Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.
This is my first story. I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.
I would like to send a special thanks to desireejones99 for her encouraging reviews.
Daphne Greengrass had definitely not expected her school year to begin this way. First she had gotten a lot of strange looks from her parents for the last couple of days leading up to her departure for school. They looked almost guilty. For some reason they even gave her an early sixteenth birthday present, her Mother had taken her into muggle London for a shopping spree. She seemed to put extra emphasis on making sure Daphne got a lot of lingerie, sexy lingerie.
Daphne had always marveled at what Muggles accomplished, especially without any access to magic, unless you counted science as magic. Sometimes Daphne thought that science was a kind of magic. They could transplant organs from one person into another for Morgana's sake, no one could do that with magic, not even the great and mighty Dumbledore. He tried to do something new every summer for the past fifteen years, that one was two years ago.
Daphne had expected to get on the train, find a compartment to spend the train ride with Tracey in and hope to Merlin that Draco bloody Malfoy didn't find her to harass her and her best friend. There was no way that she would think for even a second that she would step onto the god awful scarlet train and hear a signal that she had drilled into her head two summers ago. Yet here she was, sitting next to the one and only man that had ever even come close to winning her heart.
James Clay was definitely not the kind of person that you got involved with lightly. He absolutely oozed danger from every pore. It's actually what she originally found attractive about him. She had been dating a boy that she had met in the first few minutes of setting foot in the Academy. Craig seemed like a charming boy from Texas that was thrilled to meet an English woman, he was a perfect southern gentleman. Until he showed up for a date drunk, tried to grope her before getting shot down harshly and sent packing. He didn't actually leave though. No, he tried to use his Earth elemental to over power her and take what he wanted from her. Craig would have succeeded too, if James wasn't such a powerful Elemental. He was in his dorm room on the third floor that was near the courtyard she was attacked in and he still felt Craig drawing enough power from the Earth to over power her.
James jumped through the solid, poured concrete wall that made up the dorms, which is pretty impressive considering he couldn't draw any strength from the Earth from that high up, well as far as Daphne knew anyways. When he landed it was only a few feet from where she and her attacker was, she tried to scream to lead him to her, but Craig had a vice-like grip on her throat, there was no way she would get anything out. Her luck held though and James found them easily enough. Daphne would never forget what happened to Craig when James found them, she didn't think it was possible from someone's head to touch their heels like that. As it turns out it isn't, unless you break the person's spine and paralyze them for life. Earth Elementals have fantastic healing abilities, but only the top five percent have enough power to reconnect broken nerve fibers like those in the spine. Craig was top fifty percent at his best day.
Daphne was starting to get depressed thinking about Craig, even if she was happy to see James again, he did tend to bring up some less than stellar memories. She was hoping to make a serious amount of happy memories with him this year now that he's here. She looked over at the meditating form beside her and let loose a grin that would make anyone wonder who she was and what she had done with the real Daphne.
Now that she knew she could be resorted she was looking forward to breaking out of the Ice Queen mask and being the real Daphne Greengrass. Not only would she be able to get away from the insane, Death Eater wanna-be's in Slytherin, but she would be able to be more open about her relationship with Tracey. Lesbian relationships weren't discouraged in the other houses, in fact if rumors could be believed they were somewhat encouraged by some, as long as they were allowed to join in every once in a while.
Even if her resorting ended up with her back in Slytherin, she knew she would have protection from all of the idiots in her house. No one would dare mess with someone involved with James Clay after they knew what he was capable of and she had no doubt that it wouldn't take long for him to make sure that everyone was well aware of his power. Daphne just hoped that she would be there for when he decided to show off a little.
While Daphne was off in her own little world, Tracey was sitting next to her staring off into space, thinking about the schedule they just worked out completely without the knowledge of the person they were scheduling around. She didn't even know the man, but she was sure it wasn't going to go over well for any of them when he found out they decided how things were going to work for him. He seemed to be a fairly independent person based on what she had seen so far and on what Daphne had told her about the mystery beau she had over the summer once upon a time.
Tracey actually had a hard time reconciling the powerful warrior that Daphne described with the man she met. Yea he seemed knowledgeable, and fairly powerful with the little bit of magic she had seen him perform, wandless and silent, of course. When Daphne talked about him though she half expected to see him walking around in plate mail with a giant sword strapped across his back. That thought wrestled an unlady-like snort out of her, who carried swords around these days? Right?
Tracey did find him ridiculously attractive though. James Clay was a well built man after all. All lithe powerful muscled that were built for speed more than strength, which made sense when you took into account that he could use the strength of the Earth to damn near lift whole houses. She hated to admit it since it sounded so superficial, but that was a rather attractive feature for her. She had always been attracted to strong people, mostly girls though because it was less likely for them to take advantage of her. She blamed her older brothers for that, bastards that they were to their own wives.
It was while she was thinking over how she could be so attracted to a man she barely knew that she noticed it. Before he had started his meditation he pushed the sleeves of his flannel shirt, not far, but far enough to show the lower part of his forearms. There were scars there, a lot of scars. All going across his wrists, like the ones she had heard about muggles doing when they were depressed. If it were anyone else that she knew, she would have freaked out. With James though, she didn't know what to do so she nudged Daphne out of her trace.
