Disclaimer: Iwould rather notget sued by J.K. Rowling because she would most definitely win...
A/N: Thanks so much to the following reviewers: And So The Wolf Howls, miszhermoine, kittyatza, AnIrishLily, I-see-thestrals, warm summer days, and Phantom of a Rose! You are all the reason I continue to post this story! Merci beaucoup!
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Oh, and I also wanted to point out that this is Harry's, as well as James' and Lily's, sixth year at Hogwarts. Just incase you didn't figure that out already...sorry if I confused anyone!
Chapter 5:
His long black cloak sweeping along an old road, Severus Snape approached, what appeared to be, a once elegant mansion that its owners had neglected to clean. The shutters were damaged and hanging by their hinges, ivy was growing up the sides of the house, and the yard looked like it hadn't been cared for in years. All in all, the Riddle house was an eerie site to gaze upon and frightened many of the Muggles down in the local village.
However, the haunted silhouette of the house didn't invoke fear into Severus as he reached out and knocked three times on the front door. A heavy metal bolt could be heard scratching across the door, and the door slowly creaked opened to reveal a long shadowy hallway and a short, watery-eyed man.
"I have business to attend to, Wormtail, let me in," Severus demanded, pushing Pettigrew aside.
Surprisingly, Peter planted his feet firmly on the ground and stood, blocking the doorway. "The Dark Lord is currently busy and wishes to remain unbothered by those who haven't been called for," Wormtail recited, quivering as he looked up at Severus' face.
Severus rolled his eyes in annoyance as he looked down upon the pitiful excuse of a Wizard. "Step aside, rodent. He has asked for my presence."
Peter reluctantly stepped aside, allowing Snape to enter the dark hallway. The familiar scent of moldy rags and stale blood reached his nose, as Severus removed his mask and made his way up the rickety staircase. "Make yourself useful and bring us drinks," stated Snape over his shoulder. Wormtail glared at his retreating back and turned towards the kitchen, muttering insults under his breath.
"You may enter, Severus," replied a soft, yet powerful voice, the moment Snape's foot had reached the landing.
Snape entered the room and the door closed with a soft thud behind him. He lowered his head respectfully to the man in front of him and then stood straight again. "My Lord, I have important news to tell." A large snake slithered across Snape's feet and coiled itself around the black velvet chair its master was occupying; Snape seemed unfazed when the man and snake began talking in hushed quick hisses, and Snape waited semi-politely for their discussion to cease.
Lord Voldemort finally raised his head as a ghost of a grin flickered across his face, his deep red eyes staring straight into Snape's pure black ones, but it was not Voldemort's voice that replied but a woman's. "Does this have anything to do with your absence from our Mudblood campaign last month, Snape?"
"Aw, Bellatrix. So nice to see you again," Snape replied with a hint of sarcasm, inclining his head toward the heavily lidded woman in front of him.
Bellatrix Black stepped out of the shadows and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Snape. "Same to you," she spat, but her voice and gesture showed no pleasure in seeing the man in front of her. "So, are you going to explain or not?"
"That is between the Dark Lord and myself, Bellatrix. If he had wished to inform you, I'm sure he would have."
Bellatrix fingered her wand dangerously inside of her robes, "Are you trying to suggest that our Lord doesn't trust me—"
"Bella," Voldemort's voice rang out, echoing around the cold small room, immediately silencing her. "Severus was absent on my orders. Do you think he would be so ignorant as to show up here if I hadn't been notified of his nonattendance?"
"My apologies, my Lord," Bella replied, but she still showed no sign in accepting Snape's absence, or trusting him for that matter.
"Take it into remembrance that nothing gets passed your Lord, Bellatrix. I see and hear everything that goes on within my faithful followers, and it would be wise to remember that. Now, leave us, I wish to talk to Severus alone."
There was no mistaking the look of surprise and anger that crossed Bellatrix's sharp features. As she strutted out of the room quickly, she shot one last look of pure loathing in Snape's direction before the heavy oak door closed with a snap.
There was silence for a moment as Lord Voldemort surveyed Snape, the only sound coming from the soft trickle of water from a broken pipe. "Now that we are free of interruptions, Severus, what do you have to tell me?"
OOO
"I can't believe our team is short of one player…again!" Harry exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief. "This is ridiculous. First Ritchie Coote catches the flu and isn't allowed to play for a week, and then as soon as we get him back we lose another player!"
