James Castle

Chapter 3: The Grim

Hermione woke up as James shook her gently, calling out her name. "What time is it?" she asked as she released him and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes, glancing at the windows, seeing a bit of light outside.

"Six or so, the sun is just coming," he told her. "I figured you'd want to get up before everyone saw us out here, behavior not very becoming of a Head Girl and all, spending the night with a boy," he explained.

"You should have woke me up earlier, you didn't have to stay out here all night," she frowned at him.

"You said you knew about Frank before you nodded off," he looked at her face.

She bit her lip and nodded her head in response. "I'm not going to tell anyone, but I want you to teach me to shoot," she glanced down and patted her leg where they both knew the pistol was.

"You brought a pistol here for protection and don't even know how to fire it?" he almost laughed.

"In theory I do," she looked back at him. "But I haven't had a chance to really practice much," she admitted.

"Deal, you keep my secret, and I'll teach you to shoot that," he agreed, getting up from the couch stretching. He helped her off the couch, leading her to the stairway to the girls' rooms. "I'll see you at breakfast," he smiled, giving her a short hug before heading towards the boys' rooms.

He opened his trunk quietly, making sure not to wake his roommates. He recognized Ron Weasley, but didn't really get the time to talk to the others last night, having spent most of his time with Ron and Hermione. He pulled on a set of workout clothes and quickly changed into them, making sure the others were asleep as he secured his two pistols in a secret compartment in the trunk. He pulled a smaller handgun from the trunk, securing it to the small of his back with another holster.

He quickly made his way out of Gryffindor tower and the front door of the castle, relaxing as he took in a breath of the morning air. He looked around as he stretched his sore muscles, trying to find a good place to exercise. "Damn girl, my neck is killing me," he swore as he worked out some soreness. "Need to sleep in an actual bed tonight," he grumbled before he took off at a jog towards the lake.

He took a few laps around the lake picking up the pace on the last one, finishing near the edge of the forest. "Forbidden forest eh, doesn't look so dangerous," he looked into the darkened woods a moment before starting the morning regiment of exercises that Frank had taught him years ago. After half an hour or so, his muscles were on fire. He stopped his workout, getting back to his feet and conjured a bottle of water that he drank down quickly.

He stretched some more, working out some more of the kinks that he blamed on the night on the couch with Hermione. He noticed a shadow moving in the forest, keeping it in his peripheral vision. He dropped and started doing some pushups as he got a good look at the shadow. After finishing his set, he got back to his feet and looked right at the dog. "Hello there," he extended his left hand, motioning the dog to come to him. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said calmly as the scraggly dog walked out of the woods, sniffing at the air, licking the boy's hand. "No collar eh," James scratched the dog's neck. "Guess you don't belong to the gamekeeper Haggrid," he watched the dog carefully.

"Which brings me to ask naturally," James stopped as he pulled his wand with his free hand, pointing it at the dog. "Who are you, and who are you working for?" he took a step back from the dog, keeping his wand trained on the confused creature. The dog cocked his head to the side, looking at the boy strangely. "You can cut the dog act, whoever you are," James rolled his eyes at the dog. "I'm going to stun you in ten seconds if you and let Dumbledore sort it out, worst case is I get in trouble for being paranoid," the boy shrugged and started to count down.

The dog barked sharply when he reached three, and changed into a man with scraggly black hair. "How did you know?" the man asked as he kept his hands raised, examining the boy.

"You didn't act right, a wild dog would never have come close to me, and a pet would not have stalked me like you did," the boy explained. "Who are you?" he asked as the man pushed his long hair out of his face.

"Sirius Black," he answered as James swiftly pulled his pistol out with his other hand, pointing it and wand at the man. "Who are you? That's the important question," Sirius asked him sadly. "You smell a lot like…" he stopped as James closed the distance and pressed the pistol to his head.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," James glared at him. "I know what you did all those years ago," he pulled the gun back and kicked Sirius' legs out from under him. "I should kill you right now," he threatened, holding Sirius down with his knee, shaking as he pressed the gun back to his head.

"I'm so sorry Harry," the man closed his eyes as tears began to leak out.

"Harry Potter died thirteen years ago with the Dursleys, don't you read the papers? It was all over the news, their house was blown up because Potter's uncle was messing with the wrong kind of people," James held the gun against Sirius's head not allowing the older man to move. "My names is James Castle, you had best remember that for the rest of your short life," he threatened Sirius. "You told Voldemort where to find the Potters, you killed them. Now I'm going to kill you," he let out a breath and prepared to pull the trigger.

