Jamie was halfway to Herbology when he heard it. Someone being bullied.
Naturally he took offense to this and immediately went to set the bully straight.
It was Ron Weasly...and he was harassing poor Neville about lending him his homework notes.
Jamie saw red and knocked the boy on his ass with a well placed sweep of the legs. Then he dragged Neville with him to Herbology.
"How long has this been going on?" he demanded.
Neville whimpered, but said "Ever since the start of term."
"Neville, you don't have to put up with that. I'm sure we can convince Professor Sprout to let you stay in our dorms if Ron is going to harass you like that."
"But Gran..."
"I don't care about what your Grandmother wants. She's not here right now, you are. And besides, I've been meaning to tell you that your parents are fine in private anyway."
"You know where they are?" said Neville, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Not only are they okay, but they are in the process of coming back. They were taken by old friends to see if they could do what your healers couldn't, which was bring them back."
"Can I tell Gran?" asked Neville.
"Not until we're sure that it will remain permanent. Anyway, we need to get you settled into Hufflepuff. At least there you won't be bullied by your own dorm mates," said Jamie.
Neville nodded cautiously. Jamie was by far kinder than the rough and tumble boys of Gryffindor.
It was the news of the school that one of the Gryffindor firsties had switched houses. And it started a real problem.
Neville wasn't the only one to jump ship, so to speak. He was quickly followed by Hermione Granger and one Blaise Zabini, who went to Ravenclaw.
Dumbledore was less than pleased by this, while McGongall and Snape tried to convince the children to go back to their original houses.
They had no luck. Hermione and Neville were much happier in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and Blaise said he was happy to have an intelligent conversation without having to worry about his view on blood status every half an hour.
And when Jamie accidentally found a by-law in the school charter that said a student could change houses if they felt the sorting was mistaken within their first year...
Dumbledore no longer had a leg to stand on.
The sad fact was that the students were much happier in other houses.
When Jamie learned Neville had been using Frank's old wand, he convinced the boy to get a new one and waited until Christmas to give Frank his back. Professor Sprout saw no reason not to help the poor boy out when she learned the real problem.
And once he had a new one, his grades shot up. Augusta was less than happy to hear from Sprout that it was her fault Neville had been having so much trouble.
She was more unhappy to hear that her grandson had such a hard time in Gryffindor, which lead to some pointed questions to McGonagall as to why she had allowed such rampant bullying.
Needless to say Ron was in a great deal of hot water for a few months, and even the twins showed some common sense by toning down their pranks.
Though that could have also been because of Jamie's discreet word to them a few days after he rescued Neville from Ron. He ever offered them a deal where they could work for some extra galleons during the summer. They could still develop new pranks, but they would have to do it during the free time they got for what Jamie had in mind.
It was his way of getting them into shape, because while he wasn't a big prankster, he did notice that the twins tried their best never to cross the line to far between bullying and joking. They seemed to trust Jamie's judgment on pranks when it came to playing them, and soon the line was no longer in danger of being crossed.
Snape was not one to look a chance and not take it, as he had Jamie stay behind one day after class and offered him a deal. He would join the boy on his morning runs and not complain about the dog in the school (thereby ending all worries that Scruffy would be sent home by Dumbledore) in exchange for keeping the twins away from him when he was brewing something delicate.
It worked out to a point, though Snape had to bite his comments back whenever Jamie slowed down so his professor could keep up. At least the boy was more tolerable than his father had been.
It wasn't until Halloween that he found out how true that was...
Jamie was late in getting to the feast due to some extra homework he had from his old school. He didn't want to give up his regular schooling just because he was in a new one and learning magic. He would need a High School degree just to get into the Royal Air Force.
It was the stench that told him something was wrong. He was close to the kitchens (most of the firsties had to go a little trial of sorts to find it, since their dorms were right next to it) and he knew something was very wrong.
He ran to the portrait with the pear and tickled it until the doorknob opened (he had bribed the Weasly twins with galleons for how to get in) and ran inside.
He was just in time, as a mountain troll walked past that corridor.
"Little Master! Yous should not be in here!" said one of the house elves.
"There's a troll outside, and I was leaving the common room. This was closer than the door," said Jamie.
"Just don't goes sneaking out any sweets. There's plenty of those on the tables," said the head elf.
"I'm not that big a fan of sweets anyway. Do you have any Granny Smith apples instead? Not candied, mind you, but plain?"
The head elf smiled and someone brought him a bowl of the apples. That was how the teachers found him when one of the prefects alerted the teachers to the fact he wasn't with the others while the troll was on the loose.
"THERE WAS A WHAT LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL?!" shouted Charlie when he read the letter.
He reread it four times before he got up furious.
"What's got yer britches in a bunch Charlie?" asked Hank.
"Troll, in a school full of children," said Charlie, like every word he wanted to use could curse the idiot responsible.
The potion had worked, and had restored most of his lost memories. He had lost James, Lily and his wife Dorea. He also remembered a certain boy, Dorea's favorite grandson Sirius.
The same Sirius that everyone in the Cauldron cursed blue about for betraying Lily and James.
Which was why Charles had visited the prison personally and learned the man was in fact innocent. No way could Sirius had betrayed James when he was the godfather of James' son.
Charlie was now trying to give Sirius a trial, claiming that he wanted to at least hear his end of the tale by the traitor's lips and to insure the Queen's law was carried out.
Most people brushed it off as one of Charlus' little eccentricities after being in the muggle world so long. Still, they were willing to humor him as the head of the Potter family and the grandfather of Harry Potter.
