(A/N): Thank you all for the reviews and adding me to the story alerts. I'm glad you think the story line is a good one. By the way, I'm looking for a Beta reader on this story… if anybody's interested… just send a PM.
It was a whole four hours later that Jack emerged from the Room of Requirement. She felt a strange urge to go hug her children and her husband. She needed to touch them, to feel this reality and remember that she had survived that horrible night. For some reason she was getting the feeling that things would have gone a lot worse if she had died.
She went to the tower her family was staying in. When she entered, James rushed up to her. "Where have you been? I was worried sick! I've been calling you every half hour, and you disappeared off the map."
Jack shrugged, "I needed some space. I'm allowed that much, aren't I? I wasn't anywhere dangerous, I just went somewhere to think."
Sirius and Remus came up to her and hugged her. Remus led her over to the couch in a very brotherly manner. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?" He asked, gently but almost accusingly.
Jack shrugged. "I don't know, Moony. I could have died that night. I could have died and you would have been the only Marauder left in your eyes. Can you imagine? Sirius would still be in Azkaban, Peter would still be at the Weasley's, James would be dead, and Harry… god, Harry would be at the Dursley's still."
"But why didn't you tell us what Snape did?" argued Moony.
Jack shook her head, "What good would it have done. You would have just gone to Dumbledore as usual. And what could he have done?"
"Are you kidding? This is Dumbledore we're talking about." Argued her twin brother. "How could you ever not go to Dumbledore?"
Jack shrugged and glared angrily at her brother. "You'll never get it. You were dead by that point, how could you understand what I went through? Nobody believed me or listened to me. In all those months… all I could think about was how Siri was framed and innocent. It didn't take me long to piece it together. I mean, it was obvious to me. The night Lily and James died… when Siri said he was going to check on Peter … that night was horrible."
"Dumbledore still wants to ask you about that night and I suggest you take him up on his offer." Sirius said softly.
Jack didn't hesitate to shake her head. "Snape is useful to this war. He feeds us valuable information. Besides, if we know that he's a real Death Eater, we could use him to feed Voldemort false information."
"Jack," Sirius said angrily, "if you don't tell Albus what happened, I will. He belongs in Azkaban, not teaching children, corrupting their minds for Voldemort's uses."
"You think their parents haven't already done that!" snapped Jack. "Most of the ones who are dark have dark parents. It isn't like Voldemort lets in muggle-borns much, at least not without them proving that they are truly Dark."
"What about Peter?" Remus said quietly, frowning slightly.
Jack sighed and looked at him tiredly. They never mentioned Peter by his first name it was always Wormtail. They never thought about why he did it, or when he turned, they only talked about what they'd do to him the next time they met the rat. James and Sirius had said years ago that he didn't deserve his name after betraying them both and Jack heartily agreed. "What about him Remus?"
"Who corrupted Peter?" questioned Remus, "it had to be somebody who was a Death Eater and Snape was the one Death Eater we came into contact with the most. Remember the time that we were meeting Albus about the mission we were going on and we ran into Wormtail and Snape talking civilly in front of the library?"
Jack stared hard at her friends. "It's more complicated then you know."
"Than explain, now." James demanded in a hard voice.
Jack was silent for a very long time, then quietly began. "You know what people were saying about me, before you came back and we moved? Remus, do you remember what Rita Skeeter was writing about me?" Remus shook his head, soon followed by Sirius and James. "They were saying I was crazy, permanently confounded, that I had gone mad with the grief of my lover's betrayal and my twin brother's death, that I wasn't fit to be able to roam free anymore. There were those who said that I should be put in St. Mungo's, others said I was a – a Death Eater and I should be thrown in Azkaban… nobody once stopped to consider if it were possible for Sirius to be innocent, not even Dumbledore. Remus was my only friend, and nobody respected his word. There were still those who privately told Fudge that he was a dark creature and should be killed because he helped aid Voldemort. Even he didn't believe me when I told him that Sirius was innocent. I gave up trying to argue with him. You want to know what it's like to be alone? I've been there. It's hard, really hard.
"But now that Sirius has been proven innocent, I'm popular again, everyone wants to apologize for their thoughts and how they dismissed mine. I've had to raise my kids in hiding and get married in the smallest wedding known to man with only my two best friends as witnesses because nobody stopped to consider that I might be telling the truth. And Remus, I considered telling you, but then I thought, what good will it do? Your word isn't worth anything, and Dumbledore won't consider my word to be the truth, because I'm the crazy bitch that lost her whole fucking family!" She burst into tears and collapsed on the couch. She felt Sirius embrace her. She inhaled sharply. "Where are my kids?" she asked weakly. "I want to see my kids."
