"Jackson" James cried out.

"Godric Gryffindor will look down on me with pride" declared Sebastian. "The purest of all Gryffindors."

"I wouldn't say that just yet Gorren" a voice croaked from the ground.

James gasped, as Jackson Lestrange got up from the ground. His nose was bleeding slightly, but was clearly alive.

"Jackson…" James murmured.

"No" shrieked Sebastian. "How are you still alive?"

"The ultimate proof that you're a Gryffindor" replied Jackson. "That you're really shit at casting the Killing Curse."

"Neville, Lock Mr. Gorren in the dungeons immediately" ordered Professor McGonagall, who had rushed down to the pitch the moment Sebastian shouted Avada Kadavra.

"No" screamed Sebastian. "I'm not finished yet."

"Graham, contact the Ministry of Magic at once" continued McGonagall. "They have to be informed that a student attempted to cast the Killing Curse."

"At once Professor" said Montague, before he set off to the Owlry.

"I want you two to come with me" said Professor McGonagall to James and Jackson. "I need you two to write witness statements over what just happened."

It was only at that moment when it truly dawned on James what Sebastian tried to do. That despite his claims of being the purest of all Gryffindors, he tried to cast the spell most famously used by Lord Voldemort. James and Jackson followed Professor McGonagall to a spare classroom, where both of them had to write their version on what took place on a sheet of parchment. As James handed his copy over to McGonagall, Professor Longbottom walked in carrying a letter.

"The Ministry is sending an auror to pick Sebastian up" he informed.

"Dad is on his way here?" gasped James.

"To pick up Sebastian?" questioned Jackson. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Sebastian's crime is very serious" Longbottom explained. "Best case scenario for him will be that because his spell failed, he will be forced to surrender his wand, and be banned from performing magic ever again."

"And what's the worst case?" asked James nervously.

"He will be sentenced for over twenty years in Azkaban" answered Longbottom.

"Good" said Jackson. "I like the idea of him spending the rest of his life with Death Eaters."

"Professor, do you mind if I have a word with Potter and Lestrange in private please?" asked Longbottom.

"Certainly" replied McGonagall. "I'll need to show the auror in anyhow."

McGonagall left the classroom, leaving James and Jackson alone.

"I want to congratulate you both on getting through a highly difficult year" said Professor Longbottom. "The two of you had to face massive challenges this year, and I'm pleased to see that you took them head on."

"You're on about me being a Lestrange right?" asked Jackson.

"Jackson, I can only apologise for not better foreseeing the bullying that would happen to you all year" said Longbottom. "To be honest, I was mainly focused on making sure Crawford would habilitate himself ok; and to be perfectly honest with you, I thought that Gryffindor would have been above petty bullying."

"It's ok Professor" grinned Jackson. "It wasn't you who was cursing me every day, it was scumbags like Gorren."

"As for you James, you definitely had to face your own challenges" said Longbottom.

"To be fair Professor, it was hardly the first year my dad had" argued James.

"No, I'd say that your first year has been even tougher than Harry's" said Longbottom.

"In what way?" demanded James. "He had to rescue the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort."

"You forget that I was in the same year as Harry" explained Longbottom. "And at the end of that year, Professor Dumbledore gave me a lesson that I would never forget. It's one thing to be brave when standing up to your enemies, but it's another thing to find the courage to stand up to your friends."

"I don't understand Professor" replied James.

"At the start of the year, you were repeatedly getting into arguments with Jackson here, and you befriended Darren Crawford, Sliverstone McLaren and Sebastian Gorren" elaborated Longbottom. "Fast forward to today, would you still consider them friends?"

James didn't say anything, but bowed his head down. He never considered it before now, but he was betrayed by many people he called friends. Now he truly realised what his grandad's friends must have felt when Wormtail betrayed them.

"Harry didn't have half the emotional challenge that you had" Longbottom continued. "He basically went to confront someone he hated in a scenario where he could not lose. Today James, you had to confront someone you liked; someone who saw you as a friend back."

"It wasn't hard" argued James. "I only did what was right."

"You may not realise this now" Longbottom sighed. "But when you're older, you'll realise just how easy it is to side with your friends, regardless of whether they're right or not. To be able to stand up to them when they're wrong takes a lot of bravery indeed."

James didn't know how to respond. He didn't think twice about attacking Sebastian, because what he was doing was wrong.

