Chapter 12
James sat at his desk, the first year was almost up for Holly and both of them were sure Quirrel was being browbeaten into working for Voldemort. How she accumulated her information was concerning, the security system was less effective if a first year could figure it out.
He set his papers down, Dumbledore had faith in Quirrel since he was a return teacher. But James didn't buy it. To many things seemed to point to Dumbledore allowing Holly to discover the events. He didn't ask Holly to do anything as he looked at a letter written to the last person he would have comcidered. He asked Snape to call him in if Dumbledore decided to leave before the end of the year. Dumbledore be damned the last thing he wanted was Holly to grow up faster than she needed by trying to fight a mass murder.
"Hello?" Came a small voice from the mirror as James lifted it up to see Neville.
"Neville, what are you doing with my daughters mirror?" He asked as he stomach felt like someone dropped a griffon egg in it.
"Um well Dumbledore left today, and well," that's all Neville got out he all but tossed the mirror to his desk as he booked it. He rushed into the garage started up the bike and poured on the Dragon flame boost as he blasted his way across Britain in record time.
"What could she possibly be thinking!" His brain shouted at himself what happened between their last conversation that would warrant such reckless action. He tore open the door, as Fluffy bulked at the loud impact the dog grabbed at the door James blasted off its hinges as James dropped down the trapdoor.
A pair flew up past him on an old broom as James glanced back to see Ron and Hermione the pair stopped but James had a single thought now that he new the pair were safe.
He fell into the Devil's snare but his wand was ready as the plant seemed to whimper as he tore the plant out of his way. He ripped past the keys did enchanting the charms and blasted the chess pieces out of the way. The dead troll posed little issue as James was forced to pause with the potion set up as he doused the flames and marched onward setting of every security charm on his way. Holly was on the ground just as Quirrel made his move to go for the stone only for James to blast the man into the mirror.
"Blood traitor!" Voldemort screamed in a horse voice but Quirrel was vissably terrified of him despite the dark lords bluster.
James didn't buy it as Quirrel set out a fire whip at him the whip dispersed into a daisy chain, and scattered only to turn into metal shuriken cutting away back at Quirrel. The flying scaples were deflated
"Run!" He barked at hi daughter she scampered as he intercepted the lighting. He had to squint as he whispered, stone towers rose up to ground the lightning. Fire suddenly bleed around the bricks as James tapped into the sewer as a pair of pipes exploded up as water gysered in to the flames as knives started to leap out of the water as chains wrapped around the possed teacher.
"To, weak," Quirrel moaned as he pulled at his restraints. James summoned the man's wand to his hand before he dispersed the water. "Master your feedings I need to, to," he tested but he couldn't get the words off.
"Kill him, you worthless fool," Voldemort hissed but they both noticed the wand was in Hames hand. The body bowed as the chains linked between the fingers preventing any movement.
James stood stoically his fingers pulsed over his wand as he comtimplated murder. It was so tempting to just end the abomination that wriggled in front of him.
"You know the spell, do it," Voldemort grinned as he tempted the man. "How many members of the order to I kill, how many friends, loved ones," Voldemort cackled.
"Master?" Quirrel breathed but James frowned in realization.
"Nice try leach but I don't think your borrowed body is going to last. I don't think his magic can sustain you after that little duel." James put up his mental defenses, as the body dropped and the dust like raith moaned a cry as it vanished out of the room. James turned to see the Headmaster with Holly hidden behind the man's purple robes. James but back on his anger, as he was tired himself already.
"It seems you are much more accomplished than I believed possible," Dumbledore complemented as the staff started to come into view.
"James?" McGonigal exclaimed as she drew her wand on instinct.
"Easy Maverna, Mr. Potter here was just doing his parental duty, we will speak on it later are good friend here has had an exhaustive duel.
James relaxed as he put his wand away before he handed Quirrel's wand to Dumbledore. The man collapsed to the ground as Dumbledore checked the man's pulse.
"Dead," he confirmed as he stood up, everyone flinched. "Seems Voldemort's leaching combined with the rigerous duel was to much for him."