"They're with Minnie." Said Sirius.
Jack stared at him, "has she chastised you yet for calling her that?"
"I think she's still in shock, but Jack, you can't just shake this off. It's serious." Jack waited for the same old line that Sirius always told, but to her shock, it never came. She stared at him.
"Where is he?" she asked quietly.
"Dumbledore's office, waiting for you." She got up and quietly went out the door and within moments was in front of the Gargoyle. Clearly it had been told to let her in, since it leapt aside as she approached.
"Come in, Jack." Came Dumbledore's voice. It was hard and angry. As she entered she saw that Snape stood sneering in the corner and there was no twinkle in Dumbledore's eye. "Please explain why you acted the way you did this morning."
"Ask the Death Eater." She spat.
"I haven't the faintest idea what tale your mind has woven, Black." Snape sneered.
"Severus has already been cleared of those crimes, Jacqueline." Dumbledore said evenly, "He was spying for us."
"I don't have to listen to this Bullshit!" she cried. "You haven't trusted me since the day that James and Lily died! He tortured me that night, and if you can't believe that…" she pointed her wand at her temple and pulled out a white and black strand. She placed it on her desk, which she laid on Dumbledore's desk and stood there. Dumbledore rose slowly and went over to the pensive. He inserted the memory and prodded it. She quickly strode over to Snape.
"I'm gonna say it one more time, bastard, go…to… hell!"
Dumbledore came out of the memory looking grim. "Is this true Severus?
"…yes, Headmaster."
Jack left, with tears in her eyes, in search of her children. She pulled out an old parchment. "I solemnly swear, I am up to no good." A quick scan of the parchment showed that her entire clan was in the Great Hall, with the exception of James, who was coming towards her. She quickly wiped it clean just before James came into view.
"Jack!" he called. "Hey Jack!" He called. She waited for him to catch up. When he did, he scooped her up in his arms. They stayed like that for a long time, just crying and comforting each other. When they had finished, Jack led James up to the Northwest tower, her secret spot during her Hogwarts years.
"Why didn't you tell me?" was the first thing out of James's mouth.
Jack shrugged, "I'm the oldest. I'm supposed to protect you from all of the horrible things in the world. I didn't want you to worry, you had enough on your plate with Harry and Sirius, we had too much to worry about in those days, and then I realized that everything was easier if I didn't tell you."
"I wondered, I mean, especially when you went ballistic, you haven't gone that nuts since … since Mum and Dad died."
Jack sighed. "Well, Dumbledore knows now and I'm sure Snape will be getting what he deserves at long last.
"Azkaban?" Jack nodded. James's jaw tightened. "I can't say he doesn't deserve it, and I can't say that I feel bad for him. He's caused this family so much pain and suffering, but I'm sorry it had to end this way."
"Me too." Said Jack, quietly.
"I have an idea." James said after a pregnant silence. "I think that today you and I should go flying today. You haven't for so long and neither have I. Let's fly the way we used to."
Jack smiled at the memory. "What, like the last game before graduation?"
"Yes, just like that."
Jack waited for a second, thinking. "Gather everybody up and meet me on the Quiddich Pitch in a half hour." She smiled, Snape and the hard memories of war had gone out the window.
Before leaving, James looked at his sister, "are you sure you're okay?"
Jack nodded, "It's just hard to think about the difficult memories of my past."
Flashback –
It was the final Game of the century -- Gryffindor on Slytherin. The stakes were high but Gryffindor was confident. Jack Potter, their beloved seeker, was going to the England Quiddich Stadium for training directly after taking her N.E.W.T.s. Not only that, but she was going to be marked in the Hogwarts Quiddich Hall of Fame, along with all of all-time Hogwarts greats: Yates, Bagman, and Gilders to name a few.
Even a few Slytherins cheered as the Potter twins soared out of the stadium together and high above the crowds. They performed a series of aerials, then hugged each other good luck. "Be safe." Jack called after James.
Always my dear, always.
Well sorry for asking you not to break yet another leg during this game.
You were the one who broke it!
But before James could respond, the Quaffle was tossed high in the air and James's reflexes kicked in. Jack began her diligent search for the snitch. But the snitch knew Jack only too well after six years of being chased by the gifted seeker, it only came into Jack's peripheral vision twice and both times it instantly disappeared mear seconds after reappearing.
