Chapter 143

Role Models

"Hey, you lot! Shut your cake holes!" James yelled at the crowd of scarlet-clad students causing a satisfying silence to fall over them. Well most of them, Remus was giggling. James glared at him. The werewolf was in a good mood thanks to a recent breakthrough in their animagus training. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all Cap'n Crunch," he teased with a silly grin and James rolled his eyes though he always enjoyed seeing the sickly teen happy.

The crowd of wanna-be quidditch players watched as James turned back to them, trying to hide a smile. It was time to be serious, but it was hard when he was so thankful to finally be out of the Room of Requirement for something other than classes. It was nearly a full month since the start of term and they'd all but moved out of their dorm and into the Come and Go Room.

James thought he was taking it rather well, sure he'd complained quite a bit, but he'd yet to throw a full on tantrum, and when he was stuck sleeping on a couch, or (Merlin help him) a bean bag chair, only when there was no amount of coffee that could keep him awake any longer, that was quite an accomplishment for him. He wanted it to be over, like now. He missed his nice cushy four-poster bed, he missed the common room, he hadn't even seen half his friends, the ones that weren't fifth years as he didn't even share classes with them, since the start of term feast, and he was sick and tired of books. Books here, books there, big books, little books, books that helped them and books that were full of nothing but lies…

He was so sick of books and was one hundred percent resolved to never open another book for the rest of his life the moment this was over.

But right now he didn't have to, or rather outright refused to, think about any of that. Today, and most of yesterday much to Remus' irritation, was about quidditch. Nothing else mattered, and he was ecstatic to have something else occupy his brain even for a little bit.

Sirius had wanted to come, of course, but James had thought that may have been pushing the boundaries of his ban from the sport and they couldn't afford any more detentions right now. Sirius had some left over from his stupid prank on Snape last year, naturally, but McGonagall only scheduled them for once a week and they knew that wouldn't last if he pushed his luck. Besides, James didn't really want to draw attention to the fact that Sirius wasn't playing this year. So he'd dragged Remus with him instead, whether the other wanted to come or not.

"Alright, a few ground rules before we start." James' voice carried enough that he didn't need to raise it.

"Isn't quidditch played in the sky? Shouldn't they be air rules?" Remus commented just to irritate the captain. It worked.

"Can I continue? Or are you going to keep being a smart-aleck?" James replied back, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms to emphasize his impatience.

"Oh, you can continue, but I'm going to keep being a 'smart-aleck,' as you say. You know I think it's hilarious how far you'll go to avoid swearing?" Moony was enjoying this far too much in his opinion.

"Are you trying to annoy be because you're a jerk or…" He started but Remus anticipated the rest of his question.

"McGonagall bribed me to keep your ego as low as possible during tryouts," the werewolf admitted without the slightest hint of remorse or shame.

"You're serious?" James temporarily forgot his audience and turned to his friend.

"Perfectly. Don't worry we all benefit from it, though. I don't have to do transfig homework for the rest of the month. Which means I can work on more important things." He grinned, bragging now.

"You traitor!"

"Don't you have tryouts or something?" he asked nodding in the direction of at least fifty Gryffindors not even pretending they weren't eavesdropping on their conversation. Somehow word had gotten around that the Marauders were up to something. Someone seemed to have noticed that they weren't ever seen in the common room or great hall for lunch and rumors started. The responsibility to keep tabs on the rumors and ensure that none of them had any hint of truth fell to Peter, as he was the only one leaving the Room of Requirement for anything but classes and none of the others could be spared.

He was surprisingly good at it too.

"Rule number one; you complain about who I pick and you leave," he started walking back and forth in front of the crowd, his arms behind his back as though he was a general; giving orders to his army. "Rule number two; just because you got on the team last year, does not guaranty you a spot this year, that being said, good luck trying to beat the two here that were."

"Three," one of the older students in the crowd attempted to correct him, but James just gave him a mocking smile.

"Oh, right. About that, you can go ahead and leave. I wouldn't put you on my team if you were the last volunteer in Hogwarts. I could win a game by myself better than with you." James told the ex-seeker without a hint of compassion or mercy.

