WAND ASTRAY

Lily muttered a curse of the non-magic kind while Cerise continued to circle the topic of discussion she initiated a good twenty minutes ago. "Getting married can't be a good idea." Her friend was saying while Lily grew increasingly uncomfortable. From across the table Yoanna gave her a worried look. Any inclination to do any work in the free period was quite forgotten.

Cerise flipped her hair over her shoulder and continued with her speech. "You see, when a guy is at a boyfriend status everything is easy."

Not when the guy is James Potter. Lily mused.

"But as soon as the ring goes on that's it. Your life is no longer your own and you are at the complete mercy of cruel matrimony."

As one everyone looked down to the ring on Lily's hand. Lily shook her head faintly knowing that her friend was taking some sort of sick pleasure in this.

"And that's not the worse part. Once you marry the guy you will have to deal with worst witch you will ever know in your long long long life! She will not only watch every move you make and judge you by the smallest of mistakes but to put it frankly she can make your life a living nightmare! And that's only if she like you, if she hates you…well…" Cerise gave an airy laugh. "Poor Lily." She said as if her friend was sentenced to a death penalty.

Yoanna bit her lip. "Whoever could be so awful?"

"Think about it." Cerise leaned forwards, her polish hardened nail tapping on the library table. "Who else would be obsessed and crazy about the guy and be able to have enough influence over him to inadvertently make your married life a misery if she dislikes you?"

"Uhhhh…."

Yoanna may not understand but Lily finally understood the point that Cerise was taking her time to get to and she was nothing short of horrified. "His Mother." She said in unison with Cerise.

Cerise nodded. "Exactly. His doting Mother."

"No!" Yoanna cried in disbelief. "James' Mother would never be horrible to Lily!"

Cerise sat back with a smile that clearly said that she disagreed. "Let's face some basic truths here, James' parents are the Potters. They are big and I mean very big in the Wizarding World."

"But that doesn't mean that they are horrible people." Yoanna insisted.

"Maybe not horrible but intimidating yes." She paused and looked at Lily who had gone wide eyed and for the first time since the 'study session' she appeared to be genuinely worried, which in turned actually scared Lily because Cerise was one of those carefree people who never worried. "I'm not trying to put you down or anything but pure blood families like the Potters have reputations and certain expectations. No doubt that they'd would have expected James to marry some nice maiden from another pure blood family or at least from a family with a reputation as prestigious as theirs. They'd be expecting a perfect daughter in law and we all know that there's no such thing…"

To describe Lily in one word it would be dispirited. Cerise wasn't from a mainstream wizarding family but she was a pure blood. She knew about these things in ways that Muggle-borns like Yoanna and she would never understand.

"Yes but that doesn't matter in the least if they like Lily! Does it? I have every bit of faith that they will!" Yoanna said with confidence. Lily gave her a small but grateful smile.

"If-"

A pile of books slammed into the table causing everyone to jump. Rosie stood in front of their table, arms on her hips. "Don't put stupid ideas into Lily's head." She said bluntly apparently having overheard a fair amount of the conversation.

Cerise appeared offended. "I was just stating the facts-"

"Planting doubts, more like."

Cerise's eyes narrowed. "Would your Mother accept a Muggle born into the family?" She asked pointedly. It was no secret that the Amiral family was but a few steps behind the Black family when it came to ambitions.

"If he could prove himself yes." Rosie replied her voice hard. She may not agree with her family on most grounds but one thing that she was certain of was that they judged each person for their worth. Blood inheritance was simply a matter of pride, old fashioned thinking and occasionally a matter of nuisance to them but that wasn't to say they were any less ruthless than the Blacks, or less extreme in that matter.

"If you say so." Cerise sniffed and picked up her quill on the pretense that the study session would start for real.

"I do indeed."

Cerise looked up sharply but Lily quickly intervened before the hostility could grow any more. "How comes you're here at this time?" She asked Rosie, in fact this was the first time she had ever seen Rosie in the library.

With reluctance the Slytherin broke the stare out. "I'm looking up the materials for potions to show the first years."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine with the lesson!"

Rosie nodded. "I hope."

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen the guys around lately, Lily do you know where they've been?" Yoanna asked.

Lily shrugged. "They've been busy with preparing for the lessons I think. James hasn't said much about it."

"And you haven't asked?" Cerise demanded incredulously.

Lily shook her head slowly feeling like she had done something wrong. "No?"

"You dear, have a lot to learn…" Cerise said with pity.

Rosie crossed her arms and snorted to which she responded to with a glare.

