A New Life in San Francisco

A/N; Warning, slightly slashy scenes here and there but nothing serious

Chapter 21; Walking over skeletons

James' flat - Sunday

James sighed and snuggled into his boyfriend's side as he woke up. The two single beds in his room had been pushed together but they were only lying in James' bed. The summer sheet was pushed down to their waists covering their naked forms rather modestly though there wouldn't be anyone there to see them. They'd both made it quite clear after Wyatt had orbed himself and Piper into Chris' flat when they'd been sleeping that such things were no longer allowed.

In fact both Wyatt and Piper's hair was still a bright orange colour from James' retribution for being woken. Luckily for them both their sheet had been up to their ribs at the time.

"You're smiling again." Chris whispered and brushed a kiss against James' temple.

"Am I not allowed to?" James looked up without moving his head from Chris' chest.

"Not unless I know why." Chris smirked down at him.

"I was picturing what colour to turn your brother's hair next time." James told him with a return smirk.

Chris chuckled. "I hope there isn't a next time. He's seen way more of me than I'd like."

James leaned up and kissed him on the chin before kissing him on the lips, he shifted his weight onto one of his elbows and let that hand play with his boyfriend's hair while they kissed and he slowly played trails down his boyfriend's body with the fingers of his other hand, slowly getting closer to the newly tented sheet that covered Chris' waist.

"Wait." Chris gasped and grabbed James' hand with his own. "What time is it?"

James glanced up at the wall at the clock not visible to Chris in the gloom of his curtained room. To his Panther enhanced sight it was as visible as in midday with the curtains open. "Almost midday."

"Does almost leave us enough time to shower?" Chris asked.

"Just." James sighed.

"Right, we need to get ready." Chris told him and pushed himself up onto his arms. James pushed himself up to follow and ghosted his fingertips over his boyfriend's arousal as he did so. "Tease."

"You're the one saying no." James chuckled.

"Only because if I let you you'll put off this trip and if you tease me much more I'll join you in your scheming." Chris told him lovingly.

James laid his head on Chris' shoulder and Chris turned and placed a kiss on his forehead again. "I really don't want to go back there."

"You know you don't have to, we wont think anything of it if you back out. I wont think any less of you that's for sure." Chris told him. "I love you."

James smiled happily at his boyfriend and snuggled into his side. "I love you to and even though I don't want to go back there your family is needed there and even if the adults are all idiots the children need your help and I'm not going to sit here and let you go alone."

"That's one of the reasons I love you." Chris told him. "One of many reasons I might add."

"What's the others?" James asked.

"You'll just have to wait and find out." Chris chuckled. "Now stop dragging this out. By the time we get to the Manor they'll all be waiting for us."

"Did your mom decide who was going?" James asked as he slipped out the side of the bed and stretched like his panther did though he did it standing up. He turned to his boyfriend to see him staring at his arse rather stunned. "Chris?"

He jerked and shook his head. "You know what that does to me." Chris glowered at him and pulled himself up. James stole a quick kiss before going to his drawers to grab some clothing. "Mom said everyone really. There's mom and dad along with Wyatt, me, Anna and Prue. Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coup as well as Patience, Felix and Jason. Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry with Josh, Luke, Pennie, Ashley and Matt."

James blinked at the rapid reminder of just how many relatives Chris had and smiled at him wistfully. Chris saw the look and hugged James tightly. "I wonder what it would have been like if my parents were alive, like how I felt when we were back in the past, but then I remember what you said. Not everything since that night has been bad. I love you and I love all of your family like my own."

"They are your own." Chris told him and kissed him soundly on the lips. "Mom wants you to ask Gemma to join us when school starts to help with teaching the others. Aunt Phoebe wants to return as much as possible to work since you told her that a computer wouldn't work over there."

"Not unless I work something out anyway." James told him. "What about Paige?"

"She's taking sabbatical and officially taking you to with her. She's going to file it as voluntary work at an English boarding school." Chris told him. "She'll come back at some point to make sure things are ok back here but she'll spend most of the time over there along with Mom, Dad and Uncle Coup. Uncle Henry can't stay longer than two weeks and will come back too but everyone else is staying."

"So just Henry and Phoebe are staying here in the long run?" James frowned. "What about you and Wyatt?"

"Wyatt definitely has to come back for med school and I want to come back to do my additional year." Chris paused before pulling his t-shirt over his head. "If you don't mind me constantly leaving. It's a long way to continuously orb."

"It's not a problem, you can spend the weekends at Hogwarts with me and if I need you during the week I can always apparate to your flat." James shrugged. "It's instantaneous with me remember."

"Oh yeah. So you don't mind?" Chris frowned uncertainly. "I don't want to leave you if you don't want to be alone."

"I wont be alone, I'm sure your mom and dad will look out for me." James said.

"But what if they work out who you are?" Chris grabbed his arms gently.

"Then I'll leave and come back here." James assured him. "I'm not going to stick around."

"But you said you can't apparate in or out of Hogwarts." Chris groaned.

"But there will be eight of your family around me that can all go through the wards." James assured him before putting his hands on either side of his taller boyfriend's face. "It's sweet of you to worry and it means more to me to know that somebody out there can feel that way about me, especially after Azkaban, but I don't want you to fail your year by worrying about me. Gemma will be there and nothing in Hogwarts can stop her from hearing me if I call for her. Trust me, Chris."

"I trust you love. It's not that." Chris sighed. "I just don't want to be on the other side of the planet from you if something happens."

"You'll be the first we contact if anything blows up, I promise." James assured him before forcibly tilting his head down to his own and covering his lips with a deep and heartfelt kiss that dragged on as Chris' hands ran up and down James' bare chest and back. "God I love you so much."

