James Castle

Chapter 4: Rat Revealed

"I retract what I said earlier," James frowned as he sat down next to Hermione at lunch, stealing a sandwich from her plate. "I am most definitely on his bad side, especially after today," he chuckled, taking a bite of the sandwich, chewing it slowly. He seemed to grimace as he swallowed it down, placing the rest of it back on her plate. "Tofu? Really?" he grimaced at her as she giggled.

"I'm a vegetarian James," she laughed as he washed his mouth with a large mouthful of pumpkin juice. "It's rather healthy, you should…" she stopped as he pointed his finger at her, shaking his head in the negative.

"No," he said simply.

"But, really it is very," she was interrupted again.

"No," he said a bit more emphatically, shaking his finger at her.

"Really, what is with you boys and…" she stopped again as he held his hand over her mouth.

"No," he laughed as she glared at him while Ron took the seat on his other side.

"Oi, what's going on?" Ron questioned, surprised at what he saw.

"You ever try to sneak one of her sandwiches?" he asked Ron, removing his hand from Hermione's angry mouth. "I do not recommend it," James feigned injury when Hermione hit him in the arm.

"I could have told you that, she's been trying to get me to try that for years," he replied before attacking a piece of chicken that appeared on his plate. "She snuck some to me once, I'm a lot more careful now," he grinned as Hermione glared at him. "At least you are here to take some of her abuse now," he mock whispered.

"It is not that bad," she growled through her clenched teeth as the three of them ate their lunches. "How bad was it with Snape?" she asked James after a while.

"Oh, it was a barrel of laughs. Why is the class so damn small anyway?" he asked her.

"He only takes students that received Os on their OWLs or did well enough on their tests here in school," Hermione explained, going back to her 5th year, the last one in Potions. "He is not a very good teacher," she said curtly.

"That's an understatement," Ron grumbled.

"Anyway after five years of putting up with his teaching, those of us that got Os in Potions, well most of us decline to continue classes with him," she sighed.

"So I get stuck with a class full of Slytherins and a pair of Ravenclaws, wonderful," he muttered to himself. "The greasy bastard spent the first half of the class quizzing me and trying to get a rise out of me," he laughed. "He opened up the book for this year and started quizzing me on everything in there. Lucky for me," he tapped his head. "I read the whole book ahead of time. He threatened to give me detention for cheating somehow, but I threatened to go straight to Dumbledore if he did," James laughed.

"Did you cheat?" Hermione asked him.

"No Miss Head Girl Granger, I did not," James mock saluted her. "Seriously though, I didn't cheat Hermione," he reassured her. "He started asking me all sorts of obscure questions from random pages and all, I shut him up pretty quick when I informed him of my photographic memory," James laughed. "He went back to the front of the room and put the instructions on the board and spent the rest of the time ignoring the students," James laughed. "He ripped into me again at the end of class though, after Malfoy's cauldron started to melt and lit part of the room on fire, accusing me of tampering with it," he laughed.

"Did you?" she groaned, bracing herself for the loss of house points.

"Not that he can prove," James said quietly. "He's not too happy with me, and will be gunning for me all year I bet, but I didn't lose us any house points Hermione," James said seriously. "I'm not about to let that ass get the better of me," he wrapped his arm over her shoulder. "So, what do we have next?" he grinned at her and Ron.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Moody, the DADA classes are a bit cluttered, what with how things are now, so we are with Luna and the rest of the 6th year Ravenclaws," Hermione explained.

"The war has things a bit messed up, so we all have extra DADA classes throughout the week, they sent Moody because he's the best, sent so many Death Eaters to Azkaban that they lost count," Ron said eagerly.

"It's not a war," James shook his head as he followed his fellow Gryffindors to his next class.


To say they were shocked at the appearance and demeanor of the new DADA professor would be the understatement of the century. Moody hobbled with his peg leg, grizzled face, and magic eye scanning the entire room, resting a bit longer on James. "My name is Professor Moody; you will call me sir or Moody. I am a retired senior Auror for the Ministry of Magic and despite what you think, I did not teach you three years ago," he said angrily as he hobbled to the teacher's desk and leaned against it. "I was imprisoned by the Death Eater that created the portkey used to kidnap Cedric Diggory and resurrect Voldemort," he glared at the class as all but James made a noise or some sort of a grimace.