"I still don't think I was braver than dad" he finally decided to say.

"One day you'll understand" sighed Longbottom. "Anyhow, you better return to your common room. I'm sure Bella will want an in depth explanation over what happened."

The last few days of the school year seemed to whizz by. James was pleased to see that he passed all his exams, with his best result bizarrely coming from Transfiguration.

"Good lord" complained Bella. "Maybe you respond better to Thicknesse's unfair teaching methods after all."

Bella's grades were mostly similar to his, whilst Jackson got the highest scores out of everybody for every class. James could tell by his face that he was trying really hard to stop himself from smugly gloating about it. Darren Crawford on the over hand performed miserably. He didn't pass a single test, failing all of his exams. James would have felt sorry for him, had he not decided to become the Traitor of Gryffindor.

Sebastian Gorren was quietly taken from the dungeons shortly after James and Jackson left Professor Longbottom. James later had a letter from his father explaining that the court decided to snap his wand, and forbid him from using magic ever again. Travis Gant told him one morning, that during the holidays, the Slytherin quiditch team were planning on going to his house, and casting random spells just to rub it in.

"The Slytherins are certainly a lot happier these days" noticed Jackson.

"Can you blame them?" asked Bella, pointing at the Slytherin hourglass.

For the first time since the year before Harry Potter arrived at Hogwarts, Slytherin were on course to win the House Cup. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were nowhere close due to Crawford's and McLaren's conspiracy, and Hufflepuff were the only other team in contention; however the day after Sebastian's attack, Montague awarded his own team twenty points each for sportsmanship. Even though people strongly suspected bias, nobody argued with him. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were so far behind, that none of their house members had enough energy to complain; and as Hufflepuff was mostly made up of far less selfish people, they were mostly happy to let Slytherin take their first House Cup win in decades.

James felt almost a bit sad when the last day of school came. He felt like he now understood what his father meant, when he said that Hogwarts was home to him. It would feel so weird to him sleeping in his room at number twelve, Grimald Place, even though he slept there for years.

"Yeah I get what you mean" agreed Jackson, as they both walked down to the Great Hall together. "Going back to the orphanage certainly feels a lot more like a holiday doesn't it."

The Great Hall was decorated in Slytherin green. His dad told him that this was true at the end of his first year, but Professor Dumbledore gave Gryffindor some last minute points to help them win the cup. James for a second wondered whether the same would happen here, but quickly dismissed the thought. Slytherin deserved the win, for no other reason that it would truly anger Sebastian.

The final feast seemed to go by very quickly, and before James knew it, he was walking with Bella and Jackson back to the Hogwarts Express. They were about to board it, when two people approached them from the side. Darren Crawford and Silverstone McLaren had both arrived for one last attempt at aggravation before they go their separate ways for the summer.

"What do you want?" demanded Jackson.

"Only to give my apologies that you have to return to your rotten little orphanage" replied Darren. "To think that if you were related to Bellatrix, you would have been so rich."

"You don't even realise what you threw away" argued Jackson. "I wish I knew my parents. You had a loving mum, dad and brother, and you betrayed them out of selfishness."

"Speak for yourself" McLaren butted in. "If I listened to my dad, I wouldn't be the successful racing driver I am now."

James considered what he wanted to say. Part of him really wanted to insult the two people who tried to make his first year hell; but on the other hand, he didn't want to stoop down to their level.

"I feel sorry for both of you" he said sincerely. "Both of you rejected your family's love, and I hope you can live fine without it."

James then boarded the train, leaving Darren and McLaren looking stunned. They found a compartment all to themselves, and spent the last few hours mainly casting spells before they are unable to during the school holidays.

"One whole year later, and I'm still better at magic than you" teased Jackson.

"Well I'm sure there's plenty of muggle stuff that I'm better than you at too" argued Bella.

"Ooh, that sounds like a dare" sneered Jackson. "How about it Potter? Us three meet up during the holidays, and I thrash you at all the muggle games I know."

"Bring it" James declared.

Jackson then gave James his telephone number, as they agreed that they didn't want owls to be constantly flying in his muggle orphanage. Bella however lived far away from muggle civilisation, and didn't know how to use a phone; though she promised Jackson that with her father's influence, she would find her way regardless. One thing James knew for certain however, is that he was going to have a much happier summer holidays than his dad ever had.