Holly opened her mouth before she closed it. "One body can't support two people, magic can help off set its effects but unless they have something to offset the constant magical drain they both would die." James explained.
"Dumbledore, this is yours," Holly handed him the stone as James eyed the stone in contempt.
"I think this has been a long night, headmistress would you be so kind as to escort Miss Poter to her room," he asked kindly as James waited for his daughter to be escorted away.
"This was very dangerous," James frowned when the pair had been left alone. Dumbledore didn't respond as he pulled out his wand and conjured up a pair of chairs. He jestured to one. James intentionally waited a second before he sat down.
"I am well aware of the possibility of danger, it is expected when dealing with hormonal wizards and witches who can bend reality as they see fit." He admitted.
"Hardly, an opinion a parent would share after such a night like this." James returned as Dumbledore seemed to node in agreement. "I question your defense you requested with the exception of Snape's contributions it seems a first year could run the gambit." James commented.
"One would assume it wouldn't be the first batch of geniuses to strut through these halls." He gave James a smirk.
"All right fine, Holly is brilliant, me being involved probably didn't help." He admited,
"You can't protect her from this you know the profecy." Dumbledore reminded,
"We both know those are bullocks. The only reason it's in play is cause someone blabbed." James grumbled, Dumbledore sighed, "I know, don't give me that look, he paid in his own way." He frowned as he glanced at the mirror.
There was Lily with Holly happy with both of his parents even aged as lively as ever. He turned back to the aged wizard. "So Moody tells me you plan to join the Aurrors." Dumbledore suddenly said as the silence broke.
"Something to do, seems a good use of my talents," James shrugged, Dumbledore paused as he nodded.
"Seems, I feel it may take some time to get the requisite filled in, in the mean time I seem to have a position recently opened," he glanced over at the body.
"You could just ask you know I would say yes, " James sighed as the old man shrugged. "I guess I could teach the up coming year," James sighed. "You know it says a lot about us that we can chat next to a body like this,"
"I have been timing it, he may have taken a potion," he admired,
"It seems poor security for such a dangerous stone," James remarked,
"There will be no dissuading you," Dumbledore shook his head, "I held no illusion that I could stop him. Despite the belief in Hogwarts it is no more effective than Gringotts. So a new goal formed delay to put as many petty traps as possible extend the time time, security charms to force a person to play by the rules. Then the biggest time sync the mirror. I knew that It was a matter of time so I turned it in my favor. True any Dark lord could do as you did blast their way in. But with out apirrition they would be bottled back into the full staff of Hogwarts including myself."
"Clever if he didn't use the stone the second he got it." James admitted, "even though you got back before he would have been able to use it."
"From what I gleaned, with out Holly I would have been able to walk down here with little concern, it seems our old enemy is not as clever as he once was. A side effect of sharing a body I would wager." He shrugged as he held up the stone he crushed the ruby stone into a dull powder. As James stood up in surprise.
"The real one was destroyed years ago, its rumored preservation is to prevent the theft of the elixir, which by my calculations has just been used up by my old friend." He clicked his watch together. "Nothing to worry about, thanks to Lilly Holly was never in any danger and now we know Voldemort is in fact active again." He smiled, "I hope you have a good trip home, and look forward to seeing you at the first staff meeting of the new school year." Dumbledore got up to dispose of the body as James looked at the stone.
As he found himself alone with the mirror he realized he could have stepped to the side and some nothing and it would have worked out. "Maybe," he though as he looked at the mirror as he drew closer he could see so many old and current friends who filled the space behind him. Then at the front next to Holly a boy with black messy hair about a year under Holly. The pain burned as he looked at his unborn son. The boy smiled excited to see him as he almost knocked Holly over who gave him an annoyed look before she smiled again.
"Enjoying the view?" Came a greasy voice as James turned to see his old school yard target. He would say victim but Snape gave as good as he got especially during their final years.
"Yep," James admired, as he walked away from the mirror, the two made eye contact as James rolled his eyes. "You can't help yourself can you?" James brushed the intrusion of privacy.
"One can never be to careful." Snape smirked . James didn't respond as he headed for the stairs only to find Snape in his way.
"Can I help you," James politely asked, "oh sorry thank you for helping out my daughter when she was looking for her friend," James smiled which caused Snape to blink in surprise. James moved past Snape, "you may want some sleep, you still have classes to take care of." James advices with that he left.
The sudden spike in adrenaline finally dissipated as he walked into the house, he sat down in his lazy chair turned on the lamp and thought. His mind going over explanations as he dived through his decade of study he finally came to a conclusion an explanation. "Horcrux," he confirmed that was not good, to figure out what was a Horcrux would be an impossible task, since do little was known about them.
The sun was slowly started to rise as he realized he had pulled an all nighter as Lupin walked down the stairs. "James were you up all night, you look like you got in a fight what happened?" He asked very concerned.
"You wouldn't believe the night I had," James smirked, he quickly ran down the events as Lupin had to pick his jaw of the floor.
"Horcruz you are sure?" Lupin pressed,
"Yeah, the old Potter library had made mention of them. Sadly it's the only explanation for his ghostly form. Not unless he found a new form of immortality." James nodded.
"Both would be problematic," Lupin agreed. "I can't think of what he would use Voldemort is normally very spartan in appearance. To have something like that, one would have on him." Lupin figured.
"A thought, so best check my old house then if he had anything it would have fallen there. Thankfully it's a memorial, so I shouldn't have an issue to check." He stood up only for Lupin to catch his shoulder.
"Get some sleep first old friend plenty of time, for that latter," Lupin insured, James opened his mouth, "it waited for over a decade, it can wait a few more hours."
James wanted to protest but he couldn't help but yawn."fine," he frowned as he headed up for some sleep
Sirius was already up and about who quickly tossed him the profit. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He frowned as James noticed that he was named as the man who stopped the theft. Voldemort was notably absent but he wasn't to surprised as he poured out a cup of coffee.
"Of all the things..." Sirius ranted very upset that he missed out on the first bit of action in a long time James watched in amusement as he drank his coffee Sirius was not happy about being left out of the action.
"Nothing of all the adventures?" Sirius complained, the two were around the old Potter house, the place was grown over but mostly intact with a lot of water damage in the exploded room. "Nothing if anything did exist here it's long gone." James yawned before he nodded in agreement with him.
The pair meet up at the front as James found the street more interesting."So now what?" Sirius asked as he looked at James.
"Well, if I want to keep something safe," James mused,
"Hogwarts probably the room that appears when we need to hide shit." Sirius decided.
"Not a bad thought, maybe a vault the older the better, you think he would have trusted one of his death eaters," James lead.
"Hmm, I would have access to Beatrix's vault it's still part of the black family, since nobody expected me to come into the family head."
"Want to go snoop?" James asked, as Dirius grounded at him.
"Sounds like fun." Sirius agreed, as they headed off. The pair had a fight before them it seemed Old Bella had put up some roadblocks. She even passed her heritence of to somebody called Tom Riddle after lord Voldemort of course James made a mental note to investigate Tom.
But with every name on her list jailed or dead. The process took hours and Narcica tried to get involved being a sister, but it didn't last long a second letter recalled the first. "Ugh that woman needs to make up bet mind," Sirius grumbled as his head hit the desk. James patted him on the back, " Don't patronize me this was your idea."
"Yep, isn't this fun?" James grin dead as Sirius glared at him the Goblin seemed to take an absorbent amount of pleasure thanks to the legal red tape, so many potential inhariters didn't help.
"Access has been granted," Goblin informed,
"Finally!" Sirius announced which caused the banker to jump. The two were lead to the carts, as they sat down.
"Ready?" James asked as Sirius grinned the cart shot off as they both screamed and hooted in joy which seemed to annoy the driver to know end.
The cart slowed down as the two leaped of as the pair smirked since the bad mood had moved to a new host.
"So what are we looking for?" Sirius asked as the vault door opened.
"Something that shouldn't be here,"James frowned as he entered the vault. Gold and jewelry littered the shelves as Sirius rummaged around in disgust.
"You could always donate to some cause if it turns your stomach to look at it." James glanced over at him.
