Notelianos: Yey! I was afraid I lost you. College is kicking my butt, so if it takes a while I simply can't find the time to write much.

The aurors had arrived overnight. Most were stationed around the forest and by the front gate. James didn't think there were a hundred, but he figured that some were probably in Hogsmeade as well... which reminded him that he got to go to Hogsmeade that year. Maybe I can ask Katie...

James was sitting in the common room, acting like he was doing school work but really watching Katie, who really was doing school work. John joined him and noticed where he was looking. "What did I tell you about staring?"

"Do you think I have a shot at it?" James asked.

"Maybe, if you try hard enough. But staring at her isn't going to get your transfigurations work done."

"I know... my brain can't handle both... Isn't your dad here, with the aurors?" James said, trying to get the subject off of Katie.

"Should be."

"What was it we wanted to ask him?" James' eyes hadn't moved off of Katie, but she wouldn't look up, which either meant that she had noticed and was too shy to look back, or that she really liked doing school work.

"Uhh... oh, quidditch."

"Yeah... we should go do that."

"Would you like to leave your eyes here?"

"No. I don't think she'll be leaving anytime soon. We should go, while we're not doing anything important."

"Alright then," John got up, but James didn't move. John waved his hand in front of James' face.

"Hmm?"

"Come on already. The poor girl's probably scared of you. You're staring at her like some kind of rapist."

"Okay." James got up slowly, completely forgetting the transfiguration work and letting it sit there. "Let's go."

They found John's dad by the school gates, lying on the ground with his eyes closed. There were four other aurors there as well. "What is it John?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I see no reason why Chris or Josh, or anyone else, for that matter, would bother me. Unless your mother's here and no one informed me."

"James wanted to ask you something."

"Really?" He sat up, looking at the two of them. "And what would that be?"

"Well, there are a few -" James said, feeling kind of ackward.

"Then you'd better sit down, you might be here a while." They sat.

"We were looking at the quidditch records -" James started.

"And you want to know if it's true." James nodded. "It is. Everything in that trophy room is true."

"What about the rumor that he was the youngest seeker ever?" John asked.

"Yep, that too. I was there when it happened. By the way, I heard you got seeker. Good job."

"Yeah, but now I have to do good, with what all those trophies say," James mumbled.

"You'll be fine, don't worry." Easier said than done, James thought. "Is that it? I have to act like I'm working in a second, the headmistress is coming..."

"There's something else," James said. "What happened in 1994?"

Ron looked a little scared to answer the question. "What do you mean?"

"Why wasn't there any quidditch?"

"Oh... well, there was this thing called a Triwizard Tournament."

"Oh," James said, sensing that something bad must have happened. They all got up off the ground.

"James, listen," Ron said. "There are some things I shouldn't tell you. You really should go ask him. I don't have the right to... well, to get into his buisness."

"Why has he never told me before?"

"Some really bad things happened to your dad while he was at school. Terrible, horrible things... if he wants to tell you then you'll know." McGonagall had just arrived, and the aurors stood still.

James and John hurried off, getting out of the way of the headmistress. He thought about what his uncle had said, and what his mother always told him. Don't bother your father with such things. Something very bad had happened... James wasn't quite so sure he wanted to know anymore.

Skip back to Harry, for a bit.
-----------------------------------

"He asked you that?" Harry mumbled. Ron had just come up to his room, where he had been checking papers, and told him everything.

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess I brought it upon myself. I told him to look."

"You really should tell him."

"There is a very good reason I haven't told them anything," Harry said, defensively.

"I know, but James is older now. He'll understand."

"I don't want them to think I'm anything special. If they found out about all of those things I did, which I really didn't do on my own..." He laughed a bit "They'd probably end up like Malfoy used to be."

"Used to be?"

"Well, he has improved a bit from where he started."

"He still calls me Weezlebee. I don't think that's improvement."

"Mmmhmm... Roonil Wazlib."

"Shut it," Ron said defensively. "So, any news on Bellatrix?"

"Not recently, at least, not since I went with Hermione last time. They are doing it rather sneakily this time around."

"They won't hide it for long. They like to brag."

"I think the ministry already knows something, and they just haven't told us yet. You'd think they'd clue me in, since, you know, I did it last time, but evidently that's not an issue now."

"The ministry has been better ever since Scrimengour left though. At least the guy in there now isn't as cocky."

"He's only behind on Scrimengour in that he hasn't asked me to be a cosmetic addition to the ministry yet. Other than that... I gave up trying to make them listen to me a long time ago. I figure, if they don't want to listen to the one who did it last time, they'll be the ones dying." Harry laughed. "Hmm. I sound like the cocky one now."

"But you have a right to be. You actually did something important."

"Yeah, well, try convincing them of that." This entire time Harry had been busy checking assignments. There was a large pile of them on his desk.

"How's the class been going?"

"Hmm. If I had known it was this hard... Book work from the first and second years, reports from the third years," he said, pointing to the stacks on his desk, "exam from the fourth years, practice OWLS work from the fifth years, more tests from the sixth years, and the seventh years have a report due this week which is going to take me a month to do. So, yeah, it's awesome."

