Okay, some of you have complained that I have been putting a few too many anime/manga references and not have Jamie involved more like he does in the books. There is a reason for this.
Unlike Canon, this Harry Potter isn't directly affected and isn't being goaded into danger by Ron and Hermione's insatiable curiosity to get to the bottom of every mystery they come across. He also has military training, which means he isn't going to jump into danger without coming up with a viable plan first.
There is also the fact that he isn't craving positive attention, and has a solid adult to fall back on. He knows it's not his place to solve problems like an attack on the school unless someone makes it his problem. Case in point, the scene where he accidentally acquires the Stone at the end of year one.
Also, I would like to point out that I did NOT make a typo at the end of the last chapter. I deliberately had him say Flemmings, because as celebrities the Flamels would naturally have a secondary name to use in public to avoid unwanted attention. This century they go by the name Nick and Perry Flemming.
It was Christmas and they were having a blast. Neville enjoyed Christmas at the base, because it was easier to breath than being stuck at the Longbottom manor.
It was also pretty amusing to learn one of the methods used to calm down some of the more...violent...patients of the base.
"What's My Little Pony?" asked Neville. From what he could tell, it was a show about colorful talking horses and magic.
Jamie looked at the poster Neville happened to spot and almost winced. He didn't mind the show, but it wasn't something he wanted to watch on a daily basis like his FMA addiction.
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a show that was approved by the base doctors for the more violent patients because while it is geared towards females, it's also a rather friendly show that doesn't have much in the way of violence and can calm down almost all the people we toss in here to watch it. The main theme of the show is that friendship is a powerful method to obtain magic or something like that. It basically revolves around a purple unicorn who learns what real friendship is all about while she lives in a place called Ponyville."
"For an anime addict you know a lot about it," said Neville.
"Seen the entire first season on a dare from the twins. It's not bad, but I wouldn't buy it. Because the show is so friendly and cute it doesn't set off the patients like some of the others and it's innocence appeals to the more jaded soldiers," shrugged Jamie.
"Seriously?" said Neville.
"It's a show that has very little in way of violence and yet is still appealing to older viewers. Besides, it's still better than a show that makes anyone older than five want to gouge their eyes out," said Jamie.
"What show is that?" asked Neville.
"Oh Neville you poor, innocent, and unpolluted boy," said Jamie shaking his head.
Neville started to sweat bullets as Jamie lead him to another room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!"
Jamie was cackling after tricking Neville into watching an episode containing the evil overlord of darkness and his annoying minions.
"I love you, you love me..."
There was the sound of breaking glass as Neville took a bat to the TV.
He breathed hard as the sound finally stopped and the evil one destroyed...for now.
"What in the spirits name was that thing?!" said Neville.
"His name...is Barney, the Evil Overlord of Darkness. Parents the world over despise and hate him, yet his legacy continues. There's a reason why this room has a really old TV in here."
It was a very...therapeutic...method of snapping patients out of their relapses. Apparently even the most psychotic of the patients hated Barney enough to snap out of their episodes to destroy the TV's. Charlie thought it was worth the cost of replacing them if it snapped people out of their flashbacks.
"This is Hawk to Midori, can you hear me Midori?"
"Jamie, I'm right next to you," said Neville.
"They're in position," said Jamie grinning. On the other side of the hill were several of the younger veterans from the more recent wars. They had come in hopes of being helped so that they could return home without endangering their loved ones.
Neville grinned, as he prepped his snow ball. It had snowed heavily the day before Christmas, but they had to wait a day so that paths could be made.
The only ones allowed in the special shed where people went through their flashbacks for the next three days were those who felt they were about to lose it. It seemed that sort of thing wasn't going to happen.
Thanks to Charlie's idea of treating PTSD victims, those that came to the base were suffering their episodes less and less. At least fifteen people were able to work through their pain and return to semi-normal life.
Others were able to re-enlist with whatever branch they were from, now that they weren't suffering as badly.
"FIRE!" shouted Jamie. Neville laughed as he launched the snow balls. Thanks to the fact that the wards were so strong, any underage magic they did wasn't picked up. The two laughed as they cast snow ball charms and started hitting some of the others.
Fred and George were at the Burrow with their family.
"Come on men! We can't let these strapping boys beat us in war!" shouted Daniel. A chorus of agreement was heard from the other soldiers.
"Come on Nev! Let's keep this air strip clean!" laughed Jamie.
