Chapter 13

Christmas was fast approaching, and with it the decision on whether or not he wanted to go home or stay at Hogwarts. On one hand, he loved it at Hogwarts, with the secret passageways and the huge library and all his friends, but on the other hand, he missed his dad, and Tony, and Abby and Ducky, and he had never spent a Christmas away from them since his dad had started working there some time after he was adopted.

So, mind made up, he told his friends what he was doing for the Holidays when they asked, and then put his name down for those going home when Professor Flitwick came around asking everyone what they were doing for the holidays.

Unfortunately, at the next staff meeting, all the teachers were informed of who was going home and who was staying, and when James and Lily Potter learned that Jasper was going home for Christmas, it spurred them into action to talk to their abandoned son, even after they had tried to put it off for as long as possible.

So, a week before everyone who was going home was due to board the Hogwarts Express, on a Wednesday afternoon, James Potter asked Jasper to stay behind after DADA. His wife was waiting in his office, having cancelled her last lesson so that she wouldn't be late for this. She appeared after the door to the classroom closed and locked magically, closing the door to the connected office closed behind her.

"Hello Jasper." She greeted quietly.

He nodded to her, not particularly wanting to, but having grown up with manners - well, mostly - he knew it was impolite not to respond in some way.

"Hello, Professor. What did you need me for, Professor Potter?" He turned back to James, missing the sad look on the red heads face at the title, even if she did know how silly it was of her to wish that he referred to her as something else like her other son - no, wait, only son did.

"We wanted to talk to you Jasper." James said softly as he sat down behind his desk, conjuring a chair quickly for his wife to sit on and gesturing for his lost son to pull up a chair from the desk behind him to sit on.

Jasper did so reluctantly, not really liking the though of a talk with these two professors in particular.

"You must know we are your parents by now, Jasper. We haven't exactly done anything to hide it, and you must also be aware that we named you Harry. We thought that we could talk to you to tell you why we gave you up." Lily started.

"You must understand, that when Voldemort was defeated, we weren't sure at first which one of you had killed him and survived the killing curse. We called Dumbledore, both because the Dark Lord had attacked our home and because we wanted his opinion. He examined both you and Charles, and looking at markings and magical signatures he declared Charles the boy-who-lived.

A month later, and we were immersed in the spotlight, in the fame that Charles brought with him. A few days after that, we went to Dumbledore with problems with you. We felt you were being neglected slightly, because we had to put so much work into Charles. He advised us to give you to Lily's relatives, the Dursleys, because he could add extra protection around the house because of the blood relation. He said that when you were eleven, it would be safer for you to come back to us, because you would be older and would understand why we did it. We never thought that you'd get adopted though." James added thoughtfully.

Jasper just looked at them through blank eyes as they stared at him hopefully, waiting for a positive response. They would be disappointed.

"You gave me up because you couldn't deal with fame. You went into hiding before, why not go into slight seclusion again - oh yeah, because you actually like the fame, the spotlight, the parties you get invited to, the gossip you get talked about it. You listened to a Headmaster about what was best for the family, and then you willingly gave me over to a family that you knew hate magic because of some wards that didn't even exist - " He stopped them before they could interrupt him " - blood wards like that only worked if there is love and acceptance between the family members and the person its protecting. Whether it be between me and Petunia or me and Dudley, if I had loved one of them, or one of them had loved me, they would have worked, and I could have excepted that excuse. But Petunia hated magic, detested it, was jealous and fearful of those that had it, and wanted to beat it out of me. Dudley was too young, only a few months older than me, and like most children, went along with his parents." He stopped there to take a deep breath, but before he could start again, Lily interrupted.

"We didn't think they'd do anything to you. We threatened them, left them a letter saying how they had better treat you right or they would be loosing something very important." She cried.

Jasper stared at her in bewilderment once more.

"You left a letter saying that. You do realise that he had about as many brain cells as a squirrel - all he thinks about is work, food and sleep. And more food. If you only left a letter, he would have thought that you didn't mean it, that you were just saying it out of courtesy because I was your son." The Potters didn't miss the 'was'. "They wouldn't have listened to a word that was said in that letter because they didn't believe it.

And if you really thought that I'd come back to you after you put me through that, then you aren't much smarter than Dursley himself. Even if I wasn't adopted, I don't think I would want anything to do with you. And I still don't." He stood up then, and then walked up to the desk, planting his hands on the desk and leaning forward until he was leaning right into their faces - doing an extremely good impression of his dad, if he did say so himself.

"So, listen up. I am adopted with a proper family, and my name is Jasper Ryann Gibbs, and their is nothing you can do to change that. Apart from being one of my professors. which can change at anytime if my dad wanted to pull me out, you have absolutely no authority over me. I have never had any inclination what so ever to spend any time outside of lessons with you, and I highly doubt I ever will. You gave me up, now you have to deal with the consequences."

. . .

Dear Dad,

Sorry for not writing sooner, I've had a really bust couple of months trying to get used to lessons and curfews and all the new magical aspects and the castle.

I've decided that I'm coming home for Christmas, and have already put my name down. All the staff know, and James and Lily Potter confronted me about it the other afternoon. I'm alright, though, just angry about their reasons for giving me up.

They said that the fame was getting to them, that they felt they were neglecting me, and went to Dumbledore for advice, and he told them to give me to the Dursleys because of some non existent blood wards. Apparently as soon as I came to Hogwarts, I was going to be allowed to be theirs again, but don't worry, I burst their bubble.

I then told them about how they were wrong and why they were wrong and that they couldn't take me away no matter how hard they tried and that I loved it with you. I certainly told them, and when I'd relayed it to Ron and Hermione later, they totally agreed with me.

Oh, yeah, you remember Draco Malfoy, the pure blood boy that I was telling you about. He sent me an invitation to his New Years party, and I said that I'd have to ask you first, but I'd really like to go because he persuaded his dad to invite Ron and Hermione, even if they are a Weasley and a Muggle born. His dad is Lucius Malfoy, a really powerful politician in the Wizarding World, and I'd quite like to meet him too.

Anyway, Dad, remember to pick me December 19th at Kings Cross Station at 13:00. If the train's late, it'll be because of the snow that's due that day.

See you dad, and say hey to Abby, Tony and Ducky.

Jasper.

There we go, another chapter. This one finally has some sort of confrontation with the Potter's, which is what people have been asking for. Hope you enjoyed it. Review, please!