"Excuse me?" the sixth year protested, looking outright offended.

"Bye." James waved him off and continued as though he hadn't spoken. "Rule number three; my word is law. You argue, you're gone, you can argue with me till you're blue in the face at practices, but these aren't practices. These are tryouts and half of you I won't care if I never see again so I don't care what you think. If I ask the beaters to pick up a quaffle and try score points, I expect the beaters to pick up a quaffle and try and score points."

James continued to walk back and forth, letting Remus threaten the sixth year back into the castle. It looked as though the prick was still trying to argue. "Rule number three; mess with Remus here and I hex you to the hospital wing."

It was the only warning the older boy had before James knocked him flat on the ground with just a wave of his wand.

"I had it under control," Moony complained, nudging the unconscious body on the ground with his trainers.

"I know but he was distracting me." James replied, amused by the 'responcible marauder's (if there was such a thing) reaction, and Remus just shrugged it off and let him lay there. It would be a good reminder to the others that he wasn't in a mood to be messed with. He thought it was funny that no one attempted to help the sixth year.

Then again they were quidditch fans so they probably hated him too.

"Okay, we'll start with the seekers. Everyone group up depending on what you're trying out for." He turned back to the crowd of people who shuffled around to do as he said, one boy seemed to be confused with the orders much to James irritation, he had dark brown hair and light freckled skin and James was five seconds from sending him back to the castle. It had been a simple order, he didn't have room for idiots.

"Problem?" James asked, no patience in his voice whatsoever.

The boy's response made him blink for several seconds and made him feel like he was the idiot. Was that even English?

"I'm sorry?" James asked and the older boy tried again slower this time and James managed to catch a few words but not nearly enough. It was English, but in such a thick accent it might as well have been a different language entirely. Wishing he'd brought Sirius now, he shook his head. "Sorry, no. Still didn't catch it."

"He's trying out for beater and keeper," another voice, a similar accent but not nearly as thick, spoke up and James turned to find it. It had been a young girl, no more than thirteen and tiny beyond all reason with medium brown pigtails and similarly pale skin, both of which made her look even younger. This in itself wasn't all that unusual, except that she had found her way into the group of beaters.

James tried to inform her of her mistake, but she made it very clear that she was where she'd intended to be.

"Yeah, okay." James was now very confused, and Remus' mocking giggles wasn't helping. He redirected his orders to the boy, whose face was now bright red. "Go with the keepers, for now, they'll try out before the beaters, then join up with the other group later, but I warn you, you've got a better chance with the beaters."

The boy did as he was told but didn't say another word. Keth welcomed him into their circle and appeared to be attempting to cheer the embarrassed teen up.

"Oh, one more rule before we start. Just because you 'perform' the best in any, or all, of these exercises does not necessarily guarantee you a spot on this team. For example, ah… what's your name?" he indicated the wannabe keeper/beater and being very careful to pay close attention. The older boy looked at, what James assumed, was his little sister, apparently not wanting to answer.

"Liam O'Rourke," she answered for him. James was irritated as he hadn't asked her and had been hoping to prove that he wasn't as incompetent as he felt for not being able to understand but he let it slide. He'd already embarrassed the kid enough for one day, any more and it might affect his performance.

"Right, if Liam here protects every single goal perfectly, and for some reason, I dislike his attitude or think that he won't play well with the rest of the team, I won't give him a spot on the team. When I said, good luck beating the two members from last year's team it wasn't because of talent or skill in particular, though they both have that in spades," James explained, noticing Keth adopt a pleased and proud look. "It's because I know them, I know how they play, and, most importantly, I can trust them to follow my lead. The rest of you I've never so much as seen pick up a broomstick."

"Why even give everyone the chance to try out for those positions if he's already picked the winners," one girl trying out for chaser murmured to her friend behind her. James only just caught it.

"Because, it's entirely possible that neither of them bothered to practice all summer long," James answered her and she jumped at the realization that she'd been overheard. "Oh, and you can go back to the castle. I don't need team members who are going to complain behind my back."

She tried to argue, but the stag directed her attention to the sixth year still unconscious on the ground and it shut her right up sending her, dragging her broom, back up to the castle.

"While we're at it…" James looked around at the group pointing out certain individuals. "You lot can go with her," he said once he'd finished. He'd considered sending the little girl back, but Liam looked like he could be a good beater and she appeared to be the only person who could understand him… the fact that he'd seen Keth looking in her direction more times than were strictly necessary might have had something to do with it too. The rest either had cheap or worthless brooms that were enough to tell him that they weren't interested in quidditch enough to so much as look up decent brooms, or he already knew he wasn't going to get on with them enough to let them into his team, or were inadequate just from a glance and he wasn't shy about telling them exactly why he'd shattered their, admittedly far-fetched, dreams of being on the quidditch team.

What had been a group of fifty now dropped to around twenty-five, and James still wasn't content on his dream-crushing quota for the day, but he'd save the rest for after they'd already proven their inadequacy.

"Alright, those trying out for seeker, get in the air." James mounted his broom and led them up, he pulled a little golden ball out of his pocket and showed it to them. "The first test is simple. Find the snitch."

Releasing the ball and giving it a few seconds head start, he moved back to the goal hoops to give him a better view of the field and instructed them to begin. It didn't take long for him to start eliminating contenders. A number of them falling into amateur traps and stupid habits common among idiots trying to play quidditch. One even looked like he'd never ridden a broom before in his life, though he redeemed himself by catching a glimpse of the snitch long before anyone else, he could have caught it at least three different times before another person snatched it up if he actually knew how to ride a broom.

James wasn't sure how to feel about this, but he was sure that the one who did catch it wasn't getting on the team. His arrogant grin, was enough to ensure that. Their team only had room for one cocky git and that spot was taken by the captain.

James released the snitch and made them go at it three more times, much to the surprise of the arrogant sod. It was caught two more times by that same kid and once more by and an older girl, but James was much more interested in the dark skinned kid who was now clutching on to his broom for dear life. Every single time James released the snitch that kid was the first to find it, James could see his eyes lock onto it long before any of the others even got a glimpse, but he could not figure out how to get his broom to move in that direction. Didn't first years still have broom lessons how could he be that incompetent?

After the third catch, he ordered them to the ground. He'd planned on having them dodge the bludgers for a while next, but he was fairly sure he already knew how that would go. When they landed he had them line up in front of him, and he paced back and forth along the line, thinking. The older girl that had caught the snitch had really good form, she would have made a nice addition to the team, but… if the dark skinned kid could fly properly he'd have been unstoppable without a doubt, and that wasn't all…

James sighed, there was nothing for it. He'd have to embarrass another kid, normally he wouldn't have minded but if they were going to be on his team he didn't want them to resent him.

"You, what's your name?" he asked causing the kid to flinch when James looked at him, and he seemed unnaturally interested in his own trainers, causing the boy who'd caught the snitch the most times to snicker at him.. He'd known his performance had been abysmal and was discouraged by the older boy even further.

"Anthony Dale, sir," Anthony responded, and James found himself unreasonably pleased by the respectful title.

"Why exactly are you here, Anthony?" James asked his tone harsh.

"Be nice, James," Remus whispered at him so the rest of the tryouts didn't hear.

"I am being nice," James retaliated not nearly as quiet.

The boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his courage before answering, "I like quidditch," he started but hesitated after that.

"Go on."

"Well I, I noticed that when I came to watch the games there was a lot of times I saw the snitch before the seeker did. So I thought I might be good at it." The kid forced himself to look James in the eyes, refusing to be ashamed of failing what he'd clearly had been hoping to do for quite a while.

"And you thought that despite not bothering to so much as actually ride a broomstick?" James asked he was curious. There were obvious signs that this kid had worked hard for this, in every aspect except the most basic one there was.

He winced but refused to turn his gaze, "I live in a muggle city, there's nowhere to practice."

James let this sink in, he hadn't considered it, but that was a severe handicap. First years weren't even allowed to bring broomsticks and he was clearly only a second year so he'd only had twenty-seven days to teach himself to ride a broom before tryouts. But there was still one problem.

"They teach you to ride a broom first year," James argued, not showing a hint of understanding for the younger boy's predicament.

Anthony gave him a sad smile, "I was sick that day."

"That's some rough luck, mate." James allowed sympathy in his voice and smile this time and the boy relaxed a little.

"Yeah, well I can try again next time." Anthony shrugged, looking disappointed, but not surprised.

"No need to be so hasty, kid," James scolded as the second year had started to leave, and getting the rest of the potential seeker's attention. Two of them had still been snickering over Anthony's incompetence. "Don't think I didn't notice how much faster you found the snitch then everyone else."

"What?" the seeker who'd caught three snitches asked sharply. "It's obvious the kid's no good, just let him leave so we can move on."

"If you've got somewhere else to be you can go, you're not getting on the team regardless."

"What do you mean I'm not getting on the team? I caught the snitch almost every time!" he took a step forward, hoping to intimidate the younger student, but if there was one thing James could not handle it was people trying to control him. He was the leader, he was the one in charge, and he was not going to let anyone try to force him down off the pedestal he deserved.

James closed the distance for him, as he didn't seem willing to go all the way, and pointed his wand directly at the other's heart.

"I can teach amateurs, it's pompous turds that I have no time for. So. Get. Off. My. Field."

The coward backed down almost immediately, unable to finish what he started and stormed off the pitch.

"Your name is Laura, right?" he asked the girl that had caught the snitch once.

"That's me," she replied looking disappointed and irritated, but not hostile.

"You got a problem with who I picked?" he asked daring her to argue, she didn't.

"A little confused, I'll admit, but you're in charge." She shrugged.

"Good, then you can be our backup seeker, that good enough for you?" he asked, not that it really mattered what she thought.

"I'll take what I can get." She didn't appear too upset and made her way back to the stands to watch the rest of tryouts. James directed Anthony to follow her he did so without hesitation, looking like he might be in shock. "The rest of you can leave."

Most of them looked angry, but he didn't care.

"Alright, who's next," he said turning back to the group who had been watching the whole thing with varying amounts of interest. "Right, the keepers. We'll have to take this one at a time. Essentially, your goal is to make your best attempt to prevent me from making a goal."

There was a collective groan from the potential keepers and James chuckled.

"You don't have to actually save the goal, but I want your best effort."

He shot an easy shot first, slow and obvious, until the fifth shot where he put his best effort into it. The results were varied, but most were at least decent. Keth didn't disappoint. He'd clearly been practicing his hardest since he'd gotten his new broom and James was satisfied by how well it fit his style. The second year save all but the last shot, which was impressive by anyone's standards, much less a third-year. His only competition was Liam who missed two but had predicted the correct hoop to defend every time, whereas Keth had chosen wrong the last time.

He wanted to see the larger boy tryout for beater anyway, and, according to his little sister anyway, he preferred playing beater, to begin with. So thankfully, he didn't have any argument with the keepers. Most of them seemed to have already accepted that they weren't getting in.

Chasers were even less interesting, he technically had two empty spots for the chasers to fill and there were only three of them left after the initial removal of worthless candidates, that just left whoever was chosen as a backup. There wasn't an obvious difference in skill between the two chasers that weren't Kathy, but he knew Lissa Livingstone a little better than Rose Medows so the latter got the backup position.

All that was left was the beaters. He was anxious about this one, between the tiny little girl trying out and his secret hope that Sirius would throw caution to the wind and show up anyway he'd hoped to put it off as long as possible. But when that was no longer an option he addressed the last few people on the pitch.

"Alright, next we've got the beaters. Quite a few of you aren't there. I think we can do two at a time. For the first test, your goal is to hit the bludgers into one of the goal hoops as many times as you can while also protecting the other beater trying out both from your bludger and from theirs. Which means you have to keep an eye on both bludgers while they're on opposite sides of the field. Got that?" It was an unusual request, not often did beaters aim for a goal, but the goal was larger than their usual target, players from the other team, so he thought it would be a good exercise.

He'd got the idea from Sirius actually.

"What, so we're shooting it from the goal line?" one of them piped up.

"How do you plan on protecting the other beater if you're both so far away from each other? No, you're shooting them from the halfway point."

There was some minor irritation from the beaters at how difficult their task was supposed to be, but James just ignored it. Sirius and Andrea would have been able to do it without even trying, they'd even made a game out of a similar prospect in Sirius and James' third year. He couldn't help but notice there wasn't whining from the pair of siblings, though. In fact, they looked pretty confident.

Sirius would be so angry if James recruited a little girl to replace him.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to have a little girl replace Padfoot," Remus whispered to him, almost perfectly predicting his very thoughts.

"She looks pretty confident doesn't she," James replied just as quietly as the first two beaters pushed into the sky. "I just hope the bludger doesn't break her tiny little arms when she tries to hit it."

"She can't say she wasn't warned." James sat in the stands and watched from there, not needing to be in the sky to watch the beaters at it.

"You'd be surprised, she's pretty tough," Keth told them from his seat behind them, James didn't turn to look at him, needing to keep his eyes on the beaters, but gave a surprised look.

"You know her?"

"Sure, she's in my year. She beat up a fifth-year Slytherin last year, it was pretty rad." Keth explained moving down to sit next to James instead of behind him.

"You like her?" he asked a seemingly innocent question and was not at all expecting the response he got in return.

"What? No, of course not, why would you think that! I mean she's nice, and really funny and cute, and smart, and…"

"Dude, I was talking about as a friend." James laughed, finally turning away from the beaters, they weren't getting on the team so there was no more point in watching.

"Oh ah, I knew that." Keth's face was beet red.

"What was that about?" James teased.

"Nothing!"

"Aww, puppy love," Remus added giving Keth a light punch in the shoulder.

"It's not like that, she's just… cute that's all."

"Huh, I should have guessed you'd be into the whole girly pigtails and punching guys in the face kinda girl." James was never going to let this go, it was absolutely adorable.

"Oh, she didn't punch him in the face. She aimed lower."

Both older boys winced at the thought. Both beaters landed and James sent the next two up without giving the grounded players any hint on how well they'd done

"It's kinda funny, cuz she did it because he was picking on Liam."

"But he's like seventeen, couldn't he have done it himself?" James argued now back to watching the players in the air.

"Sixteen then, this was last year."

"You're sure about this? It's not just a rumor?" Remus asked, not at all interested in the quidditch players in the air.

"Yeah, I saw it first hand. Liam's kinda quiet, y'know. He's really strong, but he'll let just about anyone walk all over him apparently. I overheard her talking to her friends about it one time in class. I guess she's pretty much had to stand up for him her whole life."

James wasn't sure if it was pathetic that a seventeen-year-old needed his thirteen-year-old sister to fight his battles for him or awesome that this girl was tough enough, and loyal enough, to fight people so much older and stronger than her for him. He'd just have to wait and see how he felt after he'd properly met them because something told him they'd both end up on his team.

"They get along well then?" he asked Keth looking back for just a moment to see the third year's face.

"Oh yeah, they're pretty close."

"And what about you?" James didn't really want to ask but he had to know for sure.

"What about me? I said I liked her didn't I?" He looked at James at an angle that he could see his face regardless of where James' gaze lay.

"I mean will you be okay with her? No distractions during games, no pulling stupid stunts to impress her or junk like that." He didn't have to look to know Keth's face had gone red again.

"Oh, yeah. I'll be okay. I'm not obsessed like you are." Keth finally found a place to return some of the fire James was giving him.

"Hey now," James warned pushing the keeper, not quite hard enough to knock him off the bench but almost.

James had been right to assume the pair of siblings were the best one in the group, he even had them each go a second time with someone else just to make sure they could work with someone besides each other and it went just fine.

James had been extremely tempted to close his eyes and look away the first time a bludger came for her, but he needn't have bothered. She had to swing the bat with both hands but she'd hit it hard enough, and accurate enough, to get it halfway across the field and through the middle hoop. She admittedly looked exhausted by the end of the session, but a little endurance training would clear that right up no problem.

"Holy mother of Merlin. What was that!?" James exclaimed when she landed after the second round and she looked thrilled by his reaction. Evan Liam laughed at his reaction.

"I've played baseball since I was old enough to hold a bat. Da's muggleborn and it's his favorite sport so it's pretty much how we spend our time. Beating and baseball are the same things, really," She shrugged, "just a bit more dangerous."

"Bludgers tend to be a bit heavier than baseballs, though." Remus pointed out looking impressed but understanding.

"Just gotta hit 'em a little harder, is all."

James and Remus looked at each other, neither one entirely sure how to process the idea of this tiny little girl hitting something that hard.

James was reminded of what Keth had told him she'd done to that Slytherin that had bullied her brother and for the first time in his life, he felt genuine sympathy for someone in the snakes' house.

"Well, you're in that's for sure," James said shaking the thought out of his head, your brother too. The two of you could've given Sirius and Andrea a run for their money. You never gave me your name."

"Faye O'Rourke," she said shaking his hand with a firm, confident grip.

"Congrats, Faye." Keth took her attention the moment their hands had parted. "I told you you'd get in."

"You did, eh? For some reason, I seem to recall being the one who told you that as you panicked for no apparent reason." She replied. A hand on her hip and her posture screaming of sass. Keth's face went red again.

"Awwww, puppy love," Remus repeated whispering so no one would argue this time. James laughed. That was certainly what it looked like to him as well.

"Alright, team!" He called out and his team stopped what they were doing. "This took a bit longer than I was expecting, so we'll have to schedule out first practice for tomorrow. Is everyone cool with tomorrow at six?" There were scattered nods and murmurs of agreement and no one countered. "Sounds good then. Backups you don't have to come to every practice, but I want you to show up for at least two practices a month." Again there were nods and he dismissed them with a thank you and congratulations. Only one still remained when James got all the equipment packed up and stored in their place in the Gryffindor changing room.

"All right there, kiddo?" James asked when he saw Keth still standing on the field.

"Oh, um. I was wondering if you still wanted to show me some of those healing spells." He asked politely and making a sure attempt to not sound demanding.

"Oh right!" James remembered his promise over the summer and thought fast. "I don't really have the time right now," he said honestly, "but keep nagging me till I do, okay? And I've got some of my mum's old healing journals and stuff, they're majorly out of date but they might teach you some stuff.

"Okay!" He was far more excited than the prospect of more things to study should have required.

"C'mon, they're in the dorm." He turned and called out to his werewolf, who was by now nose deep in a textbook, "Moony, I'm gonna head back to the dorm first. I've gotta grab something for Keth."

Remus looked up, confused for a moment and James repeated himself, the other Marauder must have been concentrating pretty hard on whatever he was reading. Moony nodded and looked back down at the book, intent on finishing whatever he was concentrating so hard on before going back upstairs from the look of it.

James nodded in the direction of the castle to Keth and they left him to his studies chatting lightly as they climbed the stairs. Keth tried to get Prongs to tell him where they'd been hiding all month since no one seemed to be able to find them, but James just grinned a Cheshire cat grin, knowing how the younger student would interpret it.

"Here we go," he said as he opened the door to his own dorm for the first time since September first. It was freaky how clean the dorm looked, not that it was usually a mess, Sirius wouldn't have stood for it, but it looked so pristine. The beds were all made, even Remus' pie shaped corner of the round room was clean, something he was pretty sure he'd never seen before.

It felt melancholy, almost like someone had died.

"Why does your dorm look completely unused?" Keth asked, unable to miss the obvious signs of an untouched bedroom.

"Dorms are for nerds," was all he could think to say as he rummaged through his trunk for the folders and files he was looking for, taking care to throw random things across the room to remove the feel of death from his and his friend's room.

"You have been out of Gryffindor tower all month," he accused as he watched James throw his pants onto another bed entirely.

"Here they are." He pulled out a bag and handed it to the younger student, "Just toss the bag back in the dorm when you've got them all out. Keth looked at it curiously and James chuckled under his breath. "It's got an extension charm on it."

A look of comprehending dawned on his face and he peeked inside. "Cool thanks, James."

"No prob, kiddo." James messed up the kid's hair getting a dirty look from the thirteen-year-old and moved towards the door. "Just don't forget to nag me about teaching you those spells, okay?"

"Yeah sure, James, but…" He hesitated and James turned back to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering, about my sister…" he clutched the bag tight and sat down on the nearest bed.

"About her being in Slytherin?" James asked he wasn't sure what to say really. Was Keth coming to him for advice? Or comfort? Or just someone to complain to? Why would Keth be asking him about any of this, didn't he have any grown-ups he looked up to he could ask?

That's when it hit him that he was that very person to Keth.

He was the grown up this kid looked up to and was asking for advice from. He pondered the thought as Keth tried to find the words he needed. He'd never had someone look up to him before, maybe some of the kids wanted to be like him; good grades, popular, brilliant quidditch player, but this was different. This was like… trust. Keth trusted him, not to be clever or to score a goal but to be wise.

James' first reaction was that, of course, the kid would feel that way, he was James Potter after all.

Then he just thought Keth was an idiot, James was anything but wise. He was immature, selfish, and shallow, and for some reason, this silly little third year always brought something more out of him. Something kind and gentle and maybe even a little wise. It scared him a little, that this kid could change him like that, but he was kinda okay with it also.

"She seems happy, I mean she loves it. She told me all about how the Slytherin common room is under the lake, and sometimes she can see the giant squid swim past the windows and she likes her classmates too. I'm just worried, y'know." He admitted looking up at James who was still trying to recover from his epiphany.

"Sometimes it seems all the bad guys come from Slytherin." James looked him in the eye, sure that he'd just spoken what Keth couldn't bring himself to say. "Are you more worried they'll hurt her, or that they'll recruit her."

"Little of both, actually."

James sighed and closed his eyes, terrified that he'd say the wrong thing. "Not everyone that goes in Slytherin turns into death eaters or racist bigots. Sirius' entire family has been in Slytherin and not all of them are terrible people. His cousin, for example, married a muggleborn and has been really nice to him since he started rowing with his family, his uncle isn't too bad either."

"I didn't know that." Keth smiled, not looking entirely reassured, but better at least.

"The traits required for being sorted into Slytherin is cunning and ambition, not being a murderous fanatic. I'd say to just keep an eye on her, Keth. Watch out who she makes friends with. She'll probably have to make a choice at some point no matter what you do, just encouraging her is probably the only thing you can do right now."

"Right, okay." He nodded, encouraged though his worries had in no way subsided.

"Believe in her, Keth. She seems like a good kid, that doesn't necessarily have to change just because her house is known for turning out bad guys." James said patting his shoulder and leading him out.

"Thanks, James." He said as he turned to go up the stairs to his own dorm.

"Anytime, kid," James replied almost to himself, trying to explain to himself what had just happened as he returned to his friends. As high of an opinion as James had for himself, the idea that he could be relied on to give sage advice to anyone was laughable. It was just something he attributed to like, Dumbledore or McGonagall, old people with experience. But Keth seemed to think James could be one of those people. It was strange and kind of exciting.

And frightening at the same time.

By the time he returned to the Room of Requirement quidditch had been almost completely pushed from his mind, so it didn't occur to him that Sirius might be a little peeved with him until his quidditch reflexes were the only thing preventing him from being slammed in the head with a transfiguration textbook the moment he opened the hidden door.

"What the frick!?" James exclaimed looking back at the textbook as though it had flown at him of its own accord and then back to his best friend.

"YOU REPLACED ME WITH A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL!" Sirius screamed at him and James felt the color drain from his face.

"Oh, crap." He peeked at Moony who was hiding his evil grin behind his own transfiguration textbook.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, POTTER!"

James ran for his very life.

A/N) So who else is going to see Fantastic Beasts next weekend!?