James Castle

Chapter 5: Bullets and Boyfriends

The rest of the week went quickly for the school as the students all settled into their schedules. James hung around with Hermione and Ron whenever he could, not really talking to many of the other students. Hermione helped him in all his classes as best she could, finding that he was already as proficient as her in all of their shared subjects. The students had started to whisper about how he acted in DADA on Monday, but after a few detentions from Hermione, they stopped.

Hermione had started to sleep better, taking James' advice and getting a mild sleeping potion from Nurse Pomfrey. Her hand absentmindedly patted her gun several times during the week, anticipating Sunday, until James caught her doing it and gave her a disapproving look. Ron had been after James all week, quizzing him on Quiddich rules and try to get an idea how well he played. James had brushed him off for the first few days, but gave in on Friday, admitting he knew all the rules and watched a few professional matches, but had never competitively flown.

Saturday finally came and Hermione walked with James to the Quiddich pitch after breakfast and doing some homework together in the library. "James, don't go getting yourself hurt for this stupid sport," Hermione begged him as he went to the broom shed and looked over the school brooms.

"It's okay Hermione, I can take care of myself," he patted her on the head like a little kid. "Besides, I'm not getting on one of those things," he waved back at the broom shed. "Just wanted to see what they had here before I got mine ready," he smiled at her slightly angry face as she straightened her glasses. He reached into a pocket and pulled out what Hermione figured was a shrunken broom.

"Looks a bit different than the school brooms," Hermione noted as she inspected it while James slowly enlarged it. She looked over the length of broom's shaft, trying to think of a tree that would give that particular shade of red. James handed her the broom, letting her give it a more thorough examination as he stretched and unhooked his gun holsters under his robes.

"Bag please," he said after he had unhooked the pair of weapons. Hermione pulled her open schoolbag out as James moved to take the broom back from her, sliding the guns in her bag. "No peeking remember, I'll let you see them tomorrow," he smiled at her.

"I won't peek," she grumbled. "I give up, what kind of a broom is that, and why did you take them off?" she shook the bag a little.

"I took them off, because Quiddich Pitches are charmed to prevent bringing anything besides clothes, a broom, or a wand on them," he explained. "And this is a little gift Frank and Max got me from their contacts in the American Ministry a few years back. It's a prototype they made trying to mix invisibility and other stealth technologies, needless to say, it didn't work. It was a top notch broom before they started work on it, they made it from scratch from some old redwood trees in California and had it rated equal to the Firebolts that are out now," he explained.

"James, just don't get hurt, please," she pleaded with him as Ron called all the Gryffindors that were trying out over to him.

"Don't worry about me Hermione, I'm tougher than I look," he gave her hand a quick squeeze before jogging over to Ron.

Hermione frowned as she sat down in the stands and watched the tryouts. Ron started by having all the people trying out fly a few laps around the pitch. He kindly intercepted a few and sent them away before the laps were over after seeing their flying skills. Ron then took and separated the new players from the returning ones. They had both of their Beaters, the Creevey brothers, back from last year. Ron and his sister were the returning Keeper and Seeker respectively. The Chasers were the real problem for Ron to fill. They had lost the Quiddich cup last year to Slytherin due to their Chasers inability to score goals.

Hermione saw Dean Thomas glaring at Ron, but Ginny pulled him aside and gave him what for. Dean was the only returning Chaser, and Ron had opened up competition for all three spots because of the poor showings last year. After Ginny calmed Dean down, Ron took his spot at the end of the field and the rest of the team fed the Chasers Quaffles as they tried to score goals on Ron one on one.

Dean got his shot in on his first shot, giving Ron the finger afterwards. Several others came close, but no one else could sink a shot until James came up. He rose into the air quickly on his broom and caught the Quaffle from Ginny. He turned his broom straight towards Ron faster than Hermione had seen anyone fly that day. Ron shouted something at him, panicking before James pulled up and lightly tossed the Quaffle in behind Ron.

Hermione stifled a giggle as Ron realized what happened, yelling something at James. James yelled something back, but Ron pointed him back to the line and had Ginny give him another Quaffle. This time instead of bull rushing Ron, he ducked and wove from side to side before tossing the Quaffle behind his back and spinning the back of his broomstick to drill it into the hoop at Ron's right before he could react. Hermione watched the reactions of the others on the team already, groaning as she realized James was as good as in.

