Chapter 10

Harry was sitting on the bench in front of Hagrid's hut as the sun was dropping toward the horizon. He was waiting for his son, James, to emerge from the forest. Harry wasn't alone, however. Wully was sitting with his head in Harry's lap. Fortunately, the big 'puppy' wasn't a drooler but he was a hugger of sorts. When they had first taken up their vigil at the bench the dog had tried to crawl up onto Harry's lap or at least get his front half up there. But as much as Harry liked dogs and he was coming to like this one greatly, he wasn't about to be that friendly. So after some shoving and firm words, Wully took up his present position.

"You know, big fella, I think I am going to have one very tired young man to bring home," he said looking down at the one big brown eye that was visible. "Maybe you could give him a ride into Hogsmeade."

The response he got back was neither a woof nor a whine. It was a low pitched verbalization that suggested a positive attitude. After a few more minutes a mismatched pair of figures emerged from the trail, the smaller one looking weary and footsore but his head held high and shoulders back.

"Hail, Serpent King. As promised, your offspring is here, whole and hale, if tired."

"Hail, Friend Ronin. Yes, he does appear a bit worse for wear, but I don't see anything that should upset his mother, which is the important thing," Harry replied with a grin.

"Truly. The young one has his instructions. Until next time, fare thee well."

"Farewell," Harry said.

During the exchange Wully had remained uncharacteristically subdued. Harry figured he was somewhat cowed by the large Centaur. After Ronin disappeared back under the trees the dog perked up and began frisking around James, who was happy to give him some attention, albeit slowly.

"How are you doing, James?" Harry asked.

"I'm in serious need of a good long kip, Da. We didn't stop once to rest all day. We even ate lunch while we walked."

"Your Uncle Rubeus offered to make you something to eat before you go home. What do you say?"

"I say why are we standing out here, I'm starving," James replied with some genuine enthusiasm.

"Come on, Wully. Let's get the boy inside before his stomach starts growling louder than you do."

"Woof."

By the time Harry was ready to begin the trip home, James had fallen into a deep sleep, tucked up against Norbie by the fireplace, with Wully stretched out alongside. Harry was looking down at his son while sipping from an after dinner cuppa.

"I hate to wake him up, but I'm not going to carry him down to the little house."

"Why not levitate 'em, Harry?" Hagrid said with a grin behind that bushy beard.

"Come on, Hagrid. The boy would die of embarrassment if he ever found out. Especially if any of the students saw us."

"Why not leave 'em here with me. I'll feed 'em up in the mornin' and then walk 'em ta yer house and send 'em home by the network," Hagrid offered.

"Sounds like a good idea, Hagrid. It's too bad he didn't hear about it before he dropped off. He would have tried to stay up for a while. Alright, Hagrid. Try and have him home by lunchtime."

"Sure thing, Harry."

Harry had some fast taking to do when he arrived home alone. Ginny was waiting and when she didn't see her son she jumped to the most horrible conclusion possible and she barraged Harry with questions. When he finally was able to get a word in he explained about how tired the boy was and Hagrid's offer and Ginny settled down.

"Well, I suppose between Hagrid and those two beasts they can keep him out of trouble. Did he say how things went in the forest?"

"In a general way. Apparently they did a fair amount of trekking with Ronin pointing out all manner of things for him to know. They would stop here and there to practice with his bow. Ronin traded him the bow he made for a smaller, lighter one that he could draw more easily. Once James builds up the strength he'll get the one he made back."

"Harry, does it seem odd that this is going on?" Ginny asked thoughtfully.

"Of course it does, sweetheart, but we are in the business of odd, after all. Besides, it gives him something to call his own. Hopefully it will take the pressure off the lad. Give him a sense of his own identity."

As to the lad he never stirred during the entire night. It wasn't until both dogs responded to a knock on the door that he woke up. In point of fact, it was Wully that heard the knock and then Norbie woke up when Wully rolled to his feet, bumping into both dog and boy.

"James," Hagrid called from the other side of the hut, "open the door and let 'em both out, will ya?"

"Alright, Uncle Rubeus," the sleepy eyed boy said.

When he yanked the door open the two dogs bolted, Wully quickly outdistancing Norbie, who moved at a sedate trot. What James didn't expect was the sight of his cousin and two of her friends standing on the other side.

