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AN:Another chapter! I'm on fire! I normally take a week to write a page...Go crimson, go Crimson, go, go, go Crimson! Okay, enough of that. You know the drill. HEY! This time I own something! I own the people that work at St. Mungo's! YAY! I CAN MAKE UP CHARACTERS AFTER ALL! I should throw a party! Oh, and the bold italic stuff is what James is getting from other peoples minds, not his own. Special thanks to lily girl, Black Goddes, Mountain Dew, and every one previuosly mentioned. Oh, and for lily girl, It wasn't turning into to Snape that made James pass out, but I can't tell you what it was yet or I'll ruin the whole story. Here's a little info to make you feel better...James doesn't know why yet, either *coughcoughhassomethingtodowiththehalfinisheddarkmarkcoughcough*...


The Life, Love, and Times of James Potter
Chapter Five: Blood and Roses


"Hello? James Potter? I'm Selene. I'll be your counselor. Are you ready to go?"

"COUNSELOR?! A COUNSELOR?! I DON'T NEED A COUNSELOR!!!"

"Ummmm...is he always like this?"

"Yes, a better part of the time he is. Are you sure you don't just want to mark him as a hopeless case and send him back?"

"Oh, no. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun talking and discovering the real James inside all this anger."

"Oh, you want the real me? The real me would have killed you once you said 'counselor'...."

"Now don't be silly James! We're going to become wondeful freinds and have a lot of fun. Plus, you'll get to discover yourself!"

I can't resist. She just begged for it.....

"Discover myself? I'm eighteen, I did that a long time ago." Then I couldn't help but howling madly with laughter at the disgusted look on her face. And the smirk that Rosmerta was trying so hard to hide.

Let's have a little look into your mind, huh? Lemme find your weak spots, Selene. I'll make you wish you never went into magical medicine.....What is wrong with the poor boy? It's almost as if he wants to hate everyone....I'll have to help him! I can't let him go around with such a horid personality....I mean yes, the boy is in mortal danger all the time, and he must walk around fearing his demise, but still.....poor, poor boy....Oh, so that's what you think of me, eh? Are we almost to the whatever we're using to get there? What? James?! How can you? What are you-Yes, I read thoughts. Telepathy, I believe the Muggles call it. Quite the gift, really. Is this why You-Know-Who-Yes, and call him Voldemort. I'm not scared, and I won't tolerate you being scared either. It's not nearly so scary in ones mind...No, it's not.


Five hours Later....


"And this is your room. You're not to leave your room at night, and during the day you're not to leave the complex. Do you understand, James?"

Yes, Selene. I understand perfectly well.

She gave a little gasp, not quite use to it yet, though we had been practicing the whole way here. We didn't use a portkey, either. We took a car. I have never been so bored in all my life, I can tell you that. A car. A plain, normal, ordinary, Muggle car. It couldn't even fly. What a waste of time.....

I stepped into my room and looked around. I was being given special treatment, I supposed. The room had lush, thick scarlet carpet and a soft, plush four poster feather bed. There were also a couple plants here and there, a vine crawling up one wall. Candles and incense were burning.

"You like it?"

Startled, I whipped around. There was a young woman with blonde hair, she looked to be about twenty, standing next to me. "Who are you?"

"Ah, yes. I'm the person you'll be spending most of your time with. You'll meet with Selene once a week, but you'll see me everyday. I'm your 'trainer', and I'm here to make sure your magic is up to par and you're physically healthy. You can call me Snidget, like the bird. Most people do."

"Okay, Snidget, can you tell me why I'm not in your standard hospital room?"

"Oh, we were trying out a new charm that creates a room to the likes of its occupant. I had heard about your rather posh tastes and thought it might be a good thing to try with you. You do like it, right?"

I walked over to the bed and felt the velvet cover. "This is perfect!"

"Oh, we've got some letters from your friends, arrived just before you did. I suspect you'll want to read them?"

"Maybe later. What about school? How will I catch up?"

"Oh, I'll be handling your lessons."

God, she's pretty.....James?! Oh! I'm sorry to startle you...I have a....gift...So I see. This could come in handy...no need for people to know we're making fun of them. I couldn't help but laugh.


Later That Night


"James? James, where are you? James, are you okay? James! Answer me! JAMES!"
"Oh, god....Lily, I've found him...."
"Sirius, you've got him? C'mon, Lil. I see the light from Sirius' wand."
"Oh, god. Oh. Oh, damn. James. Of all the people on Earth, why James? This is disgusting. This is just sadistic. Just plain.."

The air was wracked with Lily's sobs. Sirius and Remus looked beyond tears. They moved aside, and I saw....me. Bloody and mangled, covered in a sprinkling of rose petals. My eyes were glazed over and my arms and legs were limp. It was obvious that I had been killed. It wasn't the work of Voldemort, though. His massacres were at least clean and somewhat dignified. I could see the bones sticking out of my shattered ribs. Of my own shattered ribs. A crimson light made the whole scene seem to be bathed in blood. And the rose petals? Why were they there? I heard the voices again...different voices....

"Yes, my lord. I Have done as you asked."
"Good, Evans. You will be rewarded..."
Then that laugh. That cold, hard, high pitched laugh that haunted my dreams so often....

"Oh my god!" I sat straight up in bed, drenched with a cold sweat.Lily? How could she? She wouldn't....or would she? Immediatley, I ran to the bathroom and felt my stomach heave. To no avail of course, as I hadn't eaten anything, but still I somehow felt better when the ordeal was over. then I felt the burning. The burning of the foul, half finished brand of Satan himself. I ignored it and went to the mirror. The long scar that ran across the left side of my face was livid against my pale skin. It went halfway up my forhead and halfway don my cheek, right across my left eye. At the point of getting the wound it had layed the flesh open to the bone. Lucky thing my eye didn't get slashed as well. Yet another foul badge of war, this scar was. I suppose I would be rather striking without it. I hide it normally, refuse to let people see that my inner torments show through to the outside, refuse to let people see the real me. Even I no longer no who the real me is. Perhaps there is no real me. Perhaps I'm meant to be nothing more than a shape-shifter. Nothing more than a chameleon...

I couldn't go back to sleep, I just couldn't. Why must my sleep be haunted as well? Wasn't it bad enough that my every waking moment could be my very last? That I had to live very day as if it were my las t because it very well could be? I shook myself. There was no point in thinking like this. I had a girlfriend. I had friends. I had a very caring mentor. I had money. I had food. I had water. I had a roof over my head. I had what a person needs to survive. I would'nt give up hope that easily. I would live my life without this worry. I will not let fear rule my life. I am a survivor, and that's just what I'm going to do. Survive.



AN: Oooooooooooh, cliffhanger. I'm getting good at this, don't you think? Let's give this a try. Two new reviews and I post the next chapter. Just two. I would appreciate more, though. I think we can all manage just two reviews, right? ^.^ Right! See ya!