AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi People! Happy December! I've already gotten over 15 reviews for the last chapter alone! It makes me happy :). By the way, a lot of people were wondering why I set the review limit, well here's the answer: I want to know that my writing is appreciated, and not just seen and disgarded. I write for myself, but I love hearing what others think of my story. If any of you have seen my story list on my profile, you'll notice that this story has the most reviews out of all of them. It's because of you, my readers and reviewers, that I keep updating at the rate that I have. For all the other stories, most of them haven't been updated in months. I may not abandon them, but at the moment my focus is on this story :). So read and enjoy :)

Emerald Sage :)

(This P.O.V. will be Harrison's!)

Chapter 8: Found You

When he woke up snuggled into a warm comforter.

Wait. Warm?

His eyes snapped open, and he relaxed when he realized where he was. He knew that Bellatrix kept him outside because of the draft, the result was him wearing a jacket all the time, even during summer. His shack was never really warm, and was a disaster during the winter. He dissappeared every winter with Alyssa and the Potter family, if just to keep warm. His Dad (A/N: James will be Dad, Tom will be Father or Daddy, trust me, there is a part that features that.) was sympathetic towards his situation and negociated with Bellatrix to have him over in the winter. She was all too glad to get rid of him, for a while, at least. He glanced around him, and smiled when he saw James Potter's sleeping form in a chair by his bed side. He sighed and looked at the way his Dad's neck was bent. He pushed back the covers, shivering slightly at the cool draft that hit him. He stepped out of the bed when he realized he was wearing his emerald green silk pajamas he had left at the Potters the last time he had stayed here. Shaking his head to clear the memory, he walked over to the man he thought of as a father.

"Dad," he called softly, setting a hand on the man's shoulder gently, "Dad, wake up." The man opened his eyes blearily, looked at him for a moment, before shaking his head to wake him up a little. The man stood, shorter than his father, but at least six inches taller than him, and drew him into a tight hug.

"Hey, Buddy." he smiled slightly at one of the nicknames his Dad had come up with. "You alright? You did quite a number on yourself, kiddo. Two locations back to back, when you're not yet a master at it? You could've killed yourself with that stunt kiddo!" the man berated him, and he hung his head, knowing he deserved every word of it. "But it was pretty cool." the man lowered his voice to a whisper, and leaned in with an interested gleam in his eye. He felt his lip twitch, it was just like his Dad to lecture him about doing something dangerous, then comment on how amazing or awesome said dangerous thing was.

"James?" a familliar voice called from downstairs. He grinned, it was his Mum. He could never call Bellatrix his mother, not after everything she did to him.

When he had first met Lily Potter, he had been seven years old. James had brought him home for the winter, and Lily wanted to see the boy who would take care of her daughter when they grew up. She had seen him clutching onto James's pant leg, with an innocently curious expression in his emerald eyes, exactly the same shade as hers. (A/N: I know I've said jade as one color and emerald as another, but both are similar shades of green. To the Potters, his eyes seem emerald colored, and around everyone else, they are Jade. Don't ask me why yet, I haven't figured it out myself, but I will!) Her heart had melted at the sight of him, it was visible in her eyes, he remembered. He thought she would've squeezed him to death with that hug of hers. She had took another look at him and immediately declared that he was 'too thin to be healthy' and dragged him into the kitchen, followed by an amused and slightly worried James, worried because he was amused. After the first few days, he had trouble not calling her 'Mum', afraid she would reject him. But she had noticed, and demanded it. Now, he had no problem with it. Lily was his only Mum. As far as he was concerned, Bellatrix had given birth to him, but Lily had helped raise him. She was far more deserving of the title than Bellatrix.

Shaking himself out of the memory, he frowned when he realized that her voice was strange. He strained his ears to hear the conversation.

"James? Are you there?" he heard her call again, her voice sounded strange.

"Yes, Lil, what's going on? Are you alright, sweetheart?" his Dad asked concern lacing his voice.

"James, some one wants to speak with us." her tone was extremely nervous, almost anxious. It made him curious as to who was calling, especially considering the time of night he judged by looking at the midnight sky and crecent moon.

"Lil, are you alright? Who's calling at this time of night?" the man demande, panic making its way into the eldest Potter's voice.

"Some one, Jay." alarm flashed across his face, as he remembered what they had told him one afternoon.

