Chapter Four: Changing Tactics

The day before the start of Term rose before any of the boys were ready for it, they were really enjoying their summer now that the lot of them were able to hang out together, and all that the start of Term represented to them know was more classes and teachers and all of the stupid rules that they tried to enforce.

Still, there was one day of summer left, and James was determined to wring every ounce of enjoyment from it that he possibly could! The day before he and Albus had been forced to meet their parents in London to spend the day with the Scamanders, whose mother was supposedly another one of their parents' old school friends.

Though Lily had always found the Scamander family interesting, probably because she was partially named after Mrs. Scamander, James and Albus had always been rather frightened by the strange Scamander children, a pair of identical twin brothers named Lorcan and Lysander. Lorcan and Lysander were almost impossible to tell apart, and their rather tall build and perfect blond hair made them look almost like robots.

But it was not their appearance that unnerved James and Albus, it was their rather bizarre personalities. Now, James and Albus were hardly the most ordinary of children, but Lorcan and Lysander made them look even more boring than their Uncle Percy. It wasn't that they were exceptionally fun people though, they were just, as James saw it, completely out of their minds!

The fact that Lorcan and Lysander would be starting Hogwarts that year had scarcely even occurred to the Potter bothers, and now that it had crossed their minds they were not unduly interested by that knowledge. They had never been very good friends with either of the twin brothers, despite the fact that their parents had certainly tried to make them get along many times, and they highly doubted that they would be in Gryffindor House – James' money was on Hufflepuff.

But that was neither here nor there, as neither of the Scamander brothers had any interest in talking about Houses, or Quidditch, or Hogwarts, or any of the other normal things that incoming Hogwarts students liked to talk about. Instead, all they wanted to talk about was their latest family vacation to Sweden where they had been hunting for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, a creature which neither James nor Albus had ever heard of.

"We were very close too." Lorcan said as Lysander nodded in agreement, "Mum believes that what we heard was their mating calls when we were outside Stockholm, but they must have run off when we got closer." James and Albus were looking at the boy like he had just grown a third arm, but he seemed not to have noticed.

Lysander seemed to have noticed some confusion on their part, but he misinterpreted it badly as he explained "The Snorkack is a very shy creature, they don't like the presence of humans very much. That was why mum was so disappointed that we came so close but missed it, you don't get a chance like that often."

James and Albus had decided long ago that they were just to nod with disinterest whenever Lorcan and Lysander started talking like this, but they were far too confused to do anything but stare. James wondered whether this was some kind of practical joke, though he could not for the life of him see where the fun might have come from.

"What are they like?" asked Lily, who clearly had not realized that these 'Crump-Headed Snorers' did not actually exist. Still, Lily was only ten years old so perhaps they should have given her a bit of a break on that count. It wasn't her fault that she still believed in clearly made up things like this, though James wondered where the Scamanders had gotten this idea from, and why they seemed incapable of realizing that it didn't exist.

After all, James was thirteen years old and he realized that it didn't make any sense! If Mrs. Scamander had really gone to school with his parents then she must be at least three or four hundred years old … you know, or something like that … so why was she so convinced of this ridiculous tale?

Albus seemed to just be content to nod in agreement and wait until the two were done with their tirade, but James had never been quite so good at keeping his mouth shut. "Are you yanking my wand?" James asked with an expression that plainly displayed his disbelief.

There was a noticeable pause as the twins looked at him with equally confused expressions. "What do you mean James?" Lysander asked, looking at James as though his interruption had been completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

"Oh, I know." Lorcan said, grinning and punching Lysander on the arm. "This is one of James' jokes. Good one James." Lorcan looked somewhat amused, though in a 'I don't get it' kind of way. Clearly Lorcan did not think much of what he thought to be James' odd sense of humor, but did not want to be rude by saying so out loud.

"No," James interrupted "I mean, obviously there's no such thing as a … what did you call them … Cranky Snorter?" Noticing the expressions of bewilderment on their faces, James changed pace and said "Oh come off it, you can't actually believe that!"

Lorcan shook his head whilst Lysander continued staring at James in disbelief, before turning to Lily and asking "Is your brother always this much of a killjoy?" a question which had probably never once in the history of the universe been asked of James Potter.

Lily, however, did not seem to find the question so strange, as she shrugged and said "James just doesn't believe in anything that he can't see right in front of him." a statement which caused both James and Albus to look at Lily like she had said Hogwarts was a stupid school, whilst Lorcan and Lysander nodded and muttered what a shame that was.