"James! What are you doing here?" Victoire called out and then she wrapped him in a hug.

"Ease up there, Vee," James replied with a grunt.

When the taller girl let him go he said,

"Um, I got to stay for the night."

This was a pretty good response considering he had no idea that he been in the hut all night until he had just awakened. Then it dawned on him that he must have looked pretty rumpled so he ran his hand through his hair and tried to blink the last of the sleep out of his eyes.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asked.

"I came down to give Wully some exercise and Kai and Estelle wanted to come along."

James leaned around his cousin a bit and gave a small head nod to the other girls. Estelle replied in kind and Kai offered a little wave and a big smile.

"Well, you look like you need to wake up and get some breakfast so we'll see you after we play with the dogs," Vee said.

"Yeah, sure, alright."

Vee smiled and turned away from the door to go after the dogs. Estelle followed without a word but Kai offered,

"See you later, James."

"Oh, yeah," he replied.

He closed the door and turned back into the room and saw Hagrid regarding him with those beetle black eyes.

"Gettin' ta be a regular thing with that one," he said. "Takin' up where Abagail left off. Don't mind o' course. Wully needs someone younger'n me and ol' Norbie ta play with."

James looked at what his godfather was putting on the table for breakfast and was glad to see that no rock cakes were involved. By the time breakfast was done and he had made himself marginally presentable, the girls had returned with both dogs. James watched as they took the bowls that Hagrid had prepared and set them down on the floor. Estelle had grown up with dogs on the farm so this wasn't anything special for her, but Vee and Kai were having a fine time.

"So what were you doing all day yesterday, cuz?" Vee asked him. "Your dad was kind of surprised it took so long."

James was cautious with his reply. He felt much of what he was being taught was a privilege to know and not something to be discussed openly.

"We did a lot of walking," he began. "Ronin was telling me what the different trees were, what tracks were left by what animals. That sort of stuff."

"What about your bow? What did he think about it?" she prompted.

"He said it was a pretty good first try. He thought I needed to work on the details a little more. Guess I need Granddad to teach me more about using the woodworking tools," he replied.

"Is that the one you made, James?" Kai asked. "It looks pretty good to me."

"Um, no, actually," he replied, looking at the girl. "The one I made was copied from the one my dad got when he and Mum were married. Turns out mine has too much draw for someone my age. So Ronin traded me this one and said I can have mine back when I get bigger."

"Gee, you think they would have warned you about that," she replied.

"I get the feeling that the Centaurs like to give you the chance to learn the hard way," he said as he held up his left arm and pulled back the sleeve, revealing a thoroughly bruised inner forearm. "Took me a while to figure out how to hold the bow right."

"Oh, James, you poor dear," Vee said with genuine concern. "Uncle Hagrid, I mean, Professor, have you seen this?"

"Nope, I haven't. The lad di'n't mention it. Borrow yer dad's cold bag when you get home, young fella, that'll help."

"Maybe we should take him up to Madame Pomfrey first," Vee suggested.

"Um, no, I don't think so," James said, with visions of being paraded through the halls of Hogwarts by Vee and her buddies. "It doesn't hurt much. I'm alright."

"Hmm, it does look a bit wicked," Kai said as she reached over and ran a finger along one particularly dark patch. "I bet Ted Lupin had his share of these yesterday."

"Yes, I imagine he did," Vee said, giving her small friend a sharp look.

"Well, if we want any breakfast we better get moving," Estelle said from her spot near the door.

"Yes, I suppose so," Vee replied. "Please, James, make sure Aunt Ginny sees that. It was a nice surprise to see you this morning," she said giving him a hug where he sat.

"Thanks, and don't worry, I'm sure I'll get a full inspection when I get home."

Vee smiled and then said,

"Thank you for letting us play with the dogs, sir."

"My pleasure, Miss Weasley," Hagrid said with a grin. "Anytime. Makes it easier on a poor ol' man."

Estelle was the first out the door and Kai offered the boy another broad smile and wave. Once the company had departed, Norbie and Wully insisted James give them some attention and then they settled down in front of the fire for a nap.

"Well, lad, I've got you fed and the dogs'll be asleep for a while. What say we take a walk over ta the stadium and see what shape it's in after yesterday's punch-up and then I'll take ya down ta Hogsmeade and get ya home?"

"Sounds like a good idea, Uncle Rubeus," James said with a grin.