"Daphne. Please tell me your man hasn't been trying to kill himself." Tracey whispered to her, trying to keep her voice low enough that the others wouldn't hear. She wasn't quiet enough, luckily Hannah had fallen asleep so one of the biggest gossips in the Castle didn't hear it.
"He what?" Both Susan and Hermione whisper-shouted, instinctively knowing to keep quiet.
"He has those scars on his wrists like people that think about killing themselves." Tracey didn't like to be the bearer of bad news. From the expression on Susan's face she couldn't believe that James was cutting his wrists.
Hermione couldn't believe that the confident person she met today would do something like that to himself. James seemed to sure of himself and his place in the world, there was no way he was like her. Hell even her magic healed her when she did it, it wouldn't let her end it all. It was especially odd that his magic didn't heal them, he had told them that he heals extremely fast and some of those scars are years old.
Daphne couldn't hold it in anymore, she started giggling. That got her some incredulous looks from everyone, well except the sleeping Hannah and meditating James. Before anyone could get too upset she managed to force her case of the giggles down. She cleared her throat once to get everyone's attention.
"Those aren't from him trying to kill himself or gain attention or whatever it is that you think it's from. They call them tributes. The Academy trains warriors. Warriors have different views on how things go. When one of them dies on a mission or quest they don't stop and mourn them. They don't even stop to gather the body to bury it, they burn it and carry on to complete the objective." The other girls gasped and covered their mouths in shock. Daphne showed them a wan smile so they knew that she had the same reaction. "After the objective is completed they have a drink for their deceased comrade and carve a tribute into their body. Most people do it in places that are less likely to be seen, but James never really was one to follow the norms."
"That's barbaric!" Hermione screeched. If anyone from Gryffindor was in the compartment they would have rolled their eyes, expecting a SPEW level rant going on.
"No. That isn't it at all." Daphne shook her head then she paused upon seeing everyone's skeptical looks, "Okay, maybe it's a little bit barbaric, but it's their way of remembering the lost. Please don't give him grief about it. It will likely end up with him never talking to you again and totally ignoring your entire existence." Daphne said seriously, serious even for the Ice Queen of Hogwarts.
With that everyone lapsed back into their own thoughts. Susan thought to ask about the rest of the scars. Tributes only accounted for the regularly spaced ones across the bottoms of his wrists, it didn't account for all the other ones on his hands and arms. Before she actually asked though, she thought for a few seconds. Daphne said he was a warrior. Obviously the rest of them came from battle or training.
The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was full of quiet conversation, silence, and snoring, from Hermione as well as Hannah after the scar revelation blew over. It wasn't until the bell went off that warned everyone that they were only fifteen minutes from Hogsmeade Station that anyone really thought about what would happen when they got there.
Daphne and Tracey both had the immediate thought to get the hell out of there. They didn't want to be caught in the same compartment as a Gryff. Their second thought was that they still needed to put on their outer robes. Finally, the third thought was if they should wake James from his meditation.
Hermione jolted up out of her nap at the bell. She was still kind of sleepy, but she was more than capable of getting her mind working well enough to get her outer robe out and throw it on. She silently thanked whatever deity that led James to her. She could feel her life getting better already with James' magic flowing out from her core, it was a heady feeling that made her feel warm all over, with a lot of it centering on the apex of her thighs. Luckily Hermione had gotten extremely good at ignoring feelings like that.
Susan stood up and grabbed her outer robe, threw it on, then woke up Hannah and threw her robe at her. Hannah grumbled, but she put it on and work herself up. Susan turned to look at James, wondering how she would be able to wake him up without getting tackled like the last time she interrupted his meditating. She could see both Daphne and Tracey staring at James with the same contemplating expression on their faces.
As they stood there looking at each other the girls had their dilemma taken off of their hands. James had opened his eyes wide. Everyone except Daphne jumped back from what they saw there.
James' eyes had changed from the brilliant, glowing emerald that made their knees weak before. Now the whole eye ball, whites included, were a deep forest green. The iris was still visible, despite the fact that it was the same color as the rest, but only because it was outlined in gold. The only thing the same was his pupil, it was still black, but it was square and outlined in gold like his iris.
James looked around at the occupants of his compartment. He saw awe, surprise, disgust, and most prominently, fear. Pure, unabashed fear. James frowned in response, then looked to Daphne, the only person who didn't seem to be freaked the hell out.
"Is it the eyes?" He asked tiredly.
"Yes indeed, they changed while you were meditating apparently." She answered, trying to hide her disappointment. She had thought that these few people would be able to look past his eyes.
"Alright. I've already got my robes on me. I'll be getting off here. I'll meet you at the school. I need to see to a few things before I get there." Without waiting for a response he turned to the window and opened it wide before jumping up to crouch on the sill.
No one reacted to it at all, well not to him crouching on the window sill. The moment he turned to talk to Daphne everyone else flinched back as far as they could get from him. After that they continued to watch him like he was going to turn on them and attach at any moment. James hoped that they would come around eventually, but he wasn't going to worry too much about it. He knew that he could still call Daphne a friend if the others didn't want anything to do with him.
Daphne watched with mixed feelings as James jumped out of the window. She really wanted to follow him out the window, she was sure she would survive. She had never wanted to do something so reckless so badly. She knew James the best between her and the other girls, she knew it hurt him when they recoiled in fear. Nobody wants to be feared by people they're attracted to.
