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Chapter 9
James, Sirius and Professor Lupin continued to talk until they noticed that there was sunlight lighting the room.
"I don't suppose you two got any sleep before you came to visit, did you?" Lupin asked.
"Not really, no." was the reply.
"Well, perhaps you'd better go back to your dormitory and see if you can catch a couple of hours before classes start." Lupin suggested. "You have my class first and I won't appreciate it if you decide to sleep during my lesson."
James and Sirius nodded and thanked the professor.
***
(back in the marauders' dorm)
Remus looked up from his book as Sirius and James walked in. He'd stayed up all night, reading and doing homework, trying not to think about what Ron and Hermione had told them.
"Hey. You two took your time getting back." Remus commented. "Where have you been all night?"
"Sorry. We thought you'd gone to sleep and we didn't want to wake you." Sirius said. "We went to see old-you to find out more about what happened."
"And?"
Sirius and James relayed the information back to their friend, who listened intently.
"We should get to breakfast." James commented when they'd finished, looking at his watch.
***
"There they are."
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been keeping an eye out for the marauders all morning. They had been early for breakfast before, but today they were very late and none of them looked like they'd gotten much sleep.
"They don't look too good." said Harry. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell them all that."
"They wanted to know." Ron reminded him. "And you know they wouldn't have shut up until we told them."
Harry shrugged.
James sat down next to Harry, grunting a sleepy "Good morning" before digging into his breakfast. Sirius and Remus did pretty much the same thing.
"You know, everyone's always saying how much you and James look alike, Harry, but that is just uncanny!" Ron said, looking between the two of them.
Harry and James looked at each other.
"That is so weird." said Harry.
"Yeah, but I bet we could have a lot of fun with it." James grinned evilly.
"Look over here you two. You know," Sirius said, carefully studying Harry's and James' features. "I bet that even the professors wouldn't be able to tell you two apart if it weren't for your eyes."
"And their hair." Remus corrected. "Jack's hair is messier."
James mussed up Harry's hair. "Now it's not."
"Hey!" cried Harry, trying with little success to flatten his hair again.
"Stop that! It looks better that way." James told him, and messed it up again.
Harry glared. James poked his tongue out at him and returned to his breakfast.
Harry left the hall with Ron and Hermione a short while later.
"You know, Professor Lupin told me last year that Sirius and my dad had been pretty obnoxious when they were our age, but this is just ridiculous!" Harry said with a hint of annoyance as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower to collect their things for classes. "They're really starting to get on my nerves."
Hermione turned away and stifled a laugh. Ron didn't even bother to disguise his own laugh, and Harry looked at him angrily.
"Why do you find this so funny?" he demanded.
"Well, it's a bit ironic, isn't it Harry?" Hermione told him. "I guess it's pretty mean of me to put it like this, but you've always wanted to meet your dad, right?"
Harry nodded.
"And now that you finally get to meet him, you wish that he'd leave."
Harry frowned. "It's not like that! I mean, I'm glad he's here and all, but he is annoying, and it's not the same as it would be if he was Professor Lupin's age, like he's meant to be."
"Sorry Harry." Ron said a little sheepishly. "It's just really weird seeing the two of you together."
***
(before Defence class)
"It's Jack, right?"
James spun around to face the speaker.
"Yeah, that's right."
"I'm Dean." said the boy, sticking out a hand.
James shook Dean's hand. "Hi."
"You look a lot like Harry Potter." Dean commented. "Are you a relative of his?"
James had been wondering how long it would be before someone asked this question. "Err, sort of, yes."
Harry was standing nearby and, having heard the conversation, decided to join in. Maybe they could have some fun after all.
"We're very distant relations." he informed Dean. "Fifth cousins, twice removed. Something like that, right Jack?"
"Yeah, something like that." James repeated.
"You look like twins." Seamus had decided to join in too. "Are you sure you're not long lost brothers or anything?"
Harry laughed. "Pretty sure, yes."
James looked at Seamus thoughtfully. "Do you really think we could pass for twins?"
Seamus nodded.
"Hey Orion!" James called. "Get over here!"
Sirius came quickly. "What is it?"
James turned to his friend and the two of them began whispering conspiratively. A while later, Sirius grabbed Harry's head and held him still while he studied his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, looking at Sirius as though he were completely mental.
"Wait and see, Pronglet." Sirius replied, still staring at Harry's eyes. "Wait and see."
A moment later, Sirius released Harry and turned back to James. Soon after that, Professor Lupin showed up and the class filed inside. Sirius and James hung back for a few moments. When they entered the classroom, Sirius sat at the back of the classroom with Remus, and James sat next to Harry.
Professor Lupin began to call the role. When he got down to "Potter, Harry" two voices called out "Here."
Harry looked over at James and found himself staring in a mirror. James' eyes were a startling emerald green, and the small differences in the shape of his face that had been there before were gone. Before Harry could open his mouth to speak, James had pulled his face into a look of annoyance.
"What are you playing at, Jack?" James demanded of him. "I'm Harry!"
Harry was shocked. "No you're not! I am!"
"I'm pretty sure I know my own name." James retorted. "And my name is Harry."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Quiet!" Professor Lupin sighed. He walked over to the arguing teens and examined their eyes. Finding no apparent differences, he asked, "Which of you is Harry Potter?"
"I am!" both replied at once.
Professor Lupin sighed again and lifted his wand. "Finite incantatem."
He checked both of their eyes again. Still no change. He tried every charm he knew to end whatever spell James, or rather, Sirius had used to change James' eye colour, but to no avail.
"Orion, am I to assume that this is your handy-work?" Lupin asked.
Sirius hung his head.
"Come here and get rid of this spell." Lupin ordered.
"Can't." Sirius said.
"Can't?" repeated Lupin.
"It has to wear off on its own."
Professor Lupin groaned. "How long will that take?"
"Err, a week or so. Maybe more." Sirius answered with a grin.
Lupin groaned again and abandoned the role-call.
***
(later that evening, in the common room)
Harry, Ron and Hermione began packing up their homework quite a bit earlier than usual. As they got up, Remus looked up at them.
"Where are you going?" he asked. "You can't have finished all your homework that quickly."
Hermione looked over at Harry, and Harry nodded his head slightly. She kneeled down near the marauders and explained in a near whisper.
"We have a DA meeting. The DA's this sort of club thing that Harry, Ron and I started last year to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, because the teacher we had last year was really hopeless. Do you want to come along?"
A look was passed between Remus, Sirius and James.
"Sure, why not?" James replied.
Ron waited for the marauders to pack up their things while Harry and Hermione went ahead to the Room of Requirement to set things up for the meeting. A little while later, Ron arrived with the marauders, and Hermione explained things further.
"Wait a minute," James cut her off, mid-explanation. "You mean Harry here teaches a bunch of students advanced Defence spells and things?"
Hermione nodded. "He's had a lot of practice using the sorts of spells that we try to learn in the DA, so he's really the ideal teacher."
Most of the other students had arrived by now, and Harry and Ron were handing out lumps of rubber roughly the size of tennis balls. When they were done, Harry called for everyone's attention.
"Ok everyone, quiet!" he yelled over the chatter of his peers. "Hermione has spent the week charming all of these ugly lumps,"
"Hey!" said an indignant Hermione.
"Sorry," Harry said in a tone of voice that made it clear that he wasn't. "She's charmed all of these rubber balls to move around at a decent speed. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed that quite a few of you are having trouble hitting moving targets, so we've decided to give you some practice. To activate the lumps," Hermione glared. "Err, balls, you point your wand at them and say 'Energico'. After that, you have to try and hit them with a stunning spell to deactivate them again. As a little incentive, I picked up a bar of Honeydukes chocolate from Hogsmeade for the first person to deactivate their, uh, ball."
James deactivated his lump on his first try, and Harry tossed him the bar of chocolate instructed him to keep practicing for a while. By the end of the first half-hour, there were only a few people left who hadn't deactivated their lumps. Harry sent stunning spells at each of the active lumps, causing them to fall to the ground.
"That was pretty good for a first try, but most of you are going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to be able to win duels." Harry said once the room was silent again. "I think that's enough for tonight, but I'm going to leave all those lumpy ball things in a box over here," he gestured to a corner of the room, "And I advise anyone who needs more practice to come in here regularly to do so."
Harry, Ron, Hermione and the marauders stayed behind to clean up the room as everyone else left.
"You did really well, Jack." Harry commented as he banished a group of lumps to the box in the corner.
"He's always had good aim." Sirius informed Harry. "He gets it from his mum."
James rolled his eyes. "Actually, I get it from practice, not genetics."
"Whatever you say." Sirius muttered.
"Hey, I just had a thought." Ron said suddenly.
"That's something that doesn't happen every day." Harry laughed.
Ron grinned. "Thanks Harry. You're a pal."
"Oh, I know!" Harry grinned back.
"Anyway, I was thinking." Ron continued. "People are always saying how you got your quidditch reflexes from your dad, right Harry?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, I wonder who's a better flier. You, or James."
Remus rolled his eyes slightly and looked over at Ron. "Nobody's a better flier than James. That's common knowledge."
"Harry's the youngest seeker in over a century." Hermione shot back.
"Well, James has never lost a quidditch match before." Sirius said, looking at his friend proudly.
"Neither has Harry, unless you count the time that he fell off his broom because of Dementors." Ron said, equally proudly.
"James flies like he was born on a broomstick." Sirius added with a glare.
"So does Harry." Ron confirmed, glaring back at Sirius.
"Guys, would you quit it?" Harry spoke up. "I don't think it really matters who's the better flier, does it?"
"You're just scared that James will beat you." Sirius taunted.
"I am not scared." Harry retorted.
"Then prove it." James said, eager to try out the broomsticks of the future.
"Fine."
They agreed to meet on the quidditch pitch after dinner the following evening to race around an obstacle course that Ron, Hermione, Remus and Sirius would set up for them.
Thanks to an ongoing argument between Ron and Sirius, it was agreed that if Harry won, Sirius would get up in front of the Great Hall and sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' complete with hand actions. If James won, it would be Ron singing the childish song.
A/N Finally finished it! Now I can rest. *snores*
I **(Star)** have done these reviews *grins*. I would just like to say REVIEW AGAIN!!!!
SilverKnight7: Yeah I had a GREAT time camping. It was pretty cold though, I thought my fingers were going to freeze off in the middle of the night.
Nakhti: Your reviews are helpful *smiles* Yes I am getting slightly annoyed at those people who refuse to read our story because it isn't Harry/Hermione. Although I am not sure where we are heading…*looks at Sploogal* is there a pairing I should know about? *hands you a marshmallow* eat this, it is better than marmite. ^-^
Jessica: No, it wasn't fair. *glares scornfully at Crouch* damn you Crouch
Dark Lady of Slytherin: Yes the heart to heart was written by me. *grins* not that I am saying Sploogal can't write heart to hearts! I just am going to take the credit ^-^. I have a question…not that it is relevant or anything but; are you really a dark lady of Slytherin?
Rocky235: They aren't the size of parrots but they are pretty big. More like the size of a golf ball. NO LIES!!!!!
Jennifer: I am happy you thought it was good *smiles at you then grins at Sploogal.* hear that? They want more!
J.E.A.R.K Potter: is this long enough? *smiles hopefully* Oh one question, it isn't relevant or anything but what does J.E.A.R.K stand for? Jeark?
Amandinka: *grins* you should feel special. You were lucky enough to have Sploogal respond to you. ^-^ hehehe I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Darkdestiny2000: I am happy you are enjoying it. Oh and like I have been saying to all of the others when I see their names; do you have a dark destiny?
Silvercrystal77: Here you go; here is another chapter so that you get one step closer to finding out what happens next. So…why are you called Silver crystal?
Sea-Turtles: LOL your review made me laugh. Nope, I don't know what you should say to us in your review. I look forward to your next one though. ^-^ Oh, like I have said to the others…Why are you called Sea-Turtles? (not that everyone is called Sea-Turtles LOL)
A/N Please don't anyone take offense for my **(Star's)** prying.