"I know." Chris smiled a sappy smile and waited for James to grab his shirt before hefting the bag that they planned to share for the time at Hogwarts and orbing them both to Halliwell Manor. They felt the warm wash of the wards greeting them and James appeared from the orbs with a satisfied smile on his face at his success with the wards.

"You look like you just got laid." Wyatt's voice broke into his reverie. "Not a good look when your fifteen minutes late."

"Shut up, Wy." Chris snapped. "We had personal issues to sort out."

"I'm sure you did." Wyatt, wearing his orange hair, smirked at the two younger men.

"Fancy a new shade, Wyatt?" James asked innocently and the man backed off with a shake of his head. His hand came up to run through the orange hair regretfully. "If you must know Chris was worrying over leaving me in Hogwarts when he returns here."

"Oh." Wyatt came up short and shot his brother a half smile which was part apologetic and partly proud.

"Yes, oh." James smirked and leaned into Chris' side and wrapped his arm around the taller man's waist. "Is everybody here?"

"Yeah, you're the last. Everyone is out in the conservatory with their cases." Wyatt told them and Chris led the way through the dining room to the conservatory where the three men, three women, five boys and five girls were waiting around. The children were diverting attempts to check they had everything while their mothers fussed over everything. The three men just sat on chairs around the room in patient silence.

"Chris, James!" Piper rushed over to them and hugged her son quickly which was rather out of character for her to do so if they weren't in mortal danger. James accepted a slightly longer lingering hug knowing that he woman was concerned over his mental health. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure." Chris nodded as he dumped their green canvas bag on top of the neatly staked pile.

Paige pulled James to one side as soon as Piper went back to making sure everyone else was ready. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked him.

"I'll be fine, why?" James frowned at her.

"We all know you're very strong, James. But we also remember what happened at P3 the first time you met everyone else." Paige told him. "We just want to be sure that you can handle all of this."

James fiddled with his fingers for a few moments before looking at her earnestly. "It'll take a lot of work and I wont say I know for sure I can handle it." James told her. "To be honest I want you to keep an eye on me. I know Chris will too and Piper's just like that but I'm going to have to keep up a shield around anybody we don't know."

"And I'm the only one with enough training to see through it." Paige agreed.

"Something like that, yeah." James nodded relieved.

"Don't worry, I'm not willing to lose an employee to insanity." James raised his eyebrows at her. "Nor let my little nephew lose somebody he loves so much. Come to me whenever you need to talk. I'll be willing to listen any time."

"Thanks Paige." James nodded before turning to Piper. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"Has everyone got everything?"

"As if most of us can't just pop back here within minutes anyway." Joshua muttered to his father, Coup.

"That's not the point, Joshua!" Piper reprimanded the seventeen year old and eldest of the children of the family not counting the two adults. In fact, he'd be eighteen before the Christmas holidays. Joshua flashed James a devilish look and flicked his eyes to his Aunt's orange hair. Piper saw the motion and her hand came up to her hair. "Now, James. You can't expect Wyatt and myself to show up like this."

"Don't you remember what Dumbledore was wearing?" Paige pointed out with a grin though James was already concentrating and Piper's hair was slowly changing back into her natural dark brown colour while Wyatt's slowly turned back to blond as James' Wicca magic went to work. Piper pulled her hair forward and nodded in satisfaction.

"It'll vanish the next time." Chris warned his brother and, although not directly, his mother. Wyatt looked between Chris and James and visibly gulped. James sent him a devilish look.

"So, how are we doing this?" Leo asked.

"Everybody who can take a passenger find a buddy." Piper announced. James smiled down at Matt as the youngest boy attached himself to his arm.

"You sure, Matt?" Chris asked. "It doesn't feel that pleasant."

Matt just nodded resolutely. Eventually the nine older family members and James each had a partner except for Chris who planned to take the luggage. James looked around the eighteen others in the room and apparated from the room with Matt at his side letting them follow his route across the United States, across the Atlantic and into Scotland and onto the dirt road that led from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. They were in sight of the town but James had purposed arrived out of view of the castle.

Matt sagged ever so slightly and James hugged the boy to his side. "You ok?"

Matt nodded up at him and took his own weight again. "Where is everyone, did they get lost?"

"Nah. My way is instantaneous." James told the ten year old before he made his way to the edge of the road and sat on the ground with his back against one of the trees from the forest that lined the roads sides. He patted the ground next to him and Matt headed over to sit against the four foot wide tree trunk. "We might as well get comfortable. According to Wyatt he can do the trip in five minutes so that's another four and a half minutes from now."

"Uncle Coup, Patience, Felix and Jason can do it in two minutes." Matt told him with a grin.

"At least that means we wont get too bored sitting here on our own. Want to play a game?"

"Do you know how to play rock, paper, scissors?" Matt asked. "Anna taught me how to play it!"

"Sure." James settled into the game as they waited for the glow-travellers to arrive with their mother and wife, Phoebe and Paige's eldest children, Joshua, Luke and Pennie. Almost to the second the air was disturbed as first Coup and Phoebe appeared in the centre of the road and then Patience and Joshua, Felix and Luke and finally Jason and Pennie. They looked around as they got used to the slightly chillier air and early evening light before they spotted James and Matt still playing hand games.

"Hey rascal." Joshua teased his adopted little brother who waved before beating James in their last game, paper to rock.

"How long have you been here?" Phoebe asked.

"Since about two minutes ago, just after we left really." James shrugged.

"The others should get here in anything from three to ten minutes then." Coup told him. "Wyatt will be first, then Paige probably, Chris and then Prue and Anna."

"I expect Chris and Paige will slow and come across with Prue and Anna to make sure they get over ok since they are bringing Ashley and Henry along with them." Phoebe pointed out. "To stop them getting lost or in case they have to stop somewhere along the way."

