Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and Co. J.K. Rowling does.

Summary: After one very eventful night ten years ago, Voldemort was destroyed and Harry disappeared. Where did he go? What happened that night? Only one man knows the answer: a teacher named James, aka Harry. But what will he do now that he has faced the two people who were once his best friends?

Author's note: :wheeze: I think-- :gasp, wheeze: I'm-- :cough: failing-- :choke, gasp: miserably-- :deep breath: at this game. :drinks water to calm self from trying to get update up faster: Yeah, once again, I am sorry for how late this is. I'm really trying not to make a habit of this. And never fear, I will finish this fic (and if I don't, you know I either died or moved to the south pole and don't have an internet connection... but seeing as I hate being cold and would never ever move to the south pole anyway, the latter can be ruled out). Anyhoo, I'll stop rambling and let you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 19: Boredom and History Lessons

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James was bored. There was no one around.

Jacob was on the other side of Calgary. Emma was in San Francisco. Sarah and Peter were hiking together on a day-long date.

James was alone in his apartment, sitting on the couch, staring at the spot on the wall where the TV had been. He had yet to replace it.

James sighed.

Luis paused from his bathing to look back at James in pity.

"I know," said James wearily, "I'm pathetic. I've been sitting here for the last hour and a half. I should really get my lazy butt up a do something. I don't know. I just feel... tired. I mean, everyone I know seems to be with someone. Jacob and Emma with their families. Sarah and Peter together. Even my friends from work are on vacations with their families."

James thought a moment.

"I guess I feel... left out. I don't have a family or even a girlfriend. Well, I guess Peter and his family are my family, but you know what I mean... I don't have any blood family. People I can rely on and with whom I can spend my entire life with. I mean, what's to stop Peter or Emma or Sarah or Jacob to move away and only promise to send a postcard every so often, under the false assumption that we can stay close friends when it will really take hours to go see each other."

James gave another sigh.

"And what's to stop me from moving away from them?" he asked quietly.

Luis evidently thought his washing more important that James' current boredom and sadness.

James rolled his eyes. "This is stupid. Not even my cat cares about what I have to say. And now I've resorted to talking to myself, which really only proves the cat's point by emphasizing how boring I am. I'm bored and I'm boring my self further by saying boring things." James slapped himself on the head. "Pathetic..."

The telephone rang out shrilling in the otherwise still air.

Luis stopped washing and ran under the couch.

James jumped up and answered the phone, thankful for something mildly distracting.

"Hello?"

"Hi. I'm calling from Calgary Insurance and I was wondering--"

"Not interested." James said flatly.

"Well okay. Thank you for your time."

Click.

"Sales people... how do they get my number?" wondered James aloud.

Having nothing else to do, James sat down and decided to write a letter to the Westins telling them about England.

He pulled out a pen and some paper from a drawer and began to write.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Westin,

Good news. I'm going to London. No exact dates yet, but we'll be there for Christmas. I am really looking forward to seeing you two!

I hope everything over there is going well and that business is still good. Things are exciting over here. James mentally noted that that statement was incorrect when speaking about the present situation, but in the scheme of things he decided it didn't matter. Emma and Jacob are getting married on Sunday, in three days. They'll be back tomorrow from visiting family, and then I'm sure the real chaos will begin.

Anyway, I can't wait to see you in London and I hope you two are doing fine.

Love, Harry

James smiled to himself as his looked at the scrawling writing of his name. His first name.

The Westins had agreed to start calling him James, but James himself always signed his letters to them as "Harry". It was one of the few pleasures having to do with his past that James enjoyed wholeheartedly. He felt a cold delight at seeing his name sitting peacefully on the paper. It was as if he had put a small piece of himself on to that paper, a secret that he held. That sense was incredibly different than the one he felt when he saw his real last name, which only caused a strong sense of fear and anxiety in James. Somehow, seeing his first name gave him a sense of calmness. There was a consistency and truth to it, as if by writing his name he proved to himself that he was real, and would never fade.

James reluctantly folded the paper and put it into an envelope. He sealed the envelope closed and wrote the Westin's address on it.

He grabbed his keys and took the letter down the mailbox in the lobby of the building. And in no time, his was back in his apartment, staring at the wall.

Only this time, instead of being bored, James contemplated his first name, and took an almost childish pleasure in knowing that it was his name, and no one else could take it away.

And, little to his knowledge, it was just across town where his name was also being contemplated with a childish pleasure.

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Jacob awoke the next morning to the sound of giggling and shouting. He blearily opened his eyes and saw his room, now flooded with the late morning sun.

It was 10:00, and the noise was coming from Natalie's room. Jacob got up and pulled on some clothes before quickly combing his hair and heading towards Natalie's room to find out what all the excitement was about.

Jacob bumped into Marry in the hallway.

"Oh, Jacob, I was just about to wake you," said Mary. "We have some company. It turns out that there is another family just down the street who also has a son who is new to magic. His name is Elliot Grahm. He's a sweet kid. We met his parents last night and invited them over for brunch. They're in the same position as us; they had never heard of magic either."

"Wow, that's lucky," commented Jacob.

"Yeah," answered Mary absently. "Anyway, can you put on a nicer shirt and then come down and join us? Thanks." She didn't wait for an answer.

Jacob shrugged. He turned around and went back to his room, coming out with a "nicer" shirt on. He stopped by Natalie's room to say hi before going downstairs.

He knocked on her door. He could hear muffled shouts and rapid talking.

"Um, Nat? Could I come in?" asked Jacob.

"Sure!" she said, and the door was opened.

Jacob came in as Natalie skipped back to her spot on the floor.

Natalie gestured to the boy who was lying on his stomach looking up at Jacob. "This is Elliot. Elliot, this is my Uncle Jacob."

Elliot hurriedly stood up.

"Nice to meet you, Elliot," said Jacob kindly.

Elliot shook Jacob's hand seriously. "And you too, Mr...?"

Jacob chuckled a bit. "'Mr. Cooke is fine."

"Nice to meet you." Elliot resumed his former position.

Jacob sat down next to his niece. "So, what are you to up to?"

"We're reading our new text books!" said Natalie enthusiastically.

"In other words, we're being nerds," Elliot said wryly.

"What was all the noise for, then?" asked Jacob.

"We're learning history!" Natalie explained. "And we were arguing over who's better. But I'm right. Draco Malfoy's the best!"

"No way," answered Elliot. "Harry is the best. He is the coolest by far."

"How can you say that?" asked Natalie hotly. "Draco gave his life up for the woman he loved! And they were on opposite sides to start with, like star-crossed lovers, or something. And he was always so calm. I bet nobody could make him do anything, except Ginny, of course."

"So what? Who wants all that mushy stuff? Harry marched straight into battle, and he always won. He almost killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when he was just a baby. And it was him who finally killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Oh, and he has more power that anyone in the past century. He has enough power to raise whole cemeteries with just a flick of his little finger."

There was a pause and Jacob thought it might be a good time to ask what this was all about.

"Um, guys?" he asked. "What's all this about, anyway? Who are these people?"

"I can tell you all about it!" said Natalie before Elliot could say a thing. "You see, it goes like this." Natalie took a deep breath, glanced at Elliot, and shouted, "Draco rules! I win! I get last word! You lose! Ha-ha ha ha!"

Elliot sighed while Natalie did a victory dance around the room.

"Well," explained Elliot, once Natalie had calmed down, "When we were at the meeting for new wizards and witches yesterday, the headmaster of the school explained to us very seriously about the recent history of the wizarding world. And me and Natalie were so interested that we read more about the War in our history book."

"There was a war?" asked Jacob skeptically.

"Oh yes," said Natalie, nodding gravely. "It was a really big war. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named--"

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" asked Jacob.

"Yeah," answered Natalie, "People are so afraid of him, and he caused so much death and sadness, that people don't say his name. Neither me nor Elliot know his real name. Anyway, he had taken over almost all of Britain (that's where the war started), seized France, Germany, and Spain, and most of Russia. In fact, I think he had most of Europe. And he already had half of Asia was going for America."

Natalie pointed to a picture in her text book. "You see where all the black armies are? That's the area He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was in. The places with the explosions and bright lights are where major battles were fought. And do you see the areas with the armies dressed in white? That's the good side."

"Would you look at that," said Jacob quietly. "The pictures move."

"I think all books should be like that," said Natalie.

"Anyway," continued Elliot, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was the leader of the bad side, and his main goal was to rid the earth of muggles."

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"Muggles are people who can't do magic," Elliot explained. "And he wanted to get rid of wizards and witches with muggle blood in them and all muggle-loving wizards and witches. He wanted a pure race, or something like that. He had a high level of magic, and there was only one other major person on the good side who was equal to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. That person was Dumbledore, and he was the leader of the good side. But he was also really old. That's were Harry and Draco come in."

"And Draco is the best," cut in Natalie.

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Draco's father was a Death Eater, someone who supported He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But Draco broke away from his father and joined the good side. He and Harry became best friends and they fought against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named side by side. Harry was already famous to begin with. When he was a baby, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was just beginning to gain power, and he had come to kill Harry. He killed both of Harry's parents, but when he tried to kill Harry, something happened, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named vanished. The wizarding world was so happy, and Harry became famous before he turned two for getting rid of the most evil wizard ever."

"Wow, that's a lot of weight to bear," commented Jacob.

"Especially because He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wasn't really dead. Harry fought a lot of other battles with him, and won most of them. Anyway, Draco fell in love with a girl, Ginny, and married her. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named started taking hostages, to try and get Harry to fight him. I guess Harry finally confronted him, but the book doesn't say much. Not much is known about the last battle, except that the good side won, and Harry had killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But some of the older boarding school students who grew up knowing magic told us about the last battle at the meeting. It's like a legend, or something, but nobody knows if it is really true."

"I'll tell it!" interrupted Natalie. "Draco was taken hostage, among hundreds of others. He was the first from the hostages forced to choose whether he was going to join the dark side or die. He said he'd rather die, and the last thing he thought of was how much he loved Ginny. That is totally the sweetest story ever. I want to marry a guy like that."

"No more gross stuff. The cool part is that Harry became super powerful, the most powerful wizard in centuries, and I mean centuries."

Elliot paused for effect.

"And with all this power," he continued, "He completely killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the most evil man ever, I think. The whole war was the bloodiest war ever fought. It was fought throughout several continents. And it was Harry who stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, single handedly. And get this, Harry Potter is now a name that is used everywhere. He is the better than Draco, hands down."

"Wait, what was his full name?" asked Jacob.

"Who? Harry?" asked Elliot.

"Yeah."

"Harry James Potter. See?" Elliot pointed to the text book. "It says right there. 'Harry James Potter, son of Lily and James Potter, made He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named vanish at age 1.'"

"And he was the most powerful wizard?"

"In about three centuries. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," answered Jacob casually. "I think I have to agree with you though, Harry sounds more exciting than Draco."

Natalie stuck her tongue out at Jacob while Elliot gloated.

"I think I'm going downstairs, now," said Jacob. "See you two later."

Natalie and Elliot didn't even hear Jacob. They were once again arguing playfully.

Jacob headed downstairs to meet Elliot's parents. Jacob acted pleasantly enough, but he found that he was quite distracted throughout the entire brunch.

He was just too busy contemplating whether his good friend James just might have been speaking the truth, late that night, two months ago.

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