"I did not betray them," the man said quietly as he closed his eyes, tears leaking from the corners.

James stopped from pulling the trigger as he examined the haggard man whose life he held in his hands. "Explain," he ordered, letting Sirius up and stepping back, but not taking his gun off his target.

"I made them change the secret keeper, I thought it would be too obvious that it was me," he sat on the ground, resting his head on his knees.

"A bit convenient, since no one else can back that up," James frowned at him. "Why did you break out of Azkaban and come here trying to kill Ron Weasley back in his third year? It was in all the papers, it doesn't make any sense though," he watched as the older man looked up at him.

"Minister Fudge came by to harass me as usual, I talked him into leaving me his newspaper," Sirius explained. "The Weasley family was on the front page, something about winning a trip to Egypt. I did not break out of Azkaban to kill a boy, I broke out to get that rat bastard Pettigrew that framed me and betrayed James and Lilly," he almost growled as he spat Pettigrew's name.

"Animagus like you…," James mused a moment. "The rat?" he raised his eyebrow at Sirius, receiving a nod in confirmation. "Why didn't you just tell people, they could have gave you Veritaserum to confirm your story?" the boy asked him.

"I was never given a trial, and when I escaped, they gave the Aurors and Dementors orders to kill me on sight," Sirius explained. "I want that rat dead Ha…James," his body sagged in defeat. "I don't care about my life anymore, I just want that rat dead. James, Lily, …Harry," he gazed down at his hands. "They're all dead because of Pettigrew," he stared back at James.

"Give me your word, in a Wizard's Oath. You will stay here, I will return tonight once I get the rat away from Ron. If he's an Animagus, we'll turn him back and you can do what you want with him. If he's just a rat, I'll shoot you in the head," James offered him his wand to make the Oath, keeping his gun trained on him.

"I, Sirius Black, do hereby swear on my life to stay here until James Castle returns tonight with the pet of Ron Weasley," he waved the wand and a blue light surrounded him as the Oath took effect. He handed the wand back to James who pocketed it and holstered the gun.

"I'll see you tonight, one way or another," James frowned as he turned and headed back to the castle. "I'll be late for breakfast if I wait any longer. Until tonight then," he nodded at Sirius.

"James, be careful, if he realizes you are on to him, he'll try to escape," Sirius warned him.

"Don't worry, I can handle a rat, or a man pretending to be a rat, whatever the case may be," James assured him before taking off at a jog towards the castle, leaving a dog waiting in the woods.

--

Hermione had already begun to eat her breakfast when James found his way to the seat next to her, his hair still wet from the shower he had hurried back in Gryffindor tower. "Running a little late there?" she asked him as he started to inhale his food. "Are you even chewing it?" she asked, frowning at him, causing him to slow down the pace a bit.

"I was out exercising, guess I lost track of time," he explained. "Not used to people complaining about my table manners either," he frowned as he shoved a handful of bacon in his mouth.

"It shows…you're just as bad as Ronald, and I've been trying to teach him for years," she sighed as she neatly cut and ate her plate of fruit. "Go ahead," she sighed waving her hands that she gave up after noticing how clumsily and slow James was eating.

"Thanks," he smiled before tearing into the food with both hands again. A minute later Ron joined him and she just shook her head, looking away as the two of them seemed to be seeing who could eat more bacon. "So what classes are you taking Hermione?" he asked as he finished eating and was relaxing.

"Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Basic Healing," she listed off her classes from memory.

"Hmm, guess I'll be in Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration with you," he smiled. "I'm just taking those three, plus Herbology and Potions," he laughed as she paled.

"Snape is the Potions professor," Hermione explained as she looked up at the head table. "The professor you punched last night…" she grimaced as James started to laugh.

"Ought to be a very interesting class then," he smiled and waved to where Snape was sitting at the head table eating his own breakfast. "Maybe I'll get the chance to break his face some more," he added as Ron laughed so hard his pumpkin juice came out his nose.

"Well, I have Potions first thing today, so wish me luck," James patted Ron on the back as he up from the table.

"You're gonna need it," Ron shook his head, thinking back to his five years of Potions.

"James, try not to get in trouble on your first day," Hermione grabbed his hand before he could walk away. "Snape…well he can cause problems if you get on his bad side," she released his hand when he patted her on the shoulder.

"Hermione, I broke his nose last night, I'm fairly certain I'm already on his bad side," James chuckled as he walked off.