They continued some more shooting and passing drills eventually getting into groups of three and taking runs at Ron while the Creeveys took shots at them with the Bludgers. James was paired with Dean Thomas and a fourth year she scolded herself for not knowing the name of. They scored easily, despite the Creeveys hitting more than the regulation amount of Bludgers at them. James glared at the boys who just shrugged and pointed at Ginny, who in turn pointed at Ron.

After another half hour, the try outs were over. James had easily won the position of lead Chaser, Dean Thomas had retained his position of left winger, and the kid that had initially been placed with them in the team drills had taken the third spot and was grinning from ear to ear. Hermione smiled as she saw James give the kid a few tips and Dean agree with him.

He laughed at a joke from Ron and made his way over to Hermione shrinking and putting his broom away in his pocket. "Well, what did you think?" he smirked as she started hitting him in the arms and chest repeatedly.

"What were you thinking, flying at Ron like that!" she yelled at him. "Of all the stupid, childish things to do," she stopped when he grabbed her wrists. "Let go of me," she glared at him.

"Are you going to keep hitting me?" he chuckled.

"Probably…you could have been hurt out there," she frowned, looking away as he released her.

"But I wasn't," he pointed out as he retrieved his guns and strapped them back on under his robes. "I know what I'm doing Hermione, you need to believe in me," he added as she grabbed him around the waist, squeezing him.

"I do, but I've seen Ron and the others get hurt so much playing that stupid game over the years," she shuddered as he uncomfortably hugged her back.

"Don't worry about that Hermione, if anything, I'll be the one doing the hurting this year," he laughed as he pulled away from her.

"James Castle, come back here right now!" she shouted, chasing after him.


Sunday morning came too quickly for Hermione. She shut her alarm off, cursing herself for forgetting to turn it off on the weekend. She groaned as she got up, realizing today was the day James was taking her shooting and started to get ready. She showered quickly and put on a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt under her robes. She snuck the holster and pistol under her robes, still not used to the foreign weight on her leg as she tightened its buckles. She tied up the pair of hiking boots that James conjured for her the night before, explaining they needed to walk for a while to get away from the castle before practicing.

At breakfast she looked around for James, but he never showed up. "Ron, do you know where James is?" she asked her friend.

He stopped eating a minute to answer her. "He always goes to bed after us and is up before us, your guess is as good as mine," he shrugged before going back to attacking his food.

Hermione frowned, going back to her fruit, finally pushing the plate away and leaving the great hall. "You ready yet?" she whirled as James waved at her from main entrance to the school. "What did I do now?" he asked as she stomped over to him.

"I was looking for you at breakfast," she glared as she poked him in the chest.

"Ah…well, I was off getting supplies for the day, sorry about that," he shrugged and turned so she could see the beat up canvas pack on his back, bulging from it's unknown contents.

"What do you have in there?" she asked, reaching to open it up before he turned it away from you.

"Lunch, among other things, the house elves went a little overboard," he rolled his eyes. "Ready to go?" he asked and opened the door for her.

"Lead the way," she sighed, unable to stay mad at him. She followed him as he moved quickly towards the lake. He wasn't running, but he was walking so fast she had to jog to catch up every now and then. "Slow down," she called out to him when he stopped at the edge of the lake near the Forbidden Forest. "You're going too fast," she breathed heavily and rested her hands on her knees, bent over, sweating under the heavy school robes.

"Sorry, but its best we get out of sight so no one knows where we're going," he explained and pointed into the woods. "We can lose the robes now, but keep your wand and gun ready," he told her as he dropped the pack off his shoulders too the ground.

"In there…you want to take me into the Forbidden Forest? Are you out of your mind?" her jaw dropped at him. "I'm the Head Girl, if we get caught, I will be in so much trouble," she complained as he pulled his school robes off. She quit yelling at him for a minute as she took in the well worn combat boots and camouflage army style pants. She looked around to make sure no one could see them as his two shoulder holstered pistols were clearly visible now, not to mention the lean but clearly muscled arms and chest she had been feeling in their hugs. His short sleeved t-shirt was dark green to blend in with the forest, she realized as he pulled out one pistol and looked it over. "You're really expecting me to go in there?" she asked quietly.

"You don't have to if you don't want to Hermione, but even though the wards don't detect the guns, they will detect us firing them," he explained to her. "I talked to Moody about it, he wasn't sure, but figured we need to get a few miles between us and the castle to be on the safe side," he reholstered the gun and pulled the other to examine it. "Everything will be fine, trust me," he smiled at her.