Charlie's idea of keeping the air strip for the planes clean was to let the boys use it as the setting for a snowball war. Unsurprisingly, that idea went down very well with the younger soldiers and visitors. Since a single charm could get rid of all the snow, it was a great day to have fun.
At least until someone noticed emergency lights in the distance.
"TIME OUT! Someone's coming in!" yelled Jake.
Charlie had run out and cast the charm, sweeping all the snow away in a flash. There had been a call on the radio requesting permission to land as the instruments had gone out without warning three miles ago.
"Brooms out! Jamie, lead them in! We can wipe their memories after, but we need those people down safely!" yelled Charlie.
"Sir, yes sir!" said Jamie. He raced across the tarmac and into the broom shed. He tossed Neville a broom and grabbed the radios next to them.
"Give us readings! We'll signal the plane!" shouted Jamie. He put the radio in his ear, and he could hear the crackle of sound from the other side.
"There's a six mile an hour crosswind!" said Charlie.
Jamie took out his wand and wrote that quickly in the air. The pilot nodded and adjusted appropriately. Charlie read off the measurements, and Jamie wrote them out for the pilots. With him and Neville guiding them carefully down from brooms and with their wands bright enough to see past the snow.
It helped that they were bright orange, which contrasted with the snow without blinding the pilots.
Once the wheels set down properly and the plane had come to a complete stop, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The passengers of the air liner were quickly hustled inside away from the treatment areas and given something hot to drink while the mechanics checked over the plane to see why it broke down.
Jamie got to go on the special escort mission for the air liner that came to the base. Just in case the quick patch up didn't hold until they got to the air port they were heading for, the jets would give them the readouts from their planes to help land it again. Neville was in the other jet, acting as co-pilot.
Fortunately the plane made it safely to it's intended destination without any further mishaps. As soon as it set down on the tarmac, the jets flew off back to base.
All in all, a very fun Christmas!
"How was your Christmas Jamie?" asked Hermione.
"Fun. We got to deliver a plane full of passengers safely to their destination after they had trouble with their instruments," said Jamie.
"You're kidding, right?" said Hermione.
"You didn't hear about an air liner escorted by two older jets that left?"
"I was in Sweden for Christmas. In a total electronic-free zone," said Hermione primly.
Jamie whipped out the muggle newspaper and handed it to her. She read it, her eyes widening in shock.
"They landed at that base of yours?!"
"Grandpa's base for PTSD patients. So far fifteen have been able to return to civilian life and three have been cleared to re-enlist," said Jamie proudly.
"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? I heard that was a rather common ailment in soldiers returning from the battlefront," said Hermione.
"Along with depression, anxiety, insomnia..." Jamie listed.
"How does it work?" asked Hermione, handing back the paper.
"We allow them to work out their flashbacks, and once it's out of their system they go to counselors so that they can understand why it's haunting them. Occasionally we lock them in padded rooms with TV's situated in the walls that play non-violent shows...particularly My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to calm them down. Quite a few of the soldiers actually bought the first and second season to watch on their own time," said Jamie.
"Soldiers actually like MLP?" said Hermione surprised.
"Oi, don't diss the Ponies. I happen to be a fan of Pinkie myself," said Jamie proudly.
"Always lend a hoof in friendship," said Hermione.
"You're a Brony!" said Jamie happily. Finally something they could agree on!
"My mother got me hooked when my sister started watching it during vacations," admitted Hermione.
"You have a sister?"
"Younger, and she's five."
"Cool."
Suddenly a thought occurred to Jamie. Perhaps they could convert some of the younger years to the Brony way and begin ending all this silly blood prejudice. A slow smirk started to creep up his face.
Soon...his minion army will be complete and he will dominate the magical communities with anime and ponies...
**WHAP!**
"...Did you just use a harisen?"
The large paper-folded fan in Hermione's hand loomed ominously behind Jamie.
"I've been catching up on Ranma ½ and this was the lesser of two evils," she said flatly.
"Whatever you say Akane junior," replied Jamie flippantly.
The harisen slapped him across the head again. Jamie had the bad feeling she was going to be very familiar with the back of his head.
Jamie was ticked. Because of the attack, his Otaku and part time assistance in the Drama club had been canceled until whatever monster was attacking the students was taken care of. All after class activities had been put on hold, and the teachers were escorting the students to each class along with the older prefects.
