Once Upon a Time

A/N: Thank you for reviewing! I really, really, really appreciate it. Please R/R this, make me happy...please? Oh, and sorry this took so long--school and everything, you know. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: See before, and before, and before that...

Chapter Ten: Memories and Discoveries

"Are you sure you're all right?" James asked for the umpteenth time, carefully stepping down a dark corridor. He cast a sidelong glance at the short, chubby boy by his side, who now had blood streaming down his nose in unpleasant trickles.

"Yurmph," was the muffled answer from behind the boy's cupped hands. He quickly removed them, leaving a trail of bloody smears on his face. "My name is Peter."

The blood had stopped pouring out of Peter's nose, James judged, by the crusty stuff that was forming around his upper lip.

"Hi. I'm James—that dork I was battling—that was Sirius—real jokester—kind of like me." James kept a balancing hand on Peter's shoulder as they neared the Hospital Wing. "Who was your partner? You know, the one that gave you the bloody nose."

Peter smiled knowledgably. "That was Remus Lupin. I've known him since…well, forever. He's incredibly cool."

James nodded tightly before barging into the swinging door labeled 'Hospital Wing—Madame Pomfrey'. "Better go in—tell her what happened—do you want me to stay with you?"

Hesitating, Peter looked doubtfully into the room. "N-no...that's ok...b-but i-if y-you really w-w-want to, I wouldn't s-say n-no..." He took a cautious step through the door.

James stared blankly at the floor. "Okay then, Peter. See you later, hopefully." He made a sharp about-face, and was already halfway down the stairs when Peter was roughly grabbed from behind.

"I'm Madame Pomfrey—what do we have here? A bloody nose—easy to fix! Come in!" a high-pitched woman's voice rang down the hall. James winced noticeably before quickening his pace, without a second thought for Peter.

It wasn't until wandering around in circles for ten minutes when James finally realized he was completely and utterly lost. Strange suits of armor, holding long battleaxes, loomed fiercely over him. James felt a rising panic starting into his chest as he broke into a slow jog.

Right...now left...down a flight of stairs...into a hallway...up....up...left...another left...dead end....back...back...right...

It continued on and on in similar fashion until James felt quite out of breath. He slumped against a wall, gasping for breath, with his tongue lolling out like some sort of snake. Only the occasional drip, drop of water falling to the ground disturbed the silence.

"Great. Lost. On my first week of school, too. I'm doomed. Cursed. Suppose the Ghost of the Lost will be coming by to pick me up...yep, any day now...Whoach! Yeow!" James's right arm flew out over him as the wall he was leaning against gave away. He coughed, his vision clouded with dust.

Almost immediately after the commotion, silence took over once more. James sat, stunned, on his rear for a split second before leaping up and turning around. He found himself staring into a small, triangular sort of room, with floorboards and walls made, seemingly, of liquid metal.

His dark eyes gleamed with hungry anticipation as he stepped boldly onto the wavering floor. His feet sank a few inches, thoroughly alarming him, before they stopped sinking.

"Wait till I tell Sirius..." James breathed excitedly, sloshing around the perimeters of the room. Nothing was to be seen—the whole room was empty. That is, until James's foot snarled against some kind of fabric, bringing him crashing down to the gluttony carpet.

Heart racing, he skittered sideways, crab-like, trying to get the thing unsnarled from his feet at the same time. Realizing that nothing was happening (feet getting dissolved, something biting him, being swallowed up by the mysterious object, etc.), he stopped and bent down to carefully feel his way through the bundle of cloth. When his sneaker was finally disentangled, he stood up, keeping a firm grip on whatever had caught him.

A cloak. James's mind whirred in awe as the cloak flowed smoothly over his exploring fingers. Not any cloak—a silvery, light-reflecting, light-to-the touch, water-like cloak.

Curiously, he straightened up and flung the cloak over his shoulders. The tail end trailed along the ground for few seconds as James paraded around the room in it—then—somehow—strangely—began flickering—than disappeared altogether.

Dark eyes scoured across the floor, seeing no sign of the cloak—but still, he felt the gentle weight of it on his shoulders—hands shaking, he lifted an arm—squeezed his eyes shut—popped them open—and saw nothing.

At this point, he almost ripped off the cloak. His hands were already halfway there when his eyes began sliding in and out of focus. Normally brilliant chocolate colored eyes glazed over.

~"Daddy, whuz that?" a little boy, with messy hair, pointed fervently at a simmering, golden concoction that his father was brewing up.

"An experiment...if it worked, the result could be fantastic—you wouldn't understand until you saw it, James...Wait here." James's father muttered something under his breath and continued stirring—and, suddently, he stopped. The golden potion began rising into the air, forming little droplets. In a flash of color, the individual droplets zoomed together, as if being magnetically drawn...and a silvery cloak fell to the floor, covering the little boy's foot. Which disappeared immediately.

"Hallelujah! Great Scott, it worked!" The boy's father grabbed the cloak, whooping. "I'll get a promotion—just wait, Minister—I told you we could! An Invisibility Cloak!"

James, sensing that this was very important, turned his face up to his father, smiling slightly. "Good job, Daddy!" he said importantly before plodding out of the room. His young mind immediately forgot what he had experienced as scents of blueberry muffins nudged his nose.~

"Could this be...?" James asked aloud, to no one in particular, as he pulled himself out of the room, with the cloak folded in his robe pocket. "Invisibility Cloak..."

*************

He was still slightly cross-eyed when he finally managed to find his way back to the Gryffindor boy's dorm. Sliding back all six bed-curtains, he found that no one was there—probably still class time.

"Sirius, old pal, just wait until you see—just wait!" James muttered to himself, hastily shoving the cloak under his bedcovers before grabbing his books and racing out, robes whipping in his face as he dashed madly out of the dorm.

A/N: More Reviewing (I'm obsessed...)!