Hours later, Jack opened a channel to James. Okay, I'm really bored and we're fifty points up. Want to do something fun?
You're supposed to be watching for the snitch Jack.
Come on, let's switch brooms. I'm wearing mine out.
Alright, alright, just like in practice. Jack dived toward her twin brother, who passed the Quaffle off to Sean Jacobs, a fourth year and new chaser after the Prewitt brothers left the past year, and the two switched brooms midair. Jack closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the feeling of true free fall, before her legs automatically latched themselves to her brother's broom. She saw it and she dove in the same instant, never noticing that the entire crowd was going crazy. They had never seen such acrobatics before. The snitch flitted glinting near the Slytherin end. She noticed as she dove that it was too close to the ground for her to catch right side up.
She knew instantly what she had to do, but hesitated. It had never been attempted before in practice. She knew theory, but to fly upside down at fifty feet without practice would be dangerous. Go for it. Came the familiar voice in her head. So she did. She inverted her broom and flew towards the ground. The snitch tried to out distance her, but she managed to catch the cold metal in her hand.
End Flashback –
Jack smiled as she mounted her broom from the edge of the tower. She kicked off from the stone railing, letting the drafts float her up and down in a free fall. Most brooms wouldn't allow this, having charms built in to ensure the riders (relative) safety, but Jack ordered her broom special without the safety charm.
She only ever felt completely free on her broom, it was never on her own two feet that she felt completely content. She dived and weaved and did aerials for a half hour and then went off to meet her clan for a game of pick up Quiddich. Remus never cared for the sport, and so he and Melony (who was scared of heights) would hang out together in the stands. Merideth loved heights and Sirius often took her up on his broom. Merideth often pouted that she wasn't allowed on her mother's, but Jack put her foot down and that was the end of that argument.
Meanwhile –
In a small shanty house at the edge of a town lived two prankster twins, a part of a big family of wizards. Their most prized possession was a frayed piece of parchment; they just didn't know it yet. They assumed that it was simply a magical joke. They would say things to the parchment and it would wittily respond.
On this very day, one of the twins pointed his wand at the parchment and proclaimed, "I, Fred Weasley, command you to tell me who you are."
Very quickly, purple words appeared. This had never happened before. It had always been bottle-green.
"Oi, George!" Fred called to his twin, "Com'ere, somethin's changed with this bloody parchment. His twin rushed over and both read the forming words.
I will not tell me who I am,
Or what I used to be,
But if you really give a damn,
I'll show a part of me.
I am a solemn prankster true,
The only girl in a lot,
But if my comrades dyed me blue,
I'd prank 'em back an ne'er get caught.
I used to run the school, I swear,
The Hogwarts school I knew,
And so I created a lair,
To store my knowledge through:
Up the hall and in the classes,
Changing through the times,
The key to this Map passes,
It's hidden within the lines.
To you I send this sacred treasure,
The final days are mounting,
Before war begins and courage will measure,
The darkness is surmounting.
No good will come of this great war,
The death and all the carnage,
If you find the solemnest sore,
Just whisper: Mischief Managed
The twins stared at each other in amazement. "Should we try it?" asked George to Fred.
Fred gulped and once again and placed his wand on the parchment. "I solemn swear up to no good."
George snorted. "That isn't even a sentence, idiot, try this: I solemnly swear I am up to no good.
What they saw next nearly made both twins faint. "Hogwarts." George breathed.
They scanned over the map, until something caught their eye. There were people flying in the Quiddich Pitch. Three black dots flew around the page. They bore three names that Fred and George knew so well: Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs. The fourth was a name that sparked the twin's curiosity. The fourth dot seemed to fly much better than the others, the twins could even tell that from a piece of parchment. The fourth dot red, "The Marauder Queen."
"Fred! George!" called Charlie from the hallway. "Come see the Prophet, you'll never believe who turned up at a Bulgarian Quiddich Match yesterday."
George looked annoyed at the door, "then tell us, you git!"
"Jack Potter!"
Both twin's mouths dropped and George spat out, "mischief managed," before he followed his twin out the door to read the article. If the twins had stayed, they would have seen six new dots join the Marauders and their Queen. Five of the dots were labeled "Black" and the other was labeled, "Harry Potter."
--
"Please?" begged Harry, "just for a few moments? I won't try anything -- I'll hang on tight and everything.
"If he get's to do it, why can't I?" whined Tali, "he always gets to do everything first."
Jack sighed and rubbed her temples. "Anybody else?"
Melody and Remus both were preoccupied with a game of Exploding Snap, which was not a game that was very common in America. Mel let out a giggle when the cards exploded and toppled to the ground. Harry had his own broom a Comet 208, and he was prepared to join his father up in the air as soon as Jack gave her decision. Sirius and Meri were both flying on Sirius's broom. Sirius loved to fly, but he didn't often enjoy a ride on Jack's broom. Alex, however, raised his hand quietly. "I would like to please." He said.
"Alright, since Alex has clearly figured out how to please me, he will go first, then Tali will, because she does have a fair point that Harry usually goes first because he's the oldest, so Harry will go last." Harry shrugged, clearly fine with the decision and kicked off with his own broom underneath him.
Alex was overjoyed and quickly clambered onto the front end of Jack's broom. "You on and holding on tight?" She checked his group to make sure it was proper and then kicked off. She looped and whirled around in the air, nothing too fancy, but just enough to let her son get a nice feel for what it was like to ride her broom. She continued this for fifteen minutes, then gave Tali a turn. That trip also lasted fifteen minutes. Then Jack was free to go fly with Sirius and her daughter (Harry was too busy with his father to get a ride with Jack). She bobbed, swirled, and whirled around them doing loopdaloops for her daughters amusement. She shrieked and laughed with joy. It had been so long since Jack had ridden a broomstick that she had forgotten how good it made her feel. The memories of the war years ago and the challenge of the morning melted away with the setting sun. After ten long years of hiding and after all that her family had gone through, she was finally home. Two hours later they all burst into the Great Hall for dinner, windswept and laughing.
They sat down at a table and asked the house elves for the fixings for sandwiches. Minerva and Albus had left already and Snape was already on his way to trial, all based on the contents of Jack's memory. They were halfway through the meal when the Great Hall doors were flung open once again. James choked on his sandwich and ducked under the table when he saw who had arrived, and when Jack saw who it was, she wanted to do the same. Cornilus Fudge was striding towards her family's table.
"Come to apologize, Fudge?" she regarded him coolly, "you know as well as I do that I won't accept it."
Fudge's lip curled slightly. "Not to apologize, Black, but to arrest you."
Sirius, Remus, and her children, including Harry, rose and objected loudly. Jack rose a hand. "On what grounds?"
"Kidnapping Harry Potter." Said Fudge.
There was silence for a few seconds, before Sirius, Remus, and Jack burst out laughing. "You think," Jack laughed, "you think I was the one…who took Harry?"
Cornilus looked extremely confused. "Well if you didn't who did? We have a muggle-eyewitness, Petunia Dursley, who said that 'Potter and those abnormal friends showed up on my doorstep and took the freak.' If you were not the Potter she was referring to, what's your alibi?"
"Oh, I was there," Jack said coolly, "but I wasn't the one who took him."
"What in Merlin's name are you talking about? Who took Harry ten years ago?"
"His father did." Jack said, managing a straight face, despite the fact that James was tickling her leg from under the table, obviously anxious to get up and start cracking jokes at Fudge.
Fudge stared at her. "You've cracked you lid." He finally said.
Sirius stood up and stood behind his wife. "She's not, James Laertes Potter is alive and well."
"You're joking!"
"No I'm not, I'm Sirius." He said, grinning.
Fudge looked furiously at Harry. "James Potter is dead and has been for ten years! Harry was placed in the care of his aunt and uncle and it was requested that you leave him alone because of our suspicions that you had ties to Death Eaters."
"Actually," Harry spoke up with a smirk, "Aunt Jay and Uncle Padfoot were both legally allowed to take me from my muggle relatives house because in my parents will it appoints Aunt Jay and Uncle Padfoot as my Godparents."
Fudge looked shell shocked, and Jack allowed herself to finally smile. She shrugged at that, "well, there you have it. Whether or not you believe our tale, we legally are Harry's parents. And I do believe that Albus has not given you permission to be in this castle, which is required by law, so I suggest you leave."
Fudge had no choice but to leave, grumbling about the crazy Black clan. After the doors shut, James emerged again and burst out laughing. "How did such an oaf like that get to be minister. He didn't even think to look under the table."
Jack rounded the table and hugged Harry, kissing his forehead and ruffling his already messy hair. "You were amazing Harry. I don't think Fudge quite knew what to do, talking to the Great Harry Potter." The table burst out laughing and settled in to finish their meal.
Days later, Jack lay on her bed with Sirius writing something from across the way. Jack's history notes from seven years at Hogwarts plus multiple years of note-taking outside school were spread on the bed.
Her quill was posed over a blank bit of a page. "Sirius?" he grunted to tell her he was listening. "How do you think I should open the class? I want to do something to define the way I teach history, which is so different than Binn's style. I want to open their eyes to how great History can be."
Sirius thought for a moment, then turned and faced her. "What about that speech you always give the kids."
"The one where I tell them that you're an idiot?"
Sirius chuckled, "no, the one about defining history for yourself and perspective and all of that."
Jack frowned thoughtfully, "that could work." She nodded, "thank you," and she started scribbling.
"Why are you doing this, anyway?" asked Sirius.
"Dumbledore wants to go over what I want to do with the curriculum so that he can approve it within the next few days."
"Why not do it tomorrow?" Sirius asked, clearly bored. He jumped up from his seat and sat next to Jack, in the only clear spot on the bed.
"Don't you remember what tomorrow is?"
Sirius looked at her blankly for a few moments. "August twenty – ohhh!"
Jack nodded. "Amazing, you know, it's seems like they were still alive yesterday, bickering with James and I. They were really special to both of us."
"What are you going to do?"
"I figure that I'll go visit Molly, offer some condolences. I wasn't able to then, I was too broken up." A tear formed in her eye. "They were so young, and so brave."
Sirius rubbed her shoulder. "Coming back here is hard, huh."
Jack nodded. "There are so many death dates, so many memories of the dead that remain within these hallways. They're mostly happy memories, but it's sad to remember that they're dead, tortured by those that we fought so hard to defeat. We never succeeded, you realize, we never completely beat them."
"We will." Was all Sirius could say.
The next day, Jack rose, dressed, hugged her children and left Hogwarts for the first time since the press had exposed her. She dressed in a green cloak, once again putting the hood up, she then walked to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds and apparated away. With any luck, she thought, the press will never even know that I left. She walked to the edge of the town she had apparated to. There was a cemetery on the edge of town. She strode up to two twin gravestones. Gideon and Fabian Prewitt the stones read, brothers in life and in death. Tears leaked from Jack's eyes.
"Hey guys," she said softly, "I know it's been a while since I spoke to you last, but I had to take care of something." Jack sniffed and looked at her feet. "Would you believe me if I told you that I have five kids. I know, right, who in their right mind would let me have kids. Of course, Sirius is their father and I can hardly say he's in his right mind…"
"Hey!" cried a voice with indignance. Jack smiled sadly and turned around. There stood her entire clan, including a glamored James Potter. Sirius lead forward Jacob and Alex, who looked curious, as usual.
Jack pulled them into a hug and led them to the gravestones. "Jacob, Alex, these were my bestest friends in the whole wide world. They were killed by a very evil man, so I decided that my next two little boys would be named after them."
Alex looked at the gravestone. "That's why my middle name is Fabian? And why Jacob's middle name is Gideon?"
Jack nodded. "I wanted you guys to have something to remember them by. They were great men, extremely brave. They took five Death Eaters down with them the day they died."
Tali came forward, "what about me, why is my middle name Marlene?"
"She was the keeper on the Gryffindore team. She married a man named Andrew McKinnon and was killed in the war. They never found her body, she just disappeared one day, her house was in shambles."
Meri touched her shoulder. "Lotsa people were killed in the war, weren't they mum?"
Jack nodded, "Lotsa people were killed in the war ten years ago and lotsa people are going to be killed in the war that's coming."
"That's why we havta be warriors, huh?"
Sirius sat next to Meri and nodded, "yep, you have to help your big brother Harry fight evil. But your mum is doing the most important thing you can do after a war."
Tali, Harry, and Alex, all old enough to understand what was happening, all looked at their Aunt. "Remember the dead." Harry whispered after a long silence.
James nodded and rubbed his son's back, "just like we remember your Mum, who died to save you, just like we remember dead cousins and dead friends, we remember those who died fighting for good."
Jack stared around at the faces, all of them were teared up and sad. "I remember when I met Giddy and Fabs. It was just after the sorting and James was being a prat as usual, pranking Slytherins left and right. I got fed up with him and was reading a book. Suddenly these two second years started talking to me about Quiddich and life at Hogwarts and all this stuff. So I started hanging out with them, and they were really funny, always making funny jokes to make me laugh."
"Remember when you guys out pranked us?" cut in Sirius.
James let out a belly laugh, "I don't think the Great Hall has ever been the same. There's still a big dent in the wall."
"I still say that the best prank is that when you magically glued Sirius and James together for a whole day for charming your hair blue."
"They were the ones who suggested that, you know. In sixth year when you pranked us on the train, they told me at the next 'opportune moment' I should stick you two together."
Stories started flying fast about the brave Gryffindor twins, until a voice from behind them made them stop. "I'm glad somebody remembers them in the way the would want to be remembered, with laughter. Everybody's heads turned towards the voice, all the adults (and Harry, who had just recently acquired his) reached subconsciously for their wands.
A plump red-haired woman with two bundles of flowers stood behind them. Jack leapt up, "Molly!" she cried.
"Jacqueline, how are you?"
"Good, I'm good. I had five kids since I last saw you, but I'm good."
"You finally look like you have a few good meals in you. Sirius, Remus, good to see you again." She said cheerfully. "Who's your friend?"
"He's a … family friend we met while we were away." Molly nodded. "Welcome to England.
"Thank ye kindly, marm." James said in his best Texas accent.
It must have worked, because Molly blushed furiously. "Thank you." She said finally, "for coming here, for remembering. Not a lot of people visit my brothers' graves. It reminds them too much of the war, of the pain and suffering." Molly planted the flowers carefully, as if her brothers would care how she laid them.
Jack shrugged, "life is pain and suffering." She said simply, "nobody likes it and we pretend it isn't true, that our children will be unscathed and will live through times that will be full of peace and happiness, but that will never be."
Molly looked at her oddly for a moment and smiled, nodding. "Gideon always said that about war… now I can see where he got it from. Would you like to come to my place for lunch? It is a bit crowded, but ,,,"
"Thank you for your offer, Molly, but we already have plans. Would you like to join us?"
Molly shook her head, "no, I don't want to ruin your fun. Go on and have a good time. Will we be seeing you on September 1st?"
Jack nodded, "you may not see me, but you'll certainly see my clan there. I may be preoccupied with a few things."
Molly nodded and disapparated. Jack turned to her brother, and his unglamored face, a perfect mirror of her own (though slightly manlier), grinned back at her. "Are we going where I think we're going?"
Jack gave him a blank look, "I don't know where do you think where going?"
"O'Shey's?" asked James.
"O'Shey's? Are you kidding me?" squealed Sirius, which, in Jack's opinion, was a very amusing thing. Sirius's squeal was something like a cross between a pig squeal and an otter bark.
"Merlin, we haven't been back there since…" Remus started, reminiscing,
"James's bachelor party." Grinned Jack, "I thought Grant would kick us out for sure. We were making such a racket. And he made sure we didn't apparated home drunk. It was that night that I realized why the Apparation Instructor was so adamant that we never do it. It's so easy to splinch. Either that or take of photo of us sloshed and sell it to the next tabloid. Merlin, my agent would have had a cow."
"I think your agent was a cow," chortled Sirius.
"Dora Greenwood was a fine agent, thank you very much, and you would do well to remember how many Quiddich Games she got you into. Getting all of you to the World Cup was no mean feat, and Top Box!"
"You guys saw the 1980 Quiddich Cup from the Top Box." Jacob had stopped dead in his tracks. He almost looked wounded. Jacob, the obsessed Quiddich follower, had always been disappointed that his mother, the famous Jack Potter, had been in hiding all these years. He also found it difficult to hide it from his friends, who were all muggles. Even 14 year old Don didn't pay much attention.
Sirius nodded grinning, "Scotland vs. England. Best bloody game I've seen in ages. Scotland played amazingly well." Jack hit him on the head. "Ow! What the 'ell was that for."
Jack hit him again. "Language!" she scolded in her sharpest tone. "Cor blimy," said James in a heavy English accent, "'ou sound like McGonagall. Scared the livin' daylights outa' me it did."
"Shut it, yes, we're going to O'Shey's. Grant still owns the place and if I don't visit him soon, he'll kill me. He's probably mad at me just for skippin' out nine years ago. 'Course, if things haven't changed, Grant doesn't read the papers, which means that he won't be knowing anything about us. He picks the gossip up from wizards who want a quiet firewhiskey without too many other wizards around if you know what I mean. Andy and Ted Tonks actually met there, you know."
Grant O'Shey was a quiet squib who ran an underground pub of the main run of wizarding pubs all over England, it wasn't as poplular, but known for it's covertness. Many muggles also went into the pub and had no knowledge of the wizarding world. Jack had bartended for Grant when she was just out of Hogwarts and wasn't a famous seeker at the time. Grant was kind enough to teach her the tricks of the trade. It was how she got her start, though James was uncomfortable about it. What James didn't know was that she was spying for Dumbledore. Some known Death Eaters went to O'Shey's, since they wouldn't be recognized in a muggle setting.
Once outside the pub, Jack lengthened her hair magically and streaked it purple, inserting a nose ring that she hardly ever wore anymore, unless she was in a crowded public place and needed a disguise. She still, like ten years ago, preferred her hair short and croppy, which often gave her the appearance of being James's double, unless they turned around and both faced the same person.
Grant was inside, washing mugs at an island sink, his back turned to her. "We're closed until eight."
Jack frowned. "I heard that Jack Potter used to work here." He didn't turn around.
"That." Grant said in a gruff, "is none of your business, young miss."
"Why is that?"
"You'd be wise to not raise the subject of the dead around their old friends."
"Whatever happened to rememberin' the dead, eh?" Jack snapped.
Grant finally looked toward her. "Do I know you?" He asked her quietly. He stared at her, hard
Jack gave her best glare. "I'd be washin' that rag o' yours, you got some business outside, some old friends you might say…"
"What's your name?"
Jack sarcastically looked over her own appearance in the mirror, "no, that isn't right." She waved her wand and went back to normal. Grant dropped the mug he was washing. Jack repaired it without batting a eye.
"We always did make a great team Grant." Utter silence followed, "Don't you get the papers Grant? It was in the Prophet." Suddenly, it was as if someone had unfrozen him. Grant hopped over the bar, scooped up Jack and twirled her around.
He gave a happy yell and then showered her with questions. "How? Where? Why the bloody hell did you let me believe that you were dead?"
Jack sheepishly looked down to the floor, "I had to protect my family." Was all she said, and it was true even though it was revealing nothing to Grant and was actually a cue for her clan to enter the pub
"What the --?" started Grant, but the door swung open and people came storming in like a herd of hippogriffs. Three kids were on a tall, dark-haired man's back. Three others were on the ground looking around the pub with interest, but Grant's attention went immediately to the man.
"Sirius Black?!"
"What?" Sirius said with his best hurt face, "no hug for me?" He smiled broadly.
"Good, god, where have you been man, the hunt of the century happened when you left. They came to my pub three times to look for you just because Jack used to work here."
"I've been rooming with my two school mates, and my lovely wife, here."
"T-two schoolmates?"
Two more men stumbled into the pub, looking disheveled. "Sorry." One said to Jack, kissing her cheek, "we almost got seen."
The man went over to one of the children, who looked incredibly like him, and picked him up
"Grant?" Jack said meekly, "Could we get some lunch? We have some explaining to do and it's a very long story."
--
An hour later, the large group was just settling down to sandwiches and glasses of iced pumkin juice. Grant could hardly believe that ancient twin magic had saved James Potter's life and "Who are all the rest of these munchkins, by the way?" Grant asked looking around, "besides the obvious." He looked
"Oh these are my kids." Jack said with a shrug. Grant stared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing. "What!" she demanded.
"Whenever I've thought of you in the past ten years, I think of the night when you had to breakup that fight between the two chaps who wouldn't quit. I can't think of that woman actually settling down and having kids."
"Why? What'd she do?" asked Harry, intrigued.
"She sprayed them both with water and forced them both out, physically. She managed to yell at these two over the West Ham game going on."
Jack frowned. "We have a little WVN under the bar, I was watching Ireland squash Transylvania. The two guys were distracting me."
"WVN?" asked Tali, the silver-eyed girl with her long dark hair in a braid.
"Wizarding Visual Networking… it's like a television, they use it exclusively in pubs and things, we use it to watch Quddich matches during season mainly. I was glued to it in between serving drinks that season."
"Speaking of drinks," Grant said, "Anybody want anything?"
Jack leapt neatly over the bar and grabbed two bottles, "I'll do it, I've gotten rusty after so many years." She twirled both bottles with her hands, twirling them through the air.
"So, what'll it be Gentlemen?" She said smiling.