Daphne looked at Tracey with disappointment and disdain written boldly across her face. When Tracey tried to speak Daphne just held up her hand to forestall her. When she was sure that Tracey wasn't going to interrupt Daphne spoke. "Tracey. I can't believe that you of all people would react like that to something as minor as different eyes. I thought that you were better than that. Turns out my estimation of your character was more than a little bit off."
"What? Your mad at me because I got scared of that freak?! What the fuck is wrong with you? You dated that thi-" Tracey didn't get the last word out. She suddenly had a wand pressed up against the side of her neck.
"The freak, as you called him, taught me that little trick I used to save you from Theodore Nott last year. He was the one who taught me how to ward our doors so we didn't have to take shifts sleeping. He was the one who taught me occlumency so that I could hide your secrets from everyone. He taught me everything that I have used to protect you. You owe him far more than you realize Tracey. I would not be alive today if it weren't for the freak." Daphne never yelled at Tracey, but the quiet fury in her voice was impossible to miss. The venom in her voice would make a basilisk green with envy.
Tracey was crying. Not just because of the dressing down she got from Daphne. The self loathing and disgust in herself was far worse than anything Daphne could throw at her. Tracey had been in quite a few tough spots in the last four years at Hogwarts. Daphne had bailed her out every single time she ran her mouth, every time she was cornered by the Death Eater children, every time she got in trouble Daphne was there to save her ass. Tracey knew that this might wreck her friendship Daphne.
Near the end of second year Tracey had come to terms with the fact that she was attracted to Daphne. She was ecstatic that there was finally some way she could repay Daphne for all of the crap that she had to deal with because of her. It took a month or so for Tracey to convince Daphne to let her try some of the stuff she read in those dirty muggle magazines. Once Daphne gave in it was fantastic. At first it was just a way to repay Daphne for all her sacrifices, but at some point Tracey realized she was in love with Daphne. She hadn't told her yet, she was afraid Daphne was just using her to get off, which was completely ridiculous, but whoever said love was rational?
Before Daphne could stomp off, through the recently returned to normal door, Tracey threw her arms around her and cried on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Daphne. I just can't lose you. I love you and I'm afraid I'm losing you to this boy. I don't know how I would survive without you."
Daphne didn't know what to say to that. On one hand Tracey had just admitted to her that she loved her, which she had been waiting for since the end of third year. She was scared Tracey saw it only as a way to pay for the protection that Daphne provided her for years. Then there was the other hand where Tracey had insulted the man the she had grown to care about on a far greater level than mere friendship. She hadn't known him long enough to love him like she did Tracey, but it could easily grow to that point in a short period of time, she was sure of that much.
In the end Daphne figured that Tracey had given her many chances over the years when she fucked up by getting too involved in the Ice Queen persona, she deserved at least another chance. Daphne wrapped Tracey in the tightest hug she could manage, an rubbed her back consolingly. There was no way she was going to just get over this, they would definitely be talking about this later, but for now her girlfriend needed a shoulder to cry on after a huge wake up call.
After that interesting, and informative, outburst by the legendary 'Ice Queen' Susan wasn't scared anymore. She was mentally berating herself for reacting the way she did. Her aunt had trained her better than that, she taught her to 'look underneath the underneath' and her reaction definitely didn't reflect that training. James was a good person, he had proved that by helping them without asking for anything in return, and he didn't deserve to be judged based on something he couldn't control. The first generation witches and wizards went through the same thing for decades, if not centuries, and it disgusted her that it happened to this day. Then she went and did something similar to James without even thinking about it.
Hannah got over her fear pretty quickly. She was surprised by his eyes and the power that he radiated when he uncoiled himself was frightening. The more she thought about his perfectly fluid movements she realized he was making a conscious effort to look like he was moving as a normal person would when they first met. Knowing someone like that excited her, but at the same time it worried her because powerful people attracted powerful enemies. She already had enough problems being the best friend of the niece of the head of the DMLE.
Hermione couldn't believe that she judged someone based on looks. She knew how much she hated it when people judged her based on her bushy hair and buck teeth. Both have since been fixed, even if she used a glamour to make it look like she still had the bushy hair and buck teeth, among other things. Hermione didn't even think twice before deciding that she was going to ignore everything special about him and just focus on him as a person, treat him like a totally normal guy, that she didn't hate like all the other guys at school.
It didn't take long to get to Hogsmeade Station. As the girls were about to leave the compartment to disembark from the train Hermione took one last look at where James was sitting. Her gasp surprised everyone, after James left what could really be exciting?
Ignoring everyone's questioning looks and in Hannah's case, actual questions, Hermione bustled over to the corner he was in. Turns out she wasn't seeing things like she worried, there really was a piece of paper on his seat. It was folded in a triangle like the notes she used to see other girls pass in elementary school, it made her smile to see a little bit of the muggle world here in the magical.
"What the hell is that?" Tracey asked.
"This is paper. Its what muggles came up with to replace parchment. They are so far ahead of us in terms of technology that it isn't even funny. They can do so much with technology that we can only dream of doing with magic. Magic can do a lot of things science can't right now, but I don't expect that to last too long. Muggle science will catch up with magic some day." Hermione lectured to the very interested girls, they always thought muggle studies was a joke and this just proved it. Paper never made it into the course materials, not even World War II.
