James Castle

Chapter 19: Conference

"It is good to see you are well, child of Mars," Bane greeted James as he entered the woods in the early morning light to go take some target practice. "We had worried, the light of your planet was waning until recently," the centaur walked beside the wizard.

"Yeah, well, I was a bit under the weather," James scowled, glad to finally be allowed to continue his training. "Hermione wouldn't let me do anything strenuous until now," James smiled a bit at all the time Hermione had spent doctoring him up.

"The Lady of the Moon described it as being a bit more than a simple sickness," Bane caught the branch that James had released before it could hit him in the face. "She seemed to think you were close to death and discovery, and only through luck and your friends forcing you to rest did you recover," Bane chuckled as the wizard started walking faster.

"Luna talks too much," James glared back at the centaur. "I had a mission that went bad, some Aurors got killed by Death Eaters before I could take them out," James stopped, sitting on a fallen tree to rest. "They were so damn intent on trying to capture the Punisher that they got themselves killed," James stared off into the woods.

"But you stopped the dark wizards?" Bane watched the wizard carefully.

"Yeah, killed them then torched the buildings with Fiendfyre, they were all businesses that supported Voldemort," James nodded.

"But you regret the loss of life of the Aurors, or is there something more?" Bane questioned him.

"Well, I regret most of their deaths," James shrugged. "I interrupted a meeting between one of Fudge's Undersecretaries and a Death Eater. She was offering a truce on behalf of the Minister," James explained as the centaur stiffened. "Voldemort would get land, voting rights at Hogwarts and the Wizengamot, the release of all his Death Eaters, and pardons for them all," James frowned, slamming his fist down on the log he was sitting on.

"What would the Ministry get in return?" Bane replied angrily.

"Voldemort would stop attacking purebloods and halfbloods," James glared at the centaur. "The damn Minister of Magic has so many Death Eaters paying him off and controlling him that he's ready to give up the fight," James sighed, resting his head in his hands. "I can't fight them all alone, but I don't want anyone to get hurt," James scowled and moved off to his firing range, leaving the centaur alone in the woods.


"Hello James," Luna smiled as she sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast with James and Hermione.

"Good morning Luna," James nodded as he attacked his food, glad to have his appetite back after nearly a month of forced relaxation and recovery by Hermione, Frank, and the others.

"Luna," Hermione smiled nervously at her friend. "What brings you over here?" she asked, bracing herself for nearly anything.

"Oh, nothing much Hermione," Luna hummed to herself and helped herself to food from their plates. "Oooh, good cantaloupe," she smiled to herself as she ate.

"Luna, cut the act, what's up?" James frowned as she took his last piece of bacon.

"Oh fine, be that way," she pouted, dropping the madwoman act. "Friday at midnight in the centaur village Bane wants you, the elders, and whatever supporters you have here in the Castle to meet and discuss the current situation, get everyone on the same page," Luna frowned as James stole back the bacon as she was talking.

"How are we going to get out there after hours?" Hermione watched James who let a smile creep across his face. "Oh no," she shook her head at him. "No," she said emphatically.

"Fine, you can use the cloak, I'll find my own way," James laughed as Hermione rolled her eyes.


"Hey, Malfoy!" James walked behind the Slytherin in the hallway later that day. The boy stopped walking, turning to face James with a sneer.

"What do you want …Castle?" he rubbed his nose where it had been broken before with his free hand while the other grabbed his wand.

"Just wanted to know how your mother is taking it, you know having to whore herself out to make ends meet now that daddy is gone," James watched the boy's face turn red in anger. "I was thinking of looking her up the next Hogsmeade visit, maybe buying her services for Max, or better yet Moody, seeing if it could improve his attitude," James laughed as he knew the ex-Auror in question was across the hall watching the exchange.

"Filthy mudblood!" Draco screamed as he pulled his wand preparing to hex James before he dropped to the ground with another broken nose.

"Second verse, same as the first," James laughed as Moody grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along the hall towards his office shouting about detentions all the way. He roughly pushed James into the room shouting at him all the while before closing and silencing the door behind him.

"What the hell was that all about? Have you lost your damn mind?" Moody glared at the boy.

"Nah, needed to make it believable though," James laughed at Moody's scowl. "Come on, I'm not dumb enough to go do that for no reason," he grinned. "Detention in the Forbidden Forest with you Friday night seems fitting, don't you think?" he laughed and explained the meeting to Moody.


"I swear to god Sirius, if you run into me one more time," Tonks threatened her cousin in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest.