"I'm telling you, Gryffindor's Quidditch team is cursed this year, mate," exclaimed Ron, patting Harry on the back.
Hermione put down her Charms book and stared at the boys. "Well, it's not Demelza's fault that her parents want her home. It's been happening a lot this year. Did you know the Patils want Parvati and Padma to leave?"
Harry jabbed his quill into his ink pot as he began scribbling away on his homework. "Bloody Voldemort is ruining my Quidditch team," he mumbled annoyingly.
Ron flinched slightly at hearing Voldemort's name but snorted all the same as he leaned back into the couch. "You could always get McLaggen; I bet he'd love that," stated Ron sarcastically.
Harry smirked, "Over my dead body."
A small cough behind him caused Harry to turn around. His eyes landed on that new guy, Jacob, who was leaning casually against the wall, staring at him.
"I hear you've found yourself in quite the Quidditch dilemma," Jacob stated. He seemed unperturbed by the fact that Hermione was narrowing her eyes in suspicion at him. "I think I can help."
Harry looked over towards Ron who shrugged. "Have you ever played?"
The trio jumped when Jacob let out a loud laugh. "Have I ever played? You're looking at the man who led his house Quidditch team to victory two years in a row."
Ron's eyes widened, as did Harry's. "Please tell us you're a chaser," Ron pleaded almost desperately.
Jacob smiled as he plopped down into a vacant chair. "It's your lucky day, mates."
Harry breathed in deeply, taking in a sigh of immediate relief as Ron looked upon Jacob with a look of awe. "Practice is tomorrow afternoon, will you be able to make it?" Harry asked.
Jacob nodded, swinging his legs over the chair as he stood up. "I'll see you then, Harry." Hermione glared slightly as Jacob smirked in her direction and winked happily at her before he disappeared up the boys' staircase.
Ron was looking at Hermione, his ears turning a dark shade of red. "Oh, so now instead of you and Vicky it's going to be you and that guy?"
Hermione appeared startled as she turned towards Ron. "What are you talking about, Ron?"
"What's the nickname going to be this time? Jacob Gatesy-poo?" Ron said, his voice rising. Harry looked in between Ron and Hermione before shaking his head, exasperated at the many quarrels those two got into. Honestly, Harry was about to lock them both in a closet and threaten to not let them out until they had come to some mutual agreement.
"At least it's better than Won-Won," Hermione spat back. She jumped up out of her chair, swung her bag viciously over her shoulder and stalked off to her dormitory.
"You're just jealous that I'm actually with somebody now," Ron retorted, calling after her.
Hermione swung around, her face livid. "Tell me, Ronald, what do you and Lavender ever talk about?"
Ron opened and closed his mouth several times, and then looked towards Harry apparently wanting help from his friend.
Hermione snorted. "If you think I'm jealous of a meaningless relationship then you are the most daft boy I have ever met." She gave one last deadly look at Ron before slamming her dormitory door closed.
Ron gaped up after her, momentarily speechless. The common room was unnaturally quiet as everyone stared from Ron to Hermione's dorm. "What are you looking at?" Ron demanded to the onlookers angrily, who all immediately began talking and doing homework again.
Ron turned towards Harry, who had his head bent low over a piece of parchment. "So," Ron began, completely blowing off the recent argument, "do you think Jacob's any good?"
OOO
James pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch. Ten more minutes until the Quidditch practice he had been looking forward to since yesterday evening. Quidditch was the only thing that could take his mind off of things, and he definitely needed to clear his thoughts.
Lily hadn't talked to him since last week. Apparently, she had taken the fact that she would indeed marry James as a personal insult and refused to even look at him. James had tried to remind her that since Dumbledore had warned them not to change the past, they may as well start going out now, but that seemed to have only made things worse. Lily was now spending her time within the company of the two most gossiping girls James had ever met, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.
Famous Aurors Through the Ages still laid underneath James' bed up in the sixth year's dorm. He hadn't been able to continue reading it due to the fact that he shared a dorm with Harry Potter. If Harry had caught James reading a book about the Potters that would certainly lead to awkward questions. He couldn't let Hermione catch him with the book either; she was already too suspicious as it was. But now that James was going to be on a Quidditch team with his son, maybe he'd be able to find out answers that way.
The cold refreshing air hit his face as James strolled out into the grounds. Up ahead he could just make out two figures with brooms on their shoulders. He ran to catch up with them. "Hey, Harry, Ron," James exclaimed, as he slowed into their pace.
"Hey, where's your broom?" Harry asked, looking at James' empty hands.