Now, though, now Charlie was pissed. Trolls were notoriously violent and occasionally ate human flesh. Especially mountain trolls.
At least Jamie had enough common sense to stay in the kitchens until someone came for him.
"You staying for Christmas Jamie?" asked Neville. He considered Jamie his best friend.
"Grandpa said if I came home, we'd be spending time in that base they're trying to fix up," said Jamie.
"...Is it possible for me to join you?" asked Neville. He didn't want to spend time with his overbearing grandmother.
"I'll ask Grandpa. Chances are he'll say yes when he hears who's son you are," said Jamie grinning.
A day later he got confirmation. Neville could join Jamie on the ride to the base. His grandmother even agreed to it, assuming Neville would be spending the holiday with Jamie in the Potter mansion.
"Welcome to Gryffin Air Field. Mind your step boys, we're still trying to get the roads fixed, and it's slow going," said Charlie.
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir," said Neville.
"Always good to see a lad with manners. You can just call me Charlie if you like lad, formality isn't something we're big on around here."
Neville nodded, already out of his league.
"Most of the people here are former Hufflepuffs and the better half of the Gryffindors. Occasionally a Ravenclaw or the rare mundane-born Slytherin, but mostly Puffs," said Jamie quietly.
That cheered Neville up a bit. Then he caught a glimpse of someone very familiar walking past with a bag of compost.
"Dad?" he whispered.
"I have an idea, why don't you help Ol' Frank plant our first crop of vegetable seeds?" said Charlie kindly.
Neville brightened up and ran after his father.
"So how is condition, really?"
"He still has trouble remembering faces or conversations, but the two of them are a great deal better off than they were originally. They can do simple tasks and last week Alice successfully brewed a minor sleeping draught. Maybe having their son around will speed things up a little."
Jamie grinned.
"Which reminds me... You should check out hanger three. We recently got the same kind of plane I was shot down in," said Charlie.
"Yes sir!"
"Sirius Black, we are here to day to confirm what we already know," said Fudge bored. Charlie had promised ten thousand galleons in exchange for a trial.
Considering all he had to do was declared Black guilty all over again and waste an hour of his time, it was easy money.
Or so he believed.
"Did you betray the location of the Potter family to Voldemort?" asked Bones.
"No," said Sirius, under the veritaserum potion. He had all but demanded it when brought in.
"Are you, or have you ever been a Death Eater?" demanded Bones.
"No. I hated Voldemort and all he stood for."
"Someone check his arms!" barked Charlie. It was a well known fact that Death Eaters had a certain mark tattooed on their arms.
One of the Aurors came down and checked both arms. They were bare of any marks.
"If you didn't betray the Potters, who did?!" said Fudge.
"Peter did," spat Sirius. It was clear that Pettigrew was going to be a taboo subject for him.
"Why did you allow people to believe you had betrayed your best friend and his wife?" asked Charlie.
"I had snapped because I realized I had just lost everyone I cared about. Peter was supposed to protect them and actually do something right for once in his miserable life, and instead he chose to betray us all. We should have gone with Remus instead," said Sirius, his shoulders drooping.
"I think we can all agree that a great miscarriage of justice has occurred here," said Charlie.
"Indeed. All in favor of clearing all charges?" said Bones.
Nearly everyone raised their hands. Only a few didn't, among them Fudge, Umbridge and a few Death Eaters.
"Very well. Let the records show that Sirius Black is hereby cleared of all charges against him for betraying the Potters, and shall be reimbursed for time spent illegally in Azkaban. Now I believe Lord Potter has something he wishes to say to Lord Black?" said Bones.
"Aye, I have something to say. Because of the effects of the Dementors had on his mental state, I would recommend that Lord Black stay with me at my current residence until he is fit to rejoin the rest of the magical communities as a whole," said Charlie.
"Do you oppose this Lord Black?" asked Bones.
"No, I don't," said Sirius. Mostly because he knew that joining Charlie also meant spending time with his godson.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" said the entire VA association of London.
"Cheers!" said Sirius, holding up a bottle of butterbeer. He had gotten several cases of it so the boys wouldn't accidentally get drunk with real liquor.
"So Neville, how did you like spending the past week with your dad and mom?"
"They're...more alert than I'm used to. Mom even said my name, like she recognized me," said Neville.
"I would have brought your Gran here as well, but the last thing they need is coddling," said Charlie.
Neville actually agreed with that. The past week he had spent here was the best he ever had. Here they didn't question whether or not he could do something, but rather showed him how if he didn't know. They trusted him more than his grandmother ever did.
Plus there was the fact that they were slowly but surely bringing his parents back.
Neville drank his butterbeer with a big smile on his face.
Frank and Alice were doing much better without being stuck in that dreary hospital and doing nothing. Giving them tasks and having them do exercises seemed to bring them back to themselves.
They were even starting to remember who they were.
And it wasn't just helping Frank and Alice. Some of the older veterans and even some of the young blood were benefiting too. Those coming home from foreign wars that suffered from PTSD took to the little hanger like ducks to water. Their flashbacks seemed to be coming less and less often since they were able to get it out of their system. Not to mention being able to talk to others who suffered similar problems and understood them.
There was even word that it was going to be re-commissioned under the authority of the Veteran's Association since it gave the old soldiers something to do.
"To Charlie! For bringing us back!" said Hank.
"Charlie!" roared the others. The sound of clinking glasses was all that could be heard.
"And to Jamie, who started it all!"
"Jamie!" cheered the others. The boy blushed, but he grinned.
Christmas was spent with a lot of cheer and fun. Plus Neville finally got a chance to try out his new paintball gun that Jamie got him.