Jamie felt something was off about the pillar, so he touched it before he backed off.
It was as solid as the real pillars around him. Trying to get through would be pointless.
Because Neville wanted to spend time with Jamie, Charlie had brought both boys to the station the mundane way. He had gone through before them, but Jamie had tested the pillar before trying to go through the illusion.
He reached into his pocket and brought out a well used cell phone. Once he dialed his grandfather's and he picked it up, Jamie explained about the barrier.
Charlie sighed on the other end and told them that they might as well use the Knight Bus, because by the time they figured out how to get through the train would have already left.
Fortunately Jamie was well versed in how to summon the bus on his own, having learned from some of the older veterans who used it to get around. He mostly used it to go to and from his favorite stores, most of which were no where near each other.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus..." started Stan.
"Hey Stan. We need a ride to Hogsmeade, because we've missed the last train to Hogwarts."
"Ten sickles for the both of you," said Stan calmly. He was used to Jamie and his quirks.
Jamie and Neville handed over five coins, and the bus sped off. Neville, who had gotten used to the rocking motion of the waves over the summer, braced himself appropriately next to Jamie, keeping both of them standing up with ease.
Five minutes later, they were in Hogsmeade. Once they got their trunks off (releasing their dogs) they headed up to the school.
They were met halfway by Hagrid, who was off for a quick pint before the children arrived.
"Hello Hagrid," said Jamie.
"Jamie! Neville! What are you two doin' here?" said Hagrid.
"We missed the last train, and Grandfather said we could take the Knight Bus to Hogsmeade. For some reason the barrier shut off a bit early," said Jamie.
"Well, best get you two ter Professor Sprout then," said Hagrid. They were Puffs, which automatically made this Sprouts problem.
Good thing she was outside pruning some of the plants before school started up again.
"The barrier shut off early? Well at least you made it to the school safely. Now Neville, is this Marley at least house trained?" asked Sprout. She didn't mind dogs, and Jamie had trained his well.
"We're still working on that, but Gran taught me a charm to clean it up quickly. His last owners weren't very good and let him develop some bad habits," said Neville.
"Well, I suppose you can help me prune some of the easier plants. And what about you Jamie?"
"Library raid," said Jamie.
"Off you go then. Remember, if you want to get into the restricted section, be sure to give me a reasonable explanation why," said Sprout cheerfully.
"Yes ma'am!" said Jamie with a salute. And with that he went straight to the library to pick up some reading material before he sat near the lake.
Far easier to read his manga when he was in his own house, where Snape, Filch, or Dumbledore wouldn't feel obligated to try and take it from him.
"Where were you two?!" demanded Hermione the next morning.
"Barrier closed early, so we had to take an alternate method to the village outside the castle. Professor Sprout cleared us so we stayed out of the way while the teachers got ready for the new year," said Jamie.
Of course half of that day was continuing their attempts to teach Marley the command "Dig" so that Neville could use the dog's stronger leg muscles to clear patches of dirt to plant in.
Marley got the command, it was the location that he had issues with. Fortunately the two were able to cover up their efforts through good old fashioned work.
Neville seemed to thrive under such work, much as Jamie had. It was the main reason he had suggested that Neville go on a trip to sea.
And the results were stunning! Neville finally had confidence in himself and stood tall, but not overly proud!
His gran seemed to pick up on it to, because she no longer despaired seeing her son in Neville.
(Neville even had his own wand, not his fathers.)
"So what's our first class Nev?" asked Jamie.
"Transfiguration."
"Right then. Allonsy!"
"...No more Doctor Who for you," deadpanned Neville.
"Meanie," said Jamie, sticking out his tongue.
"Would you prefer I get Granger hooked on Ranma ½?" said Neville.
"Yes! We need another convert to the god of anime and manga!" declare Jamie on the way to Professor McGonagall's class.
Neville shook his head in amusement...though to be fair he had gotten hooked on the genre because of Jamie. He particularly loved the Silver Diamond and Fruits Basket series.