He was just glad Cedric was the one escorting them to class, and not Percy. Even with his new career goal in mind that boy was a nightmare to be around.
Fortunately Jamie did have an outlet that the teachers never thought to take away. Namely his runs outside with Scruffy, Neville and Marley.
This was because the dogs had the scent of whatever monster was lurking in the school and would alert their partners to it if it tried to get near them. There was also the fact that whatever it was, had to be reptilian and cold blooded because it hadn't attacked at all during the cold winter months and most of the areas it hit had some very strong warming charms around it. This meant that as long as they were outside the castle, they were relatively safe.
When Jamie pointed this out to his fellow Puffs, Sprout cleared them to go outside as much as possible through the shortest routes when class wasn't in session. This lessened the chances of people getting attacked and limited the number of students in danger at any given time.
It took less than a week for the other teachers to catch on, and soon any student not in the library under heavy wards to prevent anything non-human in except house elves or in their house commons were outside. Jamie had gotten several balls to play games with to the vocal approval of Dean Thomas.
Jamie wouldn't doubt for a second that after this whole mess was sorted out, the house system would come crumbling down as the children acted their age for a change.
Outside his club activities and study groups, Jamie was just a tad bit too serious. His military training had become an ingrained habit, since his grandfather had put him in military academy as soon as he was old enough to attend.
Everyone noticed it, but Jamie tried hard to act normal. The problem was, outside his occasional Otaku-side, he had little experience being a regular kid.
So it came as a bit of a surprise that some of the younger students saw him using his hand-to-hand forms and asked for training. A few of the older students as well.
Jamie took the chance he got and immediately fell into something most of his fellow cadets feared...the drill sergeant mode.
His first act was to get them in shape, and considering the menu at the school he had a lot of work ahead of him. Dumbledore refused to change the menu, and even with the addition of new recipes for the elves, it was still a long way to go for anything healthy unless you were a vegetarian.
A few quit, but most stayed. They didn't want to be helpless and end up in the hospital wing like the others.
Ever so slowly, the school exams began to loom on the horizon...
Jamie was reading by one of the trees near the lake when he heard the news. Hermione was in the hospital wing and Ginny Weasly, a girl he had been avoiding for good reason for the entire year, had been taken into the Chamber itself.
Jamie cursed, before he went to get Sprout.
He had hoped that the school would end before any real danger was presented, so that they could hire experts to deal with this mess. Aside from a few being petrified, there hadn't been any real reason to close the school.
Even Lucius had been unable to remove Dumbledore, despite his attempts to do so because Augusta and her side had blocked him. Hagrid had also been removed from the premises by Charlie who had asked the man to come help move things around the base and deal with any out of control patients, since most soldiers would have great difficultly taking down a half-giant who was naturally stronger than most humans.
Jamie wouldn't have doubted for an instant Fudge would have sent Hagrid to Azkaban prison just to appear that he was doing something if Charlie hadn't had Hagrid leave school grounds after the second attack.
It would be difficult for the Minister to pin the blame on the friendly groundskeeper if the man wasn't even on school grounds for the attacks.
Jamie had, through his twice daily run around the grounds, accidentally stumbled upon Slytherin's escape route from the Chamber. The man couldn't have possibly built it from the castle downwards, as it wouldn't have stayed secret for long with the students around.
He knew the other end came out to Myrtle's bathroom, having avoided the area that the serpent came out and gone straight to the other entrance. He could even open up the stairs and avoid the mess, though he had to toss out the shoes he had been wearing at the time.
To be fair though, he usually had on his older pair when he went on a run.
Jamie found Sprout, along with Snape and McGonagall and said flatly "I know how to get into the Chamber, but I have no idea what the monster is. I'm guessing basilisk due to the fact it can't leave the warm areas and not even Salazar was stupid enough to put a lamia anywhere near a school full of children."
There was a collective blink.
"How would you know where the Chamber's entrance is?" asked Snape.
"Found it by accident on my runs. Even found the other end, though that is definitely his escape route."
"How soon can we get into the Chamber?" asked McGonagall. She wasn't about to let one of her lions die without a fight dammit!
"Five minutes, but I had better call reinforcements. If it is a basilisk, then we'll need actual ammo to kill the damn thing, instead of the paintball bullets I bring with me every year. I'm not stupid enough to bring live ammo to a school full of delinquents and idiots," said Jamie flatly.
And with that, he ran to his dorm and grabbed a magically powered cell phone to call in the cavalry.