A/N: I'm back!!! Does anyone ever actually read these author notes? Maybe I'll be like some other authors and put two chapters up at once, one an author's note and one the actual chapter. That's not too bad an idea actually. Maybe I'll do it next week.

Disclaimer: I think just about everyone who reads Harry Potter fics knows that these belong only to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, etc. I'm not one of these people/companies. I am only doing this for the fun of it and for the reviews (hint, hint).

Another Life

Chapter 2

About two hours after Ron and Hermione left to talk with Professor Dumbledore, a man was having a cup of coffee in a muggle café. He had a newspaper in front of him, but folded it whenever someone came near him. Finally he folded the newspaper up and put it in his pocket. Taking one last sip of coffee, he laid some money down on the counter and headed towards the door seemingly unaware that everyone was looking at him. Indeed, he was so used to these stares that he hardly noticed them anymore. The man was about six feet tall and had a commanding appearance that automatically attracted attention. His black hair was shoulder length and was pulled back away from his face, exposing his bright blue eyes. He also wore black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. He left the café and the people inside heard the roar of a motorcycle fading off in the distance.

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As the man in black sped along the city road, he thought about the newspaper he had read. It had contained a rather interesting article about the supposed sighting of a man who was presumed dead. It wasn't an unusual article, at least, not for the newspaper the man had been reading. There were similar articles about the same thing almost every week. However this article was different. This one had a picture.

The man sighed and pulled into the parking lot of a rather large hotel. That picture had been one of his greater mistakes. He had been wearing prescription sunglasses so he didn't bother wearing his contacts that changed his eye color from green to blue. Then, as he had been about to enter his favorite coffee shop, he had taken off his sunglasses and started to insert his contacts. He'd heard a loud gasp and had immediately looked up just in time to see a young man snap his picture. He quickly replaced his contacts and put on his sunglasses as he started to walk towards the man. Eventually it wound up in a chase since the camera man had obvious sensed that he was in trouble. However the man had dodged into a back alley and disappeared without a trace.

He had hoped that the picture wouldn't wind up in the paper and for two days his hopes held. However this morning had proved that his hopes were false. Pulling his key out of his pocket, the man opened the door to the lobby hoping to make it to his room without any disturbance. However he had no such luck.

"Good morning James!" a cheerful voice suddenly rang out. James, his thoughts interrupted, looked up to see a perky redhead sitting at the desk.

"Morning Lisa," he called back to her mentally sighing. He'd been staying in the hotel for about two months and most of the staff knew him by sight, if not by name. He walked up the stairs to the fourth floor eventually reached his room. It wasn't very fancy, but it was fairly large, with a bathroom, a refrigerator, and of course a bed. It also had a chest of drawers for clothes.

James walked over to his bed and pulled out two suitcases. He packed, while deciding on the next place to disappear to. America was one of the first places that came to mind, but he'd already spent the last three years there and it was expensive to fly over. He finally decided on Scotland.

"After all," he thought, "I've never been to Scotland in the summer. I only went for school . . .". Here he stopped packing and sat down on his bed as the memories came crashing down on him. His old school, Hogwarts, was in Scotland. He hadn't seen it since he left and wasn't exactly happy about the idea of going back.

He had left the school right after graduation and faked his own death to make sure people wouldn't come looking for him. It had all been too much to handle. Most people believed he had killed the Dark Lord who had raged war on the wizarding world. They were wrong though, and eventually James had gotten tired of all the praise and attention for something he didn't even do. Nobody realized that Voldemort was only temporarily gone. He had lost most of his powers and had fled to regain his strength. Just like he had twenty two years ago when James had first defeated him.

So many people had died so he could have the chance to destroy Voldemort and all he had done was stall him for a couple years. This had been the real reason he'd decided to leave. He felt guilty for lying to the people who thought he was a hero and he'd felt responsible for all the people who had died in vain for him.

When he couldn't stand the guilt he had decided to leave. He bought contacts that would change his eye color and performed a spell on his hair to make it grow. He'd even decided to go by his middle name to help himself hide.

As math had always been his best subject before he went to Hogwarts, James found a two year college in London and got a degree in accounting. He worked out and grew a couple more inches. Having always been a little short for his age, this growth spurt was appreciated and helped to change his appearance. After his college graduation he had decided he couldn't risk being so close to his old life and moved to America where he'd gotten a good accounting job. After about three years of working in a different country he had started to miss his old home. So he finally took his boss up on the offer of "a long needed vacation" and went back to England. He had chosen a hotel near the Leaky Cauldron and had returned to the wizarding world. Not as himself though. That would have attracted more attention than was necessary. He had gotten new robes and a new wand. He still had his old wand, of course, but that could be traced back to him. The last thing James wanted was for his friends to find out who he really was. He wanted to see them, but it had been hard enough to leave his only home in the first place. He wasn't sure he could do it again.

Shaking his head to erase such thoughts of his past, James looked around his room. It was empty and neat, just like when he had first came here. He picked up his key, walked out, and locked the door behind him. He checked out in the lobby and walked to the parking lot. He put the suitcases in the saddle bags near the back of his bike, started the motorcycle up, and roared up the street that would, eventually, take him to Scotland.

A/N: So how was that? I know it was short, but I'm planning on making the next chapter longer and I will hopefully have it up a bit sooner than this one was. If I can get chapter 3 out before finals start everything will be great. Anyway thanks to Alexis, Nicky, Sherylyn, moonlight, Tidmag and Gen Raid-M.I.A. (Your stories are really good-now I'm going to have to return the favor and go review them), Lala, smile7499, and BayLeigh Colby Ford. You are all fabulous people with hearts of gold! Now, to those 200 or so people who read this and didn't review, I'm very glad my summary caught your interest but I wish you'd review. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the new chapter. I should get the next one out fairly soon-right now this is the only story I'm working on. It's also my most promising. Anyway, duty (school work) calls. Please review, it'll make homework a little more bearable.