"As fascinating as that is, I assume that something is written on it. Could you let us in on the secret?" Daphne asked, her tone was so dry that deserts would take notes.
Hermione laughed, it felt good to banter with someone. She had no friends at Hogwarts after the boy-who-lived disappeared from Kings Cross. "Alright the note says…Bloody hell. He has got to be kidding. He leaves it in a bloody note?"
She was pissed. How could he hide something like that from her? How could he be such a coward, he was so brave when she knew him before. He attacked a troll for her, he fought his way to the philosophers Stone just to prevent the Dark Lord from getting his hands on it for Christ's sake. Then he pulls this crap. Hermione was going to give him a piece of her mind when she found him at the castle.
Hermione threw done the note, slammed the door open and stomped her way out onto the platform. Daphne and Tracey both looked to Hannah and Susan to see if they knew what the hell just happened. Hannah just shrugged and looked at Susan, who had ignored the looks and picked up the note.
"Ha! I win. Hannah you owe me ten galleons." She grinned fiercely at Hannah and handed her the note.
"No! That is such bullshit. It's not fair, you must have known that before we made the bet. You dated him for two months." Hannah whined to her best friend, immediately affecting her best pout.
"Nope. He basically told us at the same time. You're the one that didn't want to believe it. You made a crappy bet, missy." Susan walked out of the compartment, intending to catch up to Hermione and sit in her carriage with her.
Tracey hurried to catch up with Susan, handing the note to Daphne on her way out. She called out a quick 'wait up' to Susan. Daphne looked down at the note. She read it a couple times before snorting in disbelief. She could not believe that she had dated the Gryffindor Golden Boy without even knowing it. After the disbelief passed and she really thought about it James did kind of embody the Gryffindor qualities.
"Well Trace, you ready for an eventful year? 'Cause I think this year is going to be exciting. Maybe we will actually have that tournament this year." Daphne was a little apprehensive about being involved with James now, but she wasn't willing to give up on him just because of the name he was given when he was born.
"Yeah! That would be awesome! I am totally going to enter in the dueling tourney they had planned. You should definitely enter the knowledge contest. You could kick some serious foreign ass there, without even lifting a finger and showing off your real skills." Tracey was so excited, just at the thought of the Tri-Wizard Tournament actually taking place.
Tracey and Daphne walked quietly out to the platform just in time to see that all but one of the carriages was gone. Tracey thought to ask, "So what was on that note? You just crumpled it up and burned it." She frowned at that. She really wanted to know what it said.
"Oh that old thing. It just said what James' name was when he went to Hogwarts when we were in first year." She muttered offhandedly, smirking at the suspicious look on Tracey's face.
Tracey knew Daphne was trying to rile her up and was trying her hardest not to give her the satisfaction. She failed miserably and ended up slapping Daphne on the shoulder to get her attention as they walked up to the carriage. "Stuff it Daph. Just tell me what it said." She was damn near pulling her hair out in anticipation.
"It said that his birth name was Harry Potter." Daphne tried to keep a straight face and say it nonchalantly. She thought she did a fairly good job, until she saw how Tracey's mouth was gaping open and her eyes were as wide as they would go. Daphne broke out in amused giggles that she tried to stifle with her hands, but failed miserably and broke out into gut wrenching laughter. She ended up having to sit down on the steps of the carriage and catch her breath.
Tracey's gobsmacked expression only got more pronounced when she saw Daphne damn near rolling around on the ground in laughter. Daphne would only do that at home before. Tracey was definitely starting to like James if he brought out this in Daphne.
Their mirth was interrupted by the door to the carriage opening. Tracey looked up and Daphne turned around to look at the new arrival. "Well, well, well, so Scarhead has come back to us, has he?" Draco Malfoy sneered, "Good, it's been boring without someone that will fight back a little. I think you two will have to be a little appetizer for the main event though." He let out a cackle.
With that Draco whipped his wand out and cast a petrification charm on both girls before they even thought to react. Draco levitated them into the recently expanded carriage, his accomplice had layered the whole thing with cushioning charms, to make it easier on their knees, of course. Wouldn't want to cause too much body damage. That would be evidence, after all.
Draco made sure that the girls couldn't move their own bodies, but that didn't mean that he couldn't move them. He carelessly stripped them of their clothes, leaving them in just their underwear.
Tracey was so out of it from shock that she found herself wondering about the glamour that Hermione was obviously using to make her curves much smaller, her hair bushy, and her maintain her buck teeth. Instead of thinking about what was about to happen she continued thinking about Hermione in ways that she never would have before. Like how she found comfortable bras in her size since she had never been able to find anything for her D cups and Hermione must be at least an E underneath that glamour.
Daphne was cursing herself heavily. She had learned how to transfigure and conjure her underwear wandlessly and silently, but she hadn't learned any defensive or offensive spells. The underwear transfiguration did come in a little bit handy, she had black and purple lace on before her unceremonious disrobing, now she was wearing plain beige, comfortable and definitely not attractive against her pale skin. She was hoping it would stall long enough for James, or was it Harry? Either way she was waiting for him to come save them, she was just hoping that he caught the flare she sent up with her ice when Draco looked away, unfortunately that's all she could do without moving her arms.