(Silver Diamond is one of the lesser known manga series I have a habit of finding and reading. It's about a boy named Rakan who has the power to grow plants simply by touching them and who eventually learns he's from a parallel world were the entire planet is a desert and the sun hasn't been seen in years. His enemy is someone who looks exactly like him called the Prince, who is one of the creatures sucking the life out of the other world. It's actually rather good once you get into it.)
"Thank god we didn't have Lockhart today," said Jamie. He had just heard the fiasco of his first lesson, in which the idiot set an entire cage of Cornish Pixies loose on the students with no instructions on how to deal with them.
"I know," said Neville, shuddering. He had little doubt that had they been in that lesson, his recently learned hand to hand moves wouldn't have stopped him from being hung from the ceiling.
(Jamie was going to help him with that, since he was almost a black belt.)
"On the plus side, Professor Sprout said she's letting us join some of the advanced classes since we're so good at plain old hard work!"
Neville cheered up about that.
"Plus she found one of the holes we missed while training Marley and said we could use this as a chance to try again," continued Jamie. Neville almost face-faulted.
The entire class was dead silent when the thud was heard. Jamie and Neville had been in Defense for exactly five minutes past the bell when Lockhart tried to drag Jamie up for a demonstration.
The second Jamie had a chill go up his spine while Lockhart was behind him, he did a basic over the shoulder throw and knocked the pansy out cold.
Something about Lockhart did NOT sit right with him, and allowing that man to get behind him was probably a very bad idea.
Jamie took a deep breath.
"If this blowhard doesn't get his act together in two weeks, I am calling Grandpa and having him send someone over to give us real training. All in favor?"
"AYE!" came the unanimous cry of the boys and nearly every Ravenclaw in there.
"All opposed?" said Neville.
"Nay!" shouted a good portion of the girls, including Hermione.
"The Ayes have it! Sorry girls, you were outvoted by those who see past his so called good looks," shouted Jamie.
Neville had a brilliant idea and yelled "Class dismissed! Last one out of here is a rotten egg!"
He was the first one out of there, having left his books behind, but taking his bag with him. Most of them followed suit, deciding to finish their homework or do some prep for their next class. By the time Lockhart woke up, he found dozens of his books left behind by the students who never bothered to show up to reclaim them.
Jamie was driving Snape up the wall with his humming. To make matters worse, Neville quickly realized it was an anime song, so Jamie probably wasn't even paying close attention to his potion.
So it came as surprise when Snape suddenly stumbled and nearly fell into one of the cauldrons from shock.
What could possibly shock Snape of all people?
The song Jamie had been humming was the opening theme to Slayers, and the main character just happened to bear a very uncanny resemblance to Lily Evans nee Potter. Naturally Snape mistook Lina Inverse for Lily Evans, making him wonder when Lily had the time to kill a dragon with a single spell.
He really shouldn't have been reading Slayers before potions class.
"Seriously? Potter is a major Otaku?" said one of the Ravenclaw boys.
"According to Jamie, he had been reading Slayers before potions and Snape mistook Lina for his mother," laughed the girl.
"...Think he would be interested in our club?"
Jamie was approached during the 'study hall' which was the unofficial name for DADA this year. Lockhart still couldn't catch any of the errant students who avoided his class like the plague.
"What sort of club are you talking about? Keep in mind my schedule is pretty full," said Jamie.
The Ravenclaw boy handed him a flyer from last year.
Jamie took one look at the picture and said "What time should I show up?"
"Five, right after classes on Friday. Hopefully Dumbledore will let us put on a show this time."
Jamie walked into the room, adjusted his 'cloak' and waited for their reaction.
"Who's the runt?" asked someone.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A BACTERIA SO SMALL YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE IT?!"shouted Jamie in return.
Jamie had been asked to join the Otaku Club, a group of students who loved anime and wanted to recreate the various spells they saw in it. The biggest requirement was that the members show up in cosplay and act in character.
Naturally Jamie grabbed his Edward Elric costume and had to show up in it, hence the chibi comment.
The club roared in approval.
"I would have brought Black Hayate, but he's the wrong breed and I don't have a Hawkeye costume," said Jamie.
"Welcome to the Otaku club!" said Peter, who had been the one to invite Jamie.
"Did you really get Snape to trip by thinking of Lina Inverse during potions?" asked Sarah eagerly.
"He used Legilmency on me and for some reason mistook the Dragon Spooker for my mom," said Jamie with a laugh.
(In the far off distance the sound of absolute rage from that nickname was heard. The Otaku shrugged it off, and silently hoped that if Lina was real she would grace their club.)
"Why didn't you dye your hair blond, or use a wig?" asked Jake.
"Don't you remember that episode Ed turned his hair black to avoid the military?" countered Jamie.
"Yeah, but he wasn't wearing his cloak or usual outfit that episode," said Jake.
"...Give me five minutes," said Jamie.
He left the room before re-entering it wearing a familiar blue and white uniform.
"WHEN I BECOME FURER, ALL FEMALE OFFICERS WILL WEAR MINI SKIRTS!"said Jamie complete with pose.
Everyone in the club cheered for his perfect recreation of the infamous scene. It didn't hurt that he looked like a younger Roy Mustang complete with gloves.
When he snapped his fingers, actual flames came out. The entire club stared.
"I know another fan who actually knows how to use alchemy. When I mentioned the costume he happened to send me a pair of the gloves for my birthday," said Jamie with a smirk.
"You are officially the top cosplayer in the club," said Peter reverently. How often did one see a perfect recreation of a character, albeit slightly too young?
Jamie was even give a name badge, which he put on like he would a medal.
"I gotta say Jamie, that Mustang outfit suits you perfectly. Not only do you look like him, but you also have the military background," said Jake.
"I know, but I like Ed's character better because he only used the forbidden alchemy out of love rather than some other reason. Besides, he's funnier and we have the same height issues."
"Only because Ed hasn't hit his growth spurt yet. I hear in the new movie that he finally hits past five feet!" said Mary eagerly.
"NO! I haven't even been able to get a copy because it's on DVD and electronics like those don't work here!" said Jamie with anime tears in his eyes.
"Nice anime tears!" said Peter.
"Thanks. Plus it's done without tear drops," said Jamie, coming out of his funk. For the next three hours he spent chatting with his fellow Otaku. If they were really lucky they would be able to convince Dumbledore to let them put on a show in front of the school.
"Hey Sir Nicholas. Why are you so glum?" asked Jamie. He was on his way back from the Otaku club (still in costume) when he happened to run into the muttering ghost. (Thankfully not through Nick, as that would have been most unpleasant.)
As Nick explained his problem, Jamie agreed to at least show up to his Death Day party once they got the show they were going to put on at the feast over with.
(Dumbledore agreed because they finally had a script he could agree to.)
Plus it meant he would be able to get something to eat before going there, as most Death Day parties rarely had anything for the living to eat.
(Flamel had been to a few, mostly because he knew the ghost when they were alive. He learned rather quickly to eat beforehand.)
Meanwhile Jamie went to get ready for their re-enactment of the second book of the Fullmetal Alchemist (I'm talking about the written one, not the manga) where Ed is mistaken for Mustang's son and ends up kidnapped.
Dumbledore was allowing them to use one of the armors that lined the hallways (which for some reason bore an uncanny likeness to Alphonse) so they could make it more realistic.
Jamie was lending his Ed costume to one of the blond members (who would be under some charms to look more like the chibi alchemist, complete with fake automail and braid) while he assumed the role of Roy.
The second Flamel heard what they were doing, he immediately went and dusted off his old cauldron and started making a de-aging potion so he could watch the show. His wife shook her head at her husband's antics, but did nothing to stop him.