Lily could already see round two starting between the two girls and she cleared her throat. "Well, I know that whatever it is he's put plenty of thought in." A clock chimed slowly nearby. "The lesson should be starting just about now…I hope everything goes all right…"

---

"Good Morning everyone!" James chirped as he entered the loud classroom. Moody was already seated at the back, unnoticeable and half hidden. Whatever it was that everyone was talking to come to a stop and every student sat forwards waiting with an excited anticipation. Study session carried out by older years was not uncommon but an actual lesson hadn't happened before.

It was so quiet that the ringing silence was almost enough to make James nervous. He could have sworn none of the lessons he'd ever been in had been this quiet; maybe in McGonagall's first year Transfiguration when even he and Sirius had been intimidated by her stern mask.

James cleared his throat and heaved the heavy case he was carrying onto the teacher's desk and hopped up to sit beside it. "As some of you know, I'm James and I'm here to take over one Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson as part of my Auror entrance exam."

"Now, I'm not too fond of text book learning so today I thought a practical would be fun. I couldn't find any blood-sucking vampires so I've had to settle for these interesting fellows. Philandoos Quapasoekanomonas." He tapped the box and pronounced the name fluently as he had the name phonetically spelt out on his hand. "Don't ask me to spell that because I can't, and don't ask me to say that again because it will probably sound different." He said. "And since this stuff won't ever come up in your exams you can pretty much forget about it as soon as the hour is over."

His frankness was meet by more than few grins.

"But for the sake of this hour I've thoughtfully nicknamed them Philip. Well one of them is Philip anyway, the rest are Philip No.1, Philip No.2 etc etc." This merited some laughs and more grins as the class slowly relaxed once they knew what kind of lesson they were in for.

James unclipped the lid of the box and made a gap big enough for one of its occupants to escape. With a careless flick of his wand he closed all the windows and doors to stop it from escaping. The people sitting at the back actually stood up to get a better look at the box. Wide eyed the first years stared as a wrinkly purple arm emerged and gripped the side of the box before jumping out a second later.

The class gasped in unison and James quickly closed the lid. The Philip flew up and hovered, it's grayish leathery wings flapping up and down rhythmically to hold it steady. It looked like a little flying purple troll complete with a warty potbelly. Its flat and wide nose sniffed the air in loud breaths. It had long elongated ears each with a tuft of white fur that twitched at the slightest of sounds. It gave the class a watery eyed expression of sadness that seemed to take away some of its ugliness.

"Aww, he's so cute!" a girl sitting at the end of a row in the middle exclaimed.

James' eyebrow shot up. Cute? He would have thought it would have taken a lot of persuasion to call something like that cute. "I guess you could call it that uh…" he was going to call her by her name but he realized that he only knew her by face because she was a little sister of a girl he had dated last year.

"Saff." She offered.

"Hi, Saff. Are you sitting too far? You can come up closer to have a look at him if you like." She shook her head and went red.

"Right, to stop these little well uh…things, if you ever come across one the first thing you need to knock them out. Once they're out cold they're no problem. So you could stun them with a spell, or if you're crap at stunning then you could throw them at the wall or kick them depending on what you find more convenient at the time…or amusing." Again the students swapped looks and some grinned broadly.

However a girl with pigtails in the first row gasped. "But that's cruel!"

"No, no! Well it is yes, but no!" James said feeling the need to quickly explain, "They're not real creatures. They're just curses that have been given a form. A thing made by a dark wizard to perform his malice if you would prefer. Well then again I guess you don't have to be a dark wizard to make one, you just need to know how to." James was unsure if she or anyone had understood his ramblings but in the least she didn't appear to be affronted anymore. "So no magical being abuse here." He added just in case. He could almost see a flying memo stamped with his name plus a colorful complaint about magical animal abuse making its merry way to the right department in the Ministry of Magic Headquarters.

"Anyway, these Philips are a nasty bit of curse work although these I must say are a bit mild compared to what you might come across in real life." He tapped the top of the box but a boy sitting near the back caught his eye because he had his hand in the air.

"Yea?"

"So where did you get them from? Did you have to get some real Dark Wizard to make them?" he asked eyeing the box that shook every now and again.

James laughed. "Hell no! Probably would have been easier. Nope, these ones were courtesy to some friends and myself. But that doesn't mean we're dark wizards! No, we just got together and gathered some nasty thoughts and with the right spell voila!" The Marauders had tried everything to get the spell to work. Eventually it seemed that only the deepest loathing towards Snape from Sirius, the most scarring disdain for inequality to werewolves from Remus, the most hate for Voldemort from James and something altogether unknown from Peter (because he wouldn't say) could they just about conjure the weakest of the weakest Philips. "If they were really sprites made by a Dark Wizard this box probably wouldn't hold them in because they carry the worst of the caster's spite."

