Okay, before there is a mass lynching over the fact that there is very little military elements in this story, I will explain why the Otaku club is featured more than his military background.
At the moment I am trying to show Jamie's childhood and early years as a normal student enjoying his youth. After year four, when Voldemort comes back, I'll start on the more militaristic side of Jamie, as he calls on the veterans and those who were victims of the first war with Voldemort who went into the army. In this story, there will be three sides in the war.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Dumbledore and his Order (which will be greatly reduced) and Charles Potter's group, who will be the main force against Voldemort.
Sorry if I have put some of you off with all the anime/manga references in the story, but I wanted to set the mood for the early years in Hogwarts before it got really serious. I hope you can be patient until fifth year when things really pick up and the Otaku club takes on it's true role.
It was the third week into the semester, and now that everyone had more or less settled in, it was time to test the new otaku club applicants. As per tradition, the club president was in full costume and in the correct character.
This time around he was dressed as Byakuya from Bleach. He suited the role so well it was scary.
"Welcome new members. As club president, I am the one who tests whether or not you are worthy of at least joining the club. Every year we test new applicants using a very strenuous series of tests to see how well you know your series, characters, or genre. To begin, we are going to have each of you give us at least three of the lesser known manga or anime series, and you cannot give the same answer as the one before. You can, however repeat an answer if you can name a character or chapter from that series. Any questions?"
No one raised their hand.
"Let us begin."
Jamie walked up to the first applicant, who happened to be Neville.
"Name three of the less known series which were never published in either America or Britain."
"Shitsurakuen, or Paradise Lost, Bara no Maria, and Takamagahara."
"Three characters, one from each of the examples," said Jamie.
"Sora, the main heroine from Paradise Lost. Azian, one of the protagonists who is after the main character in Bara no Maria. Yamato, the main character in Tamagahara who has the special power of a god."
"Very good. You pass the initial exam. Next!"
"Hiya! I'm Yachiru from Bleach. For our next test, you'll have to name three authors of popular or semi-popular series! Begin!" said Michelle. The rule was that you had to be in character and full costume for the tests, and they had to match the series that the president had gone with.
"Tite Kubo, Kishimoto, and Yugiru Sugisaki."
"Correct! Go on to the next test plant-boy!" said Michelle. Neville went to the next one, who was dressed as Ichigo Kurosaki.
"Name three companies that produce anime or manga."
"Funimation, Gonzo and Tokyopop."
"Correct! Next station!"
The next examiner was dressed as Rukia.
"Put the series into the correct genre. You have to get four out of six right to pass."
Neville quickly put D. under romance, Mouse under comedy, Bleach under action, Ghost Hunt under supernatural, and two under horror, which were Darker than Black and Hell Girl respectively.
"Correct. Go to the last station!"
The final examiner was dressed as Urahara.
"Name this series this song is from to pass. Anyone who can get past the first four generally have an easy last one."
Neville put on the headphones, and immediately wrote down his answer. They didn't want to make it too easy.
He looked at the paper and said "Correct. Go to Jamie to get your new name badge."
Neville went back to the front of the line, where Jamie handed him a new name tag to show he was officially a full Otaku member.
"Welcome to the fold, Neville...or should I say Kurama?" grinned Jamie.
Neville had a Yoko Kurama costume made for him so he could attend properly.
Neville grinned, and held out a fake rose.
"I can't wait to find out how to create a real Rose Whip," said Neville.
After reading the Yu Yu Hakusho series and immediately falling in love with Kurama's character, Neville had made up his mind to become a full Otaku member if only to learn how to create an actual Rose Whip.
Considering that was one of the Otaku's side projects, he would fit right in.
Jamie lead the first group into the Chamber of Secrets. They would have to remodel before the could get any real work done.
Those tacky snakes had to go.
"Right, for our first meeting in the Chamber, we aren't going to use the new passcode system just yet. Flitwick is covering for us, so the teachers won't be trying to come in. We have permission to be here from Dumbledore, who thinks we're down here practicing archery, among other things. Once we're finished redecorating, the real work will begin. Yes, Michelle?"
"We are going to be learning archery, right?"
"Well, among other things. There's an alarm ward that will go off in anyone unauthorized tries to come down here, so we'll have plenty of time hiding our real projects and putting up the archery range to hide our tracks. Also, you won't believe who Sir Nicholas got to teach us kenjutsu!" said Jamie grinning. He was dressed as Hiei for today.
"Who?"
"Yagyu Jubei. Apparently he didn't want to pass on and wanted to see how the way of the samurai would fair," said Jamie.
"Seriously? THE Yagyu Jubei?!" said Paul with stars in his eyes.
"Yup. It helps that we're a British school and not an American...man was he pissed about them..." muttered Jamie.
He had met with the ghost personally, had impressed the man, and then listened to him rant about how the American's nearly destroyed his homeland.
Finding out that he would be teaching Brits, not American's had been one of the reasons he had agreed to help.
"Now, does everyone have their brooms?" said Jamie.
All fifty of the senior Otaku (those that had been members for at least two years) and the group with special skill in certain areas (those who had more power, or ability in certain areas) raised their brooms.
"Do you all have the cleaning supplies?"
Twenty-five of them held up various supplies which would be split amongst the group.
"Alright people, let's decorate!"
"HAI!"
For the rest of the night and well into Saturday morning, the Otaku club put their...passion...into turning this into the ideal place to experiment and meet in secret.
Due to the secrecy of their charter, a ghost would be on standby near both entrances of the Chamber itself to test anyone who came near it.
The only one they wouldn't challenge was Jamie, and that was because he could access both entrances through the original way, which was a command in parseltongue.
It would be difficult for an imposter to duplicate Jamie's unique gift, and any imposter would quickly be found out if they tried a recording device with the command on it.
It was an interesting thing that ghosts could fry electronics simply by passing through them. And in the case of recordings they overwrite the originals and put an EVP (electronic voice phenomena) instead.
Myrtle was more than happy to play such tricks on anyone stupid enough to imitate Jamie.
Jamie took out a whistle and blew it.
"Alright team, we're done for today! Next weekend we're going to add some color and maybe some posters!" shouted Jamie.
"Yay..." yawned Paul.
Everyone left in groups based on gender and age. The girls went up the pipes to Myrtle's bathroom, since it wouldn't be too suspicious for them to be. The boys went the forest route, making sure to go around the lake to avoid any issues.
Almost all of them took a long shower before falling straight asleep. The only one who was even remotely awake was Jamie, and that was because he had to let Scruffy out to use the restroom.
Only then did he crash in his bed.
Yagyu Jubei kept a strict guard over the secondary entrance to the chamber.
The boy, James Potter, or Jamie by those who knew him, was a mystery.
He had honor, more than any English-speaking person he had the 'pleasure' of meeting after his death. The boy was trained, and trained well in the art of modern warfare. His future plans revolved around serving one of higher standing worth his loyalty, a concept he could agree with wholeheartedly. All in all, Jubei only wished the child had been born in the age of the samurai, rather than this horrid present time.
It would be interesting to see how this child progressed as a swordsman. What little he had seen was decent, but in need of vast improvement.
At least he didn't trip on his wooden sword...
The second and third trip to the Chamber revealed how much work they were putting into this. Flitwick was very impressed that they only used magic for the bigger problems and did most of the things the mundane way.
It wasn't until after the fourth trip that Jamie activated the passcode system, which meant one Otaku member had to stand guard at each entrance to verify that the people coming in were members.
Needless to say Neville was very surprised when he learned the full truth of the Otaku club.
Jamie was elected to stand at the boy's entrance. It was a thankless job, and one had to be alert for long periods of time. Fortunately there were tons of branches nearby, and he was generally able to keep half an ear out for anyone coming around. Scruffy was with him, and he would bark if anyone new came from the forest or lake to the entrance.
Invisibility and disillusionment charms didn't cover smells.
There was a loud crack, and Jamie put down his book.
"Who's there?"
Luna Lovegood came walking up wearing a boy's costume.
"Hello Luna. What's the password?" asked Jamie. Luna was an odd duck, so it wouldn't be unusual for her to take the boy's entrance instead of the girls.
Everyone had agreed on the passcode, so if she didn't repeat it then she was a fake.
"Jesse and James."
Jamie narrowed his eyes.
"What is the true purpose of the Otaku club?"
Luna was a full-time member, so she would know this.
"To recreate magic out of fantasy and graphic novels," she replied.
"STUPEFY!" shouted Jamie. She went down like a rock. He hog-tied her and sent a patronus to get Flitwick.
All high ranking members of the club knew the charm as a way to get messages to the professor.
Flitwick came from the Chamber to find Jamie glaring at Luna's tied up body.
"What happened?"
"Impersonator. I can understand Luna forgetting the passcode, but she got the Otaku's mission statement wrong."
"Let's see who we're dealing with then," said Flitwick.
Anyone not escorted by a teacher into the Chamber's second entrance was given detention. Flitwick escorted all the boys to the main entrance while the girl's went through Myrtle's bathroom.
It kept Filch off their case, since the second entrance was just inside the forest next to the lake.
"Oh for the love of... Didn't he learn the last time he tried this?" said Jamie once the polyjuice wore off.
It was Draco Malfoy, royal pain extraordinaire.
He had tried to break into their meetings repeatedly, but he always got caught.
Draco woke up shortly after the potion wore off, and found an annoyed Flitwick looking at him.
"Detention with Filch, Mr. Malfoy."
"Why?" he whined. He hated detention with Filch.
"Because you came here without a teacher escorting you. You know the rules Mr. Malfoy. You aren't allowed in the forest without a teacher escorting you for a valid trip."
"What about him and his club?" demanded Draco.
"The Otaku club was given special dispensation to use the chamber for their activities in exchange for bringing anything of interest back to the surface. They are never allowed to use the main entrance without a teacher accompanying them, mainly me. It is perfectly within school rules to insure that only club members may enter a club room due to any activities within, and given the Otaku club's main goal of recreating magic never seen before, that puts them under this particular rule," said Flitwick calmly.
Jamie had, during the summer when he had free time, gone over every school rule pertaining to clubs and their meeting grounds. He had gone against every argument that would result in them losing the Chamber as a secondary meeting place and had come up with logical explanations as to why they should be allowed to keep it.
Even their passcode system was within the charter, as they were experimenting with new magic, which was notoriously dangerous.
Keeping club activities between members only was perfectly within the rules. Especially when it came to new or untested magic.
Draco scowled. He didn't want to devote any of his precious time in that silly club, which meant he couldn't get in as a member the normal way. And his father had all but demanded he find out what they did in the Chamber and retrieve anything belonging to Slytherin if found.
No way in hell would Salazar Slytherin build an underground chamber just for his pet snake, no matter how big the bloody thing was.
Draco was dropped off with Snape, again with a warning that any attempts to go into the club room during a meeting without prior approval would meant instant detention.
Flitwick and the senior Otaku members planned to hit Malfoy with a 'misfired' spell that hadn't been seen before as a point.
Jamie walked through the Chamber, once again speaking only in snake tongue. A week before, Dumbledore had asked if they had found anything while exploring the chamber for misfired arrows.
So far the only thing they had ever found was the snake. However some of the members went in groups to see what else they could find.
Jamie had even gone deep into what was left of the basilisk's little home to see if Salazar had left anything in it, but had come up empty. Apparently the relief (which had since been destroyed, though they had left all the basilisk skins they found inside the room that the snake had slept in under a very strong ward) had been little more than a place for the snake to sleep in.
So he walked through the tunnels, talking to himself in snake tongue hoping for a reaction.
Finally he got a response.
He heard something farther in one of the smaller tunnels, barely tall enough for someone like Hagrid to go into without ducking his head. It sounded like a voice.
Walking calmly with his flashlight in hand, Jamie spoke again.
~Anyone there?~
"In here boy! Confound it all, I would tolerate that arrogant little prick Riddle at this point!" complained a voice in English. Proper English at that!
Jamie found a door, hidden in shadows. Opening it cautiously with his wooden replica of Senbonzakura (he always double checked openings with a stick or sword) he found a room with books, a small fireplace that was mostly for show, and a portrait above it.
"Finally! We can get the Slytherins off our case about the Chamber!" said Jamie.
Salazar Slytherin raised an eyebrow. Jamie recognized him from the relief they had destroyed.
"Am I to assume you are one of the brats who have been wrecking my cave?" he asked.
"No offense, but there were way too many snakes and the relief was just tacky."
"Looking back on it, you're probably right. In any event, what in blazes are you children doing down here anyway?"
"Fulfilling our club's charter. We can't really do much in the school unless we want those self-rightous idiots who think they know magic breathing down our necks, or that over inquisitive headmaster trying to steal our research notes. We barely keep him out of the loop as it is!" said Jamie.
"What's your club charter?"
Salazar had a few paintings in the castle, but very few would be able to recognize him if they saw it.
Mostly because his frog card had the wrong picture in it.
"The Otaku Club is a group of kids who want to expand the boundaries of magic beyond what is normally acceptable by the adults. We aren't just recreating what we've seen, we're trying to create new magic to change what others believe is considered possible! To be able to do this we needed to be free of interference from outsiders, namely the Ministry, and the Headmaster. So we put up a front using our little hobby as people who liked to dress up in strange and outlandish costumes, put on a few shows for special events, and just pretend to be experimenting with acceptable magic with a sympathetic teacher on our side."
"...It is a sad day indeed, when children who seek to further our understanding of magic must hide behind such a strange facade. How exactly can I help you?" asked Salazar. Hearing such an impassioned speech had given him all the reason he needed to help them.
If he read the group right, then they wouldn't allow the more important artifacts out of the Chamber as long as the noisy Headmaster was still in charge or the Ministry restricted new magic.
How could he not help such sneaky students?
Jamie explained his intention to hand over a talking portrait of Salazar himself to his house, thus getting some of the demands from his snakes to drop dramatically.
(They complained that only a Slytherin should be 'privileged' to explore his infamous Chamber.)
Handing over a portrait of their founder would shut them up quite effectively. Salazar approved of this.
So he gave Jamie the location of his other portrait that had survived (but was in dire need of a cleaning) to give to them.
As far as the snakes would know, he got it from the Chamber.
Plus with how the war had gone before, it would give them a way to overhear any plans against them from the snakes den without having to force the current snakes in the club to surrender their house loyalty. Something he didn't mind doing.