'what in Merlin's beard are you doing?!' Like how is that a good idea?! But then she kicks and she practically cuts off its neck so it goes to fight one of the others..."
"That was a pretty kickass kick," James said to his wife affectionately. "I hope I don't get on the wrong side of you."
"So the doe says 'James!', and I'm thinking, 'I'm right here!' But then the stag trots over like that was his name and maybe it was, and then he tells the doe to take me off and..."
"I like how he's so astounded that other people can share his name," said Sirius with a snicker.
Lily rolled her bright green eyes at Sirius and tucked in to watch her grandson's conversation with his father.
"And Hagrid is, you know, Hagrid, so I asked what they were because he should know, but he didn't know. I think that he was lying though, because he got sad when I told him their names."
"And what were their names?" Harry finally spoke up around his son's rather fascinating (though often loud and boisterous) storytelling.
"Oh! The doe was called Lily, and the stag was called James, and the dog was called Sirius, and the werewolf was called Remus. They were so cool, Dad! They kicked the wolf pack's butt! And they could speak English! And they were glowing!" James said excitedly.
Harry stopped and stared at his son, frowning. Then, he looked to the sky.
"Dad? What's the matter?"
Though young James would never have been able to guess, it was no doubt what the spirits were thinking: He knows it was us.
Harry coughed into his fist and shook his head, ruffling James' mop affectionately. "Nothing, James. Nothing at all."
"I wonder if we're going to get a visit soon," Remus commented brightly. He sat beside Lily, while Sirius wandered to James' side to watch the affair.
"So do you know what they were?" asked young James excitedly.
"Couldn't tell you, son. Maybe you just imagined them. Come along now, your mother wants us to get back home as soon as possible; she's got a big feast started. Grandpa and Grandma are going to come over, and maybe Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione will bring Hugo and Rose over as well."
Young James looked a little put out by his father's blatant ignorance of his story and question, but he started dragging his trunk toward the entrance onto King's Cross.
Harry, very deliberately, looked toward the four spirits, as though he could actually see them. A relieved little smile crossed Harry's face and he nodded toward them, and then turned to follow his son toward his wife, who had Albus collected in her arms.
James the stag snorted and shook his head, affectionately touching his nose to Lily's shoulder. He looked to Remus. "I'd say that it's safe to say that, sometime before school's back in, we may have a visitor or two in our neck of the woods." he commented. He stood and watched as the Potter kids followed Harry and Ginny, high-spirited and, if James was anything like his grandfather, very hungry.
Remus stood as well and stretched out his long legs, shivering. "I say we return to the Forest," he said around a wide, un-Remus-like yawn.
Sirius, too, yawned, even wider than Remus had. He bounced to his paws and started a playful trot back towards Hogwarts. "I'm ready. Let's go!" He shook out his shaggy silver fur and stopped to look back towards James, Lily, and Remus.
"Goodness, Padfoot. Just because you look like a dog, doesn't mean that you have to act like one!" Remus chuckled at his friend, tipping his long snout toward Sirius' lolling tongue.
James easily ignored his friends' cheerful childishness, rather turning to his love. "Are you ready to go?" he asked slowly, brushing his hoof by her knee.
Lily took one more rather longing gaze toward her son and grandchildren, and then looked to her husband. She didn't say a word, but nodded, standing and turning away from King's Cross. She touched the top of her head to his shoulder and drew her tongue up it quickly before turning to Sirius and Remus to head to the Shrieking Shack, where they made their home.
James looked to the station and the Hogwarts Express, which he doubted they'd ever see again. They had only wanted to make sure that James II made it home alright and wasn't overly affected, and who could say no to seeing their son again, anyway? As the Hogwarts Express left, James turned away from it and, had anyone been looking for him, would have appeared truly as the regal and powerful stag that he meant to be.