"I can't help it," Sirius chuckled. "I can see fine as Padfoot, but you kept yelling at me then too," he complained as he kicked a root.

"Because you kept jumping up on me licking me!" she yelled at him.

"Awww, only Remus allowed to do that?" Sirius laughed before turning into his dog form and running off into the woods.

"Children, I will turn this car around if I have to," James shook his head as he led Hermione, Moody, and the whole security team through the woods in near pitch black darkness. "And before you complain again Tonks, no we cannot use magic, someone in the castle might see it," he cut her off before she could talk, smirking as she listened to her complain to Remus.

"Be nice," Hermione scolded him, having used his Invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map to sneak out of the castle after dinner. "Any idea what exactly they're planning on talking about with us?" she questioned him as he helped her avoid a root.

"Nope, but I bet it will annoy me to no end," he frowned as he pushed a branch aside. He looked ahead in the woods, seeing Frank on point with Moody, the Auror being able to see thanks to his artificial eye, Frank due to the night vision goggles that James wore an identical pair of.

"And why exactly aren't we just duplicating the goggles so we don't have to hear them complaining?" Hermione held his hand tight as he led her through the dark.

"Because it's funnier watching them get mad," James smiled as he watched Frank stop ahead of them, the two of them shooting hand signals at each other. "Not much further now, come on," he laughed as he heard Tonks fall over again.


"I hate you," Tonks glared at James as they sat around the ceremonial fire in the centaur village, drinking from mugs of spiced mead the centaurs brought them.

"Come on Nym, it was funny," Remus laughed as she glared at him too.

"I hate you too," she frowned, going back to her drink. "Stupid werewolf senses, seeing in the damn dark," she grumbled about how James had produced several more sets of the night vision goggles when they reached the village.

"You need to work on your stealth girl," Moody glared at her. "You sounded like a bloody herd of Hippogriffs out there, I trained you to be better than that," Moody frowned, continuing to test his drink with his wand before taking a small drink from it.

"Yeah, you did such a good job that they forced you into retirement afterwards," Tonks made her face look like Moody, glaring back at him.

"They forced me into early retirement because I called Fudge a moron," Moody grumbled, finally feeling comfortable enough to drink from the mug normally.

"We sure this is safe here James?" Frank asked nervously, eyeing the tree line, keeping his assault rifle handy. "If some wizards happens across us, we are sunk," he jerked his head at a noise in the woods.

"Take it easy Frank, Bane told me they were sending patrols back out after we got here, I trust them," James settled Frank down, taking a drink from his own mug. "Whoa…bit strong there," he coughed after he swallowed the drink.

"I would exercise moderation with your drinks my friends, they are made for centaurs, so may be a bit strong for a wizard," Bane cautioned as he came to the fire with a graying centaur and a smaller figure. "This is our herd's elder Magorian, and you know the Lady of the Moon and her friend," he bowed and stepped back allowing Luna to take a seat on the other side of James.

"Elder Magorian," James bowed his head to the centaur before turning to Luna and looking away quickly. "I swear to god Luna, if that is what I think it is…" he sighed as he drank down the rest of his drink quickly as Hermione laughed beside him.

"James, is that the Sorting Hat on her head?" Sirius stared at the girl like she had grown a second head. "How did she get the Sorting Hat out here?" he questioned ignoring James motioning for him to shut up and Hermione rolling off their log onto the ground in laughter.

"Oh, this is Mr. Hat, he's my friend," Luna smiled beneath the floppy piece of leather. "We talk all the time, he has some interesting stories about you Mr. Black," Luna hummed as Sirius and the others just stared at her.

"Close your mouths, you'll catch flies," the hat moved slightly as it spoke.

"But…that's the Sorting Hat…" Tonks furrowed her brow, whispering to Remus. "How did she…?" Tonks frowned, seeing James starting his second mug and decided to follow suit.

"Please, do not ask her about the damn hat," James shook his head. "You'll be here all night and won't make any progress, believe me, we've tried," he frowned at the offending piece of clothing.

"Miss Granger seemed amused by our conversations, Mr. Potter," the hat rotated on Luna's head and spoke to him.

Hermione busted out laughing at her boyfriend, fighting with a hat. "Okay, enough of that for you," James scolded her, taking her mug from her before she started hitting him to give it back. "Fine, have it your way, just don't get so drunk I have to carry you back," he gave up, giving her the mug back. "Enough about the hat, can we get on to business please Elder Magorian?" he begged.