James gathered up his bow and quiver which was full of replacement arrows. Ronin had liked James' bow but thought the arrows needed work. Part of the day had been spent on going over James' effort and where he needed improvement. His jacket pocket held the stone arrowheads that had been removed from his handiwork for use in a second try.

As he and his godfather walked along the path that would take them to the Quidditch stadium, a few of the folks that were out and about paid them little attention. Somehow a half giant walking alongside a nine year old boy carrying a bow and quiver wasn't all that interesting at a school for witches and wizards.

As their inspection of the stadium proved, the air battle hadn't spilled over much onto the grounds and structure. A few pennants from both sides were left behind and apparently walked over. These were gathered up and dropped into a bin that the house elves would attend to.

"Not ta bad, if'n I sez so," Hagrid began. "I tell ya, James, I know ya had a good time in the forest but ya missed a real brawl out here. Reminded me o' some o' the fights at The Three Broomsticks before yer dad cleaned things up."

"I'll ask Da to tell me about it tonight. I have some things to tell him, too."

"I can just imagine. Just remember, lad, what ya can share with yer dad ya need ta keep from others. Ya did a good job back at the hut. Someone else mighta tried ta brag ta impress the girls and give away secrets," Hagrid said, looking down at his godson.

"Uncle Rubeus," James said, almost in disgust. "Please, they're just girls, what would they understand about it. I mean, Vee is alright, but she's my cousin. The others are just girls."

As they walked away from the stadium, Hagrid just smiled under his beard but said nothing more. James was shaking his head but for a moment a pair of dark, expressive eyes flashed across his field of vision and then were gone. He gave a shudder and marched on.

Later that night, the boy and his father sat in the library swapping tales. James found Harry's recounting of the match very compelling. While he didn't use the level of detail had he been discussing strategy and play with Ted, he did give enough of an account that his son winced a few times as various blows and counterstrikes were discussed.

"I dunno, Da. Sounds like it'll be a real war by the time I get up there."

"Why do you say that, son?" Harry asked, genuinely interested.

"Well, I remember you saying that right after you won the fight with Voldermort and for a few years after, the Slytherins were pretty quiet and real polite. Then Ted started having problems and now it looks like it's getting worse. Seems like they're going back to their old ways."

Harry nodded.

"You might be right. So, tell me, what did you learn yesterday?"

Now it was James' turn to describe in some detail what he was taught. Since Harry was a member of the herd, it wasn't like he was telling any secrets. Harry was rather enjoying seeing the familiar forest through the eyes of his son. It looked the same yet so different.

"I don't think I did too well with the bow, Da. I only managed to hit the targets about half the time. Ronin said that wasn't bad for a beginner but I wanted to do better."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, son. Archery is a skill that takes a lot of practice. If you keep working at it, I'm sure you'll wind up as good as Robin Hood or William Tell."

"Who?"

Before Harry could answer they were interrupted by a voice at the library door.

"I'm sorry, sweethearts, but James needs to take a hot bath and then get to bed."

"But Mum, I spent all day in the house. I don't need a bath and it's way too early for bed," James stated with indignation.

"James, you spent all morning walking around like a little old man. Every time you sat down or stood up you groaned. A hot bath will loosen up those sore muscles and you need the sleep. So no more arguing. Up you come," Ginny said sternly, a finger crooked in his direction.

"Off you go, son. We can talk tomorrow."

James gave a grimace and then pushed himself off the chair. He did a manful job of suppressing the groan that only his father could hear, and barely. His walk to the door started out as a shuffle but improved to a hobble by the time he passed his mother and left the room. She watched him head for the staircase and then turned to regard her husband who looked back at her in all innocence. With a smirk she shook her head and turned on her heels and went after her son.

While James endured the excruciatingly soothing water of the hot bath his mother had drawn for him, his cousin and her companions were engaging in some girl talk in their room in the Gryffindor tower.

"So this was a pretty interesting weekend, didn't you think?" Marjorie asked.

"Yes, if you didn't mind watching a dozen or so muscleheads try to knock each other out of the sky, it was fun," Felicity countered.

"Excuse me, who are you calling a musclehead?" Kai said indignantly

"Yes, and Teddy isn't a musclehead either," Vee said.

"Yes, alright, but you have to admit spending six hours on your feet watching a bunch of witches and wizards flying around on brooms isn't he best way to spend a Saturday," Felicity countered.