Flashback:

Lily was standing in front of him with a distressed look on her face. She bent down to the ten year-old's height, looking him dead in the eyes, ones that matched her own.

"Harry," she began, and he knew instantly it was important. They rarely called him 'Harry' in such a serious tone. And with Dad standing next to her, with that look on his face...

"Sweetie, you know your father will return one day, right?" she asked anxiously. He nodded, wondering where this was going.

"You realize that you are the heir of Slytherin, and his heir as well. He will want you close by, and he's quite possessive." James muttered beside her. He tilted his head slightly, he could see this would be a problem, but couldn't see how just yet.

"If he finds out you and Lyss have a marriage contract..." she trailed off at the end, but he heard her loudly and clearly. If, no, when his father found out, there would be trouble at both ends of the string. "So, we've come up with a warning system." she explained. Hope passed across his face that he was sure none of the two could've mistaken for anything else. His Mum smiled softly at the look on his face.

"We have nicknames from school that we used to use, but we don't any longer." James explained, "If we use them, that means your father or mother is nearby or within listening range. People that know us won't find it strange that we use them, it won't have any significance to anyone other than us three and Alyssa, whom we told earlier. We had to wait until you got here to tell you." The man said patiently.

He nodded and asked, "But, what are your nicknames?" Lily smiled at his inquiry.

"I am LillyBell and James is Jay. We have other nicknames for each other, so we won't mix them up and set up false alarms." Lily informed him. He smiled, then asked if he could go back to play with Alyssa. They smiled at him and he turned around to leave, but not missing the relieved glances they shared at having gotten that off their shoulders.

End Flashback

He forced himself to calm, their warning system would be completely useless if his magic began spiking. He knew with certainty that his father would sense him miles away, and if he was in the manor…well, there's no need to go into detail with that possible disaster. He didn't even think Bellatrix would tell his father about the betrothal contract. If there was one thing his father wouldn't want, it was his heir already promised to someone and he had no say over the matter. After all, the opinion of the heir is always taken into account. He strained his ears to hear more, before straightening, slapping himself on the forehead muttering 'Idiot, forget about magic, why dontcha?', before summoning his wand to him, thinning his aura to almost nothing so no one could feel the magic being performed. Quickly performing a listening charm he learned a while back, he pressed his ear to the wall. He didn't dare the door, he remembered the last time. Muttering darkly to himself about werewolves' sense of hearing, he turned his attention back to the conversation taking place just outside the room.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I know you. Can we help you with something?" he heard James ask cooly. Shit. James was rarely this cool with anyone friendly.

"Yes, you can help me, Mr. Potter." Another cold voice said, this one oh so familiar. Oh no. Oh no, no, no…it is him, he thought, dread increasing with every word. "You can hand over my son." Shit.

"And what makes you think we know where he is?" he heard his Mum shoot back, in the coldest tone of voice he had ever heard from her, he rather thought that even Dumbledore and Declan would quail under her temper. And Declan…well, that was saying something.

"You've done a remarkable job hiding him, I must admit." Now his father's voice was blatantly sarcastic, oh dear, he was going to get it badly when he got home, "but I believe you forgot that betrothal contracts state the current location of the people it concerns, along with apparation instructions." He felt like slapping himself. Of course they had directions, and he had been foolish to think that Bellatrix wouldn't tell his father out of fear. That would be exactly why she would tell him.

He felt himself panic as the door knob twirled as it was magically unlocked and the door unsealed. Thinking on his feet, he cast a disillusionment charm and a notice-me-not charm, knowing he couldn't slip into the shadows yet, he was still recovering from the last two trips. Back to back was a great way to tire him out. He was debating risking the fatigue when he felt his father's magic swirl into the room and immediately wrapped around him, making the charms useless. The man himself walked into the room seconds later, crimson eyes staring at the spot the magic was centering around, smirking all the while. He had no time to move as his father began casting the counter charms in rapid succession, and the magic around him held him in place as they made contact. Only seconds later, the man's crimson eyes were boring into his own, now visible, jade green ones. He didn't even hear Lily and James rush into the room, only to pause at the doorway when they saw the two of them, and felt the magic swirling around them. He only had eyes for his father, watching with dread as the man's lips pulled into a smirk as he said two words:

"Found you."

YAY! I'M DONE!

Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews! This chapter is written in size eleven font in times new roman. Yay! Please review!

Emeralds

Completed: Wednesday, December 8th, 2010