Bugger, he knew he had forgotten something. "Uh, yeah, I'm going to have to use one of the school ones," James said, rubbing a hand through his hair. He looked over at Harry who was staring at him, a funny look upon his face. After a few seconds however, Harry shook his head and nodded, not saying another word.
James looked over at Ron curiously, who shrugged his shoulders in response. Trying to strike up another conversation James said, "So, what's a Firebolt?" James asked, as he read the gold-letters embellished on Harry's nicely-cut broom.
Ron coughed in shock as Harry looked at him amusingly. "You're joking, right?" they both asked. When James continued to stare at them confusedly, Harry and Ron knew their worst fears had been confirmed.
"You've never heard of the Firebolt?" asked Ron incredulously. "It's only the fastest model of our time. Where did you say you were from again?"
Shoot. James mentally slapped himself, but was saved from having to answer as they entered the Quidditch pitch where four other players were waiting. He vaguely wondered how fast that baby could fly. James' broom, his trusty Comet 360, was the best quality broom back in 1980; it had even been used in the national Quidditch World Cup.
James got his answer as soon as Harry kicked off from the ground. A small drop of drool fell from James' open mouth, as she stared in awe at the power and speed of the Firebolt. Harry was nothing more than a red and gold blur and within thirty seconds had caught the Snitch and released it again. His son was amazing; his talent obviously inherited from his father's genes because James had never seen Lily on a broom in his life.
"Alright team," Harry assembled, as the other players raced to circle around their captain in midair. "We'll do a mock Quidditch game today in order to get Jacob accustomed with Ginny and Katie. Beaters, knock the Bludgers toward the chasers in order to distract them, but try not to injure anyone—"
"But if you do, make sure it's me. I have a Transfiguration test tomorrow that I would like to miss," broke in Ginny, grinning slyly at her teammates, her long crimson hair flying out behind her.
Harry tried to look stern, but failed as a small smile tugged at his lips. "I'd rather nobody—"he stopped, looking pointedly at Ginny—"ended up in the hospital wing. Now Ron, get into goal. I'll release the Snitch for me to find."
Two hours later, dusk began to fall as Harry and his team landed back amongst the ground. That had been the most fun James had enjoyed in a while. "Good job today everyone—"
"—Yeah, except Ron. Honestly, what do you call that last save you tried to make? A chaotic flail of arms and legs?" Ginny remarked sarcastically, good-naturedly picking on her older brother.
Apparently, in an attempt to look good in front of Jacob, or James, Ron had tried extra hard during the practice which actually just made him look extremely ridiculous. James watched as Harry tried to fight down a laugh as he looked at Ginny, her eyes bright with amusement. What was it with Potters and redheads?"
"Shut up, Gin," Ron retorted, the tips of his ears turning a brilliant shade of maroon. Harry hastily took control of the situation, as he dismissed his team and headed back towards the castle with Ron and James.
"…I'm just not good under pressure," Ron was grumbling, clearly trying to save himself some face in front of the two other boys.
"I know mate. I've seen you when you're on form and you make spectacular saves," Harry tried to reassure, throwing his broom over his shoulder.
"And anyways," Harry continued, "Slytherin's team isn't very strong this year, not like they were ever good, but according to Ginny their two new chasers don't know the difference between the Quaffle and the Bludgers," Harry was informing them as they passed by the Forbidden Forest.
As they rounded a corner near the Greenhouses, hushed voices caught James' attention coming from just beyond the trees. He tried to shrug it off, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Sh, be quiet for a second," he said to Harry and Ron, who looked at him strangely. "Come on, this way. It sounds like somebody is arguing."
Harry and Ron shot a look at each other as James quietly crept closer to the trees; Harry and Ron followed. As they got closer, the voices became louder and two voices could be easily distinguished.
"—you've put them in danger, Severus, as well as Harry," said the voice of Dumbledore. James looked over at Ron and Harry who were both listening intently, their mouths slightly opened.
"You know as well as I, Albus, that the Dark Lord posses power much greater than my own. I wouldn't have been able to hide it," Snape hissed back.
"I didn't think an old school grudge would have lasted this long with you, Severus," Dumbledore said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"If I may remind you, Potter tried to kill me—"
"My memory remains perfectly intact, and if I do recall, he ended up saving you, did he not?"
There was silence for a moment, as if Snape was trying to find some way to defend himself. "My Occlumency power does not measure up to his skills as a Legilimens. He would have broken through and found out the information anyway; furthermore, he would have realized that I am not loyal to him like I pledge to be—"
"That's enough. What's done is done. I need you back at your post and making regular updates to me. And, Severus, I do not wish for anymore of our secrets to be revealed to Tom."
They only had a split second to hide before Snape stalked out of the shadows and strutted off to the castle, his black robes bellowing out behind him. Professor Dumbledore emerged a minute later, rubbing his head and looking extremely old and tiresome. James felt his mind running at a hundred miles an hour as he looked at Ron and Harry a shocked, slightly confused look on their faces.
OOO
Harry paced back and forth inside of the boys' dormitory as Ron and James watched him. "After all Dumbledore has told me about him completely trusting Snape, he still lost his patience with him," Harry said, rubbing his head and slumping down onto his bed.
"Dumbledore trusts Snape?" James asked in a dark tone, his hatred for Snape increasing to an alarming height that James thought wasn't even possible; Snape had put Harry, his son, in danger…Snivellus would certainly pay.
"He's going off his rocker," Ron stated, "no one stops being a Death Eater."
James' head shot up, "Dumbledore employed a Death Eater? He's insane! After all the things Snivellus did—" James suddenly cut off, looking up at the two other boys. Uh oh, he was in for it now. For a second, James had felt that he was with Sirius and Remus, but the suspicious looks he was receiving from Harry reminded him of the current situation.
"What did you just call him?" Harry asked, staring at Jacob as if he were seeing him for the first time.
"Ha, Snivellus, that's a good one, mate," Ron stated, chuckling slightly.
James thought quickly before getting his cool back, "Snivellus? What are you on about? You must have misheard me, but that name does fit him, no?"
Harry continued to scrutinize James, until his mind seemed to jump back on track to the problem at hand. "And I've never tried killing anyone, so I don't know what Snape was on about saying that I tried to kill him."
"Well, occasionally you'll make his life difficult, but to accuse you of murder…"
That's when something clicked inside of James' memory. Of course, he hadn't been talking about Harry; Snape had been talking about him, James. "You haven't," James said quietly, "but I have."
OOO
"Snivellus is such a…there isn't an evil enough word to describe him," James shouted angrily, pacing around the sixth year boys' dormitory. The school year had just started and already James' loathing for Snape had risen to an all new high.
Sirius Black sat on his bed playing exploding snap with Remus and Peter. "I dunno…what about greasy-haired arse, or Voldy's boy, or a-Slytherin-so-ugly-hell-is-even-going-to-spit-him-back-out, or—"
"Padfoot, I think you're blowing off Prongs' point," Remus stated simply. His face was extremely pail and sickly looking. He looked outside the window wearily and let out an aggravated sigh.
Running a hand through his hair, James exclaimed, "I wished he would get attacked by a werewolf."
A warning look crossed Remus' face as he stared harshly at James. "Would you really wish that upon anybody?" he asked firmly.
James dropped his head, although he continued to glare at the floor. "Sorry, Moony."
"Well," started Sirius, his eye holding a mad glint, "the full moon is tomorrow…"
"Yeah, so?" asked Peter, looking at the cards in his hands carefully before making a move.
"So," Sirius continued, glancing at Remus, "technically, Prongs' wish could come true. All we would have to do—"
Remus dropped his cards, his eyes stern. "Sirius, no."
"We wouldn't have to hurt him exactly, just invoke some fear into the slimy git."
"You can't stop him from getting hurt, Sirius. I may be tamer when you are with me in your animagus forms, but I'm still a wild werewolf. I will not take that risk, and I can't believe you were even thinking about it," Remus retorted angrily, breathing deeply.
There was silence for a moment as James and Peter surveyed their two other friends closely. "Fine," Sirius said, breaking through the quietness and the tension. "I'm sorry, Moony." But that glint in his eye was still apparent.
OOO
Okay, so technically James' hadn't played a hand in the danger Sirius almost led Snape to, but he had been the one to plant the idea in Sirius' head. He should have known that his best mate wouldn't have dropped the matter as easily as he did.
James looked up at Harry and Ron who both appeared to not have realized James had zoned out as they were both busy abusing Snape.
He thought back to the discussion between Snivellus and Dumbledore. So, Harry wasn't the only one in danger; James and Lily were as well, but from what James didn't know.
Ohhh, what is going to happen next I wonder...oh wait, I'm the author! I already know what's going to happen! Hehe!
Have a wonderful day!
--HeyLookTheSnitch