"If you get me expelled, I am going to kill you," she glared at him as she pulled off her robe. "This is the most irresponsible thing I've ever… What?" she looked down looking to see if she had something on her. James recovered quickly and looked away towards the woods uncomfortably. Hermione giggled when she realized he was checking her out, just like she had done to him. "Here, you're carrying it," she handed him her robe and walked past him to the edge of the woods. "Lead on then, and no going as fast as when we were leaving the castle, I'd like to keep up with you," she pushed him into the woods after he had packed the robes and reshouldered the pack.

After half an hour of going through the woods at the pace James was setting, Hermione had had enough. "That's it," she stopped, crossing her arms, catching her breath. "Stop right now James Castle," she ordered as the boy turned around, looking at her. She leaned on a tree to catch her breath; she was dripping in sweat and thirsty.

"What's the matter?" he asked, coming back to her. "Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly.

"No, but you are going to be unless we slow down," she glared at him; he was barely breathing hard and not sweating at all. "Do you have any water?" she asked as she quickly broke into the pack, feeling around until he produced a water bottle for her. "Ahh," she sighed after drinking half of it. "Now, you can lead and all, but we are going at my pace," she frowned at him, taking his hand in hers. "Well? Let's go," she smiled at his obvious nervousness.

After going at a much more manageable and enjoyable pace, she thought she saw something moving in the shadows off to her left. "James, I think something is out there," she whispered. Even in the early morning sun, the forest was a very shadowy and imposing place.

"Don't worry about it," he pulled her along so they kept walking. "I've been exercising every morning down by the lake and inside the forest itself," he explained.

"That's dangerous James, something could have gotten to you," she scolded him.

"Let's say one of the local nasties tried that already, they know not to do it again," he chuckled a bit.

"What did you do? What happened?" she started panicking.

"Take it easy Hermione," he stopped walking calming her, putting his other hand on her shoulder. "There is an Arcomantula colony about two miles in that direction," he jerked his head to the left. "One of the larger ones caught a trace of me back on Thursday, tried to bite my head off," he said calmly. "After I took care of it and a few of its friends, they all started hiding from me," he squeezed her shoulder. "You don't have to worry, the most dangerous thing in this forest is right in front of you," he assured her.

"You sure? I swore I saw something following us," she nervously shifted, looking around for something.

"We'll be fine, it's just a centaur, he's been watching me since Tuesday, hasn't decided to openly talk to me yet though," James assured her and led her forward again.

"Just a centaur he says," she muttered to herself, keeping an eye on the shadows.

"Try not to think about it," James suggested. "Keep talking to me, don't worry about things hearing us, they've smelled us by now anyway," he squeezed her hand. "So, tell me, what all do you think you know about Uncle Frank," he laughed a bit as she tensed up. "It's okay, I've heard all of it before, and I know the truth," he smirked.

"Well, the stuff I read about him was all in a Time magazine that my grandfather had laying around, that and a few police reports that he got his hands on some copies of somehow…" she frowned at her grandfather's obsession with law enforcement. "It said he was born back during World War 2 and spent some time in Vietnam after being trained by the Marines," she recited what she remembered from the article. "After that it said he came home and his family was killed by mobsters and he lost his mind, becoming a vigilante," she frowned, trying to think of more of the file her grandfather had. "There's more to it, but I only gave the file a once-over," she frowned, trying to remember.

"Close enough," James laughed. "Frank was born back on July 31st in 1941, he went into the Marines at 16, bending some rules to do so," James smiled. "He had the best training they could give him, sniper, combat, assassination, all of it. He went off to Vietnam for four years and came back no worse for wear…more or less," James continued as he helped Hermione over a log. "When he came back, he got married to his old sweetheart from before he shipped out, her name was Maria," James sighed before continuing.

"They had a son, Frank Junior, less than a year later," James added as he glanced to where he clearly saw the centaur trailing him a bit closer, obviously listening in. "The article nailed the next part, the three of them were in Central Park in New York City, and witnessed some mobsters executing an informant. The bastards opened fire, killing Maria and Junior," James stopped as his voice hitched.

"It's okay James, you don't have to…" she stopped as he pulled her along again.

"He identified all the shooters; he survived the 17 bullets that hit him. The police could never arrest or find them though; they were in too deep with the local mafia boss and very corrupt. The news groups and police all say he went crazy, I happen to think he started to see things clearer. He donned the shirt with the skull on it that was on the Times article, if it's the one I am thinking of, and took care of the people that killed his family," James said coldly.

"The article said he kept killing afterwards though, that the police have linked him to hundreds of deaths since then," Hermione added softly.

