James Castle

Chapter 10: Fights and Flights

Hermione picked at her breakfast on Sunday following the death of Bellatrix LeStrange. She glanced over her weekend copies of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, not really paying too much attention to them, one portrayed Frank Castle as a muggle serial killer, a homicidal maniac, and the other as the reincarnation of the god Ares. She frowned when she saw the name L. Lovegood as the author for the second article. It had taken all of her patience to get Luna and Ginny out of the boys' dorms that night so everyone could get some sleep, she had considered giving up and snuggling up with James, but her duty as Head Girl won out.

"Ready to go?" James tapped her on the shoulder, sneaking up on her in the Great Hall.

"Yes," she nodded, getting up from the table and following James outside. She told him yesterday she wanted to go out to the forest today; they needed some time to talk without people listening in. They snuck off to the woods and quickly got under the cover of trees where no one could see them. "Fly us in deeper, where you taught me to shoot," she ordered, causing him to unshrink his broom.

"We'll have to fly through the trees, I don't want Dumbledore seeing us out here," he frowned before getting on the broom. "Get on behind me and keep your eyes closed, this is going to be scary," he recommended as he felt her get on and grip him tight.

"You'll keep me safe," he felt her hold her face tight against the back of his robes and whisper to him. He sighed and took off, imagining the discomfort and fear she must be feeling as he dodged and weaved from side to side through the trees.

After ten or so minutes of flying he stopped and landed on the ground, helping Hermione off the broom. "You okay?" he whispered as he turned around, still in her death grip. "You hate flying, why'd you make me bring you here?" he rested his forehead against hers.

"We needed to talk, somewhere where no one could overhear us," Hermione sniffed and started to cry again. "I don't think we can be together James," she kept crying and held him tightly as he stiffened. "You told me what you were planning to do, but it didn't really sink in until I saw you kill Bellatrix…" she sighed and let go of him. "I…we just can't be like this," she ran her fingers through her hair, not looking at James.

"I understand, I'm a killer," James replied after a moment. "Killers don't deserve love and affection," he said quietly with an unreadable face.

"What? No!" Hermione shook her head violently before embracing him again. "You're not a killer, you're a good man. She was a monster, you stopped her," she wept into his shoulder.

"Then why?" his voice cracked as his stony face broke and finally showed emotion.

"I worried about you all day James, and I thought you were just out in Diagon," she explained. "If I knew that you were in danger…I couldn't take it," she gripped him so tight it hurt.

"Hermione, do you know why I come out here every day to train?" he asked as he broke the embrace and walked away from her.

"You train to fight," she replied, wiping at her eyes.

"Yes, and I am very good at it," he stopped, with his back to her. "I want you to attack me," he ordered, glancing over his shoulder.

"What?" she questioned him, her jaw hanging open.

"Trust me," he sighed, facing away from her. "Now attack me," he ordered more forcefully. "If you are so worried that I am going to get hurt out there, try your hand at hurting me," he stood still, facing the forest.

"No James, I won't," she sniffed, shaking her head. She watched him as he stood like a statue, ignoring her. "James, please," she begged him. He refused to move, keeping his back towards her. "Fine, you want me to hurt you, you bloody git," she broke down, screaming at him. "Have it your way, Stupefy!" she screamed as the spell at him. The jet of light shot out towards him, impacting the back of his robes. "What?" she questioned as he did not fall, but turned to face her.

"I said attack me, you have more at your disposal than a god damned Stupefy spell," he responded, dressed in his Punisher attire. "Attack me, or I swear to god Hermione, I'll never talk to you again," he ordered, pulling his wand, shooting a tickling charm that she dodged.

"James, no!" she pleaded at him.

"What are you afraid of? I'm not weak, I won't be killed like your parents!" he screamed at her. "I'm going to kill them all, they can't stop me!" he snarled at her, pulling his pistol shooting the tree beside her. "Look at you, scared out of your mind," he glared at her. "I thought you were strong," his eyes welled up with tears. "Go away, you're not the woman I thought you were," he turned away quickly, walking to the woods.