"My, my, my, Daphne, how boring. I expected you to be a sexy dresser underneath that icy cold exterior. This is just disappointing. Tracey was much less disappointing, her bra barely hides anything and her knickers aren't quite as sexy as I like, but lace is good enough for what I'm going to use you for." Draco let our another dark laugh.
"Draco. I thought we agreed. I get Tracey and you get the 'Ice Queen'." Daphne couldn't turn her head, but she recognized that voice immediately. Ronald Weasley. She heard it enough, calling her a dirty snake and a tease.
"Well, I've decided that we're going to switch girls." Malfoy looked over at the now identified Ron, "Are you really going to complain about that right now. Either way your getting to have your way with one of the hottest witches in the school."
"I guess, but this isn't what we agreed on." Ron sounded a little moody, but that's exactly what would you expect from an entitled pure blood like him.
Daphne wasn't too happy to have either one to force themselves on her, but if it was going to be anyone she would rather it be Draco. At least she knew that he wouldn't do too much damage with what he had between his legs, according to Pansy anyways.
It wasn't long until both boys moved around in front of the girls so they could see their assailants. They were leering down at Tracey and Daphne, taking off their robes slowly. It was probably meant to scare the two fifth year girls, but Tracey was so far gone that she wouldn't have even notice what was going on. Daphne couldn't care less for their intimidation tactics, she just wanted to get this over with, there was nothing she could do and she just wanted to get back to James.
Draco and Ron were working on their belts when something happened, something very bad for Daphne and Tracey's attackers. James was standing at the rear of the carriage, which normally wouldn't have meant anything, but this time it definitely. James was standing there, soaked from the torrential downpour, making him quite the sight for the two girls.
James had changed into his Hogwarts uniform at some point between jumping out of the train and interrupting Draco and Ronald. 'Merlin, I know I like girls, but the abs on that man could turn any girl on.' showing every groove and swell of his chest and stomach. He had hair on his chest and a trail of it disappearing down into his black slacks. He wasn't wearing an over cloak or a tie, but he did have a leather biker jacket on to keep him warm.
James moved closer to the carriage, his eyes were that same green and gold from the train, and man were they damn sexy when he was saving them. It was only when she realized that she was sitting up that Tracey saw the huge tear in the back of the carriage. It was the first real look at James' power for Tracey, it was awe inspiring. There wasn't even a sliver of wood visible on him, but she distinctly remembered seeing four fingers rending the wood.
"Well, if it isn't Heir Malfoy. How are you doing?" James said, as if he was commenting on the weather.
"Who, the fuck, are you? You are interrupting something here. Why don't you sod off?" Malfoy sneered at the newcomer.
"You are really going to dislike my answer, but since you asked, my name is James Clay." He answered Malfoy from right behind him.
'I recognize that name from somewhere. I wonder if father told me about it?' Malfoy thought to himself before it clicked that the answer came from behind him. He turned as fast as he could to come face to face with those creepy eyes. It was then that it clicked. His father had warned him about this before.
-Flashback-
"Draco, come in here at once, I have important information for you to have this year at school." Lucius Malfoy called to his son.
Draco walked in to his father's study, with it's books that are full of nothing but empty pages, glass cut to look like crystal, and pine stained to look like oak, it was just like Lucius, it looked full of substance, but was really as empty as a used can. And you know what they say 'The empty can rattles the most.'
"Yes Father? What would you like to tell me?" Draco said after bowing to his father, trying to appear like he was still under his father's thumb.
"There is a new child that will be attending Hogwarts this year. I need you to avoid him at all costs." Lucius answered his son.
"Why? Why would I want to avoid a new kid? Shouldn't I try to recruit him to our Lord's side or if that fails, make sure he won't get in our way?" Draco tried to make his question sound respectful, but mostly failed.
Lucius stared down his rather long, beak-like nose at his son, trying to see if he was being sassed, eventually he decided that Draco wouldn't do that.
"He comes from Canada. He will have diplomatic immunity as per the Ministry's treaty with the Canadian Magical Government. That isn't why I want you to steer clear of him though. He is immensely powerful and has done quite a few very noteworthy things in the last three years." Lucius explained.
Draco scoffed, obviously not taking this seriously, "Alright. Just tell me who he is so I can avoid him."
Lucius quickly decided that getting angry with Draco would only make him want to take out the boy more, so he made up his mind to let Draco make his own mistakes on this one, especially because there wasn't enough gold in his vault to buy the Canadian's off. They have far too much honour and morals.
"His name is James Clay. He is a lord of a couple different British Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses even though he was raised for the last three years in Canada. However, in the international circles he goes by another name. They call him 'Earthen Hunter'. Although I'm sure he goes by more than one alias in the seedier circles. The most important thing I can tell you is that he is, supposedly, the most powerful Earth Elemental in recorded history."
"I'll keep that in mind Father. May I be excused? I still need to pack for the return to school." Malfoy paid lip service to his father.
"Yes, of course Draco. We leave at the usual time tomorrow." Lucius watched Draco leave, thinking 'That stupid child will attack him and I won't be able to pull him from the fire this time. He must learn to think about his actions before he commits them. It won't be long before he is an adult and could possibly be held accountable for his actions in an honour duel.'