"Their estimates are a bit low," James looked around for a bit, searching for something. "Ah, this way, almost there," he guided her along. "When the laws of the people are inadequate, punishment must still be delivered," James recited. "Frank has killed over 1200 criminals in the last 20 years, they've only linked him to the high profile ones," he looked over at Hermione's shocked face. "He's not crazy, like the papers all say," James stared at her eyes. "He just sees a need to protect those who can't help themselves," James noticed her eyes meet his. She didn't look away after a minute, so James turned and led her to a clearing in the forest. "I found this place Friday, figured it would be a good place to teach you to shoot," he explained as he waved his wand and set up some targets across the clearing at the tree line.

"Is he a good father?" Hermione asked as James pulled the pack off and set it down.

"He's a good friend, he's not my father," James closed his eyes, breathing deeply. "My mother and father were killed by Voldemort's Death Eaters," he reminded her. "He's not my father, but he's a good man," James relaxed, smiling weakly at Hermione. "He saved me from a bad place," he sighed. "Anyway, let's take a look at your gun," he shook off the serious feeling as she pulled the gun from its holster.

She noticed him checking out her legs, wishing she had brought something besides the mid thigh length khakis. The debate in her mind as she handed it over to him was if she wished she had shorter ones or longer ones. She noticed his eyes grow wide and him suppress a laugh as he looked over the gun. "What's so funny?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"This, is a fucking six shooter," he laughed before tossing it off into the woods. "Where did you find it, a museum?" he laughed a bit more before seeing her reddening face. "I mean…I'm sure it works, but you might want something a little more…" he stopped as she glared at him. "Ah to hell with it, it's an old piece of junk with six bullets," he frowned, kicking at the ground.

"I had to work hard to find an antique shop to sell me that, it's hard to get a gun when you are underage," her eyes narrowed at him.

"Not if you know where to look," his smirk dropped when he saw how mad she looked.

"It cost me two hundred bloody pounds because they said it was an old war relic," she bit her lip.

"Well…I guess it was. Here, take this," he pulled one of guns out and handed it to her by the barrel. "This is a modified Glock 9mm pistol," he explained she took it from him. "A Glock will fire in damn near any circumstances and has a semi-automatic function here on the side," he showed her as he moved closer. "It's off now, so it will only fire one shot at a time," he watched her examine the gun. "Now, I want you to shoot that target," he pointed his wand across the clearing, making a red bull's-eye appear on one wooden target. "Go ahead," he gestured at her to shoot.

"But I've never," she protested.

"Shoot," he stared at her.

"But, the recoil on this," she was interrupted again.

"Shoot," he said more forcefully this time.

She glared at him for a moment before pulling the gun up and taking aim how the books had told her. She closed her eyes tight and braced for the recoil when she pulled the trigger. The loud bang never came, instead there was a sound like someone throwing a pebble in a lake, followed by the sound of something moving through tree leaves and impacting wood loudly. "Did I hit it?" she asked as she opened her eyes a bit.

"Not so much, missed a couple feet to the right," James replied as Hermione looked to him for guidance. "Stand like this, one foot in front of the other," he demonstrated, pulling his other gun out. "Grasp the gun with both hands like you did, take careful aim, breath, and squeeze," he instructed before taking a shot, hitting the target dead center. "Now try again, keep firing until you are out, you have another 19 bullets in there," he laughed to himself, muttering six-shooter. "And try to keep your eyes open this time, it helps with the aiming," he added as Hermione blushed in embarrassment.

She concentrated on what he had told her, like it was schoolwork, and by the middle of the magazine had hit the target for her first time. By her last shot, she had got within a foot or so of the center of the target. When she pulled the trigger and no bullet was fired, she looked to James who was watching her.

"Command authorization override," he said as he reached and placed his hand on the pistol in her hand. "Repeat after me Hermione, Command Authorization Set, Hermione Granger," he instructed her.

"Command Authorization Set, Hermione Granger," she repeated and gasped when the gun glowed with a light blue light. "You enchanted a pistol, are you out of your mind! It may not be against the rules to have a pistol, but enchanting muggle objects like this…" she mumbled about how many laws they were breaking for a while.

"You going to complain, or guess what all I did to it?" he snapped his fingers, bringing her back to Earth. She looked at the gun in her hands, seeing if she could find any odd markings. "No runes, the gun looks identical to a normal Glock," he stopped her as she inspected it. "Think, what did or did not happen when you used it," he urged her on.