"Reducto!" she screamed as the tears fell from her eyes, sending the spell at his back. She cried out and ran to him as he crumpled to the ground as the spell hit him square in the back. "Oh James, I'm so sorry," she cried, dropping her wand, running to help him. She felt his back, looking for the blood and damage from her spell, her breath catching as she felt nothing but the smooth jacket. "James?" she whispered, rolling him over.

"Good girl," James smiled up at her from the ground as she embraced him violently, crying the whole time. "When you settle down, you can ask me whatever you want Hermione, let me show you I'm safe out there," he hugged her back until she stopped crying.

"Why aren't you hurt?" she asked as he helped her to her feet after having herself a good cry.

"It's another one of the things my tutor and I were working on that I thought Frank could use, but ended up being for me," he smiled and stepped away from her. "Mischief managed," he uttered as he pressed his wand to the Punisher getup, reverting back to his school robes. "It's a permanent transfiguration spell between 2 sets of clothes, it layers the unused set inside the other when the command words are given," he explained as her eyes grew wide. "One set is a normal pair of school robes, other is my Kevlar and dragonhide Punisher gear," he twirled as he changed back and forth a few times. "You're going to catch flies like that," he smiled, causing her to close her mouth. "Go ahead, ask away," he laughed, conjuring a blanket and sitting down, watching her pace.

"I don't know where to start," she frowned, sitting down next to him. "Those words you used for activating the clothes…," she frowned as she dug the Marauder's Map from her pockets. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she spoke as she pressed her wand to the parchment.

James jerked in surprise as she spoke the words, she had never told him how to turn the map on and off. His eyes narrowed when he read the names of the creators on the map. "That sneaky werewolf," he shook his head in disbelief.

"Remus Lupin was your tutor?" she asked him, studying his nervous shifting.

"He asked me to call him Moony," James pointed down at the name on the map. "Said I reminded him of someone," James stared off into the forest. "He taught me for six years before he got called here by Dumbledore," James frowned.

"How resistant is it?" she asked, feeling what looked like school robes.

"Spellwise, it will stop anything but the AK, it distributes the energy across the surface after being hit, but I don't recommend taking repeated hits in a short period of time though," he commented as if he was reading from a book. "In regards to other weapons, it will stop any normal blade and a fair bit of gunfire," he smiled as she relaxed.

"You can't be hurt?" Hermione asked him, gripping his hand.

"Sure I can, they can always hit me in the head," he commented as she shuddered. "But my armor makes me have the upper hand Hermione, and I train to make sure I am good enough to win," he draped his arm across her shoulder. "Do you know what the first thing Frank taught me was?" he asked her, pulling her close. "He taught me the rules. The rules of what you do out there in combat. You save yourself first, your friends second, and then you kill the enemy," he squeezed her arm. "I don't go out there, if I don't think I'm coming back Hermione," he kissed the top of her head.

"There's no way I can stop you from doing it, is there?" she looked up at him.

"No," he said coldly. "They killed my family, your family, god knows how many others," tears dripped from his eyes as he looked down at her. "I can't stop until they're dead," he gulped, settling himself again.

"Do me a favor then," she murmured after a bit. "Don't have Luna polyjuice as you without telling me ahead of time," she sighed, closing her eyes.

"She couldn't have been that bad," James laughed.

"She signed you up for Care of Magical Creatures, and she kept snogging me to 'keep up appearances'," Hermione laughed as James started to swear.

"Damn seer," he finished grumbling as Hermione kept laughing. "Deal, I'll let you know when I go out," he looked down at her expectantly.

"Just make sure you come back," she rested against him. "I came out here to break up with you, you know," she admitted.

"Good thing I talked you out of it," James whispered before kissing her deeply on the lips.