-End Flashback-
James noticed the way Draco's already pale face became even more so. Apparently he had heard of him. "Ah, I see you've recognized my name. I hope that your useless father has warned you not to mess with me, if he didn't let me. My name is James Clay. I have diplomatic immunity because I am considered a Lord in Canada. These two are under my protection, as are Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott. If you touch any of them again, I will declare blood feud and kill you. Don't test me on this Draco."
Having said his piece James grabbed Draco by the back of his pants with one hand and his greasy hair with the other. Draco gasped in pain when his hair was used to hold up some of his weight when James hefted him, then he threw him to the ground outside the carriage. He threw the rest of his clothes at him before turning to the other male in the carriage.
"Ronald Weasley. How did you go so wrong? All your older brothers turned out so well in this life and then there's you, the family disgrace. It seems despite your father's teachings and effort your mother has managed to convince you that you are entitled to anything you want because you're a pureblood." James shook his head in disappointment, wishing that he could have changed Ronald before he left.
"Don't try to lecture me you freak. I'm a pureblood of Britain, you're less than the dirt beneath my feet." Ron sneered at James.
Ron waited for a response, but he just felt a rising foreboding pressure. It took his lacking mind a full minute to figure out that it was coming from the 'freak' in front of him. Just as he was about to start back on his holier than thou tirade the pressure disappeared, which confused him. If this guy was trying to intimidate him, why would he suddenly stop trying.
Before Ron could figure it out James spoke up, "Sorry about that Ronald. I really don't like that word. I suggest you don't use it again because next time I'm not going to hold back from seriously hurting you."
"What word? Did you mean fre-" Ron started to ask in a haughty tone before cutting off with an 'Ack!'
James lifted Ron up by his grip on his throat, "I told you not to say in Ronald. Luckily I managed to stop you from saying it, but you got through about half of it so I'm still going to have to hurt half of you."
With that said James raised an open hand, focused for a second, and abruptly closed his fist. His magic flared enough that even Tracey, still out of it, felt it and reacted a little. Not many people knew, but if an Earth Elemental was powerful enough they could control any natural material, even if it was no longer alive and attached to the life giving force the Earth. The wood of the carriage walls suddenly exploded inwards, crushing Ron's lower half in a barrage. The sounds of the wood warping and breaking completely masked the sounds of Ron's bones being shattered, Daphne was extremely grateful for that.
James looked away from Ron after he had passed out from the pain inflicted on him. He hated doing that to someone he had once called friend, but there was no other option, Ron needed to learn that there were consequences to certain actions. His eyes fell on the pile of ripped clothing of Daphne and Tracey. Seeing that reminded him that Daphne and Tracey were laying on the ground, mostly petrified, and almost entirely naked.
"Good to know that you are still capable of that rather impressive wandless conjuration," James looked down at the bra conjured for Tracey then over to the ugly beige set that Daphne was, "Transfiguration too, apparently." He let out a laugh at her attempt to cover her ugly undies at the same time she flushed prettily.
"Shut up." Daphne whispered, failing to make it sound menacing like she wanted it to.
"As you wish my lady." James dipped himself in a bow fit for royalty, with a sexy grin on his face.
Daphne found herself forcing down thoughts of lewd acts with James. It took some serious effort, but she did manage to do it. She knew that those thoughts would come back with a vengeance when she lay down to sleep tonight, as they did every time she forced them down. When she opened her eyes Daphne was greeted with James holding out a full uniform for her.
"As far as I can tell these should fit you. I made some for Tracey too, but she seems really out of it. I think I'll just carry her up. Think you could get this on her and button it up?" He held out his own outer robe.
Daphne fought with a totally unresponsive Tracey, but in the end she got the robe on her. "So what are we going to do about Ronald and Malfoy?" She asked.
"Well Malfoy bolted for the castle before Ronald and I had our conversation. As for Ronald, I will send someone down for him when we get to the castle. After I deal with your Head of House." James said over his shoulder, having turned around to give her some privacy to change and re-transfigure her underwear into what it was before.
Daphne got dressed in the clothing James made for her. As she slid her arms through the sleeves Daphne found herself marveling at the feeling of it against her skin. She thought she was an accomplished conjurer for her age and she could barely do basic cotton clothing properly. This was so far ahead that she wondered just how good James was.
Acromantula silk clothing was a luxury for a reason, it felt like her upper body was being gently caressed by angel's wings. The best part about it all was how well it fight her, the chest was tight enough to show off her modest bust, but not tight enough for the buttons to pull. It tapered perfectly to still be form fitting as in flowed down her waist and into her new pencil skirt. The skirt fit perfectly too, it wasn't silk though, it was finely woven wool.
As impressive as that was when you just took into account the types of cloth James conjured, when you took into account the perfect fit he provided, and the colours it was impressive enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. The shirt was a lovely dark silver color, not the bright silver most people associated with Slytherin, it seemed to change from almost black when it rippled in the right light. The skirt was a deep forest green that almost perfectly matched James' eyes when he let his power flow through him, or when he finished meditating, apparently.
Daphne was speechless. She couldn't think of any words that would properly describe her joy and thankfulness for the clothing James made her. It made a girl feel amazing to be dressed in such beautiful clothing, especially when the guy they liked was there to see them looking so gorgeous. Daphne opened her mouth to at least attempt to express her thanks, but was put on hold by James' upheld hand.