Needless to say, it was not an afternoon that went very well. James had stormed off by the end of the second hour, and Albus had later told him that the conversation had not gotten any more … normal … as time went on, as Lily continued to encourage the Scamander twins to spout their ridiculous stories. And, to cap it all off, James got a lecture from his parents about how embarrassed they had been that he had stormed off in the middle of their lunch!

It wasn't like you could blame him, listening to the Scamander twins telling him that he needed to stop being so closed minded got pretty damn old after the first five seconds or so, and so two hours was much more than they could have expected of him. Even Albus admitted that he had started tuning them out pretty early on.

So after a day like that, there was little question that James needed a long fun filled day to get him through before they had to take the train back to Hogwarts the next day.

In the end, it had been Zach who finally came up with the idea for what they should do, an idea that was so good that James was angry that he himself had not thought of it. Rather than spend the entire day running around like a pack of frenzied Billywigs, they would be better off taking a moment to relax before they returned to school.

After all, between classes and Quidditch and the necessity to maintain their reputations as troublemakers, it was a pretty draining school year for the Gryffindors, and the upcoming year was looking to be no different.

Now James Potter was not the kind of person who just took days off to rest, but after everything that had happened over the last year … especially from June on … he would have been a fool to refuse a day to just unwind and, as Zach put it, debrief themselves of everything that was going on. And besides, Andrew looked as though he might club James over the head if he refused.

So it had been settled that they would spend the day in Andrew's basement, away from the prying ears of his parents and siblings … as well as the sweltering summer heat … talking over everything that seemed noteworthy going into their Third Year. Of course, no one worded it quite like that, as 'talking about things' was decidedly unmanly, but that was essentially what they were doing.

Of course, no matter how they had reasoned it out to themselves, they all knew what it was they were doing, and once they finally set out to do it, they all felt far too self-conscious to actually bring something up. After all, they were guys, and everyone knew that guys did not cry to anyone else about their problems, they just kept them to themselves.

But at last, Jeremey was the one who found a way around that rule, "Well," he said, startling everyone by breaking the long silence, "I dunno about you lot, but I'm sure glad that pus-sucker Parker is gone!"

They were all relieved, for griping about someone whom they hated was well within the range of acceptable conversation without having their toughness called into question, and so everyone quickly jumped onto the bashing bandwagon.

"Oh yea, I had forgotten." James murmured, grinning slightly to himself at the realization that he would not have to put up with the hated Remington Parker ever again. Remington Parker was an older Slytherin student who had delighted in proving to younger Gryffindors that – at least in his own mind – he was the coolest and toughest kid in all of Hogwarts.

Needless to say, this had not gone over too well with James and his friends, and the older Slytherin had become their Public Enemy Number One. With him graduating from Hogwarts at last, it was as though a cloud had just moved aside from the sun, allowing it to shine fully down on them once more.

"Glad to be rid of him." Agreed Andrew, "He's scum, just like everyone else in that good for nothing House!"

"What about Scorpius?" Albus interjected defensively, Albus had always been rather good friends with Scorpius Malfoy, and he had done his best to make his brothers' friends agree with him. Unfortunately, the older Gryffindors had just too many grievances with Slytherin House to ever let Scorpius off the hook entirely.

"Yea well, we still don't know that he's not gonna be a turncoat like Leon do we?" Zach muttered angrily. Leon Bartlett had been the one Slytherin that the Gryffindors had always respected, but he had turned his back on them in their Second Year, and after a heated argument they had not spoken once. Zach, for some reason, had always been the most vengeful; even James had long since stopped hating Leon … though he was still quite bitter to be sure.

"Oh come on that's not fair!" Albus protested, still feeling the need to protect his friend even though he was never going to win in such company. Even though they had always tolerated Scorpius' presence, and even come to be somewhat friendly with him, none of them had ever come to truly trust him. Even James was always a little suspicious of the boy, perhaps in part because he bore the surname of Malfoy.

"Maybe not, but you've gotta admit that he comes from a family of squealers." Jeremey pointed out rather grimly. Jeremey had always had more of a problem with Scorpius than the rest of them, seemingly unable to put aside his inset hatred of Slytherin. James found this ironic as Jeremey had not even known anything about the Houses and their rivalries prior to coming to Hogwarts as he was from North America, but even Leon had never been able to fully gain Jeremey's respect.

"And I suppose we're judging everyone by their families now." Interrupted a voice, but it was not Albus who had spoken, it was Zach, who was now looking as though he wanted nothing more than to punch himself in the gut. Everyone was looking at him with the expression of the utmost shock.