"Like in the middle of the Atlantic?" James asked. "You know I could have always brought Ashley and Henry along with me."

"It wont hurt them and they need the practice." Phoebe shrugged. "What time is it over here?"

James looked up at the sky and thought back to his own summers. "Probably about half past six. We should be just in time to grab some dinner."

"A whole day lost!?" Patience whined. "I'll never get to sleep tonight!"

"I could always put a spell on you." James offered helpfully and got a glare in return. The group took seats around them and James made himself more comfortable and eventually everyone had arrived. Wyatt appeared as predicted with his mother in tow and chuckled as he glanced around at the ten already there. Almost as the tenth minute went passed a large cloud of orbs appeared in the middle of the road and first Chris appeared surrounded in luggage and then Paige appeared with her brother-in-law, Leo, at the same time as Prue and Anna took form with thirteen year old Ashley and the older Henry as passengers.

"Well done." Paige told the two girls with a large smile on their faces. Chris quickly got to James' side with a slightly concerned look on his face as he accessed James' mood.

"Are you ok?" Chris whispered quietly as he helped James to stand.

"Bit bored." James told him with a grin.

"We got here ten minutes ago." Matt announced to his older cousin happily and Chris ruffled his hair.

"You know what I mean." Chris told James.

"I can't see the castle yet. We'll know when I do." James told him. "To be honest though I've always loved the castle, it's just he people in it that I don't like."

Chris nodded just as Piper finished making sure they were all their. "Six parents, three adults who are supposed to be responsible for themselves and twelve children who I wish would take responsibility for themselves." She sung with a grin and Chris and Wyatt both groaned and shook their heads. James squeezed Chris' hand as he noticed how easily she had changed from saying two adults to three to include him.

"Welcome to Scotland." James told them. "The school is supposed to be unplottable not to mention impossible to travel into through Apparition which doesn't seem to be a problem for you guys. This road joins the school to the local town, Hogsmeade, which is one of the only Wizard only towns in the world. No mortals." He added the last to explain what he meant.

"You mean we could use magic here whenever we wanted?" Jason asked him.

"No mortal can reach here, unless brought by a Wizard or Wicca witch evidently." James added to placate Henry and Leo. "For that matter the school is supposed to look like a ruined castle to mortals too but I suppose it shouldn't effect Leo but I'm not sure about you Henry."

"Anything else?" Patience asked sarcastically.

James just raised his eyebrows at her. "A few things." He chuckled. "Never, for any reason stray off of this path on the way through the forest and never enter the parts of the forest on the school grounds. There are all sorts of things in there which don't like humans that much."

"Like what?" Prue asked.

"Like werewolves on the full moon, griffins, snakes, Acromantulas, human hating centaurs." James trailed off. "And enough dark magic to do anyone some rather permanent damage."

"Definitely off limits then." Piper told all of the children and notably Wyatt as well. "What about the school?"

"The staircases, doors and rooms can sometimes move, there are trick steps all over the place. The portraits are alive, so are the suits of armour. There are ghosts which aren't that bad unless they accidentally go through you." James paused for breath. "And don't go exploring without me around or you'll definitely get lost."

"Exactly how big is this place?" Henry asked.

"Nobody knows for sure. Bigger on the inside than the outside. I've been down six floors into the dungeons before and I know I didn't go as far down as I could." James shrugged.

"Speaking of which." Piper paused to fix James with a look. "I don't know what you children have all gleaned from James, Chris, Wyatt or whoever or whatever power." Here she glanced at Matt and Jason, the telepaths and Anna and Pennie, the Empaths. "But he is only James Evans, don't use any other name or comment on when or how we met him."

"And if anybody asks any of you about Harry Potter you don't say a word in either way. Just tell one of us adults and we'll deal with it." James told them.

"Why did you leave here?" Matt asked.

James drew in a breath and looked around. Piper, Phoebe and Paige were all giving him silent permission to tell them whatever he felt he needed to so he decided to at least give them the bones of it. "I used to go to school here but something bad happened and they blamed me for it so I moved to America where I met all of you. But they want to find me again so you can't tell them anything, okay?"

They all nodded but he could see that only Matt, Ashley and Jason, the three youngest, were convinced by this story. He didn't doubt that they were the only three that didn't knew that he was Harry Potter and would soon find out that this world thought that Harry Potter killed his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. He'd have to deal with that himself when they found out

They all hefted their bags except that James helped Matt and Ashley carry their bags as they walked up the road. James paused at a particular turn in the road to let everybody meet up before walking around the corner and into sight of the front of the castle. It glowed majestically in the light on the low west sun and James half felt glad to see it again. The other half of him was imagining being caught and thrown back into that little cell again. Everybody in the party gasped in awe and gazed upon the magnificent castle even as James shuddered and hunched in on himself slightly.

James led the rest of the way with the more hyperactive children and with Chris, who wasn't leaving his side any time soon, and Wyatt with the rest of the party trailing a few paces behind. They walked through the outer wall and the open gate that towered over the path and into the grounds. The edge of the cliff trailed the left about a hundred metres from the path while on the other side the forest crept up to the castle in front of the them stopping a few hundred metres from it allowing passage for students to the greenhouses and to the lake beyond. He followed the path up to towards the main entrance and studiously ignored the pathway that led around the left of the castle to the, so far, hidden Quidditch pitch.

As they approached the doors they ground open and three figures walked out towards them. James tensed and paused at the bottom of the steps and Chris took an imperceptible step closer to him as he and James grasped Ashley and Matt by the shoulders to stop them from running up the stairs.

A small squeak of fear sounded from behind them and James turned in surprise to see Anna held firmly up against Leo's side. James turned back to the three professors and shook his head.