"Any wizard can cast an dark spell. It doesn't even take much. Even something as little as being irritated by a friend who hasn't returned something they've borrowed can be used create dark magic. So it pays to learn to be mindful of your thoughts."

James wanted to clarify a bit more but things were quickly taken out of his hands when the Philip took it upon itself to prove that it was anything but 'cute'; it launched itself unprovoked onto James' face in a sudden frenzy of clawed nails.

"Gah!" James held up a protective arm and swung out the other to push the Philip away, but he wasn't quick enough and the malicious spirit had managed to rake a nail along his jaw. The Philip soared over the first row and landed on the floor.

"See, not very nice." James said and wiped the back of his hand over the bleeding cut. "Stupfy!" He added in almost casual manner and the Philip collapsed back onto the floor where it had half risen

Everyone started talking at once. "Whhhoooa!" A boy with ginger hair gasped. "That was so cool! How do you do spells like that?" he asked in awe.

James, who was being occupied with trying to heal the cut, had his wand aimed at where he thought the cut was, paused. "What that? That was just a normal stunning spell. I think I might have learnt that in my first year. Have you guys learnt it yet?"

"Yeah, but not like that! It looks too good the way you did it!" The boy took out his wand and pointed at an empty shelf. "Stupfy!" He shouted, with his eyes narrowed and brows drawn in utmost concentration. A small spark of green like dying fireworks came out the end of his wand and barely grazed the bookshelf. It was nothing like the direct burst of brilliant apple green that erupted from James' wand when he had performed the very same spell. "See! Mine was shabby."

James laughed. "Don't worry, give a bit more practice and your spells will get more powerful. But don't practice on other people, or yourself, OR point your wands at yourself!" he added and hastily pulled his own wand away from his chin; it wasn't bleeding much anyway. The warning was said obligingly; he was Head Boy after and he had a duty to look after younger students. Although it brought a smile back as a memory of Sirius and he practicing stunning spells on fellow students when they were younger resurfaced. That was how he and Sirius got good at stunning. "Well, if you must practice on other people then make sure you're discreet and never get caught." He added at a lower voice before remembering that Moody was still very much in the room examining him.

James' back straightened. It wasn't as if he could take his words back so he cleared his throat and continued as if nothing had happened. "Okay, so before we tackle these guys I want you to pair up and practice your stunning/kicking/throwing skills. When you're done I'll give each pair a Philip and you can take turns stunning it. A quick revival spell will make him as good as new. Just one more thing!" He added as everyone began to get up. "Aim your stunning spells in one direction, let say to the front of the classroom, but WAIT until I get out of the way first!"

And so the rest of the James' first teaching lesson went. He supervised the stunning spell and was impressed with the improvement in the first ten minutes before everyone realized how much fun it was to simply throw the Philips. He weaved in and out of each pair talking loudly over the din of a working class.

Teaching seemed like a cinch. He was just doing a lot of walking and talking, which is what he spent most of his life doing anyway except now he was simply recalling any topic of interest that he'd found while in his DADA lessons. He was quite surprised that he remembered any at all really.

"Okay people!" James called out and resumed his position in front of the classroom. "The lesson is almost over." With a wave of his wand all the unconscious Philips were stowed safely back in his box. "You guys were great. Thanks! Go off for an early lunch!" The students packed up their belongings but the excited chatter continued.

"Do you see it when I stunned Philip? Man, that was so good!"

"Or when I threw it at the window!"

"Mine bit me!"

Saff approached at the front as people began to file out. "That was a great lesson!" she said a little breathlessly before turning very red. "I learnt a great deal."

James grinned, "Thanks." but it suddenly occurred to him that he might have spent the whole lesson bullshitting and so addressed the class for the last time. "You might want to check out some off the facts that I've been spouting off before you refer to any in exams or essays though. I probably made up most of them!"

The classroom emptied and James couldn't help but feel like the lesson went rather well. Let's face, it could have gone so wrong and he knew that Lily secretly expected it to go belly up no matter how much she supported him.

"Well Mrs. Potter, I told you that you didn't need to worry your pretty head!" He muttered to himself. With a spring in his step James doubled checked that the box of Philips was secure and picked it up.

Moody cleared his throat. "One moment, Potter."