"I'll admit no such thing. I've been watching Quidditch matches since I was a baby," Victoire said. "I think they are fun, exciting and if my uncle is flying, bloody well amazing."

"And I find it fascinating," Kai said. "It's a part of me I never knew existed. So if you don't like Quidditch don't go to the matches, but don't talk rubbish about those of us who do."

"Well, anyway, the Cup matches are done for the year," Felicity countered. "So what do we do for the rest of the term?"

"You might try getting ready for exams," Marjorie suggested. "We only have about a couple of months left."

As was often the case, Estelle wasn't saying much. She was however casting glances from Vee to Kai and back. Kai wasn't paying any attention as she was helping Marjorie fence with Felicity but Vee did notice.

"What are you thinking about Estelle?"

"Oh, about your family and stuff and how jealous it makes me."

"Jealous?"

"Well, not jealous in a bad way, but it's so much better than what I have back home. And you at least get to see some of them just about every day," the girl said wistfully.

"Yes, it was fun having the professors there at the game. And it was very nice to see James today."

"Hmm, yes. Kai certainly seemed to have enjoyed it," Estelle said with a smirk.

"Yes, she did," Vee said and then turned to the little witch. "What was all that with the smiles and waves, Kai?"

"What? He seems like a nice boy. Why can't I be friendly?" she responded.

"I didn't say you couldn't. I asked why you were."

"I don't suppose any of you have noticed but he seems very uncomfortable around us. I was just trying to make him feel better," she replied.

Vee did a pretty good impression of her mother and cocked a single eyebrow at her friend.

"Plus, like I've said, he is kind of cute."

"For goodness sake, he's only nine years old," Vee retorted.

"I didn't say I wanted to marry him, I just said he was kind of cute. Besides, didn't you say that your aunt knew she was going to marry your uncle, Professor Potter, when she was like ten years old?" Kai asked.

"Yes, I did, but that was more like fate or destiny, or maybe even magic."

"Fine, well, who's to say this isn't one of those things either. And don't be getting so worried about me. You've got enough to worry about with a certain Quidditch chaser," the little Asian girl said with a wicked little grin.

"I most certainly do not," Vee replied in outrage. "He's family, he's like my fifth cousin or something."

"Really?" Marjorie said while in a lull with her ongoing wrangling with Felicity. "That's nice to hear. He is rather a dish, isn't he?"

The girl almost rolled off her bed as she tried to avoid the barrage of pillows being thrown by Vee. This turned into general warfare until a cease fire was declared after Felicity landed on the floor with a loud thud and spent the next several moments trying to gasp back in the air that had been knocked out of her.

The next several weeks were relatively quiet. Students studied, teachers taught and the grounds at Meadow Crest steadily dried out so that by the end of April everyone was quite confident that the scene would be set for a beautiful and picturesque wedding for Anthony and Susan. After a bit of pleading from Susan and a murmured, 'just do it' from his wife, Harry agreed that he would escort the bride down the aisle. Susan said that since he insisted she come to his party and that's where she was reacquainted with Anthony, she considered him largely responsible for this happy chapter in her life.

Anthony had stopped by a couple of times to update Harry on new information and what additional inquiries he was making. He indicated that he was picking up a bit of low level panic in certain quarters of the eastern European magical community but not much had spilled over towards the west. Harry said he would send a few discreet messages to people he knew to see what they might be able to tell him. He had heard nothing along these lines during his last trip to the Black Sea school.

James had recovered in just a day or so and was back to work, using the instructions that Ronin had given him to craft more suitable arrows and to practice shooting at a roughly shaped target he made by scrounging some of the straw that had been left from reseeding the meadow. He decided not to give the target any kind of familiar shape, either two or four legged, so as not to upset his mother should she see it. He was getting to the point where more arrows hit the target than didn't.

He was also back to exploring in the trees around the meadow and house, looking for signs of different animals. Ronin had tasked him to try and identify every type of creature that called Meadow Crest home. He even managed to enlist Albus' aid in assisting him. Any track that he couldn't place outright, he would sketch it's shape and details and then the two brothers would comb books looking for what creature left it. There were one or two they couldn't identify and these were put aside for showing to Uncle Rubeus. All in all the boy was feeling quite good about his progress.

He even had the house elves helping him. Dinkle would go out in the morning and place several small straw bundles in different places in the trees. James would then begin a systematic search with his bow in hand, an arrow nocked but not drawn. When he spotted a target he would see how fast he could draw, sight, and then loose the arrow.

It was on one such morning that he came across something wholly unexpected. He was moving quietly in an area that Dinkle favored for placing well concealed targets. The boy heard a loud snap and then a quieter curse so he froze in place, trying to locate the curser by sound as he had been taught. A quieter crunch of leaves helped him zero in and from his spot from behind a tree he was able to espy a figure moving into the trees from the outer perimeter of the property. Whomever it was was either witch or wizard. The robe hid the identity but the wand held in the right hand told much. James wasn't sure what to do. Any friendly witch or wizard would have made arrangements to visit and come right to the front door. This could only mean trouble.

In a moment, without consciously thinking, he was sighting along the shaft of an arrow, the string of the bow drawn back to his cheek. He didn't have to follow through, however, because as the magic user set down his or her foot at a spot ten feet into the trees a bright blue nimbus of coruscating energy enveloped the figure from head to toe. James could hear the crackling and several small bolts earthed themselves to nearby trees. It only lasted a moment or two and then the glow was gone and the stiffened figure toppled over backward.

James blinked a few times and when he saw that no one had come rushing to the aid of the downed figure he began to slowly approach, doing a much better job of moving quietly over the cover of dead leaves. As he got closer he could see that it was indeed a wizard, the face unremarkable, aside from the wide eyed frozen stare. There was no movement, but the bulky robe made it hard to discern if the man was still breathing. Not wanting to take any chances he kept his arrow pointed at the man's chest and said in a strangled hiss,

"Dinkle, I need you, now."

There was a small pop and from behind he heard,

"How may Dinkle serve the young sir?"

"Looks like an intruder, Dinkle. I guess one of Uncle Bill's traps got him. I don't know if he's still alive or not."

"Dinkle will check."

The little elf hurried over and then called back,

"This one is alive. Help must be summoned. The young sir should go do so. Dinkle will stay and watch."

"But, Dinkle, you could do it much faster," James began to say but Dinkle looked over his shoulder, waved a hand and with a lurch the boy found himself on the front portico.

"Bloody hell," the boy muttered before opening the door and charging in to raise the alarm.

In short order, Nibs was sent to the Ministry to bring back whoever could come. As a result the entire Special Tactical Squad plus half the Investigative Unit were on the scene in less than a quarter hour. Abagail appeared shortly after, having picked up on Ginny's agitation. She went to Hogwarts to inform Harry, who came back with her. In less than an hour after James' observation of the hapless wizard, a small party was sitting in the living room discussing events.

"Nothing on him to help with the identification, Chief," Deputy Chief Milligan said. "The young miss gets the same sort of garbled mess when she looks at him. That trap he sprung may have done it or it's something we've never come across. Fortunately, this one is still alive, so once the effects of that trap wear off, we'll squeeze him for what we can."

"His clothes didn't tell you anything?" Harry asked.

"Pretty nondescript, Harry," Anthony replied. "In fact, the robe aside, he could have passed for a muggle."

Harry sighed heavily and then said to no one in particular,

"I wonder what he wanted. Spying on us, testing the defenses or trying to get at someone?"

"Perhaps he was trying to reach you without drawing the kind of attention that one from the forest did," Anthony replied.

"Perhaps," Harry said and then he looked over at his son, who was sitting off to one side, listening. "And what about you, young fella. What's this I hear you had your bow trained on him?"

"I guess so, Da. I didn't really think about it. As soon as I thought he might be up to no good, it just sort of happened."

Harry nodded and then said,

"I'm glad you held off. I'm not sure those stone tips would get through that heavy a robe. It might have just called attention to yourself."

"I don't know about that, Chief," Milligan said, "those flint heads on Centaur arrows are pretty damned sharp. But yes, it shouldn't be up to a nine year old with a bow protecting your property. I'll have a word with your brother, Bill. See what he's put in place and see if we might need to lend a hand. I think the Ministry is going to take an interest in all this now."

Harry merely nodded. While he didn't think it necessary, it wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes, so to speak, take a look at their preparations. After that they would see. It had been a while but someone had lit a fuze and Harry was starting to do a slow burn.