"Stop acting like a bunch of bloody cowards! It's just a name!" Moody slammed his fist on the closest table causing the girl there to scramble away. "He is a wizard, just like you or me, this whole Voldemort persona of his is a way to make him seem like something special!" he shouted at the class, pulling out his wand and directing it at the blackboard as he looked over some parchments on his desk.

"The most wanted man in Great Britain, wizarding or otherwise," he waved his wand and a face showed up on the blackboard. "Tom Marvelo Riddle Jr., aka Lord Voldemort, aka The Heir of Slytherin," Moody glanced up, making sure the picture was correct. "He has not shown himself publicly since he and his followers stormed Azkaban two years ago and freed many of his old followers. This is what he looks like from what the Aurors that survived saw that night," he watched as most of the students looked at the picture; a few could not bear to look and were shaking.

Hermione glared at the picture, burning it into here memory, her breathing growing heavy. "Easy now," James patted her on the arm from his spot between her and Ron. "Slow and steady breaths, calm down," he said softly. "There you go, come on," he encouraged her as she settled and looked at him.

"Thanks," she whispered softly still thinking about her parents. "I never had a face to go with the anger until now," she closed her eyes shaking.

"Shh, it's okay," James wrapped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close. He looked about the classroom seeing the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors and sixth year Ravenclaws in states similar to Hermione. He looked over to his other side room, seeing Ron trying to be brave and look at the picture, but having to look away. James's eyes stopped when he recognized the blonde girl from the train, Luna Lovegood. She was looking back at him, smiling with a dreamy look on her face.

Moody scanned the students as he watched their reactions to the image of the wizard they had all been raised to fear like the devil himself. He brushed off the strange look Lovegood gave him, attributing it to her odd nature. He watched as she shifted her gaze to look at another student. He frowned for a moment as he took in the boy with messy black hair and green eyes comforting the Head Girl Granger. 'Castle, he's the one that taught Snape and Malfoy a lesson' he thought to himself as he noticed the boy not being affected by the picture.

He waved his wand, erasing the picture, seeing all he needed to see from the class. "That was a bloody picture, not even the real thing and the lot of you reacted like a bunch of kids!" he growled at them. "He's nothing but a terrorist, flesh and blood like you or me. Without all his Death Eaters, he's just one man," he glared at the class as they recovered.

"You all have been given the worst excuse for a Defense education I have ever seen. The Ministry may have lowered their standards on OWL and NEWT grading, so you may pass with flying colors, but in a real situation against a dark wizard or creature, all but one or two of you would be dead," he stomped his peg leg violently. "You have been taught by someone possessed by Voldemort, a fraud, a Death Eater under polyjuice, and 2 morons from the Ministry that couldn't take out a Boggart if their lives depended on it," some of the students started laughing as they thought of their last two teachers, Umbridge and Ron's brother Percy. "Think this is funny!? Think this is a joke?!" Moody yelled, silencing them.

"There is a war going and the sooner you realize it, the better chance that you might make it to reach twenty!" he glared at the students that had laughed. "First question, what do you do if you come up behind a dark wizard threatening someone?" he directed it at the class. "Raise your hands and state you name when I call on you," he ordered as he hobbled back behind his desk and took a seat.

He watched as several hands went up, pointing to the girl beside Castle waving her arm urgently. "Hermione Granger," she responded when he pointed at her. "You stun them and call for the Aurors, sir," she answered his question, causing all the other hands to go down.

"Wrong," he stared back at her. "Anyone else?" he asked the surprised students.

The students froze; it was the first time anyone could remember the Gryffindor girl being wrong. "Incarcerous?" a Ravenclaw asked.

"Wrong," Moody replied.

"Run and go get an Auror?" Neville asked nervously.

"And let them have their victim, brilliant, but wrong," Moody replied sarcastically. "Anyone with an answer that is worth hearing?" he glared angrily at the class as James raised his hand. "Well, what do you have for us?" he grumbled at the boy.