After a few minutes of seeing who could win in a tongue wrestling match, Hermione pulled away from him. "Next question," she smirked at him, making him roll his eyes. "How did you beat the Veritaserum that Snape gave you?" she asked, poking him in the chest.

"I didn't beat it, I told him the truth," James replied to her. "Veritaserum has strange results on me Hermione, it's in part because of my mask, as you put it before," he shifted under her. "My mind…is complicated, let's just say the parts that are James, the parts that are the Punisher, and the parts that are a scared little boy," he shuddered. "We don't always know what the others are doing," he smirked.

"Multiple personalities?" she questioned him eagerly.

"More or less, any more questions?" he tickled her sides.

"Any more surprises?" she laughed at him.

"Oh…just one, try not to scream."


James dodged the Bludger that was coming straight at him, laughing when it impacted the Slytherin Chaser that was trying to catch him. He'd been going over the events from last weekend in his mind throughout the Quiddich match. Hermione had reacted better than expected to the extent of arsenal and armor, besides the bat animagus form, she screamed bloody murder about that.

He rammed his body roughly into the Slytherin that attempted to block him before throwing the Quaffle through the hoop, past the overmatched Slytherin Keeper for another goal. He shrugged off his thoughts about Hermione and went back to work at his systematic destruction of the Slytherin Quiddich team. The game had been one sided from the start as the extent of James' morning exercises and Quiddich knowledge became more evident than in practices.

From the opening whistle, the game plan that Malfoy had drawn up for his Slytherin team had been shot to hell. James was targeted by the opposing Beaters from the start, but after he avoided the first few shots from them before taking a vicious shot from Crabbe to the midsection, things got rough. James shrugged the Bludger off before he sped off at the Slytherin Chaser that had the Quaffle, nearly running the boy over, taking the Quaffle from him, before flipped and jetting off in the other direction, drilling it home past the Slytherin Keeper.

After that, the game got worse for the Slytherins. James was just too fast and strong, he ran wild against the opposing Chasers, stripping them of the Quaffle at will, dodging the shots from the Beaters, frequently making the Slytherin Beaters hit their own Chasers with the Bludgers. Between that and James' rough style of play, the Slytherin team wasn't able to make a game of it.

Hermione sat with Luna in the stands, watching the massacre. "How is this even legal?" she asked Neville was on her other side as James drove the Slytherin left winger into the ground, causing a time out for a reserve player to be found.

"Well, he's not hitting them, that's what would cause a foul to be called," Neville explained. "A faster and stronger Chaser can run someone, so long as they aren't acting too dirty," Neville continued as they watched James arguing as Madame Hooch gave Slytherin a penalty shot that Ron blocked. "Though I have to say, James is destroying them," Neville admitted, when after the shot was blocked, James picked it up and stormed past the entire Slytherin team, drilling it in the face of their Keeper, rather than making an actual shot.

After half an hour of this, Ginny Weasley found the snitch after a fierce race with Draco for it that ended when a pair of Bludgers his him from both sides. The ending score was 500-0 for Gryffindor, James scoring on 31 goals, dropping off assists for the others. Ron stopped all ten shots that James was too busy to steal. It went down in history as the most lopsided Quiddich match in history. A team was outscored 500-0, with all their starters and 5 reserves sent to the hospital wing, all in thirty minutes.

Once the snitch had been caught, James flew down at the Gryffindor stands, pickup Hermione up and flying her away. She struggled a bit, hitting him about the chest and midsection before she realized they were slowly drifting down toward the ground in a spiral. "Entirely within the rules of the game Hermione," he smiled before kissing her. "Besides," he whispered in her ear. "If a good snog on a broom doesn't help get you over some of that fear of flying, I'm out of ideas," he smirked as he held her safely and guided them to the ground.

A/N: Answered some questions from readers in this, a good bit more to come in the next chapter. Time for some Halloween fun.