"Wait, you're getting matey with the Slytherins now?" James exclaimed indignantly.

"Well, I guess I'm saying we can't judge him by who his family is, I mean … you guys just told me that you couldn't make generalizations like that." Zach looked as though he was going to be physically ill, and James understood why. He was actually empathizing with Scorpius Malfoy, and friendly though they may be with the boy, they all professed almost daily that he was an annoying prat; though this was more on principle than anything else.

No one could think of anything to say in reply to this, though they all tried several times. Albus just smiled smugly and patted Zach once or twice on the back. Albus had been trying to shove his crap about unity between the Houses on them for the last year, and now it looked like Zach had finally given in. James, for his part, was quite ashamed of Zach, and he was pretty sure the others agreed with him.

It seemed that they were not going to agree on this issue, there were just too many complications involved and James knew it. After all, like it or not, Scorpius had become their friend over the course of their last year at Hogwarts, and the problem was that they actually did like the kid. If he had just been in a different House this would have been so easy, but of course nothing in their lives would ever be quite so easy. Their principled hatred of Slytherins, combined with the way that the situation with Leon had turned out just made it hard to openly admit that they were friends with a Slytherin … much less Scorpius Malfoy.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to find another safe conversation topic that would not violate any of the long list of things that they were not permitted to talk about. Most of the things which James wanted to talk about had already taken been discussed already, and bringing them up again was only going to make things even more awkward than they already were.

Remembering the topic of conversation that he and Albus had unsuccessfully tried to broach with Lorcan and Lysander the day before just before he had stormed off in frustration, James said "So guys, what do you think of our chances to win the Quidditch Cup this year?" This was even better than their hatred of Remington, as not only was it a totally acceptable topic of conversation, but it would hopefully hold them over long enough to get this uncomfortable business out of the way.

Merlin's pants, how had this seemed like such a good idea the other day? Maybe James was just really lazy. In retrospect, he had probably thought that this was going to run sort of like a military debriefing, but instead it was going more like an awkward attempt at a heart to heart conversation … and a failed one at that.

Quidditch, however, seemed to be a perfectly safe avenue of conversation for the five boys, as they quickly were off on Gryffindor's chances. "Well obviously the Cup is going to be ours this year!" Jeremey declared, which was no less than James expected. Of course, Jeremey had been saying that every year for the last three years, so that might not be saying very much.

"I dunno," Zach said, Zach had been on the team the year before but was not quite so cocky as James and Jeremey about Gryffindor's chances. Zach was much more realistic about things, but even he seemed to be very optimistic, if cautiously so. "Well, Nick was an incredible Keeper, and it's not like those grow on trees."

James paused, he had not considered that just yet. Zach was right, it was not going to be easy to find a Chaser of the quality of Nicholas Hayden, who had been virtually unbeatable for Gryffindor last year. Keepers were a vital part of any Quidditch Team, and they were very hard to come by to boot.

"There's gotta be someone in Gryffindor who can step up though." Andrew said, Andrew was perhaps the most excited of the lot, certain that his first year on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team would end in glorious victory for their House. "I mean, Nick was a superb Keeper, but we don't need to find someone as good as him, we just need someone who can keep us in Matches don't we?"

James was not convinced though, as he shook his head slowly and replied "I don't think that's gonna work out too well Andy, our Chasers weren't too good defensively last year, and I don't think that's gonna change, whoever we put between the hoops is gonna need to be pretty good or we're gonna get thrashed out there."

Andrew looked like he was about to protest, but Jeremey beat him to it "James is right, I mean Ravenclaw's lineup is too good, they'd rip a lesser Keeper to shreds!" Ravenclaw's Chasers had gotten progressively better by virtue of having played together for so long, and were now especially deadly. They were one of the main reasons that Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch Cup the year before.

"Yea well, we're still gonna have the two best Beaters in all of Hogwarts this year!" Andrew declared proudly, punching a bemused looking Zach on the shoulder. Zach was not the only one taking Andrew's words with a rather large grain of salt. Even James had struggled mightily in the transition into the much more competitive world of Hogwarts Quidditch. Jeremey was the best example of this, after a few lucky catches in Gryffindors first few Matches in their rookie year, Jeremey had repeatedly come up short in the most important moments.

So when Andrew was confident that he would instantly become one of the best Beaters in all of Hogwarts, the others were reasonably skeptical, they were not even sure that Andrew would be on the team yet, though he certainly seemed to have the best shot at it. By the same token, Albus was being very quiet about his own perceived chances of making the team, as though afraid that if he even mentioned it he would jinx himself.

