Chapter 21

James was still in the hospital wing. His only visitors had been Lotte and Fred since his mum had left to find Albus. Where were they? It had been hours! They must have found him by now, so why wasn't his dad wishing him well now he was awake? Was he just that unimportant?

"Yes!" spoke the voice in his head, "They don't love you. They don't want you! They'd prefer it if you were DEAD!"

Well, thought James, lucky for them I won't be around much longer, I have to die and destroy Voldemort, all in a days work. He chuckled in spite of himself, and Madam Pomfrey gave him a quizzical look. James grinned back at her, and waved his hand tiredly, it was surprising how much being tortured took it out of you.

"James?" a grey-haired woman stuck her head round the door of the hospital wing, "Oh Jamie! I was so worried!"

"Grandma!" James said happily, he could always rely on Grandma Weasley to spoil him rotten.

"Oh-I-was-so-worried-about-you-and-your-sister!" she said in-between kisses on his head.

"Grandma, I'm fine, just a bit of torture, no big deal!" he said as cheerfully as he could, although he like the attention, Grandma Weasley was a worrier, "I just hope Lily's Okay, they let her out of hospital."

"Oh," she scolded, "You are becoming so like your father, James Potter! Never worried for yourself, only for others! Oh, I never thought I'd see the day that you were concerned for anyone but yourself, if you'd said that to me two years ago, I'd have said you were barking!"

"Hey," James protested, "I'm not that bad!"

"Oh," she gave him a huge bear hug, "now, where are your parents, shouldn't they be grovelling here by your sickbed?"

James' heart sank, he had entirely forgotten about that, "Yes," he said dejectedly, "They should."

"Oh, don't be like that James," Molly said kindly, "they love you very much, they're just worried for your brother! You're stronger than he is, you can take it!"

"They don't seem to care about the fact that some stupid Death Eater used the Crutiatus curse on me, and then left me for dead!" James said a little louder than he meant to, Molly look affronted.

"James!" she scolded again, "Don't talk about your parents like that, they're just worried! I'll tell them you want to see them, but I don't want you having a go at them too!" and she walked out of the hospital wing, leaving James alone once more.

"They should be worried about me," James said quietly, "not Prince Albus of Prophesy-shire."

James was alone for another hour until he got another visitor. His dad poked his head around the door just as the sun was setting of the Scottish hills around them, casting a warm orange glow around the hospital wing. It was reflecting off both James' and Harry's glasses, making it look as though their eyes were aflame.

"James," his dad said in a proud gasp, "I can't tell you how sorry I am. I talked with your grandma."

James sighed, great, now he was going to have a talk about how his parents didn't love Al more, blah, blah, blah…

"Now," Harry continued purposefully, "I'm not going to give you some talk about how we love you just as much as Al, blah, blah, blah… because I hope you know that already. I wanted to ask you everything you know about anything which has happened over the past years. Anything, be it a conversation you've over heard in a corridor, or just a bit of gossip. We're close to finding him James, finding him and destroying him."

"No you're not!" James blurted out, as though he was under Veritaserum, he then cursed himself afterwards.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked hurriedly.

"I mean… I don't think you're close to destroying him… I just… AGH! This is so frustrating!" James babbled.

"What is it, James?" Harry asked in a fatherly tone, "Believe me, whatever it is, I've seen it before."

"I know you have," James explained, "Which is why I can't tell you, you won't let me… I.. I know how Voldemort came back to life!"

"What!?" Harry asked worriedly, "Tell me anything you know."

"He created another Horcrux," said James, and Harry gasped, "He came into the future, and made a Horcrux before you killed him… only it was different, he would only come back at a chosen time… the spell was Horcruxi peperi vicis strennus… I know what a Horcrux is dad, I read about them in a book during detention…"

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier James?" Harry asked, his voice somewhere between angry and concerned.

"Because I know what the Horcrux is, and I know that if you knew what it was too you wouldn't let me destroy it!"

"How do you know all of this?"

"I fell into a Pensieve, and saw the memory of the Horcrux being created," James explained slowly.

"Whose was it?" Harry asked carefully.

"Professor Baddock's." James replied, and Harry looked dumbstruck, unable to comprehend the information he had just been told.

"Excuse me James," he said, giving his son a hug, and then rushing from the room.

"What was that about?" asked a familiar joking voice.

"I told him everything," James replied.

"What!?" Fred asked loudly, "about you being a you know what and everything?"

"Shhhh, keep your voice down, you loon," Lotte said, she was just next to Fred.

"No, I didn't tell him that," said James slowly, "But I told him about there being another you know what, and about how I know 'coz of Baddock's Pensieve."

"Merlin's beard!" Fred whispered, and James nodded in agreement.
"POTTER!" the shrill cry of Madam Pomfrey hit James' ears like a silver bullet, "You are free to leave when you wish."

"Great," James said to the others, "I'll be leaving then"

He grabbed his wand from his bedside table, and started towards the door, Fred and Lotte following him.

"What are you going to do then?" Lotte asked James on their way to Gryffindor Tower.

"About what?" James asked confusedly.

"About the Horcrux?" Lotte whispered.

"I'm going to kill it," James replied matter-of-factly.

"What!?" Fred shouted in amazement, "You can't just go and top yourself, mate!"

"Do you always have to be so insensitive, Frederick?" Lotte asked exasperatedly.

"I Dunno?" Fred shrugged, turning to James, who was smiling to himself, "What are you smiling about?"

"You two remind me of Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione sometimes," said James, "The stories my dad tells me…"

The other two looked at each other, "Us? No!"

"Just saying guys," said James, "Draco Dormens."

"What?" asked Fred stupidly.

"It's the password, Frederick!" Lotte said angrily, stepping through the portrait hole which the Fat Lady had just opened.

"I'm gonna go to the dorm," James said when he got to the common room, "I need to just sort out some things…"

"Cool, I'll come too," said Fred.

"Wait," the boys stopped as Lotte's voice called them back, "James, there's something here for you."

She held out a small brown paper package, which was very untidily wrapped. On top of it was a label saying James Potter. James took the package, and ripped it open. Inside was a small golden ball, it was his snitch.

"Huh," he said slowly, "Must have dropped it somewhere, its great how it found it's way back to me like that."

"Yes," Lotte said sceptically, looking at the snitch, then she jumped backwards, "Was is always glowing blue?"

"What?" James asked absent-mindedly.

"The snitch," Lotte said hurriedly, "Was it always glowing blue?"

"No," replied Fred, "Of course not! Things only glow blue when they're-"

But he couldn't finish his sentence, as he was hurled as if pulled by a hook on his navel into blackness. At first he thought it was James playing a trick on him, until he saw James and Lotte next to him. His finger was stuck to the little golden snitch. It was a portkey.

OMG!!! nearly at the end now :( but i may do a sequel, please review.... i probably wont update for about a week, but PLEASE REVIEW!!! i wont update until i get 30.... or maybe 25... i'll see how i feel!!!

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