The Return of the Father: Blessing in Disguise
Hello everyone. Thank you all for all of the reviews for the last chapter. I see that most people enjoyed James talking to Lily, which is pretty good considering I loved that part myself.
------------------------------Great Hall – Hogwarts
The four house tables and head table for the teachers were no longer apart of the Great Hall. Instead, one single table sat in the center of the room, long enough to accommodate Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey – the only remaining teachers at Hogwarts, along with the entire Weasley clan, Harry, Hermione, Remus, James and Padfoot – who dared not dine in human form outside the safety of closed doors.
Banter steadily spread across the table, gaining force as people became more and more awake. Being that there were six students – and two adults who had the tendencies of teenagers – it took quite some time to wake up. Even Hermione seemed a bit sluggish.
James grew slowly more with it, talking with Professor McGonagall. "Are you to tell me that you actually broke that 'no first years get brooms' rule after I graduated? Minnie, how is that right?"
"What is not right, James Potter, is that despite the seven years at school and nearly three outside of school that I've told you not to call me Minnie, you still ignore it." Professor McGonagall smoothly countered. They both seemed to have had this argument before. In fact, Harry was getting the distinct feeling that had his father been gone for so long, Professor McGonagall wouldn't have been so tolerant of the pen name.
Fred nudged Harry from his seat next to the dark-haired teen. "Your dad calls McGonagall 'Minnie' and lives to do it again?"
"That takes guts." George added, looking at James with a newfound respect. He seemed a bit in awe. Harry smiled, glancing at the equally amused Ron and Hermione. Wait till the twins found out that they were eating breakfast with three of their idols.
Ginny rolled her eyes at the twin's antics. "Your dad seems really nice, Harry. He was pretty funny while he was pretending to be asleep this morning." She laughed, reminding Harry of James's idea of a joke during the morning. His father had been asleep on the couch, making noises like pretend snores every time Harry had tried to speak in the conversation.
"Oh yeah, because getting snored at every time I opened my mouth was a real laugh riot." Harry sarcastically shot back, not bothering to wipe the smile off his face. He was starting to wonder how long he'd smile like that. Would it get to the point that James had started setting down rules and he would still be grinning like an idiot just because he had a father to do that sort of thing?
Harry seriously suspected that would be the case.
Ron, however, was not interested in the current conversation. Hermione looked ready to comment on something, but Ron cut her off. "Percy's looking pretty nervous."
Fred and George quickly glanced down to their older brother. "He does. Could it just be that he's flipped out about James?" Fred asked.
Shaking her head, Hermione pointed out, "No, it can't be. He was fine at dinner last night."
"Then what's he got to be looking like that for?" Harry asked, staring down at Percy. His best friend's brother looked like he was trying hard not to call attention to himself, which usually only ever managed to get yourself more attention. He looked back and forth between James and the door. Percy even went so far as to try and laugh when Charlie or Bill said something funny. Of course, all this earned him was strange looks from his two older brothers.
"You think it's got to do with James?" Ginny asked, glancing at Harry's father. James appeared to be unaware of the attention he was getting, he was wrapped up in a conversation with Remus. He appeared to be fighting hard not to look at Dumbledore either.
Harry glanced down at Percy again, who had been looking at him. The older boy turned away quickly. Frowning, Harry responded, "Somehow, I think it does."
"What could Percy be up to though?" Fred asked, displaying that everlasting low opinion of Percy that the twins always had. George nodded, wrinkling his nose as though the name Percy brought on a terrible smell.
Ron looked at the worried expression on Harry's face. "Don't worry, mate, I'm sure it's just Percy being Percy." He tried to say reassuringly. Had he not been looking worried himself, Harry might have been more inclined to believe him.
The twins didn't say anything, nor did Hermione. Ginny tried to smile reassuringly, coming up just a bit better than Ron, as she looked like she meant it, at least a bit more than Ron did.
James remained completely oblivious to the stares he was getting from Percy, but caught Harry watching him a few times. He'd just flash a grin towards his son and turn back to the conversation. He didn't seem to mind much, and not soon after getting caught himself, he caught his father staring at him. They both seemed to need reassurance of the other's presence.
Harry didn't pay much attention to Percy after they ended the conversation. Ron's brothers were all pretty strange in their own ways. Each with their own extreme quirks. Percy, unfortunately, only seemed to love work. He and Harry had been friendly when they had first met, but those days were long past.
He had been halfway through asking Hermione to pass him the jug of pumpkin juice when a bang silenced the hall. All conversations ceased and Remus, James, Dumbledore, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Molly and McGonagall were on their feet in seconds. Everyone stared at the door, with the exception of Percy. Harry's eyes zeroed in on Percy, who was staring at his plate like he'd never seen anything quite like it.
The Great Hall's doors opened wide, revealing a less than welcomed visitor.