"Does he have the Dark Mark, or can't I see his arm?" James asked Moody.

Moody paused as he looked at the boy. "Let's say you can't see his arm," Moody replied.

"I'm assuming his victim is in imminent danger then?" James asked Moody, receiving a nod. "Reducto to his right shoulder," James stared back at Moody. "Target should go down and be out of the fight, leaving me to grab the victim and watch for other targets," he droned on automatically. Hermione stiffened as she turned to look at him as he spoke.

"James…" she said softly.

"That would take down the dark wizard and give you time to help the victim, five points to Gryffindor," Moody nodded at the boy. "Castle is not a wizard name, you're a muggleborn?" Moody asked him.

"Yeah, raised by my Uncles Frank and Max," James responded.

Moody nodded, then thought to himself for a moment. "What is your answer if you could see the wizard had the Dark Mark?" Moody questioned him intently.

"Reducto, to the back of the head," he said calmly as Moody nodded. "The only good Death Eater is a dead one," he added before the class continued, going over basic offensive and defensive spells the rest of the time, the students besides Hermione and Luna avoiding James.

"Stay after class please Mr. Castle…and Miss Granger," Moody said as the period ended and the other students filed out. "Please, sit a moment," he gestured at the table closest to his desk. "I'll get right to the point, I want you both to listen to what I have to say very carefully," he said with a much calmer voice than when he was teaching. "Be very careful with who sees your toys, I personally do not care one way or the other, but the rest of the staff and the Ministry would have you Head Girl badge if they knew," he smiled at Hermione.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked as she nervously shifted in her seat.

"His eye is charmed to see hidden weapons," James grabbed Hermione's hand. "And it's not illegal to bring guns here, the Ministry is a bit antiquated in their laws," he added, looking up at Moody.

"True, but if some of the Purebloods figure out what those hand cannons of yours can do, they'll have that law changed before the sun sets," Moody replied. "She know how to use that thing?" he asked James.

"I'm taking her out to practice later in the week," James glanced at the door to the classroom, making sure they were still alone. "Are you going to tell the Headmaster?" he asked Moody, shifting his hand slowly towards his wand.

"If I wanted to, I would have told him at the Sorting Feast," he scoffed.

"You were not at the Feast," James replied quickly.

"Invisibility cloak, Dumbledore had me working security," Moody laughed as James swore under his breath. "There's very few things that can see through an invisibility cloak boy, don't be too hard on yourself," he got up and walked them to the door. "One more piece of advice James, we are at war, don't go be doing something stupid," he stopped James at the door.

"It's not a war, they're nothing but terrorists," James glared back before leaving with a panicking Hermione.


Later that night following dinner and doing their homework together, Hermione was resting against James on the couch again. "We'll need to get you in a proper bed tonight," she glanced up at him as he shifted his neck uncomfortably. "You should have woke me up last night," she frowned, getting up from the couch and pushing him to the middle as she slipped in behind him. "Wow, why haven't you been to the hospital wing yet?" she frowned as she started massaging the sore muscles, finding them in knots.

"It wasn't that bad," he grimaced as she went to work with her hands, getting deep into his muscles.

"Oh really?" she scolded him as she felt him cringe. "When are you going to teach me to use it?" she asked him quietly. She had been thinking about the gun all day, calling herself foolish for bringing it here without knowing how or if it even worked.

"We'll have to wait until Sunday, Ron is having Quiddich tryouts Saturday," he grumbled. "I never should have agreed to try out, my time could be spent better on other things," he shook his head.

"Then don't, it's not like you have to go," she stopped massaging his neck and curled up in the corner of the couch.

"A man's only as good as his word, I never lie Hermione," he admitted to her. "I may leave out information or ignore a question, but I never lie," he rolled his neck, noticing the lack of pain. "Thanks for the massage, we had best get to our rooms," he yawned, helping her from the couch.

"You never lie?" she asked him as he walked her to the girls' stairway.

"Something Frank taught me when I was younger, don't go telling anyone," he smiled at her.

"I promise," she grinned, giving him an awkward hug before heading up to her room.