"Don't even think about thanking me. Just seeing you wear that is thanks enough, besides if I hadn't have left you early like that then it wouldn't have been a problem right?" James smiled down at her sadly.
"If I can't think about thanking you then you can't even think of blaming yourself for what happened to us. All the blame can be laid at the feet of Malfoy and Weasley, only those two are responsible for this."
Daphne would hear nothing of his protestation after her assertion that neither of them were to blame and James had to admit defeat on that front. Instead of continuing to argue like he wanted to James bent down and gently lifted Tracey into his arms. Daphne picked up on his silent que that they were leaving now and quickly vacated the remains of the carriage, which had some ho w retained its expansion charm despite how damaged it was.
It was a fairly long walk up to Castle Hogwarts and Daphne was belly aching about how tired she was and how sore her feet were before they had even passed the halfway mark. James was still caring Tracey in a bridal carry and didn't appear to be even remotely bothered by the extra weight or the distance walked.
'Hell, he isn't even breathing hard. It is so unfair that he gets all those physical benefits with his element while I only get an immunity to the cold.' Daphne thought with a pout.
As if James could read her thoughts he stopped dead in his tracks. Daphne kept walking, caught up in her internal pouting. It only took her ten or so steps to realize that James wasn't walking beside her anymore. She whirled around, scared that something had happened.
She let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw that James was just looking down at his shoes, one of which had become untied. She could see the look of consternation on his face as he glanced between the softly snoring Tracey and his untied shoe, obviously unsure of how he should go about retying his pointy old man dress shoes. Daphne found herself tittering at his indecision and decided to help him out.
After she has stood up from tying James' shoe she stood up almost directly in front of him, she was actually brushing against Tracey's side. When she looked into James' eyes she immediately got lost in the emerald depths. As she was staring into his eyes she heard him mumble something under his breath, but before she could ask what he said she was surprised.
James leaned down in the blink of an eye and gently pressed his lips to Daphne's suddenly hair free forehead. Daphne was caught completely off guard and she stuttered in response, but even though she was off balance she still had the presence of mind to not flinch back from this expression of intimacy, which was extremely rare for James. The kiss only lasted for ten seconds, but it felt like a lifetime to Daphne, a wonderful lifetime that filled her with warmth.
When James pulled away he smiled at her and it sent a new thrill of warmth through her. It wasn't the kind of warmth that caused arousal and desire, it was the kind of warmth that would bring a small smile to your face in the darkest hours of the night. It wasn't love, but it definitely had some of the markers of it.
It wasn't until they were walking again that she felt an entirely new thrill. It was caused by the rush of energy that ran through her from the soles of her feet to the top of her head and everything in between. At first she felt like she could run all the way to the castle and back without even using half of her new found energy, but it soon mellowed out. She was still filled to bursting with energy, but it was a slow and steady energy like what she imagined the strength of the Earth was like.
Daphne looked suspiciously at James, "You untied your shoe to get me close like that, didn't you?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at him.
"Well you never would have let me give you Terra's Blessing if I had asked you to take it. You're far too proud and stubborn to accept help like that." James grinned in the face of her suspicion, it made it very hard to stay mad at him.
"Well you're not wrong and I'm not entirely thrilled with you taking the decision out of my hands." Daphne was trying to sound stern, James heard the smile in her voice though.
"You're really going to be upset when I tell you that it will last for around six months. Every time you step foot on natural ground, or are below the surface of it, in the dungeons for example." James smirked at her.
"You did all of that just to protect me in the off chance that I must remain in the dungeons?" Daphne asked timidly.
"Of course. I would do almost anything to keep the people I care about safe and I most definitely consider you within that very small group." James said as seriously as he could when all he wanted to do was throw his arms around Daphne and show her exactly how much she meant to him.
"Thank you." Daphne told him sincerely.
James nodded, reluctant to say anything else and possibly embarrass himself. He looked up at the distant castle, only to see that he was only about forty feet away now. His first impression was one of awe and happiness, but he shook it off. It was a very clever spell that probably saved a lot of trouble with homesickness, just like that old goat to mess with student's minds to make them docile.
He was brought up short when he saw two figures standing between him and the doors to the entrance hall, the closed doors to the entrance hall. One was smaller than the other with a helmet of blonde hair and the other looked like nothing more than a giant bat with black hair and a pale face. Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, the two worst examples of human beings that Slytherin House had to offer.
"You there, step away from my student and surrender yourself for arrest. You have attacked the Heir of a Noble House of Britain and you will be tried and sent to Azkaban." Snape sneered, and Draco smirked.
"Severus Snape I presume. Ah yes, I've heard quite a bit about your favoritism, especially towards your Godson, Draco. The only problem is that I caught him attacking these two young ladies, along with an accomplice. Now I suggest that you open those doors and get out of my way." James' pleasant mood from talking so candidly with Daphne burned away in an instant, it was displaced by the need for a serious demeanor.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, criminal." Snape shot back, incensed by him not complying.
"You should be afraid Severus. I will have to move you then." James said.
James turned to Daphne, "Could you hold onto Tracey for me? Terra's Blessing should easily allow you to hold onto her for the duration of what is going to happen here." Daphne nodded to him and accepted Tracey from him. She was surprised by how easy it was to hold onto her, 'I could get used to this.' She decided.