"Headmaster Dumbledore." James almost snarled. "Your foresight isn't what people claim it to be. I would suggest that your hired hitman introduce himself another time before one of Anna's brothers or cousins attacks him."

Dumbledore looked at him for a moment as if contemplating an argument but the threat behind the words were clear. Either Snape left or they did. He turned to the side and whispered a few words to Snape who turned a harsh glare on James before sweeping around like the overgrown bat he always had been and slipped through the open doors. "Now, why don't we all go inside and have a late supper? I'm sure you are all anxious to get settled in."

"Thrilled." James growled though only Chris heard him. James let the others precede him inside but waited for Anna to pass him before catching her on the arm. "Sorry I didn't think of that. You don't have to worry about that man. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to you but if he does you have my personal permission to orb him into the middle of the ocean or something."

She smiled up at his joke and jogged to catch up with her eldest brother seeing him as a good way to protect her. Wyatt passed an arm around her shoulders and gave her a one armed hug. James turned his eyes up to the towering seven floor castle and sighed. Oh, how he really didn't want to be here.

The family had paused just inside the doors to look around at the two floor entrance hall with its two sweeping staircases mounted around the great doors that opened into the Great Hall. James didn't want to look around and kept his eyes on Piper and Leo who were watching him cautiously. He nodded to them briskly and started to follow the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress towards the far doors and the Great Hall.

"Should we leave our bags out here?" Piper asked him as he made to pass her. He knew she was thinking about the Book of Shadows sitting in her bag and the Tome of Runes packed away in James and Chris' bag.

"We'll put them in the corner of the Great Hall until we leave." James suggested before following his old Professors into the Great Hall. This time he made sure not to look around. He couldn't afford to be caught out by his adverse reactions right then. He kept his eyes on McGonnagal or on the family of Wicca Witches around him and tried to keep his emotions settled on the simple so they didn't affect Phoebe, Anna and Pennie who were all Empaths and Coup and Felix who could probably sense his serious desire to succumb to fear and run away or hide behind Chris. By the strained and miserable looks on the Empaths faces as they glanced at him and the concerned looks on the two males faces it wasn't working. He took a deep breath and firmly locked away anything that came anywhere close to an emotion.

The five looked startled as they snapped their heads around to his only to see a blank face like they hadn't seen since he started to get to know the family and express himself better. James caught Phoebe whispering to Coup but James ignored them and turned back to the Hall as he walked slowly down the centre isle.

The Hall probably held all of the few professors that remained throughout the year. Apart from Dumbledore and McGonnagal there was Flitwick, Sprout and Trelawny as well as Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey. Snape was obviously also in the school but was no longer there.

"Welcome again to Hogwarts." Dumbledore told them as soon as they had dropped their bags on one of the tables. The Ravenclaw table as it happened since there was food laid out on the Gryffindor table. "These are my Heads of the Four Houses. Minerva McGonnagal, also my deputy. Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, and of course you already know Severus Snape. This is the school's Groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, my Divination professor, Sybill Trelawny and our school healer Poppy Pomfrey."

Each nodded as they were introduced and Piper took a step forward to do the introduction. James stepped away slightly but kept himself near to Chris to show that he wasn't a complete outcast from the family. The rest got into some semblance of order as the children separated towards their respective parents so it would be easier to introduce them. This took some work from the parents since the cousins tended to stick with age groups. The teenage boys and then the teenage girls and then the younger children always hung around together somewhere unless James was around in which case they hung around him.

"I'm Piper Halliwell, these are my sisters, Phoebe Halliwell and Paige Matthews and our husbands, Leo Wyatt, Coup Davis and Henry Mitchell." Piper started with the adults and then continued onto James' own generation. "My children, Wyatt, Chris, Prue and Anna. Phoebe and Coup's children, Patience, Felix and Jason. And lastly Paige and Henry's children, Joshua, Luke, Pennie, Ashley and Matthew."

"Don't try to remember all of that." Wyatt muttered though loud enough for all to hear. His mother glared him down.

Piper noticed all of the Wizards and Witches eyes were on James but she didn't try to introduce him. "My name is James Evans, Rune Mage. Chris is my boyfriend and I'm here to make sure you don't try anything underhanded with my new family."

Minerva looked like she was about to argue before she realised something. "You're the one that saw Harry Potter in America?"

James eyed her for a moment but nodded. Charlie hadn't really said if she believe in his innocence or not but if any of those here did it would be her and without a doubt Hagrid. "We keep in contact." James told her simply.

"Evans, is that a common name in the mortal world?" She asked.

"You mean am I related to Lily Evans, Harry's mother?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. They'd already thought of this before hand. "Harry and I share Great Grandparents." Again not a lie.

"So your mother and Lily were cousins?" Minerva asked. James nodded knowing that the Wizarding world could never hope to trace a muggle family tree so far. The only records they had was that Lily had a mother and father and a sister. Anything more distant was irrelevant. "I'm glad he found some family."

"And I'll protect him as family." He spoke coldly to them all to get that across.

"How about we all get some food in our stomachs so you can all get settled in?" Dumbledore suggested obviously not liking the way the conversation was going.

The meal passed uneventfully as general conversations took over tense introductions. Minerva kept glancing at James throughout the meal but according to Phoebe who was sitting opposite him her thoughts weren't suspicious or malicious. She was however thoughtful. This led him to believe that she believed his cover story about being Harry Potter's cousin and didn't suspect the truth.

It was Minerva that offered to show them to their rooms almost two hours later and James followed her in silence up to the seventh floor feeling more and more nervous as he approached the Gryffindor Common Room, his home for most of his teenage life. He was eternally thankful when she turned down a side corridor about fifty metres before the Fat Lady's portrait. They reached an alcove guarded by a stone statue of a Wizard wearing battle robes holding his wand up over his chest.