"Have you talked with Ginny recently?" Harry shook his head. "You two are always so close, even after all this time... I just thought, maybe she'd miss you."

"She probably does and doesn't want to bother me."

"Makes sense."

"I hope she's doing alright. She's never been with the kids by herself, at least not everyday."

"She's probably glad you're here to look out for James and Angie, since all this death eater stuff has been happening. You should take a break. You've been working all day."

"I can't. If I do it won't get done."

"The Gryffindor team is practicing tonight at six. That's a good enough reason to take a break, right? See how that son of your's is."

"No. I don't want to embarass him."

"But that's what parents are for!"

"Fine, fine. I'll go."

Harry and Ron went to the quidditch pitch near the end of the practice. The team didn't seem to notice that they were being watched. "The keeper is horrible," Ron mumbled.

"You're one to talk."

"She needs a lucky potion more than I ever did."

"Sure," Harry said, shaking his head. Ron's son John went flying over their heads. "He's not too bad, though. Maybe they'll start singing the song again."

"Don't be ridiculous. They'd have to change the words, and then it wouldn't rhyme. I never did find out who started that song."

"That was the Slytherins."

"I know that. I mean, which person."

The team was landing. The captain noticed that they were there and came over to them. "Professor? We weren't expecting anyone..."

"Don't call me that. It doesn't sound right. And we were just watching."

"Oh. Well, do you have any advice for us? I mean, since you both used to play quidditch..." Harry thought Ron was going to say something about the keeper, but he kept his mouth shut. Harry was about to speak when a troop of Slytherins (the always present antagonists) came in. "We have the pitch for another fifteen minutes," the captain said.

"And you'd better make sure you're off it before that," a Slytherin said. "We need to practice more than you, so if you are one second over -"

"Is there a problem here?" Harry asked, standing and looking at the Slytherin group.

"No, professor. Of course not. We were only assuring that we have out fair share of the pitch."

"It has been assured. You should leave while the Gryffindor team finishes up. Common courtesy. You wouldn't want them here while you practice, would you?" The Slytherins didn't seem to know what else to do, and didn't want to talk back to a professor, so they began to walk away. "And I think you can stay back there for an extra five minutes to make up for the five you just cost them."

The Gryffindor team looked amazed that anyone would stick up for them. "Professor -" the captain began.

"Can you come every practice?" Josh ((R/H)) asked.

"Josh -" the captain began again. She looked at Harry as if to say 'I'm really sorry about him'.

"What? They're here every practice kicking us out way before our time is up. It's about time someone told them off."

"Sure," Harry said. Even though he had work to do he thoroughly enjoyed punishing Slytherins. "When I can."

"We would love to have your input on how the team is doing," the captain said.

"Do you know how to do a Wronski Feint?" another player asked.

"Yes, but I haven't done it in a long time -"

"Could you show us?" a boy said, offering Harry his broom.

"I-"

"Yeah, go on Harry," Ron said, nudging him. "Show them."

"Fine. If I die I'm blaming it on you." He held his wand up in the air and after a few seconds his Firebolt showed up. There was a group gasp. "It's a little dusty, but it works fine."

Harry went up into the air. I'm really sorry about this, he thought to his broom. I know it's been a while. He flew up as high as he could without making himself dizzy and looked back down. He realized why some of them gasped before. Most of them were younger and didn't know much about nonverbal spells. It must have surprised them to see a broom coming out of no where. Okay then, straight down. He tilted the broom vertically and fell to the ground, pulling out at the last second. He hadn't gone as fast as he had before, but at least he wasn't dead. The team was applauding him. "I used to be able to do it better."

"Better? That was great," a girl said. "None of us could do that."

"Sure you could, if you practiced at it." The captain began collecting the balls before the Slytherins came back and let everyone leave. Harry and Ron began to walk back to the castle. "I'm going to wait for James," Harry decided, stopping half way there. Ron continued on without him.

Switching again
-----------------

James was changing out of his quidditch gear. He hadn't expected to see his dad there. A Wronski Feint... he would never be able to do that. Not that he hadn't enjoyed watching it, though. Now what happens if I don't win my first match? They'll think... He wasn't sure what they'd think, but it wasn't going to be good. He began walking back to the castle when Katie walked past him quickly. "Oh, hi James," she said, then continued on.

"H-hi," James mumbled, caught off guard. She said hi to me. She said hi to me! He went to the castle in a sort of daze and found his dad waiting for him. "Hi," James said, feeling a little ackward. "What did I do?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing that I know about."

"Then -"

"Ron told me what you asked him today." Oh no, James thought. "And - I think I should tell you. You have a right to know."

"Okay."

"But you can't tell any of your siblings, alright? They'll hear it when they're old enough."

"Okay, sure."

"My office, tomorrow, after six."

James nodded. "Alright." They both walked into the castle, and his dad headed up for his office. That was strange, James thought. She said hi to me!