"There was no recoil, and it was very quiet," she replied after a bit. "It has a weight charm on it too, doesn't it?" she questioned him.

"I've been working on enchanting pistols for the better part of seven years now, in theory or practice," he sat down and patted the grass next to him. She sat down next to him, her legs stretching out next to his. "Emm…well, I started trying to make them, so they could help Frank, but my tutor Max stopped me once he found out what I was doing," he scratched his head, turning his gaze from her legs. "He figured Frank was in enough trouble with the muggle authorities, no need to raise flags with the magical ones," he stopped when she shifted so she was leaning on him.

"Anyway, I figured I might as well keep fiddling with them, as a hobby at least," he chuckled. "First things I took care of were the weight, recoil, and sound issues that you saw. There's a localized silencing charm on the barrel to take care of the airflow that causes the bang, a lightweight charm over the entire gun, and a immobilization charm that is bonded with the user's magic, eliminating all recoil," he explained. "The charm was the reason I could never make it work for Frank, it needs a magical person to bond to do the spell can work and the gun will only move when the user is holding it," he explained as she cradled the gun, feeling the magic.

"There's more to it than that, I can feel it with my magic after you made me say that command authorization stuff," she raised her eyebrow at him beneath her glasses. "So give me the whole deal, no more beating around the bush," she smiled at him.

"Ah well then, he three charms we talked about, a temperature control charm on the barrel, and half a dozen or so linked to the magazine and chamber itself," he explained as he stood up and pulled her with him. "They're all linked to the wielder's magic, so no one else can grab and use these unless you let them," he told her as he took aim and fired off the rest of his bullets. "Reload," he said out loud, then fired another full clip at the targets.

"Smoke," he said again and fired, Hermione recognizing the spell it mimicked from her fourth year. "Rope," he ordered, then fired a length of rope that tied itself around the tree trunk it hit. "Stun," he ordered and fired a few shots that looked like Stupefy curses. "Grenade," he gave the last command and fired what Hermione knew to be a Reducto, destroying the target.

"Let me see your notes, this is so fascinating, how did you create the spells to work together like that, how long did it take you…" she continued going on with questions until she noticed James ignoring her. "Sorry…" she blushed, knowing her bookworm nature was getting the better of her.

"It took me six years, there are no notes, if there were people might find them and use them against me, those and the command authorization set, and say bullets to make it normal again," he ticked the answers to her questions off on his fingers.

"How draining is it on your magic?" she questioned him, looking down at the gun.

"Not too bad, you'll get used to it after a while, it will make your magic stronger, like a muscle, now get up and practice," he ordered her. He watched her use all the commands like he showed her, taking her time aiming at the targets. He got up behind her and wrapped his arms around hers, helping her hold it steady as he aimed and continued to fire.

After a while she started to tired and he let go of her, catching her as she stumbled. "That's the magical exhaustion setting in, I wanted you to see what it was like, so you don't go off and do it by accident," he smiled as she helped lay her down in the grass. "We need to get rid of those glasses, get you laser surgery on the eyes or something," he commented as she rested her head on his thigh and nodded off.

She woke up later, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "James?" she muttered as she felt around for her glasses.

"Here," she turned to his voice as he placed them on her face. "You look really peaceful when you sleep, you know?" he smiled at here as she took in the surroundings. They were on a large blanket in the clearing they had been practicing in, surrounded by all kinds of food. "I told you, the house elves overdid it," he shrugged at her surprise.

"What happened?" she asked as she started eating an apple.

"Magical exhaustion, a side effect if you use the gun too much," he explained. "I now that you know what it feels like, you can stop before it gets to be too much," he explained, digging into a piece of chicken. "I had them pack some of your tofu junk too, don't worry," he shook his head at her disgust.

After they had filled their stomachs, he handed her the gun she had been practicing with and one of his shoulder holsters. "Here, put this on so we can size it right," he blushed as he helped her with the clasps. "I didn't want to size you in your sleep and all," he rubbed his head, looking away.

"James, why are you sizing me for this, I can't take your gun," she resisted, frowning at him.

"I have another, don't worry," he replied. "Besides, I threw your toy into the woods, it's the least I can do," he shrugged as he waved his wand and the holster and straps shortened to fit her body comfortably. "Cushioning charms on the straps, I'm a man of many talents," he admitted as she inspected the fit before putting the gun away.

"Thank you," she whispered before she started to cry uncontrollably.