"Wicca." Minerva declared and the statue came to life, saluted them with the wand and moved to one side. The wall within the alcove unfolded much like the one at Diagon Alley. "Please, make yourselves at home."

James stood to one side as the younger children all dashed into the room beyond the statue. James followed at a more sedate pace and almost sighed in relief at the unfamiliar setting. Stone walls softened by age, a large fireplace alone the far wall sided by large windows with a balcony on the outside. To the left was a long kitchenette and dining table. The rest of the room was set as a living room with six sofas grouped in threes around coffee tables as well as reading chairs dotted around. On the right hand side were three open doors leading to spiral stairs that led to above the common room.

"There are three double rooms and a bathroom up the first stair case, a twin room and two small dorms and a bathroom up the second and third staircases." Minerva told them. "There should be enough beds but if you want something changed then let me know at breakfast in the morning."

"Thank you, Professor." Piper nodded at the older woman.

"Please, call me Minerva." McGonnagal said.

"Very well." Piper nodded not warming up to the woman as much as James expected they would. "What time will breakfast be?"

"Any time between seven and nine." Minerva told her with her normal tip lipped expression rather than the pleasant tone she'd previously used. "Good night."

Minerva left and James sagged onto one of the sofas. "James?"

"Hmm?" James half laid his head on the back of the sofa to look at her.

"Are you ok?" Piper asked.

"Just tired." James lied eyeing the room better. "Paige? Could you orb all of the portraits out into the hallway?"

She looked at him strangely but didn't comment before orbing the five portraits featuring a dozen Wizards and Witches out of the room with a curt gesture and a spoken word. "Why did I just do that?"

"They spy for the Headmaster." James told them all bluntly. "Watch what you say around anything that moves around here."

"You're really paranoid." Patience told him with a snort of amusement.

"Patience." Phoebe warned her quietly. James just shrugged it off and sagged further into his seat.

"Come on mom, just because he hates this place doesn't mean we have to." Patience argued.

"Patience, lay off." Chris snapped.

"I'm going to find a room before he drags the rest of us down with him." Patience turned and pulled Prue and Anna with her onto the furthest set of stairs along with their bags. Piper sent Pennie and Ashley to follow while Wyatt dragged Joshua, Luke, Felix, Jason and Matt up the centre staircase.

"I'm sorry about her, James." Phoebe told him.

"It's not a problem." James stood. "Maybe she's right and I'm blowing this all out of proportion."

"That's bullshit, James." Chris said in much the same tone as he had spoken to Patience a minute before hand. "We all saw how you reacted to that jerk in P3 and when that Dementor attacked us, something that can cause that kind of reaction is something serious."

"Patience is a teenaged girl, James." Paige told him. "She hasn't seen the worst parts of the world yet and if your life's as bad as we think you have every right to act like you do around this place."

"None of us has been in prison for something we didn't do, James." Henry pointed out. "I've seen my share of them and I wouldn't like to be the one locked up in them. Especially for a murder I didn't commit."

"I don't think you can compare Azkaban to a normal Prison, love." Paige told him.

"I know that, well I don't. What's so bad about Azkaban?" Henry asked genuinely curious.

"It's a prison designed for one thing, to incapacitate criminals for their entire lives and to make sure they can't think clearly enough to think about escape and if they do manage to escape to make sure they are never sane enough to live in the normal world." James told him as he forced himself to his feet and headed for the stairs that Wyatt had just taken with the boys. He hefted the green canvas bag on the way.

"Oh crap." Chris said as soon as James had disappeared up the stairs.

"What honey?" Piper frowned at him.

"I can't believe I missed that. He's been talking about his kids having problems believing they aren't permanently screwed up after what happened to them." Chris told them looking at Paige desperately. "He thinks his mind's twisted or something and he'll never be able to have a normal life."

"I've seen cases like that for smaller things then for being locked up in places like Azkaban." Paige told them. "We all need to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Stupid like what?" Chris asked.

"Stupid like a couple of kids I had to look out for that killed themselves because they didn't think they fit in anymore after getting out of jeuvy." Henry sighed.

Chris gaped at the six adults for a moment before turning from them and running to catch up with James. He found Wyatt on the landing. There were two doors to the right of the hall and two on the left, one marked bathroom. "Hey, bro. James is in the far left room, it's the twin room. Josh thought it best for you and James to share it. I think he's worried about him. Honestly so am I."

"I know, Wyatt. I'm working on it." Chris told him. "What about you?"

"I'll stay with the squeakers, at least while I'm here. You think I want to share a room with you two after his threat this morning?" Wyatt chuckled. "Josh, Luke and Felix are in the room opposite yours. I'll be fine with Jason and Matt. At least if they decide to stay up talking they can do it in their heads."

Chris rubbed his face as he laughed. "Thanks."

"I told James to ignore what Patience said but I don't think he will." Wyatt sighed. "Don't worry too much, little bro, but let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I like you like this rather than broody-Chris."

"Funny, Wy." Chris shook his head. "I need to go see him."

"Sure." Wyatt gave his slightly shorter brother a quick hug and slipped passed him.

James sighed as he heard the door open behind him. He was staring out of the window on the right of the room at the Greenhouses and the lake further away. His arms hugged himself. Chris came up behind him and wrapped his own arms around his form. James half turned into the embrace and buried his head under Chris' chin and let his tears fall. Chris and James spent the next two hours standing in the dark as James let his walls fall unknowingly keeping Phoebe, Anna and Pennie up for most of the night. Chris continually talked in low tones to him to soothe him but his presence did more good than anything else. A reminder of who he was now and who he could rely on.