Andrew however, had no such reservations, and quickly brought Albus right into the middle of things, whether the younger boy wanted to or not. "Can you just imagine if all five of us made the team?" he demanded excitedly, "That would make for an interesting lineup, hell we'd have half the team sleeping in the same room!"

The others just gave Andrew looks of feigned interest in what he was saying, to be honest none of them had given that very much thought. Yea, James supposed that it would be cool, but he was just more concerned with making the best Gryffindor Team that he possibly could, even though the decision did not come down to him in any way.

James knew that Mitchel was going to pick a great roster, so he didn't know why he was freaking out so much, but he just could not help but worry. Having come so close to winning the Cup once before, he wanted more than anything to be able to claim that victory as his, and he was afraid that his chances were just slipping away from him.

"When you've returned to planet earth," Jeremey said to Andrew, slapping the boy on the back of the head, "Maybe you could tell us why the 'best Beater in Hogwarts' didn't even make the cut for his House Team last year?" Jeremey was grinning like an idiot once again, a surefire sign that he was just trying to stir up trouble again … and he was doing a pretty good job at it.

Andrew looked at Jeremey like he wanted to strangle him, a sentiment that most of Hogwarts had shared at one point or another, including James himself. Jeremey was his best friend, and last June they had become Blood Brothers, but sometimes he wondered if the other boy was just being deliberately stupid.

Amazingly though, Andrew seemed completely disinterested as he waved aside Jeremey's question with a simple "Yea well, I've gotten better since then." An interesting reply coming from Andrew, who had adamantly insisted all along that favoritism was involved. But then, James suspected that he was just trying not to rise to Jeremey's bait.

"If that's the case," James said, looking at Jeremey as though daring him to try something again, "Then we're gonna be in very good shape." It was a very alarming set of circumstances when James was being the responsible one, but what with everything else that was going on, James didn't want to have to see another fight break out over something as stupid as this.

They had all agreed that Gryffindor's chances were excellent, but of course it would never be enough to just leave it at that, and it was Zach who reminded them of the fact that was hanging over their heads at all times whether they acknowledged it or not.

"Yea well," he began dramatically, "So long as we don't get dragged out into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the Match again." Zach, clearly, had not forgotten about the fact that their last two school years had been plagued by events outside of their control, and how both times they had wound up in the Forbidden Forest because of something to do with Quidditch.

The others, including Albus, all groaned in frustration at Zach's words.

"Not this again." "Come on Zach!" "I thought we were done with this?" "For crying out loud!" came the calls from the others as Zach raised his hands defensively. "Hey, am I wrong?" he pointed out, a fact which none of them could contradict.

OK, so some weird stuff had happened to them, weird even by the standards of students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but there was no reason to think that anything of that nature would happen again. They had all agreed that there was no way the Magical History Movement could have survived the blow that they had dealt to it in June when they stopped them once again from achieving their ends. Unpopular, and without a leader … as they saw it … the Movement was probably dead.

Besides, who was going to respect … much less fear … a group of Dark Wizards which had twice been defeated by a bunch of school kids? The Magical History of Movement was a laughingstock, and no one believed that they were any kind of threat to anyone anymore. Surely they had disbanded by now!

"Alright then," James said, standing up and turning to each of the others in turn as he said "Let's make a pact then shall we? Let's make a pact saying that we're not going to go meddling into any of that stuff anymore. We're done playing at heroes, and we're done chasing crazy nutters in hoods into the Forbidden Forest."

"Yea!" declared Zach loudly, rising to his feet next to James, "No one ever asked us if we wanted to do this crap! To heck with it I say, it isn't our job to deal with these people, we've done our part but we're done!"

It had not yet occurred to any of them that they could not just choose not to be involved in these things, that they just got caught up in them because of forces that they simply could not choose to ignore or go against. As far as they were concerned, all they needed to do was say that they were no longer going to be involved, and they would simply not be involved anymore.

"Hear hear!" said Andrew, rising to his feet as well, but not feeling the need to add anything more to the discussion. But then, James and Zach had said it rather well, what more could he have said even if he had wanted to?

Jeremey though, did not seem to like this idea very much, as he was biting his lip in deep thought. "What if we're doing this for a reason guys?" he asked, glancing up at the others.

"Oh come off it Jer!" Zach said "You just fancy yourself the hero of the world, get over yourself, it's over … we're done!" Zach seemed quite adamant about this, and he was the one person in the group who was almost never argued with once he had made up his mind on something like this.