"Sure." James said with aplomb, he hadn't forgotten about Moody at all…maybe for a little while but not that long.

"I have a few questions before you run off." Without warning the open door slammed shut and unless James was mistaken he heard the snick of locking bolts.

For reasons he could not explain James suddenly became wary and he set the heavy box back onto the desk. He moved away from the desk and stood a little away, relaxed and ready. Ready for what? He did not know but his hand was not far off from the wand tucked in his back pocket.

Moody's electric blue eye did a 360-degree turn before coming to a swinging stop on James. The real eye kept a steady beady stare. One corner of the Auror's slash of a mouth curled up.

James had never seen a man so scarred. It made the man appear fearsome, each healed wound was a testimony to each battle he'd won, every obstacle he'd passed and judging by his face alone it was more than a fair few. Just seeing him demanded respect and James willingly gave it. Mad Eye Moody may be eccentric and by all means completely mad, but he was one of the best Aurors ever seen, his own Father had admitted it as such. He was the type of man that James aspired to be, someone who fought for what was right just because and little else.

The only foreseeable drawback he could imagine was that one day he may look in the mirror and find himself with a face like that, he could only hope that Lily wouldn't mind too much. An involuntary smile spread on his face, love had better be truly blind! He thought fondly of her face and then her smile. Any chances of her dumping him because he turned ugly was out the window, she was simply too stubborn or maybe just too stupid. Which he couldn't decide but either suited him just fine as long as it was he that she was too stupid or too stubborn to let go! With that in mind the tips of his fingers moved closer to his back pocket.

"You are guarded, that is good." Moody said.

It was an odd compliment but James politely thanked him nonetheless.

"Although keeping your wand in your back pocket isn't the wisest of places. Spells have no eyes and misfired spells do not have mercy."

Moody missed nothing, that magical eye of his had been tracking James' hand under his robes all along. James took the opportunity to pull out his wand; he was just heeding a useful bit of advice after all. "I'll definitely bear that in mind."

"Tell me, Potter. Why are you guarded against me?" Moody asked. This was a test. If James guessed right, this was the real test. The so-called lesson was just something the Ministry required but this was going to be a test that Moody alone required.

'Coz it's a well known fact that you're a bit on the mad side, you're armed and you could have my ass fried in an instant if I wasn't guarded.

James had known all of this beforehand but he hadn't been fully on his toes and aware that the Auror could pose a threat until the instant the door was locked. Sure, there were many perfectly innocent reasons for locking the door; for example he did not want any disturbances while he held some sort of interview. The reasons were there but James simply chose not to believe them.

"Can you give me a reason why I shouldn't be?"

"A fair enough question, Potter." Moody grunted. "You are like your Father."

James had a good laugh at that. "That's a first! People usually say I'm more like my Mum. My Dad has no sense of humor whatsoever!" James may look a lot like his Dad but he was nothing like the serious and stoic Mr. Potter.

"A man doesn't need humor to keep him alive. He needs only his skill and CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

James sobered up straight away. Moody sure knew how to kill a light moment.

"So, you teach your lesson in Defense of the Dark Arts but how well can you truly defend yourself against it."

"I don't think that I understand what you mean sir." James said cautiously.

The other corner of Moody's mouth lifted and it gave him a bizarre sneer. It was strange that Moody's face could be so impressively expressive despite the disfiguring scars. "How well can you defend yourself? Let's say, what would you do if I was to cast the Imperius Curse on you?"

James' brows shot up. There was something in Moody's voice that alerted him that he wasn't being hypothetical.

"What would you do?" Moody asked again. "Tell me, what would you do?"

"I would raise a shield."

"Wrong." Moody snapped.

"Cast a reflection spell."

"WRONG!"

James grew tense. He found himself obsessively following every slight twitch that the Auror made. He was watching, watching every single movement with a certainty that Moody did not believe in teaching theory alone. That damn eye spun excitedly in Moody's eye socket.

"Jinx the caster!" James found himself shouting. Truth be told, if Moody were to cast the Imperius Curse on him there was little he could do to block it. Rumor had it that it was what Voldemort used to make spies for himself.

"WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!" Moody roared.

"Avoid getting hit!"

"RIGHT!" The Auror's hand twitched. "Imperio!"

James leapt out of the way just in time and the spell barely missed his head. In one more leap he was over the teacher's table and onto the other side using it as a physical shield.

"A wizard doesn't need to move his whole hand to cast a spell!" Moody shouted. "A powerful wizard need not even say all his spells aloud!" To prove his point he shot a silent spell that fizzed like a bright orange firework into the table.

In an instant the table James was hiding behind was incinerated. James rolled and ran but there was nowhere to run! James needed to buy himself some time. Books, desks, chairs and everything he could point his wand at was picked up by unseen hands and tossed at the mad Auror.

Moody moved surprisingly fast, one leg clunking loudly as he went. James assessed the situation realistically, he couldn't even hold a wand up to Moody in terms of magical skill and he didn't fancy getting close enough to tackle the man to the ground. No doubt he'd be armed from head to toe by some protective charms. James had but one choice.

Escape!

The door was out of the question, he wouldn't have time to blast it open but that didn't mean he could use it as a distraction.

Accio broom! He shouted the words in his mind. Aloud he yelled the blasting curse and hurled it at the door while running towards it.

"Too obvious! Everyone goes for the door!" Moody yelled and moved to guard it.

"I know!" James shouted at him. He skidded to a stop and immediately charged in the opposite direction for the windows! With his forearms crossed in front of his face he threw himself through the glass. Immediately he began to fall and for while he floundered in the air. The cold air whistled sharply by his ears. James was grateful that they were high and he had a while to fall before he met the ground, just enough time for-

-There it was!

His broom!

His trusty broom soared straight towards him matching his falling speed until it was within his grasp. James mounted the broom with ease and he was up and away.

Moody leaned out of the broken window impressed with the flying boy. "Excellent! A fast learner and gutsy! But don't think you'll be getting away from me, sonny."

On his broom James' teeth chattered.

Man alive it's cold!

He could barely feel his hands and he'd been on his broom for all of five seconds. He didn't even get a chance to reach the sixth second when he was suddenly seized from behind, plucked clean off his broom!

"WHA?" James struggled but invisible hands held him aloft and the broom flew on without him. With dead certainty he felt himself flying back to the broken window and to the clutches of Moody. Legs kicking he struggled to no avail.

James' flight was brief and with a single flick of the wand Moody dumped him onto the floor. He intended to hit the floor running but a quick full body bind killed off that notion.

"Imperio."

The effect was instantaneous. James stopped struggling. The full body bind was removed and he got to his feet swaying a little.

Happy, he felt happy but he didn't know why. He wondered vaguely what he was doing standing in the middle of the room.

Walk.

James lifted a foot but didn't put it down. Why was he walking? He didn't want to walk.

Put your foot down.

His foot came down heavily and he jolted to the side almost losing his balance.

"Now, my second question. What would you do if the Imperius Curse hit you?" he could hear Moody saying. That same voice then went on to coax his empty head.

Jump.

It was like a suggestion that was irresistible. But there was no reason for him to jump, why should he jump?

Jump!

Wait, that wasn't his own thought…Slowly James became aware of what Moody was doing.

"Kkkkkk…." His muscles were tensing, ready for the jump but he was resisting.

"What would you do? Sonny answer me!" Moody barked.

"Nnnnn…" It was the only sound James could manage.

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"

"Fffff…." It hurt, the pain that started off as an ache grew. His muscles quivered while he strained. "Fiight…it!" He managed to gasp out. By now he was almost bent over from the effort to stop himself from jumping yet trying jump at the same time.

"THAT'S RIGHT! NOW FIGHT IT!"

James clenched his eyes shut forcing all of his concentration inwards.

I am not going to jump. I will NOT jump!

He locked his muscles refusing to succumb to Moody's whim. He put steel in his spine, straightening it, inch by inch. With a gasp he opened his eyes and found himself almost upright.

"FIGHT IT!" Moody screamed in the background.

Jump!

Sweat poured down his face. "I-will-NOT-jump!" All of sudden the emptiness left his head and found himself standing rod straight. The need to jump was completely gone.

"Not bad, Sonny. You threw it off."

James managed to stay upright for another second and then fell on his knees and hands. He breathed in hard.

Moody walked around him casually. "Third question: Would you be able to do it again? Imperio."

James didn't so much as get a warning before the spell gripped him once more.

JUMP!

"No!"

I SAID JUMP!

"NO!" James screamed aloud, his deep voice ringing in the room. He held his body absolutely rigid. He'd be damned if he let the same spell work twice. A mixture of stubbornness and pride held him fixed to the floor. "I SAID NO!" he yelled. The spell snapped immediately and he got to his feet. His limbs had gone all jelly like and he was breathing almost uncontrollably but he'd fought and won.

Moody stood in front of him with his arms crossed. "Not bad at all." He said.

---

A/N: Hope you liked!