James snuck from the room four hours later in the middle of the night, his panther form making slinking into the corridor easy. He wandered down the hallways slowly moving one step at a time closer to the junction where a right took you down towards the Great Hall and a left took you to the Gryffindor common room. He paused at the junction and lay on the ground staring at the Fat Lady's sleeping form. He eventually fell asleep like that, his ears pricked up for any sound and his tail slowly swishing across the floor.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Chris and James' room

Chris woke at almost half seven feeling rather tired and disorientated. It was strange enough waking in an unfamiliar place such as this but it was tougher after having spent half the night soothing his boyfriend. This thought brought him to another realisation, he was lying on his back which meant that James should be lying with his head on his chest and his arm around him. They swapped places without realising it most of the time and Chris had woken up just as many times snuggled up against James' side as the other way around. Either way, James always woke up first but would never move out of bed until they were both up, his boyfriend always took the time to soothe Chris with light touches even while he started to wake up. He found that he missed the feeling.

He pulled himself out of bed and threw on a fresh set of clothes noticing that James hadn't rummaged through the bag for his own which meant he was wearing the clothes they'd taken off last night. He quickly walked down stairs and into the kitchen where he found the other early wakers of the extended family. His mom and Henry were exploring the Kitchenette area while Coup was entertaining Matt out on the Balcony. The others wouldn't be up for at least an hour under normal circumstances and normally Chris would be one of them and James would have lain in bed waiting for him.

"Chris?" His mom greeted him. "I didn't think you'd be up so soon."

"Mom, have you seen James this morning?" Chris asked going a slight red at having to talk to his mom about him and his boyfriend's sleeping habits. "James wasn't in bed when I woke up."

"Maybe he went for a walk?" Henry asked.

Chris took one look at his mother before darting out of the door and into the hallway. He looked in both directions and picked the one he already knew. He almost ran along it to the junction and was about to turn the corner when he spotted Shadow lying against the far wall, his head on his feet and his ears pinned back against his head. Chris sat on the floor against his boyfriend's side and tentatively reached out. A slow rise of his chest made Chris more confident that he wouldn't discover his boyfriend dead and he gently ran his hand down along the fur.

James stirred and swung his head around, obviously recognising the feel of Chris' hand. He yawned wide and Chris gave him a cheeky grin. "You had me worried."

James blinked sleepy eyes at him before pushing his head under Chris' hand and lifting it. Chris scratched him behind the ears automatically and stood with the Panther as he pushed himself to his feet. Chris had to adjust his grip and the form rippled and instead of a four legged panther, James was soon staring back at him with his hand against his neck.

"Sorry. I just couldn't sleep and wanted to come get used to at least one of my ghosts." James sighed and flicked a look at the portrait behind him.

"A portrait?" Chris frowned eyeing the rest of the still sleeping portraits.

"Not here." James told him and they walked back to their new common room side by side. As soon as they were back in the room, James sagged onto one of the sofas. Chris sat next to him and he leaned against him. "That was the entrance to my old common room. I lived there for five years and most of the memories I have of my friends happened in there."

"Oh." Chris went slightly pale at the idea.

"It's like that portrait is hiding every bad thing that happened to me behind it." James sighed. "I don't know if I can do this."

"I know you can, just remember you can talk to me and if I'm not here you can talk to mom. She's just as worried about you as I am." Chris told him. James let his head sag onto Chris' shoulder and let his eyes fall shut. Chris could feel the slight shaking in his body and knew he was picturing some of those memories.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Breakfast went by in much the same way that supper had the day before although it had been hard to get everybody up especially the older girls who were begrudging the old fashioned shower in their bathroom. Phoebe had disappeared up to the older girls' room for half an hour and come down with Patience and the two had been the last to come down. Once everyone was there James had been the one to show them down to the Great Hall.

Since everybody had been down at Breakfast with all of the Professors, Dumbledore had brought up the matter of the wards and whether it would be possible for James to look at them. He had, of course, agreed since he wanted to know if it would be possible to adapt them to block out demonic forms of travel. He had however warned them that playing with the wards would disrupt any magic cast within it but Dumbledore had promised that the Professors wouldn't do anything to make the task more arduous then it already was.

Piper had pointed out to the family that this rule applied to them as well and they would get the grand tour, courtesy of Flitwick and Sprout while James worked. Chris of course wasn't planning on leaving James' side and Piper didn't even bother to ask him what he'd do.

James watched as the rest all left the hall and summoned the Tome of Runes to him before flipping it open at the centre pages. He placed his hands on them and focused on common things that go wrong with ancient wards. He was rewarded with a common faults list.

"This is going to take a while." James sighed before standing. "Could you move the tables right out of the way?"

"Sure." Chris told him and waved his hands out to the sides. The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables flew up into the air, flipped over and landed on top of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables before the whole lot lifted off the ground and flew to the sides of the room.

"I don't know what this is going to look like so be ready for anything." James warned him before reaching out with his runic magic and beckoning Hogwarts' Runic Matrix to come into being within the Great Hall.

Light blossomed as a small speck in the air in front of them before flying up into the centre of the room and almost looked like a sun exploding as it blew out in all directions to reveal a writhing mass of Runic sequences. "Oh dear."

"What?" Chris asked stunned at the sight.

"It's mutated." James told him.

"How can you tell that?" Chris asked.

"The sequences are changing ever so slightly. See that one there?" James pointed at a long one just as two of the rune morphed into knew ones. "It all means the same thing but its like something deciding how to protect someone rather than just if they should."

"But what does that mean?" Chris asked.

"Just that the people that used to tell me that Hogwarts was sentient were actually right." James told him with a small grin.

"Aren't the ones on the house sentient?"

"Yes, in the way that they learn from situations but this one is actually more alive than anything else." James shook his head and reached out for one of the ward's sequences. He studied it for what it was meant for before explaining it to Chris. "This one was designed to notify the school nurse if any person within the wards was dying of physical injuries. It was of course made a thousand years ago and times have changed. It's changed itself to include a warning if any person is strongly inclined to kill themselves."

Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So it understands the concept of killing yourself?"

"Precisely my point." James agreed. "It knows how humans work. And see this strand attached to the new part; its designed to flood the person with feelings of comfort and love to try to stop them. I think it's why people with bad backgrounds always feel at home here."

"Like you, you mean?" Chris hit the point once again.

"Yeah, I've always loved this place far more than my old friends did. I think the school wards sensed my bad upbringing and tried to make me feel more welcome." James told him.

"So what are you going to do?" Chris asked.

"I'm going to find the sequences that have mutated and decide whether it's worth removing them and also find any outdated wards and remove them if they are hazardous." James told him before pulling forwards a new strand deciding to keep the other one intact.

"What's this one?" Chris asked pointing to a strangely coloured one about an hour of working later. They'd settled into a routine with James sitting on the ground pulling sequences to him and studying them while Chris circled the matrix looking for anything too tangled. He was the best for the job out of anyone else there since he had watched every step of the house's wards even if he couldn't understand more than the odd Rune here and there.

James finished checking over the current one before releasing it to find its place in the Matrix before looking over at where Chris was pointing. He frowned and reached out for it. It came to flow in front of him and Chris followed it to sit behind James and pulled him into a loose hug.

"This is strange." James said after a few moments. "See the dark blue colour of the runes on the inside?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded against the back of his head.

"Well its not part of the wards originally. The school's wards have absorbed it so that it can alter it." James paused to access it. "And it was cast as a normal ward not pieced together by a Rune Master like the original school wards."

"What are you going to do?" Chris asked.

"Hmm." James mumbled before focusing on the cast wards to work out what they did, what he found he wasn't happy about and the rest became much clearer to him. "Who would cast a ward in a school which causes harm to any intruder?"

"Maybe somebody placed them as a trap?" Chris suggested.

"Except it's placed around a room down in the dungeons, not exactly the place to set a trap." James pointed out. "But it is a trap all the same."

"So what's with the gold runes around it?" Chris asked.

"That the school's own version of a containment ward to protect any student that passes the trap from curse damage. It casts a shield around the victim to reflect the trap's spells." James said.

"What are you going to do?" James asked.

"The school's wards are enough to protect anybody but it's using power that the actual wards could do with having to spare." James told him, "So I'm going to destroy it and feed the power into the other sequences."

James set to doing just that. He knew that, given enough luck, the school wards would reassimilate themselves once the trap was destroyed so he started with the root of the problem. He started picking apart the trap runes one at a time making sure that he didn't trigger it or anything while he worked in case anybody was in the area or so he didn't accidentally blow apart a corridor down in the dungeons. As he picked it apart he found the intricacies of the trap. It prevented eavesdropping by bursting the eardrums, sneaking in by blistering and shredding the feet and numerous other perceived crimes with fitting punishments and even if any damage could be repaired by magic it was way over the top when a simple triggered stunning spell would suffice.

The school's wards had interfered because it was designed to protect the health of the students and having them mauled by a trap was definitely against its self set rules. As he worked he realised that he was being helped by the wards towards his eventual goal. Any time he weakened a Rune with his own magic the school wards came in and flooded the rune until it began to crack and all it took then was James directing the break so that the energy could be absorbed.

The door slamming open almost undid everything he was trying to do. He jumped even in Chris' arms and the sequence snapped back into the whole Matrix and they felt a dull rumbling under their feet that brought dust from the wooden beams above their heads.

"What do you think you are doing you over confident brat!?" Snape's voice grated on his nerve.

"I should be the one asking that, Professor Snape." James told him as he pushed himself to his feet working out the aches in his knees as he did so. "Did you not pay attention in Charms class when they told you about interrupting somebody in the middle of changing wards and did it not occur to your arrogant mind that interrupting me when I'm connected to a ward as powerful as Hogwarts' might cause serious damage?"

Snape went red in the face as James called him arrogant and his wand was pointed at James in an instant. The Matrix imploded inwards and vanished with a blast of air and an irritated ripple went through the castle like with a cat when its owner was distracted from petting it. Hogwarts had been enjoying the tune up to her wards. Chris snapped out his hands before a curse could be cast and Snape was sent flying head over heels backwards into the right door that was still closed just as Dumbledore and Minerva came running into the room. Dumbledore looked down at Snape in shock before looking up at Chris and James.

"What is this about, boys?" Dumbledore asked.

"Ask that infernal prat." James told him simply. "Or get the school nurse to check his mind since he obviously believes that making a dramatic entrance into a room where somebody is connected to the most powerful wards in history is a good idea."

"Severus, is this true?" Dumbledore shook his head at the man as he struggled to his feet and accepted his wand from Minerva. "You should know better than that."

"The idiot was tampering with the wards on my personal rooms, he's destroyed a potion I have been brewing for the last two months." Snape spat. "He's incompetent and shouldn't be allowed near the wards. He can barely be old enough to be out of school."

James laughed to spite the man. "You complete idiot. Were you not listening this morning when I said, categorically, no magic unless you wanted it destroyed? Do potions no longer count as magic." James shook his head. "Harry was right about you after all, you are all incompetent."

Snape's eyes narrowed and Chris brought his hands up in warning. "Why were you tampering with the wards around his rooms?" Dumbledore asked suspiciously.

"I did not know they were around his room, only that the school wards had reacted against them as a safety risk and neutralised them. It is small things like that which are causing larger problems with powering the wards." James told the three of them. "Really, Headmaster, I didn't believe half of what Harry said about some of his professors but this man attacks fourteen year olds without provocation and now he casts traps inside a school which could permanently maim eleven year olds. Is there a quota of idiots that you have to achieve to get through each year. According to Harry we're currently up to four and that doesn't count the ones that tried to outright murder a student."