Jeremey sighed, but he too rose to his feet and muttered "Well, if that's it then that's it."

"We had a good run, but I don't want that crap, that's my dad's life, not mine." James said, before adding rather brightly "So, shall we swear on it?"

"Spit-shake?" Jeremey asked, and indeed he and Andrew had both spat into their hands before James was able to contradict them.

"No, I've got a better idea." James said, causing both Jeremey and Andrew to eye him with looks of the utmost annoyance as they wiped their hands dry on their jeans.

"What then?" Andrew asked, looking thoroughly annoyed that he had just spat on his hand for no reason whatsoever.

"Well, I think we should have something more important than a spit-shake for occasions such as these." James said, prompting looks of indignation from each of his fellow classmates. "You know, a special oath, just for us."

"Like what?" asked Zach, looking unconvinced.

James dangled his wrist in the middle of the gathered Dormmates, the golden band on his wrist catching the light perfectly as he did so, "Seems a good way to put these to use."

They had all agreed that it was an excellent idea, but it had taken them some time to agree of a good way to work out the hand-motions, and the rules that surrounded the associated vow and its relation to spit-shakes and other kinds of promises swears and vows. Still, James did not complain, after all this was serious business to kids like them. There was nothing more important than making sure that everyone understood the rules that surrounded a promise.

At last, when all the logistics had been worked out, the boys crossed their arms to make a grid, the glyphs morphing to form a roaring Gryffindor lion. As the lion that was formed between them roared audibly, the boys spoke their vow in succession. Because they were afraid that he still might refuse to participate, they made Jeremey swear first.

"I, Jeremey Matthew Hall, swear in the name of Godric Gryffindor that I will never again involve myself with the idiots that are the Magical History Movement."

"I, Andrew Christopher Knight, swear in the name of Godric Gryffindor that I will never again play hero for the Wizarding World."

"I, Zachary Alexander Tolentino, swear in the name of Godric Gryffindor that my days of abductions and firefights with the Magical History Movement are over!"

"I, James Sirius Potter, swear in the name of Godric Gryffindor that the Magical History Movement will no longer be any of my business."

They wished that there could have been some kind of explosion or sparks or something to mark the end of the vow, but instead the boys simply stood there with a defined sense of anticlimax as they each slowly withdrew their arms.

"Well that was impressive." droned a sarcastic voice behind them, and they all spun around in shock to realize that Albus had been sitting on the couch the entire time. In their obsession with making their own personal vow they had forgotten that he had been in the room with him to begin with, and now James felt slightly awkward at having left his brother out.

Albus though didn't seem to mind, as he was still leafing through a book that he must have gone to get midway through their discussion, which had admittedly taken a very long time. "No really, very incredible, I mean most people would have settled for just a spit-shake, but it's nice to see that your self esteem is so low that you needed to invent your own 'special' one to make yourselves feel better."

Albus seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, whereas James currently wanted nothing more than to shut his brother up as soon as humanly possible, though Andrew seemed to have found Albus' comment to be funny for some odd reason.

"Careful Al," Zach warned, "or James might accidentally knock you in front of the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning.

"Accidentally?" James asked with a laugh, "I think we might just have to do him in now." he said, exchanging a glance with Jeremey, who nodded once and the two boys began walking towards Albus, whose head was once again buried in his book.

"Alright quick, you grab his arms, I've got his legs!" James exclaimed, and both boys seized Albus and hoisted him into the air amidst his violent protests. "What do you think you're playing at James?" he demanded fiercely as Andrew and Zach dissolved into fits of laughter.

Ignoring Albus' protests, James said "So, shall we toss him out the window then?" a question which was met with renewed laughter from the other two.

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent plan to me." Replied Jeremey, and it was Albus' turn to lose it now. "Come on guys, this isn't funny!" he complained, no longer sure whether or not James was just messing with him.

In the end, they had dangled Albus upside-down out the window by his ankles before finally relenting and letting him back inside, something which the younger boy did not appreciate.

"Let that be a lesson to you Albus," James said with a grin as Albus stormed off muttering about revenge, "Don't mess with the Golden Marauders!"

Thanks to everyone for reading, next chapter we shall at last return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so look for things to pick up quite a bit.

James and co. seem to be a mess of contradictions lately don't they? Not saying that means anything ... ^_^

Thanks to everyone for reading and following me, and please leave a REVIEW to let me know what you thought. :)