Chapter 8

The Story of Jack

The day hadn't quite turned out as anyone had hoped. The lessons had been messier than any first school day lessons, but everyone had finally settled into a peaceful sleep. Except one.

Captain Jack was sitting on the rooftops of Hogwarts castle, looking at the starry sky. The stars seemed to shine brighter that night and seemed to be calling to him. But Jack paid no attention to them. He was in deep thought.

Harry Potter still hadn't awakened and that was a good sign. It showed that his mind was recovering from the attack and that meant that he wouldn't have any permanent damage. No, what Jack worried was the fact that the Phoenix had risen again.

"Maybe my mother was right, maybe I am useless," Jack muttered. Although he didn't look it he was twenty-five and so it had been nearly ten years since he had been thrown through the portal.

Jack sighted and shifted a little. "How can one guy have so much bad luck on one day?"

Flashback to Jack's past

Della was high pregnant and was expecting her baby in a week or two. The rest of the children were running around the house, but the eldest was the one that was giving her trouble.

"Jack," she yelled. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Make sure that Maggie gets her bath and then go see if your father has any work for you." It remained silent. "Jack, in the name of Rexieria, answer me!"

There was a lot of movement upstairs and the head of her eldest son appeared on the top of the stairs. "I got a lot to do mum. Let Benny do it."

"Doing what, experiments? And Benny is at school today. So get your ass down here!"

"I told you mum, I'm busy! Leave me alone!"

"If you don't start helping you can leave. And I mean for good! You're a lazy piece of rock you know that? Now if you know what's good for you, then you can come down here right now and put your little sister in bath!"

Upstairs Jack was packing. "People around here don't appreciate the intelligence of magical shaping. If she doesn't want me, then she won't get me." He stormed down the stairs with his backpack furiously slinging from his shoulder.

Maggie, the three-year-old toddler, came running towards him. "Jack, bath!" she called enthusiastically.

Jack smiled; he had a soft spot for his little sister. She had dancing black hair and her eyes were like glowing embers. He picked her up and carried her outside on one arm. He walked around the back of the house and brought her to the awaiting bath.

"Can you see if it's warm?" he asked his little sister. She reached out with her small arm and touched the water. She pulled back, shivering. "Cold," she said pressing her wet hand on his face.

"Burr," he said, indicating that it was cold. He placed his own hand in the water and warmed it. "And now?"

The little girl put her hand in the water again and giggled. "Warm!" She seemed to glow of happiness.

Jack laughed and dropped her in the water. He smiled as his little sister let out a startled cry, but then let herself drift in the water. He washed his sister.

When they finished he blew her hair dry and send her inside. That would be the last time that he would see her. But he only smiled and walked towards one of the bigger craters. It wasn't as if he was going to stay away forever, now was it?

As he reached the crater he noticed that he wasn't the only one. Two men dressed in black cloaks, much more expensive then his, were standing in the middle of the bell crater.

It was called the bell crater, because of the huge bell that hung in the centre of the crater. The bell was once used in times of war as a warning to the troops that there was a crater there. That the bell wasn't placed on the edge of the crater was a mystery to all that cared.

Jack first didn't think anything of it, a lot of strange people could be seen in the craters, but these guys had something over them that seemed unique. They were furiously whispering to each other and pointing in different directions. Jack thought that they might be lost and decided to help them.

"You sirs alright there? Do you need any help?" He made his way down towards them and the figures turned towards him. Their faces were hidden under their hoods, but who was Jack to question them?

"We are just wondering why this bell was placed in the middle on the crater. We first thought it was a direction post, you see? That's why we are now in the middle of the crater."

Jack noticed that the one that spoke had an accent. He made a long, hissing's' and it almost sounded as if he wasn't used speaking that particular language.

"It's actually a monument of a sort. It was built in the war. Now it's a pinpoint to the different cities that lay in between."

He turned and pointed towards the city where he had just come from. "That's the way to the city of Berrios. It's one of the older cities and the change is going slowly. But it's coming."

There was a lot of noise behind him, but he paid no attention to it. He turned and pointed to the west of the city. "If you go that way, then it's another two days by foot to the city of Thommes."

He tuned again, this time to the east, still with his back to the strangers. "That way leads to the capital city Rexieria. It's a long way though and you'll have to follow the steam river, otherwise you'll get lost. And then -"

He turned towards the right, finally facing the strangers, but it was too late. They had pulled their hoods down, showing their faces, which looked a cross between a snake and a lion. Jack felt all colour drain from his face. He had heard of the creatures.

"But you're…"

"Yessss," the Harass said in his hissing tongue. "You have ssseen correct. We are the Harass and you, sweet juicy boy, have come to our calling." The Harass grasped Jack in a farm grip.

Jack tried to call for help but the magic of the Harass was far too strong. The other one was forming some sort of hole in the bell tower. Jack kept struggling. This wasn't how he had planned it. He would have gone to his aunt in Daramia and would have waited for a massage from his mother or father. He would have been home the following day, but now? Tears build up behind his eyes and the urge to scream was almost overwhelming.

"You will be our captain to the other would," the other Harass said and both laughed their strange hissing laugh.

It sent shivers down Jacks spine. "What do you want?" he gasped.

In staid of just saying, one of the Harass threw a pebble through the portal. With the sound of thunder and a blinding light the pebble disappeared through the other… well, the other side he guessed.

When they started to drag him over, Jack started to struggle. The Harass seemed to have thought that Jack hadn't had any strength left in him, but Jack had an amazing strength. Who wouldn't have strength with so many little brothers and sisters?

The Harass that held him, strengthen his grip and pushed Jack towards the portal. "Stop," whispered Jack, trying to get his voice working again. "Don't do it. You'll be sorry. HELP!"

The Harass just laughed their hissing laugh and threw him against the portal. Jack had squeezed his eyes shut, but when nothing seemed to happen, he opened his eyes again.

He had had been thrown against the portal, but it felt like he had been smashed into a wall. He turned and saw that the Harass were looking at him with their catlike eyes. Then he realised that he was still on his own planet. "Ha!" he said in all his smugness. "Didn't see that coming did you? That's what you get when you mess with the almighty 'captain' Jack!"

Then the sound of thunder was heard again, but this time much louder then when the pebble had passed through. Jack felt how he was squeezed between two walls and all the air was knocked out of his lungs. The last thing that he saw was a lone figure standing at the edge of the crater. Then, darkness took him.

The sensation only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. He heaved in big gulps of air and regained his balance. His eyes flew open at the strangest sound. "Where the hell am I?" he said to himself. He looked around. The clouds were dark, so that was the same, but the further he looked the less dark it became.

And the scenery was completely different too. No craters, no smoking bushes and no ashy roads. Everything was green and brown and Jack heard water close by. "This is definitely not the planet Rex anymore. It's freezing!"

A flash of light blinded him for a second and he jumped in one of the green 'thingies' next to him. He didn't want anyone to find him, before he knew where he was. He looked between the small green things that the green 'thingy' was made of.

A clap of thunder and the Harass appeared out of nowhere. It took a few seconds before they too realised that they weren't on Rex anymore. They started fighting and hissing against each other.

Jack was carefully looking around his to see if he could escape when they both reached for their blades. With a little bit of luck they would kill each other, but Jack didn't want to be there when one of them survived.

He crawled away from under the green thing and crawled over the earth towards - what he hoped - safety. Behind him he heard cries of rage and pain and a big splash of water. Jack looked over his shoulder. He couldn't see either of the Harass and so he leaped of the ground and started to run away from the scene.

End of Flashback

Jack remembered how he had found a little hut at the edge of the forest. He had met a girl who had believed that he had come from a different world and had started teaching him all about planet Earth.

But the girl had died after five years that he had lived there and when he had burned her in the traditional way, the people in the village had believed that he had murdered her. So he had been chased away and he had been living from city to city, always moving on. He had met people from all different species, different believes and different tongues.

When he had met Harry it was as if he had found something of home. And now the young man was dying. Well he wasn't sure, but he felt it. He had accepted the fact that he could never go home, but Harry had never had a real home. Except this school than maybe.

The sun was starting to light up the heavens and Jack smiled, it was one of the things that Jack loved about this planet. The sun, with its incredible warmth, was one thing that seemed to exist here too.

The sun seemed to wake up the building too, because life was flowing through it again and Jack knew that the students and the professors - and all the other creatures that he hadn't met yet – were about to wake up.

Then, out of the depths of the school, a cry was heard. "JACK!" Jack felt a shiver go down his spine. For a moment he thought that his mother was here, but then he smiled. "Well," he said as he petted the building and leaped through one of the doors on the roof. "Duty calls."

A/N: I must admit that this story is completely unique. But hey it's magic, so who cares? I know that I'm deliberately making the story bigger and so the storyline a bit long, but there are different characters in every story that need to be explained. So don't hate me for it. I wrote this chapter to show how Jack thinks and that he is also a victim here and he's only trying to help. In the next chapter Harry will explain what happened to him and that chapter will probably be posted next weekend. So, keep you chin up and keep reviewing because that makes me happy. Love you all.