"Mr. Evans!" Minerva snapped.

"Oh, we mustn't forget the ones to accuse an innocent fifteen year old of murder without even listening to him." James chuckled derisively not believing quite how therapeutic this was. Chris obviously saw it too since he made no attempt to stop him. "Did it even occur to you that the kid was framed?"

"That is enough." Snape snapped. "We wont be spoke to like this by a boy!"

"Headmaster Dumbledore, perhaps you should ask your Potions Professor what this is about?" James snapped out and summoned the ward Matrix again. The ten foot sphere appeared just like it had the first time and even passed him the relevant sequence. "You'll find that the dark blue Runes represent the trap cast by your Potions Professor. I'm sure a man of your limited knowledge of Runes can at least notice the curse built in. In fact I could probably have a demonstration cast on Snape to show you."

"That wont be necessary." Dumbledore turned his eyes to look at Snape. "Why do you have such a trap around your rooms?"

"I have delicate potions ingredients in there, I can't have any blubbering idiot of a student rushing in and upsetting everything." Snape told him without shame. "Nothing there is permanent."

"I disagree." James told him. "It is only temporary to people with Wizarding blood. Any of Chris' family could be seriously and permanently blinded, deafened and crippled by getting lost and entering the wrong door."

Minerva gasped but James didn't relent. "The only reason this hasn't already backfired is because the school's wards are indeed alive and countered the trap with its own protective spell cast over any student approaching the door to these rooms." James told them. "I work for social services, Headmaster Dumbledore, and we consider gouging out a child's eyes, sticking nails in their ears and glass in their feet as being grossly illegal, not to mention immoral and downright disgusting. That man shouldn't be within a hundred miles of any child."

"Severus, please wait for me in my office." Dumbledore told Snape.

"But…" Snape tried but Minerva's severe look stalled her. He backed out of the room with a threatening glare at James.

"Can you remove the trap?" Minerva asked him.

James considered several sarcastic remarks but turned his attention on the newly deformed sequence. His slip had detonated the magic. "I was already half way through when that blubbering idiot came barging through the door." James used Snape's own comment against him. "The trap detonated when I jumped. It has undoubtedly mixed with all of his potions ingredients. You can tell him that he wont be using those rooms any time soon. I'll have to pick it apart extremely carefully now."

"That was the explosion we heard?" Minerva asked.

"Unless Wyatt got bored then probably." James told them. "In either case that man's stupidity could have killed people. How can you accept him as a teacher?"

"He is a teacher of the highest calibre." Dumbledore argued.

"Spare me the crap." James snapped. "Don't forget I've spoken to Harry. I know what that man did to him in his fifth year. There are two telepaths and three Empaths in Chris' family and they all know the basic rules and what it means to rape somebody's mind." James felt Chris tense up beside him, none of them had known that part of his life. "It took me two years to bring his mind back into place and it's still very screwed up. You prepared him for Azkaban when you let that bastard rape his mind and break down any natural mental defence he had and then you locked him away with Dementors."

"He is a murderer." Dumbledore told him.

"If I hear you call him that again I'll orb you to purgatory and I assure you I doubt you can apparate out of there." Chris snarled.

"I've seen Harry's memories of that night, Dumbledore. I know the truth of what happened." James snarled. "Anybody who knows Harry could have guessed what happened and yet you all, who proclaimed him a hero, jumped to conclusions. Get out before I turn this trap on you."

Dumbledore was about to speak when James actually growled at him. Minerva touched the old man on the arm and the two retreated. As soon as the door closed James sagged and Chris caught him. James turned and hugged Chris to him but forced the tears to remain locked away for the time being as he turned his attention to the sequence. He spent the next six hours of the day tearing the trap down and smoothing over the damage it had inflicted on the school's wards.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

The Den

"It was awesome!" Chris told Wyatt as he carded his fingers through a sleeping James' hair as he napped away the drain from tampering with the wards for the whole day. There was a tray of food on the table that Wyatt had brought up for the three of them to eat since the rest of the family were down eating supper in the Great Hall. "He completely ripped into them. It was amazing!"

"Down boy." Wyatt chuckled.

Chris went red. "Shut it, Wy." Chris glared. "Paige said it was good for him."

"Everyone needs to rant sometimes." Wyatt told him. "He looks more relaxed."

"He does actually." Chris said staring down at James' peaceful face. Normally when he slept he was restless unless Chris stroked him like he was now but he thought that even if he stopped James would sleep easy right now. "It's strange."

"What is?" Wyatt asked.

"Sam warned me that James had nightmares a lot but I've never seen one." Chris told his brother.

"Sam?"

"His college friend, the one from P3." Chris said.

"What kind of nightmares?" Wyatt asked.

"According to Sam, the screaming and thrashing kind." Chris sighed and stroked James' neck gently.

"Maybe because he feels protected from his memories with you." Wyatt told him. "He obviously feels protective of you."

"I know he does." Chris sighed. "I found him as Shadow this morning down the hallways staring at a portrait. He said it was his school common room."

"Did he sleep at all last night?" Wyatt asked.

"I'm not sure. I thought he fell asleep before me but he'd obviously slept out there for most of the time." Chris sighed. "I'm scared his nightmares are going to get worse here and I'll be going home with you next week."

"You know mom will look after him, and Aunt Paige might not have his training but she knows what to look out for." Wyatt told him.

"I can't believe what these people did to him. I can't even imagine it." Chris dropped his head. "That Dementor we ran into was horrible. Being locked up with them for eighteen months must have been unbearable."

"Let's hope they don't work out who he is and throw him back in there." Wyatt told him.

"I wont let them." Chris gritted his teeth and looked up with fiery eyes at his brother. "They wont hurt him again."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter