Chapter 4

The Nerd House

***Disclaimer***

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We don't own Harry Potter,

and neither do you (unless your JK Rowling ~Gred)

While you read our story,

Give the great JK Rowling the glory.

For Harry Potter has captured our hearts,

now go read our story! Go! Come on! Start!

A/N: Hello All. We tried to get this chapter up faster to make up for our REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY slow update last time. **cough cough** forge

Oh yes, a lot of times both of us are going to add things in the A/Ns and stuff so when you see something underlined that means it's Gred, and when you see something italicized that means it's Forge talking. Just a helpful tip.

Thanks again for all of those who took their time to review.

I would like to give some shout outs for some of the really awesome reviews (you know who you are)!

HALLO there, So this week Gred didn't have school and took a lot of time to work on this chapter so thank you Gred! But i helped work on it too...HAHA... Well I just want to let you guys know that we have had some really amazing ideas to add later on in the story and I'm super uber duperly excited to add them in! You don't know how hard it is not telling you guys what is coming up! But we live with it!

Oh, yah by the way this is proably gonna end up being a longer chapter than we normally put up. (But don't fret- Forge) This is actually a good thing because we do have some new things coming into play here! So Read, Review, and read some more.

Duh Duuuuh Duh DUUUUUUUHHHH Gred and Forge present to you, the beloved readers, THE NEXT CHAPTER! READ AWAY young soldiers, and let the force be with you.

And here it is TADAHHH:

James was running. Away. He had to get away. Something was after him and he could hear the cold, cruel laugh from behind. Footsteps. Getting closer…and closer. James' feet were pounding hard on the cold tile floor. Run. Don't' look back, keep going. Don't stop. Sweat dripped down his bangs and into his eyes. Keep running. Don't stop. Don't stop. Suddenly something sharp cut into his foot. He wasn't where he was a moment ago. He was in a forest, the Forbidden Forest. Don't stop. Keep going. Keep going. His limbs and stomach ached. James felt 5 times heavier. The sharp pain in his stomach was replaced with fear. Not his usual adrenaline, but pure fear. Keep going. Keep going. Don't stop. Keep going. Trip. No…no no no! Get up…keep going…keep running…don't stop…

"AVADA KADAVRA!"

"No!" James jolted awake in cold sweat. He looked over at Teddy and Al to make sure he didn't wake them. The time read 1:56 AM. James shook his head trying to clear his thoughts, trying to forget the strange dream that was engulfing him seconds before. No, not a dream, a nightmare.

"Bloody realistic nightmare," he muttered.

Getting up, James made his way over to the sink at the corner of their room. He shakily took a sip of water before splashing the cold liquid on his face. James crawled back into his bed, intending to have a dreamless sleep.

He would forget about the strange nightmare come morning.

~0~0~0~0~

"How do you reckon we get this lazy bloke to WAKE UP?" Lily growled in frustration as she poked and prodded her brother, willing him to get up. "James! James Sirius Potter! JAMES! Jamie-get-up!"

"Let me," huffed Al. He started jumping up and down on James, flinging his arms wildly in the air. "Wake up you lazy prat! GET UP! James, seriously-we have to meet in Dumbledore's office this morning for our schedules! Come ON!"

"Sweet Merlin you two, are you wizards or not?"

Al and Lily shrugged as Teddy strode up behind them after a good five minutes of watching and lightly pushed them aside.

"Aguameni!" A steady stream of water shot out of Teddy's want and hit James's sleeping form in the face.

"Gah! What's the bloody matter with you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack in my sleep?"

Teddy tried to stifle his enjoyment, unlike Lily and Al who were laughing openly.

"It's not funny!" snapped James. Al sobered quickly but still had an amused glint in his emerald eyes.

"We're sorry James," he amended. "But you just wouldn't get up."

James was angry and a bit embarrassed, as he got out of bed, grabbed his cloths, and made his way to the bathroom. This is so not turning out to be my day.

"James, wait!" cried Lily. "We didn't-"

But she was cut off by the slam of the bathroom door. Teddy came up and put a hand on her thin shoulder. "He'll get over it. He has done much worse to us. Think about all those years filled with pranks."

"Yeah," sighed Al, who was upset at angering his brother. He often looked up to James, and didn't want him to be mad. Especially not mad at him.

When James came out of the bathroom, he was more awake and much less annoyed. Teddy apologized for his rude awakening and James apologized as well, feeling a bit guilty for snapping at all of them. As they made their way to Dumbledore's office, James's previous bad mood had evaporated and he was back to his usual buoyant self.

"And don't forget," he reminded them for the fifth time, "you are to address me as Jose."

"James-I mean, Jose-why do you want us to call you that, again?" inquired Al.

"Because, we are in a new time zone where nobody knows us so we may as well start over, in a way. And," he grinned, "chicks dig foreign names."

"Treacle Tart," piped Lily when they reached the entrance of the Headmaster's office. Upon knocking, they heard a loud, jubilant voice telling them to enter. Dumbledore beamed at them.

"Welcome! Please, please, come in. Right on time I see, excellent! Now, if you will all have a seat; I have your schedules-" James inwardly groaned. "As a cover story, you shall claim that you are foreign exchange students visiting from Durmstrang, another Wizarding school. I will assign you all different houses for the purpose of showing fairness towards the other houses and helping with inter-house relations" Dumbledore paused, letting the words sink in.

All the children looked slightly nervous at this statement. Not in the same house? Teddy and James always look out for Al and Lily, and being in separate houses would make that very hard to do. Although they would be seeing each other every night and at meals, Teddy and James weren't sure how they would make sure Al and Lily were fairing well. Nevertheless, Teddy nodded, urging Dumbledore to continue.

"I have also asked each head of house to choose one student that will help you make your way around. Remember, you are from Durmstrang. Except for you Lily, seeing as how all the other first years will all be new to Hogwarts. So there will be no need to pretend that you are from a different school. With the short amount of time I have spent with you, I believe I can determine which house will suit you best for your stay." He rose from his desk and started pacing casually around the room.

"Lily," he started, turning towards her. "Since you are barely starting your first year, I believe we should put you in the house with the most… (and do not think that I am implying other houses are not) welcoming students. I think Hufflepuff will do you well."

Lily smiled widely. "That's great! Back home, in our time, I'm in Gryffindor like my mum and dad, but the Hufflepuffs always are so nice! One of my good friends is-"

"OK Lily, slow down. I don't think you need to collapse do to shortness of breath." Laughed Teddy lightly. Lily scowled slightly but stopped her rambling.

"Excellent! Jose," James grinned at the others when the Headmaster addressed him as Jose. "I believe it would be best if you were put in Ravenclaw."

The grin fell off James's face like Sinksap. He started spluttering and stuttering words in protest, very much resembling their father's walrus of an uncle, Vernon. Once he got over his shock and outrage, James was able to form a coherent sentence.

"Ravenclaw? Are you bloody serious? You mean Ravenclaw house, with the nerds? How will I ever fit into the House of Nerds?"

Dumbledore frowned upon hearing this. "Ravenclaw is certainly not the Nerd House, Jose, and I ask that you refrain from thinking of it as such."

Al was snickering loudly. "I think there was a mistake, no way James could survive a day with the Ravenclaws, he's not smart enough." He whispered to Teddy.

James rounded on them. "I heard that!"

"'Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure!'" Piped Lily.

"Yes, exactly! Wit is something that I don't have."

"Coarse you have wit James," smirked Al. "That's what always gets you in trouble."

James decided to ignore this comment. "Why not put me in Gryffindor house, where I belong?" he tried to mask the whining note in his voice, to no avail.

"Enough," spoke Dumbledore. "I will not be putting you in the Gryffindor house because that is where I will be placing Mr. Lupin." Teddy was a little shocked at being called 'Mr. Lupin' but then realized that if Dumbledore realized who the Potter kids were, why not him?

James sent Teddy a scathing and envious look for being put into his choice of House.

Dumbledore continued to speak. "I am putting you in the Ravenclaw house so that they can keep you in check. We do not need any problems interfering with this time frame. And please refrain from insulting the other houses. We must have unity." He scolded mildly.

James shrunk a little under the words and had the decency to look ashamed.

"You have much potential James, but first you must find it in yourself to use that knowledge." Finished Dumbledore in a softer tone.

"Fine!" James surrendered. "I'll be in the Ne-I'll be in the Ravenclaw house. But don't expect me to fit in with them, I don't understand half the conversations they have…" he muttered, trailing off.

"Good. As for you Al," continued Dumbledore…

But Albus didn't need to hear Dumbledore say the next words to know what was coming. Of course, there was only one house left. Only one certain house. Al was dreading the inevitable words he knew he would here. Oh no…oh please no! After all of his precaution, after all of his worry and relief, he would be put into the house that he feared to be put in most. Al was paling by the second. No matter what his dad told him, Al was still considerably afraid of being put into…into…

"I have decided to put you in Slytherin."

BAM! There it was. Al knew it would be coming eventually, but that didn't stop the involuntary squeak from escaping his throat.

James also looked opposed to the decision and also a bit pale. "B-but Professor, Al can't go there! He won't survive a day. They'll chew him up and use his bones as toothpicks." This last statement did not ease Al's discomfort the slightest bit.

"Sl-Slytherin?" squeaked Al as if James hadn't spoken.

"Yes, Slytherin. My decision is final and there is no use debating the point. Al, I have put you in Slytherin because I know that you can handle it. I would not put you anywhere that you would have any serious problems in. I am sure that the Slytherins will treat you just fine, and possibly change the views some have about the house."

But that was just it, the Slytherins don't treat Al fine. They don't treat any Potter of Lupin or Weasley fine due to hard feelings and prejudices from the war. He did not want to recount that night in his first year when he accidently ran into those 6th year Slytherins. If Teddy wasn't there…he thought shakily.

"Now, here are your schedules," he handed each of them a parchment. " The names of the students helping you will be found on the back. I suggest eating breakfast in the Room of Requirement this morning before going to the great hall to find your classmates. I hope you all have a memorable day. You are dismissed."

As they filed out, James laughed and slapped Al on the back. "Tough luck, mate. Slytherin." James shook his head in mock pity but Al could tell the act was somewhat forced. "If we don't get all of your pieces back by the time we get back home, can I have your room?"

"Shut up," snapped Al, pushing James away

"Slytherin won't be that bad…it won't be." He said, trying to convince his self as much as his brother. "Dad said that the of the bravest man he knew was in Slytherin, and there's nothing wrong with me being in it either!"

"Yeah, and guess who else was in that house. Vold-"

"James that's enough," spoke Teddy. "Al, there is nothing wrong with being put into Slytherin so you have nothing to worry about. James is just being…James. Besides, this isn't permanent. Once we get back into our time, you'll be back in Gryffindor, where you belong."

Al was starting to feel slightly better at the thought until James whispered in his ear so that only he could hear, "Yeah, lets just hope that the time turner is fixed soon. Those snakes contaminate your brain. We all know that Slytherin sucks."

Oh Merlin, it was going to be a long day…

~0~0~0~0~

Breakfast was almost over by the time they all arrived at the great hall. Luckily, the children managed to go unnoticed as they grabbed some bites of breakfast. As they were about to depart ways, James suddenly grabbed Al's shoulder, bringing to a halt.

"Al, listen," he began. "I wasn't joking around about the Slytherins chewing you up. There was a reason that you weren't sorted into that House. If you can't stand up for yourself, your going to have some problems-especially since you look so much like Dad." Al tilted his head to one side, not sure what his brother was meaning. "What I'm trying to say is…don't let them walk all over you. If they do, you can…erm…y'know…Teddy and I are always here if you need us. Oh bugger that came out wrong. What I mean is-"

"James," interrupted Al, because frankly, he thought all that thinking would make his brother's head explode. "Are you being…protective of me?"

"What? No! I don't get protective. Protective is like Rose with her Hogwarts, A History book whenever someone tries to touch it. Much to mother bear for my taste. All I am saying is-and wipe that grin off your face-all I'm saying is that the only one allowed to walk all over you is me and, not some Slytherins."

"OK, sure James, whatever you say…"

"I'm serious. And stop smirking like a bloody idiot before I wipe that look off your face myself."

"Right well…see you."

"Alright then. Try not to get eaten by the snakes."

James walked off towards his classes, and Al was still grinning broadly as he walked away.

~0~0~0~0~

Lily walked around the hallways, making her way to her next class. She was starting to become nervous because she didn't know anybody else, when she realized that none of the other first years knew each other either. She walked into her first class, Charms, and sat in her usual seat towards the center. A loud plunk next to her caused Lily to jump in surprise. She looked over to a short boy with dark brown hair and grey eyes sit in his seat with a dramatic huff.

"Bad day?" she sympathized. The boy seemed startled by being acknowledged but spoke anyways.

"No." he snapped. Just as Lily was about to say that he didn't need to be so rude, the boy launched into his rant. "Well, yeah! I mean it's not like I have ever been here before. People don't need to be so pushy. I mean, it's not like it's my fault I bumped into someone and dropped all my things. Now I got ink all over my potions book and I have a rip in my new robes!" he seemed to have been waiting all day to vent out his frustrations. Definitely a bad day.

"Well, I'm sure there is some sort of cleaning charm that will clean up your potions book, and there should be plenty of easy ways to sew your robes back together." Lily suggested.

"Yeah…yeah I could do that. Thanks. Oh, and sorry for snapping at you earlier, I um, wasn't thinking."

"It's OK" said Lily, happy that he finally apologized for his rude behavior.

"I'm Gable, by the way." He said, turning in his seat and extending his hand. "Gable Odair."

"Lily."

The two shook hands and Gable gave her a small smile. Soon they turned their attention back to the board as the class started.

~0~0~0~0~

James stood amidst the crowd of Ravenclaws.

Ravenclaw he thought with distaste. And I thought the old man was supposed to be "brilliant" how could he put me in Ravenclaw-

James's musings were cut off by a light tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me," said a voice. "Are you…Jose? I don't think I have seen you before, so I'm just assuming…"

James turned around to snap at the person behind him, but he stopped dead in his tracks. There, standing right in front of him, was the most beautiful being James had ever laid eyes on. Her lips were still moving in what could possibly have been a ramble, but every sound and movement around him seemed to stop. There were only two people in this room from what he could see, this newfound beauty and himself. She flipped a strand of luscious black hair over her shoulder. In James's eyes, it was like watching a shampoo commercial. As the black locks were thrown around he couldn't help, but gape at her.

Suddenly he found two perfectly sculpted fingers snapping in his face.

"Hello? Hello, Jose?"

Only then did the star struck boy come out of his daze.

"Uh, yeah. R-right. I'm Ja-Jose. That's me." he laughed nervously.

"Ok, good. It would have been terrible if I couldn't find the person I was supposed to be helping." She gave a good-natured laugh and stuck out her hand. James grinned on the inside. I get to touch her hand…

He latched onto her hand and started shaking vigorously. Finally, he stopped shaking and dropped her hand, but still held it. He stared into her chocolate brown eyes and felt as though he could see heaven. He didn't know how long it had been until she said, "Um…can I have my hand back, please?"

"Huh, oh! Right. Erm…sorry."

"It's not a problem. So, should we get to our first class?"

"Yeah, sure." As the pair walked to their lesson, James suddenly realized he didn't know who this stunning Ravenclaw's name was, for he didn't bother looking at the back of his schedule. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Chang," she smiled. "Cho, Chang."

Cho Chang.

Even the name sounded enchanting. James could think about that name all day long.

Cho Chang.

Cho Chang.

Cho Chang.

James suddenly felt like cheering.

Give me a C! Give me an H! Give me an-

He stopped himself from going too far. What the bloody hell was wrong with him? He's never felt this way about a girl before, let alone want to cheer out loud about it. Of coarse, there was the occasional snogging by the Great Lake…or the Astronomy Tower…or in the broom closet… or the-but that wasn't the point! The point was, this was different.

As they walked to their first class, James couldn't help but notice that Cho was very popular. He could barely walk 5 steps with her without having some giggly girl come up and start talking about some unimportant topics. Well, it was unimportant in James's book, but apparently the latest news in Witch Weekly about who's dating whom and the newest trends in the wizard world was very fascinating. But James didn't mind. He could listen to Cho's magnificent laugh all day long. Sometimes, she would find him staring at her and she would give a small smile. He felt his heart soar when she smiled at him. James couldn't believe his luck when he found out that his guide was the most beautiful girl in Ravenclaw-possibly all of Hogwarts, or even the universe-and that he had the luck to be in all her classes.

Perhaps Ravenclaw won't be so bad after all…

~0~0~0~0~0~

Lily walked to her Ancient Runes class in a joyful mood. She had made some great new friends and even managed to meet a couple of people whom she knew in the future as adults. She was pleasantly surprised when she bumped into Albus who was walking back from his last class.

"Hey Al! How was your first day? It feels so weird being in the future. I mean, it's still Hogwarts but it just feels…different. How are you fairing in Slytherin?"

Al stared at her with such confusion that Lily laughed out loud.

"Oh come on Al! It couldn't have been that bad."

Finally, he spoke. "Um…I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but-who are you?"

"Very funny. What do you mean…" Lily's voice faded as her eyes trailed up Al's face, landing on his forehead. There, beneath the raven black hair, was a thin lightning shaped scar.

Then it dawned on her. This wasn't Al.

Oh. Merlin.

Hiyah folks. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Boring? Funny? Wacky? Tacky? Leave us an owl and let us know what you think.

So what do you guys think about that James Potter and a certain Cho Chang? Maybe a possible relationship going on? Eh? Eh? ***Winks*** My colleague and I would appreciate it if you would gives our cramped fingers some recognition and write a paragraph, a sentence, a word (you name it!) of thought for us. For those of you who don't understand this means a review would be greatly appreciated

Yah So review or else!

Or else what, Forge? You gonna eat my babies? Specify, or else...what?

Or else your BUTT! And I guess we are gonna end on that note. Goodbye:)

Very wise last words Forgie, nice going. Probably took you some time to come up with that one. pssh your butt? Honestly? I never thought you would sink so low…

It was the best I could do at the moment. Not like you could do any better!

I beg to differ!

Anyways…review!

Oh! And anyone who can guess who the mystery guy at the end of the chapter gets a round of applause! It really doesn't take a genius to figure to out…