The Lost Potter – Chapter Four

"Daniel!" yelled James Potter up the stairs, "You're Hogwarts letter's arrived!" The reaction he was hoping for was not long in coming; his ten year old son scrambled to the top of the stairs a moment after the words had left his mouth. The boy looked out over the bannister as if to see whether his father was joking about the arrival of the long awaited letter.

James laughed at his son's reaction, but really didn't blame him for thinking it might have been a prank, Daniel ran down the stairs towards the bottom landing, pausing halfway down to leap onto the bannister (which let out a groan under the weight of the ten year old) and slid down it. Just as Daniel hopped off the end of the bannister, all the while giving his father a mischievous look that spelled out trouble, Lily came over to the pair of them, hand outstretched with the heavy letter in it. After she handed the letter to Daniel she turned to James who gave her a disapproving look "If I let you give it to him, he wouldn't get his letter much before September next year, let alone this year!"

James pouted but ruined it with a wink which caused his wife to laugh "The Hogwarts Express leaves on September 1st, doesn't it Daniel?" She said, now addressing their son who was running his eyes down the letter before him, moving onto the next sheet of parchment before answering.

"Yep, the tickets in here I think."

"You'll need to give us the list of all the books that you'll need for the school term – we can't buy everything right if we don't know what we're looking for!"

"I'll give it to you in a minute mum, I just want to read it first and make sure that I know what I'm doing and stuff like that!"

His mother continued on, clearly choosing to forget the exasperated tone of voice her son had used to address her "Helena said that she's going to meet up with some of her friends in Diagon Alley on the 28th, so we can tag along at the same time so that she doesn't have to deny us paying her for something she hasn't done. She's head girl this year, by the way James, I think we should get her something, she's been having a rough year what with…" James looked up at his wife and away from watching Daniel opening his letter. She was peaking at the clock on the wall of the landing she quickly kissed Daniel on the head, muttering to James "I've got a meeting in a minute, I'd better get going."

Giving Daniel another look as she grabbed her jacket and headed to the fireplace they used as the main floo entrance to the property "I'm so proud. Love you!" And just like that she was gone in a blaze of green flames.

"She's a bit busy right now is your mother," James said, noticing a look that Daniel gave his mother as soon as he thought her back was turned "So don't blame her for being a bit all over the place." Glancing around at the room while Daniel went back to the letter, he realised with some shock that he too was going to be late is he didn't get out of the house soon.

Grabbing his coat off the pegs that lined the hallway he saw Helena in the kitchen with Daisy, going over some of the homework that Daisy's muggle primary school had set her (something about fractions – whatever they were), nodding to her over the top of Daisy's head, he went back to the fireplace.

Daniel was reading the booklist that had been folded in the envelope with the letter, looking up as his father ruffled his hair and, after letting out an exclamation, said "Will you be coming with us to Diagon Ally?"

His father smiled at him "Would I miss out on one of my children getting their first wand, I don't think so! I'll take next Wednesday off, that way you'll have a guard with you in case one of your 'fans' becomes a little bit too friendly.

"Dad!" said his son, a hint of colour going into his otherwise pale face.

"Alright, perhaps I just want to see what the new Nimbus 2000 looks like – Tonk's been going on about nothing else for the last week, if she'd not come out of training last year I think she'd have been given the toilets to clean!" James grabbed a handful of floo powder and, still smiling at his son, threw it into the flames yelling "Ministry of Magic!" as the flames reached up to his head he winked at his son one last time.

James spun faster and faster as he travelled through the floo network to the Ministry of Magic, he held his breath throughout the journey – a habit he'd picked up from his father and his sister when he'd first been taught how to use the floo.

Arriving at the ministry, he stepped out of the fireplace in which he'd landed in and let himself be pulled out into the flow of the people entering the ministry from other fireplaces, which were all lined along the wall, carved into stone. "Potter!" someone called out from behind him, he turned and was greeted with the sight of someone he didn't ever want to see again.

"Loras, what a surprise, don't you normally apparate in?" James looked at the man who'd taken his son away and hid the way that his fists clenched in the man's presence by hiding them in his pocket.

"Oh, the department has been taking a lot out of me recently James, too many squibs being born at the moment, it's almost pandemic!" The man laughed at his own joke and James smiled tightly back, happy that the way they were walking – side by side – gave no sight to Mr Loras that James hated him with every fibre of his being "But really, there has been an increase in the number of squibs that, come their fourth birthday check-up, have to be found foster parents in the muggle world who can really understand them better."

There was a content look on the other man's face as he said those words that James wanted to get rid of, so he said "But surely their parents would be the ones who understand them the best, they could understand that their child can't do magic and can raise them in the right way – if muggleborns can be raised with muggles, why can't squibs be raised by wizards?" James could see, out of the corner of his eye that Loras was fixing him with a pitying look.

"Yes… but there are those parents that go on to have other children or already have other children who are wizards, like your good self, and it's hardly fair to the ones without magic to have to grow up in a world that they know they can never be part of." James ground his teeth at that comment.

"Maybe the parents should have been given the opportunity of leaving the wizarding world, leaving England-" But there he was cut off by Loras, who now looked rather flustered at the turn of events.

"I realise I chose the wrong person to be liberal with my views with on this particular subject. You should know by now that this is all for the greater good what my department does. I'd have thought that you of all people would understand that the measures that we take are for the greater good of the wizarding community as a whole rather than just on the occasional exception to the general status that you seem to think that you and your wife would be."

"All I understand, said James, his words full of ice, "Is that my son was taken away from me by someone like you, who thought that it would be best, who thought that we wouldn't have moved heaven and earth for that boy, and still would if we ever saw him."

Clearly not impressed with how the conversation had turned out, the other man waved a ginormous hand in the air "Then we saved you all that bother."

James wanted to hit him then, there would have been a crack and a splatter as the man's nose was broken and blood went onto the floor. There would have been a silence so think in the atrium then, that it could have been cut with a blunt knife. He's have been fired on the spot, no doubt about it, but there was a part of him that said that it would be worth it to see that man on the floor from something that someone else had done to him. Just as he and Lily had been when Harry had been taken away after his first check-up in the wizarding world.

But something held him back, at first he'd thought that it would be enough for his mind to hold back his body as he went in for the punch, however, someone's hands were on his arm. They were pulling him away from Loras, whose eyes gleamed with a victorious smirk.

Other people pushed the two of them as they made their way to somewhere that only the person leading James had any clue about. James himself was too taken up with thoughts of what he'd almost done, and who he'd almost done it for. Tears fell down his face unchecked – he hadn't the energy to force them back anymore. He was pulled through a door into a room that looked like a caretaker's office.

The other person, a man if there was anything to the broad shape of the shoulders that James could make out through the heavy, patched cloak that his rescuer was wearing. There was an awkward silence for a moment as the two men both thought of who should start the conversation first, James took that honour quickly, not letting anything hold him back "Who are you?"

It was a short question, but at it the stranger seemed to tense slightly, as if it were the question they'd rather not answer, James had almost given up an hope of getting an answer when the stranger finally reacted. Two hands, the backs of which were heavily scarred, lifted the hood off the man's face and James saw someone he'd not expected to see for a long time. "Lupin?" he asked, surprised at the identity of his rescuer.

Lupin moved out of the shadows of the room, and into the slight amount of light that came from several candles burning at different points around the room "The last time I checked," he said, with a trace of humour "That was my name, though there is another name that comes before it that you used to use often." James noticed that when Lupin entered the light, his face was more covered in scars than it ever had been before, he looked like he'd been to hell and back. He looked much worse than James had ever seen him. It was that fact, coupled with the hurt look that Remus was giving him, that softened James' heart slightly towards the other man.

"I didn't need your help back there, I could have survived on my own there," James sounded pathetic even to his own ears then "I can do just fine without the help of a traitor like you."

Instead of being insulted by the comment, as James had hoped, Remus just looked at him even more pityingly. "Would you have ended your career there and then if I hadn't stepped in?" he asked, his voice defiant toward his fellow trouble maker "Would it have been worth it in the end to see that man on the floor, spread out below you where scum like him belong? Would it really?

"Funny," said James snidely, coming up with something that was sure to rile up the other man "You're worrying about my career when you don't even have one of your own to speak of, what're you doing at the ministry then… begging?"

He regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth, Remus looked slightly hurt at the comment, but continued all the same in the circular path he'd been following all the time they'd been in the room.

"I was here to get my annual check-up with the Ministry, apparently they want all werewolves to become registered so they always know who's done what crime," he continued "and I don't need any money from the Ministry; I've been working in the muggle world for the last year and a half."

"I'm betting nobody in the wizarding world would hire a traitor like you to work for them?" James snapped at the werewolf.

"I'm not a traitor James, I've told you this a thousand times and shall go on saying it until the day that I die – I knew nothing more about what Sirius was doing then you did, nothing. He never came and told me that you were making him the secret keeper in fact he told me that you'd made Peter the secret keeper rather than him."

"Guilt by association."

"Then arrest yourself as well as me."

"You knew him more ….. better than I did."

"Apparently not otherwise I'd have seen his true colours long before he actually showed them," Remus sighed and stopped talking, James followed suit.

"If you're innocent," James said suddenly as if something had just occurred to him "why did you just help me there? After all the things that Lily and I have called you, said about you and told you, why help me keep my job?"

Making eye contact with James for the first time in years, Remus said "Because he's my cub too."

/…\\

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is so delightful,

And we've really no place to go,

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it Snow!"

A cheerful voice came from somewhere beyond the darkness that was surrounding Harry completely, he tried to move his feet before opening his eyes – trying to find out how badly his uncle had beaten him that time. But he found he couldn't move his feet, the blanket was tightly wedged between the mattress and the bed he was in so wasn't giving to any movement that he wished that he could make.

He decided to open his eyes to see anything beyond the blackness of the back of his eye. He opened his right eye first and then the left, wincing slightly as a bright light came into sight with each opening of an eye. He winced for a moment when he'd opened both eyes, and then took in the sights around him. Harry was in a room that wasn't much bigger than the bed, or otherwise put – the bed took up most of the room he was in though he couldn't see very much without his glasses. The walls were covered in wood and gave him the idea that he was in a log cabin of some kind. There was a large window on the wall the bed was on and it was there that the white light came from.

Though the curtains of the window were pulled together, there was a slight gap about half way down the window frame, which was where the light had got through. Harry pulled with all his might to get the top half of his body free so he could close the gap but paused for a moment when he saw what was outside the window. Without his glasses he could see little, but what he could see of outside the window was that there were swirling white things that kept on falling just outside of the window – as if someone were flicking paper at the window from outside. He couldn't see much more of the outside, it was all white from what he saw but without the aid of his glasses there was no more to see there.

From the other room (Harry could only assume it came from the other room at least) came a yell "Merlin's undies!" that was accompanied by the sound of falling pots and pans, a sound that Harry, at least, was familiar with. There was a pause for a moment, and then a section of the wall that Harry hadn't been able to see properly without his glasses, opened up. The person who came in at first could only be described as 'white' for that indeed was the only colour that Harry could make out. As the person came closer they put something over his ears, he closed his eyes while they put what felt like his glasses on his head. This theory was confirmed when Harry opened his eyes again and could see clearly the person who had entered the room.

She, for it was a girl that had entered the room and not a boy, had white hair that was tied back off her face in a loose bun, she was wearing the sort of clothes that made Aunt Petunia avoid people; a loose white jumper and a pair of jeans that looked as if they'd seen better days. The girl was pale skinned and had pale brown eyes that stood out from the otherwise paleness of her face and clothes.