He lay on his back in his bed much later that night. Midnight had come and gone, it was nearing two when he pulled back the sheets from his bed and slipped on his clothes silently. He had stunned Ron's pet rat earlier when Ron was preparing for bed and the other roommates were still in the common room playing games. He quickly shrunk the rat and placed it in an unbreakable bottle, pocketing it and leaving the cage's door slightly open. Ron never even noticed the rat was gone and was snoring loudly within a minute of returning from the bathroom.

'Need to use less sleeping potion next time, or he won't make it to the bed,' James thought to himself as he slipped silently through the halls, avoiding Filch and his cat. He avoided the front gate, heading to a window he had rigged to stay unlocked and unwarded earlier in the day. Slipping to the ground he stuck to the shadows and made his way to the forest where he met Black less than twenty four hours ago.

He glanced around, waiting impatiently for a minute, looking for the dog. "Come out Black, let's get this over with," he glared into the forest's shadows. A moment later he heard a rustling and the dog appeared and shifted back to the wizard's form. "Don't move you traitorous bastard," James swore, quickly pulling one of his pistols free.

"What…?" Sirius froze, confused until he noticed James looking at the wand in his hand. "Oh, this?" he bent and placed it on the ground. "I had to go and nick it from and old lady in Hogsmeade, I'll need it to turn the rat back to human form," he explained, raising his hands.

"Try pulling anything like that again and you'll end up dead," James frowned, lowering and putting away his pistol as Sirius retrieved the wand.

"Don't like being surprised, do you?" Sirius asked as he examined the boy who was fishing something from a pocket.

"It doesn't happen very often," James replied.

Sirius examined the boy as he pulled a bottle from his pocket. "I called in a favor today, one of the last ones I had," Sirius commented as the boy glanced at him. "I… I looked into the explosion and fire that killed Harry Potter," Sirius slowed. "You look so much like him, I…I had to be sure, so I went and checked the police report, saw pictures of all the bodies. He was my godson you know, I should have been there to protect him from those muggles," Sirius shook his head. "He'd have been your age, but he had a nasty scar from where Voldemort tried to kill him as a baby," Sirius looked at James' clear forehead in the moonlight. "Can't hurt to hope, can it?" he chuckled a bit.

"As interesting as it is to be mistaken for someone that died over a decade ago, we have the matter of this rat to deal with," James pulled he stunned rat from the bottle. "What do you need me to do?" he asked as Sirius glared at the rat with a familiarity.

"If he tries to escape, stop him, I'll do the rest," Sirius spat as he whipped the wand and began to mutter under his breath reversing the transformation forcibly. After a few moments a balding fat man in torn up clothes took shape and began to stir from the stunning. "Hello Peter," the man froze in terror in recognition.

"Sirius…what has happened…" the man stammered before he caught sight of James. "James? Is that you?" Pettigrew's confused mind was unable to process the situation after 16 years as a rat.

"James is dead Peter, so is Lily. So is Harry. You framed me and took my life away," Sirius growled at the fat man who began to realize the gravity of the situation he was in.

"Please, you must save me!" he crawled towards James groveling.

"You plan on clearing your name now?" James asked Sirius, noting the dead look in his eyes.

Sirius's brow furrowed for a moment before he smiled. "Yes, I think I will, but that can be done just as well with his body," Sirius grinned murderously at his former friend.

"Make sure to keep me out of it," James nodded before squeezing off two rapid shots from his silenced pistols. Pettigrew had started to crawl away, but now was rolling in pain from the shots to his knees. "He won't be running away this time, make sure he gets what he deserves," James nodded, putting away his pistols. "If you can't clear yourself, contact this man," he handed Sirius a small business card. "Say I sent you, he'll be able to find you a safe house and a new identity," James explained.

"Interesting for a student to have such contacts, Mr. Castle," Sirius pocketed the card as he watched the boy walk away.

"You have no idea, don't have too much fun now, you need to be gone by daybreak," James waved without looking back.

"Now Peter…" Sirius almost shook with the emotions he was feeling, finally being alone with the traitor. "Let's have us a little talk, for old time's sake," Sirius grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him deeper into the forest, ignoring the man's screams.