"As you wish, Child of Mars," the older centaur bowed to him. "We called for this meeting to get all the involved parties working together," he paced around the fire as he spoke. "From what Bane has gathered in his dealings with both Castles and the hounds," he gestured at Remus and Sirius who were laughing at their names. "Things are going badly out there," he continued staring up at the sky. "The stars have been odd lately, not showing any definite signs of the future, the world is in a time of flux and danger," he commented out loud.

"When Elder Magorian asked me what I could see, I explained to him the conflict with the Death Eaters and suggested that we all meet to finally get on the same proverbial page," Luna picked up when the centaur stopped talking.

"You all have information that the others need, and none of you are exactly forthcoming with your secrets," the hat added.

"And getting us all drunk together seemed like the best idea?" James shook his head at the hat.

"It seemed like the best option to Mr. Hat and I," Luna smiled and poured James and Hermione a fresh drink each. "Now, who want to share?" she smiled dreamily, mumbling to herself and the hat.

"We centaurs have noticed an increase in the activity of dark creatures such as vampires, dementors, werewolves, present company excluded, and the like for the last week," Magorian explained. "We fear an attack on Hogwarts itself is imminent, the stars seem to agree with us," he mused as he looked to the night sky.

"My visions too, they are filled with fighting and death," Luna said seriously. "Bad things are coming to Hogwarts, sooner rather than later," she frowned, poking at the fire with a stick. "Even I can't see how it is going to turn out, there are too many variables," she bit her lip throwing the stick into the fire. "What I did see, is that if we don't work together and make him stop being an idiot, all is lost," she pointed at James.

"For the last damn time, if the mission had gone to plan everything would have been fine," James glared at the others before Hermione pulled him close and calmed him down. "I stand by what I said," he frowned as she held him down and Sirius made a whip cracking sound.

"And you need to realize pup, that you have four ex-Aurors at your disposal," Sirius smirked at him. "What?" he feigned shock when everyone counted the people present. "I was an Auror you know," he waved his wand emphatically. "Back me up here Moody," he begged the older man.

"You were about to graduate to academy, you were not an Auror yet," Moody glared at him. "You went and got yourself thrown in Azkaban for going after Pettigrew like a fool," he frowned, taking a long drink from his mug.

"Little rat bastard got what was coming to him," James smirked, raising his mug to Remus and Sirius. "Speaking of which, how long did you know?" he asked Moody.

"How long did I know you were more than your cover story?" Moody laughed at the boy. "Once I saw 'The Punisher' bring in LeStrange and recognized the gun," the man nodded at the fire. "I still don't know how you beat the Veritaserum and Oaths," he grumbled, taking a drink.

"Go ahead," James laughed as Hermione raised her hand by reflex. She pulled it down as everyone got a good laugh before sticking her tongue out at James.

"It's a combination of a few different things," Hermione lectured to Moody as the others took to seeing who could drink more during the explanation. "His Occulmancy, his bad childhood, and his training by Frank, they all worked together to create the separate parts in his mind," she kept explaining as Shacklebolt had to catch Sirius as he drained the last of his mug. "What he has now, is three parts, all separated by walls and Occulmancy shields in his mindscape," she happily explained as James rolled his eyes and Frank smirked.

"The smallest part he was born as, the part that was Harry Potter. The second is the part that took over, following the abuse and hellish childhood he got from those damned relatives," she kicked clumsily at the fire as James held her back. "And the last part is when he's out there fighting, or whenever he needs it, the part that he created to cope with Frank's line of work," she looked at the older Muggle.

"To be fair, I am a wanted criminal, I think that the boy turned out pretty good for all he had to deal with in his life," Frank smirked at the girl as James looked down at the dirt. "Man up soldier," he directed the comment at James who snapped up and flipped him off, causing a laugh from Moody and the Marauders.

"You raised me fine Frank, it's a wonder my head isn't more messed up," James nodded at him. "So long story short for this little shindig, I'm an idiot and if something happens from here on, we do it together, right?" he ran his free hand through his hair.

"You forgot the most important part pup," Sirius laughed loudly.

"And what's that Sirius?"

"The best booze is free booze," he laughed at his own joke, making everyone else roll their eyes.

A/N: On a scale of 1-10, this was a 0 on the shit hitting the fan o-meter. Next chapter…might be a 12….. Fun times are coming, story is drawing to a close, am already planning Unified Theory and Super Soldier in my head, so when I post the final chapter of this, the initial chapters of the new stories will come out at the same time. Estimated chapters left in this story… possibly as little as three, I won't know til I write it out.

And yeah, 2 updates in one day, don't get used to it, I was on a sick day today.