Snape watched as this unknown boy stepped away from the two whores from his House. What did this boy think he could do against him? A full grown and powerful wizard of Britain. He was just standing there with a wide stance, knees bent and his arms hanging limply between his legs, almost like an ape. He hadn't even pulled a wand. Did he expect to defeat him by only using wandless magic?
"Even if you manage to beat me, without a wand it's unlikely, but if you somehow pull off the impossible that door will not open." Snape appeared to be really good at sneering, must be all the practice.
"It's funny how you wizards always think that the only way to fight is with little spindles of wood. For the other part, if those doors won't open then I will force them open." James let loose a feral grin at the confusion written all over Snape's face.
Snape was thoroughly confused. What did the boy mean by 'you wizards'? It almost sounded like he was saying that he wasn't a wizard. How could that be? He was enrolled at Hogwarts, or else he wouldn't have been able to get on the train. So how could he not be a wizard. Snape shook that thought off quickly and decided to get this farce over with.
"Stupefy!" Snape whipped his wand out at James, intending to end this as fast as possible.
James' grin only grew when Snape cast that spell, it was considered an attack outside of an agreed upon duel. As soon as the red streak left Snape's wand, James charged arms held behind him as he ran with his body parallel to the ground. The spell flew over his head only a few feet from Snape. James was filled with a fierce happiness at the shock on Snape's face, he could understand it though. It wasn't every day that you saw a person cross twenty feet of open ground in a fraction of a second.
James very much wanted to knock Snape down a peg by punching him in his greasy beak, but he didn't really want to kill him and he didn't think he would be able to hold back enough not to. Instead he launched a punishing uppercut into Snape's unprotected stomach. He heard the sounds of breaking bones and let out a bark of laughter at the weakness of a regular wizard's body, any Elemental would barely be marked by that punch.
Snape felt his ribs break under this freak's assault, then he felt his breath being forced out of his chest in a huff. He wasn't even able to vocalize the initial pain he felt when he folded over the boy's fist.
James didn't follow through fully on his punch, he didn't want Severus to be launched away before he could speak to him.
"My name is James Clay. You have just assaulted an ambassador from Canada. I will let it go this time because I have just broken most of your ribs and likely cracked your sternum. This is the only warning I'm going to give you. I am a Lord of both Canada and Britain, twice over. Both houses in Britain are Most Ancient and Most Noble. I rank so far above the Malfoys that I can't even see them below me. Don't get in my way again." James' eyes were hard, like crystal and his voice was sharp.
Snape tried to say something back, but all the came out was a burst of blood and spittle. His vision was fading to black. The last thing he saw was the disappointed expression on the boy's face, for some reason it made him feel like he was disappointing the only person he ever loved.
James watched the light leave Snape's eyes as he blacked out, disappointed that Snape was so twisted. As soon as he was sure that Snape was totally out James hefted him up onto his shoulder and walked up to the door.
"Draco if you use that wand, I will break it off inside your eye socket." He glanced over at Draco out of the corner of his eye.
Draco's wand was shakily pointed at Daphne and Tracey, but he was afraid to use it after James broke through Professor Snape's defense so easily. After hearing that threat spoken so dispassionately, like he was commenting on the weather, Draco decided not to test James' resolve to follow through and put down his wand.
James called out to Daphne, "I'm going to kick this door in, then we're going to get privately resorted and go directly to our new common room. I'll have some food brought up for us from the kitchens."
Daphne was completely aware of his strength, but it was another thing entirely to see him actually fight someone rather than sparring. She shook her head to snap herself out of her awe in time to grunt an affirmative in response. Then she took the time to berate herself for allowing such an unlady-like response to escape her mouth.
James pretended that he didn't hear the grunt to spare Daphne the embarrassment. He walked up to the great towering doors. They were very impressive, he had to admit that much at least. Giant towering constructs of black steel that looked to be at least a hundred feet tall and were likely at least ten feet thick. James planted one wooden soled shoe firmly on the flagstones in front the door, it wasn't as good as being directly on the surface but James was strong enough to draw power through up to twenty feet of stone if there was no air separating it from the ground.
With his foot planted as it was James reared back with his other foot and thrust it forward with the power of Terra behind it. The doors didn't stand a chance. The bars across the inside broke with a great screeching report and the doors hit the wall on either side with gong like clangs, if the gongs were the size of small house anyways.
James stood beside Daphne with the ominous background of the torrential downpour. Together they cut quite the impressive silhouette. McGonagall and Flitwick stood on the top steps looking down at the new arrivals. McGonagall had a look of barely contained amusement and glee, Flitwick one of shock and horror at the strength this student could bring to bear.
James looked up at the diminutive half goblin and the statuesque Scotswoman, "I assume they gave you back your Deputy position Minerva." He smiled at the stern older woman.
"Mister Clay. In this institution we refer to our professor's by their title, or Sir or Ma'am." Flitwick scorned James.
"Well, Headmaster Flitwick, I have not been sorted yet so by your own school rules I'm technically not a student yet and therefore allowed to call you whatever I please. On that note you might want to get him to Poppy, most of his ribs are broken and his sternum is probably cracked." He tossed Snape at their feet with that feral grin firmly plastered on his face. Why not teach the half goblin exactly what kind of person he was dealing with?
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone. Please review and follow/favourite. I would appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions.