A/N: Thanks for all reviews for the last chapter, they were all much appreciated.
Not my longest chapter ever but at least it's written now. I kept trying but it just wouldn't write. I'm still not entirely happy with it but it's a lot better than it was. I'm just entering the last period before exams, so from now on I can't promise that I'll update regularly. I still think I ought to be able to and I'll certainly try, I'm just warning you. There's only - as far as I can tell, anyway - about seven more chapters to go anyway and there won't be a sequel so after this I'll start a completely new fic. I'm looking around for ideas at the moment, so if you think of a nice plot bunny, feel free to suggest it.
James slowly regained consciousness the next morning, fingers absently clutching the pillow. After a few moments of denying that the morning had come, he sat up, eyes still firmly closed. This achieved, he slowly cracked one eye open. The other shot open a split second afterwards and he shot upright from his slouch, hand diving under the pillow for the dagger he kept there. He couldn't find it. This was most definitely not his room! It was, well, greener for one thing.
Slowly, the memory of last night . . . earlier that morning technically . . . came back to him. He turned his head to see Severus lying next to him, obviously awake and watching him with some amusement.
"Do you do that every morning?" he asked. James blushed.
"I'm not a morning person."
"It's about one in the afternoon."
"Oh. Right."
"The house elves have left some clothes out for you there. Now you're awake, I'll go and make breakfast - they aren't serving meals in the Great Hall today, just snacks. The idea is that the little monsters all ate too much yesterday and we weren't likely to see them until about now anyway."
With that, he swung out of bed and dressed quickly in his robes. James lingered a moment longer, watching appreciatively and putting off leaving the warm bed himself as long as possible. When it seemed inevitable that he would have to move, he cast a warming charm on his feet and padded across the stone floor to his clothes. After pulling his hopelessly messy hair back in an approximation of his normal style, he walked through.
As he'd surmised, he was indeed in Severus' rooms and now came to the familiar main room. The smell of bacon came from a room to the left and to his right was the room when the Malfoys had stayed during their time at the castle.
"Anything I can do?" he asked, leaning on the doorframe as he watched Severus deftly manoeuvring the various pans. His partner looked at him thoughtfully.
"Draco mentioned that your skills at potions were limited," he pointed out.
"That's potions, not cooking. I could cook breakfast decently age seven."
"Could you take over the bacon then while I find some bread and set the table."
James cancelled the hovering spells, uncomfortable with using the household magic he hadn't grown up with. With simple Muggle efficiency, he crisped the bacon nicely and dished it out onto the plate that was held out to him and turned to the egg. A moment later, he came to sit down. Severus tasted the bacon cautiously.
"Nice," he acknowledged. "What's your problem with potions?"
"Power level. I have problems controlling the magic flow and will completely throw any advanced potion off balance. Maybe if I'd started earlier . . ."
A house elf popped into the room clutching a piece of parchment in its tiny fist.
"Professor Evans sir, there is a message for you from the Headmaster sir."
James read it hurriedly.
"Thank you. Could you tell the headmaster I'll take care of it as soon as I finish eating."
The elf bowed until its nose brushed the ground and faded away.
"What is it?" Severus asked.
"Apparently a couple of Gryffindors are duelling in their common room."
"Only Gryffindors. Still, that's Minerva's responsibility."
"She apparently drank far too much last night and is still out cold. He'd like you to find a hangover remedy for her while I deal with the brats."
"He's sending you - a Slytherin house master - to deal with a fight in the Gryffindor common room."
"Consider the alternatives. I imagine Pomona and Filius are busy enough controlling their little darlings, Slytherins being the only ones with any common sense, and that leaves you, me and the unaffiliated teachers in residence, namely Sybil Trelawney. He seems to think you making an appearance in the Gryffindor common room would scar the brats for life so I have to go."
"You've obviously been too easy on them. Why can't the headmaster do his own dirty work?"
"Because he can tell me to do it. There, that's me done. Thanks for breakfast."
James stood up and put his plate on the side by the cooker. Walking back towards the main corridor, he bent to kiss Severus soundly, tasting the bacon still lingering in his mouth.
"See you later," he said, "This shouldn't take me long."
Muttering about the unreliability of Gryffindors, he marched firmly upstairs to where the Fat Lady was hanging over the entrance to the tower.
"Valor," he said loudly and sternly over her humming. Looking, disgruntled, she swung forwards to allow him to pass.
Storming into the room with a face like a thundercloud, all for the effect of course, he quickly spotted the two miscreants. A boy and a girl, sixth years and quite old enough to know better, they were trading hexes from behind two of the sofas while everyone else had retreated out of reach. A solitary first year had been trapped on the floor between them and was huddled there, unable to escape while her friends looked on in horror.
"Silence!" he shouted. Everyone else became quiet but the two concerned continued. He scowled and moved to grab John Fancourt by the ear. Startled, he dropped his wand and James scooped it up and put it in his pocket. "You two, Professor McGonagall's office immediately!"
His own office being too far off, he appropriated their Head of House's watched as they left for there, taking Miss Kegg's wand off her as she passed him. He then moved to pick the first year off the ground.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded.
"20 points to Gryffindor for keeping your nerve and being sensible. I have one question to ask the lot of you. A first year was in obvious danger of being hit by a stray curse, quite a nasty one at that from what I heard. What happened to Gryffindor honour and courage in terms of stopping an illegal duel and looking after someone who needed the help? If I ever find that this has happened again, 100 points will be taken . . . from every person who I judge to have the ability to have helped who is present in the common room. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes Professor," came the collective murmur. Several of them, the older years in particular, were looking flushed at that comment.
"Excellent."
Satisfied that he'd made his point, James left without a backwards glance. If he showed one sign of softness after that, the entire lecture would have been in vain. Now he only had to deal with the culprits themselves before he could go and relax.
As he came into the office, a flick of his wand had the door swing shut behind him with a crash. The two students jumped and sat up perfectly straight in their chairs, faces full of righteous indignation as he sat in Minerva's seat. It was considerably more comfortable than the one in his office - a point of dispute at the next staff meeting perhaps.
"I assure you that this is not the way I anticipated spending one of my rare holidays but Professor McGonagall is at present indisposed so I have been asked to clear up whatever petty dispute caused this spectacle and I am not in the mood to be forgiving. Mr Fancourt, you first. I want a full explanation of the events leading up to this . . . duel."
The boy shuffled uncomfortably.
"Well, I'd sort of decided to ask Jess out and I went over to where they were sitting. I asked her if she'd go to Hogsmeade with me in two weeks . . . "
"And then?"
"Then Olivia hexed me! I just defended myself."
"Very well. Miss Kegg, if we could hear your side of the story."
The girl thought for a moment.
"He had most of it there actually. He neglected to mention that he's been going out with me for the past month."
"And you never ended the . . . ah relationship?"
"Not to my knowledge, no."
"And you did in fact attack him first."
"I suppose so sir, yes, but it was just a prank hex - green hair. He retaliated with much more serious jinxes."
"So, you are saying that Mr Fancourt approached where you were sitting with the intention of asking his girlfriend's best friend to go on a date with him?"
"That sounds right."
"And I had thought the two of you were mature enough to know better. Mr Fancourt, one assumes that you are aware of the convention that assumes that you only have one girlfriend or boyfriend at a time? It would be extremely foolish, were this not the case, to ask one out in front of the other."
"Yes sir."
"I would recommend that you think very hard as to what you meant by committing to these relationships and continue with only than one of them. Should I find you . . . double crossing a girl again, it is within my powers to prevent you from dating formally during your time at school. I very much hope that I am not called upon to enforce this."
"Yes sir."
"Miss Kegg. I admit that it must be somewhat trying to have your boyfriend attempt that in front of you but would suggest that the Gryffindor common room is not the place for such a dispute. While a prank against him might have helped him learn from the experience, this could have been done without inciting a fight. In duelling club, should you have wished to duel, you could have requested to be partnered where I could oversee the duel and make sure that it was fair and legal. I suggest you remember this in future."
"Yes Professor Evans."
"Now I would like to impress on both of you the school rules you violated - using magic outside of class without permission, fighting in the common room. These rules are in place for the protection of the students. There was one first year who was caught in your duel who certainly didn't have the skills she would have needed to defend herself and could have been badly hurt. A week's detention for both of you with Mr Filch and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor. Do you agree that this is a fair punishment?"
"Yes sir," they mumbled. James smiled coldly, this way he couldn't be accused of favouritism. In actual fact, Gryffindor would only lose fifteen points from each of them thanks to the little first year.
"You may go. See that this doesn't happen again."
James watched as the two of them trailed disconsolately out and sighed, allowing himself a moment to recover before leaving. As he shut the door carefully behind him, knowing that Minerva would kill him if he left it open to pranksters, he turned to see Albus standing behind him, watching calmly.
"Thank you for handling that James," he said.
"I'm sure you could have handled it on your own. Why me?"
"I thought you might be interested in hearing something and it was in my interest for Severus not to know who gave you this piece of information . . ."
"Get to the point Albus!" James snapped. "I had other things planned for today, including spending time with Severus."
"It's his birthday on the ninth."
" Severus's?"
" Who else?"
James thought about this for a moment, then winced.
"I only just managed to think of a Christmas present! What in Merlin's name can I give him now?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something, my boy. Run along now."
He ambled off, leaving James staring after him.
"Why do I have the feeling he's manipulating me?" he sighed. Still, he knew all too well that there was no other place he'd rather be, no other person he'd rather be with, so Albus' and no doubt Abe's meddling would have to be let pass. It was a very useful piece of information after all.
Over the next week or so, James and Severus settled into each other's lives with an ease that surprised even Albus. They still maintained the formality of separate rooms but Hogwarts, ever willing to oblige her favourite, had opened an interconnecting door so it was impossible for anyone to tell in whose quarters they actually lived.
As yet, their relationship had been kept private, only the Dumbledores and Draco knowing for sure other than themselves. James had his own suspicions about a few others but they were keeping very quiet about anything they knew. Alistair did not know yet. They had discussed it and, if their relationship was indeed a long term one, Severus was happy enough with the idea of adopting him, but so far it wasn't his concern.
On the ninth, James tried very hard to pretend he had nothing special planned. In the afternoon, Albus invited Severus up for 'afternoon tea'. Of course, this was hardly an optional event. James hurried down to the kitchens to speak with the house elves about a special supper for them, then apparated off to pick up his gift.
When Severus finally returned, he looked surprised and a little irritated. In his hands was a pair of slippers. James stared at them in amazement: surely even Albus wouldn't . . . Apparently Albus was indeed the only person who would dare or even think to give Severus a pair of bright pink slippers with little white bunnies on top.
"Not a word," Severus said through clenched teeth. James tried very hard not to smile. Gently, he took the slippers from his lover and whispered a spell. They vanished.
"There you go."
"I might have wanted them, you know," Severus pointed out.
"I know. I think they ended up somewhere under the bed. You can burn them later if you want. I think he left you another present down here as well."
Satisfied with that, Severus looked at the room properly for the first time. It was candlelit and a small table sat in the middle of the room. In desperation, James had gone to Draco for advice. To be quite honest, he didn't have a clue what constituted a romantic dinner so he had allowed his friend to tell him. Draco seemed to be finding the whole affair extremely amusing.
"Happy birthday," James said shyly, pointing at a small pile of gifts on the sofa. It turned out that there were quite a few people who had discovered the date other than himself.
"You didn't have to . . . "
"But I wanted to."
There was a long pause.
"Thank you," Severus said at last. Then he frowned. "Who told you the date?"
"Albus," James said quickly. To his surprise, the other man laughed.
"Meddling old codger."
"Isn't he just. He's been throwing us together from the start. Here, this is from me."
Eyes lowered, he held out a large, flat package. Severus took it carefully and sat down on the sofa to unwrap it, pulling James down with him. He removed the paper very carefully, putting the ribbon aside and folding the paper. By the time he was ready to look at the actual present, James was practically squirming in his seat. In the end, he had decided to give Severus a painting of Hogwarts, showing the lake to the far left and the Quidditch pitch in the distance to the right. It had been enchanted, so there were players flying on the pitch and every so often you could see groups of tiny students emerging from the castle. There was a long pause as Severus examined it carefully, taking in every detail. For a moment, James thought he didn't like it and was afraid to say.
"Where did you find it?" he asked at last.
"There's a shop near Diagon Alley. I was looking around and saw it and thought that maybe you'd like it. If you don't, I can always exchange it for another . . . "
Severus cupped his cheek in his hand and lifted his face so he was looking at him instead of at his shoes.
"It's perfect. I don't think there's anything else you could get me that would equal it, so stop worrying." He dropped a gentle kiss onto his lips before continuing. "Do you know which enchantments are on it?"
"Not really."
"Let me try something, I've seen Albus using a similar picture."
He frowned slightly, as if chasing an elusive memory and said a few words in Latin. To James' amazement, the view zoomed in to the Great Hall, then wound its way through the corridors to the Headmaster's office. As they moved through the door, the canvas went blank.
"Oops," James said.
"He'll have wards up against any spying equipment," Severus explained as the view expanded to show the whole castle again. "He has one of these himself."
"So that's how he keeps track of everything so easily!"
"Indeed. I've warded my chambers in the same way as the office and I'd check your rooms as well, your bedroom in particular."
"You don't think he'd . . . " James exclaimed, blushing furiously.
"This is Albus Dumbledore."
"Point taken. If he thought it was for your own good, he'd do just about anything. Show me how to do the spells sometime. Right now though, it's your birthday, so shall we eat?"
They talked for a long while over dinner and afterwards. At James' reminder, Severus opened his other presents: from Albus, Minerva, Poppy, Draco and, surprisingly enough, Remus and Hermione. Each present was thoughtful and/or useful but despite James' worry that one of them would supplant his own as the best, none quite managed to equal it. Books were fine, as were Albus' slippers, however the emotional meaning wasn't the same.
A few days later, their evening was surprised by a sixth year student, a boy by the name of Arnold Warrington whose father was a known Death Eater.
"Mr Warrington," James said with surprise. Few students bothered them in their quarters: there was an alarm in the common room for emergencies and they made rounds of the dormitories every night. "What can I do for you?"
"Is Professor Snape there sir?"
"These are his quarters. Come in."
Rather uncomfortably, Arnold took a seat perched on the edge of a chair. Severus and James took seats near him. There was a long pause before he began.
"What do you think about the Death Eaters, Professor Evans?" he blurted eventually. James thought about his answer carefully.
"I am opposed to them," he said candidly. "In fact, I'm an Order of the Phoenix member."
He seemed to relax, so presumably that was the right answer, especially when Severus confirmed it with a nod of his head.
"My father mentioned over Christmas that he might be withdrawing me from school so I could receive a proper education," Arnold said, talking more freely now. "He's a Death Eater and thinks I need to learn the Dark Arts so that I can join the Death Eaters in the next few months."
"I take it you are less than enthusiastic about the idea?" Severus asked.
"I'm not stupid sir, I know they're going to lose. Besides, everyone knows Lucius Malfoy is more than a bit mad."
"As I see it, there are three main options," Severus said slowly. "The first is that you remain at the school in defiance of his wishes. You'll be easy for him to find and the governors would probably intervene. The second is that we send you to a safe house with a strong supporter of the Light who could continue your education. The last is that you go home and remain in your father's favour but we engineer some reason that you can't join."
"I think I'd better go home sir."
Severus thought for a moment. James wondered briefly if this was the first student who had come to him for help.
"Tell me, have you ever had Dragon Pox?"
"I don't think so sir."
"Then you'll be particularly vulnerable. It tends to lie dormant for about two weeks - enough time for you to be withdrawn from school before you become infectious. After that, your magic becomes unstable and you will have to be kept fairly isolated. Obviously, you would be of no use to them until you healed, by which point you can only hope that the fight will have ended or at least be going badly enough that your father will reconsider sending you. Should this not be the case, I can give you an emergency portkey to escape with. Does that sound acceptable to you?"
"Yes sir," Arnold said quietly, looking very subdued and a little surprised that he was agreeing to be infected with one of the worst childhood ailments in the wizarding world. Most youngsters had had it by the time they started at Hogwarts but the more developed and stronger your magic, the worse the effects were and the longer they lasted.
"James, have you had it?"
"No," he said, a little startled by the question. "I was muggle raised."
"I think you had better return to your own quarters then. Should you catch it now, the effects could be disastrous. I will disinfect myself thoroughly as soon as I am finished."
James could see the logic of that, so he smiled reassuringly at Arnold and left via the connecting door. Severus came after him an hour or so later, looking tired and worn.
"And so it starts again," he said, sighing. "I'd hoped that there wouldn't be any new Death Eaters from this generation but apparently I was wrong. We will have to keep track of any odd absences from school and warn the rest of the staff to watch out for suspicious behaviour."
"I think all of our Slytherins have more sense," James said, trying to be encouraging.
"I'd like to think I haven't wasted my time. There's a good crowd of older students, Archie for one, at the moment who will report any suspicions, which makes things easier. Other than that, we can only hope."
A/N: So, what did you think? REVIEW!