"Yeah I thought of that but then the Malfoy's would get it, I heard talk they got a lot of the stuff I threw out last time." He frowned as he turned around to get a better view.
"Hey James," Sirius asked as James paused,
"Sirius," James replied
"Outside of Gryphondor, what would be the last house you would expect my cousins vault?" He asked,
James thought about it for a second. "Hufflepuff, if I were to take a guess," James admitted. "Why?"
He turned to see Sirius holding the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. "I think I found it," Sirius smirked, James frowned at it.
"How odd I would have expected a slytherin artifact at most,"James frowned.
"You don't think he made more than one?" Sirius frowned,
"I hope not it may not even be his. I say we take it to your place lock it up and see if we can find out who owned it last. Cause I doubt your cusin would care about founder relecs." James admitted,
"You are doing this on purpose can't we just destroy the damn thing now just to be safe." Sirius pleaded.
"Fine why not," James groaned, as gave in to his friend.
Later they headed into the basement and tossed the cup on the floor as Sirius took out his wand with glee. He sent a spell at it, the blast sent the cup flying, it landed as James sat down. But the cup was still intact, "grr," Sirius grumbled, as he started to machinegun spells at it as he raced after it. The spells knocked the cup around as the wizard reacked havoc on everything but the cup. James flipped over the cup as he figured it would take a while.
James glanced over the Quiditch scores as he frowned at the cannons latest defeat. He spit Lupin as he walked in as confused as possible as he gave James a helpless expression. James shrugged and went back to his paper as the human bludger carried on in his rampant acts of vandalism.
"You done?" James asked as the room
Seemed to finally go silent. Sirius looked like a mess, his robes a mess and the room looked like a hurricane had hit it. Craters marched the walls nothing was left standing as a shelf sudden collapsed to the ground.
"Well I am out of ideas," he admitted as he straightened up.
"Care to fill me in?" Remus asked who seemed throughly amused at Sirius's antics.
James sighed as he explained the last twenty foythourse or so. "So did either of you look up means of distruction?" He glanced between them.
"No," Sirius admitted,
"I just wanted to see how long he would keep trying random spells," James smiled as Sirius shot a glare at him.
"In just world I would be the rich friend," Lupin shook his head as Sirius smiled,
"If I was poor neither of you would want me around." Sirius laughed,
"Your rich and I don't want you around," James cracked,
"I don't know that thick head of yours would make a good door stop." Lupin joked, at the same time as Sirius comicly slump his shoulders.
"I needed that." James admired, "sadly it seems the requirement is irreparable magical damage."
"So I just played a really long solo game of kick the cup, dandy," Sirius facepalmed
"Pretty much," Lupin confirmed "I don't think any of us have anything that can do that level of damage."
"I know of spells, but I never played around of it." James admitted, they glanced at a silent Sirius.
"I got nothing I don't touch the stuff on principle." He waved of, James picked the cup up,
"Guess we will need some help on this one." James held up his arm as Garius landed on his arm, with a quick charm a request was written up.
"So why the request I doubt Dumbledore is going to turn you away." Lupin pointed out.
"I feel I need to show the old man some respect. We haven't been seeing eye to eye." James admired as the letter rolled up and slipped into an envelop the owl nabbed it and flew off.
"Yeah, didn't notice," Sirius glanced away but James caught the eye flick back.
"He wanted to let Holly confront Voldemort," James glanced at as both of his old friends went wide eyed. "He said everything would be safe," James snorted, "I think he has some chess game in mind. I don't want my daughter involved in this. I know Sirius she already is, but damn it I don't want to burry my daughter." He sighed as the room went silent.
"While I am all up for children growing up, and becoming better, I fear 11 may have been a bit early." Lupin admitted, Sirius nodded, in agreement.
"Yeah, after Holly is way to much of a witch for Voldemort's feeble skills," he nodded as James cracked a smirk.
"We still have some time, before school lets out, I am going to sniff around about this cup, do to it being dull, Sirius see if you can find a way to break that cup." He waved at it as Sirius gleamed in delight at the prospect as they parted for a time.