"It's good to see you awake, Mr Potter, Harry. Which do you prefer?" The girl asked curiously "I wasn't told that, I was only told what to tell you and where to put you. But not what name you prefer."

"H...H….Harry," Harry stammered, not quite sure that he'd said the right thing to answer her question "Just Harry." She smiled at him briefly and then ruffled his hair for no apparent reason.

"You're a Potter though, aren't you?"

"Yes Miss," Harry said feeling rather out of place with the girl, who while still a girl seemed to him to be quite a bit older than him.

"Yes Miss," she mocked lightly before introducing herself "It's Clarissa, Clare unless you're my father and his girlfriend." She nodded her head and laughed "Sorry, I'm acting slightly odd, I've not had company here for a while now. Not many people come this way anymore."

"This way?" Harry asked, curious "Where am I?"

"You are… The best explanation that I can give you is that you're sort of, not really, but sort of, in a dream," she hurried to explain "Not the normal type of dream that you'd get if you were asleep in your own bed with nothing to worry about and no destiny on your shoulders. This dreams a bridging dream. It connects where I am and where you are so I can tell you things that you need to know for when you need them."

Harry's forehead crumpled as he thought about what the girl was saying, destiny, dreams that could bridge places next to one another, it all sounded impossible. "I'm sorry Miss, you must be mistaken, I don't have a destiny that could be that great, I'm going to Stonewall High next term, does that sound like the type of place that you'd find people with a great destiny?"

Clare laughed, surprising Harry with her reaction "Stonewall High? Really? That's the best place that they could send you?"

Glaring at the girl, Harry said "It's the best place for someone like me." He said it with the upmost conviction, the Dursleys had paid good money towards getting him in there, they'd not left him at an orphanage and they'd not kept him locked up in his room for the rest of his life, at least that wasn't the plan they had for him. 'Therefore', Harry thought, 'it's the best place for me'.

"What, just because you turned your teachers wig blue and set a boa constrictor on your cousin?"

"How did you know about that?" Harry asked, panicked, the Dursleys had told him about what happened to naughty boys like him if they were found to be naughty – they were taken off and never seen again. Was that where he was? Had the girl taken him from his bed because she knew about all the things he'd done wrong?

"You're a wizard Harry," said Clare sadly, "You're not anything bad or evil, and nothing could be further from the truth. You, Harry Potter, are so good that people will remember you for being the most good out of all the good people in the world. But enough about the future I'll really get into trouble for telling you about."

Harry stared at her in shock "That's impossible!" Clare glanced at him.

"What's impossible?"

"I can't be a…A wizard, there's no such thing!" Harry was sure of it now, the girl was insane, beyond help, it was clear to him now.

"So you didn't turn your teacher's wig blue, you didn't once grow your hair back overnight and once again I stress, you didn't trap your cousin in a snake tank?" Harry didn't know what to say other than "Oh, right."

"If it helps much, you won't be going back to the Dursley's any time soon, you've been moved, with kind regards to somewhere else. I was told to tell you that he's not as much of a pain as he first appears." She looked at her wrist and Harry caught sight of a silver watch adorning it. "We're almost out of time," she said regretfully "I was enjoying our conversation, even if you won't remember all of it I think it's stabilised you for a wee while."

Clare suddenly pushed him back onto the pillow of the bed "Alright Harry here's the thing, you're not going to remember most of this conversation, mainly it's just the first contact or so I'm told. We will be seeing each other again, but not for a wee while." She smiled as the light got somehow brighter in Harry's eyes.

"You're going back," she said cheerfully.

"Where?" Harry asked as the light threatened to overpower him.

The light overwhelmed him and suddenly there was pain, utter and complete, but before he blacked out from it, at the very last moment he heard one last word.

"Reality."

And another chapter a week later - I'm impressed with myself actually as I have half the next chapter written up as well... hehe

Read and Review, don't be a stranger :-)

Willstone