"Oh hell," he swore as he moved to catch her and cradled her to his chest on the ground. "Hermione, what's wrong? Please talk to me," he pleaded as she sobbed into his chest. "Please 'Mione, just say something, tell me how to fix it, tell me what I did wrong," he whispered as he cradled her head, rubbing her hair. "You're my first friend, please don't leave me too," he hugged her tight and cried as well.

"Shhh, it's okay James," she soothed him after they both had a good cry. Somehow, she was now cradling him, to his discomfort at being held to her chest. "I'm not going anywhere James, this is just a bit much to take in all at once," she smiled at him. "Thank you for the pistol," she smiled, moving a bit of hair from his face, kissing his forehead. "Hopefully I'll never have to use it," she sighed, holding him tight.

"Don't worry about it, I don't think you will," he replied after a while, pulling himself from her grasp, sitting upright next to her. "Don't worry about the Death Eaters, they'll get what's coming to them," he put his arm over her shoulders.

"He's really coming then?" her eyes looked up at James. "The Punisher is coming to kill those monsters?" her eyes welled up in tears.

"Yes, yes he is," James nodded, looking down at her as she cried a bit harder.

"Is Frank coming, or is it you?" she whispered after she could not cry anymore.

James ignored the question, comforting her with soft murmurs and rubbing her shoulders for a bit before he spoke. "Frank can't really get into the country easily, I have enough of his hair to polyjuice as him for a while though," he admitted. "The Punisher is coming for them Hermione, you have my word," he gripped her hand. "I'll make them pay," he shuddered for a moment and closed his eyes, holding back the leaking tears.

She looked up at the pain in his face as he tried to control his emotions. His lips were moving, but there was no sound. She tried to read his lips for a while, but gave up and pulled herself from his hug and settled herself on his lap, facing him. His eyes shot open in surprise as she rested her forehead against his. "Bellatrix Lestrange," she whispered to him.

"What?" he choked, still confused by the situation he found himself in, with a beautiful witch on his lap.

"She tortured Neville's parents so badly they do not recognize him, she killed mine," Hermione whispered as she wrapped her arms and legs around his torso, looking into his eyes. She watched as he processed what she said, watching the expression on his face change from embarrassment to confusion to the calm face he showed most of the school. "That's weird you know, how you put the mask up," she smirked at him.

"What do you mean?" he eyed her curiously.

"You, you can be a normal kid the one second and put up the business face the next," she explained.

"I've never really been a kid, always had to act all grown up around Frank and Max," he mumbled, looking away. "I wasn't kidding Hermione, you're the first friend my age I've ever had," he admitted, looking into her eyes. Her breath caught as she looking into his face. "When I saw you on the train, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd…" he stopped as she pulled his head to hers pressing their lips together.

She smiled after she pulled away, still feeling the taste of James's tongue in her mouth. "First kiss too then?" she whispered in his ear.

"Yeah…first…wow," he stopped as she nibbled on his ear.

"James, just promise me, you'll be careful," she pulled back and rested their noses together, looking into his eyes.

"I'll need you to help cover for me some times," he stared back at her.

"Just promise me you won't get hurt," she looked back at him.

"I won't lie to you Hermione," he calmly looked back.

"Just come back to me then?" she bit her lip.

"I can manage that," he smiled, giving her a quick peck on the lips and lifting her off the ground with him as he stood up. "Easy does it," he smiled as he let her down. "We need to get going, it will be dark soon," he pointed to the west at the rapidly setting sun.

"How long was I out for?" she staggered, still weak from the exhaustion.

"About 6 hours, I was out for half a day when I first intentionally exhausted myself," he admitted as he pulled both of their robes from the pack. "Here, put it on," he handed her back her robes as he pulled his own on.

"Why are we…" she stopped as he pulled something else from the pack. "No," she glared angrily at him.

"Well, I sure don't want to walk back there in the dark," he smiled at her as he enlarged the broom. "It's either this or we walk back there, in the dark," he emphasized the last bit.

"I don't like to fly James, I'm not comfortable on a broom and…" she stopped as he put a finger to her lips.

"You trust me to go after Lestrange, trust me to keep you safe now," he smiled as he mounted the broom. "Now either you get on behind me or…" he gestured at the broom.

Hermione focused and walked over to the broom, sliding on in front of James facing him. "If you're going to give them a show bringing me back, make it a good one," she whispered as she latched onto him for dear life.

"Of course, what are boyfriends for, but to embarrass their girlfriends," he smiled as she looked into her eyes as they left the ground.

"If you let me fall, I'll hex your bits of Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaames," she threatened as they sped off into the sky.