Minister of Magic, Mr. Cornelius Fudge, and his whole entourage walked into the Hogwarts dining hall as if they owned it.
And, with one look at Percy, it was clear who had called them there.
"Cornelius, whatever brings you to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked, his voice betrayed nothing. Nor did the twinkle in his eye. Harry almost wished he could do that.
Puffing out his chest with self-importance, Fudge nodded towards Percy. "Weasley tells me you're harboring a dead man here, Dumbledore." He said, callously as could be. Hermione made a noise of annoyance in front of him. Sirius growled.
"Minister Fudge!" James's voice rang out. Harry closed his eyes, wishing that his father would let Dumbledore shoo the minister away. Sirius appeared to feel the same way, because Remus had to grab his fur to keep him in place.
But James would have none of it, even if Harry had asked.
Fudge sputtered a bit, looking at James as though he were some foreign bug. James didn't mind one bit, but actually enjoyed the expression on Fudge's face. He could almost imagine the look on Lily's face had she been there to see it. Neither of them ever really liked Fudge.
Taking advantage of the Minister's speechless state, James pressed forward. "It's so good to see you again, it really is. And to find out that you'd been made minister! Well, to say the least, I was quite shocked. I mean, you were a member of the accidental magic reversal squad last time I checked. Right? File clerk if memory serves…"
Ron snorted, and Harry could hardly hold himself back either. Percy shot them a look from the other end of the table. But they could care less, he was lucky they weren't falling down. From behind him, Harry could hear a suspicious snuffling noise.
"To think you had that great of luck. Of all the candidates for the job, you won." James marveled, shaking his head in wonder. "Speaks highly of the wizarding community."
Unable to just shut up when it was good for him, Fudge puffed out his chest importantly. "Now see here…"
"Cornelius, what brings you here today?" Dumbledore interrupted gently, repeating his question from earlier. James looked a little put out, as though he'd been having fun. Harry couldn't blame him.
Mind seemingly back on track, Cornelius turned to Dumbledore. His eyes refused to stray to either of the Potter men. "To disprove this man's ludicrous claim. James Potter, god bless his soul," He added last second, rather unconvincingly, "-has been dead for many years now. The notion that he has returned is unfathomable."
"Those were some big words for such a dumb guy." Fred muttered from the side of his mouth.
George muttered back, "His secretary prepped him."
Had the situation not been so intense, Harry would have laughed. He was worried as it was though, what did they want from his father? Surely it was just to confirm his story, which they already knew to be true.
Ron seemed to be in a state of shock, and had yet to realize his brother's part in all of it. But the shock seemed to be wearing off, and both Harry and Hermione sent each other worried glances. Ron looked over to Percy, his fists clenched in anger. "You called the ministry?" he hissed.
Percy stood up, earlier nerves seemingly forgotten behind the pompous exterior. But Harry could still see them there. He cleared his throat. "They should have been notified from the start. I'm doing what Dumbledore should have had the foresight to do when this whole thing started."
"Notified? Are you crazy? This has nothing to do with them! It's Harry and James's business only!" Ron yelled as Harry grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from pouncing Percy.
The elder Weasley brother seemed to be gearing up with a response, but James cut him off. He held up a hand towards Ron as if to keep him at bay. "It's all right, Ron, I've been meaning to talk to Fudge anyway."
Ron's eyebrows defied gravity, and the rest of the table – Harry included – was looking quite confused. A whine from behind them claimed the attention of Harry and he turned around. Sirius was staring at James so intensely it appeared he couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene ahead of him. Harry looked back at James, only to see that he gave a barely perceptible nod to his canine friend.
And the pieces all fell into place. Harry smiled and nudged Ron and Hermione, jerking his head back so they would see Sirius too.
But the rest of the table remained in the dark. Fudge seemed to be taken out of stride yet again due to James's answer. "You were?"
"Of course, there are a few matters we need to…discuss." James finished ominously. Fudge swallowed visibly at the declaration. Remus even looked a bit pained.
Dumbledore took charge of the room as everyone fell silent. "I think we should discuss all that James wishes to right here. If everyone would give us some privacy?" he requested. Most of the Weasley's cleared out, as did the remaining professor. Though, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, Percy, Fudge and his entourage stayed.
Harry held his breath, waiting for something to happen. James didn't look worried though, and he wasn't. Fudge was too easy to predict, James himself having such good instincts about people, well, almost everyone. He stood, waiting for the inevitable.
He didn't have to wait long.
"Well, you'll understand perfectly, being that you were an auror…Mr. Potter." Fudge sneered, "If we use the Veritaserum, then we'll be sure that you aren't lying about your identity."
Harry tensed, not liking the idea at all. What sorts of things could come out if they put his father under the Veritaserum? "You can't do that!" He heard himself say, though he'd only really been thinking it.
James turned to him, eyes telling him it was all right. Harry realized, off of his father's hazel eyes, that this is what James wanted to happen. He still didn't like it though.
His father turned away and back towards the minister with renewed determination. Harry seemed less upset by it, which is more of what he needed. He jerked his head to Harry after glancing back at Remus. His friend took the message and went to stand by his son.
"Of course, Minister, I understand perfectly." He purred, surprising the whole group of ministry officials. They clearly thought that he would fight tooth and nail against something along these lines, as it would reveal him to not be James Potter. They had another thing coming though, and not just about him.
A toad-like woman stepped forward and both Harry and James instantly did not like her. She had on sickeningly pink robes and a bow to match. She smiled at James, as smile that did not inspire confidence, rather more malice. This woman was not to be trusted. She approached him, holding out a vial. "Here you are, Veritaserum." She spoke, voice as syrupy sweet as James would have imagined.
But he didn't really want to take their Veritaserum, not at all. Behind him, Dumbledore provided the answer. "I would prefer that James take Veritaserum of our own potion stores. If that is not a problem for you, Cornelius?"
The minister put on a fake smile, merely for show. "No, no, of course not, Albus."
Dumbledore came forward, handing James a vial of the potion. He practically had to bite his tongue to keep himself from sneering that he didn't want the headmaster's potion either. But Fudge to Dumbledore, he'd rather have Dumbledore's. He said nothing to him as he drained the contents of the potion. He sent a sidelong glance to Harry, who watched the whole thing through his brilliant green eyes. Remus stood along side of him, with an arm on his shoulders.
He felt himself slipping into that feeling of a small trance almost. He was aware of everything, and had is own thoughts, but his tongue almost felt thick in his mouth. Dumbledore pulled a chair to him, and he sat down.
"Perhaps it would be best if I questioned Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked, pressing his advantage over Fudge. The younger man seemed angry, but he nodded jerkily instead of kicking up a fuss.
A man stepped forward from the crowd, "Professor Dumbledore?"
"Oh yes, Mr. Atman, good to see you. I presume you will be our official transcriber today?" Dumbledore asked, kindly smile on his face.
The man nodded, though said nothing more. He set up a quill and parchment on the end of the table.
James's mind instantly reconciled with the man in front of him, no longer the young man that he'd been when they started. Rhys Atman had been only a year older than the marauders in school, and had entered the ministry the year before he and Sirius. He studied the protocol of being a court transcriber from a man who had been at it for nearly fifty years. They were both rigidly conformed to the rules, and anything with their seal of approval was considered words from Merlin. He was exactly what they needed. He glanced to his son again, and saw that Remus was whispering in his year, presumably the same thing as James's thoughts.
"James." Dumbledore gently called.
"Yes, Professor." James returned, voice monotone. It was a side effect of the potion, to have an emotionless voice. He focused himself on the old man in front of him, trying desperately not to glare.
Dumbledore could probably see it in his eyes though. Nevertheless, he continued. "What is your name?"
"James Andrew Potter."
A ripple of shock passed through the entire delegation from the ministry. They appeared to be in various states of shock. Fudge sputtered again, nearly tripping over himself. The toad woman's smile twisted unpleasantly.
"And how old are you, James?" Dumbledore asked, getting the meaningless questions out of the way.
"Twenty one years old." James responded easily. They were assuring the room of his status as James Potter, and that was okay by him. He had the awful feeling that things were going to go deep.
Dumbledore nodded, expecting the answer. "James, can you explain to me how you came to be here?"
Too broad a question, really, but James spoke anyway. "I was in Godric's Hollow, on the street. The whole place looked abandoned. I saw my house. And I realized what had happened, about Peter and Lily and Harry."
"Peter Pettigrew?" Fudge broke in, forgetting that technically, Dumbledore was to ask the questions.
James stopped his speech to answer Fudge. "Yes."
"You are aware that he is…dead, right, Mr. Potter?" Someone spoke from the back of the room, a timid voice. Someone had obviously realized that they had no right to have come to Hogwarts.
His teeth clenched before answering. "Peter Pettigrew is not dead. But I wish he was." He spoke. The monotone sound of his voice was changed to a sound of pure loathing. And only a strong emotion could do that, one that was pure with no taints to it. And his hatred for Peter was complete.
The room was again thrown into a state of shock, both at his words and the voice that said them. Behind him, James could clearly hear Sirius's angry growl. It stopped after a second, and he knew that either Harry or Remus had shushed him. Dumbledore paid the room no mind, however.
"James, what do you mean, Peter is not dead?" He asked, twinkle in his eye almost lulling James into a false sense of trust. Almost.
"Peter betrayed us, he betrayed Sirius and he faked his own death." James said with conviction, though his voice had long since returned to the monotone. He felt a stem of happiness race through him. Sirius would be free soon. And the wizarding world would have no rights to send him to Azkaban again.
Fudge again broke in, seemingly with no self-control. "What do you mean, Potter?" he barked.
"I mean, Sirius Black was not our secret keeper. He was not in the league with Voldemort." Several flinches ran through the room. "And he did not kill any muggles. You put him in Azkaban for nothing, he was innocent. He is innocent."
The toad woman recovered first. Condescendingly, she responded, "That is not possible, Mr. Potter."
"What was the point of giving me the Veritaserum if you were planning on not believing me?" James shot back, rolling his eyes. He heard a snort from the back, and then what sounded like someone being hit. An "Ouch!" followed and James knew that Hermione and Ron must have had a pretty special relationship. Undeterred, James continued. "I'm telling you the truth. And I'm the only one alive who really can. Sirius was not our secret keeper. Peter was."
"But Mr. Black was your best friend." The toad woman pointed out. He wondered at her name, but found that he didn't much care.
James nodded either way, as this was true. "Yes, he is my best friend. But he was not my secret keeper. We decided to buy ourselves time. Voldemort would obviously go after Sirius first, since he is my best friend. But Sirius would not be able to betray our location, because he did not know it. Peter did. We didn't think Voldemort would ever think that we'd use a person like Peter. He was practically a squib half the time, nervous and he got flustered easily." James lamented, regret almost tingeing his voice. "Of course, we thought that Voldemort wouldn't' think that we used him. But he knew that we wouldn't think that he'd use him."
"Merlin." Fudge breathed. The mood of the ministry seemed to match his words. And even Percy Weasley looked horrified. But Fudge didn't let his guard down long. "Well, that clears him of the charges of betraying yourself and Mrs. Potter. But that does not clear him of killing thirteen people with a single curse."
Fudge was losing, and James knew it. "He didn't do that either."
"What do you mean? You were already…" Fudge broke off, clearly confused as to whether to continue that sentence. James resisted the urge to smirk. "You have no way of knowing that."
"I know that you sent an innocent man to Azkaban. And I know that by morning the whole wizarding world will to." Fudge visibly paled. "But on top of that I know that you'll be scrambling to fix your reputation. Which means that hearing Sirius out would be in your best interests, because whether or not you listen to me now, I'm sure that I could have every wizarding reporter in the world here by tonight." James said, threat underlying. And Fudge wasn't stupid enough to miss it. The subtle hints and unspoken words rang in the air.
The choice really was Fudge's now, and they both knew that the ball was in his court. "Mr. Black is not available for questioning." He spoke at long last.
"Yes, I am." Sirius said from the back. James turned, as did the rest of the room, and saw that Sirius was standing next to Remus and Harry, looking far more determined than James normally saw. He stared at Fudge, daring him to say something against him.
But even the toad lady seemed to see that the ministry had lost this battle. Dumbledore made his presence known again, quietly interrupting the battle of wills racing through the room. "Perhaps we should take this conversation to my office, gentlemen."
Fudge nodded and turned on his heel. The rest of the ministry followed, but Percy stayed where he was. Sirius pulled James to his feet. "Thank you." He whispered. Remus came up to stand next to them, smiling softly.
James turned to Harry. "Stay here, we'll find you when this is over." He promised, smiling. Harry nodded and winked at Sirius.
"Ready?" Remus asked, addressing both marauders.
"You have no idea." Sirius responded grimly.
--------------------------------Two Hours Later
Harry had paced, played chess, put up with endless banter and finally was sitting in his armchair in the Gryffindor Tower quite dejectedly. "What's taking so long?" he complained, yet again.
But Hermione was being rather patient. "Things like this probably take a while. There's paperwork and stuff. Plus there's a lot of history to get through." She explained, not quite sounding convinced.
"Besides, Fudge is an incompetent jerk. He's probably the one taking so long." Ron put in sympathetically.
But Harry was at his wit's end. "It's been two hours!" he practically yelled.
"Two of the best hours of my life, mind you."
The three teenagers jumped up and faced the three grinning men behind them. Sirius stood smiling the widest of them all. James stood on the left of Sirius, smiling quite widely himself. And Remus kept looking back and forth between Sirius and James, as if not quite believing what had just occurred.
"Take a good look, kids." He started. "You're looking at the newest – first and only – legally freed Azkaban prisoner." And he started laughing.
I figured that was a good spot to end it. This is one of those staple chapters for a James comes alive story, and one I quite enjoyed writing. This didn't come out quite as I'd envisioned it, but I hope you all like it all the same.
Thank you once again to all of the reviewers! 1,000 is a number I didn't even think I'd come close to touching, the fact that this story has speaks volumes about how loyal you guys are.
Stars Enchantress